Localizing the main components of competencies in high-level managers based on health system evaluation indicators: Content analysis approach

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Managers play a key role in organizations. Competence of managers has become an important issue for organizations. This issue is very important for high-level managers in health-oriented organizations. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify and determine the components and analyze the core competencies of high-level managers in the field of health in medical sciences universities of the country, with the approach of content analysis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

This qualitative study was conducted using the content analysis method in 2023-2024. Data collection included retrieving documents from relevant databases. The studied population was high-level managers in the field of health promotion (presidents, vice presidents, university professors, and experienced human resource managers). For this purpose, semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers. The purposeful sampling method was chosen, and finally, the sampling was continued until the saturation time. The interview text was analyzed and the opinions of experts were included to extract key concepts and categorize them into main topics using 12 MAXQDA software. Finally, the Delphi technique was used to determine the components of the main competencies of high-level managers of Iranian medical sciences universities.

FINDINGS:

In this study, after analyzing the content of the interviews, 5 dimensions of the main components, including managerial competencies, perceptual competencies, personality (individual) competencies, communication competencies, and moral competencies were determined. Also, the results of MAXQDA software identified 30 components for 5 dimensions.

CONCLUSION:

Considering the key role of universities in the development of various ecosystems, it is considered very important to pay attention to the competencies of managers who are at the top of decision-making in medical sciences universities. Identifying, localizing, and determining the main and core components of competencies in high-level managers can be used as a tool to select health system managers based on these competencies. This choice can take steps towards improving the level of health and health education and adopting appropriate health policies in this field, the efficiency of the health system and the quality effectiveness of the management of medical sciences universities.

Introduction

In recent years, attention to human resources as irreplaceable organizational resources has increased widely. This attention is because human resources have been proposed as a competitive advantage of organizations.[1] On the other hand, fierce competition, continuous growth, and changes in technology put a lot of pressure on organizations and their diverse methods of improving the productivity of human resources.[2] So that it can be said that the foundation of any organization is its human resources, and placing the most qualified people in the most suitable job positions, especially in the position of management, is considered a basic precondition for the success of organizations.[3] In other words, in every organization, the most important pillar that is effective in achieving goals is management.[1,4] Managers, as the main decision-makers in facing organizational issues and problems, play a critical and determining role in the success or even failure of the organization or the achievement of the organization’s goals.[5] Therefore, it is obvious that except for a competent manager, no other person will be able to fulfill the expectations and goals of an organization.[1,6] The role of managers in all programs of the organization is important, so Poursadeghian and Arefi in their study mentioned the importance of competence and awareness of managers in all issues including safety and health, and they expressed the importance of management in promoting health.[7] Also, this issue increases the job satisfaction of employees.[8] The study of Dargahi et al.[9] refers to the improvement of the health system with the behavior and competence of managers in the health and development system and also shows that managers can play a significant role in improving education and health.

Based on this, one of the approaches presented in the world of management in recent decades is to pay attention to the concept of competence.[10] Competence is generally considered as related behaviors or activities, types of knowledge, skills, and motivations that are behavioral, technical, and motivational prerequisites for successful performance in a specific role or job.[11,12] Competency is one of the keys to opening the way in the field of organizational competition, and the existence of a meritocracy system in any organization will lead to its acceptance and maintaining and strengthening the competencies of human resources for managers can help the organization to achieve its goals.[13]

The study of Akrami and Rajabzadeh has discussed the improvement of managers’ competencies by determining the factors that make up their competencies, and the aspects of competence include knowledge, skill, ability, and attitude.[14]

On the other hand, this need is felt more in health and treatment organizations that have the mission of preservation, provision and maintenance, health promotion, control, and prevention of diseases.[15,16] They must respond to the health and treatment needs of society and try to save their lives or improve their health, and this adds to the sensitivity and importance of their work.[17] Due to the dynamic, living, and changing nature of healthcare, the managers of this sector should be able to coordinate and synchronize themselves with changes and advances.[18,19] Because in health care, medical universities are one of the most important educational services that the revenue of the pundit forces and in the medical care Incidental role they do.[20,21]

In the research conducted by Allen and colleagues in the United States, they introduced leadership skills, innovation, interpersonal behavior skills, familiarity with culture and religion, social skills, strategic management, legal knowledge, and organizational and operational knowledge as key competencies for managers.[22] In the study of Kermani et al.,[23] the competencies of hospital managers were investigated. They showed that competencies can be divided into three categories: personal, technical, and interactive.

