RECEIPT OF INFORMATION AND INFLUENCE OVER DECISIONS IN HOSPITALS BY THE BOARD, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER AND MEDICAL STAFF

This article examines relationships between receipt of internal administrative information in hospitals, influence over general management decisions, and the extent to which certain organizational characteristics predict the receipt of information by each of the three major groups in hospitals: the board, the CEO, and the medical staff. Using a US national sample of 287 non-profit community hospitals, CEOs were found to receive the greatest amount of information and had highest influence while medical staffs were lowest on both measures. of five major organizational characteristics, hospital size emerged as the single strongest predictor of receipt of information for both boards (beta =?0.28, p 0.001) and medical staffs (beta =?0.42, p 0.001). Overall, the five dependent variables explained 18 per cent of the variance in receipt of information by boards and 28 percent of the variance for medical staffs.     

SUPPLIER COMMITMENT IN RELATIONAL CONTRACT EXCHANGES WITH BUYERS: A STUDY OF INTERORGANIZATIONAL DEPENDENCE AND EXERCISED POWER*

This study is an examination of the relationship between dependence and power in vertical interorganizational relations. Using data collected from a US national sample of office systems/furniture dealers, power-dependence ties in low commitment supplier-buyer dyads were compared with relational contracting dyads characterized by high levels of long-term supplier commitment. When commitment was not considered, the exercised power of primary suppliers over dealer decisions was found to be related to dealer dependence on its primary supplier in ways that could be readily explained by social exchange views of power. In contrast, the relationship between exercised power and dependence was significantly different when the primary supplier -dependent buyer tie was characterized by the high supplier commitment of a relational contract.     

Managing the hollow state Collaboration and contracting

This article presents what the authors have learned about managing networks of public, private and nonprofit service providers in the context of decentralized and devolved governmental regimes - what the authors have termed the hollow state. The characteristics of the hollow state are discussed along with two strategies for managing networks of organizations that jointly produce a public service - collaboration and contracting. The article revisits the authors' preliminary theory of network effectiveness, based on a four-city study of mental health in light of an evolutionary study conducted on one city's mental health system over four years.     

Structural embeddedness and organizational social outcomes in a centrally governed mental health services network

Abstract

This article is an examination of the effects of network involvement, or structural embeddedness, on three organizationally based social outcomes. Specifically, we argue that in centralized, publicly funded networks an organization's structural embeddedness will be related to its trustworthiness, reputation and influence, as rated by other network members. Results from a network survey of a publicly funded health and human service network generally confirm our hypotheses and suggest additional work on the topic.     

Positional embeddedness in a community source software development project network: the importance of relationship intensity

This study examines those job and relationship characteristics that explain the positional embeddedness of individuals working in a multi‐organization project network. The analysis focuses differentially on three levels of relationship intensiveness: communication, coordination, and collaboration. Data were collected on the work relationships of 46 technical and administrative personnel involved in the Kuali Financial System, a community source software development project involving 12 organizations, 10 of which were colleges and universities, spread across the United States. Results were generally supportive of the hypotheses. Specifically, positional embeddedness was explained by characteristics of the project worker including the task performed, time spent on the task, and influence, as well as the ease of access to others. There was, however, little consistency in the explanatory power of these factors when comparing across levels of relationship intensity. Findings have implications for design of complex research and development projects that involve interactions across multiple organizations.