Leadership styles of hospital pharmacy directors in Taiwan

Based on the study of leadership in management science, the purpose of this study is to describe the leadership styles of hospital pharmacy directors in Taipei, Taiwan. The Leader Effectiveness and Adaptability Description (LEAD) instrument was used to characterize the leadership styles of these directors. According to the Situational Leadership Thoery, the dominant and supporting styles, the style range, and the style adaptability of each director can be described. Some background factors in each hospital were collected in order to study the relationship between leadership style and these factors. The results of this study were based on the responses from 15 participating hospital pharmacy directors and 42 participating pharmacists. The most frequent dominant style used by hospital pharmacy directors in the Taipei area was high task - high relationship. It shows in the results that the female directors tend to be more concerned about the relationship with their subordinates than are the male directors. It also shows that the directors who have a higher educational degree tend to use a leadership style more task-oriented and less people-oriented. For the directors who are concerned about the effectiveness of their department, this study might serve as an initiative for them to assess their management practice.