Informal relations' impact on staff work in small organizations

Today, it seems that informal relationships in the workplace are more important for employees than ever. Furthermore, we have seen a rising interest for staff work, even in small companies. Research has shown that staff work in small companies can be described as ad hoc. However, what influence the informal relationships have on the staff work is a rather unexplored topic. In this study, we wanted create a deeper understanding of how the informal relationships are expressed in a small company and their potential influence on the staff work. To achieve this we conducted a qualitative study with 14 in-depth interviews in a small company with about 30 employees in the south of Sweden. In the beginning of this study we believed that we would find many informal relationships with a high impact on the staff work. The result of this study has shown that informal relationships in a small company can be shallow in their character but still be perceived as good. Moreover, the study has shown that shallow informal relationships can have a similar impact in organizations as earlier research has shown that deeper informal relationships can. The impact that these informal relationships has shown in this study, is interpreted to be engagement, trust and wellbeing. But also negative aspects such as frustration founded in a lack of communication. The informal relationships has also shown an impact on how the staff work is constructed. The informal relationships that are not interpreted as well-functioning has in this study been interpreted to have a negative impact on the ad hoc staff work that the company is conducting. With this study we want to create an awareness around informal relationships and its impact on small companies and their staff work. All this to give small companies good conditions in conducting a beneficial staff work