With this study, our purpose has been to achieve profounded knowledge and understanding regarding the use of discretion among social workers specialized in social allowance issues. The Social Services Act, structured as a framework law in the Swedish context, provides the social worker with a certain degree of discretion, in order to enable accommodated decisions depending on client case specifics. This study problematizes these aspects of legal security, and our intention has been to examine which factors impact the assessments social workers carry out in statutory decisions of social allowance applications. To attain this, we narrowed down our intention into a number of distinct and delimitated research questions: (1) Which elements of the client case impact the social worker’s assessment? (2) Which external aspects influence the social worker’s assessments and decisions? (3) How do social workers decide the client’s credibility?   In order to establish answers to our research questions, we have utilized a qualitative approach of research by exerting qualitative interviews in addition to a vignette study. We have conducted five interviews with social workers specialized in social allowance issues. The empirical material was analyzed and illustrated in the view of Lipsky’s descriptive theory of street-level bureaucracy, and in the light of different theories of authoritarian power, as constituted by Lukes and Foucault.   Within the municipality subject to our research, our vignette study establishes the fact disparities exist among the assessments social workers decide from an application of social allowance. The result of our study exhibit social workers’ grounds of assessment are influenced by a number of aspects. These facets of impact compose internal factors existing within the client case frame. Related to the unique characteristics of a client’s situation, the internal factors also depend on the relation created between social worker and client. Furthermore, the social worker’s assessment is affected by external factors including colleague consultation, supervisor influence and contemporary work load levels. Additionally, our study implies aspects influencing decision-making of social workers occurring on a meta level, which we have opted to denominate semi-external factors. These factors embrace levels of client credibility as well as aspects of power present in the social worker – client relation.

Background. The research on management in Swedish home care has been conductedmainly from sociological perspectives where structural conditions have been of interest (see for example Hagerman et al., 2013; Andersson, 2014; Österlind, 2013). The conditions impacting on management are described as differing ideals where the main ideals are the care perspective and the cost perspective (see for example Andersson, 2014; Österlind, 2013). The conflict between ideals create tensions between ideology and practice and different expectations (Antonsson, 2013) and may also create problems, dilemmas and paradoxes (Österlind, 2013). The rules impacting on the home care activities are bureaucratic rules stemming from the state and municipality. However, Trydegård (2000) argues that at the same time there is room for autonomy and path-dependence in the home care units. Purpose and research approach. There seems to be a lack of studies on management control in home care, and more especially no study combining a discourse, structures and theories on management control. The purpose of this thesis is to explore management control in home care in the relation between structures and managers’ interpretative repertoires in a social-constructionist perspective. The purpose is also to create a prototype model for further research. The ontological positioning and theoretical framework are building on Giddens’ structuration theory (1979, 1984) in which structures are seen as both the medium and outcome of social interaction and rules are important. The units of analysis are the managers’ accounts on management control in semi-structured interviews. The accounts are analysed in a so called case cluster analysis (McClintock et al., 1979) in the software program NVivo. The codes are building on Ouchi’s theory of management control (1979) as ‘input control’, ‘behaviour control’, ‘output control’ and ‘clan control’, and also building on Giddens’ structuration theory (1978, 1984) defined as 8 characteristics of rules, ‘normative sanctions’, ‘signification of meaning’, ‘authoritative’ or ‘allocative resources’. Findings. The findings reveal that home care is highly bureaucratic in input and output control by the use of formal rules stemming from municipality or state. In behaviour control home care has a medium-low degree of bureaucracy if exercised through ‘signification of meaning’ and medium-high when exercised through ‘authoritative resources’. In clan control home care has a low degree of bureaucracy and can either be positive or negative depending on how informal leaders in the unit impact on cooperation between care personnel and if there is trust and a good communication between manager and care personnel. Two main patterns of structuration appear: creation of structures for an efficient process flow of home care to increase efficiency, and co-creation of new rules for behaviour to increase cooperation. Managers focus on different situations of management control depending on conditions in the home care unit and own interpretations. Two interpretative repertoires are identified; the discourse on hard matters is created in relation to matters that are more rigid in structure, such as legislation and municipal goals and that are difficult to interpret differently, whereas soft matters are created in discourse around dilemmas and human or relational aspects of control.

