Introducing Self-Organization to Finnish Home Care Teams: Expectations and Outcomes

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58235/sjpa.v27i3.14161

Keywords:

older people care, home care, self-organization, teamwork, Finland, management

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to understand better what kinds of expectations Finnish home care workers have about self-organizing teams and what kinds of outcomes Finnish early adopters have experienced after self-organizing principles have been introduced to their organization. To this end, we share results from two research projects that have coached Finnish home care and assisted living teams towards self-organizing team practices. We will identify expectations about self-organization by interviewing and gathering information from home care workers who will soon be coached toward self-organizing practices. We will then evaluate outcomes of self-organization by comparing personnel survey results between teams working in home care and assisted living facilities that have and have not been coached towards self-organizing work practices. Our findings reveal that, although management and team members perceive their current organizational environment differently, both parties share the will to evolve towards self-organizing work practices. The early results of coaching home care teams towards self-organization suggest that achieving change is likely to be a slow process.

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Author Biographies

Sami Jantunen, South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences

Sami Jantunen, DSc (Tech), is a research manager at South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences. Sami’s recent research projects have focused on identifying and developing new ways of organizing and working, and supporting collaborative innovation in the health care sector.

Tapio Mäkelä, JAMK University of Applied Sciences

Tapio Mäkelä is a senior adviser and principal lector in JAMK university of applied sciences. His main areas of teaching and R&D include public management and social and health care organization development. He has recently been involved in several R&D projects which develop and encourage public organization and SME to apply robotics as a tool to increase production and the quality of working life. Other professional experience: Vice-chairman of Jyväskylä Care Service Society and member of executive board of six SME.

Salla Ruotsalainen, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Finland

Salla Ruotsalainen, MSc, PhD candidate, is a researcher at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL). Her special interests are care and services for older people, as well as workforce in health and social services.

Timo Sinervo, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Finland

Timo Sinervo, PhD, is a research professor at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) and adjunct professor at the University of Tampere. His research interests include service systems, personnel, and organizations in health and social care.

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Published

2023-09-15

How to Cite

Jantunen, S., Mäkelä, T., Ruotsalainen, S., & Sinervo, T. (2023). Introducing Self-Organization to Finnish Home Care Teams: Expectations and Outcomes. Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration, 27(3), 57–72. https://doi.org/10.58235/sjpa.v27i3.14161

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