Organisationsförändring och arbetsgruppsklimat

Författare

Eric Olsson
Bengt Ingvad
Karin Bondesson
Charlotte Arndt

Redaktör

Ingvar Karlsson
Kjell Törnblom
Riël Vermunt

Summary, in English

During the 1990s public services have to a great extent reorganised according to the idea of market economy and new management ideas. An example that illustrates these processes is the home care organisations. Private companies, new management strategies and special need assessment officials have been introduced. In a longitudinal study we have focused on the fate of the working teams as it is shown by the group climate. Earlier studies have shown a relationship between group climate and the quality of the home care work.

The change processes have been explored through documents, interviews with managers and by observations at meetings in seven districts. The group climate in 17 working teams has been measured by an adjectival list. The study has been performed four times during the period 1993 - 2003.

For most teams the group climate remains relatively unchanged or changes in a negative direction during the ten years. Small changes in the organisation promote a relatively stable climate or changes in a direction known to promote high work quality. Few examples in our study show that the organisation changes can promote a change of a negative group climate in a positive direction. The management in the organisations does seldom show an interest in the fate of the working teams when planning for new organisation changes.

The reorganisations in the public sector during the 1990s seem to have resulted in deeper cleavages between the management domain and the professional domain (e g working teams) of the organisation. The changes seem to result in status quo or decline in the group climate of teams. The group climate and other aspects of the home care organisation may be more influenced by the change processes in themselves than by the character of the changed organisation.

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