This thesis traces the history of organization from the society of Ancient Athens, through the medieval Church, the Industrial Age, and the 20th century – the latter characterized by the Bureaucratic, Administratively controlled, and Hierarchical (BAH) organization – until today’s contemporary reality of Ubiquitous Connectivity and Pervasive Proximity (UCaPP). Organizations are rarely, if ever, entirely BAH or entirely UCaPP, but do tend to have tendencies and behaviours that are more consistent with either end of a spectrum delineated by this duality. Valence Theory defines organization as being an emergent entity whose members (individuals or organizations) are connected via two or more of five valence (meaning uniting, bonding, interacting, reacting, combining) relationships. Each of these relationships – Economic, Socio-psychological, Identity, Knowledge, and Ecological – has a fungible (mercantile or tradable) aspect, and a ba-aspect that creates a space-and-place of common, tacit understanding of self-identification-in-relation, mutual sense of purpose, and volition to action. Organizations with more-BAH tendencies will emphasize the fungible valence forms, and primarily tend towards Economic valence dominance; more-UCaPP organizations tend to emphasize ba-valence forms, and are more balanced among the relative valence strengths. The empirical research investigates five organizations spanning the spectrum from über-BAH to archetypal UCaPP and discovers how BAH-organizations replace the complexity of human dynamics in social systems with the complication of machine-analogous procedures that enable structural interdependence, individual responsibility, and leader accountability. In contrast, UCaPP-organizations encourage and enable processes of continual emergence by valuing and promoting complex interactions in an environment of individual autonomy and agency, collective responsibility, and mutual accountability. The consequential differences in how each type of organization operates manifest as the methods through which organizations accommodate change, coordination, evaluation, impetus, power dynamics, sense-making, and view of people. Particular attention is paid to the respective natures of leadership, and effecting organizational transformation from one type to the other. Set in counterpoint against Zen-like, artistically constructed conversations with a thought-provoking interior sensei, the thesis offers a new foundational model of organization for the current cultural epoch that enables people to assume their responsibility in creating relationships and perceiving effects in the context of a UCaPP world.

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Le recueil de brèves théâtrales "Les Journées nationales" rassemble trois courtes pièces ("La Journée nationale du pardon", "La Journée nationale de la lutte contre l’embonpoint" et "La Journée nationale de la frivolité") qui reposent sur une prémisse commune, en apparence farfelue : l'obligation de célébrer un quelconque impératif social dicté par la majorité. À travers un humour parfois noir, "Les Journées nationales" se présentent comme de courtes satires sociales qui, en judiciarisant une conduite morale implicitement imposée, entreprennent de disséquer et de décomposer les normes sociales et les valeurs généralement admises afin d’en souligner les incohérences. "Quand les huissiers se saisissent de la scène : l’absurde bureaucratique dans le théâtre contemporain" est un essai qui vise à analyser les procédés et à identifier les enjeux à l’œuvre dans les pièces de théâtre de l’absurde bureaucratique. Cette expression désigne des œuvres dramatiques qui, à travers un comique de décalage, une utilisation ludique et créative du jargon bureaucratique et une importance accordée au référent social du lieu et des personnages, expriment la terreur ressentie par leurs auteurs à l’endroit de l’institutionnalisation des relations humaines. À l’aide de quatre pièces principales ("Le Professeur Taranne" d’Arthur Adamov, "Les Travaux et les Jours" de Michel Vinaver, "Quelques conseils utiles aux élèves huissiers" de Lydie Salvayre et "États financiers" de Normand Chaurette), d’études sur le théâtre de l’absurde (Esslin, Hubert) de même que d’ouvrages de sociocritique (Duchet) et de sociologie (Crozier et Friedberg, Le Breton), il sera démontré qu’en exprimant une tension constante entre l’intime et le professionnel, l’absurde bureaucratique laisse aussi entrevoir la persistance du pouvoir et de la responsabilité individuels au sein des organisations sociales. / "La Journée nationale du pardon", "La Journée nationale de la lutte contre l’embonpoint" and "La Journée nationale de la frivolité", the three short plays collected in "Les Journées nationales", all spring from the same, seemingly eccentric idea : the obligation to celebrate any social aspect as long as it is dictated by a majority. By "legalizing" an implicitly imposed moral conduct, "Les Journées nationales", short social satires laden with black humour, dissect and analyze social norms and generally acknowledged values in order to highlight their incoherencies. "Quand les huissiers se saisissent de la scène : l’absurde bureaucratique dans le théâtre contemporain" is an essay that analyzes the processes and also points out the stakes at work in the theatre of the "bureaucratic absurd". The "bureaucratic absurd" is a phrase used to designate plays that, through nonsense, a playful and creative use of bureaucratic jargon and through the importance given to the characters’ and locations’ social connotations, express the terror felt by the playwrights towards the institutionalization of human relationships. Using four plays (Arthur Adamov’s "Le Professeur Taranne", Michel Vinaver’s "Les Travaux et les Jours", Lydie Salvayre’s "Quelques conseils utiles aux élèves huissiers" and Normand Chaurette’s "États financiers"), theoretical works on the theatre of the absurd (Esslin, Hubert), sociocriticism (Duchet) and sociology (Crozier and Friedberg, Le Breton), we will show that, through the expression of a constant tension between the intimate and the professional, the bureaucratic absurd offers a glimpse of the individual’s power and of the persistence of personal responsibility within social organizations.

