In hospitals, as a human organization, the major relationship
4 B. Watcharasriroj, J.C.S. Tang / Journal of High Technology Management Research 15 (2004) 1–16
between activities within and across the organizations is a ‘‘producer–consumer’’ relationship, which
occurs when one person in a hospital uses information produced by another. This relationship can lead to
several kinds of dependencies, the management of which can be affected by the use of IT. Such
dependencies include prerequisite constraints, transfer, and usability.