This qualitative single-site case study examined the philosophy, decisions, and behaviors of a particular male school principal who subscribed to a form of care-based leadership practice. A Pennsylvania high school principal with a distinct leadership philosophy centered on the ethic of care was chosen to participate in this study. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of emotion as it relates to leadership philosophy and the enactment of leadership decisions and actions. Additionally, the short and long-term organizational effects of leader behavior were examined. Semi-structured interviews with the principal, administrators, teachers, staff, parents, community members, and graduated students were utilized to examine how the principal's leadership philosophy was perceived and carried forth in school operations. Additionally, on-site observations and document reviews were utilized to aid the data collection process. The observation and analysis of the male school principal's leadership behavior was filtered through the lens of Goleman's, Boyatzis', and McKee's (2002) primal leadership theory and also through Gross' (1998, 2004, 2006) turbulence theory. Additionally, Wilson's (1998) theoretical conception of consilience was utilized as the physiological, psychological, ethical, social, emotional, and spiritual aspects of leadership were considered. These theoretical perspectives allowed for the review of principal leadership behavior in the context of unstable organizational conditions and accounted for the various elements involved with the leadership process. In turn, the male school principal's ability to implement his leadership philosophy was explored. This examination aimed to increase understanding of the intentions, actions, perceptions, and outcomes that arise from male school principal conduct that proposes to be aligned with a care-based leadership philosophy. The findings indicated the male school principal was able to successfully implement a care-based form of leadership practice. The results suggest that a particular leadership acuity, involving various rational, emotional, social, and moral competencies, was necessary for the school principal to experience success. Principal aptitude in these domains allowed the school leader to successfully lead his school organization during both stable and highly turbulent conditions. The findings suggest that the ethic of care, specifically in relation to Sernak's (1998) conception of caring power, should serve as the foundation for school organization leadership practice. Also, the findings offer various care-based school leadership aptitudes and behaviors that may be beneficial for school leadership theorists and practitioners to explore and consider. / Educational Administration

Som socialarbetare behöver man både kunna hålla huvudet kallt och samtidigt ha ett varmt hjärta. Att drivas av viljan att hjälpa samtidigt som lagar och regler styr stora delar av arbetet kan skapa konflikter i yrkesrollen. Denna uppsats lyfter de splittrade rollerna. Studien syftar till att undersöka socialarbetares upplevelser av rollen som myndighetsperson och rollen som hjälpare i det sociala arbetet samt hur dessa roller påverkar mötet med klienten samt hur makten i myndighetsrollen påverkar hjälparrollen och mötet med klienten. För att ta reda på socialarbetarnas upplevelser genomfördes fem semistrukturerade intervjuer. Faktorer som undersökts är förhållandet mellan rollerna, rollkonflikter, hantering av rollkonflikt samt vilken makt som finns i rollerna. Resultatet har analyserats med begreppen pastoralmakt och caring power. Studien visar att samtliga informanter beskriver att de upplevt motstridigheter mellan rollerna samt att balansen mellan makt och hjälp är komplex. Alla informanter beskriver att de olika rollerna påverkar mötet med klienten men trots det verkar detta många gånger vara oreflekterat hos socialarbetare. / As a social worker, you need to think with a cool head while having a warm heart. Driven by a will to help, but faced with laws and regulations that can lead to conflicts between the professional and governing body. This study has been put in place to examine this relationship from the social workers point of view. This qualitative study aims to examine social workers experiences of power in “the authority role” and how that power affect “the helper role” within social work. We also want to investigate how these roles affect in meeting with the client. In order to understand the social workers experiences semi-structured interviews were made with workers within this department. The main focus was to exam how the specified roles affect the meeting with clients. Factors examined are: The relationship, conflicts, management and power between the roles. In the analysis of the result, the concepts of pastoral power and caring power have been used, and thus lift the social workers view of power and help. The study shows that all informants experienced contradictions between the roles and that the balance between power and help is complex. However, the study also shows that the subject is relatively unreflected by the social workers.

Children who experience violence is one aspect of the work of social secretaries and is a complex assignment in their work. The purpose of this essay has been to understand how social secretaries describe their work within their discretion on children who experience violence. More specifically focus has been on cases where there is a lack of consent to voluntary interventions according to the Social Services Act and when compulsory care is not possible. Previous research about this specific situation is limited which makes this study necessary. The questions of this study had a focus on how social secretaries use their discretion in these cases, which challenges they meet in their work and also their reasoning on today´s legislation regarding children who experience violence. The method of this study has been qualitative semi-structured interviews with five social secretaries in three different municipalities in Sweden. Our results have been analysed with previous research and two theoretic starting-points, discretion and caring power. This study shows that knowledge about children who experience violence is an important part in the work of social secretaries and is a crucial factor in children’s right to protection. It also shows that parental rights to refuse interventions is a major aspect that prevents the possibilities of social secretaries to protect children who experience violence which the social secretaries describe as a difficult challenge. Another difficult challenge described was when parents deny that their children are experiencing violence and there is a lack of proof in the same time. The social secretaries in this study expressed a wish to have a possibility in the law to force parents of children who experience violence to receive interventions even though there is a lack of consent.