Ensamt på toppen? - En kvalitativ studie om emotionella krav i HR-chefers arbetsliv

Abstract

This thesis aims to identify the emotional demands in HR-managers´ work life and how these are handled. Prior research has shown that HR-professional are exposed to different emotional demands in their working life. Due to the changing roles of the HR-function they need to balance incongruent expectations from different actors, but also from within themselves. HR-professionals are also exposed to the emotional demands that come with helping colleagues in managing their negative emotions. Research has also shown that HR-professionals are practising emotional labour as they need to adjust their feelings in different contexts and display emotions that are not felt in order to keep their credibility. HR-professionals ability to handle emotional demands and perform emotional labour is crucial for the HR-function´s ability to create value. Despite this, it is an implicit, undervalued part of the work and little research has been done in order to explore how HR-professionals are experiencing and coping with these demands. This thesis is especially focusing on HR-managers as they have the utterly responsibility for the HR-function and not only need to support different parts and members of BA-thesis: 15 hp Subject: Human Resources and Industrial Relations Nivå: Bachelor/First cycle År:

Keywords: HR-managers, emotional demands, social support, role conflict, coping strategies 3 the organisation but also the HR-department itself, and therefore may be undergoing even more demands than other HR-professionals. The job demands resources-model is used in order to understand how different types of social support and coping strategies may buffer the effects of experienced emotional demands. Through semi structured interviews with seven HR-managers from organisations differing in size and line of business, empirical data has been collected and analysed using the framework method. The results from this study show that the HR-managers were experiencing emotional demands as prior research has shown. The respondents mainly handled these demands through the form of social support that is termed emotional support, and through individual coping strategies. The results also showed that so-called toxin handling was a big part of the HR-managers´ work life. Support from a colleague or partnership with a manager was considered invaluable. Several implications for organisations can be drawn from the results of this study. Most evident is the issue that feelings and emotional demands need to be recognized and talked about in all parts of the organisation. Paradoxically, it seems to be the HR-managers´ responsibility to initiate and implement such a cultural change.