Management strategies: lessons from the retail trade; behavioral healthcare can learn from the Walmarts of the world - but only so much.

Behavioral healthcare can learn from the Walmarts of the world--but only so much

Behavioral healthcare managers can learn a lot from the experience and strategies of managers in other parts of the economic sector. However, in borrowing these strategies in an effort to save their organizations from financial ruin they must consider the culture, value system and perceived threats of the professionals on whom they rely. Otherwise they run the risk that their transplanted methods will be rejected or will create another set of problems of equal or greater threat to the stability and quality of the organization.

It seems that nearly every occupation is stereotyped for its presumed deficiencies and/or idiosyncrasies. Sometimes these stereotypes serve as good-natured quips, but at least as often, they are the basis of sharp criticism, ill will or cynicism about what can be expected. To wit: helping professionals are not good administrators; scientists and clergy are out of touch with the "real" world; professors teach because they "can't do"; artists are eccentric; car salesmen are manipulative; auto mechanics can't be trusted; engineers are too literal; computer scientists are nerdy; politicians are disingenuous; therapists never take anything at face value; and lawyers . . . well, lawyers . . . .

Personally, I have one favorite that I would love to debunk, but have not as yet been able to observe enough exceptions to do so: Managers are not taught to manage in context. They are taught to manage time, money, information, raw materials and, occasionally, conflict, but they are not taught to understand and respect the cultural uniqueness of the systems they are managing, or to manage during crises. Consequently, they often seem baffled by the resistance their "innovations" provoke, seem unable to innovate in response to a crisis, and/or they create more problems with their attempted solutions. If all this is true, what can we expect of managers in behavioral health care in these times of turbulence and financial scarcity, as they scramble for ways to respond to real and present threats to their organizations' survival?

In some measure, it is of value to borrow from what managers in other economic sectors are doing to respond to such threats. However, when managers in behavioral healthcare "borrow" these ideas, they need to be sensitive to the culture and value systems of the human services organizations to which they will be applied.