Managing Through networks: Some Issues and Implications for the NHS

Hierarchies, markets and networks have been described as three alternative styles of organizing, each of which may call for distinctive managerial orientations and styles. The question arises as to whether there is now a deep-seated shift underway from organizational forms based on markets and hierarchies and towards more network-based forms of organization. This paper assesses the significance of these broader developments with reference to changing managerial practice within a major UK organization (the NHS). It seeks to access the developing theory of network-based organizations; to assess empirically the significance of these developments for managerial practice within public-sector organizations such as the NHS; and to consider the organizational and managerial implications, for example, Human Resource Management (HRM) strategy. There have so far been few studies which have taken public-sector settings for study or which have sought to connect network theory to practice, and this paper can make a useful contribution in these regards.