ABSTRACT
The objective of the National Health Service (NHS) is to make services available to meet all individual health needs, whether in hospital, at the general practitioner surgery or in the patients' homes. Success in the NHS depends primarily upon the professionals who provide the care. Finance is the main reason for introducing general management into the NHS. Hospital services receive three types of financial allocations, these are: revenue, capital and earmarked. A major problem with the NHS is that, although it is organized along the line-and-staff model, in reality it is a matrix organization. In every formal organization, the members do different things, i.e. specialize. There are two basic processes in formal organizations; division of tasks and integration of tasks. Enterprises are usually organized according to one of three models: line, line-and-staff and matrix. In a line organization, departments or units are based entirely upon primary activities. Primary activities are those activities that are essential for survival, profitability and growth.
