The personal social services in Sweden have undergone major changes during recent decades, partly due to the reforms caused by the influence of New Public Management (NPM) and partly due to the trend towards greater specialisation. These changes have had consequences for both social work management and for social work practice. The consequences for practice have gained attention both from research and from the field, but the consequences for managers have rarely been discussed. In this thesis therefore, the attention is directed towards the managers. Inspired by a mixed methods approach, this thesis aims to explore the personal social service managers’ perceptions of their organisational conditions and the content of their everyday work, as well as to interpret the managers’ experiences against the background of NPM influence, increasing specialisation and the specific circumstances that come with managing politically governed organisations. The results show that the personal social service managers in general were former professionals with extensive social work experience. The managerial work was to a great extent perceived as reactive, entailing constant interruptions and acute situations. The managers experienced a heavy workload that appeared to prevent them from engaging in strategic work and leadership to the extent that they would have liked. Substantial proportions of managers were dissatisfied with their own levels of influence compared to that of politicians and, in general, the managers perceived themselves to have more influence regarding aspects that were operational (such as methods and working procedures) compared to aspects related to organisational structure. Through the managers’ descriptions of their relations with politicians, it was revealed that the roles could be muddled, and that both managers and politicians could have difficulties in distinguishing between politics and administration, or politics and profession. Several changes that could be attributed to the influence of NPM were described by the managers. Some changes had consequences for the more technical side of management, e.g. decentralised budget responsibility, increased focus on cost effectiveness and downsizing of support functions. Other changes were more related to the overarching concept of management, which had consequences for the choice of managerial training, the expectations placed on the managers, and to some extent the managers’ own views on what good management should be. Despite the many indications of changes that may be attributed to NPM, an important result in this thesis is that NPM does not appear to have permeated social work to the degree that might have been expected. Rather, there are clear indications of a remaining professional identity among managers on all managerial levels, as well a continuing bureau-professional regime within the personal social services.

Organisationer satsar på ledarskapsutveckling och organisationer behöver förändras för att anpassa sig till omvärldens krav eller andra förändrade behov. Syftet med denna uppsats är att skapa mer kunskap om huruvida en satsning på ledarskapsutveckling i en statlig organisation kan bidra till att förändra ledarskapet i en organisation och att identifiera vilka organisatoriska förutsättningar som behöver vara på plats för att åstadkomma en förändring av organisationens ledarskap. Uppsatsens tillvägagångssätt är en kvalitativ fallstudie med abduktiv och tolkande ansats och datainsamlingen har bestått av semistrukturerade intervjuer med 15 chefer i organisationen. Insamlade data har analyserats genom denna studies analysmodell som kombinerar ledarstilar med organisatoriska förutsättningar. Slutsatserna pekar övergripande på vikten av ledningens och medarbetarnas engagemang, kommunikation, dialog och delaktighet i samband med förändringar. Slutsatserna indikerar att en satsning på ledarskapsutveckling kan bidra till en förändring av ledarskapet bl.a. om utrymme skapas så att chefer kan arbeta aktivt med det egna ledarskapet. Slutsatserna visar också att ett utvecklat ledarskap kan vara svårare att tillämpa om det inte tillämpas av samtliga berörda i en organisation. Slutsatserna indikerar att tid, organisatorisk struktur eller otydlighet kan motverka en förändring av ledarskapet i organisationen. Avseende vilka organisatoriska förutsättningar som behöver vara på plats för att kunna åstadkomma en förändring av organisationens ledarskap visar slutsatserna att det bör skapas utrymme för tillit på alla nivåer i organisationen inklusive förtroende för organisationens olika professioner. Slutsatserna antyder att olika arbetssätt inom organisationen kan utmana organisationens vi-känsla. Slutsatserna antyder också att en organisations beslutsprocesser försvåras av otydlighet och osäkerhet men att detta kan motverkas av god kännedom om en organisations olika verksamheter. Vidare antyder slutsatserna att organisatorisk struktur har betydelse för ett transformativt ledarskap som är utvecklande och tillitsbaserat, men att det delvis går att tillämpa även om den organisatoriska strukturen begränsar. / Organisations invest in leadership development and organisations need to change to adapt to the demands of the outside world or other changing needs. The purpose of this essay is to create more knowledge about whether an investment in leadership development in a government organisation can contribute to changing the leadership in this organisation and to identify which organisational conditions need to be present to bring about a change in the organisation's leadership. The essay's approach is a qualitative case study with an abductive and interpretative approach and the data collection has consisted of semi-structured interviews with 15 managers within the organisation. The collected data has been analysed through a model which combines leadership styles with organisational conditions. The conclusions point generally to the importance of management's and employees' commitment, communication, dialogue, and participation in connection with changes. The conclusions indicate that an investment in leadership development can contribute to a change in leadership i.a. if space is created for managers to work actively with their own leadership. The conclusions also show that a developed leadership can be more difficult to apply if it is not applied by all concerned in an organisation. The conclusions indicates that time, organisational structure, or lack of clarity can counteract a change in leadership in the organisation. Regarding the organisational conditions which need to be present to be able to bring about a change in the organisation's leadership, the conclusions show that there should be room for trust at all levels in the organisation, including trust in the organisation's various professions. The conclusions suggest that differing ways of working within the organisation can challenge the organisation's sense of collective identity. The conclusions also suggest that an organisation's decision-making processes are made more difficult by ambiguity and uncertainty, but that this can be counteracted by a good knowledge of an organisation's various activities. Furthermore, the conclusions suggest that organisational structure is important for a transformative leadership that is developmental and trust-based, but that such a leadership can be partially applied even if the organisational structure is limiting.