Communication of psychosocial work environment : Nurses' experiences of the communication climate in relation to the psychosocial work environment

This paper examines the role and function of the communication climate in relation to the internal communication of the psychosocial work environment, using field data from the health sector. A qualitative study using Skype interviews was conducted with three nurses with experiences from public hospitals in the south western region of Sweden. The results are presented using a framework of supportive and defensive communication climates by Forward, Czech and Lee (2011) based on Gibbs theories (1961). The analysis of the results is based on the concept of coworkership (Heide & Simonsson 2011) and the rationality of caring (Forsberg Kankkunen 2009; Waerness 1984). The results show that nurses experience both supportive and defensive communication climates in relation to their psychosocial work environment. The most supportive communication occurs between colleagues, while the communication with the strategic management is defensive. Depending on the closest manager's ability to act as support and convey understanding between management and employees, the communication climate is perceived as more or less supportive. The result indicates that when the management lacks adequate communication, employees will take fewer initiatives to talk about their psychosocial work environment with the management. The findings from the field data suggest that the communication climate can be understood as an important resource for creating conditions for supportive communication of psychosocial work environment between different organizational levels