@2024 Afarand., IRAN
ISSN: 1735-7667 Iranian Journal of Military Medicine 2012;14(2):85-91
ISSN: 1735-7667 Iranian Journal of Military Medicine 2012;14(2):85-91
Evaluation of military healthcare organizations’ structure models in asymmetric warfare
ARTICLE INFO
Article Type
Original ResearchAuthors
Ebrahimnia M. (1)Farzaneh A. ()
Ebadi A. (2)
Tofighi Sh. (3)
() Department of Military Health Management, Health Management Research Center, Baqiyatallah Institute of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
(1) Department of Military Health Management, Health Management Research Center, Baqiyatallah Institute of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
(2) Department of Nursing Management, Faculty of Nursing, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
(3) Department of Health Care Services Management, Faculty of Health, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Correspondence
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Article History
Received: January 8, 2012Accepted: April 10, 2012
ePublished:
ABSTRACT
Aims
Organizational structure has key role in the implementation of organizational goals and strategies. The purpose of this study was to provide a military healthcare structure model based on the characteristics of asymmetric in order to achieve a proper organizational structure.
Methods This mixed method study was conducted in 2009. The qualitative phase was done by in-depth interviews with 18 top managers of the healthcare system who were selected by purposeful sampling. Qualitative data were evaluated by qualitative content analysis. Then, structural models were established by focused group discussion. In the quantitative phase, the opinions of 95 military healthcare senior executives were compared considering flexibility, accuracy, decision-making and compatibility of the structural models with asymmetric war.
Results Four organizational structure models were extracted. The “Staff-base” model gained the highest score (68.5% and 63.8% respectively) in the field of flexibility and accuracy and the “Command-base” model gained the highest score (76.3%) in the field of decision-making. There was significant relationship among all mentioned fields (p=0.007, 0.003, 0.023). Investigating the overall compatibility with asymmetric war, there was no significant relationship between the four models (p=0.9), but the “Centralized” model gained the maximum score (61.6%).
Conclusion Although there isn’t complete agreement on a specified structure to ensure all needs of asymmetric war conditions, the “command-based” structures seems more appropriate due the high speed of decision-making.
Methods This mixed method study was conducted in 2009. The qualitative phase was done by in-depth interviews with 18 top managers of the healthcare system who were selected by purposeful sampling. Qualitative data were evaluated by qualitative content analysis. Then, structural models were established by focused group discussion. In the quantitative phase, the opinions of 95 military healthcare senior executives were compared considering flexibility, accuracy, decision-making and compatibility of the structural models with asymmetric war.
Results Four organizational structure models were extracted. The “Staff-base” model gained the highest score (68.5% and 63.8% respectively) in the field of flexibility and accuracy and the “Command-base” model gained the highest score (76.3%) in the field of decision-making. There was significant relationship among all mentioned fields (p=0.007, 0.003, 0.023). Investigating the overall compatibility with asymmetric war, there was no significant relationship between the four models (p=0.9), but the “Centralized” model gained the maximum score (61.6%).
Conclusion Although there isn’t complete agreement on a specified structure to ensure all needs of asymmetric war conditions, the “command-based” structures seems more appropriate due the high speed of decision-making.
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