About
Publication Information
Subscriptions
Permissions
Advertising
Journal Rankings
Best Article Award
Press Releases
Resources
Access Options
Submission Guidelines
Reviewer Guidelines
Sample Articles
Paper Calls
Contact Us
Submit & Review
Browse
Current Issue
All Issues
Featured
Latest
Topics
Videos
Cases
Subscribe
California Management Review
California Management Review is a premier academic management journal published at UC Berkeley
Search
Article Information
Medical Errors and Quality of Care: From Control to Commitment
Khatri, Naresh , Alok Baveja, Suzanne A. Boren, and Abate Mammo
48
/
3
(
Spring
2006
):
115
-
141
Ongoing efforts to reduce medical errors and enhance quality of patient care focus primarily on technological innovations. However, important management issues that underlie about two-thirds of adverse events have commanded insufficient attention. This article examines two alternative management philosophies—control-based and commitment-based—premised on opposite sets of assumptions about human motivation, and it develops a model linking the overall management philosophy with medical errors and quality of care. The current control-based culture and management systems in health care organizations are inherently inadequate in delivering high quality of patient care and safety. Consequently, there is a need to transform them for bringing further improvements in clinical outcomes. Implementing commitment-based management will foster collaboration, communication, coordination, and teamwork, the essential mechanisms for reducing medical errors and rendering high-quality health care.