Employeeship (or Medarbetarskap in
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
) is an approach to developing a culture of ownership and responsibility in an
organisation
An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose.
The word is derived from ...
. The
philosophy has been adopted and researched most notably in
Sweden.
Employeeship is a process where the traditional thinking in regards to
leadership
Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets vi ...
and subordination in
hierarchy is abandoned. The traditional model is replaced by a mindset of partnership, a relationship where both
managers
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities o ...
and
employees take ownership over their work situation. The main objective is to achieve a working environment that stimulates involvement among employees and managers. Managers develop their skills in
facilitation, involving, revealing and learn to make better use of their employees’ knowledge, ideas and initiative.
One of the insights that organisations embarking on this approach uncover is that the characteristics often expected and valued in leaders are identical to co-workers and colleagues. Therefore, an organisation that embarks on developing employeeship engages the whole workforce, not just the leadership community. Research (see below) shows an increase in the levels of openness, honesty, taking responsibility and increases trust.
The Elements of Employeeship
The key to this approach is for teams to be able to have transparent conversations with their "leader" regarding things that are not normally discussed in the work setting, subjects such as: the meaning of loyalty; openness and
transparency; the meaning of work and how it fits in with our lives; relationships between us in the team; responsibility, accountability and taking initiative; the service we offer others.
Typically the discussions follow a pre-designed questions so that deeper exploration can occur.
[Tengblad, S. ; Hällsten, F. ; Ackerman, C. & Velten, J. (2007). Medarbetarskap.Från ord till handling! (Transl: Employeeship. From words to action!) Published:Malmö: Liber.]
References
External links
Case study of employeeship at Swedish Rail (SJ){{Dead link, date=February 2020
Human resource management