Social interaction in management group meetings: a case study of Finnish hospital
Journal of Health Organization and Management
ISSN: 1477-7266
Article publication date: 20 June 2016
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of management group meetings (MGMs) in hospital organization by examining the social interaction in these meetings.
Design/methodology/approach
This case study approaches social interaction from a structuration point of view. Social network analysis and qualitative content analysis are applied.
Findings
The findings show that MGMs are mainly forums for information sharing. Meetings are not held for problem solving or decision making, and operational coordinating is limited. Meeting interaction is very much focused on the chair, and most of the discussion takes place between the chair and one other member, not between members. The organizational structures are maintained and reproduced in the meeting interaction, and they appear to limit discussion. Meetings appear to fulfil their goals as a part of the organization’s information structure and to some extent as an instrument for management. The significance of the relational side of MGMs was recognized.
Research limitations/implications
The results of this study provide a basis for future research on hospital MGMs with wider datasets and other methodologies. Especially the relational role of MGMs needs more attention.
Practical implications
The goals of MGMs should be reviewed and MG members should be made aware of meeting interaction structures.
Originality/value
The paper provides new knowledge about interaction networks in hospital MGMs, and describes the complexity of the importance of MGMs for hospitals.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
An earlier version of this study was presented at the 10th Annual INGRoup Conference in Pittsburgh PA, USA, in July 2015. Similar findings concerning the dyadic nature of the meeting interaction structure were presented in an earlier publication in Finnish (Mikkola et al., 2014a). The present paper is based on the first author ' s doctoral dissertation under preparation, supervised by the second author. This paper has been funded by the Finnish Work Environment Fund, and part of the research project Social Interaction Practices and Well-being at Hospital Workplace (TSR112304). The first author has also received a grant from The Foundation for Municipal Development.
Citation
Laapotti, T. and Mikkola, L. (2016), "Social interaction in management group meetings: a case study of Finnish hospital", Journal of Health Organization and Management, Vol. 30 No. 4, pp. 613-629. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHOM-02-2015-0040
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited