Socialtjänsten som oljat och grusigt maskineri - Berättelser om internt samarbete kring barn som far illa

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study was to examine how professionals in the social services view and talk about the internal cooperation between specialised units at the social services office (i.e. a receiving unit and an investigative unit). The motivation for such a study was located in an identified paradox between rapid societal changes creating more complex client needs and the implementation of new public management and specialised work units. Professionals are expected to simultaneously work within a dynamic environment and at the same time work from a more specialised knowledge base. Some of Mintzberg's classic ideas about organisation and a framework called “strategy as practice” formed the theoretical basis for understanding the experiences of professionals. To examine how professionals view internal collaboration, we took the following questions into account: What are the different ways of collaborating described by social services professionals? When do – and don't professionals in the reception and investigation unit consider that internal cooperation works? What solutions do professionals seek to improve internal collaboration? The study is based on a qualitative approach and empirical data has been collected via semi-structured interviews with social secretaries and middle managers. We found three parallel coordinating principles named: assembly line production, informal collaboration, and pragmatic organisation occuring when the need for immediate action arises. Furthermore, our results show that professionals want more collaboration within the organization and between units in order to meet the clients' complex needs.