shared working environment responsibilities in the …1449018/... · 2020-06-29 · the incentive...
TRANSCRIPT
Master’s Thesis, 15 hp
Master’s Program in Leadership and Organisation, 60 hp
Spring 2020
SHARED WORKING
ENVIRONMENT
RESPONSIBILITIES IN THE
STAFFING INDUSTRY
A SHARED LEADERSHIP PERSPECTIVE
Jonas Stenborg
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to explore Swedish leaders in staffing agencies experiences,
thoughts, and insights regarding the implementation of the legislative works around SAM
(Systematic Work Environmental Management AFS 2001:1). In the context of SAM, the
legislation entails a complex triangular relationship between the staffing agency, their
customer, and the consultant. In this relationship the consultant finds themselves with two
leaders, who must establish a cooperation across organisational borders to create a sufficient
working environment. With an inductive approach to this phenomenon, three themes were
derived from the conducted interviews: Risk for complacency, Tear in responsibility and
Experiences of Shared Leadership. The findings displayed a risk for complacency for the
respondents, as the comfort of long-term contracts and well-established routines diminished
the incentive to conduct recurring risk assessments. The respondent’s detachment from the
daily activities of the consultants resulted in a sense of deflection of the daily responsibilities
on the customer and consultants. Finally, the theoretical notion of shared leadership offered
some insight in the dual managerial position that is created in the context of working
environment management in the staffing industry. This relation was explored through an
inter-organisational perspective.
Keywords: Staffing industry, Shared leadership, Shared responsibility, Working environment,
Systematic Work Environmental Management, Systematiskt Arbetsmiljöarbete, SAM
TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Background .................................................................................................................................... 2
1.2 Aim & Purpose ............................................................................................................................... 3
1.3 Definition of Staffing Agencies and Consultants ........................................................................... 4
1.4 Definition of Leadership ................................................................................................................ 5
2. Theoretical References ....................................................................................................................... 6
2.1 The Swedish Work Environment Legislation ................................................................................ 6
2.2 Systematic Work Environment Management (SAM) .................................................................... 7
2.3 Shared Responsibility in the context of Systematic Work Environment Management (SAM) ..... 9
2.4 Shared Leadership ........................................................................................................................ 11
3. Method .............................................................................................................................................. 15
3.1 Research Approach ...................................................................................................................... 15
3.2 Setting .......................................................................................................................................... 16
3.3 Participants ................................................................................................................................... 17
3.4 Data Collection Procedure ........................................................................................................... 18
3.5 Ethical Considerations ................................................................................................................. 18
4. Data Analysis .................................................................................................................................... 19
5. Results & Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 21
5.1 Risk for Complacency .................................................................................................................. 22
5.2 Tear in Responsibility .................................................................................................................. 23
5.3 Experiences of Shared Leadership ............................................................................................... 26
6. Concluding Remarks ....................................................................................................................... 29
6.1 Methodological Discussion & Suggestions for Future Studies.................................................... 31
Terminology
• AML - Swedish abbreviation of Arbetsmiljölagen (1977:1160) - The Swedish Work
Environmental Law
• SAM - Swedish abbreviation of AFS 2001:1 Systematic Work Environmental
Management, provisions regarding the mandatory systematic work environment
management act
• Chief of consultants – Position at staffing agency which includes responsibility for
consultants. Will be used as a synonym for leaders of staffing agencies.
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1. Introduction
It is a complex social relationship that materialise in the event of hiring consultants. Several
different actors from two or more organisations must cooperate in order to find a match for
the specific assignment of the customer. When a match is found, the staffing agency, their
customer and the hired consultant are required by law to cooperate to secure a sufficient
working environment for the consultant. This cooperative relationship is mainly enforced by
the framework of Swedish Work Environmental Law; Arbetsmiljölagen (SFS: 1977:1160),
where more specific actions one is required to undertake are found in arbetsmiljöförordningen
and the regulations of the Swedish Work Environment Authority.
One of the most controversial regulations issued by Swedish Work Environment
Authority is the act around mandatory systematic work environment management also known
as SAM (AFS 2001:1). The systematic work environment management act is a
comprehensive legislation that regulates and describes how the work environment is to be
conducted (AFS 2001:1). More specifically the act was developed to induce a requirement for
employers to investigate, implement and follow up with their organisation in a way that
illness and work-related accidents are prevented (AFS 2001:1). For the ease of reading,
further reference to this legislation will be carried out with the Swedish abbreviation SAM.
What is unique with SAM is the preventive nature of the legislation, instead of acting as a
guideline when accidents occur, SAM requires an ongoing and systematic way of managing
the working environment. In theory this legislation is a great way to ensure the employee a
satisfactory working environment, but empirical studies carried out by the Central Statistics
Agency and the Swedish Work Environment Authority show that roughly 40% of the
organisations failed to implement SAM in their organisation (Arbetsmiljöverket 2018).
This discrepancy is further exposed in the statistics surrounding Swedish staffing agencies,
where inspections by the Swedish Work Environment Agency expose that two out of three
inspected organisations fail in implementing SAM (Arbetsmiljöverket 2018).
For the staffing industry, one of the central aspects of SAM is the notion of
shared responsibility, where the legislation requires the staffing agency as well as their
customer to actively contribute to a sufficient working environment for the consultant. This
requirement forces an inter-organisational relationship upon the two parties, an event where
leaders from different organisations has to cooperate in order to fulfil the requirements by the
legislation (Berg 2008; 3. Chap. 2a § SFS 1977:1160). The event of two or more managers
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sharing responsibilities and tasks has in contemporary literature been explored as shared
leadership (Döös 2015; Doos et al. 2010). The theoretical notion of shared leadership has
mainly been explored functioning within one organisation, where in the context of SAM, the
relationship that forms between managers crosses organisation boundaries (3. Chap. 2a § SFS
1977:1160). Previous studies has shown this relationship to be problematic, where many
points towards the difficulty of cooperation (Håkansson et al. 2013; Underhill & Quinlan
2011; Underhill 2010; Quinlan et al. 2009). With indications of the difficulty on
implementing SAM in the staffing industry, there is a salience of understanding the shared
leadership phenomenon in the event where shared managerial tasks crosses organisational
borders.
It is at this relationship the following study will take place, where an inter-
organisational perspective will be applied on the concept of shared leadership in order to
explore the leaders of staffing agencies experiences and insights regarding working with the
legislation surrounding SAM. As the staffing industry in Sweden has grown more than tenfold
the past twenty years this relationship highlights the salience of exploring the perspective of
staffing agencies on the practical implementation of the legislation (Almega 2018).
1.1 Background
The past few decades there has been a significant change in the trade and business climate in
Sweden. More and more companies are starting to focus on their core activity and are taking
advantage of staffing agencies to fill their need for special competence. The need for a
flexible business has increased dramatically, where the advantages of being able to hire more
personnel during peaks of productivity and the ability to follow economic cycles have been
significantly increased (Antonsson et al. 2014). This has led to an exponential increase in the
growth of staffing agencies in Sweden, where in 1995 the employed consultants of staffing
agencies were around 5000, increasing to 195 800 in 2018 (Almega 2018).
Previous international research has shown that being exposed to several
different working environments often leads to an increased risk of being exposed to an
insufficient working environment (Underhill & Quinlan, 2011). The employees of staffing
agencies which usually have temporary contracts at different customers are therefore
subjected to an increased risk of injuries and underwhelming working environment. It is
therefore essential for the staffing agencies to have a fruitful cooperation with their customer
as well as successfully manage their responsibility regarding their employees' working
environment. In 2002 the Swedish Working Environment Authority launched a series of
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investigations unveiling the mismanagement of working environments by staffing agencies.
The conducted report led to the conclusion that two out of three investigated staffing agencies
and their customers were unsuccessful in securing a sufficient working environment for the
consultants (Arbetsmiljöverket 2018). In addition, previous studies have indicated a difficulty
for the cooperation to work well in practice (Håkansson et al. 2013; Underhill & Quinlan
2011; Underhill 2010; Quinlan et al. 2009)
To illustrate the complexity in the relation, an example used in literature is often
the work injury notification. According to SAM, when an accident occur, the work injury
notification must be submitted by the staffing agency. As the leaders of staffing agencies,
conduct their daily work assignments in a different geographical vicinity, it requires a
collaboration with the customer around the course of events and any measures taken to
prevent future accidents. The information around the accident, and any actions taken must be
relayed from the customer to the staffing agency. The staffing agency must then include this
information in the work injury notification they are required to submit to The Swedish Work
Environment Authority (Antonsson et al. 2014). This example reveals a complicated
relationship in which the two parties has to have deep interactions and cooperative
capabilities. As this cooperation has shown to be problematic (Håkansson et al. 2013;
Underhill & Quinlan 2011; Underhill 2010; Quinlan et al. 2009), it reveals a discrepancy in
the ambitious nature of the legislation, which looks good on paper but has been empirically
shown to be difficult to implement.
