Behind the Facade: Aligning Artifacts, Values, and Assumptions in Assisted Living

The market-based innovation known as assisted living (AL) has changed the landscape of long-term care in the US. Using Edgar Schein's three-level conceptual framework of organizational culture and data from a two-year qualitative study of five AL facilities located in suburban Philadelphia, we...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Business & professional ethics journal 2012-01, Vol.31 (1), p.79-107
Main Authors: Cirka, Carol, Messikomer, Carla
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied Philosophy
Assisted living
Assisted living facilities
Bioethics
Business and Professional Ethics
Business ethics
Corporate culture
Ethical behavior
Ethical codes
Ethical living
Ethics
Medical ethics
Nursing home industry
Nursing homes
Retirement communities
Staffing
Tension
Values
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Summary:The market-based innovation known as assisted living (AL) has changed the landscape of long-term care in the US. Using Edgar Schein's three-level conceptual framework of organizational culture and data from a two-year qualitative study of five AL facilities located in suburban Philadelphia, we argue that misalignments among publicly stated values, material artifacts, and underlying assumptions can create a climate that fosters ethical tension. Drawing on forty-five in-depth interviews with staff at all levels, we derive five operational assumptions that guide behavior in the facilities included in our study, and we describe how facility artifacts and espoused values give rise to ethical tensions and, at times, ethical violations. The findings highlight the imperative for providers and managers in all industries to look beyond the façade of artifacts and espoused values to underlying assumptions, and to recognize that these three levels must be aligned in order to create and sustain a culture in which ethics is a visible and enduring element and where ethical conduct is encouraged on an everyday basis.
ISSN:0277-2027
2153-7828
DOI:10.5840/bpej20123114