Since Sweden has one of the most comprehensive welfare states, the role of voluntary organizations active in the field of welfare is often neglected. The unique Swedish nonprofit sector is characterized by 1) the tradition of popular mass movements in which members are central and the real owners of the organization, 2) large membership and volunteering, but low employment levels, 3) dominance in the fields of culture and recreation, but the relative marginalization in welfare. This Ph.D. dissertation empirically studies work and the perception of work in voluntary welfare organizations (VWOs) in Sweden. I completed a series of 38 interviews of employees and volunteers in four VWOs: 1) a children’s rights organization; 2) a women’s center; 3) a volunteer bureau; and 4) a humanitarian organization. A quantitative survey of some 200 VWOs supplements the qualitative data. Looking at the internal work setting and interactions between workers one realizes that work in VWOs is influenced not only by the popular mass movements (folkrörelser), which are the foundation model of all Swedish voluntary organizations, but also by paradigms emerging out of the public and for-profit sectors: 1) the public paradigm permanently shapes voluntary welfare organizations through the action of paid workers who often have public sector work experience; and 2) work in voluntary organizations is partly integrated into the regular labor market, and interfaces emerge between volunteering and professional life (for-profit paradigm). The private sphere also interferes with volunteering. Finally, this sheds a new light on the claims of VWOs that they are autonomous, “free” entities, and their contribution to social integration and strengthening of social ties.

The origin of voluntary organizations has not been studied much in sociology. This study develops a three-phase model of a voluntary organization origin and three case studies are conducted to try out the model. The aim of the study is to describe and analyze the birth of a voluntary organization and its development. The empiric material has been gathered in three voluntary organizations from the mid-80'ies. The organizations are Noaks Ark (working with HIV), 5i12-rörelsen (working with refugees) and Farsor och Morsor på Stan (working with teenagers in Stockholm city). All three organizations still exist. The empiric material has been collected though interviews and other written materials. The theoretical model is divided into three phases, the preorigin phase, the phase of origin and the maturity phase. Each phase has its special character and there is no automatic transference to the next phase. In the first phase - the preorigin phase - the key notion is the entrepreneur or the agitator. The entrepreneur or the agitator sees a problem in society. Often this is coupled with a personal experience of the problem and a desire to do something about it. They gather more knowledge in the area, meet other people and develop an idea of how to solve the problem. In the phase of origin the key notion is the organizer. The leader has to have knowledge of organizing; how to organize people and how to mobilize resources. The organizers are often charismatic and use their charisma to gather people around their idea. In the maturity phase all the distinctive marks of a voluntary organizations can be seen. The key notion is the members' need for security and continuity. The members can also develop a personal need for the organization. The dependence on the founder or the leader decreases in significance, and bureaucracy is developed. Forces outside and inside the organization influence the voluntary organization and it is shaped by its history and surrounding. It is argued that the emergence of a voluntary organization is dependent on three things that has to coincide, discontent and an idea how to relieve it, resources and an organizer. The empiric findings support the three-phase model. In theory the phases are distinctive but in the case studies the phases could overlap.

Current literature on the developmentally disabled indicates they represent a large untapped labor pool that is significantly inhibited in its inclusion in the community. To address this unnecessary isolation, Right in the Community (RitC), a voluntary agency in Cobb County, Georgia, wanted to innovate its service offering by providing meaningful and sustainable work opportunities for those that are severely developmentally disabled. The Competing Values Framework (CVF) offers a dynamic and robust theoretical framework that has been adapted to explain many business factors in addition to organizational effectiveness. Based on a fourteen-month action research engagement at RitC, I adapted the CVF to concentrate on the dimensions of organizational focus, strategy formation and motivational traits to understand and guide service innovation in a voluntary organization. My research aided RitC’s development of a program to provide meaningful and sustainable work opportunities for those that are severely developmentally disabled. From a theoretical standpoint, I have added new knowledge on managing service innovation in voluntary organizations and adapted CVF for understanding and guiding service innovation in that particular context.

The purpose of this study was to find an explanation for why Amnesty International in Sweden has seen an increasing number of members, while the number of participants at the national annual meeting has decreased. The method of the study was done with an inductive approach in which the problem has affected the choice of theory and empirical data. The empirical data has been collected through both qualitative and quantitative method in which the analysis was implemented with support by statistics and interviews. To strengthen the arguments in the paper, sociological theories on organizations are used and also theories about social movements. The conclusion of the study is that Amnesty International Sweden has undergone a transformation towards a decentralized organization because it is not longer relevant for people who are members to achieve the purpose of the organization to participate at the annual meeting. This because that these members accesses the recourses they want to achieve by working on a local level. The main conclusion of this study is that Amnesty has moved towards being an organization that to some extent are working as a social movement, where there is no longer any clear link between local work and the central board of Directors.

