 Systems of interdependency and core orchestrating themes at health care unit levelLise Lamothe and Yvon Dufour Public Management Review, 2007, vol. 9, issue 1, 67-85 Abstract: Configuration is an appealing concept to help understanding the complex arrangements that guide organizations' actions and contribute to their coherence. Although health care organizations are often described as professional bureaucracy a deep understanding of their structure and systems is still lacking. In this article, we draw on empirical data gathered in a Canadian teaching hospital to expose the nature of interdependencies and themes that drive some of its configurations at health care unit level. Five clinical activities were investigated (ocular surgery, brachytherapy, vascular surgery, rheumatology and geriatrics) using direct systematic observation. Four sub-orchestrating themes emerged. Based on the findings it is argued that the operating core of health care organizations is not homogeneous but rather heterogeneous. Therefore it is our contention that hospitals and other public organizations where professionals control the activities at operating level might be better regarded as ‘diversified professional federation’ than as professional bureaucracy. Date: 2007 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:pubmgr:v:9:y:2007:i:1:p:67-85 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1080/14719030601181225 Access Statistics for this article Public Management Review is currently edited by Professor Stephen P. Osborne, Jenny Harrow and Tobias Jung More articles in Public Management Review from Taylor & Francis Journals |
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