Weakness in selection and recruitment has led to a lack of effective managers and leaders in healthcare organizations, especially hospitals. Healthcare organizations where managers make decisions in extremely dynamic and unpredictable situations. The important point is that without defining the criteria precisely, managers are selected by comparing their fit with their mental patterns, while the individual pattern may not be related to the specific personal characteristics required in that job.[2,24,25]

In other words, in addition to public awareness and familiarity with health issues, health system managers should have full knowledge and awareness of managerial, financial, and economic matters.[26] Because the health department of our country needs to increase its capacity and improve the awareness and educational empowerment of managers, and the possibility of leading this vital department should be given to people who have expertise in management issues as well.[27] Healthcare organizations that have dynamic, complex, and vulnerable care environments need managers who have the necessary skills to shape the care team’s competencies.[28] Applying competence is defined as the application of interpersonal knowledge decision-making and mental-motor skills to perform a role in health and therapeutic environments and to provide safe and risk-free care.[29] On this basis and considering the importance of competence, determining the competence dimensions in the public and private sectors has been considered in some research, but considering that most of the research and studies conducted in this field have focused on the general competencies of government organizations; this research was conducted to identify the components of the core competencies of high-level managers in medical sciences universities of the country with the content analysis approach.

The purpose of this study is to identify and determine the components and analyze the core competencies of high-level managers in the field of health in the medical sciences universities of the country, with the approach of content analysis using the Delphi technique. Considering that the promoting behaviors and competence of high-level managers and their decisions in the field of medical sciences play an essential role in providing and maintaining health in the academic community and in the whole country, there is no sufficient research evidence about the localization and core competence of managers in Iran.

It is necessary to explain the concept of competence and its components attitude is a mental or nervous state of readiness and organized through experience, which directly or dynamically affects people’s response to all objects and situations related to it. Skill, From the ability and capacity obtained through deliberate, systematic, and sustained effort to perform complex activities or job duties smoothly and appropriately.[30] knowledge is a combination of experience, values, and information depending on a specific platform and specialized insight. Competence by reviewing the literature on the subject of competence and examining the definitions provided about competence, the first thing that is identified is the lack of a specific definition of competence, and its meaning and meaning is this.[31]

To enable the organization to compete effectively, one of the leading challenges is to adapt the employees to their job needs. The traditional approach to developing job performance dimensions has been to use job breakdown and analysis, a process that uses various procedures to identify and describe job requirements and distinguish between high and low performance. In the case of using job breakdown and analysis in job descriptions and explanations, two problems may arise.

First, the traditional job description is only for describing and explaining the activity, and it may not clearly describe the outputs necessary for the success of the organization, second, the traditional job description is rapidly changing in today’s fast-changing environment with other jobs.[32] Criticisms on the breakdown and analysis of the job state that the performance dimensions are more focused on the job than the individuals and are not related to the values and goals of the organization.[33]

According to the characteristics and sensitivities of management in the health system, this study seeks to identify the competencies required for health managers. The results of this research can greatly help managers and policymakers in selecting qualified people to hold managerial positions, as well as preparing managers’ empowerment and succession planning and employing qualified and expert people in the field of health.

It is hoped that the results of this research can help human resource managers of universities in identifying and employing competent managers and promoting their core competencies.

Materials and Method

Study design and setting

The present research was an applied, qualitative, and content analysis study and was conducted in 2023 to 2024. To identify the dimensions and components of the core competencies of managers, semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers, and after analyzing the content of the interviews and using the opinions of experts and using the Delphi technique, key concepts were extracted and in the form of main themes with MAXQDA software were categorized. The work steps are presented in Figure 1.

Figure 1.

Study steps

Study participants and sampling

The statistical population studied was 15 high-level managers in the University of Medical Sciences (presidents, vice presidents, university professors, and managers with human resources experience).

Data collection tools and technique

The first step: identifying the duties of the high-level managers of Iran’s universities of medical sciences.

At this stage, by using document retrieval, all instructions and related job descriptions were reviewed and evaluated. In the end, relevant and appropriate instructions were selected for the main review. The latest issued instructions related to the main duties of managers were identified collected and used based on the documents of the university president’s office, the human resources field, and the support of the deputy of the Ministry of Health, Treatment and Medical Education.

