A grounded exploration of the dimensions of managerial capability: A preliminary study of top Australian pharmacist owner-managers

Abstract

Background: Australian community pharmacies are experiencing challenges, including government
 prescription pricing reform and a dramatically increasing competitive environment. Enacting appropriate
 responsive actions requires capable pharmacy managers. ‘Capability’ implies managing effectively in the
 present, but with unknown or emerging contexts and with new problems. A conceptual understanding of
 managerial capability as practiced by pharmacist owner-managers is unavailable in the literature.
 Objectives: This research aimed to address the question: How can we understand managerial capability in
 relation to effective community pharmacy management? The study’s objective was to develop preliminary
 theoretical departure points for continuing research responding to the research question.
 Methods: The objective was approached by exploring how 5 top Australian pharmacy owner-managers
 accomplish the management of their businesses in a changing business environment. Qualitative
 research methods were employed to develop a social process perspective of how the managers enact
 their management practices. In-depth semi-structured life-world interviews were undertaken as the
 major method of data collection. Interview text thematic analysis was carried out identifying rich
 conceptual properties and dimensions, which ‘dimensionalized’ 3 key integrated categories.
 Results: The findings show how the managers are immersed in their business, managerial and personal
 practices in a holistic and relational manner. Managerial processes, reported through three conceptual
 categories, their properties and dimensions, reveal the highly situational nature of the reality the managers
 were experiencing, including their need to express their personal/professional identity. The properties and
 dimensions of the category ‘learning generatively’ in particular, reveal how the pharmacy owner-managers
 shape their business activities and their emerging context as time passes.
 Conclusions: The preliminary interpretive view of managerial capability describes the phenomenon as an
 emergent human accomplishment rather than a possessed ability. This social process perspective enables the
 inclusion of context with time. The study acts as a formative departure point for continuing research of
 pharmacist managerial capability which seeks to better understand the linkage between ‘knowing’ and ‘doing’

Griffith Health, School of Pharmacy

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