This study is based on a critical analysis of work management in the public health sector in Joinville (State of Santa Catarina), with regards to the daily work situation of health care workers in the basic Unified National Health System (SUS) units. It identifies a few of the health service's operating principles, as set forth by the management such as work domination mechanisms, and which result from its division, as follows: the fragmentary nature of work organization in the health sector, management's conflict domination, worker control by production goals, and health care worker resistance to imposed workloads. The study uses the following research techniques to show the work division: interviews and direct observation of the work.
work division; health management; health sector
