Humanization in a Hospital: A Change Process Integrating Individual, Organizational and Social Dimensions Lucilane Pascuci 1 Victor Meyer Jr 2 Eros Eloy Nogueira 3 Luiza Tatiana Forte 4 Abstract Concern with humanization in hospitals has been an increasingly common feature in debates related to healthcare, public policies and hospital management. However, in most Brazilian hospitals, humanization has not gone beyond the stage of ‘politically correct’ discourse and has not resulted in substantive changes in organizational behaviour. These changes mean a greater challenge especially in hospital organizations, as these are renowned for their complexity, pluralism and knowledge- based work. From an ethnographic experience guided by intervention in the implementation of a humanization programme at a hospital, we analyzed the resulting cultural change, highlighting the obstacles that were encountered and the main actions taken to overcome them. The results of this initiative reveals important lessons: (i) it represents an organizational commitment to the continuous improvement of health services by focusing on one of the most critical elements: human beings; (ii) to implement the initiative, it was necessary to develop social actions such as relationships with the government, market and society; (iii) it was necessary to hold a scientific, albeit incipient, debate concerning the role and relevance of clinical psychology in hospitals. Results were grouped as individual, social and organizational dimensions reflecting substantive aspects of the change process in complex setting. Keywords Cultural change process, complex systems, hospitals, healthcare, humanization Journal of Health Management 19(2) 1–20 © 2017 Indian Institute of Health Management Research SAGE Publications sagepub.in/home.nav DOI: 10.1177/0972063417699668 http://jhm.sagepub.com Article Corresponding author: Lucilane Pascuci, Fernando Ferrari Avenue, 514, Campus Universitário, Goiabeiras, Vitória, Espírito Santo 29055-600, Brazil. E-mail: lucilaine.pascuci@gmail.com 1 Graduate Program in Business Administration, Federal University of Espírito Santo, Brazil. 2 Graduate Program in Business Administration, Pontiical Catholic University of Parana, Brazil. 3 Graduate Program in Business Administration, Positivo University, Brazil. 4 Psychology Department, Little Prince College, Brazil.