“Det här är myndigheten med stort M – en kvalitativ studie om skillnaderna mellan att arbeta som socialarbetare statligt respektive kommunalt”

Abstract

This study is about state officials who handle applications for sickness benefits and about municipal officials who handle applications for financial assistance. The purpose of this study is to explore the differences between the two professional roles regarding their conception about their exercise of authority, in terms of flexibility, individual adjustment, empathy and legal security. The study has a qualitative approach and is based on structured interviews with two state officials and two municipal officials. The questions that this study aims to answer are: - Is there a difference between state officials and municipal officials regarding their experience and use of flexibility? - Is there a difference between state officials and municipal officials regarding their perceptions of legal security, individual adjustment and empathy in their exercise of authority? - What kind of bureaucracy can you find in the two organizations? The results show that the state officials in this study have very limited flexibility due to legislation which makes their exercise of authority neither empathic nor individual. The municipal officials in this study state in their turn that the law entails broad flexibility and the opportunity for them to be empathic and to make individual decisions. All informants state that they are working on rule of law but they paradoxically perceive that the exercise of authority do in fact involve deficiencies of legal security. The informants' statements leads to the conclusion that the state officials in this study are ideal bureaucratic, while the municipal officials are more of street-level bureaucrats.