The implementation of electronic services: planned or organic growth?
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.
Cole
John
J
Department of Computing, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
Colledge
Malcolm
M
Megaw
Tony
T
Powls
Martin
M
Bullock
Seth
S
Keen
Justin
J
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