IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v93y2013icp229-237.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Using complexity theory to analyse the organisational response to resurgent tuberculosis across London

Author

Listed:
  • Trenholm, Susan
  • Ferlie, Ewan

Abstract

We employ complexity theory to analyse the English National Health Service (NHS)'s organisational response to resurgent tuberculosis across London. Tennison (2002) suggests that complexity theory could fruitfully explore a healthcare system's response to this complex and emergent phenomenon: we explore this claim here. We also bring in established New Public Management principles to enhance our empirical analysis, which is based on data collected between late 2009 and mid-2011. We find that the operation of complexity theory based features, especially self-organisation, are significantly impacted by the macro context of a New Public Management-based regime which values control, measurement and risk management more than innovation, flexibility and lateral system building. We finally explore limitations and suggest perspectives for further research.

Suggested Citation

  • Trenholm, Susan & Ferlie, Ewan, 2013. "Using complexity theory to analyse the organisational response to resurgent tuberculosis across London," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 229-237.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:93:y:2013:i:c:p:229-237
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.08.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953612005941
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.08.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ralph D. Stacey, 1995. "The science of complexity: An alternative perspective for strategic change processes," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(6), pages 477-495.
    2. Gandy, Matthew & Zumla, Alimuddin, 2002. "The resurgence of disease: social and historical perspectives on the 'new' tuberculosis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 385-396, August.
    3. Robert Drazin & Lloyd Sandelands, 1992. "Autogenesis: A Perspective on the Process of Organizing," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(2), pages 230-249, May.
    4. Hood, Christopher, 1995. "The "new public management" in the 1980s: Variations on a theme," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 20(2-3), pages 93-109.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Walton, Mat, 2014. "Applying complexity theory: A review to inform evaluation design," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 119-126.
    2. West, Robert M. & House, Allan O. & Keen, Justin & Ward, Vicky L., 2015. "Using the structure of social networks to map inter-agency relationships in public health services," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 107-114.
    3. Sara A. Kreindler, 2019. "The stipulation‐stimulation spiral: A model of system change," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(4), pages 1464-1477, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Deborah Dougherty & Danielle D. Dunne, 2011. "Organizing Ecologies of Complex Innovation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(5), pages 1214-1223, October.
    2. Accard, Philippe, 2015. "Complex hierarchy: The strategic advantages of a trade-off between hierarchical supervision and self-organizing," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 89-103.
    3. Ian Hodge & William M. Adams, 2016. "Short-Term Projects versus Adaptive Governance: Conflicting Demands in the Management of Ecological Restoration," Land, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-17, November.
    4. Lu, Jinfeng & Dimov, Dimo, 2023. "A system dynamics modelling of entrepreneurship and growth within firms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(3).
    5. Ball, Amanda & Craig, Russell, 2010. "Using neo-institutionalism to advance social and environmental accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 283-293.
    6. Davide Consoli & Pier Paolo Patrucco, 2011. "Complexity and the Coordination of Technological Knowledge: The Case of Innovation Platforms," Chapters, in: Handbook on the Economic Complexity of Technological Change, chapter 8 Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. Jarratt, Denise & Ceric, Arnela, 2015. "The complexity of trust in business collaborations," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 2-12.
    8. Robbins, Geraldine & Lapsley, Irvine, 2015. "From secrecy to transparency: Accounting and the transition from religious charity to publicly-owned hospital," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 19-32.
    9. Rosta, Miklós, 2013. "New Public Management: opportunity for the Centre, thread for the Periphery," MPRA Paper 68474, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Monika Winn & Manfred Kirchgeorg & Andrew Griffiths & Martina K. Linnenluecke & Elmar Günther, 2011. "Impacts from climate change on organizations: a conceptual foundation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 157-173, March.
    11. Tóth, Balázs, 2021. "Milyen kapcsolatban állnak a közszféra reformjai a gazdaságpolitikai paradigmákkal? [How reforms of the public sector relate to the paradigms of economic policy]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(2), pages 205-222.
    12. Maria Rosaria Alfano & Anna Laura Baraldi & Claudia Cantabene, 2023. "Eppur si muove: an evaluation of museum policy reform in Italy," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 47(1), pages 97-131, March.
    13. Zhang, Tuohong & Liu, Xiaoyun & Bromley, Helen & Tang, Shenglan, 2007. "Perceptions of tuberculosis and health seeking behaviour in rural Inner Mongolia, China," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(2-3), pages 155-165, May.
    14. Sari Suomalainen & Outi Tahvonen & Helena Kahiluoto, 2022. "From Participation to Involvement in Urban Open Space Management and Maintenance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-19, October.
    15. Shukla, Anuprita & Teedon, Paul & Cornish, Flora, 2016. "Empty rituals? A qualitative study of users’ experience of monitoring & evaluation systems in HIV interventions in western India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 7-15.
    16. Mr. Richard I Allen & Yasemin Hurcan & Peter Murphy & Mr. Maximilien Queyranne & Mr. Sami Yläoutinen, 2015. "The Evolving Functions and Organization of Finance Ministries," IMF Working Papers 2015/232, International Monetary Fund.
    17. repec:cuf:journl:y:2017:v:18:i:1:moreno-enguix is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Heli Hookana, 2011. "Measurement of Effectiveness, Efficiency and Quality in Public Sector Services: Interventionist Empirical Investigations," MIC 2011: Managing Sustainability? Proceedings of the 12th International Conference, Portorož, 23–26 November 2011 [Selected Papers],, University of Primorska, Faculty of Management Koper.
    19. Ferry, Laurence & Zakaria, Zamzulaila & Zakaria, Zarina & Slack, Richard, 2018. "Framing public governance in Malaysia: Rhetorical appeals through accrual accounting," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 170-183.
    20. Marta Cecilia Jaramillo-Mejía & Dov Chernichovsky, 2015. "Información para la calidad del sistema de salud en Colombia: una propuesta de revisión basada en el modelo israelí," Estudios Gerenciales, Universidad Icesi, January.
    21. Austin, Kelly F. & DeScisciolo, Cristina & Samuelsen, Lene, 2016. "The Failures of Privatization: A Comparative Investigation of Tuberculosis Rates and the Structure of Healthcare in Less-Developed Nations, 1995–2010," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 450-460.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:93:y:2013:i:c:p:229-237. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.