TOO MUCH RESPONSIBILITY AT WORK? ADDRESSING CULTURAL CHANGES
SCHOOL: Copenhagen Business School COUNTRY: Denmark
As organisations become more complex, there is a growing feeling that employees no longer fully understand their job roles or where their responsibilities start and end. In this modern-day working culture, employees must self- manage and, therefore, their commitment to a company becomes paramount. This can lead to ‘quiet quitting’ – the phenomenon in which employees become so overwhelmed by responsibility that they choose to distance themselves from their jobs and become passive, rather than to continue taking on their perceived job role. In new research from Copenhagen Business School, Department of Business, Humanities and Law professor Niels Åkerstrøm Andersen likens this outcome to unrequited love – an organisation does not understand an employee’s value and therefore no matter how much an employee puts into their job, it will never be enough. Åkerstrøm believes this problem started in the 1980s when the public sector shifted to become self-adaptable and independent organisations. As organisations shifted, employee roles changed from being defined clearly within a bureaucratic structure to staff having to constantly search for responsibility within their organisation.
“If the roles are clearly defined, it may perhaps impede change, so your role is now to define your own role depending on what is needed right now. The organisation’s responsibility goes meta and is about taking responsibility for the employees taking responsibility in an organisation that is constantly going somewhere new. Responsibility becomes something to constantly search for and create and thus it becomes elusive and indefinite,” explained Åkerstrøm. The benefit of this situation is that the employee has self‑leadership and the potential to create their own role, which many individuals value. However, the pitfall is that the employee will never know if they are living up to expectations, as often there won’t be anybody who knows what these should be. To mitigate feelings of over-responsibility that could lead to burn out, Åkerstrøm suggests that leaders talk things through. He feels that a majority of employees do not quite understand the expectations placed on them and that, therefore, such sentiments are not unique experiences. By discussing the sense of inadequacy that this working structure can create openly, leaders can help their employees to feel less alone. EB
10 | Ambition | JUNE 2023
Made with FlippingBook - Share PDF online