1.2 Aim & Purpose
It is at this discrepancy this study picks up, where the aim is to explore leaders in staffing
agencies experiences, thoughts, and insights regarding the implementation of SAM in their
organisation. From this aim we can formulate the following research questions; 1. Through a
shared leadership perspective, how does the leaders experience the cooperation with the
customer? 2. What are the leaders’ thoughts and experiences with implementing SAM in a
staffing agency organisation? and 3. How do the leaders experience the division of
responsibility SAM implies?
To be able to answer these questions this study will draw help from interviews,
in which one can dive into the leader’s first-hand experiences and thoughts of working with
the implementation of this legislation. In addition to interviews a literature review will be
conducted regarding the history of SAM and today's implementation. This is being done to
gain structural knowledge on how SAM is implemented today and theoretical understanding
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on why organisations fail to implement it. Finally, the legislation around shared responsibility
will be discussed in relation to shared leadership.
1.3 Definition of Staffing Agencies and Consultants
The tradition of using staffing agencies is, compared to Japan and the USA, a relatively new
phenomenon in Sweden. This has led to the relationships in the Swedish staffing industry not
being subjected to broader studies until 1993, when changes in staffing policies were
implemented (Antonsson et al. 2014). Studies have shown that the climate of staffing agencies
in Sweden carries some differences compared to other countries, where in Sweden the hiring
periods are usually longer and many of the consultants are hired on ongoing contracts
(Håkansson et al. 2013). As there is a need for consultants in all kinds of sectors, not every
staffing agency is the same. The contemporary staffing climate is currently made up of
roughly 40% are manual workers and roughly 60% are office holders (Antonsson et al. 2014).
The broad range of sectors gives staffing agencies the opportunity to specialise in a field or
have a more general approach. This displays how vastly different organisations operating in
the staffing industry are, where the organisations can vary in many different sizes, fields of
operation and available resources. Most of the current research does not take this into account
and often focuses on putting employees of staffing agencies as the main research object
(Antonsson et al. 2014). As the staffing landscape is so different and the consultants can carry
vast differences in expertise, line of work and required knowledge, this study will instead
focus on the people responsible for the consultants, the chief of consultants. Focusing on the
leaders will allow this study to gain knowledge in the leader’s first-hand experiences in
working with the regulations around the work environment and will advance the field of
understanding the difficulty of practically implementing the regulation
Furthermore, there are some benefits to reap as this study is not interested in a
specific branch or type of staffing agency. The most central being that the leaders of a general
staffing agency generally encounter a broader spectrum of sectors with different requirements
for their working environment. In contrast, a specialised staffing agency most commonly tries
to serve one sector, in which the leaders are exposed to different clients with similar working
environment requirements. Henceforth, the definition of a staffing agency used will be one of
a more general nature, where staffing agencies will be referred to as; “An entity that has
employees that can be hired out for temporary or long term work.” (Daniel 2018).
Furthermore, the term consultants will relate to the employees of staffing agencies, where this
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study does not take into account the length of the contract the employee has, if they are
specially trained or has previous experience in the field they are hired for.
1.4 Definition of Leadership
Leadership is a very versatile and multi-facetted term which encompasses a wide variety of
concepts. As leadership carries such versatility, the definition of leadership carries a
significant role in defining the researchers approach to the phenomenon. According to Bolden
et al. (2011), leadership has grown to be one of the most significant questions within
organisations, where it can be contributed to both the resolution as well as the cause for issues
in contemporary society. In the light of the ever-changing nature of society and impending
globalisation, the contemporary view of leadership is starting to change. With organisations
becoming more internationalised and as the need of working from home grows, organisations
and researchers are forced to rethink and modernise the way to conduct leadership (Döös &
Nyberg 2009). This has led to alternative styles of leadership such as distant and dual
leadership gaining in popularity. Alvesson and Sveningsson (2012, p. 304) specifically
mention that previous perspectives contain excessive individualism and that neglect the
cultural context in which the leadership relationship exists. This leads to the term having
many different definitions which in turn are applicable in a vast amount of ways. Henceforth,
many argue that defining leadership in a more general term is without benefit as the term can
carry different views and meaning to the phenomenon (Bolden et al. 2011).
As this stand, this study will not try to give a general definition of the
phenomenon but instead offer an outline of the theoretical applicability leadership has on this
study. For the purpose of this study, leadership will be viewed as a social process which forms
between individuals working towards a common goal. The process often involves a
hierarchical order in which one of the individuals is prescribed more authority and the other
follows. A similar view of leadership has been present in previous literature where Tengblad
and Alvesson gives the following definition:
“A leader, with dispositions and behaviors interacting with followers who are
perceiving and attributing during an influencing process which guides, structures,
and/or facilitates behaviors, activities, and/or relationships towards various goals and
outcomes“ (Tengblad & Alvessson 2013, p. 159).
The salience of social processes is also present in Bolden et al. (2011), where they describe
leadership as the social interrelationship between individuals, leaders, and followers. As this
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study views leadership as something that is being formed in the relationship between
individuals, it can be a complex process that manifest in several different forms. When
leadership is formally shared between two or more individuals the relationship that forms
becomes even more complicated. The concept of shared leadership will be further explored
during the theoretical references chapter.
2. Theoretical References
In this chapter the theoretical references for this study will be presented. The legislative
background and history regarding the Swedish Work Environmental legislation will be laid
out, continuing with an explanation of the Systematic Work Environmental Management
prescript. As this study is interested in the relationship that forms between the leaders of
staffing agencies and their customers, the final segment will discuss shared leadership in the
context of the legislation.
2.1 The Swedish Work Environment Legislation
To understand how and why the Swedish legislation around the working environment is so
ambitious one must understand the historical context in which it was developed. As early as
the end of the 19th century, Sweden developed SFS 1889:19, a law regarding the physical
safety of employees (Källberg 1999). The objective with this legislation was to protect the
employees from life threatening situations and physical harm in their daily work. This law
was subject to several changes and carried several iterations, until finally Sweden's current
working environmental act was developed; Arbetsmiljölagen (SFS 1977:1160). With the
development of this act, the previous mindset of just protecting the physical aspect of
employees changed to more faceted, where regulation around many different aspects were
included.
“The purpose of the [Work Environment Act] is to prevent ill-health and accidents at
work and also to otherwise achieve a good working environment.” 1 Chap. 1 § SFS
1977:1160
Since 1977, this act has been subjected to several changes, where Arbetsmiljölagen (SFS
1977:1160) today deals with technical (Chap. 2, §§ 1, 7b), social, psychological, physical
(Chap. 2, §§ 1-2, 4-5) and organizational (Chap. 2, § 2) factors. Praxis developed in court,
also established that an employee’s satisfaction with their work, community with residual
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workers and personal development are salient aspects for a good working environment. This
means that the current legislation has undergone a change, from the early iterations which
carried aspects that only protected employees from physical and direct harm, where the
current legislation carries a broader and more exhaustive way of looking at a healthy working
environment. AML has been, and is, currently a law containing the framework of the working
environment, where more specific implementation and clarification is provided through
provisions issued by the Swedish Work Environment Authority. One of the most
comprehensive and controversial provisions is the mandatory systematic work environment
management act (AFS 2001:1). This provision has been subject for several studies, mainly
due to the difficulty for organisations to comply with the legislation (Arbetsmiljöverket 2018,
Birgersdotter et al. 2002). To further enhance our understanding of the subject and to gain
some insight in why organisations find it difficult to implement the legislation the following
segment will introduce the provision and its implementation.
2.2 Systematic Work Environment Management (SAM)
Considering AML acts as the framework for the working environment laws, the Swedish
Work Environment Authority issues provisions in ways to specify what an organisation must
comply with. The provision on Systematic Work Environment Work (AFS 2001: 1) describes
how employers and employees must work to achieve a good working environment.
