Micromanagement in health professions education: implications and mitigations strategies

• Author Details:   
• Mohammed Elmuttalut ^*

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Background: Micromanagement, characterized by excessive oversight, rigid control and limited delegation of tasks or decisions, coupled with overemphasis on compliance rather than focusing on achieving the desired institution’ outcomes. It poses significant challenges in health professions education, where balancing the delicate boundaries between autonomy and accountability is essential.

Objective: This review aimed to explore the root causes of micromanagement, its effects on faculty members and institution growth, and the mitigation strategies in the context of health professions education.

Methods: The scoping review was conducted by analysing literature from PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar, focusing on peer-reviewed articles published between 2014 and 2024. Key terms included “micromanagement,” “excessive control,” “medical and health professions education,” “faculty autonomy,” and “leadership in education.” Relevant articles were synthesized to identify major themes.

Findings: The findings revealed that micromanagement adversely affects faculty members by reducing job satisfaction, increasing burnout, increasing frustration, stifling creativity, and innovations, and as well leading to talent retention challenges. The root causes included lack of leadership training, leaders’ fear of errors, performance pressures on leaders, and hierarchical cultures. Mitigation strategies included leadership training, fostering psychological safety, and promoting faculty autonomy through institutional reforms.

Conclusion: Micromanagement significantly undermines faculty members effectiveness and well-being and hinders institution growth in medical and health profession education context. Addressing this issue requires leadership training and development, institution reforms, targeted faculty support and cultural shifts. Policies promoting trust, autonomy, creativity, and innovation are essential for institution success and sustainable educational environments. Future initiatives should prioritize adaptive outcomes-oriented leadership models, evidence-based supervision practices, and faculty empowerment programs to mitigate the negative effects of micromanagement.

Keywords: Micromanagement, Autonomy, Medical/Health education, Autonomy, Delegation, Excessive control, Lack of trust.