The Community Health Care Administrator Project: Characteristics and problems of rural administrators

Summary

This project points to the complexities involved in understanding mental health management. Some hypotheses were supported: intention to leave the work organization and organization commitment were the best predictors of turnover, the rural manager more of a generalist compared to urban counterpart. Many hypotheses were not supported. The annual turnover rate has fallen, burnout seems a myth for this group, many rural-urban differences were not significant, job satisfaction was good. Nonwork variables affect turnover but not as strongly as predicted while reward systems came forward as a crucial area for predicting and understanding turnover.

More work, of course, needs to be done. An understanding of state differences, career paths and turnover (why has it fallen), and reward systems as utilized in public sector organizations are needed. Continued research of rural and urban systems and managers using objectively defined taxonomies and systematic data collection is desirable. Finally managers’ responses to the problems and changes this decade will bring would be fascinating to follow.