本研究透過研究者從實務工作角度，整理自身和相關領域社工員於公部門從事社會工作之服務過程與經驗，以深度訪談的方式探究公部門社工員所擁有的專業自主發揮空間，以及提供專業服務過程常需考量及面對之問題，並歸納其存在之歸因與因應方式，從中思考社工專業制度是否有助於公部門社工專業自主性之發揮，並重新檢視社會工作專業存在於公部門扮演之角色及定位，找出可能的修正方向，期讓公部門的社會工作服務能與專業助人機制進行結合，讓社工專業能更貼近服務個案思考及服務。 　　本研究結果發現：（1）公部門社工專業角色定位不明，影響專業認同度；（2）政府的科層體制限制了公部門社工專業自主發展；（3）學校專業教育訓練是社工專業自主的基礎；（4）現行社工證照制度對於提升公部門社工專業自主性影響有限；（5）公部門督導功能受限於科層體制，影響公部門社工專業自主性的發揮。 根據研究結果，針對行政機關提出四點建議，包含：（1）建立公部門社工專業定位，釐清社工角色及職責；（2）各項福利申請或安置處遇的行政程序應盡量最簡化，減少繁瑣的行政作業，提升社工專業效能；（3）攸關弱勢權益的法規限制放寬其彈性，賦予社工員更多自主裁量空間，以彌補福利法規之不足及限制；（4）建構完善職前訓練制度。此外，針對目前社工專業制度提出三項建議，包含：（1）學校教育應重視培養社工獨立思考及專業自主能力；（2）重新檢視現行社工師證照資格認定方式，落實社工專業服務；（3）強化公部門督導專業角色，建立信任督導關係。最後，針對社會工作者自身則提出三項建議，包含：（1）堅定自我專業信念，建立專業自信及專業認同；（2）善用同儕支持與經驗分享，強化專業信念及專業知能，建構維持公部門社工專業自主的工作模式；（3）強化自我專業知能，累積實務工作技巧及能力，以實踐專業自主。 / The study by researchers from the substantive point of view, organizes their and public sector social workers’ service process and experience of social work and related areas. With in-depth interviews, the study explores that social workers of public sector have independence to develop their profession, finds the problems that often need to consider and face when providing professional services, and concludes with the cause and solution. Thus, it can further think if social worker’s profession system helps the public sector’s social workers have independence to develop their profession and re-examine the role and position that the social workers perform in public sector to find the way o amendments. Therefore, the public sector can be combined with a professional helping mechanism which allows the service to be closer to the social work profession case thinking and service. 　　The results of the study found that: (1) the role of public sector social worker is unknown that affects the degree of professional identity; (2) Government bureaucracy system limits the development of profession; (3) Professional schools of social work education and training is the foundation of professional autonomy (4) The current licensing system for enhancing the social public sector limited the autonomy of the social work profession influence;(5) Supervisory function is limited to the public sector bureaucratic system which affects public sector workers to develop professional autonomy. According to the research results, there are four-point proposal for the executive authorities, including: (1) Establish public-sector social work professional position and clarify the roles and responsibilities of social workers. (2)The placements of the case of an application for benefits or administrative procedures should be simplified as much as possible and be reduced cumbersome administrative operations in order to enhance the effectiveness of the social work profession. (3) The regulation of minority’s benefits should be more flexible so that it gives social workers more autonomy discretionary space to compensate for the lack of regulations and restrictions on welfare; (4) Establish a concrete pre-employment training system. In addition, there are three suggestions for the current system of social work profession made, including: (1) School education should focus on cultivating independent thinking and professional autonomy for social workers (2) Re-examine the existing qualification of social worker’s certificates to implement social work professional services; (3) strengthen the role of the public sector professional supervision and build a trust relationship of supervision. Finally, social workers themselves have proposed three suggestions, including: (1) firming self-professional belief and establishing professional confidence and professional identity; (2) use peer support and experience sharing, strengthen professional beliefs and professional knowledge and construct maintain professional autonomy of public sector workers working mode; (3) strengthen the self-professional knowledge, skills and ability to accumulate practical work to practice professional autonomy.

