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Work autonomy is an important characteristic of professional positions in community mental health programs. Yet this concept of work autonomy is so ambiguous that managers are often uncertain about the most effective job redesign strategies. Considering (1) formalization of organization rules, procedures, and job descriptions, (2) the routineness of the work technology, and (3) the degree of decision-making centralization as the essential components of work autonomy, the researchers found that job satisfied employees prefer certainty in job expectations even though this may reduce their overall autonomy. At times of economic uncertainty, special attention must be given to managing turbulence in the external environment so that professionals can effectively exercise autonomy in their service delivery functions.

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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.

This research reports the findings of a year-long study on the efforts to link discharged in-patients to community support services. Using the informal network model developed by O'Brien and others, the assumption that existing services will be used, just because they are there, is clearly shown to be in error. The implications for management are delineated, documenting that staff efforts in discharge planning are needed, that contracts with community-based service programs may help. Unless such efforts are undertaken, the long-term effectiveness of in-patient programs is questioned.