The role of feedback in Swedish human service organizations

Abstract

This paper investigates some organizational conditions for providing quality in service delivery in human service organizations (HSOs): that is organizations that partly take over functions that formerly were carried out by families. The consequences of feedback for role ambiguity, job satisfaction and organizational commitment were investigated. Survey data were obtained from 604 human service workers in three different Swedish organizations: public insurance agency, social rehabilitation center and a psychiatric hospital. Positive feedback was found to reduce role ambiguity, while negative feedback contributed to role ambiguity. Role ambiguity was negatively related to job satisfaction and organizational commitment. However, there was no support for a direct relationship between the feedback factors and job satisfaction or organizational commitment. Instead the relationships between feedback and work attitudes were mediated by role ambiguity. Conclusions of the study were: positive feedback that clarifies the work role has favorable outcomes that may contribute to good service quality. Therefore, organizational structures and routines that enhance the prevalence of positive feedback should be supported (e.g. professional supervision, evaluation procedures). Negative feedback has unfavorable outcomes only when it induces uncertainty about the work role. Therefore, when delivering negative feedback, it should be accompanied with role clarifying information.