The strategic development of a health care organisation : a longitudinal study of the South African physiotherapy profession, 1971 to 2000

Doctoral Thesis

2003

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University of Cape Town

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This research focuses specifically on the South African physiotherapy profession, that societal institution which is primarily concerned with health, illness and the physical elements of movement In the human body. Together with South African society as a whole this Institution has experienced monumental changes over the last 30 years. The objective of this research is to describe and critically evaluate the nature, direction and depth of those changes for the South African physiotherapy profession. To this end the research attempts to Identify some of the broad political and societal trends in the macroenvironment, and to contextualise these within the healthcare environment and the physiotherapy profession. The main argument is that social circumstances determine not only the health of the population, but also the health care services and how health care professionals function In society (Benatar, 1997). Health care services and how health care professional's function in society are socially constructed phenomena and therefore there are marked differences in the way health care is delivered from country to country and one political system to another. Over the past decade, management research has increasingly paid attention to the manner in which organisations work to Influence and shape their environments (Lawrence, 1999). A central Issue has become the manner in which organisational environments are constituted, reproduced and transformed through organisational action and relationships.
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Bibliography: pages 147-155.

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