Current literature on the developmentally disabled indicates they represent a large untapped labor pool that is significantly inhibited in its inclusion in the community. To address this unnecessary isolation, Right in the Community (RitC), a voluntary agency in Cobb County, Georgia, wanted to innovate its service offering by providing meaningful and sustainable work opportunities for those that are severely developmentally disabled. The Competing Values Framework (CVF) offers a dynamic and robust theoretical framework that has been adapted to explain many business factors in addition to organizational effectiveness. Based on a fourteen-month action research engagement at RitC, I adapted the CVF to concentrate on the dimensions of organizational focus, strategy formation and motivational traits to understand and guide service innovation in a voluntary organization. My research aided RitC’s development of a program to provide meaningful and sustainable work opportunities for those that are severely developmentally disabled. From a theoretical standpoint, I have added new knowledge on managing service innovation in voluntary organizations and adapted CVF for understanding and guiding service innovation in that particular context.

The purpose of this study is to investigate in what ways volunteers at local youth empowerment organizations can contribute to the prevention of adversity and intimate partner violence among youths, as well as their perception of the needs of their target group. Another aim is to discuss the possibilities of cooperation between different agents working to support adolescents, which includes volunteers, schools, parents and other adults. This subject is relevant for social work as organizations in the nonprofit sector can be established as producers of welfare services. The investigation is conducted through qualitative thematic analyses of interviews with four volunteers from two different organizations, and the analysis is presented in three themes. The theoretical perspectives applied are street-level bureaucracy, ecological system theory, stigma, and gender theory. The empirical body describes both opportunities and limitations of the preventative work, and the result implies that no single agent has enough resources to decrease adolescents’ social vulnerability by their own means. Therefore, the possibility of cooperation between agents in various levels of the ecological system is discussed. The conclusion of this study is that all agencies need to contribute to create more effective prevention and support measures to reduce youth adversity and intimate partner violence, and volunteers can play a key role in this work.

<p>Abstract</p><p>The purpose for writing this essay is to study the culture of kindness in the Church of Sweden, as the church constitutes as an idealistic organization (non-profit or voluntary organization).</p><p>The focal point is on how such a culture affects the employees, and if any new components</p><p>that can amplify the concept can be distinguished.</p><p>To do this a case study-design has been employed. The primary sources are qualitative</p><p>interviews with six employees in a congregation in the Church of Sweden, and participant</p><p>observations on two different occasions at the same congregation.</p><p>Theories of organizational sociology has been applied to the material, more specific Edgar H</p><p>Schein’s definition of organizational culture and the concept of a culture of kindness (deriving</p><p>from a report by the Swedish Work Environment Authority) as a specific part of the church’s</p><p>organizational culture.</p><p>The conclusions we can make from our study is that a culture of kindness affect employees in</p><p>both a positive and a negative way. There are many expectations that come with working in</p><p>the Church of Sweden, and these do have an effect on the work performed. There is also</p><p>evidence pointing to the fact that leadership can counteract the fear of conflicts that otherwise</p><p>is associated with the culture of kindness. Finally one can conclude that the concept of</p><p>kindness culture could be elaborated, for instance with a notion of leadership.</p>

Abstract The purpose for writing this essay is to study the culture of kindness in the Church of Sweden, as the church constitutes as an idealistic organization (non-profit or voluntary organization). The focal point is on how such a culture affects the employees, and if any new components that can amplify the concept can be distinguished. To do this a case study-design has been employed. The primary sources are qualitative interviews with six employees in a congregation in the Church of Sweden, and participant observations on two different occasions at the same congregation. Theories of organizational sociology has been applied to the material, more specific Edgar H Schein’s definition of organizational culture and the concept of a culture of kindness (deriving from a report by the Swedish Work Environment Authority) as a specific part of the church’s organizational culture. The conclusions we can make from our study is that a culture of kindness affect employees in both a positive and a negative way. There are many expectations that come with working in the Church of Sweden, and these do have an effect on the work performed. There is also evidence pointing to the fact that leadership can counteract the fear of conflicts that otherwise is associated with the culture of kindness. Finally one can conclude that the concept of kindness culture could be elaborated, for instance with a notion of leadership.

No description available.

No description available.