Är det här en kulle att dö på? -Om socialsekreterare, etisk stress och new public management

Abstract

Sweden’s social services are often the subject of media scrutiny. The critique is often about the low quality of the services provided and that the orders carried out by professionals aren’t firmly established within the law that determines its framework. This is often explained by professionals lack of experience and qualification, or that the social services lack resources. The Swedish social welfare system has during the last decades undergone major organizational changes, mainly due to new public management reforms. The aim of this study was to examine if and, if so, how social workers within the Swedish social services experience moral distress related to the shortcomings of the Swedish welfare and the organizational conditions under the current forms of control which attach importance to efficiency and measurability of results, and how this affects their work and their clients. The method chosen for this study was qualitative interviews with four social workers operating within the Swedish social services. The interviews were analyzed with theories about moral distress and new public management. Results show that social workers experience moral distress based on their commitment to their clients and because of the organisational framework not letting them perform their work in accordance with their professional judgement.