'Value, values and valued': a tripod for organisational ethics

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Organizational Ethics
• Public Health Policy

Background:

• Public benefit corporations, as state entities, provide healthcare services.
• A core challenge is aligning organizational values with the actual healthcare value delivered.
• Competing logics exist: organizational efficiency versus clinician-patient relationship focus.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the conflict between differing moral frameworks within public benefit corporations.
• To propose organizational-level solutions for reconciling competing values and logics.
• To explore how resolving these conflicts can clarify organizational objectives and enhance patient welfare.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual analysis of organizational logics and value systems.
• Examination of ethical frameworks in public healthcare.
• Discussion of potential organizational structures for conflict resolution.

Main Results:

• Clashing moral frameworks impede the connection between organizational values and delivered healthcare value.
• Individual-level conflict resolution is insufficient; organizational-level strategies are necessary.
• An ethical imperative to protect patient welfare and structures like board ethics committees can help.

Conclusions:

• Organizational conflicts in public benefit corporations require systemic, not individual, solutions.
• Implementing an ethical imperative and supportive structures can reconcile competing logics.
• Effective conflict resolution clarifies organizational purpose and enhances patient-centered value.