The Finnish Work Environment Fund granted funding for Collaborative colleagueship – WORK2 -research project
The Finnish Work Environment Fund granted funding for Collaborative colleagueship – WORK2 -research project. The two-year project studies work communities from the perspective of active colleagueship. The project is conducted by the subject of management and organization at the Turku School of Economics.
Collaborative colleagueship – WORK2 project moves away from an approach of traditional top-down leadership towards the meaningfulness of every agent – colleague – at work. Everyday joint efforts are crucial both in terms of improving wellbeing and in constructing purposeful leadership at work. By taking a role of an active colleague each and every employee contributes to the joint results of their mundane work.
The research project studies the forms of colleagueship as well as its’ effects on the everyday actions at the workplace. The project develops a concept of active colleagueship by combining grounded theory approach to action research design. The empirical material of the project consists of interviews, observations and action research interventions conducted in five complementary case organizations.
The project increases understanding about the role of the ‘local’ agents (colleagues) working in different roles at different organizational levels, thus contributing to the success of the work community through active agency and workplace interaction. Moreover, the project brings fresh openings on how to recognize and develop active colleagueship at work.
The research project is led by professor Satu Teerikangas. Other members of the team are project manager Arto Ryömä and post doc researchers Suvi Satama and Maarit Laiho.