Impression Management in Hospitals

 

“All the world's a stage.

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances,

And one man in his time plays many parts.”     —William Shakespeare

 

This monologue from Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” aptly compares human lives to a stage play, each playing different roles in their lifetime. I must say that, it is also true about the various roles performed in the day-to-day life by managers, their peers, superiors, sub-ordinates and others in an organizational setting. Individuals perform as in a stage play in front of a target audience. Mostly these behaviours have a script as in a stage play based on previous experiences of the individual and are practiced before. According to Rosenfield, the famous sociologist, Impression Management is a process by which individuals manage the impressions others form of them. Well, we get only one chance to make a first impression. But as long as we interact with individuals or groups the impression keeps building up. Hence, there is a constant need to learn the art and science of Impression Management especially for professional. This is particularly true about people who are constantly interacting with clients. That would be any service industry such as Healthcare, Education, Banking, Hospitality etc.

Like in any other service industry, between the product and the beneficiary there is an intermediary in healthcare industry as well. Often the beneficiary (patient) relates quality aspects to the intermediary (healthcare service provider) who delivers the product through his professional practice, which determines service quality. Service quality determines the success or failure of the business. In the service industry, the effect of outcome of employee interactions with the clients is an inevitable part of portraying organization’s identity and quality. More so, in the globally competent market it has become a matter of survival for service based industries such as banking, insurance, healthcare etc. In 1990, the Hospital Corporation of America found a strong link between perceived quality of patient care and profitability across many of its hospitals. In an industry like Healthcare, the patients are ignorant about the technical aspects of medical care and most factors such as medical equipment, infrastructure etc., and factors other than human resources are identical in comparable hospitals.  Patients’ perceptions of service quality might shape their confidence and subsequent behaviours with regard to choice and usage of available healthcare facilities. Patients perceive service quality through a variety of dimensions such as responsiveness of staff, assurance, communication and discipline. Hence, the extent to which healthcare professionals can present themselves appropriately for a favourable disposition determines the extent of service quality rendered. And that’s where Impression Management comes to play its role!

 

About the author:

Dr Sandhya is a Healthcare Management Consultant and Researcher. She has published various research articles in Journals and presented papers in conferences and also authored a book “Impression Management and Ego Styles”, LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing (November 10, 2011). She is an acknowledged trainer in the areas of organizational behaviour, emotional intelligence and transformational leadership.