“For the purposes of these Provisions, systematic work environment management
means the work done by the employer to investigate, carry out and follow up activities
in such a way that ill-health and accidents at work are prevented and a satisfactory
working environment achieved.” §2 AFS 2001: 1
In addition, the working environmental management should be constituted as a natural part of
the daily activities in the workplace and should comprise all the physical, psychological and
social conditions that are important for the working environment (§3 AFS 2001:1). This gives
the leaders inadequate clarity on what they must implement in their organization to
successfully comply with the provision. As a tool to aid organisations in understanding the
basics of this provision, the Swedish Work Environment Authority has developed the SAM
wheel.
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.
Figure 1, The SAM wheel, illustration gathered from Swedish Work Environment Authority (ADI 683 Eng), brochure
With four main themes, the function of the SAM wheel is to illustrate what an organisation
has to implement in their daily organisation to achieve a successful compliance with the
regulation. The four themes start with Investigation, where a company must Investigate the
working conditions (§§ 8, 9 AFS 2001:1). Using the existing knowledge about the dangers
with the working environment, one must then determine how the physical, psychological, and
social working conditions are to be investigated. With the results of the investigation in hand,
one is then required to conduct a risk assessment, which is based on assessing how serious
each risk are (§ 8). Depending on the risk that has been detected, there are different measures
that need to be carried out (§ 10). The Swedish Work Environment Authority gives examples
of measures that could involve; changes to the organisation, training, or new safety devices
(Arbetsmiljöverket 2020). But the main item that is highlighted is the development of an
action plan, which should contain how one has dealt with the risks (§10 AFS 2001:1). If one
cannot solve the risk immediately, the action plan should contain a “description of the risks,
how they will be dealt with, who will do this work and when it will be finished.”
(Arbetsmiljöverket 2020). After you have identified the risks, assessed them, tried to
eliminate them, and developed an action plan, the final step is to follow-up on measures that
have been implemented (§10 AFS 2001:1). This is crucial for organisations to develop a
successful work environment, as it removes the ability to create temporary fixes for the
observed risks and creates an ongoing evaluation of the working environment. When the
organisations are following-up on the measures they have undertaken they need to assess if
they have the desired effect. This should be done as the measures could create new risks or
not actually target the first identified risk successfully.
However, many organisations report compliance with the regulation, yet, the
fact remains that many lacks in their physical and mental work environment
(Arbetsmiljöverket 2018; Underhill & Quinlan, 2011). One of the most blatant of these
9
sectors are the staffing industry, where reports show that roughly two out of three staffing
agencies were reported to have structural failures in their working environmental management
(Arbetsmiljöverket 2018). This has previously been under the scope of the Swedish Work
Environment Authority, where they in 2012 launched a large campaign in investigating why
this discrepancy existed. The investigation included several hundred inspections of staffing
agencies and their customers and concluded 2017. The investigation resulted in exposing
several flaws with the legislation in addition to pinpointing where the staffing agencies and
their customers fail in creating a satisfactory working environment (ibid. 2018).
One of the conclusions derived from the Swedish Work Environment
Authority’s investigation, was the flaws in the relation between staffing agencies and their
customers are the shared responsibility (ibid. 2018). To combat this, the terminology in the
legislation was converted from “divided work environment responsibility” to “common work
environment responsibility”, with the motivation that a divided responsibility risks becoming
no one's responsibility (ibid. 2018). The Swedish Work Environment Authority (2018) report
therefore highlights the salience in a successful cooperation between the leaders of staffing
agencies and their customers. The following segment will henceforth describe what the
current legislation says about shared responsibility as well as reviewing previous literature on
the subject.
2.3 Shared Responsibility in the context of Systematic Work Environment
Management (SAM)
One of the most central aspects regarding staffing agencies and the Systematic Work
Environment Management, are the shared responsibility over the working environment with
their customers (3. Chap. 12 § SFS 1977:1160). This relationship is something that is unique
in the Swedish business climate, where the two organisations must collaborate in order to
create a sufficient working environment for the hired consultant. The legislation clearly states
that the employer has the general responsibility towards securing a satisfactory working
environment for their employee (3. Chap 2a § SFS 1977:1160). In the event of hiring a
consultant, both the staffing agency and the customer are seen as the employer of the
consultants, which means that both organisations have a responsibility over the working
environment for the hired consultants (3. Chap 12 § SFS 1977:1160). This division of
responsibility has no clear guidelines within the legislation, but a systematic work
environment management involving all employees must be carried out by the staffing
company, whilst the customer organisation must involve the consultant in their work
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environmental management (Almega, 2018). This in turn creates a need for cooperation
between the leaders for the two organisations as both are responsible for the working
environment for the consultant. But it is not only the staffing agencies and their customers
who are responsible for the working environment, there are also several other actors involved
in this complex social relationship. In contemporary literature the distributed responsibility is
often described with a triangle figure:
Figure 2, The distribution of Responsibility. Inspired by Bergström et al. (2007).
This figure explains the complexity of the shared responsibility, where not only the staffing
agency and the customers have a responsibility but also the employee. The employee has a
responsibility for their own working environment, and to be able to undertake this
responsibility the employee has the right to information and knowledge about their working
environment (Andersson et al, 2011). Furthermore, they are also required to actively
participate in the creation of a sufficient working environment, which means participating in
the implementation of actions in addition to following the legislation. This means in practice
that employees are required to use the protective devices and protective equipment required to
maintain safety and to exercise caution so that no danger of ill-health or accident occurs (ibid.
2011). The three parties should then cooperate to create routines, identify risks, and solve
problems, which in theory should lead to an adequate working environment.
As figure two indicates, a consultant's sufficient working environment has three
parties whom carry the responsibility, yet hired consultants are statistically more prone to
suffer injuries at work (Arbetsmiljöverket 2018). Håkansson et al. (2013) believe that the lack
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of workplace and safety introduction is a major reason for the lacking work environment for
temporary employees. They also highlight the ambiguity of who is responsible for the
introduction, as the responsibility is shared, this further suggests the need for a flourishing
collaboration to secure a sufficient working environment for consultants.
The phenomenon of shared leadership and shared responsibility has been the
subject for countless previous studies (Wang et al. 2014; Döös et al. 2014; Fletcher & Kaufer
2003; Pearce & Conger 2002; Lambert 2002) where meta studies suggests that a shared
leadership is contributing to effectiveness and has a positive impact on complex teams (Wang
et al. 2014). The notion of shared leadership and staffing agencies will be further explored in
the following segment.
2.4 Shared Leadership
With previous studies exposing shared leadership to be beneficial towards managerial tasks
(Döös 2015, Doos et al. 2010), it raises questions as to why some studies highlight the
collaboration between staffing agencies and their customers as the causal link to the
insufficient working environment for consultants (Håkansson et al. 2013; Underhill &
Quinlan 2011; Underhill 2010; Quinlan et al. 2009). To further explore the involuntary
relationship the legislation enforces, the theoretical tool of shared leadership will in this
segment be tied to the context of Swedish working environment. Further, the inter-
organisational applicability of the term be discussed.
It is a complex social interrelationship that manifests between a customer and a
staffing agency when trying to hire consultants. Actors from different organisations with
varying positions are attempting to cooperate in order to match a fitting consultant for a
position the customer wants. This process includes two or more organisations with different
guidelines, methods of operation and available resources, which leads to a highly integrated
cooperation where boundaries of the organisations are fluent (Olofsdotter 2009). When a
successful match is found, the consultant is employed by the staffing agency, but hired by a
different organisation, leaving them with two employers or two leaders. This interaction is
best explained with the following figure:
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Figure 3. The three-way interrelationship between staffing agency, hired consultant and third-party customer organisation.
Inspired by Biggs & Swailes (2005).
This figure illustrates the complex triangle relationship that emerges when hiring a consultant.
The hired consultant has their daily operations at the third-party customer organisation but
reports to the staffing agency. This gives the consultant two leaders, in two different
organisations, both who are required by law to systematically manage their working
environment with a shared responsibility (3. Chap. 2a § SFS 1977:1160).
Shared leadership has been subject to a vast amount of previous research, where
several meta studies have tied increased efficiency to shared leadership (D’Innocenzo et al.
2016; Wang et al. 2014). According to Döös et al. (2014) there are several benefits to a shared
leadership, where it can be described as an evolving leadership where leaders are forced to
interact with one another to lead the organisation in a more powerful manner. In interaction
this form of leadership can manifest in learning and a common understanding of work tasks,
which can contribute to the feeling of security in the workplace. It can lead to better thinking,
broader competence, better problem solving, better decisions, but also revolves around inter-
social benefits such as relief, support, security, and an increased job satisfaction (Döös et al.
2014).
