"att inte prata om varandra, men att alltid prata med varandra" - En kvalitativ studie om kommunikation och konflikter i en arbetsgrupp på ett SoL-boende

Sammanfattning: Communication and conflict are inevitable in working groups and is the foundation of how working groups cooperate. This study explored how communication and conflict can be perceived by individuals in a smaller work group at a support home for children ages 14–20. Aim: The aim was to create an understanding of how communication and conflicts were described by staff at a support home for children and how this was expressed in the working group. The aim was also to create an understanding of how this, from the working groups’ perspective, affected the children in the home. Theoretical framework: The theoretical framework for this study was taken from the interactionist perspective by using Goffman’s and Mead’s theories including roles, role-taking, and language. Method: The method used for this study was of qualitative character including semi-structured interviews with six social workers from one single working group in a support home. The study was executed with an abductive approach and was analyzed with qualitative content analysis based on grounded theory. Results: Communication had a big impact on cooperation in the group. The group appeared to only rarely have conflicts, partly because of the understanding of each others’ personalities due to having worked together for a long period of time. Different roles emerged in the processing of the empirical data, where group members described everyone in the group to take certain roles in the work group and other roles in front of the children. The communication within the working group in front of the children was conducted in both verbal and non-verbal ways. In the event of a conflict in the working group, a lack of unity appeared and the children would take advantage of it. Communicating unity in the working group in front of the children was of importance to build trust between the working group and the children. Conclusion: Clear communication was highly valued by the group members to avoid conflict, and that the ability to receive feedback from other group members was vital. Working together for a long period of time was beneficial for the group and that conflicts were being solved instantly to avoid escalation of the conflict. Conflict in the group showed the effect of creating a sense of worry amongst the children and decreased the feeling of trust towards staff.