MOBILITY AND STAFF (UN-)SAFETY: THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE ORGANIZATION AND ITS LEVERS FOR ACTION IN QUESTION THE CASE OF THE COVID CRISIS IN A UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL

Abstract

This research is based on a case study of observations and interviews carried out in a hospital during the health crisis, and focuses on the massive, enforced mobilization of hospital staff in Covid services during the pandemic. Temporary and intermittent internal mobility within the same organization is a little-studied phenomenon. While it can have positive consequences, such as better use of resources and individual and collective learning, it can also have negative consequences for individuals, hindering further mobility and affecting the organization’s ability to mobilize its resources. This research therefore questions the link between temporary, forced and repeated internal mobility and the unsafety of the staff concerned. The study shows that such mobility leads to skills gaps and loss of reference points (spatial, relational, and organizational), which are sources of unsafety. It also reveals a number of organizational factors that can help remedy the situation. Ultimately, this research is an original theoretical contribution, linking the literature on mobility and that on psychological safety, and proposing a dynamic framework for the concept of psychological safety. It also highlights the responsibility of organizations in making people (un-)safe. Finally, the managerial contribution consists in identifying HR, organizational and managerial levers that can be used, on different axes and according to different timeframes, to reduce this unsafety, and thus reduce the adjustment costs incurred by individuals in organizations that need to have resources available when and where required.