Räcker det att riva väggarna, eller sitter det kvar ändå? : En kvalitativ intervjustudie om gemenskap och hinder i heterogena arbetsgrupper

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study is to understand how the blue-collar workers in the industrial sector create solidarity for each other when they are a part of a heterogeneous work group and what obstacles to solidarity can arise in a workgroup embossed by heterogeneity. The study is also investigating how an “us” and “them” can arise and be maintained in heterogeneous work groups. Previous research has studied how diversity in the workplace affects the organization’s profitability and efficiency, and the managers’ perspective on diversity work groups. However, previous research is missing aspects from the employees’ perspective about what it is like to work in heterogeneous work groups, therefore this study aims to fill that knowledge gap. In order to study how solidarity is created and how an “us” and “them” is maintained, seven blue-collar workers in the industrial sector have been interviewed. These employees work in southern Sweden and are a part of a heterogeneous work group. The study’s theoretical framework has been based on Schein’s definition of organizational culture and two of his three culture levels celebrated values and basic assumptions as well as Tajfel and Turner's perspectives on social identity.    The results from the interviews showed that the employees who were a part of the heterogeneous work group felt a sense of solidarity with each other regardless of their different individual characteristics. The reason for this turned out to be that the group members shared the same values and assumptions regarding the group’s common working methods that had been institutionalized. Although the heterogeneous group felt a sense of solidarity with each other, barriers to solidarity arose through communication problems and deviant behavior, which contributed to smaller groupings and an “us” and “them” feeling. Another reason for the groupings that occurred could be derived from the theory of social identity as the group members both identified with the entire group, but also with individual employees who shared similar characteristics.