The purpose of this study is to understand how street-level bureaucrats, working with clients with mental illness, are implementing their statutory obligation of support for family carers who are caring for or supporting relatives with mental illness. The study are based on vignettes and qualitative interviews with social workers in three different municipalities in southern Sweden.   The questions of this study are: • How do the social workers communicate their statutory obligation of support to family carers? • How do the social workers distinguish the family carers? • How do the social workers distinguish the family carers who are in need of support?   Metod: Vignettes and qualitative interviews has been used as methods to gather empirical data. Theory: Theories of street-level bureaucracy has been used as theory in the analyses of the empirical material. Results: The result of this study concludes that the social workers, in lack of policy introduction, communicate their obligation to support family carers within their discretion. The result shows that the majority of the municipalities do not have formalized support for family carers supporting relatives with mental illness. The study also concludes that the social workers have different understandings of which family carer who is a carer in need of support. How the social workers, within their discretion, distinguish a carer in need affects which family carers who are offered support. The study also concludes that the social workers have different understandings of which family carers are in need of support.

The South African education system has been undergoing a process of transformation and democratisation. An historical overview of democracy in the South Africa education system confirms that the system had developed to become a highly centralised and bureaucratic system during the twentieth century, but it was transformed in 1996 to afford a greater degree of parental participation through local school governing bodies. Democracy is founded on a belief in individual rights, equality, and self-government by the majority of the people. The moral authority of the majority is based on the notion that there is more enlightenment and wisdom between many than in a single man. However, the power of the majority is always limited by the prerequisite of the rule of law and the implicit requirements of legality and justice. This implies that bureaucratic or undemocratic exercise of power by the majority or any person, including the state, would be contrary to the requirements of legality and democracy. An overview of the theories of democracy explains the complexities of the different orientations and ideological approaches to democracy. Critiques of democracy have identified an elitist, inegalitarian, and antiparticipatory core in liberal democracy. The sensible approach to these weaknesses of liberal democracy is to integrate the best features of the various theories of democracy towards a workable solution to manage the systemic conflicts. This includes the formal application of checks and balances and the substantive adjustment of the executive, legislative and judicial practice to maintain a harmonious equilibrium between equality and liberty. The theory of deliberative democracy suggests an additional way to improve substantive democracy. There is an inextricable link between democracy, education and the law. The South African Constitution provides for representative (political) and participatory democracy, as well as for the enshrinement of fundamental rights such as the right to basic education. In addition, the education legislation and policies contain numerous provisions that prescribe and necessitate democratisation of the education system. However, the empirical results of the study show that a number of controversial bureaucratic practices and a tendency towards increased centralisation of the system, constrain democratic school governance. The most prominent undemocratic practices in the system inter alia include: the over-politicisation of schools by the dominant teachers’ union; the bureaucratic appointment of educators; the interference by teachers’ unions with the appointment of educators, the bureaucratic imposition of English medium language policies on Afrikaans schools; and • the ambivalent attitude towards inclusive education. An investigation into the knowledge levels of senior education administrators, school principals and school governing chairpersons, which participated in this study, revealed that their knowledge of participatory democracy and Education Law was superficial. This ignorance of these stakeholders in education compounds the problem of effectively administering, managing and governing schools in a democratic manner. Conclusions drawn from the evidence of this study suggests that certain of the encumbrances to democracy in schools and the system can be attributed to systemic weaknesses, as well as to misconceptions and the misapplication of democratic principles. Finally, the study proposes two models to improve democratic school governance. The first model suggests a theoretical framework for improving the power relations, knowledge, civic attitudes and democratic values. The final model, which is based on the first theoretical model, proposes that Area School Boards be statutorily established to govern defunctive schools and that deliberative forums should be established and implemented within the organisational hierarchy of the education system. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009

