This paper studies how organizational mission influences policy implementation. Interagency conflicts and bureaucratic challenges affecting implementation are largely due to different missions and different assessment measures. The focus of this investigation is the relationship between humanitarian assistance/disaster relief (HA/DR) agencies and associated Department of Defense (DOD) medical components. Access point theory is important to this study, for it helps us understand how successful policy implementation is enabled in the midst of bureaucratic conflicts and challenges. The notion of access points has traditionally involved lobbyists and interest groups accessing elected officials and their staffs. I ask what is the effect of lobbyists and interest groups accessing bureaucrats directly in the policy implementation process and its subsequent evaluation. More importantly, I argue that bureaucrats take advantage of access points to other bureaucrats during policy implementation proceedings. This study offers the novel perspective that access points for HA/DR bureaucrats, to include those in the DOD, are readily available during the punctuating event (i.e., the natural disaster itself) and may be evaluated through the notions of timing, efficiency, and the information and capabilities they possess and can leverage during these punctuations. Simply stated, bureaucratic access points theory helps us understand how policies are successfully implemented in the midst of bureaucratic conflicts and challenges. / text

Aiming at exploring the issue of duality of the Swedish government system and the possible influence of a detached public administration, a study of bureaucrats’ characteristics, potential preferences and consequent willingness to pay (WTP) for certain policies was needed. This research attempts therefore at investigating how acceptance of CO2 emissions reduction programs among public agents is influenced by factors such as the cost of the program, concerns with air quality, impacts on biodiversity, improvements in the fuelling stations infrastructure, the use of electricity as fuel and individual characteristics such as gender. Subsequently what impact these predictors have on bureaucrats from different public agencies’ WTP for the same programs. For the estimates, binary probit regressions were performed. The results revealed significance of the attributes for the decision over accepting one of the scenarios, particularly the additional information of a budget constraint. However, it was possible to conclude that WTP did not vary significantly among agencies.

<p>This study is about care managers, who process in the care of the elderly, regarding to needs, rules, regulations, guidelines and their freedom of space.</p><p> </p><p>The purpose with this study is to understand how the care managers process out of the basis from the needs of the elderly, the municipal guidelines in relation to the caremanagers freedom of space.</p><p>The study has a qualitative approach and is based on semistructured interviews with five different care managers.</p><p>To analyze our interview material we have use the street-level bureaucrat theory by Lipsky and Johansson and the theoretical idea<em> empowerment.</em></p><p> </p><p>Before we started our research about care managers we had an understanding in that the organization had an influence in the judgment of the needs of the elderly. Now we have an understanding in that the relative to the elderly is the one who wants to affect the care manager during the judgment of needs in what effort to make.</p><p> </p><p>Our study indicates that it exist insecurity regarding to the municipal guidelines, which was surprising. We thought that the guideline was something positive and a help full tool for the care managers.</p><p>The result in our research points out that the guidelines makes insecurity instead of comfort.</p><p>Our study shows that the care managers are contradictory regarding to their freedom of space. In the other hand they consider that their freedom of space is positive, but on the other hand when the municipal guidelines don´t work, they become worried and insecure.</p><p>It´s the none working municipal guidelines who gives the care managers a huge freedom of space. Which leads to that the care managers is afraid of doing misjudgments.</p><p> </p><p>Our result don´t distinguish from other studies made in this subject area.</p><p> </p>

Tidigare forskning gällande skolkuratorer har visat att deras roll på skolan är oklar och att deras arbete är relativt oreglerat. Den tidigare forskningen som gjorts, särskilt i Sverige, är begränsad och det finns mycket att utforska på området. Skolkuratorns handlingsutrymme är en aspekt av området som är relativt outforskat. Syftet med studien är att undersöka skolkuratorns upplevelse och tolkning av sitt handlingsutrymme i sitt yrkesutövande. Studien har en kvalitativ inriktning. Fem semi-strukturerade intervjuer med skolkuratorer genomfördes. Som teoretisk referensram har Michael Lipskys teori om gräsrotsbyråkrater använts samt hans teoretiska begrepp handlingsutrymme.   Resultatet visar att kuratorerna upplever de riktlinjer och lagar som finns för deras arbete som lösa och tolkningsbara. De upplever även sitt handlingsutrymme som stort. Resultatet visar även att det finns ett flertal faktorer som kan påverka skolkuratorernas handlingsutrymme, både som gör det större och som krymper det. / Previous research regarding school social workers and school counselors has shown that their role in school is unclear and that their work is relatively unregulated. Despite this there have been few studies, especially in Sweden, in the area of school counselors. Particularly the discretion of the school counselor is an aspect of the area that is relatively unexplored. Hence, the purpose of this study is to investigate the school counselors experience and interpretation of their discretion in the exercise of their profession. The study has a qualitative approach. Five semi-structured interviews with school counselors were conducted. Michael Lipsky’s theory of street-level bureaucrats and his theoretical concept of discretion have been used as a theoretical framework in this study.   The results show that the school counselors experience the laws and guidelines that are applicable for their work as loose and interpretable. They also experience their discretion as large. The results also show that there are several factors that can affect the school counselors’ discretion, factors that can both shrink their discretion and make it larger.

