The hospital safety coordinator as “practical author”
Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management
ISSN: 1746-5648
Article publication date: 11 May 2010
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how one hospital safety coordinator socially constructs a complete environment of care. Specifically, it applies Shotter's “practical author” framework to examine the author‐response interaction between the safety coordinator and other mid‐level supervisors.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative methodology is employed to examine this authorship. Data include printed materials employees receive upon hire, an observation of an environment of care orientation presentation, and semi‐structured interviews with the safety coordinator and mid‐level supervisors.
Findings
The paper reveals how the safety coordinator uses a variety of rhetorical strategies to balance the tensions between mandating compliance with environment of care requirements and facilitating buy‐in to the idea of compliance as a moral and ethical imperative. This creates an ethos among the employees where they feel authorized to go beyond the requirements and act on their own to construct a safer culture.
Research limitations/implications
The paper has multiple practical and theoretical implications that may be useful to health care and other organizations when examining the broader need for a complete, supportive environment where employees not only comply with but actually live and believe in the values of their organizations' cultures. A limitation is that employee perspective and behavior are primarily inferred based on supervisor reports.
Originality/value
The paper extends theory on communication and developing organizational environments and provides practical application possibilities for organizations.
Keywords
Citation
Lentz, P., Lauver, K. and Johs‐Artisensi, J. (2010), "The hospital safety coordinator as “practical author”", Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 83-100. https://doi.org/10.1108/17465641011042044
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2010, Emerald Group Publishing Limited