Legitimacy, identity, hierarchy: Strategic communication in the hospital sector

The project will investigate the development and the consequences of a new communication infrastructure and a new discourse on the role of strategic communication in the hospital sector. The emphasis will be on three issues: 1) the relationship between st rategic communication and the legitimacy of hospitals before and after the recent wave of reforms in health care, 2) how strategic communication is used to confer identities to distinct hospital organisations, 3) how strategic communication becomes an ele ment in the establishment of hierarchical management structures and efforts to influence employee identities in hospital organizations. The empirical focus will be on strategic communication in Norwegian hospitals before and after the recent healthcare re forms. Denmark is seen as a contrasting case. The project argues that strategic communication is attributed a key role in organization-construction in the public sector, as regards identity-construction, the building of hierarchical management structures and in handling the legitimation of the new 'corporate' hospitals. The project explores the field by studying a) the role of strategic communication in the construction of hospital organizations' legitimacy before and after organizational reforms, b) the role of media relations in reputation management, c) the role of strategic communication in the construction of hospital identities, d) how organizational hierarchies are constructed and employee identities are regulated by strategic communication. The pr oject-group consists of 5 researches covering political science, psychology and history and a PhD-research fellow. In addition five PhD-research (pol.scie. and sos.anthr.) fellows with funding are associated members of the group. The project is a combined effort between the Rokkan Centre in Bergen, University of Tromsø and Copenhagen Business School. The project is cooperating with University of Oslo, University of Uppsala, University of Stavanger and Agder Research