Explore the vast range of titles available.

The title is partly borrowed from David (P. G.) Herbst’s 1993a: A Learning Organization in Practice. Herbst’s text has an empirical basis in a matrix, ship organization, while this article stems from a project in a public care, 24–7 continuous work similar to the ship organization. An interactive research process, combining focus groups, interviews, participation in meetings and seminars supported this process. The purpose here is not to report the research process itself, but to combine concepts, some from the Industrial Democracy tradition, and use them as an analytical tool to clarify how, under certain circumstances, the introduction of a new service was implemented in a jointly developed, interdisciplinary process of employees.

The sociotechnical concepts of responsible autonomy and to be in control were originally developed from men’s work in order to describe and develop mostly industrial work. This article explores how these conceptions may be useful in modern service work, when working with humans. It is based on a set of development projects in mainly municipal care institutions in Norway, between 2000 and 2011. The projects were theoretically grounded in the Norwegian and international sociotechnical system theory (STS) tradition. It argues that there are many valuable lessons to be learnt from this tradition also concerning nursing and care work in the municipalities. However, the article points to a need for development of the concept control as autonomy to embrace “working with humans.” A central finding is that assistance and support from and to colleagues are prerequisites for “being in control.” Moreover, that development of trust through communication alongside work is necessary in order to establish relations of mutual support. Trust and mutual support point to the social relations at work; so in this way it takes the concept control as autonomy from an individual to a more collective concept as Trist et al. (1963) and Herbst (1974/1993) defined their concept of control as collective responsible autonomy. In a prospective perspective, the article sets up the hypothesis that an organization that combines the two, an individual together with a more collective scope on autonomy when working with humans, will meet what Kira (2006) calls as regenerative work. This means sustainability—in resources involved; health, quality, and milieu—through the staff ’s dominion over the conditions of their work.

The Scandinavian industrial democracy experiments (IDEs) contained elements of organization theories, based particularly on sociotechnical systems theory (STS). In this paper, we provide an introduction to some main points of these theories and their aftermath, as a context for the six papers of the special issue on the relevance of the organization theories of the IDE for contempo- rary organizational realities.The six papers are also summarized and positioned in relation to the theoretical insights from the IDE. 

The title is partly borrowed from David (P. G.) Herbsts 1993a: A Learning Organization in Practice. Herbsts text has an empirical basis in a matrix, ship organization, while this article stems from a project in a public care, 24-7 continuous work similar to the ship organization. An interactive research process, combining focus groups, interviews, participation in meetings and seminars supported this process. The purpose here is not to report the research process itself, but to combine concepts, some from the industrial Democracy tradition, and use them as an analytical tool to clarify how, under certain circumstances, the introduction of a new service was implemented in a jointly developed, interdisciplinary process of employees.

Extended work shifts of 12 hours or more have become a common scheduling strategy for nurses in several countries, though this is not the case in Norway. There, many managers, nurses, and union representatives have expressed concerns about whether nurses can function effectively while working long shifts. This study thus aimed to examine how long shifts influence nursing outcomes such as stress, continuity, and responsibility in Norwegian nursing homes. Data were collected during in-depth interviews with 16 nurses employed at four different nursing homes who have worked 12–14-hour shifts. Results suggest that long shifts actually reduce stress and increase both work continuity and accountability, though these positive impacts of long shifts occur primarily when all departmental staff work long shifts. Furthermore, fewer shift changes mean more time spent with patients and better communication.

The Scandinavian industrial democracy experiments (IDEs) contained elements of organization theories, based particularly on sociotechnical systems theory (STS). In this paper, we provide an introduction to some main points of these theories and their aftermath, as a context for the six papers of the special issue on the relevance of the organization theories of the IDE for contemporary organizational realities. The six papers are also summarized and positioned in relation to the theoretical insights from the IDE.