Managing in a Professional Bureaucracy

Successful organisations harness the talents of all their members but especially their most skilled and creative people. In a hospital the most highly skilled staff are professionals working in the “operating core”, providing services directly to users. The existence of a “dual hierarchy” in health care organisations often separates this group from institutional management. A hospital′s success depends, however, on the integration of professional expertise and general management. Professionals and managers must inhabit each other′s worlds. These lessons are applied in a NHS Hospital Unit of Management.