SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION OF INTERNAL CONTRACTS A case study in the Public Sector

Abstract

The implementation of internal contracts in three elderly care facilities in the southwest coast of Sweden has been proven to achieve multiple benefits over the past years. Previous research about the success of different facilities have focused on internal contracts and its benefits, however, there was a lack of research addressing the multiple factors that could be influencing those results. This research proposes a definition of an organizational structure that explains the success of the facilities, and how that success is conceptualized. For that purpose the authors interviewed a total of ten employees in different positions from the three elderly care facilities that applied internal contracts and analyzed their answers focusing on their perception of the communication, leadership, and organization of their workplace. The results indicated that internal contracts were not the only factor involved in the success and engagement achieved, but that the responsible components was a combination of internal contracts, an organizational model based on division of labor and a leadership style focused on delegating leaders with knowledge of group development processes. Furthermore, the authors found that this combination of factors together, explained better the positive effects in the employees then every factor by itself. The research finally resulted in the development of the Colombo-Izquierdo Organizational Model, useful for the future implementation and replication of the success and achievements of the elderly care facilities studied in other environments.