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.

<p>The aim of this study was to examine and analyze the experiences which social workers have of working with relatives of substance abusers. This included examining how they work with relatives who are in need of care and support and how the social workers identify their needs. We have also investigated how well informed the social workers are when it comes to approaches to helping relatives of substance abusers. A qualitative method has been used in this study in order to analyze the experiences of the social workers from a phenomenological point of view. This study was based on six semi-structured interviews. The results indicated that the relatives of substance abusers could receive help from a majority of the agencies but that most of the approaches to helping them were lacking in structure. Another result showed that relatives could not be accepted as clients at a majority of the agencies which presented a difficulty to working with relatives of substance abusers.</p>

The aim of this study was to examine and analyze the experiences which social workers have of working with relatives of substance abusers. This included examining how they work with relatives who are in need of care and support and how the social workers identify their needs. We have also investigated how well informed the social workers are when it comes to approaches to helping relatives of substance abusers. A qualitative method has been used in this study in order to analyze the experiences of the social workers from a phenomenological point of view. This study was based on six semi-structured interviews. The results indicated that the relatives of substance abusers could receive help from a majority of the agencies but that most of the approaches to helping them were lacking in structure. Another result showed that relatives could not be accepted as clients at a majority of the agencies which presented a difficulty to working with relatives of substance abusers.

The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze how social workers experience their cooperation in childcare investigations, how they experience their discretion and what happens emotionally with social workers in relationship with child care investigations. The study is based on a qualitative method with semi-structured interviews. The interviews have been analyzed via a thematic analysis and have been interpreted with the theoretical frameworks, human service organizations, street level bureaucracy and power. The results show that work linked to childcare investigations arouses feelings of the social secretary. Feelings like hopefulness, fear, stress and powerlessness. Further results show that the social secretary prefers parents to accept voluntary efforts compared with imperativ efforts and cooperation is of the greatest importance to bring child care investigations forward. The study shows that the social secretaries consider themselves to have discretion in their work but their work is also controlled by the organization. Especially when it comes to imperative care, something that the law also prescribes.