ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to introduce the main elements of the research process that underpins the authors' investigation. It introduces the empirical research that forms the focus of this study and which is intended to examine in depth the practice of healthcare management. The chapter takes into consideration the changing context of management in healthcare and what that means for the changing nature of managerial work in practice. The research set out to examine how management knowledge requirements were being shaped and constrained by managerial roles and responsibilities and how management knowledge sharing and learning processes were related to managers' occupational background and careers; organizational learning and management development processes; and wider interactions through professional and other networks and communities of practice. Implicit in the understanding of 'management' as a socially constructed phenomenon is the understanding that particular constructions of management promote the reproduction of particular social and economic relations.
