Dilemma thinking – A learning response on working environment

Abstract

This article is based on a conceptual framework informed by theory about paradoxes in organizations. On that basis, it is clarified how participants in work communities are faced with fundamental dilemmas. This call for what we call dilemma thinking. The purpose is to explore how dilemma thinking, as a practice-oriented method, can contribute with a learning response to complex problems that otherwise challenge the psychosocial and organizational working environment. The starting point is that the psychosocial working environment is characterized by complex problems which require ongoing inquiry and learning. The article draws upon a case in a hospital ward where nurses handle chronically ill patients. The article shows that it becomes possible, in processes engaging nurses and researchers, to reinterpret concretely experienced psychosocial hazards as dilemmas that cannot find an Either-Or solution. Through a collective and learning dialogue the nurses explore the dilemmas considering the paradoxes embedded in the socio-technical organization. Dilemma thinking thus contributes to de-individualization and an increased mutual understanding of the embedded different possibilities in approaching the work.