La Faculté des Sciences Sociales a le plaisir de vous inviter à la soutenance de thèse de Madame Charlotte Jewell en vue de l'obtention du Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales. 

La thèse, redigée en anglais, est intitulée : "Beyond the Storm: A Qualitative Study of Organisational Learning in Belgian Hospitals in the context of the COVID-19 Crisis".

General Abstract 

The COVID-19 crisis profoundly impacted healthcare systems worldwide due to its sudden onset, vast scale, and prolonged duration. It presented hospitals with a range of unprecedented challenges that pushed existing structures and resources to their breaking points. As the organisations at the heart of the crisis response, hospitals faced intense pressures, from inadequate infrastructures and shortages of staff to financial instability and constraints in diagnostic as well as care delivery systems. Crises of this scale, marked by pronounced uncertainty and disruption, are often seen as catalysts for organisational learning, which is the acquisition of knowledge from experiences and translating it into new ways of thinking and acting. By shaking the foundations of what is taken for granted, crises reveal the vulnerabilities of established practices and create opportunities for new ways of doing and organising. Indeed, crises can disrupt what is considered “normal” and point towards what is possible, necessary, or overdue. This doctoral thesis explores organisational learning specifically within Belgian hospitals in the context of the COVID-19 crisis. Using a qualitative and interpretive methodology, it examines this phenomenon through three analyseurs, namely crisis coordination, digital communication, and meeting practices. These analyseurs serve as analytical entry points that make it possible to uncover the implicit, yet structurally significant, dimensions of organisational life. Through this approach, the thesis seeks to understand how hospitals adapted amid disruption and highlight the dynamics and complexities of organisational learning in hospital settings.

The analyseurs consistently highlight the fundamental role of relational dynamics and attuned interactions in organisational life. What emerges most saliently is the relational configurations through which organising takes place and it draws attention to the importance of relational interdependence. Consequently, an ethic of care lens is adopted to bring attention to these often-overlooked aspects in organisational learning, particularly the relational interactions and affective dimensions that shape organisational life. The notion of “learning with care” is put forward, not as a prescriptive model, but as a concept that invites attention to the emotional, relational, and ethical dimensions of organisational life. Moreover, when connected to care ethics, organisational learning can emerge not simply as a mechanism for performance improvement but be understood as a dynamic space with generative potential.  This thesis posits that organisational learning is not solely about the process of acquiring knowledge or improving practices, but also depends on the frameworks that shape and guide how learning is understood and takes place. It highlights that the underlying assumptions and ideologies embedded in these frameworks influence how learning is interpreted, and the directions that can be taken.

Doctoral Advisory Committee

• Christophe Dubois (supervisor) - Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Liège
• François Pichault (co-supervisor) - Professor at HEC Liège, University of Liège
• Sophie Thunus - Professor at Health and Society Research Institute, Catholic University of Louvain
   

Examination Committee

• Marianne le Gagneur - Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Liège
• Anne Antoni - Associate Professor at Grenoble Ecole de Management
• Bert de Graaff - Assistant Professor at the Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam 
   

 Plus d’informations

Charlotte Jewell