Essential managerial functions for optimal performance of health district management teams: Experience from Burkina Faso

Abstract

To assess managerial functions for the optimal performance of district health management team (DHMT) in Burkina Faso. This is a cross-sectional study conducted from May 2014 to September 2015. The data collected were: socio-demographic and professional data, and domains (management, leadership, communication, decision-making, problem-solving) from the online Mind Tools resources, and planning. The factors of management were identified using linear regression by the SPSS software 20. The 64 participants had a mean-age of 37.1 (35.8-38.5) years-old. The scores by domain were as follows: management = 74.6(72.2-77.1); leadership = 64.1(62.7-65.5); communication = 55.5(53.9-57.0); decision-making = 64.1(62.2-66.1); problem-solving = 63.9(62.0-65.9); planning = 38.9(37.1-40.7). By univariate analysis, the management factors were: age of the participants (p=0.054), communication (p<0.0001), decision making (p<0.0001), leadership (p<0.0001), problem-solving (p<0.0001). By multivariate analysis, the factors of management were: communication (p=0.029) and decision-making (p=0.026). Whether all the management functions are important, the present study showed that it is absolutely necessary to make the use of communication and decision making a regular practice, in order to get the best performances from organization management as conducted by health district teams.

Keywords: Communication, decision-making, human resources, management, performance