Select Page

You will recall in our last blog post, I discussed three types of leadership styles: democratic, traditional and transformational.  Today I’d like to discuss the authoritarian or autocratic leadership style.  While in our American political system we do not like authoritarian rule by our leaders, there are some industries that will not survive without some form of autocratic rule.

It is often said that the Authoritarian is has a laser like focus on results and efficiency, but in the hospital world it can be the difference between being opened and being closed.  There is a tremendous number of regulatory rules and regulations that every hospital must follow, meet and fulfill in order to treat patients and keep the hospital open in a safe and optimum manner.  There is a tremendous amount of paperwork that goes into documenting that the hospital administrators and the medical staff, including doctors, nurses, medical assistants and administrative assistants and maintenance are all complying with city, county, state and federal regulations.  There is at least one staff member who is in charge of seeing that the proper paperwork is completed and filed for every department in the hospital that must have paperwork completed.  A smooth running hospital has an authoritarian administrator in charge of paperwork.

The Authoritarian hospital administrator, hopefully, is a tactful person, a caring person, who is well versed in pleasantries, niceties and manners, BUT they must be exacting of themselves and their employees under them because if the paperwork is not in many cases 100% accurate, the hospital has to redo the work.  The Authoritarian wants it done their way and is not looking for creative writing.  They want their directives done their way, the right way or they will be forced to have their employees seek alternative work at the hospital or elsewhere.  The billing department must submit to the insurance companies exactly correct or the hospital will not get paid.  The compliance documents with the various agencies must be exact or the hospital risks fines and possibly suspensions.  Maintenance must not only dispose of hazardous waste, they must prove it has been done properly with their paperwork.

The Authoritarian is often the life saver of the hospital.