Mobility and staff (un-)safety: the responsibility of the organization and its levers for action in question

Mobilités et (in-)sécurisation des personnels: la responsabilité de l’organisation et ses leviers d’action en question

Emmanuelle Gurtner (), Yves Habran () and Renato Guimaraes ()
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Emmanuelle Gurtner: CEREFIGE - Centre Européen de Recherche en Economie Financière et Gestion des Entreprises - UL - Université de Lorraine
Yves Habran: ICN Business School, CEREFIGE - Centre Européen de Recherche en Economie Financière et Gestion des Entreprises - UL - Université de Lorraine
Renato Guimaraes: ICN Business School, LGIPM - Laboratoire de Génie Informatique, de Production et de Maintenance - UL - Université de Lorraine

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Abstract: The 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 impacting the organization's ability to mobilize its resources. The research therefore questions the link between temporary, forced and repeated internal mobility and the insecurity of the staff concerned. The study shows that such mobility leads to skill gaps and loss of reference points (spatial, relational and organizational), which are sources of insecurity. It also reveals a number of organizational factors that can help remedy the situation. Ultimately, the research makes 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 (in-)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 insecurity, and thus reduce the adjustment costs incurred by individuals in organizations that need to have resources available when and where they are needed.

Keywords: internal mobility; temporary mobility; psychological safety; skills gap; reference points; mobilité interne; mobilité temporaire; sécurité psychologique; écart de compétence; repères (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-12-19
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-04320723
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Published in Revue internationale de psychosociologie et de gestion des comportements organisationnels, 2023, 29 (79), pp.143-168. ⟨10.3917/rips1.079.0143⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04320723

DOI: 10.3917/rips1.079.0143

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