Abstract
This master thesis highlights how the employees in a Danish hospital kitchen can be involved in the development of a more sustainable kitchen operation, and thus achieve ownership of the process. The findings of this project shows that it is possible to involve the employees in the process of change when the change method is based on dialogue using the Change Laboratory processes.
The globe is under pressure after decades of unbalanced resource consumption. In August 2021, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published a report stating that climate change is real, man-made and, unfortunately, accelerating faster than expected (IPCC, 2021). The UN advocates for a more sustainable global growth and has on several occasions set developmental goals and guidelines. Most recently in 2015 with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (Globale Gymnasier og Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke, 2016). Denmark has by law enacted to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions by 50-55% by 2025 and to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 (Klima- Energi- og Forsyningsministeriet, 2021). An ambition that requires actions from all of us. One way to enhance the green transition and to reduce the greenhouse gas could be by promoting the sale of climate friendly food.
Through a case study I have designed and tested a process of change that will ensure involvement of the employees in the green transition, which is necessary to develop a more sustainable kitchen operation. The study is based on an intervention in the kitchen at Lillebælt Hospital. The purpose of the intervention was to raise the quality of the salads served in the hospital canteens. The intervention was conducted from the 31st of January to the 21st of April 2022.
The results of the intervention were interesting in several ways. All the employees who participated in the intervention were subsequently sure that their salads had become more varied and had received a quality boost. They also had the feeling that they had been involved in the process, and that it was their thoughts and ideas that had become the solutions. It became their project, which was the main purpose of the method I had chosen.
It was interesting to see how the employees developed during the intervention, and the way in which the community and the collaboration changed. The collaboration among the employees was strengthened, and the work planning became a joint process where everyone contributed.
The very way the employees went about their task also changed during the process. They took control where it before was lacking. They took greater responsibility for the entire process from purchase of raw materials till the product was sold. Overall, they took ownership of both product and process.
The learning of this project is that a design that is based on the dialogue and Engeströms Change laboratory method can facilitate involvement and ownership of the employees in a change process.