Dealing with Power in Organisational Intervention: The Place of Methodology

(1) Background: Realist evaluation is a promising approach for evaluating organisational interventions. Crucial to realist evaluation is the development and testing of middle range theories (MRTs). MRTs are programme theories that outline how the intervention mechanisms work in a specific context to bring about certain outcomes. To the best of our knowledge, no organisational intervention study has yet developed initial MRTs. This study aimed to develop initial MRTs based on qualitative evidence from the development phase of an organisational intervention in a large multi-national organisation, the US food service industry. (2) Methods: Data were collected through 20 semi-structured interviews with the organisation′s managers, five focus groups with a total of 30 employees, and five worksite observations. Template analysis was used to analyse data. (3) Results: Four initial MRTs were developed based on four mechanisms of participation, leadership commitment, communication, and tailoring the intervention to fit the organisational context to formulate ‘what may work for whom in which circumstances?’ in organisational interventions; (4) Conclusions: Our findings provide insights into ‘how’ and ‘which’ initial MRTs can be developed in organisational interventions.

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Making soft intelligence hard: a multi-site qualitative study of challenges relating to voice about safety concerns

BMJ Quality & Safety ◽

10.1136/bmjqs-2017-007579 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 27 (9) ◽

pp. 710-717 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Graham P Martin ◽

Emma-Louise Aveling ◽

Anne Campbell ◽

Carolyn Tarrant ◽

Peter J Pronovost ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Qualitative Study ◽

Comparative Method ◽

Employee Voice ◽

Senior Leaders ◽

Speaking Up ◽

Academic Hospitals ◽

Wide Range ◽

Constant Comparative Method ◽

Organisational Intervention

BackgroundHealthcare organisations often fail to harvest and make use of the ‘soft intelligence’ about safety and quality concerns held by their own personnel. We aimed to examine the role of formal channels in encouraging or inhibiting employee voice about concerns.MethodsQualitative study involving personnel from three academic hospitals in two countries. Interviews were conducted with 165 participants from a wide range of occupational and professional backgrounds, including senior leaders and those from the sharp end of care. Data analysis was based on the constant comparative method.ResultsLeaders reported that they valued employee voice; they identified formal organisational channels as a key route for the expression of concerns by employees. Formal channels and processes were designed to ensure fairness, account for all available evidence and achieve appropriate resolution. When processed through these formal systems, concerns were destined to become evidenced, formal and tractable to organisational intervention. But the way these systems operated meant that some concerns were never voiced. Participants were anxious about having to process their suspicions and concerns into hard evidentiary facts, and they feared being drawn into official procedures designed to allocate consequence. Anxiety about evidence and process was particularly relevant when the intelligence was especially ‘soft’—feelings or intuitions that were difficult to resolve into a coherent, compelling reconstruction of an incident or concern. Efforts to make soft intelligence hard thus risked creating ‘forbidden knowledge’: dangerous to know or share.ConclusionsThe legal and bureaucratic considerations that govern formal channels for the voicing of concerns may, perversely, inhibit staff from speaking up. Leaders responsible for quality and safety should consider complementing formal mechanisms with alternative, informal opportunities for listening to concerns.

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Mental health under fire: organisational intervention in a wounded service*

The Couch in the Marketplace ◽

10.4324/9780429481376-14 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 145-166

Author(s):

H. Shmuel Erlich

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Organisational Intervention

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Knowledge Management

Knowledge Management and Business Strategies ◽

10.4018/978-1-59904-486-6.ch001 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 1-26 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Shamin Bodhanya

Keyword(s):

Knowledge Management ◽

Complex Adaptive Systems ◽

Adaptive Systems ◽

Social Process ◽

Situated Action ◽

Complex Adaptive ◽

Process Perspective ◽

The Impact ◽

Epistemology Of Action ◽

Organisational Intervention

This chapter demonstrates that despite a plurality of discourses related to knowledge, they are reduced to a single dominant discourse on knowledge management. It draws on systems thinking and complexity theory to reconceptualise organisations as complex adaptive systems within which knowledge ecologies may flourish. The focus thus shifts to knowing in situated action and on knowledge as a dynamic phenomenon. The chapter makes a contribution to strengthening the impact of the epistemology of action and that of a social-process perspective of knowledge. The approach presented has radical implications for knowledge management such that it becomes an enduring organisational intervention as opposed to a management fad. The implications for organisational practice and changes in managerial orientations are shown to be novel offering significant potential towards a second order knowledge management.

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Promoting mental health in transcultural organisations: Introducing an organisational intervention model

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e604062012-292 ◽

2012 ◽

Author(s):

Claude-Helene Mayer

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Intervention Model ◽

Organisational Intervention

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Measuring the people fleet: general analysis, interventions and needs

Strategic HR Review ◽

10.1108/shr-10-2016-0092 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

pp. 17-23 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Ian Hesketh ◽

Cary Cooper

Keyword(s):

Contemporary Literature ◽

General Analysis ◽

Content Type ◽

Employee Wellbeing ◽

The People ◽

Hr Model ◽

Conceptual Paper ◽

The Uk ◽

Employee Needs ◽

Organisational Intervention

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to deepen conceptual understanding of how employee wellbeing is identified and categorised in the workplace, and how management information is used to target workplace interventions. Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual paper reviewing and discussing contemporary literature and practice, with a focus on themes congruent with employee needs and organisational intervention options in relation to wellbeing. This paper considers wellbeing in the context of police work in the UK, and how a framework can help those charged with leading to understand and act in the interest of both the employee and the organisation. Findings This paper suggests that the use of an appropriate strategic HR model, such as the General Analysis, Interventions and Needs (GAIN) pyramid (Hesketh and Rhodes, 2015), can assist organisations to develop practical categories and metrics to illustrate employee status in relation to wellbeing. Practical implications The arguments posed provide opportunities for practitioners to use workforce-modelling tools that assist in identifying, categorising and targeting wellbeing interventions in the workplace. Originality/value This paper highlights that identifying, categorising and prioritising wellbeing interventions in the workplace has hitherto received little academic attention. This paper contributes by providing a greater practical insight into what may work, which is important for leaders in all organisations, particularly those trying to maintain operational performance whilst undergoing programmes of change.

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