Supervisor-Follower Relation And Health Care Professionals' Career Motivation In Public Sector Hospital

Health sector especially in the context of Pakistan has to deal with the high political interference, lack of doctors and lack of good quality services due to number of reasons. Even though there are number of doctors that... [ view full abstract ]

Health sector especially in the context of Pakistan has to deal with the high political interference, lack of doctors and lack of good quality services due to number of reasons. Even though there are number of doctors that medical colleges are producing, but still it is becoming difficult day by day to retain those doctors in the country. Flight of intellectual and human capital has its roots in shortage of opportunities, insufficient remuneration and highly political environment of public sector hospitals in which doctors have to work (Mahmood, 2013). One of the most important aspects is the relationship between supervisors and junior doctors that can influence their intention to stay in or leave the hospital or even the country. Leadership acts as critical phenomenon in such situations to avoid issues among senior and junior medical staff. In generic situations, supervisors are considered important due to position, authority but mostly supervisors possess valuable resources that subordinate desire. A professor (supervisor in medical set-up) possesses favorable job tasks that he or she can disburse. This resource is most important for resident (subordinate) as training purpose. So, residents, ideally, should have high quality relation with their professor in order to get opportunity to learn and grow. So, the present research is an attempt to examine how quality of relation between supervisor and resident affect the career motivation of doctors. Further this study expands upon the concept of self- esteem of subordinate as no research study has been done to investigate the role of self-esteem with LMX. Research suggests that through psychological support, supervisor and leaders may help to develop sense of confidence and self-esteem (Kram, 2010) as other researches have also indicated that high mentoring relationships help in developing self esteem and confidence which is important for career development.

It will be significant for the supervisors working in the Punjab health sector to assess their performance as a leader at individual level. Focusing on the findings and implementing the recommendations may enhance the effectiveness of medical services that are provided in the hospitals of one of the major cities i.e. Lahore.

A sample of 311 post graduate residents and 25 Professors working in a Public Sector Hospital was chosen. The data was collected through self-administered survey of residents and semi-structured, in-depth interviews of professors and residents. The sampling strategy for qualitative data collection is purposive sampling. Findings of the study add to the evidence that relationship of supervisor and subordinate influence self-esteem and career motivation of subordinates which provides us with the potential rationale or reasons for why young health care professional especially doctors are leaving the country. The study provides a basis for future action for the potential health sector reforms as the present environment and structure in the public sector is not conducive for the patients or the doctors.