The definition of shared leadership is difficult to pinpoint, as much of the
contemporary research literature carries a wide variety of concepts, reflecting a multitude of
different approaches to shared form of leadership. Within the field, the notion of shared
leadership is commonly theoretically conceived in two ways, the notion of joint leadership
and functionally shared leadership (Döös 2015; Pearce & Conger 2003). One of the most
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cited definitions of shared leadership comes from Pearce and Conger, where they describe
shared leadership as: “A dynamic, interactive influence process among individuals in groups
for which the objective is to lead one another to the achievement of group or organizational
goals or both” (Pearce & Conger 2003, p.1). This has been one school of thought in the field
of shared leadership, where the fluent leadership of sharing the responsibilities between
members of the team, has shown to be efficient in highly proficient teams (D’Innocenzo et al.
2016; Wang et al. 2014). In the sense of Conger and Pearce (2003) the focus is more on joint
leadership, in which shared leadership could be linked to formal work organisation issues
such as task division, coordination, and control.
On the other side, functionally shared leadership a definition which instead of
focusing on the empowerment of employees, is interested at the shared leadership between
executive leaders (Döös et al. 2015; Vinell, 2013; Döös et al. 2010; Döös et al. 2003).
Functionally shared leadership is linked to how work tasks are divided and co-ordinated
when managerial positions are held by two or more managers. One of the most prominent
within this school of though is Marianne Döös (2015) which describes the term as follows;
“functionally shared leadership is characterised by the managers together assuming responsibility for
the managerial whole, but with clearly divided work tasks.” Döös 2015, p. 55
Döös gives the example of a fictional organisation, where one leader might run the production
on a day-to-day basis, while the other deals with the finances. The relationship does not entitle
a subordinate position to the other, but simply different allocated areas of responsibility. What
is prevalent in this relationship is “the wish to create a common whole, despite everything
essentially being divided.” (Döös 2015, p. 55).
When focusing on this latter definition of shared leadership, the term gains a
different substance, as it refers to two or more appointed executive leaders, in which the
leaders have to interact and cooperate to achieve a common goal (Doos et al. 2010). This
explains the relation that forms when hiring consultants, where the two leaders exist, but has
clearly divided work tasks. For example, the leader at the customer organisations has greater
responsibilities when it comes to the daily activity for the consultant, as they generally have
the role as supervisors. The leader at the staffing agency possesses a more administrative role,
where they oversee scheduling and finding the right consultant for the specific assignment. In
practice, this means that both work tasks and responsibility are divided but are joined with the
common task of securing a sufficient working environment for the consultants. In this study,
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the decision to apply the latter definition of shared leadership goes in line with the aim of the
report, where this study is focused on the relationship that occurs between a leader in a
staffing agency and a leader in the customer company when a consultant is to be hired. Thus,
future references to shared leadership will carry the definition of two executive leaders in a
shared leadership relation also known as functionally shared leadership.
One of the bedrocks for a successful shared leadership between managers is
built on trust, non-prestige, shared values, and communication. Contrary to expectations, the
key to success is most often not a division of tasks, but regarding tasks as joint and sharing the
responsibility for them (Döös, 2015). Another centrepiece to a successful shared leadership is
communication, in which both parties must engage in an open and non-judgemental way of
exchanging information (ibid. 2015).
However, previous empirical studies of functionally shared leadership have
focused on the managers functioning within the same organisation (Döös et al. 2015; Vinell,
2013) whereas this study is applying the term on managers in two different organisations. In
the context of hiring consultants, the relationship that forms between the managers crosses
organisational borders. Applying the term on this study will therefore carry an inter-
organisational perspective in which differences in organisational cultures and means of
operation will be taken into account. This could materialise in some reduction in the
applicability of the term. However, as the term is applied to understand the relationship that
forms between two managers in the event of cooperation, this study argues that the same
relation forms between managers in an inter-organisational perspective as with managers
functioning within the same organisation.
In an inter-organisational context, the theoretical notion of shared leadership can
aid in understanding the relationship that forms between leader of staffing agencies and their
customers. With previous studies showing a positive outcome on the phenomenon there is a
contradiction in the negative statistics around the working environment for employees of
staffing agencies, where the shared leadership between staffing agencies and their customers
are often seen as the problem (Håkansson et al. 2013; Underhill & Quinlan 2011; Underhill
2010; Quinlan et al. 2009).
In an attempt to broaden the knowledge around this phenomenon, the term will
be used as a theoretical tool to explore the relationship that forms between the leaders of
staffing agencies and their customers. To gather data regarding the experiences, interviews
were conducted. Further discussion regarding the methodological approach will be conducted
in the following segment.
15
3. Method
The following chapter will explain the chosen method including the research design and
process, data collection method and data analysis. The chapter concludes with a discussion of
ethical considerations shown during the process of conducting this research.
3.1 Research Approach
In accordance with the purpose of the study, the exploration of leaders in staffing agencies
perspective and the personal experiences of working with the legislation around SAM are this
study's main objective. Such understanding can be gained by a qualitative research method,
where the use of interviews enables insight into the respondents reasoning and creates an
opportunity to understand their perception of working with the legislation around mandatory
systematic work environment management (SAM). Approaching and analysing collected
empirical data can be interpreted in several ways, the determinant of scientific philosophy
must according to Ekengren and Hinnfors (2012) always be the research question of the essay.
The aim is to generate knowledge and understanding of the experience of working with SAM,
a research topic that is suitable for a hermeneutic approach as it is of a subjective nature and
aims to understand the obtained empiricism and its relation to existing theory (Bryman & Bell
2013). In line with the phenomenological notion of describing the world as it is experienced,
this study has conducted individual intensive interviews to capture the voices of the leaders in
staffing agencies (Chermaz 2006). Individual intensive interviews are an effective tool to help
a researcher understand a topic where the respondent experiences can create relevant
understanding of the subject. During an intensive interview, the respondent may describe and
reflect on their own personal experiences in such a way that rarely happens in everyday life.
In this method, the informant thus stands for the greatest part of the conversation, while the
interviewer is there to listen and understand (ibid. 2006). The interviews were conducted in a
semi-structured approach as they enabled the researchers to ask to follow up questions and to
encourage the respondent to explain things deeper (Kvale & Brinkmann 2014). The same
interview guide was used for all the interviews, but with the explorative nature of the
interview there were unique aspects explored with each respondent.
Deriving from the research questions, three segments were created as a structure
for the interview guide; 1. The cooperation aspect, 2. Implementation and 3. Division of
responsibility. The interview guide was constructed through an inductive approach, where the
questions asked are open ended with focus on how the respondent views the world. As the
16
interview was conducted in Swedish, the questions in the interview guide will also be
formulated in Swedish, a translation of the interview guide will be provided in the appendix.
This means that the empirical data has been translated from their original language to English.
The translation of the respondents’ answer means that there could be a loss of the respondents
actual phrasing, and therefore could result in a loss of the respondents actual meaning and
response. To prevent this, the raw data was also run through a translation application on the
computer, this was done to get a second opinion on the translation and to achieve a more
objective translation. Furthermore, the analysis was taken place in the data’s original
language, in which the quotes were translated solely for the presentation of the results.
Presented following will be three translated examples of interview questions derived from the
research questions.
1. How do you experience collaborating with the customer companies when it comes
to the work environment?
2. How do you view your responsibilities regarding systematic work environment
management?
3. How do you interpret the shared responsibility regarding systematic work
environment management?
As this study is interested in the patterns and associations derived from the respondents view
of the world, this paper is using an inductive approach to answering the research questions
(Ritchie & Lewis, 2003). A quote from Ritchie and Lewis describes the inductive process of
coming to conclusions in a fulfilling way; “(...)inductive processes involve using evidence as
the genesis of a conclusion; deductive processes use evidence in support of a conclusion.”
(Ritchie & Lewis 2003, p. 14). The conclusions derived from this study are therefore not an
attempt to confirm a hypothesis, but instead an attempt to explore leaders' empirical
perception of working with the legislation around mandatory systematic work environment
management.
3.2 Setting
The interview was conducted through the internet-based communication tool Zoom and
Microsoft Teams. This was mainly done due to the widespread COVID-19 pandemic and the
recommendations by the Swedish government to avoid unnecessary public interaction.
