The literature on organization behavior suggests four types of influences on domain consensus of organizations: (1) organizational design, (2) routine patterns of technical interorganizational contacts, (3) persuasive efforts by organizational leaders, and (4) organizational environment. In this study, conducted prior to the phase-out of health systems agencies (HSAs) in Alabama by the governor, responses from questionnaires to administrators of HSAs and hospitals in the state were used to compute a measure of HSA domain consensus. This measure served as the dependent variable in a regression analysis, with measures of the four types of influences as independent variables. The analysis suggests that one major influence on domain consensus was persuasion by HSA officials, particularly subtle, long-term efforts; a second major influence was organizational environment, specifically the experience and training of hospital administrators interacting with HSAs.

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This article speculates that the applicability of specific models of interorganizational relations for public agencies may be linked to the stage of the organizational life cycle in which a particular agency is located. Five classes of models are examined, each of which implies different types of interorganizational problems and different amounts of freedom for public administrators to handle these problems. It is suggested that administrative freedom of action in interorganizational relations is at the maximum near the "midlife" of public organizations, at the minimum near their "birth " and "death. "

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