Demokratins omedvetna språkrör
En studie av kommunikatörers arbete för organisatorisk demokrati
Communication practitioners' professional roleOrganizational democracyInternal communicationOrganizational communicationKommunikatörers uppdragOrganisatorisk demokratiIntern kommunikationOrganisationskommunikation
Organizational democracy has been a popular research area in recent decades but the implementation in real organizations is slow (Kokkinidis, 2012; Verdorfer, Weber, Unter Rainer & Seyr, 2013). Several researchers (Schön Jansson, 2012; Falkheimer, Heide & Johansson, 2013) argue that communication practitioners have a key role in democratic processes and that because their job role is under constant change there are only a few modern studies regarding the subject. The purpose of this study is to illustrate how communication practitioners in private and public organizations experience their role in the process of internal communication and to what extent they are aware of, and work with internal organizational democracy.The practitioners we interviewed had a strong feeling that they were a support function for the business and the organizational management. As a result of the study it is clear that communication practitioners are very loyal to their employers and to the organization they work for. They are, therefore, not neutral in their professional role and argue that their task is to represent the management's interests. All interview respondents managed to unite their loyal mission with an employee perspective in their work.We found that the communication practitioners in our study worked unconsciously for organizational democracy. We have been able to draw this conclusion from the respondents? discussions of how they work with democratic conditions such as transparency, freedom of speech and values within the organization. However, they lack understanding of organizational democracy as a concept or process. The respondents did not feel that they were responsible for enabling democratic conditions such as participation and dialogue, but rather that they should set the tone for the organization's communication and provide guidelines for communication environment and language. The democratic conditions that the respondents were working with are cultural norms and values that they carry with them in their work. We therefore argue that the practitioners? work is very much influenced by Sweden's democratic form of government and the society in which the organization operates.