In the Second step: Selecting managers and conducting interviews

At this stage, due to the sensitivity of the issue and the need to obtain reliable opinions, a statistical community consisting of high-level managers of the country’s medical sciences universities and experts in human resources management was used to request opinions and collect information. The research sample at this stage, the participants in the interviews included human resources specialists and high-level managers of the Iran University of Medical Sciences, who were selected by purposive sampling, and finally, the sampling continued until data saturation (15 people). Human resources or having at least 5 years of work experience at a high-level management level and willingness to participate in research. If the interviewed people refused to continue participating in the research or were unable to continue participating due to an unpredictable reason, they would be replaced by other experts. Data and information were collected using semi-structured interviews, which were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Was investigated. It should be noted that the interviews were conducted face-to-face or online. Telephone, e-mail, or face-to-face visits were used to invite the study subjects. The time and venue were chosen based on the agreement of the parties and based on the interviewee’s preferences. At the beginning of the interview, the objectives of the research were mentioned, and tips regarding the confidentiality of the information were presented to the interviewee verbally. The written consent form was signed by the interviewees and they were assured that they could withdraw from it at any stage of the research. Also, the interviews were recorded if the participants agreed. In addition, the method of taking notes at the same time was also used for key points. The estimated time for each interview was about one hour. After the end of the interview and listening to the interview text, the implementation phase of the recorded interview was carried out and the interview was implemented, and the noted topics with important key topics extracted from each interview were briefly recorded in a summary form. At the end of each interview and completion of the said form, a single code was given to the written interview form or audio file to facilitate follow-up. This form containing a summary of the important issues raised during the interview was brought to the interviewee to be used in the analysis process in case of confirmation and possibly correction of some cases. The process of conducting interviews continued until reaching saturation (15 people). The content analysis method was used to analyze the data. Content analysis is a common method for examining documents. This method can be useful for recorded materials related to the past or present and helps to obtain a detailed evaluation and analysis of the document. The purpose of content analysis is to create a framework for describing the phenomenon. There are three different approaches for qualitative content analysis, the difference of which is related to the method of coding and determining the origin of the code, and each of them has its own strengths and weaknesses. These three methods are traditional, guided and comprehensive approaches.[34] For this purpose, the data of each interview was written immediately and after several times of careful reading and familiarization with the texts, the findings were described, analyzed and interpreted. For this purpose, MAXQDA.12 software was used. Some initial coding were given to some interviewers for confirmation.

The main question and sub-questions were conducted with a semi-structured interview. The main question includes:

1- What are the core competencies of senior managers of medical sciences universities in the country?

And sub-questions include:

1. In your opinion, what other duties does a senior university manager (president and vice presidents) have in addition to the tasks mentioned in the regulations of the cultural revolution council of the university?

2. In your opinion, what other roles does a senior university administrator (principal and vice presidents) have?

3. What qualifications does each of these duties and roles require?

The third stage: Compilation of the primary core competency dimensions for High level managers of Iranian medical sciences universities.

In this stage, the basic dimensions of core competency of High level managers of medical sciences universities was compiled using the panel of experts. For this purpose, 7 human resources experts and managers with more than 5 years of High level management experience in the University of Medical Sciences were selected; and a coordinator was present in the meetings. The objectives of the meeting were shared with the members in advance. The questions were discussed in order from simple to challenging and everyone was given a chance to express their opinion. If it was not possible to answer all the questions in the meeting, another meeting was held to review the views of the experts. The meetings were recorded with the consent of the audience and the output was the primary dimension of core competence of high-level managers. At this stage, the studied community included experts in the field of human resources and managers with more than 5 years of high-level management experience in the University of Medical Sciences. The data collection tool at this stage of the study is using a checklist and expert panel, and the researcher used them to obtain the opinions of the participants. For data analysis, in addition to recording and recording all the conversations of the participants in the meeting, the interactions of the participants with each other and the notes of the meeting coordinator were analyzed. Data analysis was done at two descriptive and interpretive levels. Finally, the initial dimensions were determined by the opinion of the research team and based on the results of the group discussion.

The fourth stage: Confirmation of the primary core competence dimensions of high-level managers of medical sciences universities.

