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Kirstine Zinck Ped­er­sen

Associate Professor

Subjects
Change management Organisation Qualitative methods Public sector Health Sociology

Primary research areas

Health­care or­gan­iz­a­tion
I ex­am­ine the or­gan­iz­a­tion and gov­ernance of health­care sys­tems with a fo­cus on how pro­fes­sion­al au­thor­ity and eth­ics, bur­eau­crat­ic struc­tures, and ma­na­geri­al re­forms in­ter­act. My re­search pays par­tic­u­lar at­ten­tion to how med­ic­al pro­fes­sion­als ne­go­ti­ate roles and re­spons­ib­il­it­ies un­der chan­ging in­sti­tu­tion­al con­di­tions, and how these dy­nam­ics shape the de­liv­ery of care.
Or­gan­iz­a­tion­al change and policy im­ple­ment­a­tion
I study pro­cesses of change in the pub­lic sec­tor, in­clud­ing health­care re­forms and broad­er or­gan­iz­a­tion­al trans­form­a­tions of pub­lic in­sti­tu­tions. By tra­cing how policies and ma­na­geri­al pro­grammes are trans­lated into prac­tice and re­shaped by pro­fes­sion­als and man­agers, I show how or­gan­iz­a­tion­al routines, bur­eau­crat­ic eth­os, and pro­fes­sion­al com­mit­ments me­di­ate re­form out­comes in of­ten un­pre­dict­able ways.
Risk, safety, and re­si­li­ence
I in­vest­ig­ate or­gan­iz­a­tion­al ap­proaches to risk, crisis, and fail­ure, fo­cus­ing on how safety man­age­ment and pre­pared­ness strategies are de­veloped and en­acted. My re­search ex­am­ines the re­la­tion between, for in­stance, form­al­ized safety pro­ced­ures and the situ­ated judg­ment of pro­fes­sion­als, and how these dif­fer­ent forms of prac­tice shape or­gan­iz­a­tion­al re­sponses to un­cer­tainty.
Dis­cre­tion, ex­pert­ise, and ac­count­ab­il­ity
I in­vest­ig­ate how dis­cre­tion is prac­ticed and struc­tured in pub­lic or­gan­iz­a­tions, and how it con­nects to evolving forms of ex­pert­ise and ac­count­ab­il­ity. My re­search ex­am­ines how pro­fes­sion­als and street-level bur­eau­crats nav­ig­ate the ten­sion between form­al rules and prac­tic­al judg­ment, show­ing how their au­thor­ity is con­tinu­ously re­shaped by bur­eau­crat­ic, eth­ic­al, and eco­nom­ic de­mands.
Re­viv­ing the clas­sics
I draw on clas­sic­al so­cial the­ory, par­tic­u­larly Max Weber and John Dewey, to ad­dress con­tem­por­ary chal­lenges in or­gan­iz­a­tion and pub­lic ad­min­is­tra­tion re­search. By re­viv­ing these thinkers, I aim to high­light the en­dur­ing rel­ev­ance of con­cepts such as bur­eau­cracy, eth­os, habit, and prag­mat­ist learn­ing, and to bring the­or­et­ic­al depth to cur­rent de­bates on pro­fes­sion­al­ism and gov­ernance.

Pub­lic sec­tor change, health­care or­gan­iz­a­tion, and pro­fes­sion­al prac­tice

My research is concerned with how public organizations interpret and implement reforms, manage risk and uncertainty, and organize professional work. Healthcare has been a primary focus, offering rich cases for examining how change initiatives are realized in practice and how their enactment produces unforeseen consequences. This perspective has informed earlier research projects on patient safety and cancer treatment, and currently a study on the somatic treatment of patients with mental illness, focusing on how organizational arrangements condition access to care. 

A recurring concern in my research is how professionals exercise discretion and expertise, and how professional roles, responsibilities, and routines are reshaped by governance regimes, organizational change, and risk management systems. Drawing on classical thinkers such as Max Weber and John Dewey, I bring theoretical depth to contemporary debates about healthcare governance, resilience, professional judgment and public sector change. 

This work sheds light on the challenges of reforming complex public organizations and demonstrates how professional judgment and expertise remains crucial for achieving appropriate organizational, practical, and ethical purposes and outcomes. 

Recent research projects

MENCA – Or­gan­iz­ing Men­tal Ill­ness and Can­cer Treat­ment

Ex­am­ines how or­gan­iz­a­tion­al struc­tures shape can­cer treat­ment for pa­tients with men­tal ill­ness, ad­dress­ing in­equal­it­ies, treat­ment ac­cess, and ways to im­prove co­ordin­a­tion and care (fun­ded by the Dan­ish Can­cer So­ci­ety).

Or­gan­iz­ing So­mat­ic Care for Pa­tients with Men­tal Ill­ness

In­vest­ig­ates how so­mat­ic care is or­gan­ized for pa­tients with men­tal ill­ness, identi­fy­ing chal­lenges and test­ing prom­ising ini­ti­at­ives to im­prove co­ordin­a­tion, flex­ib­il­ity, and equit­able treat­ment (fun­ded by Care Link Fonden).

Of­fice as a Vo­ca­tion

Study of the eth­ics of of­fice in pub­lic ser­vice, ex­amin­ing its role in shap­ing of­fi­cial con­duct and its rel­ev­ance for con­tem­por­ary pub­lic ad­min­is­tra­tion (fun­ded by VELUX Found­a­tions).

Can­cer Path­ways in a Psychoso­cial Per­spect­ive

Study of how can­cer path­ways re­shape pro­fes­sion­al roles, re­spons­ib­il­it­ies, and pa­tient ex­per­i­ences by em­phas­iz­ing time, stand­ard­iz­a­tion, and co­ordin­a­tion (fun­ded by the Dan­ish Can­cer So­ci­ety).

Outside activities

Folkeuniversitetet (University Extension) , 2024–present

Giv­ing pub­lic lec­tures on health­care or­gan­iz­a­tion and pro­fes­sion­al­ism on an oc­ca­sion­al basis.
Folkeuniversitetets website

Master of Public Health, Copenhagen University , 2020–present

Teach­ing two mod­ules on the course Pa­tient Safety and Learn­ing Cul­ture (Pa­tient­sik­ker­hed og læring­skul­tur).
Master of Public Health

Invited talks in the Danish public sector , 2010–present

Oc­ca­sion­ally giv­ing in­vited talks for health­care or­gan­iz­a­tions, mu­ni­cip­al­it­ies, re­gions, and state agen­cies on e.g. pub­lic man­age­ment, or­gan­iz­a­tion­al change, and pro­fes­sion­al work.