The Scanning Of Task Environments In Hospitals: An Empirical Study

Abstract

The objectives of the paper were to identify the natural taxonomy of hospitals based on their task environmental scanning activities, and to test if scanning practices had any relationship with the overall performance of these hospitals. A cluster analysis yielded for groups of hospitals each of which had distinct scanning characteristics. Results showed significantly different performances across these groups. Hospitals with the most advanced scanning function performed better than hospitals that used less advanced methods to scan the task environment.