Managers’ social support: Facilitators and hindrances for seeking support at work

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Previous research has shown that social support is important for health and performance at work, but there is a lack of research regarding managers' social support at work, and if it needs to be improved. OBJECTIVE: To investigate managers' perception of work-related social support, and facilitators and hindrances that influence their seeking of social support at work. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews with sixty-two managers in two Swedish organizations. RESULTS: Work-related support, which strengthened their managerial image of being competent, was sought from sources within the workplace. Sensitive and personal support, where there was a risk of jeopardizing their image of being competent, was sought from sources outside the workplace. Access to arenas for support (location of the workplace, meetings, and vocational courses) and the managerial role could facilitate their support-seeking, but could also act as hindrances. Because attending different arenas for support were demanding, they refrained from seeking support if the demands were perceived as too high. CONCLUSIONS: Different supportive sources are distinguished based on what supportive function they have and in which arenas they are found, in order to preserve the confidence of the closest organization and to maintain the image of being a competent and performing manager.

Favours within 'the tribe': Social support in coworking spaces

“…Social support is typically conceptualised as social relationships that benefit others in coping with challenging circumstances (Smollan & Morrison, 2019). Despite optimistic accounts of giving and receiving social support, the emotional toil and stress for those enacting support, alongside indebtedness and challenges to self-esteem for those receiving it, reveal the personal costs related to social support (Lundqvist et al, 2018;Smollan & Morrison, 2019). Although literature centrally focusing on social support typically examines relationships within conventional organisations, examples outside of this micro-specialism recognise undesirable consequences of enacting activities related to social support (McKenzie et al2019).…”

Anxiety from a Work Conflict May Be Exacerbated by Lack of Knowledge of Work Life Rules—A Case Series

“…The employer, the leader of the shop may have little support for his way of supervising the employees. This may be an explanation of the behaviour at this shop [3].…”

What helps managers being fair? Predicting managers’ self-reported justice enactment during pay setting using the ability-motivation-opportunity framework

“…Social support in pay setting reflects the possibility to get support and assistance from managerial colleagues and also from higher levels in the organization. In a qualitative study with Swedish managers, it was found that social support from managerial colleagues can increase managers' perceptions that they are highly informed, which helps them to make decisions confidently and convey those decisions with reason, thus acting more fairly (Lundqvist et al, 2018). Superiors can provide valuable information to managers about the different expectations of one's role and which priorities to set, which saves time by not having to search for information and knowledge themselves (Gilbert et al, 2011a), which should also increase managers' self-reported justice enactment.…”