Organizational Challenges in the Public Sector. A Qualitative Study of the Swedish Armed Forces and Elderly Care

Pernilla Hoke Åberg; Elisabeth Arenö; Aida Alvinius

doi:10.18778/1733-8077.17.3.02

Authors

Pernilla Hoke Åberg Swedish Defence University, Sweden
Elisabeth Arenö Swedish Defence University, Sweden
Aida Alvinius Swedish Defence University, Sweden https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5070-4979

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8077.17.3.02

Keywords:

organizational challenges, public sector, military, health care, qualitative study

Abstract

Society is continuously impacted by accelerating technical and social changes that challenge individuals, organizations, and societies. This appears to lead to the emergence of negative organizational behavior patterns that impose high levels of demands on employees. Firstly, the purpose of this study is to qualitatively examine how three organizational challenges—organizational anorexia, organizational greed, and organizational narcissism—are expressed in the Swedish public sector. Secondly, the Swedish Armed Forces and the field of elderly care are compared to discover additional organizational challenges by carrying out comparisons. The sample of organizations used is described in the Methods section. The study’s main findings show that these three organizational challenges have been experienced in different ways in these organizations. A new organizational challenge has appeared, organizational temporality, describing participants’ perceptions of time when carrying out their assigned tasks.

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Author Biographies

Pernilla Hoke Åberg, Swedish Defence University, Sweden

Pernilla Hoke Åberg has a Bachelor of Science in social analysis (Karlstad University, Sweden). She has been researching within the fields of media framing and military sociology organizational studies.
Elisabeth Arenö, Swedish Defence University, Sweden

Elisabeth Arenö has a Bachelor of Science in social analysis (Karlstad University, Sweden). She has been researching within the fields of elderly care and organizational studies.
Aida Alvinius, Swedish Defence University, Sweden

Aida Alvinius has a Ph.D. (Karlstad University, Sweden). She is an Associate Professor and University Lecturer at the Department of Security, Strategy, and Leadership, Swedish Defence University, Karlstad and Stockholm, Sweden. She has published a number of articles, chapters in books, and research reports within the field of organization, collaboration and leadership, sociology of disasters, and military sociology.

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