This article reflects on organizational unlearning in the process of change management in hospitals and healthcare organizations. Given the configuration of a hospital, described as a professional bureaucracy by Minztberg (1982), the three main categories of healthcare professionals (management, medical staff, and healthcare executives) mobilize differently the three levers necessary to drive change i.e., willingness, power, and knowledge. This observation implies that organizational unlearning must adapt to this situation, and that it differs according to stakeholders. This differentiation in the process of organizational unlearning, which is related to the different categories of healthcare professionals, is particularly important because it involves behaviors that go beyond consciously acquired knowledge and skills, but rather concerns the behavior resulting from socialization mechanisms that are integrated into the day-to-day operation of the hospital.
- organizational unlearning
- organizational change
- hospitals