Infertility practice management. I. Leadership and management style: Results from the 2002 survey of 374 Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology member centers

Objectives

To identify current trends in management and leadership styles in Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) member infertility centers; and to understand the similarities and disparities that exist in physicians', administrators', and staff perceptions of management and leadership styles in these centers.

Materials and methods

Questionnaires were developed to collect information on the leadership and management styles in place in SART member infertility centers. Survey instruments were distributed to the 374 SART centers. Survey instruments for one physician, the center administrator, and six staff members (two each in nursing, laboratory, and administration) were issued to the SART liaison in each of the SART member centers. Respondents included physicians, practice administrators, nurses, technicians, patient services, billing, and support staff.

Results and discussion

Analysis of respondents' answers revealed that surveyed staff members reported a fairly high degree of job satisfaction. Physician and administrator management styles seemed to fall between interactive and directive styles; however, physicians and administrators perceived themselves as being more interactive than other staff members viewed them. Overall, extreme differences were unlikely, given the reported high degree of job satisfaction. Finally, survey outcome data were compared with responding centers' ART outcome rates as published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Conclusions

Overall, although employee job satisfaction seemed to be high, there were statistical differences between groups for several questions; the disparities in responses for these questions are indicators for potential management and leadership consideration. In addition, statistical correlations were found between the responses for several questions and the centers' respective CDC-published ART outcome rates.