However, there are several benefits of conducting interviews through internet-based
communication tools. One being, having the respondent in a comfortable setting. As the
interview is done through a computer the interview does not have to take place in a formal
17
setting, but can be conducted in one's home or workplace, which enables the respondent to
feel more at ease when answering open ended questions (Seitz 2016). Having the respondents
to feel more at ease is greatly beneficial for this study as the answers generally become more
natural and free flowing, giving the respondent more freedom to express their opinions and
point of view without the interference of a formal interview setting. However, even though
the interview was conducted with the help of cameras, there is some interference in the
physical aspect of reading each other's body language. This aspect will henceforth carry a
second-hand perspective in the analysis, where focus will be on the actual phrasing of the
respondents.
3.3 Participants
This study has used a purposive sampling strategy, in this approach, the selection of
participants is carried out because the sampling unit carries a specific feature or characteristic
that will enable the researcher to explore the central themes they are interested in (Ritchie &
Lewis 2003). In this case, the study is interested in individuals in leadership positions working
in staffing agencies, therefore the study gains from having a homogenous sample of only
individuals characterized by this feature. Furthermore, a request for an interview was sent out
to several individuals in leadership positions in different staffing agencies, where the first one
who responded were selected for the interview. The leader was then asked to recommend four
additional colleagues who were involved in the daily working environmental management
whom in turn were asked to recommend additional colleagues. This method of gathering
respondents is called snowball sampling (Bryman & Bell 2013), resulted in a pool of six
leaders, in which the first three were randomly selected for interviews. After conducting three
interviews, the data deemed to be sufficient as there were recurring themes and experiences
throughout the interviews. Limiting the study to three interviews can formulate some
limitations in the transferability regarding the produced data, instead of viewing the data in
this manner, the data produced should in this case be used in a way to gain more knowledge in
the specific experiences leaders at staffing agencies have. Having the pool of respondents
larger than the actual interviewees is not only a great resource, but also acts to mask the
identity of the interviewees additionally. The respondents who were selected are head of
consultants in a large sized staffing agency based in Sweden.
Previous studies have shown that smaller organisations have a more difficult
time in handling the regulation around SAM (Birgersdotter 2002), therefore, having a large
sized staffing agency as the research subject was a conscious choice. The main motivators
18
being the explorative nature of this study, where this study is not aiming to unearth
improprieties with staffing agencies but to explore the leader’s experiences in practically
implementing the legislation and the relationships it creates. Working for a large organisation
usually entails access to more resources, which in turn enables the chief of consultants to
perform in their role. The choice of using one large staffing agency also means access to a
larger pool of respondents, where several different perspectives and experiences can be
thoroughly explored and developed. This also falls in line with the reasoning behind the use
of a case study, as it enables the researcher to gather information that covers and creates a
holistic perspective on a situation or organisation (Patel & Davidson, 2017). This study
conducts a case study to get deep knowledge on the subject and how the leaders are
experiencing it. As this study is not focused on producing transferable results, the gathered
data should be viewed as an opportunity to deeply explore the specific experiences and
insights of the respondents. The organisation studied is not specialised in any field but acts as
a general staffing agency, conducting business in several different sectors. The respondents
had weekly contact with their customers, but the range of customers varied between them.
3.4 Data Collection Procedure
The interview started with general questions about the organisation and their work, this was
done to create a casual atmosphere where the respondent could feel more at ease. After the
introductory questions, the respondent was reminded of the purpose of this study and the
ethical guidelines it follows. After a few introductory questions, the interview naturally led to
more specific questions revolving around the leader’s perception of working with SAM and
the division of responsibility the legislation implies. When conducting interviews, there is a
risk for “interviewer effect”, which implies that the respondent is trying to answer the
question in a way they think the interviewer wants (Hayes 2000). As a preventive tool for this,
the respondent was encouraged to share their perspective and reminded that the purpose of the
interview is to explore their experiences. After the respondent’s agreement, the interview was
recorded using an embedded tool in the communications software.
3.5 Ethical Considerations
Throughout the process, this study has closely abided by the ethical guidelines presented by
the Swedish Science Council (2018). These guidelines include the four main points; The
information requirement, The Consent Claim, The Confidentiality Claim and The Using
19
Claim. Throughout this study these claims has been present, and in the following segment the
ethical consequences encountered in relation to these claims will be explored.
First off, even though anonymity could not be guaranteed, this study has taken
several steps to ensure some confidentiality for the respondent. Initially, the respondent was
contacted directly by the researcher, which gave the respondent a chance to respond if they
were interested in participating in the study. This initial email carried the details regarding the
study and gave the respondent a chance to respond only if they were interested in
participating. With the interview taking place through the digital tool Zoom, the respondent
could also choose where to conduct the interview, this further removed the chance for any
colleagues or outside parties to identify the respondent’s identity. Furthermore, the data was
handled confidentially inspired by Ritchie and Lewis (2003) where the recordings and
transcripts were stored separately and was not labelled in ways that could compromise the
identity of the respondents. As the data was processed the names were masked and the
respondents were given gender-neutral pseudonyms: Kim, Billie and Charlie.
Even though the results of this study are not meant to expose the shortcomings
of staffing agencies, one could make the case that the results found could be damaging to the
organisation the respondent works for. Therefore, there were extra measures taken to protect
the participants from harm. As described above, there were several steps taken to ascertain the
confidentiality of the respondent, in addition, the respondent was made sure to understand the
issues this study would address before asking to take part. Ritchie and Lewis also suggests
that the questions raised “are best addressed through clear and direct questions, so that
people are not drawn through ambiguity or confusion into subjects they would prefer to
avoid.” (Ritchie & Lewis 2003, p.69). With this in mind, the interview guide was constructed
with extra caution, and extra caution was implemented during the interview. With these
ethical considerations in mind, the following segment will lay out how the data was processed
and analysed.
4. Data Analysis
As a tool for compiling and analysing the data, a thematic analysis was conducted. As the
research subject for this study is the experiences of the respondents, a thematic analysis gives
this study the tools to highlight and explore the respondent’s reality by identifying patterns in
the data. According to Braun and Clarke (2006), one of the greatest strengths of thematic
analysis is the flexibility of the method. One example being the indifference of
20
epistemological position you are stemming from as it is compatible with both essentialist and
constructionist paradigms within social sciences. In line with the inductive approach of this
study, thematic analysis will aid in producing rich and complex data by seeking out patterns
and themes within the data. This study draws from Braun and Clarke (2006) structure of
conducting a thematic analysis, which is executed in the following steps:
1. Familiarisation with the data,
2. Generate initial codes,
3. Search for themes,
4. Critically review the themes and subordinate codes,
5. Define and name the themes,
6. Finalize the analysis.
To produce a reliable source of data, the analysis process started with transcribing the
conducted interviews on a word to word basis. The transcription was then processed several
times as an act of familiarisation with the data material, which was done to create a deeper
understanding of the data material and the respondent’s statements (Braun & Clarke 2006).
During this stage, notes were written down about manifested patterns and recurring themes.
After familiarizing with the data, the initial coding was conducted. This was done on a line to
line basis, where meaningful segments and words from the transcription resulted in the initial
codes. Acting as an attempt to detach the data from the researchers pre-existing knowledge
around the subject, the initial codes tried to carry a close resemblance to the raw data. After
categorizing and sorting the initial codes, several themes could be identified. In contrast to the
initial codes the themes identified were more abstract, but still tried to carry some
resemblance of the empirical background. These themes were then reviewed, merged, and
finally named, where the following three themes were constructed; 1. Risk for Complacency
2. Tear in Responsibility, 3. Experience of Shared Leadership. As a visual aid for the whole
process the following example was constructed:
21
Figure 5. Example of coding.
5. Results & Analysis
With regards to the goal of the legislation, and the discrepancy that previous studies have
shown, this study was aimed to explore leaders in the staffing agencies' insights, thoughts, and
experiences in practically implementing SAM in their organisation. The results are based on
the individual experiences and thoughts of leaders of staffing agencies regarding their
working environmental management. With the inductive approach to the study the raw data
was analysed, and three central themes emerged: Risk for complacency, Tear in responsibility
and Experiences of functionally shared leadership. The first and second theme; Risk for
complacency and Experiences of functionally shared leadership will be analysed with close
relation to the regulation, where the experiences of Kim, Billie and Charlie will act as
empirical insights in the practical implementation of the legislation. The third theme will be
related to the theoretical notion of shared leadership, in which the experiences will be
analysed through an inter-organisational perspective.
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5.1 Risk for Complacency
In the context of staffing agencies, one of the most central aspects of the Systematic Work
Environment Management is the legislated shared responsibility the staffing agency and their
customer has (AFS 2001:1 §1). Considering that SAM responsibility is shared between the
staffing company and the customer company, it is highly salient that they agree on who is
responsible for what and establish a proficient cooperation. Otherwise, there is a risk that
the management of the work environment is overlooked or forgotten. It is therefore of
significance that both the staffing agency and the customer's company ensures that SAM is
met and both parties claim responsibility for the working environment (Siöcrona 2010).
