A Case Study of Administrative Structure in a Health Department

This is a report of a participant-observer study made by the anthropologist-director of a small county health department. This was regarded as an unusual opportunity, not only to contribute to the knowledge of the inner workings of a health institution, but also to use this information as a basis upon which to modify the organizational structure toward a more appropriate environment in which health personnel may work. The investigator was cognizant of the hazards of his dual role in this undertaking, as the chief executive of the organization on the one hand and as a social scientist examining the organization on the other. In such situations, one may risk being accused of bias because of vested interest on the one hand, or he may be indicted for not hewing to the traditional boundaries which separate these different roles on the other. To these possible criticisms, the investigator can only state that he attempted to be objective, since only factual material could be useful in this undertaking. In regard to the second type of criticism, he claims not to possess a neatly compartmentalized mind, and hence the problem of roles did not arise. He merely tried to use the knowledge and skills which seemed to be appropriate to the task. Further, the investigator felt there were even some advantages in dual functioning, which allows one to obtain information to which an outsider might not have access. What follows is a presentation of what was found and what was done about it

Criticism · Dual (grammatical number) · Institution · Management · Organizational structure · Political science · Presentation (obstetrics) · Public relations · Sociology · Task (project management) · Healthcare Systems and Practices · Law · Medicine · Psychology