Åbo Akademi University, Department of Caring Science
SPRINGARE MIITA: Fairness, Responsibility and Respect for Human
Dignity – as basic concepts within a health organization
Master’s thesis, 53 pages, 8 appendices
Supervisors: Senior Vice President (Nursing) Anja Seppälä
Professor Katie Eriksson
May 2007
Keywords: values, organizational culture, organizational values, qualitative survey, content analysis
The aim of this study is to deepen the understanding of an organizational culture with an ethical
grounding. The focus of this study is not on organizations, culture, or ethics as such, but on the
values of fairness, responsibility, and respect for human dignity as they are perceived by
caretakers within a specific organization: the Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District. The goal of
the study is to document and research caretakers' interpretations of these values as well as the
meaning caretakers attribute to them.
The theoretical perspective of this study is based on the notion of caring science as a human
science and the caring theory and tradition developed by Prof. Eriksson at the Department of
Caring Science at Åbo Akademi University. According to Eriksson, the ethics and values of caring
are connected to the prevailing culture and the language that is used to manifest the idea of caring
and perpetuate the cultural values of caring. A positive culture of caring accommodates
perspectives characterized by humanism, respect for human life and the human being.
The study is methodologically anchored in the tradition of hermeneutics where the result is a new
and a deeper understanding of the meaning of the core values of fairness, responsibility and respect
for human dignity.
The empirical data of this study consists of the results of a qualitative survey where nurses
described their understanding of these core values within the organization they worked with. A
content analysis of the data was carried out which provides insight to the following views of values
among the caretakers: the nurse and her mission, the nurse and the patient, the nurse and the
profession and practice of nursing, the nurse and society, and nurses as a group of professionals.
These dimensions coincide with the dimensions in the ethical code for nurses. With this
background I see nursing practitioners as themselves creating the core values of their profession
based on the paradigms of their profession and its associated ethics and the idea of respect for
human dignity.
The results show how the process of building a set of values is premised upon a belief that a clear
set of values and ethical guidelines play an important role in an organization and serve as a
foundation for the activities of an organization. The informants in this study describe a culture of
caring that is based on respect for the human being. No absolute truth is brought forth by the results
—rather, the increased understanding provides a new and more fruitful way to understand the
associated phenomena. Also, the study does not claim to capture a single essence of values and
beliefs: it is important to sustain a discussion about the source of these values and beliefs as the
nature of organizations and their precise duties change over time. Keeping the process of valueformation alive requires a will to do so among all the participants of an organization, including its
leadership.