<p>Middle managers in social care find themselves in a middle position. The middle management position involves demands from several interested parties. The demands affect and generate feelings both within themselves and within others and the middle managers have to deal with them all.</p><p>The aim of this study was to investigate the social care middle manager’s personal experiences of emotions in work.</p><p>We have completed interviews with four middle managers who are assigned to carry out social care. When doing the interviews we used an interview guide divided into different interview areas. The techniques used in the analysis are inspired by grounded theory.</p><p>Our results show that the middle managers experience that they perform emotional labor in their profession. It occurs in interaction with care takers, employees, colleagues and employer. Emotions occur when demands and expectations from these interested parties are inconsistent. Emotions that occur are for example frustration, wrath, anger, dejection, despair and insecurity. Colleagues are primarily the most important social support for the middle managers when it comes to dealing with emotions that occurs in their everyday work. Emotional labor can create negative consequences for the middle managers.</p>

Middle managers in social care find themselves in a middle position. The middle management position involves demands from several interested parties. The demands affect and generate feelings both within themselves and within others and the middle managers have to deal with them all. The aim of this study was to investigate the social care middle manager’s personal experiences of emotions in work. We have completed interviews with four middle managers who are assigned to carry out social care. When doing the interviews we used an interview guide divided into different interview areas. The techniques used in the analysis are inspired by grounded theory. Our results show that the middle managers experience that they perform emotional labor in their profession. It occurs in interaction with care takers, employees, colleagues and employer. Emotions occur when demands and expectations from these interested parties are inconsistent. Emotions that occur are for example frustration, wrath, anger, dejection, despair and insecurity. Colleagues are primarily the most important social support for the middle managers when it comes to dealing with emotions that occurs in their everyday work. Emotional labor can create negative consequences for the middle managers.