Empirical studies of managers have shown that managerial work is characterized by a high level of social interaction (Carlson, 1951; Stewart, 1967; Mintzberg, 1973). Managerial work is often conducted face-to-face, and managers often perceive a need to react to the situations, problems and requirements of others. Thus, managers often feel constrained and experience a severe lack of control. Accordingly, studies of managers have demonstrated the social character of managerial work, and have proposed that this aspect affects managers’ scope for action. Few attempts, however, have been made to focus on the social aspect of managerial work and explain how it affects the managers’ scope for action. This study aims to close that gap. In this study the manager is regarded as a social actor. The content and accomplishments of the manager’s work are hence regarded mainly as results of his or her social interaction (Willmott, 1987; Whittington, 1992; Hales, 1999). Drawn from structuration theory (Giddens, 1979; 1984), the notions of rules and resources are central to this study for it is when social actors draw upon rules and resources that they construct scope for action. Empirically the study is limited to one managerial task, namely the task of pay setting. The company, in which the empirical data was collected, has implemented individual and performance-related pay, a form of payment that places a considerable responsibility on the first-line manager. One objective with this study is therefore to describe pay setting in a Swedish company and thereby increase the knowledge base on the use of performance-related pay in this context. The empirical data in the study consists of interviews with 24 first-line managers in a medium-sized Swedish company producing electronic equipment. The results of the study show that pay setting is a complex and time-consuming managerial activity and that the managers face difficulties handling the pay-setting process. The collective agreements and the limited amounts of money to be distributed are perceived as constraints that make it difficult to reward high-performing employees. The study however shows that the manager’s scope for action during the pay setting process is negotiable, and that a limited scope for action sometimes is desirable.

Örebro University Department of Social Sciences Sociology and social psychology, Continuation course, 61-90 p. Essay 15 p, Spring -08. Title: ”Youth (work)seekers” Author: Karolina Lindell Abstract This essay focuses on young people’s social background when they apply for their first job. I have interviewed four young people from a small town in Sweden, to see how social background and identity affects their vital conditions in general. I’m interested understanding the relationship between structure and agency. I have used Anthony Giddens and Pierre Bourdieus theory’s about the link between structure and agency and have tried to see the similarities and the differences between the sociologist’s theories. Working class people have been affected in negatives terms by both the quality and quantity of jobs currently available that does not demand a degree from University. Work opportunities for working class people have shifted away from reasonably paid skilled or semi-skilled industrial work to much lower paid service and out-of-reach white-collar work. Young people are the ones who suffer the most from the new conditions in the labour market and the traditional transitions from school to work have started to collapse. It is the working class kids that have the most problems finding work. In the Swedish small town where I did my interviews the industrial and electronic companies have moved their production facilities and the small town suffers from mass unemployment. There is a great difference between what young people wants to work with and what opportunities they have on the job market. Young people without higher education have also a longer time to get a job, and to get their own accommodation, compared to their parent’s generation. The change in conditions for youth people have affected working class kids more negatively than kids from middle class backgrounds. On the other hand have the individualization changed the social class structure. It is difficult for all young people today to get their first job, no matter what social background they have. It is increasingly up to the individual to market herself on the job market and to be interesting for employers.

Studiens syfte var att undersöka varför skolor valde en specifik inriktning/profilering och ta reda på bakgrunden till och vilka händelser som låg bakom besluten samt att undersöka hur imple-menteringen fungerat. De skolor som valdes ut hade samtliga en profilering som genomsyrade verksamheten. Skolle-dare för tre skolor med profilering mot rörelse/hälsa och tre skolor med profilen hjärnbaserat lärande/kreativitet belägna i Stockholm och dess grannkommuner intervjuades. Av dessa skolor var två friskolor och fyra kommunala skolor, två skolor fanns i Stockholm och övriga i när-kommuner. Till detta kom ytterligare en kommunal skola som inte hade profilerat sig. Intervjuerna analyserades enligt von Wrights händelselogik som består av determinanterna normer/förväntningar, möjligheter, intentionerna önskan och pliktkänsla (utöver rollens förväntade) samt förmåga. I teorin ingår även epistemiska attityder men eftersom det endast var en intervju med respektive informant fanns inte möjlighet att analysera detta. Studien påvisade fem olika varianter där samtliga skolledare bedömdes ha förmågan. 1) Skolledaren på en kommunal rörelse/hälsa skola bedömdes ha förmågan och möjligheten då det troligen var att förväntningar/krav och intentionerna önskan och pliktkänslan hade blivit internalise-rade då det var flera år sedan själva profileringen genomfördes. 2) Skolledaren på en friskola med rörelseinriktning bedömdes en mycket stark önskan men saknade en uttalad pliktkänsla utöver rollen. 3) Två skolledare (en rörelseskola och den utan profil) upplevde aktuella krav men varken förväntningar eller möjligheter. För dessa skolledare fanns inte intentionerna enligt min definition. 4) De två kommunala skolledarna på hjärnskolorna hade förväntningar och möjligheter och båda bedömdes som eldsjälar då det fanns starka intentioner utöver den förväntade rollen. 5) Den tredje hjärnskolan, en friskola, skiljde sig från de två andra hjärnskolorna genom att denna skolledare inte hade yttre förväntningar men starka intentioner. Enligt von Wright finns det en filosofisk anledning att skilja mellan skäl för respektive motiv till en handling. Skälen rättfärdigar en handling medan motiven förklarar den. I studien framkom att skolledarna i variant 3 ovan rättfärdigade skälen och skolledarna i varianterna 2, 4 och 5 angav motiv till sin profilering. Skolledaren i variant 1 varken rättfärdigade eller motiverade profileringen.

