Exploring the relationship between physician leader behavior and perceived organizational effectiveness

Due to rapidly evolving changes that have occurred in health care organizations, a growing need exists for excellence in health care leadership. Little information has been available to suggest specific leadership behaviors relation to effective physician leadership (Xirasagar, Samuels, & Stoskopf, 2006). The primary purpose of this research was to examine physician leaders' leadership behaviors and perceived leadership effectiveness. The scope of the study involved an investigation of Transformational Leadership behaviors as they related to perceived physician leadership effectiveness. The study conducted correlational inquiry that utilized 360 degree feedback to evaluate physician leadership behaviors and leadership effectiveness. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) (Bass & Avolio, 2004), along with demographics questions were administered to explore leadership behaviors and perceived organizational effectiveness. Physician leadership effectiveness was assessed using two questions within the MLQ, asking whether the leader was effective in meeting others' job-related needs and was effective in meeting organizational requirements. The population sample was comprised of physician leader participants in the Indianapolis area who practice in academic or private medical settings. Research results also indicated a statically significant relationship between Transformational physician leader participants and perceived leadership effectiveness. A Pearson r correlation coefficient was performed to test the hypotheses. The results indicated a mean significance of .000 with a Pearson r of .736 (95% confidence level) for leaders exhibiting Transformational Leadership. Overall, the results of this study indicated that the higher the Transformational Leadership scores, the greater the perception of being an effective physician leader.