At this stage of the research, the Delphi technique was used. This technique is based on the assumption that the views of several experts on a subject are better than their individual views.[35] The studied population at this stage was academics who are experts in the core competency of managers and high-level managers of Iranian medical sciences universities. The samples studied at this stage were seven high-level managers (presidents, vice presidents, university professors, and managers with human resources experience). The number of Delphi rounds continued until reaching a consensus or rejecting the proposed options. Data analysis, the numerical sum of people’s judgments and votes was the basis of the final agreement. The consensus criterion is at least 70% and the rejection criterion is below 50%.

Ethical consideration

In addition, ethical considerations were observed in all stages of the research, including obtaining permission from the university with the code of ethics Ethical consideration: IR.MUI.NUREMA.REC.1403.109, the informed consent of the participants in the research, keeping the names confidential and mentioning the results without the names of the individuals.

Result

Finally, after carefully studying the documents and analyzing the content and coding of the interviews, they formed the core competence dimensions of managers based on the opinion of experts and used the Delphi method to extract key concepts in the form of 30 components of the competence of managers. Managers were identified. Demographic characteristics are shown in Table 1. 66% of people have had work experience between 5 and 10 years. The minimum work experience to participate in this study is 5 years.

Table 1.

Demographic characteristics of the studied community (15 people)

Variable		Frequency		Percentage
Years of service		5		34
		10		66
Age		3		20
		10		66
		2		14

The evaluation of the quality of the research findings in terms of the examined criteria is presented in Table 2. In this table, the reviewed criteria and their description are presented. The criteria included items such as reliability, transferability, reliability, verifiability, reproducibility, usefulness, originality, and adaptability.

Table 2.

Evaluation of the quality of research findings

Criteria		Description
Reliability: the degree of agreement between the findings and the research data		1. How many times were the interview questions reviewed and revised? and 2. The codes obtained from the interviews were checked more carefully
Transferability: the extent to which the findings are practical in other similar locations		1. Finding the possibility of transferring research findings to similar places; and 2. Identifying all the concepts from the interviews.
Reliability: the degree of stability of interpretations over time		1. Coding in a systematic and methodical manner and 2. Identifying the interviewees’ experiences regarding competence
Verifiability: the degree of objectivity and distance from the researcher’s prejudice		Analysis and review of codes obtained by experts and informed people and pluralism
Recitation: the researcher’s skill in receiving meanings and interpretations		1. Time management in the interview and 2. Confidence building during the interview
Usefulness: Practical dimensions of results		Using the competency documents in important human resource processes, including the promotion and development of managers, performance evaluation and appointment
being original		The significance of the findings enriches the research literature in the field of medical sciences universities.
Adaptability: Flexibility to adjust		It is possible if the conditions of the extracted documents change.

Also, the process of extracting codes to create initial codes is shown in Table 3. In this research, 13 codes were identified for the study, which are presented in detail in Table 3.

Table 3.

Code extraction process to create initial codes

interviewee code		interview text				theme codes
109		Interaction is very important, that is, a university administrator should interact constructively with equal and higher or lower organizations.				Effective internal and external communication
109		In fact, leadership means managing hearts and influencing people that a manager can sympathize with the organization apart from management. When this happens, people work wholeheartedly.				Leadership power
112		University managers mainly deal with several groups, the upstream group which includes the CEO and regulatory organizations. Second, a collection that is at their own level. Like other universities and staff managers, and the third subsets				Penetrability
111		A high-level university administrator must hear well, be a good listener, be able to use body language well, and even be effective with his speech.				Interpersonal communication with all organizational levels
110		In my opinion, we should consider several factors for the university manager, firstly, the person who is going to be at the top must have those conditions. What I mean by conditions is that basically, a university administrator must have started from a process or a place, that is, he must have gone through the organizational levels.				Communication skills (good listening/body language)
113		Certainly, if a university manager has complete information in the field of operation, he is more successful, just as a doctor is more successful than an electrical engineer in managing a university of medical sciences or a hospital.		Organizational hierarchy
109		For example, regarding this same coronavirus or our budget, we have a committee in which decisions are made to prevent people from contracting this disease or the budget deficit, this is one of the examples of decisions that the university administrator must make		Technical knowledge, related education
106		The university director must have good decision-making power and emotional intelligence, here decisions must be made quickly		Decision-making skills
105		The manager must have a set of factors, he must always be on the scene, and he must be on the job, I mean he must be among the employees and be present in the area and understand the problems closely.		Decision-making, emotional intelligence
109		I believe that everyone has a potential capacity and there is a manager in the workplace who must identify these capacities and use them effectively.		The power of understanding, being in the crowd
105		Managers in the university should have the power to make decisions in moments, especially in critical moments, that is, they should have the strength of crisis management.		Employee talent management
104		An efficient manager must be familiar with decision-making, extra-organizational, supervisory and extra-organizational departments.		Crisis management, decision making
109		The university may face a crisis and problem every day, so correct decisions should be made in critical cases.		Knowledge of changes outside the organization, ability to make decisions

