Healthcare Management Control: A Research Overview

The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges to those responsible for the management of healthcare activities. These challenges require decision makers at all levels to possess a broad and comprehensive understanding of healthcare management tools, and especially of the interaction between formal control systems and the informal power dynamics which operate within healthcare organisations. Managing in healthcare is not only difficult because of the sector’s high-stakes ethical contexts but also because the health care workforce is inherently complex and heterogeneous.

It is the purpose of this book to survey the expanding literature on management control in healthcare with the aim of giving readers a better understanding of the options available to managers, decision-makers and also educated observers of this important sector. This book summarises key debates and findings in this rapidly developing and increasingly important field. It explores state-of-the-art models and approaches, highlights unexplored questions and gives an outlook on novel and developing trends.

In so doing it provides a hands-on-guide for aspiring healthcare managers and practitioner and offers critical insights into the more advanced academic literature for those seeking a thorough grounding in the accounting and finance aspects of healthcare management.

Michelle Carr is Senior Lecturer in Management Control and Performance at University College Cork, Ireland.

Matthias Beck is Chair in Management and Vice Dean of Research at University College Cork, Ireland.