General overview of area:
Worldwide health care systems are facing pressures to reduce costs, be more productive and improve the quality of care (Alves, 2003; D'Aunno et al., 2000). Although relatively recent, management of health care organizations is thus a research area of great interest.
In the last few years, the Portuguese national health system has experienced some significant changes in the way hospitals are managed (Alves, 2003). For example: in the way hospital managers can hire and reward professionals (Antunes, 2001; Batalau, 2003) and in the way hospitals can contract with suppliers (Batalau, 2003). These contribute to a greater interest of this area in the Portuguese case.
The principal aim of this research is to develop a framework that inserted in the management control system of a hospital can help managers to manage performance through the management of physicians' motivation.
Key disciplines: management control, performance management, performance measurement, management of health care organizations, organizational behaviour, human resources management.
My past professional experience as well my academic background can help me in the realization of this research. I have worked one year in the management control department of a Portuguese hospital where I participated in several projects of different sections of the hospital. It can be very useful for the accomplishment of this research, mainly for two reasons. First, I gained knowledge about the internal organization of the Portuguese hospitals. Second, the access to data can be easier. My degree in management, but specially the realization of my masters' of science dissertation on management control systems with case study method also provided me a good base of knowledg ...