Caring work, personal obligation and collective responsibility.
Studies of workers in health care and the care of older people disclose tensions that emerge partly from their conflicting obligations. They incur some obligations from the personal relationships they have with clients, but these can be at odds with organizational demands and resource constraints. One implication is the need for policies to recognize the importance of allowing workers some discretion in decison making. Another implication may be that sometimes care workers can meet their obligations to clients only by taking collective action.
Provis
Chris
C
School of International Business, University of South Australia, North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia 5000. chris.provis@unisa.edu.au
Stack
Sue
S
D003659:Decision Making, Organizational; D004645:Empathy; D004991:Ethics, Institutional; D004993:Ethics, Nursing; D006801:Humans; D016134:Organizational Policy; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012941:Social Responsibility