ABSTRACT
There are two issues raised when hospital boards of directors are considered as linkages between the organisation and its environment. First, there is the issue of the different functions that boards may perform. Second, there are the different forms and methods of linkage between organisations and their environments. Previous studies have emphasised the role of the board as a link between the organisation and its environment. Zald (1969) noted that the board might also have an executive or administrative function. He hypothesised that the conditions of board power in organisational administration were affected by the external detachable resources that board members possessed, by virtue of personal characteristics, and the strategic contingency situations that the organisation confronted. The board of directors, then, may function in a capacity of either linkage or administration.