Both the staffing company and the customer company have a responsibility to regularly
investigate working conditions and assess the risks that an employee may suffer from ill
health or accidents at work (AFS 2001:1 8 §). It is especially important to complete
estimation and risk assessment in the beginning of a contract. This can be done by visiting the
customer organisation at the location of the assignments and investigating whether the
customer company's work environment is sufficient (Prevent Checklist 2019) It is not always
an easy task to get access to a customer's working conditions, and if they are deemed to be
insufficient, straining the relationship with requirements is even more difficult (Antonsson et
al. 2014). During the steps of processing the gathered experiences from the respondents, the
first theme emerged regarding the risk for complacency in the event of long-term contracts.
The feeling of willingness to establish a good working environment were present in all the
interviews, in which the respondents expressed a difference in working with long term
contracts or new assignments.
“(...)It will be a bit different if we add consultants to assignments where we
already have consultants in place. There it rolls on pretty well, but it is that we
start a new customer or start a new assignment, then it becomes all the clearer
that you talk about these things, to reconcile.” Kim.
What Kim describes is how the systematic working environmental management with her
long-term customers require little maintenance. When starting a new assignment with a new
or old client, there is an obvious need for the parties to establish a relationship that works for
both parties. For Kim, this often involves communicating and reconciling around the working
environment. From the respondents' experiences it is evident that most of the risk assessments
are carried out in the beginning of a contract, where the long-term contracts are low in
maintenance and continue to be carried out. This involves some risk of complacency, where
23
the reliance on old routines and ways of conducting business becomes the norm. When further
probed about this issue Kim conveyed:
“It depends a little on how incorporated their own work environment management
is. Many of our customers are quite large customers, we talk to both national and
international customers in which there already are routines around this, which are
like nothing strange.” Kim
What Kim conveys is a sense of relying on the work environment management of the
customers. As the respondents are working with quite large organisations, reaching both
national and international organisations, there are often well-established routines in
compliance with the regulation. In the case of long-term contracts, the experience of Kim
reveals a feeling of complacency in which the respondent relies on the routines of the
customer organisation. As large customers usually have well established routines regarding
the working environment, there is a present feeling of the contract “trucking along” in which
there are little to no issues in the way both parties are conducting their business. Kim
describes how the safety of well-established routines leads her to not allocating the same
resources to that assignment compared to a newly achieved assignment. The routines could
therefore give the respondents a sense of complacency as the contract is running along, in
which the previously well-maintained assessments and investigations start to dwindle. With
this, there is a chance that the unique ongoing and systematic aspect of conducting the work
environmental management in SAM is diminished and the risk for hired consultants to be
exposed to a worse working environment is further enhanced (Siöcrona 2010, AFS 2001:1).
5.2 Tear in Responsibility
The second theme that materialised concerned the division of responsibility between the
respondents and the customer. The triangular relationship that forms in the context of being
responsible over the working environment for hired consultants establishes a complex
relationship between the staffing agency, their customer, and the hired consultant. The
relationship entitles each party with some form of responsibility as they are expected to
cooperate to create a sufficient working environment (AFS 2001:1). The respondents
described that while they did feel responsible over the daily working environment of their
consultants, the greatest responsibility laid on the customers and the consultants themselves:
24
“(...)Then it automatically becomes, when you sit at a distance, then the greatest
responsibility lies with customer companies together with the consultant because
they are the ones in place. Ehm, it is not possible to get away from it, it becomes
geographically difficult, then they are a shared work environment responsibility,
so we have responsibility as well.“ Kim
Kim explains how she claims responsibility over her consultants working environment, but
due to the geographical difficulty relays most of the responsibility regarding the daily activity
to the customer and the consultants themselves. What Kim reveals is a notable tear in what
she deals with on a daily basis, where she finds herself with a responsibility over her
consultant’s work environment but is detached from the daily work that is being carried out in
the different customer companies. Chap. 3 of § 2 in the Swedish Work Environmental Law
(AML) states that the employer, that is, the staffing company, must take all measures
necessary to prevent the worker from being exposed to ill-health or accidents. The risks that
could eventually lead to ill health or accidents should thus be addressed so that the risk of ill
health and accidents are minimized. It is not always possible to eliminate the risks completely,
but the employer must act to reduce the risk (Näringsdepartementet 2002). What the
respondents are describing is the willingness to comply with the legislation, but due to the
geographical challenges, it is difficult for them to secure all aspects of what is required. The
tear in responsibility further leads the respondents to relay the responsibility towards the
customers and the consultants.
The respondent description of the situation could give some indication into why the
working environment for consultants in staffing agencies is generally worse than for
traditional employees (Underhill & Quinlan, 2011). Even though the respondent feels
responsible, the geographical location automatically makes it difficult for them to claim the
responsibility and to actively intervene in the daily activities in the different customer
organisations. This means that there is a risk for the consultants to “fall between the cracks”
of the work environment management that both parties carry out, and the significance of a
working relationship is further highlighted. This theme is present in all the interviews where
Billie also displays a loss of responsibility as the daily activity of the consultants are in a
different geographical location:
“(...) It is often that I don't get the information before it is serious because I am not
every day on the, ehm, working place of the consultants, I often get the information
from a second-hand source. This automatically means that the consultant and the
customer need to take a greater responsibility for the daily activities (...).” Billie
25
What Billie describes is experiencing a delay in information from his customers, as he is not
present at the location the consultants work is carried out. He feels that the geographical
vicinity of the work automatically gives the consultants and customer a greater responsibility
for the working environmental daily activities. When probed about the challenges the
respondents are facing around constructing a successful working environment the most
emergent answer was that they were not actively working in the geographical vicinity of the
consultants. It is emergent that the different geographical location can cause issues in the
claiming of responsibility regarding the working environment and creates a tear in what the
chief of consultants wants to do and what they carry out. With this in mind, the responsibility
is often displaced, in which most of the responsibility is left for the customer and consultants
to shoulder. Regarding the themes of responsibility, the leaders often expressed a need to rely
on the customers and consultants to fulfil their part of the shared responsibility, as they often
embodied a feeling of responsibility for the working environment.
Throughout the interviews, the feeling of helplessness shone through several times,
where the respondents tried to deflect the daily responsibilities on the customer companies.
They previously expressed a concern for his consultants' working environment and well-
being, but the difficulty of claiming daily responsibility sometimes acts as an obstacle for
achieving the best working environment for his employees. When asked to develop this
further Charlie responded:
“Hmm, well, as I said earlier, we as staffing agencies do not play an active role in
the routines at the customers workplace, I think this plays a big part. Also, we are
in contact with many different customers in different sizes and different sectors
(...), this means that we do not always have a firm grasp of all details needed for a
good working environment.” Charlie
Charlie reveals that he experiences a passive role in the routines at the customers’ workplace,
where his involvement in several different customers lead to a lack of knowledge around the
necessary details needed. The difficulty to cooperate seems to not stem from either a lacking
willingness to work together, nor an inadequate feeling of responsibility, but instead the
detachment from the customers' working environments. Charlie describes how the lack of
knowledge in and around the customers' working environments is a driving factor in why he
feels that the cooperation can be lacklustre. In the interviews the respondents express a sense
of tear in their responsibility, much because of the geographical location acting as a
detachment from the actual working place of the consultants. Even though the respondents
have a present feeling of responsibility, this notion of detachment promotes the relaying of
26
responsibility on the customers and the consultants, as they are geographically present at the
location.
5.3 Experiences of Shared Leadership
The final theme was derived from the conversation around the respondent’s experiences of the
shared leadership situation, where most of the respondents had a prevailing feeling that the
shared responsibility is working and that the shared leadership leads to a successful
cooperation.
“I think it works well. (....) I feel like, I do not know if it is a bit in time or what it is
but it feels like most people still have a pretty good view of the situation, but it
comes pretty naturally. You must talk about this, and it may be because many of
the companies that utilize staffing are a bit bigger companies in larger
organizations (...) Kim
Kim describes that most of the cooperation she is engaged in has been successful. With the
assistance of the term shared leadership a deeper insight in the relationship that forms
between the leader and the customer is gained. In the context of the staffing industry, hired
consultants are prescribed two leaders, one responsible leader at the customer organisation
and one leader at the staffing agency. As they both are executive leaders joined by the
common goal of achieving a beneficial situation for both parties, both parties strive to make
the cooperation successful. One of the bedrocks of a successful shared leadership is
communication, in which both leaders must nurture an ongoing communication and exchange
of ideas when handling the shared tasks of leadership (Döös 2015). This essential dialogue
which Kim describes comes naturally, is something solitary leaders do not have access to, and
has shown to contribute to the leader’s ability to conduct their tasks with higher quality (ibid.