The municipal social services under the Social Services Act is responsible for the municipality’s citizens, but is at risk because of the situation in social services as social secretaries choose professions other than the exercise of authority. Social service work may be compromised on the basis that there will be a heavy workload for those social secretaries that stays when there are not enough resources. How social secretaries experience control in their work affects the way to trade and manage their work situation and the perceived control may be a discretion. The purpose of this study was to investigate how social secretaries perceive their work situation. The study was conducted based on a qualitative method and consisted of interviews of five social secretaries that all work in the same municipality. It was revealed from the qualitative content analysis that the social secretary job situation may seem complicated and the social secretaries tend to ”end up trapped” on the basis o fits position between the organization and the client. The conclusion of the study show that social secretaries work situation is characterized by frustration, both from the client and from the social secretaries own frustration to feel limited in their role as street-level bureaucrat. The framework constituting the discretion consists of organizational and social factors that the social secretaries needed to relate to. The discretion was perceived limited but constituted mainly a security in the complex work. / Kommunens socialtjänst har enligt socialtjänstlagen det yttersta ansvaret för kommunens medborgare, men detta riskeras på grund av den situation som råder inom socialtjänsten då socialsekreterare väljer andra yrken än myndighetsutövningen. Socialtjänstens arbete kan äventyras utifrån att det blir en hög arbetsbelastning för de socialsekreterare som arbetar kvar och att resurserna inte räcker till. Hur socialsekreterare upplever kontrollen i arbetet påverkar deras sätt att handla och hantera sin arbetssituation och den upplevda kontrollen kan utgöras av ett handlingsutrymme. Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur socialsekreterare upplever sin arbetssituation. Studien genomfördes utifrån en kvalitativ metod och bestod av intervjuer av fem socialsekreterare som arbetar inom samma kommun. Det framkom av den kvalitativa innehållsanalysen att socialsekreterares arbetssituation kan upplevas som komplicerad och att socialsekreterare tenderar att ”hamna i kläm” utifrån sin position mellan organisationen och klienten. Slutsatsen av studien visar att socialsekreterarnas arbetssituation präglas av frustration, dels från klient och dels från socialsekreterarnas egen frustration i att känna sig begränsad i sin roll som gräsrotsbyråkrat. Ramen som utgör handlingsutrymmet består av organisatoriska och sociala faktorer som socialsekreterarna behövde förhålla sig till i arbetet. Handlingsutrymmet upplevdes begränsat men utgjorde till största del en trygghet i det komplicerade arbetet.

<p>Treatment is both about the actual encounter and how individuals interact as well as the behaviour among the counterparts. Previous research shows that a person’s experience of how he/she is being treated is formed by conditions created by external factors, in literature known as the general view on treatment. The purpose of the study is to show how people with a physical disability experience the treatment from their Social Security Agency administrators. We have compared the empirical material with theories on treatment and power and analysed how this affect the interaction between the administrator and the disabled person. We have used qualitative interviews to collect the empirical material; in all we have conducted six semi-structural interviews. The result shows that the clients have experienced both positive and negative aspects of treatment, with emphasis on feelings of positive reception. The respondents have pointed out different strategies in order to take control of their own situation. Despite this, the Social Security Agency aadministrators always has the final say, i.e. the executive power. All respondents stress that the administrator must be a good listener, able to motivate them as well as humble during their encounter.</p><p> </p><p>Key words: street-level bureaucrat, disability, treatment and public sector</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Nyckelord: gräsrotsbyråkrat, funktionsnedsättning, bemötande, offentlig sektor</p>

