Environmental Scanning and Problem Recognition by Governing Boards: The Response of Hospitals to Declining Birth Rates

Abstract
This study investigates the problem of organizational adaptation to environmental change, focusing on the variables of information sources and governing board structures. The overall findings strongly suggest that early problem recognition can be enhanced by the structures and the sources of data used in the decision-making process. An additional hypothesis growing out of a pilot study and supported by the main study concerned the positive impact of a new administrator on early problem recognition. The implications of thesefindingsfor the process of problem recognition are discussed.