scholarly journals Staff Structural Empowerment – observations of first‐line managers and interviews with managers and staff

Author(s):  
Karin Lundin ◽  
Marit Silén ◽  
Annika Strömberg ◽  
Maria Engström ◽  
Bernice Skytt
Work ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Linda Widar ◽  
Erika Wall ◽  
Sven Svensson

BACKGROUND: The complex position of a first line manager is characterized by heavy workload and contradictory demands. Little is known about how first line managers experience demand and control in their work. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to explore experiences of demand and control among first line managers within psychiatric and addiction care. METHOD: In the present study, interviews with ten managers in for-profit psychiatric and addiction care in Sweden were analyzed with a phenomenographic approach. RESULTS: The managers experiences of demand and control implied varied and extensive responsibilities for a wide range of professions; regulation by organizational, economic, and political frameworks; creating balance in their work; and handling the emergence and consequences of acute crisis. These experiences of demand and control involved high and contradictory demands together with coexisting high and low levels of control. Many of their work characteristics could be described in terms of both demand and control. CONSLUSION: The first line managers experiences of demand and control are more complex than implied by the job demand control theory. Our results suggest that the organizational position and branch should be considered when identifying health hazards in the work environment of first line managers.


Author(s):  
Karin Wastesson ◽  
Anna Fogelberg Eriksson ◽  
Peter Nilsson ◽  
Maria Gustavsson

AbstractThe purpose of this article is to explore first-line managers’ experiences of workplace learning in elderly care, with a particular focus on the conditions for learning when entering a new workplace as the new manager. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 35 first-line managers from three organisations in Sweden. Four learning conditions emerged as being particularly significant for first-line managers: the managers’ previous professional experience, job-specific training, social support, and the joint repertoire of organisational arrangements. These conditions shifted in importance during the process of entering the workplace, and the way in which the conditions gave access to learning for different managers varied. The managers’ professional experience and others’ recognition of them had a considerable impact on their admittance to the new workplace. After the initial entry phase, the other three learning conditions became more significant and played a role in enabling or constraining the managers’ learning and becoming the new manager. One conclusion is that contextual and work experiences from elderly care were significant for learning during the initial phase and in order to gain access to workplace learning. Another conclusion is that high expectations and great responsibility were placed on the managers to satisfy their own learning needs. This implies that professional, social and emotional support that is received informally is just as significant for learning as formalised training for entering a new workplace as a new manager.


1992 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 49-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHRISTINE DUFFIELD
Keyword(s):  

Author(s):  
CN Lombard ◽  
A Crafford

Continuous changes in the needs of markets require effective change management at all levels in organisations. First-line managers are directly responsible for meeting the demands of clients and resistance to change at this level could result in sub-standard outputs. The effectiveness of change interventions will be largely determined by the competence of first-line managers to facilitate the desired change taking into account resistance to change. The purpose of this article is to identify competencies required by first-line managers to deal with resistance to change. The findings are based on a literature study and functional analysis. OpsommingKontinue verandering in die behoeftes van markte vereis effektiewe bestuur van verandering in alle vlakke van organisasies. Eerstelyn bestuurders is direk verantwoordelik daarvoor om aan verwagtinge van kliënte te voldoen, want weerstand teen verandering op hierdie vlak kan tot sub-standaard uitsette aanleiding gee. Die effektiwiteit van veranderingsintervensies in organisasies sal grootliks afhang van die bevoegdheid van eerstelyn bestuurders om die verwagte verandering te weeg te bring met in agneming van weerstand teen verandering. Die doel van hierdie artikel is om bevoegdhede te identifiseer wat eerstelyn bestuurders sal benodig om weerstand te kan hanteer. Die bevindinge is gebaseer op ‘n literatuur studie en funksionele analise.