2015). The relationship that occurs when hiring consultants seems to have a lot of the
qualities that are needed for a successful functionally shared leadership. Kim describes a
positive experience in the cooperation, but when probed further she could express some
frustration regarding the situation:
“Or it works well, it is good that both parties are very clear about what applies.
The regulation has to be complied with, of course, but I can sometimes feel that I
can get the working environmental information too late.” Kim
Even though Kim expresses a positive outlook on the shared leadership, there are some
frustrations that exist regarding the communication aspect. In the quote she expresses that the
27
relayed information sometimes can be delayed and too far in time from the actual incident.
This falls in line with the geographical aspect of hiring consultants as well, as she is not
present at the working place, there often is a delay on the relayed information. This frustration
was also present in one additional interview, where Charlie expressed similar views.
The delay in information could be an effect of the inter-organisational
cooperation that the legislation entails, where the organisation's information chains and ways
of conducting business is drastically different. This offers us an interesting perspective on the
way functionally shared leadership across organisational borders could translate into practical
difficulties. The difference in organisational cultures and ways of conducting business can
vary drastically between organisations and depends on sizes, sectors, and disposable resources
(Browning 1991). Since staffing agencies and their customers usually are drastically different
in organisational structure, it is not inconceivable that their priorities and ways of relaying
information are not perfectly aligned. The frustration the respondents are experiencing can
thus be an expression of this misalignment, an epicentre of the two clashing organisational
cultures in which the customers are ambiguous towards the negative experiences that are
being caused.
Furthermore, Billie’s experience with the shared leadership situation seems to be
overwhelmingly positive. Throughout the interview, he did not express the same frustration
with delayed information as the other respondents and seemed very pleased with the
relationship that he and his customer had developed. As he is engaged with just one
customer, a close-knit relationship has developed between the two, one he attributes to the
success to the satisfactory cooperation they have.
“From my experience with this customer, the relationship is positive. My
motivation being This customer is actively working with the working environment
with me, but if I was working with a customer who I didn’t work this closely with, I
think it becomes more difficult(...).” Billie
In a shared leadership situation, the lack of prestige and forming close relationships are one of
the most prevalent aspects for a successful shared leadership (Döös 2015). Billie is expressing
the feeling of a joint effort to solve the working environmental tasks at hand, which could
indicate the lack of prestige in the relationship. Conscious or not, the non-prestigious
relationship that forms between Billie and his customer falls in line with the notion of
Marianne Döös (2015) which outlines the empirical salience of close relationships in shared
leadership situations. These experiences extend Döös (2015) notion where instead of being
confined within one organisation, it suggests a positive outcome across organisational
28
borders. Billie actively expresses that he perceives that his close relationship towards the
customer is a driving factor in why his experiences with shared leadership is successful. The
forming of a close symbiotic relationship enhances the effectiveness of the relationship and
could act as a bridge over the organisational borders, in which the previous evidential
organisational differences could in Billie’s case, be somewhat dwarfed. As the respondents
are working with different customers, it could be the case that Billie’s customer has similar
organisational culture as the staffing agency he is working for.
Derived from all the interviews though, are the subjective feeling of the
relationship being a positive experience, where all the respondents felt that the shared
responsibility that the legislation entails is beneficial. Even with the small frustration with the
clashes of organisational cultures, the respondents perceived that the consultants received a
better working environment under the shared leadership situation and the relationship were
often very productive. Attributed to this success was often the close relationship the
respondents had with their customers, but also the resources made available by their large
organisation.
“(...)Since i work in such a large organization, we have central functions, support
functions, so we have a person who only works with work environment issues and
safety issues, which I can really just call to now and ask questions to and ask on
how I'll think here, what are our routines etc?” Kim
As the respondents are functioning within an international organisation, the resources they
have at their disposal are significant. All the respondents credited large parts of their success
they found in their relationship to the significant help they received from centralized services.
Expressions such as Charlie’s “it is impossible for us as chief of consultants to have control
over all these things” and Billie’s “Our HR department is incredible, they respond quickly
whether it is about interpretation of the collective agreement or labor law issues to the
working environment.” indicate that the respondents are very reliant on resources available
within their organisation to be successful within their role. The responsibilities of chief of
consultants stretches over much more than the working environmental responsibilities as the
respondents describe how they are responsible over the recruitment, scheduling and
maintaining customer relationships. The broad and complex role comes with some pressure,
where the respondent’s credit some of their lack of distress on the support of their
organisation. In the context of SAM, the ability for the leaders to externalise the knowledge
around specific legislation gives them the opportunity to fully focus on their other tasks, such
29
as maintaining a sufficient relationship with their customers. This highlights the respondent’s
experiences on the need for a supportive organisation, in which they can maintain a prestige-
less and healthy relationship with their customers.
With an inductive approach to a thematic analysis this study has found three
central themes that answered the research questions: Risk for Complacency, Tear in
Responsibility and Shared leadership. Further discussion on the chosen methods advantages
and disadvantages in addition to suggestions for future studies will be discussed below.
6. Concluding Remarks
Shared leadership has in this paper, been related to organisational structure, managers’
experiences, tasks, and responsibilities. The organisational structure perspective highlights the
relationship between sharing managers in the context of SAM. In this context, there is no
shared organisational unit but instead an organisational vertex consisting of a shared
responsibility over the consultants working environment.
One central theme within this study is the complexity the management of
consultants' working environment actually are. As illustrated in both figure two and three, the
management requires several different actors from two different organisations collaborating,
something that is deemed necessary as each organization has different responsibilities of what
creates the hired consultants working environment. Forged by a close relationship and open
communication, the parties must collaborate to create a sufficient working environment
(Antonsson et al. 2014). This study has further enhanced the knowledge around this
relationship, as the results explore leaders of staffing agencies' experiences working with the
legislation surrounding SAM. The respondent’s experiences further strengthen the findings
by Marianne Döös, where one of the identified bedrocks of shared leadership being “the
characteristics that form and support an experience of sharing a common whole that the
managers lead together.” (Döös 2015, p. 56). The joint effort to work towards a sufficient
working environment has been prevalent in all the interviews, mostly resulting in positive
experiences towards the cooperation between the leaders and their customers.
In the context of systematic work environmental management, the shared
leadership relation that forms has a different structure compared to traditional companies, this
being mainly through the shared work environment responsibility for the hired consultant (3
Chap. 12 § SFS 1977: 1160). Håkansson et al. (2013) notions that collaboration around the
work environment can in some cases be difficult to maintain and the risk of consultants to
30
“fall between the chairs'' are prevalent. The study's results show that the unique relationship
that forms is one of the great challenges for securing a sufficient work environment for
consultants in the staffing industry, where the challenge lies in maintaining routines and
creating a systematic way to work together regarding the work environment.
In contrast to Håkansson et al. (2013) this study reveals that the respondents in
this study are overwhelmingly positive towards the relationship they engage in with their
customers and were viewed as an additional layer of working environmental protection.
Instead of being viewed as contradicting results, there is an opportunity of outlining the
complexity of the issue. Working with the legislation carries a plethora of experiences, as it
varies greatly depending not only on organisational differences but also on the leader's
personality and knowledge on the subject. The experiences of being responsible over a hired
consultant working environment can therefore be vastly different within an organisation as
well as between organisations and must be processed with the contextual variables in mind.
One of the reasons behind the difference in results could be that this study’s data are sourced
from a case study of one organisation. The data gathered in this study is therefore not
representative of other organisations and should in turn be regarded as such. Therefore, the
findings ought not to be transferred to the rest of the staffing industry, but act as an
opportunity to delve into the subjective experiences of the respondents in this study.
Although both the staffing agency and their customer are responsible for the
consultants working environment, there is an inherent conflict within this relationship. As the
staffing agencies are selling services to their customers, they automatically assume a
dependent position towards them. This could in turn translate to an incentive towards not
pressuring the client regarding the working environment, as they risk losing the assignment. If
the customer organisations motive for using consultants is to avoid responsibility for the
working environment, the customers might not be willing to fully invest in the matter. This
results in the staffing agencies finding themselves in a predicament, in which they are
incentivised to not pressure the customers on the working environment, as they can risk losing
the assignment (Underhill & Quinlan 2011).
