Chapter 1: Introduction CASE STUDY: The National Health Service Organizations can vary hugely in terms of purpose, values, size, history and resources. One of the most important and recognizable organizations which exists in the UK is in the National Health Service. The NHS was created in 1948 and is a publicly funded healthcare system covering the whole of the UK. The NHS is the single biggest employer in the UK, with a workforce of around 1.2 million, and an annual budget of around £135 billion. The NHS is frequently reported as the single most important issue for votersin the UK, and the vital importance of the NHS has been illustrated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Media coverage of the pandemic reported on the work NHS frontline staff were doing to care for patients, and the UK public showed their support with Clapping for Carers each Thursday throughout the 2020 lockdowns. The NHS does, however, experience many of the problems which organizations face. The NHS isfrequently criticized for the amount of taxpayer money it requiresto remain functional, and also for the amount of inefficiency and waste which exists within the organization. There are also issuesrelating to the workforce:staff often work long hoursin pressurized environments, and in the last ten years there have been multiple public sector pay freezes impacting them. The role of patients is also important: in recent decades, attempts have been made to give greater voice to patients with regards to their treatment, although this could be seen as problematic as some of the biggest illnesses the NHS treats are lifestyle-related and include alcohol consumption, smoking, unbalanced diets and lack of exercise. The NHS is also a complex web of interconnected organizations, ‘NHS’ being used as an umbrella term for NHS Foundation Trusts, GP Surgeries, Dentists, Hospices, and a range of other support organizations, including administrative and research bodies. Finally, there isthe issue of who isin charge of the NHS? The NHS isformally the responsibility of the Department of Health, but there are many other important actors: senior hospital managers, representatives of employee groups, patient groups, and also the influence of private sector actors, to list but a few. The NHS is a paradigmatic example of how important organizations are to the functioning of our society, and also why we need to study them in order to understand how they operate and can be improved.