Socialsekreterares arbetsmiljö : En kvalitativ studie sett ur enhetschefernas perspektiv

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study was to get a deeper understanding of how Unit Heads within the Swedish social services view the work environment of social workers in social welfare offices. The study was based on six social services Unit Heads from the southern part of Sweden. Semi structured interviews were used to examine what different factors affect the social workers in social welfare offices work environment, what the practical work carried out by the Unit Heads looks like and finally, how their leadership influences the work environment. Through the interviews it was identified that workload, resources, media, work group and leadership were five different key factors that the Unit Heads said had the biggest affect on the social workers in social welfare offices work environment. The analysis was based on three theoretical perspectives. Firstly, organizational theory was used to obtain a deeper understanding of the different factors affecting the work environment. Leadership theory was then used to see how the leadership influenced the work environment. Finally, Aaron Antonovsky's theory of "sense of coherence" was used to gain a understanding of the relations within the work group and also between the work group and the Unit Heads. The study found that one of the most important factors for the social workers in social welfare offices work environment was what kind of leadership the Unit Heads used to influence the social workers: and it was found that the Unit Heads describe themselves as transformational leaders with transactional influences