Putting co-workers in the limelight: New challenges for communication professionals

Abstract:
The status of co-workers has increased due to the expansion of post-bureaucratic and knowledge-intensive organizations. In organization studies the importance of co-workers has for a rather long time been acknowledged. Remarkably has co-workers more or less been neglected in research as well as in practice within the field of strategic communication. In research the overall focus is mainly on the practice of communication pro-fessionals or at a management or strategic level. In practice many professionals still today operates at a tactical level and is rather loosely coupled to the actual work processes in the organization. At the same time we can identify a trend where communication professionals in a greater extend operates as coaches supporting managers in their communication roles. In this conceptual paper we argue that also co-workers must be put in the limelight, and we discuss some challenges for communication professional. Changes in organizational life have result in new demands on co-workers communication practice and skills. In the article we discuss the concept co-workership and those practices and attitudes that co-workers develop in relation to managers, colleagues and organization, and we give examples of communication implications. Finally, we discuss practical implications and present the 5C’s – challenges for communication professionals.