Stuck in the Middle With You : En kvalitativ studie om förutsättningarna för mellanchefer inom äldreomsorgen i privat och offentlig verksamhet

Sammanfattning: The position of middle-management is a role where the manager is at risk of being caught between its management and its employees. Elderly care is an industry that has been discussed a lot, to a large extent on how businesses should be managed and by whom it should be conducted. Middle-management in the business of elderly care thereby possess a vulnerable position in a controversial industry. In this study the aim is to investigate the managers' roles and tasks in both the public sector and the private sector in elderly care. It also aims to examine whether there are differences between the roles and how they in such cases is manifested. Previous researchers treats middle-managements role in elderly care as uniform for both sectors and focuses on the conditions and challenges. The theoretical background of the thesis is partly Ritzers McDonaldization to explain efficiency work in elderly care and Goffman's theories of social roles between the managerial role. The study was conducted through qualitative semi-structured interviews with nine interviews conducted, divided of five respondents in the public sector and four in the private sector. The result shows that the conditions for middle-management in elderly care for both sectors are similar in most cases, for example responsibilities and economic impact and that middle-management in both sectors experience a lack of time. However, there are certain areas that differ slightly, for example it is described by the private players that they have a better financial situation than their rivals in the public sector. It is also clear from the thesis that there may be other influential factors, for instance whether a home for the elderly run by public sector is exposed for competeition, or if a privately elderly care-unit is owned and fully run in-house.