Decision Making and Adaptation to Change by Hospital Management

Abstract

This file reproduces the leading part (Part I) of a report presented by an IOR team to the then Ministry of Health in England on the outcomes of a two-year research project which started in August 1964. Part II presented more detailed accounts of four case studies conducted in different parts of England. These concerned the establishment of an intensive care unit; the commissioning of an outpatient department; the development of regional manpower policies; and the allocation of minor capital funds. As reported in a preface by the leader of the IOR team, John Stringer, the analysis contained in the Part I report was to become the foundation for much of IOR’s substantial later programme of work in the field of health and social services. This continued to be one of IOR’s most important fields of project work for a further decade, under a variety of auspices including the Department of Health for England, Regional Boards, the Scottish Office and the World Health Organisation. This programme also made significant contributions to the development of IOR’s broader research themes of inter-organisational decision-making and the dynamics of policy change.