This study is about care managers, who process in the care of the elderly, regarding to needs, rules, regulations, guidelines and their freedom of space.   The purpose with this study is to understand how the care managers process out of the basis from the needs of the elderly, the municipal guidelines in relation to the caremanagers freedom of space. The study has a qualitative approach and is based on semistructured interviews with five different care managers. To analyze our interview material we have use the street-level bureaucrat theory by Lipsky and Johansson and the theoretical idea empowerment.   Before we started our research about care managers we had an understanding in that the organization had an influence in the judgment of the needs of the elderly. Now we have an understanding in that the relative to the elderly is the one who wants to affect the care manager during the judgment of needs in what effort to make.   Our study indicates that it exist insecurity regarding to the municipal guidelines, which was surprising. We thought that the guideline was something positive and a help full tool for the care managers. The result in our research points out that the guidelines makes insecurity instead of comfort. Our study shows that the care managers are contradictory regarding to their freedom of space. In the other hand they consider that their freedom of space is positive, but on the other hand when the municipal guidelines don´t work, they become worried and insecure. It´s the none working municipal guidelines who gives the care managers a huge freedom of space. Which leads to that the care managers is afraid of doing misjudgments.   Our result don´t distinguish from other studies made in this subject area.

Treatment is both about the actual encounter and how individuals interact as well as the behaviour among the counterparts. Previous research shows that a person’s experience of how he/she is being treated is formed by conditions created by external factors, in literature known as the general view on treatment. The purpose of the study is to show how people with a physical disability experience the treatment from their Social Security Agency administrators. We have compared the empirical material with theories on treatment and power and analysed how this affect the interaction between the administrator and the disabled person. We have used qualitative interviews to collect the empirical material; in all we have conducted six semi-structural interviews. The result shows that the clients have experienced both positive and negative aspects of treatment, with emphasis on feelings of positive reception. The respondents have pointed out different strategies in order to take control of their own situation. Despite this, the Social Security Agency aadministrators always has the final say, i.e. the executive power. All respondents stress that the administrator must be a good listener, able to motivate them as well as humble during their encounter.   Key words: street-level bureaucrat, disability, treatment and public sector   Nyckelord: gräsrotsbyråkrat, funktionsnedsättning, bemötande, offentlig sektor

This is a qualitative study based on two focus group interviews with a total of six social workers who work with assessing financial aid in two municipalities. The study aims to examine how the social workers experience and handle their ambiguous professional role, on the basis that they are expected to support and control the client. The theoretical framework is the theory about discretion and role theory. The results show that social workers find it difficult to combine these different approaches. Two different groups of strategies that social workers use to manage their professional role have been distinguished, the first is used to combine the different approaches (combination strategies), which are: empathy, to be distinct and to "blame" the organization. The second is used to manage the professional role (managing strategies) and are: support of work colleagues, support of manager, "squareness" and distance. / Detta är en kvalitativ studie som bygger på två fokusgruppintervjuer med totalt sex socialsekreterare som arbetar med att handlägga ekonomiskt bistånd i två kommuner. Studiens syfte var att undersöka hur socialsekreterare som arbetar med ekonomiskt bistånd upplever och hanterar sin dualistiska yrkesroll, utifrån att de förväntas stötta och kontrollera klienten på en och samma gång. Studiens teoretiska ram utgörs av teorin om handlingsutrymme samt rollteori. Resultatet visar att socialsekreterarna upplever det svårt att kombinera dessa olika förhållningssätt/roller och att svårigheterna främst uppstår då de tvingas fatta beslut som går klienten emot. Två olika grupper av strategier som socialsekreterarna använder sig av för att hantera yrkesrollen har kunnat urskiljas, den första används för att kombinera de olika förhållningssätten (kombinationsstrategier), vilka är: visa empati, tydlighet och “skylla” på organisationen. De andra används för att hantera yrkesrollen (hanteringsstrategier) och är: stöd av arbetskollegor, stöd av chef, “fyrkantighet” och distans.

This is a study about employment officers at the Swedish public employment service. The aim of this study was to examine how they understand and use their discretion in their daily work. We used a qualitative method and the data was gathered by semi-structured interviews with eight employment officers working at the same office in a small town in Sweden. Lipskys theory about street-level bureaucracy and Lazarus description of coping theory are applied to analyze the empirical data. The work for the Swedish employment officers have changed over the last years with an increasing focus on control and administration. The results from the study show that the employment officers considered that they have a freedom of action in their daily work about planning their meetings, but all of them thinks that the administration, and the fact that they have to handle too many unemployed means that they are lack of time, what leads to a negative impact on their discretion. All of the interviewed subjects indicated that the Swedish public employment service has a top-down organization. We found that the informants used a unified strategy to cope dilemmas by referring to the existing laws, both when they handled disgruntled unemployed and even as a way to cope their own liable situations. They could interpret the laws in different ways and they took help from the colleagues at the local office to decide how to interpret the laws. Even if dilemma was common in their work with the unemployed, they considered that their mission to control was mainly positive. The main reasons, to how the employment officers margin for manoeuvre are limited, appears to be the laws, the regulations and the available efforts for the unemployed.