The South African education system has been undergoing a process of transformation and democratisation. An historical overview of democracy in the South Africa education system confirms that the system had developed to become a highly centralised and bureaucratic system during the twentieth century, but it was transformed in 1996 to afford a greater degree of parental participation through local school governing bodies. Democracy is founded on a belief in individual rights, equality, and self-government by the majority of the people. The moral authority of the majority is based on the notion that there is more enlightenment and wisdom between many than in a single man. However, the power of the majority is always limited by the prerequisite of the rule of law and the implicit requirements of legality and justice. This implies that bureaucratic or undemocratic exercise of power by the majority or any person, including the state, would be contrary to the requirements of legality and democracy. An overview of the theories of democracy explains the complexities of the different orientations and ideological approaches to democracy. Critiques of democracy have identified an elitist, inegalitarian, and antiparticipatory core in liberal democracy. The sensible approach to these weaknesses of liberal democracy is to integrate the best features of the various theories of democracy towards a workable solution to manage the systemic conflicts. This includes the formal application of checks and balances and the substantive adjustment of the executive, legislative and judicial practice to maintain a harmonious equilibrium between equality and liberty. The theory of deliberative democracy suggests an additional way to improve substantive democracy. There is an inextricable link between democracy, education and the law. The South African Constitution provides for representative (political) and participatory democracy, as well as for the enshrinement of fundamental rights such as the right to basic education. In addition, the education legislation and policies contain numerous provisions that prescribe and necessitate democratisation of the education system. However, the empirical results of the study show that a number of controversial bureaucratic practices and a tendency towards increased centralisation of the system, constrain democratic school governance. The most prominent undemocratic practices in the system inter alia include: the over-politicisation of schools by the dominant teachers’ union; the bureaucratic appointment of educators; the interference by teachers’ unions with the appointment of educators, the bureaucratic imposition of English medium language policies on Afrikaans schools; and • the ambivalent attitude towards inclusive education. An investigation into the knowledge levels of senior education administrators, school principals and school governing chairpersons, which participated in this study, revealed that their knowledge of participatory democracy and Education Law was superficial. This ignorance of these stakeholders in education compounds the problem of effectively administering, managing and governing schools in a democratic manner. Conclusions drawn from the evidence of this study suggests that certain of the encumbrances to democracy in schools and the system can be attributed to systemic weaknesses, as well as to misconceptions and the misapplication of democratic principles. Finally, the study proposes two models to improve democratic school governance. The first model suggests a theoretical framework for improving the power relations, knowledge, civic attitudes and democratic values. The final model, which is based on the first theoretical model, proposes that Area School Boards be statutorily established to govern defunctive schools and that deliberative forums should be established and implemented within the organisational hierarchy of the education system. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009

Avhandlingen handlar om den ökande administrationen i moderna organisationer. Det är ett fenomen som uppmärksammats inom flera områden på senare tid, bl.a. inom skolan, sjukvården och polisen. De flesta menar att administration är något negativt, men att en viss del måste finnas för att organisationer skall fungera. Det är ett nödvändigt ont, men samtidigt ett slags smörjmedel i organisationers maskineri. Ofta anses att en ökande administration leder till ineffektivitet, och att det administrativa arbetet skall minimeras för att produktionen inte skall störas. Inom den tidiga forskningen om organisationer var administration ett huvudbegrepp. I själva verket benämndes forskningsområdet för ”den administrativa vetenskapen”, och forskarna sökte teoretiska definitioner och förklaringar till administrativ förändring och tillväxt. Men trots detta har frågan försvunnit från den moderna organisationsforskningens agenda. Idag används nästan inte administration som teoretiskt begrepp och sällan som huvudbegrepp i organisationsstudier. Det saknas modern forskning om administration och det finns inte heller någon enhetlig definition av begreppet. Avhandlingens forskningsfråga handlar om vilka drivkrafter som finns till den administrativa förändringen. En allmän iakttagelse är att administrationen ökar, men utan att det finns några systematiska studier om denna ökning förutom ett antal spridda mätningar där man definierat begreppet på olika sätt och använt olika metoder. Mot bakgrund av detta lyder avhandlingens forskningsfråga: Varför ökar administrationen i moderna organisationer? Den empiriska studien är en genomgång av polisens administrativa arbete mellan 1965-2003. Anledningen till att starpunkten är 1965 är att det är då som polisen förstatligas och blir en enhetlig organisation. Sammanfattningsvis visar genomgången av den administrativa förändringen i polisen att det skett en administrativ tillväxt. Det förekommer ett ökande antal arbetsuppgifter, ett ökat antal anställda som arbetar med administration och fler organisatoriska enheter för administrativa funktioner. Sammanfattningsvis har det administrativa arbetet blivit allt mer komplext inom alla områden, följt den allmänna förvaltningspolitiska utvecklingen, omfördelats mellan personalgrupper i organisationen och i allt större utsträckning handlar om att legitimera verksamheten. Sammantaget finns det fog för att påstå att det skett en administrativ tillväxt inom polisen sedan förstatligandet. Denna tillväxt har skett på alla nivåer i organisationen, vilket innebär att administrativa arbetsuppgifter ökat för såväl poliser som civilanställda. Förklaringarna till denna tillväxt beror på att det finns en ökad kapacitet att administrera, ökade krav på att administrera och att det finns en administrationsideologi kring moderna organisationer. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2004