Intra-Organisational Trust and Home Care Services: A Study of the Process of Implementing Trust Based Practices in Municipal Eldercare in Sweden

Authors

  • Magdalena Elmersjö Department of Social Sciences, Södertörn University, Sweden
  • Elisabeth Sundin Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, Sweden

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58235/sjpa.v25i2.7108

Keywords:

trust-based management, home care services, organisational change, intra-organisational trust, inter-occupational trust, quality as continuity, flexibility and time

Abstract

This article contributes to the discussion concerning intra-organisational trust in home care services. The article is based on a study of organisational change and the implementation process for trust-based management in a Swedish municipality. Collection of material involved several organisational levels in the municipality’s home care service and consists of individual interviews, group interviews, observations and a document review. The results show that the municipality has addressed common problems in home care services in Sweden, resolving them with specific solutions that are unique to the municipality. Quality assurance is performed by allowing frontline employees to fully utilise their competences. Management, first line management in particular, is characterised by checks instead of controls. This is in line with the idea of intra-organisational trust and is achieved by building trust between employees with different levels of education and occupations in the organisation. This form of intra- organisational trust is labelled inter-occupational trust. The process of implementing trust-based practices in the municipality is characterised by three quality dimensions: continuity, flexibility and time allocation. These dimensions are central aspects of the arguments for a user’s perspective on collaboration. An important prerequisite in the municipality studied was that organisational change was followed up with adequate resources in the form of working hours, working conditions, education and training.

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Author Biographies

Magdalena Elmersjö, Department of Social Sciences, Södertörn University, Sweden

Magdalena Elmersjö is a senior lecturer in social work and Head of Department at the department of social sciences at Södertörn University. Her fields of specialization are social policy and care, eldercare and issues related to competence, representations on old age and care needs, working conditions and trust-based management.

Elisabeth Sundin, Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, Sweden

Elisabeth Sundin is a professor emirita in business administration at Linköping University. Her fields of specialization are Perspectives on the transformation of the public sector, elderly as entrepreneurs, the position and development of the research.

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Published

2021-06-15

How to Cite

Elmersjö, M., & Sundin, E. (2021). Intra-Organisational Trust and Home Care Services: A Study of the Process of Implementing Trust Based Practices in Municipal Eldercare in Sweden. Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration, 25(2), 3–21. https://doi.org/10.58235/sjpa.v25i2.7108

Issue

Section

Original Articles

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