One of the central findings in this study was the issues the geographical location
is causing for the chief of consultants. When conducting proper assessments of the risks that
may occur, there is an essential need to understand the context in which the work is taking
place. Due to the geographical difference the respondents experienced a detachment or
deflection of the daily working environmental responsibility. Due to the nature of the staffing
industry, this geographical chasm is substantially difficult to overcome. It is not possible to be
31
present in all the consultant’s daily activity that the chief of consultants is responsible for, and
the resources that are needed to fulfil this task is immense. As there are many digital tools that
could help bridge the geographical location, a suggestion is to rely on technological
improvements to establish a closer connection with the workplaces of the consultants.
6.1 Methodological Discussion & Suggestions for Future Studies
The nature of this study is purely qualitative, the experiences and insights of the three
interview subjects are relevant and gives the field a start in understanding leaders in staffing
agencies perspective on working with SAM. With the qualitative nature, the salience of the
respondents wording, and phrases are highly significant, which leaves the translation of the
interviews needing to be addressed. As the interviews were conducted in Swedish, the quotes
and results were translated for the purpose of this paper. With that being said, the actual
analysis process was conducted in the data’s original form, meaning prior to the translation.
With this process, the respondents' actual phrasing was gathered and could be used without
any language interference. However, it does result in some risk for the respondents actual
phrasing being lost, as the quotes were processed and translated at the discretion of the author
of this study.
The respondents' heavy reliance on external resources leads one to ponder on the
bigger societal picture, where most of the staffing agencies operating in Sweden do not have
the same access to legislative guidance. Coming across any need of clarification, the
respondents of this study could pick up the phone and get professional advice on how to
conduct their proceedings, whereas a chief of consultant operating within a smaller staffing
agency would have to rely on their own knowledge. Future studies are therefore suggested to
investigate the relationship that forms between a small staffing agency and their customers, as
the relationship that forms could be strained by the lack of centrally available resources and
the need for individual knowledge by the chief of consultants. Furthermore, as the change in
the trade and business climate are taking place, the development of staffing agencies shows no
sign of slowing down. As this happens, the perception of leadership is developing to a greater
degree of pluralism, in which the sense of having one singular leader is degrading. This leads
to the need for further studies within the field of shared leadership and especially with an
inter-organisational perspective. Studying the staffing industry is the perfect opportunity to
gain deeper knowledge in both these fields, as the legislation around SAM entails a forced
shared leadership across organizational borders.
32
This study has contributed to the understanding of the leaders of staffing
agencies' perspective on working with the legislation around SAM and leads to further
knowledge on the relationship that forms between them and their customers. The inter-
organisational perspective on shared leadership gives us a unique insight in how this term is
empirically functional as it exposes a one of a kind relationship between the two parties. As
this relationship has materialised in international studies, the results regarding the experiences
of shared leadership does not need to be confined to the event of hiring consultants but can
offer some insight in the phenomenon as a whole. In addition, the results of this study can
bolster the knowledge in the complex world that is the staffing industry in Sweden, and can
give legislators some insight in the relationships that form in the context of working with
SAM. Furthermore, the results can be viewed as an unearthing of previously overlooked
aspects in the chief of consultants’ everyday business, which can contribute to the
improvement of the working environment for hired consultants.
33
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Appendix 1
Interview guide
Information given before recording is started:
As I am only interested in your experiences of working with the legislation on a daily basis,
this interview is not an inspection or test of your knowledge about working environment. If
there are flaws, I am not interested in exploring them per se, but only want to take this
opportunity to explore your experiences. The interview will take 30-45 minutes, where with
your approval I want to record the interview and then use it as a basis for my analysis. You
will see the report when it is finished. In the report I will strive to anonymize you, where
pseudonyms will be used and the organization you work for will be masked. If you want to
cancel or pause the interview for any reason, say so. Is it something you wonder or want to
say before we start?
Description of the organization:
- What branches?
- Long/short assignments?
- How many customers are you in contact with?
-
Function / Role
- Role at staffing agency – Relationship to consultants?
- How much are you in contact with your customers?
- How long have you worked as a chief of consultants?
- The position as chief of consultants stretches over many responsibilities, how do you
experience your work environmental management is affected by this?
Cooperation
- How do you experience collaborating with the customer companies when it comes to
the work environment?
o What works well?
What could be improved?
- Since consultants are covered by both the client company and the staffing company 's
work environment routines, do you think this promotes a good working environment?
o Why?
- How do you think the balance of power is between staffing companies and customers?
o How can this change?
o Is it constructive?
- SAM law states that staffing companies and customers have a shared responsibility,
how do you interpret this?
38
o How do you feel it works in practice?
Implementation
- How do you work with the working environment?
- If you are now going to recruit a new consultant for a job, what do your routines look
like?
- How do you ensure that the Work Environment Authority's guidelines are followed?
- How do you ensure that the client organisation follows the guidelines of the Work
Environment Authority?
- What challenges do you perceive to regarding your management with work
environment?
o What could be improved?
- What do you think the strength of your work environment work is?
-
Division of Responsibility
- How do you view your responsibilities regarding systematic work environment
management?
- How do you view the customer companies?
- How do you interpret the shared responsibility regarding systematic work environment
management?
- How do you view your work environment responsibility?
- What do you do to ensure a good working environment for your consultants?
o What is the customer's responsibility?
- Do you feel that the division of responsibilities is clear between the staffing company
and the customer company?
o Is it clear what you need to do to fulfill the requirements?
39
Appendix 2
Intervjuguide
Information innan inspelningen startar:
Denna intervju är ingen inspektion eller test om era kunskaper om lagstiftningen kring
arbetsmiljö, utan jag är intresserad av dina upplevelser av att dagligt arbeta med
lagstiftningen. Om det finns brister, är jag inte intresserad av att utforska dem i sig, utan vill
endast ta detta tillfälle för att utforska dina erfarenheter. Intervjun kommer att ta 30–45
minuter, där med ditt godkännande vill jag spela in intervjun för att sedan använda den som
underlag för min analys. Du kommer att få ta del av rapporten när den är klar. I rapporten
kommer jag att sträva efter att anonymisera dig, där pseudonymer kommer användas och
organisationen ni jobbar för kommer att maskeras. Om du vill avbryta eller pausa intervjun av
någon anledning, säg till. Är det något du undrar över eller vill säga innan vi börjar?
Beskrivning av organisationen:
- Vilka branscher?
- Långa / korta uppdrag?
- Hur många kunder har du kontakt med?
Funktion / roll
- Roll vid bemanningsbyrån - Förhållande till konsulter?
- Hur mycket har du kontakt med dina kunder?
- Hur länge har du arbetat som konsultchef?
- Positionen som konsultchef sträcker sig över många ansvarsområden, hur upplever du att din
arbetsmiljöledning påverkas av detta?
Samarbete
- Hur upplever du att samarbeta med kundföretagen när det gäller arbetsmiljön?
o Vad fungerar bra? Vad kan förbättras?
- Eftersom konsulter omfattas av både kundföretaget och bemanningsföretagets
arbetsmiljörutiner, tror du att detta främjar en god arbetsmiljö?
o Varför?
- Hur tror du att maktbalansen är mellan bemanningsföretag och kunder?
o Hur kan detta förändras?
o Är det konstruktivt?
- SAM-lagen säger att bemanningsföretag och kunder har ett gemensamt ansvar, hur tolkar du
detta?
o Hur tycker du att det fungerar i praktiken?
Genomförande
40
- Hur arbetar du med arbetsmiljön?
- Om du nu kommer att rekrytera en ny konsult till ett jobb, hur ser dina rutiner ut?
- Hur ser du till att Arbetsmiljöverkets riktlinjer följs?
- Hur ser du till att klientorganisationen följer arbetsmiljöverkets riktlinjer?
- Vilka utmaningar upplever du när det gäller din ledning med arbetsmiljön?
o Vad kan förbättras?
- Vad tror du styrkan i ditt arbetsmiljöarbete är?
Ansvarsfördelning
- Hur ser du på kundföretagen?
- Hur ser du på ditt arbetsmiljöansvar?
- Vad gör du för att säkerställa en god arbetsmiljö för dina konsulter?
o Vad är kundens ansvar?
- Känner du att ansvarsfördelningen är tydlig mellan bemanningsföretaget och kundföretaget?
o Är det klart vad du behöver göra för att uppfylla kraven?