Medarbejderfastholdelse i ældreplejen: Praksisfællesskab og modteori som redskaber i konflikthåndtering og forbedring af arbejdsmiljøet
Oversat titel
Employee retention in elderly care: Community of practice and counter-theory as tools in conflict management and improving work environment
Forfatter
Semester
4. semester
Uddannelse
Udgivelsesår
2025
Afleveret
2025-12-18
Antal sider
58
Abstract
This thesis explores how social learning processes in a community of practice can promote employee retention in elderly care. There is a shortage of staff in the elderly area in Denmark. The population of elderly people is increasing, while social and health education does not seem particularly lucrative. Meanwhile big numbers of care workers are getting sick with stress and many are choosing other careers, which makes the situation even worse. Though there are many new initiatives from the government for instance on how to get more care workers. It will take time for all initiatives to be enrolled and implemented. Therefore, this project goes with another idea, that Aalborg Municipality already head for: Employee retention. With Jean Lave and Etienne Wengers theory on social learning called community of practice, the nursing home Lykkevangs’ employees are seen as one big team of care workers. A community og practice includes social learning processes depending on which type of community of practice that it being investigated. The idea is to look for the teams’ ways of dealing with internal employee problem solving. First it is being explored if there even is a community of practice. If that is the case learning are being shared through negotiating opinions, and whatching eachother in the problem solving. That way new members will revolve their ways of problem solve as well as new members will learn to act correctly by those unwritten rules. There is often a connection between employee well-being. There is also a link between employee well-being and employee retention. Though it is possible to have a community of practice with a lot of conflict, it is most likely not sustainable in the long run because of a high risk of developing dissatisfaction amongst the coworkers, and then comes the problem with employee retention. The method used is qualitative and abductive and during the findings of themes matching the theory of community of practice there is also found fragments that shows the direct opposite of that theory hence why they were included in the project. The empirical data is based upon ethnographic fieldwork where the fieldworker took part of the work, a focus group interview with four team members and an interview with the leader of the nursing home. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the characteristics of how the team problem solve according to issues between coworkers in the team. If there is a community of practice, then the characteristics can show what the team should do more of. An if there is not a community of practice, it shows what could be done less of. This case cannot be applied as a best practice case one on one, but it can be used as inspiration on how to approach ones own organisation in any part of the world with the theory of community of practice and its exact opposite. The team have a community of practice. But there is also some places that they don’t. Therefore it is possible both to look at the positives and the negatives of the characteristics of the team. As there were more indications of the team having a community of practice, Lykkevang is more likely to have a positive psychological work environment and therefore also a good employee retention for the time being. The positive has to be retained, and the negatives has to be taken action on to be amended.
Emneord