Clashes between understanding and doing – leaders’ understanding of management in intensive care during a period of reorganisation

Abstract

The objective was to elucidate hospital leaders’ understanding of the organisational structures and processes and their understanding of their leading role during an intensive period of reorganisation. From a qualitative exploratory study using semi‐structured interviews and thematic analysis four themes were identified: understanding the function of leadership and management, understanding organisational structures and processes, their own role as leader, and the outside world. The results indicate that the organisation is characterised by disintegration and erratic structures. The leaders perceive that they lead a learning organisation but in practical care work the organisation functions more like an organisation streamlined for mass production. This discrepancy between their understanding and practical daily care work led to dissatisfaction and existential chaos among the leaders. Our findings show an example of “clashes with the individual attractor pattern”, an urgent, but not yet very clear problem in health‐care organisations of today.