To promote coworkership – an HR role?

Abstract

The most important assignment for HR-work is to deliver value, according to Ulrich & Brockbank (2005). The value could be to create organizational capabilities and human abilities, including 'talent, speed, collaboration, accountability, shared mindset, learning, and leadership' (p. viii). One way to promote these aspects could be to work with coworkership or 'medarbetarskap' in Swedish. Coworkership is a long-termed philosophy characterized by employee responsibility, participation, co-operation, and confidence and open-mindness, within organisational frames. The purpose with this paper is to discuss how HR departments can contribute to coworkership, and if they by this can maintain the role of being the employee advocate, which Ulrich & Brockbank (2005) think is one of five important HR roles. Can and should HR be the promoter of coworkership? The results show how a lot of organisations are using the concept coworkership (medarbetarskap) in their policies, and as a way to discuss the employees’ performance, but still there is much to do to really realise all the good intentions. The role of HR departments is often to coordinate the process to develop coworkership, and to work out the policies, just as they do with leadership issues. To really achieve the good intentions and long-termed results HR departments should reflect their own coworkership to set their own example, and influence managers and their employees. Then it is easier to take the role of promoter of coworkership. A well-developed coworkership presupposes close cooperation between HR departments and line-managers, which confirm the HRM-ideas about the common responsibility for employment relationships. HR managers and specialists could take the role of being employee champion/advocate, at least to understand 'the employee perspective'. This could be a way to even maintain the other roles, as strategic partner, developer, functional, and leader role. These roles are employer roles and should not be mixed with the trade unions roles and missions.