Syftet med uppsatsen har varit att undersöka hur samverkan mellan socialtjänst och psykiatrisk slutenvård upplevs av några representanter för berörda yrkesgrupper. För att undersöka detta har en kvalitativ studie gjorts. Två personer inom socialtjänst, respektive psykiatrisk slutenvård och deras två chefer har intervjuats. Frågeställningarna har varit: När samverkar socialtjänsten och den psykiatriska slutenvården? Vilka faktorer påverkar samverkan? och Vilket handlingsutrymme har aktörerna i samverkan? Resultatet har analyserats med hjälp av nyinstitutionell organisationsteori och begreppen handlingsutrymme och profession. Både på lednings- och marknivå, upplevs att samverkan generellt sett fungerar bra. Även om det initialt är svårigheter mellan parterna löser det sig ofta till slut. De gånger samverkan inte fungerar beror det ofta på att verksamheterna har olika organisatoriska ramar och kunskaper som krockar.

This bachelor thesis aims to investigate how social workers in Uppsala describe their procedure when investigating applications for housing assistance (i.e. boendestöd). Boendestöd is a specific type of services for people with disabilities, which aim to assist them in their lives. This welfare service is one of many regulated by the framework legislation that is the social services act (SoL 2001:453). Previous research indicates that civil servants who make decisions based on goal-oriented framework legislations like SoL, have a great freedom to act when they make judgments and decisions. A consequence of this can be that they make judgments and decisions largely based on their own personal interpretations of this legislation. The previous research points to the fact that the individual civil servants freedom to act can be viewed as an infringement of individual rights, but also that this freedom is necessary when it comes to assessing the needs of help seeking persons in the context of social work.   We have carried out six interviews with social workers in Uppsala. These social workers primarily investigate the needs of persons with mental disabilities who apply for different forms of assistance from the city. The analysis suggests that the social workers interviewed are relatively unanimous when it comes to which grounds for judgment or criteria they use when investigating applications for boendestöd. This in spite of the fact that their judgments are based on individual cases as well as their own personal assessments of them.

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.

The aim of this essay was to create an understanding of teachers strategies to respond to children in economic hardship in school and if these children can participate on equal terms in school. To examine this, we chose to do semi-structured interviews which is a qualitative method. Eight teachers were interviewed from four different elementary schools. In our interviews, we found that all the schools both had elements of inclusion and exclusion, which can result in both equal and unequal terms for participation in school. We also found that the school with the most students in economic hardship had the most inclusive strategies. Another thing we discovered was that the Swedish school law is ambiguous, because it says that school should be free of charge but at the same time accepts that the school takes out an insignificant cost from the students. Because there is no definition of the insignificant cost and the policy about school related costs are vague, it gave the teacher some discretion to define how much and at which time the insignificant cost could be relevant. The teachers’ could use their discretion to support the children who lived in economic hardship, by reducing the risk for their economic situation to be visible to others and enable them to participate on more equal terms, for example by having extra snacks or money with them during school

This essay shows how administrators in two different organizations are experiencing freedom of action in their work situation. The essay is made based on a qualitative method and interviews were used to implement the study. People chosen for this study are four administrators at a governmentagency - the Social Insurance agency, and four municipal officers from different Social service offices in southern Sweden. The theoretical framework consists of Weber's theory of bureaucracy, and his discussion of the legal authority. The analysis is designed as adiscussion of the parts that were especially prominent during the interviews. These parts were, for example, professional role, controland cooperation. The results show the complicated relationship that emerges when discussing the concept ofdiscretion. The experience of a wide discretion generally indicatesthe opposite, namely that it is regulated in different ways. The main reason for this appears to be extensive control functions andorganizational impact. / Författaren till den här uppsatsen har valt att belysa hur handläggare inom två olika verksamheter tolkar sitt handlingsutrymme. Uppsatsen är av kvalitativ ansats och metoden som har använts är intervjuer, fyra stycken på en statlig myndighet - Försäkringskassan, samt fyra stycken på kommunala myndigheter vid fyra olika socialkontor i södra Sverige. Urvalet har baserats på handläggare som arbetar med ekonomiskt bistånd i någon form. På Försäkringskassan arbetarhandläggarna inom sjukförsäkringssystemet.  På socialkontoren är det handläggare inom försörjningsstöd som deltagit. Den teoretiska referensramen har utgjorts av i huvudsak Webers byråkratibegrepp samt hans tankar kring den legala auktoriteten. Analysen är utformad som en diskussion kring de delar som visat sig vara särskilt centrala under intervjuerna. Dessa delar har varit bland annat tjänstemannarollen, myndighetsutövande och samverkan. Resultatet visar på det komplexa förhållande som framkommer hoshandläggarna då man diskuterar begreppet handlingsutrymme. Upplevelsen av ett stort handlingsutrymme pekar i flera fall ofta påmotsatsen, nämligen att det handlingsutrymme man har är väldigt reglerat på olika vis. Bland annat på grund av flertalet kontrollfunktioner och den organisatoriska påverkan som kan sägas inskränka på handläggarnas möjligheter att fatta beslut. Dock finns det tendenser som visar på att man kan konstruera sitt handlingsutrymme genom att lägga olika stort fokus på arbetets olika delar.

Our study aims at investigating the unit manager’s, within LSS, perceiveddiscretion, when people with Down´s syndrome develop Alzheimer’s disease. We wanted to know what they perceive as limiting factors or facilitators in order to meet changing and/or emerging needs, as well as how they interpret their discretion in relation to this. We have conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with five unit mangers within LSS.When analyzing the interview material, we have used a theoretical approach from a street-level bureaucracy and from the unit managers’ perceiveddiscretion point of view.Our study’s result demonstrate that the unit managers are experiencing a wide discretion and do not feel a need to widen their identifieddiscretion.

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