The aim of the research group
The research group Welfare professions, digitalisation and work was established in May 2021 and is headed by Professor Marit K. Helgesen. The main aim is to examine the variety of processes involved in the implementation and use of digital tools in organisations as well as the subsequent transformation of institutions, organisations, professions and practices. Currently, research carried out within the group focuses on the digitalisation of the public sector, the organisation of work, new forms of labour organisation, work tasks and professional knowledge. We are especially interested in how digitalisation impacts on the work of public organisations and professions. In addition, the members of the group are interested in how digitalisation affects the relation between professionals and service users.
Main areas of interest include:
- Organisation of work
- Inter- and intra-organisational coordination
- Knowledge base of professions
- Competence needs
- Degree of standardisation and its consequences on work processes, service outcomes and goal and quality norms
Decision-making systems are key to the research of the group due to how modern workplaces deploy them. Such systems are often developed by data scientists or professionals and adapted by welfare state front-line professionals and managers. As data professionals and professional service providers possess different knowledge bases, digital administrative and decision-making systems can change the basis for decisions as well as the information utilised by professionals. In addition, decision-making may be democratised or decentralised, meaning that decisions no longer need to be made by designated professionals, such as managers, and can involve professionals and service receivers in qualitatively new ways.
The changing process of communication and information flow will affect how public and private enterprises organise and design work. Case handling in welfare services may serve as an example, as one type of job that is on the verge of being automated by big data and algorithms. As such, research suggests that welfare organisations change their ways of making decisions from descriptive to prescriptive modes, through the development of AI based decision support systems.
The research group further explores how digital tools change ways of working and the manner in which organisations behave as well as how and why using the tools alter them. The research activities of the group are thus aimed at creating new knowledge in terms of the impact of digitalisation (comprising digital systems as collaborative platforms, automatization, use of big data and algorithms) for public administration and service organisations. That is, we research how digitalisation influences work processes, professionals’ work conditions, their knowledge and the quality of services.
Projects
The research group is working on the following projects:
- Home nursing leaders digital work: business knowledge between care, leadership and management The purpose of the study is to contribute to an increased understanding of digitalisation in the public sector, more specifically the digitalisation of decision-making processes for managers of professions in Norwegian municipalities. The project explores how data is used in practice and consequences for managers of professions and the decision-making processes in which they are involved.
- The impact of digitalisation on municipalities and professionals. The purpose of the project is to provide new knowledge about how digitalisation impacts and changes work processes in Norway. The focus is on efficiency and collaboration within municipalities. Furthermore, the project investigates how digital technologies improve the work of professionals by supporting the professionals in decision-making.
- Digitalisation in child welfare services: how professionals and service users experience the use of digital tools and social media. The project explores how professionals in child welfare services experience the use of digital tools and social media in work practice and communication with service users, as well as service user experiences of using digital tools and social media in communication with professionals.
- Standardised practice in Norwegian child welfare Services. The purpose of the project is to contribute to the existing knowledge about how standardisation affects professional practice. There is tension between standardisation as a tool of control and the duty of confidentiality in professional practice. It is argued that standardisation limits the professionals’ discretion and restricts professionals’ ability to use specialised abstract knowledge, a key feature of professional work. The project explores how standardisation in child welfare services (CWS) influences CWS professionals and practices.
- Digital boards, communication and data Norwegian municipalites have started to implement digital boards in their work to promote patient security and quality in services. Tha main goal of using boards is to gather and systematise information on work in the different services and to enhance the information flow across services. Registrered information gives coherent information on the service patient` treatment status, makes information visible according to security and quality and enables statistical analyses of the data. The main goal of the project is to study the implementation of digital boards in municipal services offering health services and how the deployment influences work processes. In addition, whether the implementation of the boards influences the patients experience of servicde quality.
The projects are funded by the ØUC strategic research area The Digital Society and the Faculty of Health, Welfare and Organisation. The group is currently working to establish new projects.
National and international collaborations and networks
The group has collaborations with various research institutions, including Karlstad University and University of Borås. In Norway, the group collaborates closely with both specialist and community welfare services as well as with the following HE institutions: VID, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences (INN), University of Bergen (UiB), and University of Stavanger (UiS).
Publications
In the last five years, members of the research group have published about 40 articles in level 1 (e.g. Public Management Review, International Journal of Integrated Care, International Journal of Health Policy and Management) and level 2 (e.g. European Journal of Social Work) registered journals, as well as in books initiated by the research environment and published in Norway.
Members
In total, the research group currently consists of 7 professors and assistant professors and 3 PhD-candidates from The Faculty of Health, Welfare, and Organisation.