Abstract
This paper considers the development of research in organisational behaviour within the UK healthcare system since its foundation in 1948. It looks at the location and context of such work, given the unique setting provided in this national organisation. Contextual barriers that are both historical, political ontological and epistemological, are considered in the light of recent research developments in both academia, notably the bienniel international conference Organisational Behaviour in Healthcare (OBHC), where a search for comparative work has engaged with both the wider organisational and international communities, and government, notably the National Service Delivery and Organisation Research Programme. Confounding much of this is the absence of a way of understanding the complexity of the domain of healthcare in different contexts. The application of the Cynefin framework is then discussed as a way to aid understanding of both the organisational and research tasks, and to provide a forum for collaborative understanding to allow appropriate research and practice interventions to occur. Copyright ยฉ 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.