Michael Lipsky states through his theory of street-level bureaucracy that teachers, among other street-level occupations, often work under a heavy workload due to parameters built into their occupations characteristics and limited resources. Lipsky says that street-level bureaucrats therefor under the influence of their works natural discretion tend to use client-processing strategies to lighten the pressure to make their work situation bearable. Teachers in Sweden is an occupational group that has an important societal function in educating children, teenagers and young adults for their future social lives. At the same time as they work under a heavy workload. This essay aims to see if teachers in Sweden uses the three client-processing strategies tension between capability and objectives, private goal definition and defense against discretion to modify their work and students, to make their work situation more bearable. This is tested quantitively through Pearsons chi2 test of independence and regression analysis. The conclusion is that even though a tendency towards the use of client-processing strategies can be seen in the results, one cannot conclude that this is actually the case and that further studies has to be done to be able to give a more accurate response to the question.

Revisionsyrket är en profession kännetecknad av hög arbetsbelastning och tidspress, något som i högre grad karaktäriserar marknadsledande revisionsbyråer. Flertalet studier kring tidspress och hög arbetsbelastning har gjorts, vilka visar att det i många fall påverkar revisorns prestation negativt. Däremot finns även studier som antyder en högre prestation i denna kontext. De motstridiga resultaten kan tyda på att det finns bakomliggande orsaker vilka inte tidigare undersökts och som har betydelse för hanteringen av tidspress och hög arbetsbelastning. Studiens syfte är därför att skapa en mer djupgående förståelse för tidspress bland revisorer. Den teoretiska referensramen indikerar främst att revisorer påverkas negativt av tidspress, samt att kvaliteten på granskningar de utför påverkas negativt. Den visar också att det finns olika personlighetstyper som hanterar olika situationer bättre respektive sämre. Dessutom kan personlighet tillsammans med faktorer som omgivning, erfarenhet och kunskap påverka revisorns professionella skepticism och därmed dennes prestation. Det resultat som insamlats via intervjustudier stämmer till viss del överens med den teoretiska referensramen och slutsatser som kan dras är att vissa personlighetstyper, särskilt samvetsgrannhet, passar bättre in på en revisor. Även omgivning, livssituation och erfarenhet förefaller spela roll i hur revisorer hanterar tidspress. Det är dock svårt att avgöra hur tidspressen påverkar revisionskvaliteten, eftersom definitionen av revisionskvalitet är svår att precisera. Dessutom verkar det föreligga ett förväntningsgap i vad revisorns uppgift egentligen är, vilket försvårar en slutsats angående kvaliteten. / The audit profession is characterized by heavy workloads and time pressure, especially at the market-leading audit firms. Multiple studies regarding time pressure and heavy workloads show that these factors often have a negative impact on the auditor’s performance. However, there are also studies which state that time pressure can lead to better performance. These contradictory results indicate underlying causes not previously investigated which may affect how auditors handle time pressure and heavy workloads. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to create a profound understanding of time pressure among auditors. The theoretical frame of reference indicates that auditors are mainly negatively affected by time pressure and that the quality of the audits they perform are adversely affected. It also shows that people with different personality types handle situations in different ways. Further, it shows that personality as well as other factors such as the work environment, experience and knowledge can influence the auditor’s professional scepticism and thus their performance. The results collected through interviews correspond to some extent with the theoretical frame of reference. The conclusions that can be drawn are that some personality traits, especially conscientiousness, are more suitable for an auditor, but also that the work environment, life situation and experience play a role in how auditors handle time pressure. However, it is difficult to determine how time pressure affects audit quality as the definition of audit quality is hard to specify and grasp. There also appears to be an expectation gap in what the auditor’s tasks really are which makes it difficult to draw a conclusion about the quality.

Arbetsrelaterad stress har nu ökat avsevärt i Sverige efter några års nedgång. Särskilt utsatta är de som arbetar inom barn- och familjeenheter på socialtjänsten. Stressrelaterade hälsoproblem bland socialarbetare inom barnavården har kopplats till stora arbetsbelastningar i flera studier. En rapport från Arbetsmiljöverket noterar att ökade arbetsbelastningar ledde till mindre tid för klienter, ökad stress, mer sjukfrånvaro, personalomsättning och att anställda kände att det var svårare att göra ett bra jobb. Detta resulterade i negativa effekter för både klienter och arbetstagarna själva. Syftet med denna studie var därför att undersöka organisatoriska faktorer relaterade till upplevelser av arbetsrelaterad stress hos socialarbetare inom barn- och familjeenheter i två kommuner i Skåne. För att samla in data genomfördes kvalitativa intervjuer med åtta barnavårdsarbetare. Studien belyser de organisatoriska utmaningarna i att hitta balansen mellan arbetskrav och resurser för att minska hög arbetsbelastning och stress. Detta tvingar socialarbetarna inom barn- och familjeenheterna att hitta strategier för att hantera de organisatoriska utmaningarna genom att antingen riskera sin hälsa eller kvaliteten på sitt arbete. Studiens resultat betonar organisationernas personalorientering för att motverka upplevelsen av stress och hög arbetsbelastning. / Work-related stress has now increased significantly in Sweden after a few years of decline. Particularly vulnerable are those who work in child and family units of social services. Stress-related health issues among social workers in child welfare have been linked to severe workloads in several studies. A report from the Swedish Work Environment Authority notes that increased workloads led to less time for clients, increased stress, more sick leave, employee turnover and employees feeling that there is harder to do a good job. Resulting in negative effects on clients as well as the workers themselves. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate organizational factors related to experiences of work-related stress within social workers in child and family units in two municipalities in Skåne. To collect data qualitative interviews were conducted with eight child welfare workers. The study illustrates the organizational challenges in finding the balance between the work requirements and resources to reduce heavy workload and stress. That forces the social workers within the child and family units to find strategies to handle the organizational challenges by either jeopardizing their health or the quality of their work. The study results emphasis the organizations staff orientation to counteract the experience of stress and heavy workload.