Quality of management in the health care system.

Quality of management is a necessary, yet not sufficient, prerequisite in quality of care. There are two main approaches to improved quality. One is the individualist approach, where the role of the manager is emphasized. The other is the contextual approach. Focus is on managerial prerequisites such as organizational structure, culture, participation in decision making, and use of management time. Individualist as well as contextualist approaches are presented. Each decade during the 20th century has had its own "pet theory" regarding what problems the manager should allocate time on. A study of 41 Nordic public health researchers illustrates that cost-benefit analysis is the best known of ten theories. Management ethics, with the manager as ideologist, is seen as particularly demanding on managerial creativity.