Professor Jennie Sumelius: How do you create a corporate culture when employees are not in the office?

Sumelius will hold her inaugural lecture during a ceremony at Hanken 14.3.2023. Opens in new window

She previously worked at the University of Vaasa and Stockholm School of Economics and has been a visiting researcher at both the University of Melbourne and the University of New South Wales in Sydney.

“We have always had a very good atmosphere at the Department of Management and Organisation”, says Sumelius. "It was easy to come back and work for Hanken because the colleagues are so nice", she continues.

Over the years, Sumelius' overall research interest has been human resource management in multinational companies. Focus lies on the balance between global standardisation and local adaptation of human resource practices in large companies operating in many different countries.

“There is always a need to consider the individual country contexts, you can't do everything exactly the same in China as in Finland, Germany or Brazil. At the same time, you don't want to reinvent the wheel and tailor everything separately for each context," says Sumelius.

She is currently finalising a research project examining how the nature of work has changed among white collar workers as they become less dependent on carrying out their work at a certain time and place. As a result, the way people are managed is also changing.

“My focus is on the role of the HR department in this. As the context changes and becomes more virtual and hybrid, you have to rethink how you manage people, too. How can you ensure that everyone feels seen and heard and can participate? How do you create a corporate culture remotely”, Sumelius asks.  

People have very different opinions regarding on-site and remote working, and the relation between them. HR needs to be active in defining the rules for remote working and thinking about how to achieve inclusion and create a "we" spirit in the present context.

Jennie Sumelius grew up in Singapore and had a very different childhood compared to life in Finland. Singapore was different then and she used to go camping in the jungle on Sentosa Island with her classmates.

Text and photo: Marlene Günsberg