Managers, myths and misses: target efficiency and health care management education in Australia

The Australian penchant for monitoring overseas developments in general and health matters is noted. The face validity of the findings of the International Project on Culture and Management (IPCM) is assessed positively and certain structural commonalities of the health systems of the USA and Australia are identified, without attributing causality in the development of managers' attributes. Linkages between Australia, Malaysia and Hong Kong are also explored briefly. In addition, key attributes of the sample of Australian managers are discussed together with the limitations related to emerging forms of provision and organization in health services and to their distribution in the study sample. The IPCM findings may be used in course design but are unlikely to cause any major change, although one may debate on the values of applicants towards health service management education courses. The findings may help to stimulate the establishment of performance measures for management education in Australia.