Att rigga för framgång - En kvalitativ studie om hur HR-personal arbetar strategiskt för att påverka organisationskulturen

Sammanfattning: Title: Setting up for success - A qualitative study of how HR personnel work strategically to influence the organizational culture Seminar date: June 2nd, 2023 Course: FEKH49, Bachelor’s degree thesis in Management and Organisation, 15 credits Authors: Amanda Bredén och Ebba Lundström Advisor: Nadja Sörgärde Keywords: HR, SHRM, organizational culture, strategic sensemaking, preparing the conversation Research question: How can HR personnel work strategically to influence the organizational culture? Purpose: The purpose of the study is to nuance the discussion about the strategic work of HR personnel, and exemplify concrete activities of this strategic work from a context of organizational culture. Methodology: To achieve the purpose, a qualitative study consisting of eight semi-structured interviews have been conducted. The study is based on a social constructionist perspective and abductive approach. Theoretical perspectives: The presented theoretical perspectives consist of previous literature of HR work, organizational culture, and three follower-centered approaches to leadership. The main focus is on the strategic sensemaking model for middle managers by Rouleau and Balogun (2011) which we apply and further develop. Result: The result of the study’s empirical analysis indicates that the HR personnel influence the organizational culture partly directly, but mainly by letting the leaders distribute their message throughout the organization. We categorize their attempts to influence into three different roles; the culture coordinator, the supportive partner, and the discrete supervisor. Conclusions: We found the strategic sensemaking model for middle managers by Rouleau and Balogun (2011) to be transferable onto the way our HR personnel work strategically with the organizational culture. We further develop the model by adding another discursive activity to the model that we found our HR personnel to perform in order to gain strategic influence, namely preparing the conversation’.