The results of Table 4 are the dimensions that determine the desired competencies of high level managers in the 5 dimensions of management competence, perceptual competence, communication competence,، moral competencies, and personal characteristics. It is presented and its cognate codes are stated in front.

Table 4.

Dimensions and components in the order of priority in the manager’s competency documents

Dimensions		Components in order of priority (from right to left)
Management competence		Performance management - Change management - Planning and organization - Resource management - Specialized knowledge and skills - Participatory management - Crisis management
Perceptual competence		problem solving and decision making - strategic thinking - initiative - creativity and innovation - systemic thinking - mental analysis ability
Communication competence		Effective communication - trust - negotiation - settlement - mutual respect and understanding - acceptability in the work environment
Moral competencies		Customer orientation - Professional ethics - Work commitment and conscientiousness - Law orientation
Personal characteristics (individual)		Flexibility-risk-taking-responsibility-persistence and seriousness-openness and decisiveness-positivity-criticism and self-reliance

Discussion

This research was conducted to identify the Components of Core Competencies of high-level managers in Iranian Medical Universities: A Content Analysis Approach. To achieve the goal of the research, with a semi-structured interview with each high-level manager of the university and the analysis of the findings, the main categories and themes of the dimensions were identified with the theme analysis approach, and finally the dimensions of core competencies of high-level managers of medical sciences universities. It was extracted with five overarching themes including managerial competencies, perceptual competencies, communication competencies, attitudes and values, personality traits (individual), and thirty main themes. The themes in the designed dimensions are consistent with many dimensions presented by domestic and foreign researchers, which are explained below.

Personality (individual) competencies: This competency includes the main ethical, attitudinal, and behavioral themes. The interviewees believe that due to the importance of medical sciences universities in the health and strengthening of the country’s health personnel, creating smoothness and facilitation of the high-level managers of the universities in the work processes will increase the speed of action and agility of the processes and facilitate the flow of affairs and as a result, It increases the stability and continuity of health-oriented quality services. Also, the development of the rule of law of the managers causes the employees to be role dimensions and leads to the strengthening of the integrated organizational culture and the institutionalization of discipline in the organization. This merit is in line with the merit of Ramadan Panah et al.’s[36] and Babashahi et al.’s[37] models. Communication skills: based on research findings, the interactions and communication of high-level managers play an important role in maintaining and maintaining employees and their motivation and patients’ satisfaction with the quality of health services. Also, high-level managers’ extra-organizational interactions with the approach of social responsibilities increase their responsiveness to external organizations and society. On the other hand, the development and application of the teamwork approach by high-level managers leads to synergy in the work and activities and efficiency of the health system and increases its productivity. This competence is consistent with the competence of Similer’s model.[38]

Also, Jafari and Adib in their study on the competency of managers stated psychological competencies as an important factor and showed that interpersonal communication is the most effective.[39]

Management competencies: This competency includes the main themes of human resource management, professionalism, and management. The interviewees believe that due to the high expertise and mastery of the managers in the technical issues of the university, there is no major problem in the technical field, and their greatest concern is in human resources issues. High ability and understanding in human resource management is one of the things that need to develop the competence of managers in this field so that they can interact effectively with colleagues and handle their expectations and requests. On the other hand, considering that at the same time, managers are members of tender commissions and commercial technical committees, and they are constantly accountable to legal and regulatory authorities. Managers’ ability and mastery of legal issues and tenders can provide them with optimal responses. Also, the sub-components of general knowledge, knowledge expertise, and organizational knowledge (as sub-components of professional competence) in Dianat et al.’s research,[40] were not differentiated and classified in this way.

