DET MINDRE FÖRETAGETS MEDARBETARSKAP - En studie om hur medarbetarskap upplevs och hanteras i ett småföretag

In the Swedish labour market discourse, the term Medarbetarskap (co-workership) has taken a key role. Medarbetarskap, in short, is a way of understanding the employee’s approach to work tasks and how organizational relations are conducted. The term Medarbetarskap is found in both strategic HR and operational personnel work in Swedish companies. Nevertheless, Medarbetarskap does not enable an unambiguous interpretation, thus, the meaning and practice of Medarbetarskap differs depending on context and organizational preconditions. Most of the previous research within Medarbetarskap and the international equivalent field Employee Engagement (EE) has been conducted without company size as a contextual factor. Human Resource Management (HRM), however, in small-size companies, has been studied more thoroughly. These studies conclude that HRM-activities in small-size companies are informal and in a state of exchange between supervisors and employees. This paper aims to provide further knowledge on Medarbetarskap specifically and how it is practiced and experienced within a small-size company as a part of HRM. This paper draws on empirical data from a case study at a Swedish small-size company. The case study was conducted through a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. The quantitative content was a web survey, which was sent out to company employees, with the purpose of capturing their experience of Medarbetarskap in the company. The survey result was combined with a qualitative interview with the company CEO to broaden the perspective and understand how activities that develop Medarbetarskap are constituted at the strategic level. By analyzing the combined data, this study shows that there are key characteristics of the small-size company that effects how Medarbetarskap is experienced and practiced. The closeness between employees and between employees and supervisors in the small-size company shapes work tasks and relationships, creating companionship and the feeling of contribution. Furthermore, collaboration between employees is opened up due to informal structures, which calls on to discuss processes and to allocate responsibility. Nevertheless, informal processes risk being inefficient and more formal responsibility among employees is sometimes required for a well developed Medarbetarskap with continued organizational growth. We argue that there are aspects of how Medarbetarskap functions in an HR-context in a small-size company that are fruitful for the understanding of Medarbetarskap overall and how it flows in companies of different sizes