Arbetsorganisering och professionella gränsdragningar : Sjukgymnasters samarbete och arbetets mångfald

Sammanfattning: Organisational analyses of health care often characterise its constituent professions as building blocks, each having a clear-cut identity and well-defined task. The fact that professional structures rather than the work itself have been the focus of the literature on professional groups has reinforced this image. This thesis replaces this approach with one that takes into consideration the heterogeneity of occupational groups. Both the work performed and the structures that condition this work are explored. The content and diversity of the work physiotherapists perform and how this has changed over time has been investigated, as well as how the group co-operates with other occupational groups in given contexts.The results indicate that well-articulated professional boundaries are often a precondition for flexible co-operation, and that it is difficult to plan in advance for co-operation that involves crossing professional boundaries. In addition, the struggle of the professional group to control its work does not necessarily run counter to the demands of the organisation. Co-operation and the work itself create possibilities for controlling work.