Abstract

OKANGA, B  and  DROTSKIE, A. Integrated strategic healthcare management control techniques for effective performance of the South African public healthcare system. JCMAN [online]. 2015, vol.12, n.1, pp.61-84. ISSN 1815-7440.

This paper examines what is and what ought to be the integrated strategic healthcare management control techniques for improving monitoring and evaluation of activities in the South African public healthcare system. Conceptual analysis was used as the main qualitative research technique. It involved three main phases of evaluation, namely; the analysis of theories on strategic management control techniques, the evaluation of documents used as control mechanisms in the Department of Health, and comparison of theoretical findings with management practices in the Department of Health. The interpretation of management control theories indicated that the effectiveness of integrated management control technique is predicted by the use of a combination of pre-control, concurrent control and post-control techniques. However, a comparison of these theoretical findings with practices in the Department of Health signified greater preponderance of managers to mainly rely on post control techniques, as the importance of feed-forward and concurrent management control systems are underestimated. In effect, the paper proposes that the development and use of a single conceptual framework that integrates pre-control, concurrent and post- healthcare management control techniques would provide the appropriate mechanism for improving evaluation and control of healthcare activities, and subsequently, the overall performance of the South African public healthcare system.

Keywords : control techniques; healthcare performance; healthcare system; strategic management.

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