To be or not to be, a communicative leader?

Abstract: The research field of middle management within elderly care in Sweden is fairly unexplored. Even more so, there is little to no research on communication or communicative leadership and its influence on middle management within elderly care. Therefore, this study aims to investigate managers perspective on communication by interviewing middle managers working with elderly care. Furthermore, the study aims to contribute with knowledge on the importance of communicative leadership in middle management. Eight middle managers were interviewed, all working with elderly care for the municipal of Malmö, Sweden. The study is based on qualitative research and assumes the ontological approach of social constructivism. The empirical material has been coded and categorized and the key words detected have been anchored in theories within the fields of middle management, communication and communicative leadership. The results of the study show that the way middle managers view and use communication is influenced by factors such as educational level of the employees, the size of the employee group and language proficiency. Furthermore, middle manager's perspective on communication is a gradation between transmission and sensemaking perspective on communication, and where on the scale the middle manager is depends to the situation and context. A communicative leadership can help ease the workload for middle managers within elderly care by providing a tool for initiating structure, facilitating work, managing relational dynamics and representing. The study contributes with new knowledge within the practices of management and communication as well as offering middle managers working with elderly care a framework for how to reflect on their use of communication.