Combating infections at Maine Medical Center

Insights into complexity-informed leadership from positive deviance

Datos Bibliográficos

ID12883124
AutoresChrister Lindberg (0000-0003-1090-8429), Marguerite Schneider (0000-0002-1223-1266, New Jersey Institute of Technology, autor de correspondencia)
Año2013
Volumen9
Número2
Páginas229-253
Fecha de publicación2013-05-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaLeadership (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1742-7150 • E-ISSN: 1742-7169
EditorialSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1742715012468784
OpenAlexW2044928770
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas67

A case study of how the organizational change process known as Positive Deviance was used to fight healthcare-associated infections at Maine Medical Center highlights the human and social aspects of leadership in a complex adaptive system. It illustrates that leadership can shape self-organization in a manner that facilitates creative, productive, desirable outcomes. We found influential roles of anxiety, attachment, and relationships in facilitating organizational leadership. We describe how the process of leadership permeated the Medical Center’s hierarchies and networks and reflected emergent power dynamics, which included contemporizing some aspects of traditional managerial authority. The study contributes to the management literature by clarifying the dynamics and qualities associated with change in complex human systems and illuminating what constitutes complexity-informed leadership and how it can be practiced

Biology · Complex adaptive system · Deviance (statistics · Health care · Leadership studies · Leadership style · Leadership Theory · Organizational culture · Political science · Positive deviance · Public relations · Shared leadership · Sociology · Complex Systems and Decision Making · Law · Management and Organizational Studies · Management Theory and Practice · Psychology · Social Psychology · Ecology