Styrning av konsulter i bemanningsbranschen : En flerfallstudie om styrning av arbetsinsatser

Sammanfattning: Assessing and evaluation of an organization's internal processes are key elements in facilitating the achievement of organizational goals. One approach related to management of individual performance is performance management, which uses feedback and coaching to clarify individual expectations. The temporary employment industry consists of three players  with different expectations. The use of temps is related to the partnership, which helps get a clear picture of work performed by each individual. The expectations of temporary employment agencies and their clients are related to worker performance level. How organizations ensure performance levels through performance management is a less-known area. Therefore, the purpose of this study lead us to examine how temporary employment agencies and their clients use performance management to control the work effort of temporary agency workers. In addition, three participants’ perceptions of work efforts management were highlighted. A qualitative study has determined how performance management can be used to manage work efforts in the temporary employment industry. Participants from five different threee-way relationships formed the basis of the empirical material. The empirical material was collected through fifteen semi-structured interviews.  The motive for control and follow-up of work efforts looks different for each player, therefore management design are different for each one, where performance measurement and performance management are carried out at team- or individual level. Due to temporary employment agencies’ lack of  transparency and proximity of temps within client companies, the possibility of performance measurement isn’t complete and therefore management takes place at a certain distance. The study further shows that clients use concrete goals and metrics in order to control work performance at team level, while temporary agencies focus on an abstract approach to enhance relationship-strengthening communication. Consultants experience the abstract approach as creating relationships with superficial nature. The conclusion therefore is a conceptual development through concrete and abstract forms of management.