Systemic development of health organizations: An integrative systems methodology

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is helping managers and leaders in healthcare develop viable organizations that deliver high-level services. Health organizations such as hospitals are exceedingly complex. Therefore, we use Integrative Systems Methodology, a framework designed especially as an enabler for coping with complexity. Within that framework, we combine quantitative and qualitative methods to describe and explain organizational phenomena evolving over time. Rather than a large survey, we use a real-life case study. A single-case setting has been chosen, to enable long-term and in-depth exploration. The case spans 30 years, covering the evolution of the oncological care system of Carinthia, which is a federal state of Austria. The contribution of the chapter is in providing deep insights. It lays open the structures underlying the viability of health organizations. The chapter also provides well-grounded advice for how to build a robust health organization in a context of complexity and change.