Social interaction in management group meetings: a case study of Finnish hospital

The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of management group meetings (MGMs) in hospital organization by examining the social interaction in these meetings.

This case study approaches social interaction from a structuration point of view. Social network analysis and qualitative content analysis are applied.

The findings show that MGMs are mainly forums for information sharing. Meetings are not held for problem solving or decision making, and operational coordinating is limited. Meeting interaction is very much focused on the chair, and most of the discussion takes place between the chair and one other member, not between members. The organizational structures are maintained and reproduced in the meeting interaction, and they appear to limit discussion. Meetings appear to fulfil their goals as a part of the organization’s information structure and to some extent as an instrument for management. The significance of the relational side of MGMs was recognized.

The results of this study provide a basis for future research on hospital MGMs with wider datasets and other methodologies. Especially the relational role of MGMs needs more attention.

The goals of MGMs should be reviewed and MG members should be made aware of meeting interaction structures.

The paper provides new knowledge about interaction networks in hospital MGMs, and describes the complexity of the importance of MGMs for hospitals.