Factors influencing the creativity and innovation in managers of military and civilian hospitals in Tehran, Iran.

Similar to other organizations in the society, hospitals need creative and innovative managers to survive and progress. Developing and training such managers require a suitable context that should be provided through determining factors affecting creativity and innovation in individuals. This study was conducted to determine the factors influencing creativity and innovation of managers in military and civilian hospitals in Tehran, Iran. In this cross-sectional study, the senior and middle managers of 9 military and civilian hospitals comprised the statistical population (90 people). The data were collected using a questionnaire. The data collected were analyzed in SPSS software. The ANOVA test was used to compare mean scores of different groups. The maximum and minimum possible score for the factors influencing creativity and innovation was chosen as 3 and 1, respectively. The results showed the organizational factors with the score 56.2 as the most important factors influencing creativity of managers in military and civilian hospitals. Among the subcategories of the organizational factors, the factors related to reward system gained the maximum score. The most important factors influencing innovation of hospital managers were personal factors with the score 83.2 the factors related to knowledge and expertise of managers received the highest score in this category. Based on the results, the provision of a favorable organizational environment can encourage hospital managers to be creative. Moreover, making changes in the culture governing hospitals and making innovation a positive value and norm may be beneficial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]