Caregiving workers depend on their workgroups for support in handling the relational work with clients that is central to caregiving work. Yet workgroups vary in the effectiveness with which they provide such support. While Tavistock theorists have long discussed this linkage, no systematic model of the relevant workgroup factors has been proposed. This article advances such a model of workgroup-level factors that influence relational work, based on data from case studies of two caregiving workgroups. Four important workgroup-level influences are identified and explored: intragroup support patterns, coordination mechanisms/systems, membership/boundaries, and interdisciplinary roles and relationships.
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