Revista Foco ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucas Tadeu Cerri ◽  
Carolina Machado Saraiva de Albuquerque Maranhão ◽  
Jussara Jéssica Pereira

Este trabalho de cunho qualitativo se propôs compreender como se entrelaçam as racionalidades substantiva e instrumental no cotidiano dos gestores de primeira linha de uma multinacional e alguns funcionários de alto escalão de um órgão público na região do quadrilátero ferrífero em Minas Gerais. A coleta de dados ocorreu por meio da entrevista semiestruturada, que foram gravadas, transcritas e posteriormente analisadas via Análise de Conteúdo de Bardin (2006). A base teórica que fomentou as análises foram os trabalhos de Guerreiro Ramos (1981) e Maurício Serva (1996). Diante disso foi possível identificar 11 rubricas previstas por Serva (1996), entendidas nas análises como unidades de sentido; estas foram classificadas por proporção conforme sua aparição nos relatos; são elas: valores e objetivos, satisfação individual, reflexão, controle, tomada de decisão, divisão do trabalho, hierarquia e normas, conflito, ação social, relações interpessoais e dimensão simbólica. A presença da racionalidade instrumental ainda é latente no cotidiano analisado, sendo necessária alguma evolução para que esse modelo reificado do ser humano se altere. Todavia, tal pesquisa se mostra relevante, pois permitiu verificar uma manifestação considerável da racionalidade substantiva em um ambiente supostamente instrumental. This qualitative study was proposed to understand how the substantive and instrumental rationalities are interwoven in the daily life of first-line managers of a multinational and some high-ranking officials from a public agency in the iron quadrilateral region of Minas Gerais. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews, which were recorded, transcribed and analyzed through Bardin Content Analysis (2006). A theoretical basis that fostered as analyzes were the works of Guerreiro Ramos (1981) and Maurício Serva (1996). Thus, it was possible to identify 11 items predicted by Serva (1996), understood in the analyzes as units of meaning; These were classified by proportion according to their appearance in the reports; are they: values and objectives, individual satisfaction, reflection, control, decision making, division of labor, hierarchy and norms, conflict, social action, interpersonal relations and symbolic dimension. The presence of instrumental rationality is still latent in the daily analyzed, and some evolution is necessary for this reified model of the human being to change. However, such research is relevant because it has allowed us to verify a considerable manifestation of substantive rationality in a supposedly instrumental environment.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mats Hedsköld ◽  
Magna Andreen Sachs ◽  
Thorleif Rosander ◽  
Mia von Knorring ◽  
Karin Pukk Harenstam

Abstract Background: Safety culture can be described and understood through its manifestations in the organisation as artefacts, espoused values and basic underlying assumptions and is strongly related to leadership-yet it remains elusive as a concept. Even if the literature points to leadership as an important factor for creating and sustaining a mature safety culture, little is known about how the safety work of first line managers’ actually is done and how they balance the different and often conflicting organizational goals in everyday practice. The purpose of this study was to explore how health care first line managers perceive their role and how they promote patient safety and patient safety culture in their units. Methods: Interview study with first line managers in intensive care units in eight different hospitals located in the middle of Sweden. An inductive qualitative content analysis approach was used, this was then followed by a deductive analysis of the strategies informed by constructs from High reliability organizations. Results: We present how first line managers view their role in patient safety and exemplify concrete strategies by which managers promote patient safety in everyday work. Conclusions: Our study shows the central role of front-line managers in organizing for safe care and creating a culture for patient safety. Although promoted widely in Swedish healthcare at the time for the interviews, the HSOPSC was not mentioned by the managers as a central source of information on the unit’s safety culture.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-186
Author(s):  
Therese Kahm ◽  
Pernilla Ingelsson

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present the supportive conditions that the first-line health-care managers claim that they need from their own managers and what they experience as their own roles and responsibilities in relation to their coworkers when applying Lean principles and practices. Design/methodology/approach A survey with a Web-based questionnaire was designed and used in a Swedish health-care organization two years after the initiation of Lean to investigate the managers’ views on their role, conditions and ability to create change according to Lean. The result from two of the questions will be presented where one focuses on the relationship to the first-line managers’ own manager and the second on the relationship to their coworkers. Findings The results show that to initiate improvement, work based on Lean first-line managers ask for own managers who are assured about Lean, include them in discussions and ask for follow-ups and results about Lean. Concerning first-line managers’ relation to their coworkers they experience themselves as responsible for leading toward creating a culture where problems and mistakes are viewed as possibilities to improve, for encouraging that new work procedures are tested and for creating commitment and inspiration in relation to their coworkers. Originality/value The questions can be used separately or as part of an entire questionnaire before and along the Lean process to highlight organizational issues such as shared responsibility and supportive relations when developing health care.


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