Professional values: A component involvement of health professionals

Research
The comprehensive contribution of a decisional research project at the Toulouse University Hospital Center
By Nadia Peoc’h, Christine Ceaux
English

The concept of organizational involvement has been the topic of much work by both researchers and practitioners. The present study follows on from the work of Allen and Meyer (1990) and Thévenet and Neveu (2002), who describe organizational involvement as “an affective or emotional attachment to an organization, such that an individual heavily involved in it identifies with, engages with, and takes pleasure in being a member of the organization which employs them.” The goal of the decisional research presented here is to demonstrate the impact of professional values (in terms of adhesion to the institution’s goals, norms, and values) on the subject’s involvement in professional activity. 1,538 health professionals at the hospitals of Toulouse responded to a self-administered questionnaire, which included questions about the subject’s individual perception of their involvement in their work; the probable impact of work attributes on their motivation; and their view of professional values. The results show that, while involvement subject to professional values, it is oriented in two different ways: technical and axiological, and ethical. The professional and axiological dimension introduces a moral position and a cognitive framework which helps subjects develop decisions about acts (working together, establishing an environment of trust, trusting the collective, and working towards greater cohesion). The ethical dimension lies within a context of historic values with a humanist scope (respect for others and oneself, praising the human within oneself and in others). To define values is already to undertake a private project of acknowledgment. Understanding the impact of values on the involvement of health professionals is to situate our future Project of Care within a context of interaction, alteration, and collective construction.

Keywords

  • professional values
  • involvement
  • managerial decision research
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