The role of narratives in interprofessional collaboration during organizational change: an ethnographic case study in general practice.

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to understand the role of narratives in interprofessional collaboration during organizational change by exploring the interplay between emerging narratives of collaboration in organizational change and established myths of collaboration in general practices undergoing change.

Design/methodology/approach: An ethnographic collective case study approach was deployed. Four general practices participating in a complex mental health intervention in the Central Denmark Region were used as cases. Ethnographic observations in the practices as well as one-person interviews and focus group interviews with clinic owners, staff and patients were used to collect data.

Findings: The study identified three narrative topics: Time, management and support. The topic of time illustrated how the narratives of change and the organizational myths sometimes varied profoundly, which created collaborative issues. The topic of management showed how narratives in some cases existed among different professional groups, which led to misunderstandings and conflicts. The topic of support demonstrated how the new narrative in the organizational process of change in some situations coexisted perfectly with the more established organizational myth.

Originality/value: The study offers a new perspective to the field of narrative organizational research in healthcare by exploring the interplay between narratives of organizational change and organizational myths. Furthermore, the study contributes with significant implications for healthcare organizations by showing the importance of considering processes of change as a part of dynamic and multidimensional contexts and by demonstrating the value of creating shared understandings through storytelling in processes of change.