Cognitive competencies: This competency includes the main themes of crisis management and strategic thinking and action. This theme includes two sub-components strategic thinking and strategic management. The interviewees believe that the strategic attitude and view of managers towards organizational issues is important and can determine the success or failure of the organization. Because universities of medical sciences are strategy-oriented, the strategies and strategic goals of the complex must be identified and formulated by managers, and then all units and employees are required to formulate their operational plans to realize these strategies to move and grow toward excellence. The organization will realize the company’s vision of operational excellence and global competitiveness. Also, the component of strategic thinking and action in strategic competence is consistent with the competence of Dorri et al.’s model.[41] Compared to previous research, the merits of the dimensions presented in this research are more comprehensive and complete than the results of Hosseinighousheh et al.,[42] Khoshouei et al.[43] Ethical competencies: This competency includes the main themes of client management (patient-centered), professional ethics, paying attention to the charter of patients’ rights, work commitment and conscientiousness, and law-abiding.[44] Present research by presenting the competency dimensions of high-level managers tries to identify the components scientifically needed by high-level managers and by designing the dimensions as the basis of the human resource management system, the fields of evaluation and selection, promotion, performance management, career path planning, To provide talent management and succession and finally, promote and develop the competencies of high-level managers of medical sciences universities.

Dianat et al.’s[40] study showed intellectual skills (problem-solving skills, decision-making, critical thinking, and creation and conceptualization); social and communication intelligence competencies (extra-organizational interaction and intra-organizational interaction); Individual competencies (knowledge and awareness, personality traits and values); Executive competencies (result orientation and executive ability, management of employee performance and guidance and leadership) are important competencies for the characteristics of managers.

Limitations and recommendation

Also, this research, like many other studies, had limitations, the most important limitations of this research and the ways to reduce their effects are mentioned below:

1. There was a lack of access to experts and knowledgeable people in the field of competence development of managers, so it was mostly tried to use experienced managers with a managerial background.

2. It was difficult to access the participants to collect information due to the dispersion of people in the country, so finally some interviews were conducted by phone or online.

3. The interview process is time-consuming and the time limit of the participants for the interview, the time of the interview was set according to the schedule and the desired time of the participants.

4. The unwillingness of the participants to conduct an interview, where the necessity and importance of the research and its goals were honestly explained, or motivational and spiritual incentives were considered for them, such as providing a certificate of cooperation.

In general, according to the above-mentioned contents, managers can use the following suggested solutions for the development of core competence:

• According to the presented dimensions, it is suggested that these dimensions be evaluated in different universities to determine the gap between the current competencies and the desired competencies of high-level managers and develop individual development programs for high-level managers of the health system in this direction.

• This research can also be conducted among middle and operational managers and its results can be compared.

• Because the current research is only qualitative, it is suggested that the designed dimensions be tested in future research.

• It is possible to identify the methods of development of managers’ competencies and compile the competence matrix of the development method.

Conclusion

Finally, it can be said that the design and presentation of the dimensions of core competencies of the High level managers of the medical sciences universities of the country can provide valuable information about the capabilities of the employees and their personality traits to the High level managers and officials of the health system and show them that according to the situation of each organization What kind of people are considered capable of serving in managerial positions?

In addition, the presentation of these dimensions can be the basis for use in the center of evaluation and development of health system managers, as the most reliable method for the specialized evaluation of core competencies required by managers and in line with the harmonization of different evaluation indicators in the country’s health system. Therefore, this research can be done by identifying the core competencies of the health system managers of different countries and localizing it for Iran, the country’s health-oriented organizations from the highest management level in the Ministry of Health and Medical Education to the management levels in the faculties of medical sciences, hospitals to help networks and health centers and other health-oriented organizations in selecting and appointing the most worthy managers. Competencies such as participatory management, change management, crisis management, project management, productivity management, resource management, planning, and organization using modern methods. There are new specialties and special skills in this category.

In sum, the review of previous research shows that most of the studies conducted in this field have focused on the general competencies of organizations, and the country’s health sector is using the same dimensions proposed by the administrative and employment organization of the country in the field of evaluating and developing the competencies of managers. Therefore, taking into account the difference between the health sector and other organizations, as well as the difference between Iran’s health system and other countries, it is felt necessary to have specific and practical dimensions for the core competency of health sector managers. Therefore, it seems that the most important innovation in the current research is paying attention to different management levels and trying to design specific dimensions as well as localizing the core competencies of managers and applying them in the center of evaluation and development of High level managers of medical sciences universities, as a basis for the specialized identification of the relevant competencies. It is the need of human resource managers and in line with the harmonization of different evaluation indicators in the country’s health system.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

Funding Statement

Nil.