AbstractsBusiness Management & Administration

Shared leadership paradigms are becoming more popular in organizations because of the increased responsibilities placed on leaders within health care organizations. Researchers have conducted little research on how individuals on leadership teams perceive their role in engaging with others in their team. The qualitative phenomenological hermeneutic study involved examining how radiology administrators in Northern California describe their lived experiences on shared leadership teams, with an emphasis on their perceptions of team productivity and trust. The conceptual framework for the study included shared leadership theory, which scholars have noted is still a new field of study. Seven research participants representing from three to 18 years of experience as radiology managers with experience serving on shared leadership teams. From the five initial questions and sub questions, the analysis involved breaking down the responses into 175 separate areas of exploration. In addition to the demographics of the groups and types of teams served on, four themes emerged from this data: lived experience on shared leadership teams, knowledge and skills learned from shared leadership teams, key factors affecting team performance on shared leadership teams, and the effect of diversity on shared leadership teams. The implications of the research to leadership are that radiology managers may gain a better understanding of when to use shared leadership and how to best staff the teams to support organizational work, and how to improve shared leadership team dynamics.