Att väcka den som sover : om identitet och ledarskap på en anestesi- och intensivvårdsklinik

Abstract

This biographical study of a department of anaesthesiology at a university hospitalfocuses on the strong, charismatic leadership exerted by the first leader of thedepartment, on how he made it a very prominent research institution, on how thestrong and distinctive research-oriented professional identity and culture of thedepartment persist, and on some present conflicts regarding the organizational unity ofanaesthesiology at the hospital. Much attention is given to the “organizational saga”,i.e. the collective narrative developed within the department about its past and itsidentity. In the context of the saga, different aspects of leadership are explained. Thefirst leader created and communicated the saga, and a main task of today’s leaders is todefend the values and identity expressed in the saga. It is argued that a charismaticleadership can be routinized in a narrative, in this case the saga. As much as thispossibility is not contradicted by Webers definition of charisma and its routinization,it is not actually developed in his writings. The study also discusses if the saga hasbeen fulfilled at the department and to what extent the identity is institutionalized.Furthermore, the study indicates that changes in stategies of control at the departmenthave accompanied changes in the principles that legitimate leadership in society ingeneral. Above all, it shows that a biographical perspective on organizations can befruitful, and that the concepts of identity and organizational saga have a highexplanatory value. Future biographical studies of hospital departments and theiridentity and narratives are recommended, and some theoretical points of departure aresuggested