Title: Leadership and its implications on Work integrated social enterprises

Level: Final study for Master Degree in Business Administration

University of Gävle

Department of Business Administration and Economic Studies

801 76 Gävle

Sweden

Telephone (+46) 26 64 85 00

Telefax (+46) 26 64 85 89

Web site http://www.hig.se

Authors: Andreas Petersson and Ivette Solla

Supervisor: Dr. Maria Fregidou-Malama

Abstract

Aim: Leadership and its implications on empowering employees of work integrated social enterprises

Method: We based our study on the data gathered from two interviews of Coompanion in Sweden and four interviews on Work Integrated Social Enterprises of Hudiksvall. The data was gathered through case studies.

Major focus of the study: How a leader and the way leadership is promoted within a social enterprise can influence the people working within a Social Enterprise and specifically the role of the empowerment in social enterprises are the major focus of this study. Situational leadership was used as the theoretic model to study the role of empowerment and motivation. In order to draw our conclusions we studied four social enterprises and Coompanion, which is an organization that works as an adviser of Social Enterprises.

Result: Our analysis illustrates how the unique network consisting of the public sector, Coompanion Hudiksvall and the four Work Integrated Social Enterprises creates a win-win situation for all parts. It also creates the foundation of empowerment with a clear vision to the leaders of these four enterprises, which flows through them.

Conclusion: The network, the work integrated social enterprises and the leaders within the social enterprises coexist to create social gain, increasing society’s welfare.

Further studies: A quantitative research to find out what are the specific aspects that are relevant to the employees in terms of being motivated. Correlations between what the employee thinks are important and empowerment could be measured.

Key words: Coompanion, motivation, empowerment, social enterprise, networking, Den glada Hudik-modellen, situational leadership, case study, qualitative method.