The Department of Health Systems Management and Leadership, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Malta has organised a Public lecture titled “How to create healthy workplaces" on Tuesday 5 March 2024, at the South Auditorium, Faculty of Health Sciences. The welcome address was done by the Hon Jo Etienne Abela, Minister of Health and Active Ageing. The main speaker was Prof. Ilke Inceoglu, from the University of Exeter Business School. The public lecture was coordinated by Prof. Sandra C. Buttigieg, Head of Department of Health Systems Management and Leadership and President of the European Health Management Association.
The public lecture included a discussion about what characterises healthy and unhealthy workplaces and how we can create working conditions that allow people in organisations to flourish. Drawing on decades of research on work design, stress appraisal and recent work on leadership and health/well-being, Prof Inceoglu provided an overview of evidence that leaders and organisations can use to create working conditions and trainings for leaders and employees to support and protect the well-being/health of their employees. Prof Inceoglu discussed why some health and well-being initiatives in organisations can backfire and what steps leaders need to take to avoid cynicism when introducing programmes to support employee well-being in organisations.
Prof. Ilke Inceoglu's Bio
Ilke Inceoglu is Professor of Organisational Behaviour and HR Management at the University of Exeter Business School and Director of the Exeter Centre for Leadership. Ilke received her PhD in Organisational Psychology from the Ludwig Maximilans University Munich. She is a Chartered Psychologist, a Chartered Scientist, an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS) and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). Her research focuses on employee well-being and leadership and the impact of technology on well-being at work. Her research interests also include work motivation, personality and career transitions (e.g. work motivation and age). She has published in leading journals such as Leadership Quarterly, Journal of Vocational Behaviour, Organisational Research Methods, International Journal of Management Reviews, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, Applied Psychology, European Journal of Work & Organisational Psychology, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, Human Resource Management and Work, Employment and Society.
Prof. Sandra C. Buttigieg's Bio
Prof. Sandra C. Buttigieg is Professor and Head of Department of Health Systems Management and Leadership (HSML), Faculty of Health Sciences, UOM. She is the current President of the European Health Management Association. She is also Consultant Public Health Medicine, Head-Clinical Performance Unit, and Chair-Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Team, Mater Dei Hospital. She is the outgoing Global-Representative-at-large of the American Academy of Management-HCM Division. She lectures in HSML, Patient Safety and Clinical Risk Management, Public Health, Family Medicine, Research Methodology and Evidence-based Health Research (EVBRES).
Prof. Buttigieg strongly advocates inter-/trans-disciplinarity within HSM in practice/research. She believes that health organisations'/systems' performance as a macro-concept depends on policies, people and operating systems. Her research, therefore, focuses on, but also links, clinical performance management, quality of care, patient safety, organisational behaviour, SHRM, operations management/research; and policy issues (ageism, migrant health, One Health).
She authored/co-authored several articles in peer-reviewed international journals, and widely participated in international conferences, and congresses. She is on the Editorial Boards of Heliyon, PloS One, Health Services Management Research, International Journal of Human Resources Management, Journal of Health Organisation and Management, and Frontiers Public Health. She is Frontiers Topic Editor: "Network for Evaluation of One Health (NEOH) Case Studies"; "Patient Safety: Delivering Cost-Contained, High Quality, Person-Centered, and Safe Healthcare" and "Health Service Management and Leadership: COVID-Style".
She is Fellow of two programmes of the Salzburg Global Seminar, related to health care, which were led by amongst others, past presidents of the Institute of Medicine, namely, Donald Berwick and Harvey Fineberg.
Prof. Buttigieg was visiting scholar in US (JMU -Harrisonburg, VA), UK -University of Birmingham and Aston University, Birmingham, and Kuwait (Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Kuwait University).
Prof. Buttigieg participated in the EU-funded programmes: Horizon2020 - To REACH; COST Actions: CA17117: EVBRES; CA19113: Second Victims; CA 15222 "cost containment and quality of care (leader-WG 1); TD 1404 NEOH (co-leader-WG 3); IS 1402 “ Ageism (co-leader-WG 1); and IS 1103 “Adapting European Health Systems to Diversity" (country-coordinator).
