Socialsekreterarens handlingsutrymme : En kvalitativ studie om hur socialsekreterare inom ekonomiskt bistånd upplever hinder och möjligheter i arbetet

Sammanfattning: Abstract The aim of this study is to introduce how social workers in public assistance experience that room of maneuver affects their work. Furthermore, the purpose of this study is to introduce the possibilities and limitations that social workers may experience in their work with clients. At the same time, the study shows that social workers in public services experience some difficulties in their work but also they still have a huge opportunity to manage to make a difference in their work with clients. The may questions for the study are: What are the limitations that creates social worker’s room of maneuver? Which factors manage to have an impact on the decision-making for the social worker? And the last question is: In what way does the interviewed social workers reason about their limitations and possibilities with their work in public services? The questions have been developed by a semi-structured interview form where 4 social workers that work with public services, have been interviewed. The results of this study has been analyzed with Lipsky’s theory “Street level Bureaucracy” and the word “Empowerment” has also been analyzed in this study. This study managed to show that the room of maneuver can be limited and hindered by the law, the guidelines but also, the norms and routines in the organization. Therefore, it turned out that the room of maneuver can be a big platform for the social workers to handle their work and a freedom for the social workers to make a difference with their clients and cases.