title: The implementation of electronic services: planned or organic growth?
abstract: The literature on innovation suggests that projects are successful when rigorous project management is mixed judiciously with 'organic' development. This paper argues that organic growth can play a substantial role in the implementation of electronic services in healthcare settings. Evidence for organic growth is presented, based on a study of email use. Methods are presented for investigating email use in health service settings in the National Health Service (NHS) in Bradford, England. Geographical information systems (GIS) outputs and social network analyses are presented. The results demonstrate a fivefold increase in the use of email over a 13-month period, which is shown to be largely independent of the growth in the number of organisations using the network. They also demonstrate a marked increase in the complexity of the patterns of email use over the period.
authors.affiliation: Department of Computing, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cole
authors.forename: Malcolm
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Colledge
authors.forename: Tony
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Megaw
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Powls
authors.forename: Seth
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bullock
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Keen
mesh_terms: D003625:Data Collection / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D034742:Electronic Mail / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008492:Medical Informatics Computing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006113:United Kingdom