Konflikthantering inom sjukvården : erfarenheter från ett chefsperspektiv på två akutsjukhus i Mellansverige

Destructive conflicts in a workplace can be harmful. It is important that an organization through guidelines, training, distributed accountability and established external contacts quickly discovers and manages such conflicts. The purpose of this study was from a manager's perspective identify typical conflict situations and conflict resolution strategies at two hospitals in central Sweden, to increase knowledge about how conflicts are handled in hospitals and identify any problems in the conflict management. A qualitative approach with semi-structured individual interviews was chosen. Interviews were conducted with two staff specialists and six department heads about workplace procedures for conflict management and their experience of the conflict management of typical conflict situations. The interviews were condensed to structured summaries that were categorized and analyzed. Although respondents were generally quite satisfied with the current practice, a recurring complaint was that department heads often felt trapped in their role as a link between the upper management of the hospital and their employees. This became sometimes a cause of conflict. Another problem identified in the study concerns the role of the department head as a conflict manager. The analysis shows that problems in this role can be referred to the unequal relation between the department head and the employee, as well as the varying competence among department heads when it comes to conflict management. The study shows that this may be especially problematic when the manager is personally involved in the conflict, as was the case in a clear majority of the conflict situations described in the interviews.Destruktiva konflikter på en arbetsplats kan vara förödande. Det är viktigt att man i en organisation genom riktlinjer, utbildning, ansvarsfördelning och etablerade externa kontakter snabbt upptäcker och hanterar sådana konflikter. Syftet med denna studie var att utifrån ett chefsperspektiv identifiera typiska konfliktsituationer och konfliktlösningsstrategier på två sjukhus i Mellansverige, för att öka kunskapen om hur konflikter i sjukhusmiljö hanteras och identifiera eventuella problem i konflikthanteringen. En kvalitativ ansats med semistrukturerade individuella intervjuer valdes som metod. Intervjuer gjordes med två personalspecialister och sex enhetschefer om arbetsplatsens rutiner för konflikthantering och deras erfarenheter av hur konflikthanteringen fungerar i praktiken vid typiska konfliktsituationer. Intervjuerna kondenserades till strukturerade referat som kategoriserades och analyserades. Även om intervjupersonerna överlag var relativt nöjda med nuvarande rutiner var ett återkommande klagomål att enhetscheferna ofta kände sig klämda i sin roll som länk mellan ledning och medarbetare. Detta ledde ibland till konflikter. Ett annat problem som identifieras i studien är chefens roll som konflikthanterare. Beroendeställningen mellan chef och anställd kan här utgöra ett problem liksom chefers varierande kompetens när det gäller konflikthantering. Studien visar att detta är speciellt problematiskt när chefen själv är inblandat i konflikten vilket var fallet i en klar majoritet av de i intervjuerna beskrivna konfliktsituationerna

Ojämlika arbetsplatser

In this research anthology, inequality in Swedish working life in a Sweden marked by increased inequality, is studied. Racialised inequality, racism and discrimination in individual workplaces are focused, but inequalities based on class and gender are also studied. The concept of inequality regime is used by several of the authors to analyse work organizations. The workplaces studied are found in different sectors, not least in healthcare. The book also includes contributions that provide comparative international perspectives and studies of the development of inequality over time. The anthology contains 12 chapters based on empirical studies of working life, one chapter that analyses working life inequality from a political theory perspective, an introduction and a closing chapter that frames and draws conclusions from the different studies, as well as an afterword. The authors are 22 researchers from different social science disciplines

Mer eller mindre byråkratisk : En studie av organisationsförändringar inom Kronofogdemyndigheten

Extensive changes in public organizations have been carried through since the end of the 20th century as a way of achieving higher efficiency. Inspiration came from the private sector. The Swedish Enforcement Authority carried through several organizational changes during this time. The authority was during 1997-2006 organized in ten independent authorities subordinated to the National Tax Board. This thesis deals with the organizational changes within the Malmoe authority, which from 2001 organized its personnel in teams in order to increase productivity and improve the work environment. Almost at the same time a new computer system and a new production target were introduced. This thesis focuses on the impacts and consequences of the organizational changes in an authority with large demands on legal rights. In particular it analyzes what the changes meant for the bureaucratic organizational principles as well as for the ‘bureaucratic values’. The empirical material is composed of interviews with the staff, internal documents and observations of various meetings and seminars. The theoretical framework is based on Max Weber’s concept of bureaucracy and on a perspective of organizational change inspired from new institutionalism. It is argued that the Enforcement Authority was both more and less bureaucratic as a result of the organizational changes. In several respects the team organization, the computer system and the production target proved to be compatible with the bureaucratic structure of the Enforcement Authority rather than replacing it. In some ways the changes increased the bureaucracy of the system. For example, the new computer system facilitated a more intensive bureaucratic control of the employees where production rates of each team were able to be monitored and measured on a weekly basis. A priority order meant using stricter rules than those previously relied upon for determining which cases would be treated first thus decreasing the use of discretion by individual employees. In other ways the organization became less bureaucratic. Organizing the staff in teams meant a collective instead of a individual responsibility for the cases and for fulfilling the production target. A collective responsibility, however, also meant that the bureaucratic values were fulfilled to a higher extent as the executing officers were able to control each other. As the members of the teams got greater insight into each others work as a consequence of the new computer system and the team organization they were more inclined to make decisions strictly by the book. This could be seen as a form of self-control promoting a more uniform behavior towards the clients. The maintenance of the bureaucratic organization did not stop the institutionalization process of the team organization. The bureaucratic organization turned out to be firmly institutionalized, but also adaptable both to the sharpened demands for increased efficiency as well as the demands following a re-organization of work into a non-bureaucratic collectively organized team work. In some respects the bureaucratic order even became stronger. Various aspects of Weber’s criterions for the bureaucratic ideal type including bureaucratic values such as legal rights were strengthened. The Enforcement Authority was de-bureaucratized as well as re-bureaucratized through the institutionalization- and re-institutionalization processes

Inledning : Uppror i elfenbenstornet: En bok om praktikforskning i socialt arbete

Non peer reviewe

Insegel till dialog : skolans matematikutbildning – en studie i fyra praktiker

Avhandling (Ph.D.) – Universitetet i Nordland, 201