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Being organisationally changed : exploring with NHS professional staff the impact of organisational change

Organisational change within the NHS is a familiar event. This study explored the impact it has on staff in a clinical setting , and focuses on how staff experience such change. The study took place in two Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, in two separate NHS Trusts in England. The exploration is qualitative, using grounded theory, and data collection is through semi-structured individual interviews completed at two points in time: the initial principal interview, and a follow up interview. Sampling is purposive and focused on staff within multi-disciplinary teams providing front-line clinical services. The study took place across two NHS Trusts to enhance reflexivity of the researcher, and methodological rigour. The interviews were audiorecorded and transcribed verbatim. The transcripts were analysed using grounded theory, underpinned by a social constructionist epistemology. A sample of 11 professional clinical staff members across two NHS Trusts volunteered to participate in the study, each completing two interviews. The findings are derived from 22 extended interview transcripts. Analysis of the data generated led to the conceptualisation of a process of being organisationally changed impacting on individuals' work identity and sense of self. There was a perceived mismatch between clinical and organisational values leading to incongruence, and re-valuing . Through the processes of deprofessionalisation and deskilling , participants experienced loss and diminishment of identity, and a process of becoming indistinct, culminating in a grieving of identity. Emergence from this was conceptualised as a process of reconciliation, which took the form of either accepting a sub-identity, or finding a way of preserving aspects of professional identity within organisational constraints. The process of being organisationally changed is developed and discussed, with use of illustrative data extracts. The findings illustrate the ways organisational change can impact on the "human dimension", as experienced by participants. This study contributes to an in depth exploration and understanding of organisational change impact on NHS clinical staff.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:617078
Date January 2014
CreatorsKingswood, Martha
PublisherUniversity of Essex
Source SetsEthos UK
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation

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