Det sociala stödet från HR till enhetschefer

Abstract

As a line manager you have a lot of responsibility and work burden and you also often get the feeling of being alone. Therefore the social support is an important element in order to handle the daily challenges that the work can mean. Previous studies have shown that social support mainly comes from colleagues, bosses and friends and therefore there is a need to investigate the social support that comes from HR. One of HRs main work task is to give line managers support in their work but is it enough compare to what line managers need? The aim of this study was to investigate the experience of social support from HR amongst line managers in one specific organisation. Furthermore the study aimed to investigate the meaning of social support from HR to line managers in their work and also how the social support could be improved. To answer these questions a qualitative method with six semi-structured interviews was used. The participants in this study was six line managers who all worked in the same specific organisation that was studied and they were all in contact with the same HR person. The findings indicate that the line managers generally experienced the social support from HR as well-functioning. The social support they experienced was in line with House (1981) description however the different parts of the social support was experienced in varying degrees. The social support was also found meaningful for the line managers in order to manage their work and for their health and well-being. Even though the social support over all was found well-functioning and enough according to the line managers some improvements were found. These outcomes shows that social support from HR are important to line managers and that the HR in this specific organisation should continue as before but also look at the improvements to see how their social support can be developed in order to deliver an even better social support to the line managers.