"Managing professionals in a healthcare organization: self-organizing teams in a hierarchical structure? Evaluating the extent to which the structure of a large Dutch healthcare organization enables teams to work as a self-organizing team."

Abstract

In this thesis, the extent to which the structure of a large Dutch healthcare organization enables teams to work as self-organizing teams is examined by comparing the structure of the organization with a norm derived from theory. This ‘norm’ consists of design principles for the organizational structure at a macro, meso and micro level. Theoretical perspectives from, among others; De Sitter and Van Amelsvoort are used in this thesis to formulate macro, meso and micro level design principles for organizational structures of organizations with self-organizing teams. A qualitative research method is used in this thesis to come up with an answer to the research question: ‘To what extent does the organizational structure of Philadelphia enable teams to work as self-organizing teams?’ An observation, document analyses and interviews enabled the researcher to receive in-depth knowledge and insight that was useful to evaluate the extent to which the structure of the organization enabled teams to operate as self-organizing teams. A ‘self-organizing teams development measurement tool’ is used to evaluate the extent to which so called ‘self-organizing teams’ are in practice self-organizing teams. The tool is used to indicate the development phase of each of the teams that is analysed in this research.