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- Hagerman, Heidi, 1980-
(författare)
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Working Life Among First-Line Managers and Their Subordinates in Elderly Care : an Empowerment Perspective
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Aim: The aim of this thesis was to study the working life of first-line managers and their subordinates in elderly care from an empowerment perspective. Methods: Paper I and II used a qualitative approach, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 male and 14 female first-line managers. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Paper III and IV used a quantitative approach with a longitudinal, correlational and multilevel design. 78 first-line managers and 1398 subordinates filled in the questionnaire at T1 and 56 first-line managers and 769 subordinates at T2. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, multivariate analyses (III & IV) and multilevel modelling (IV). Results: In Paper I and II, the first-line managers reported having a challenging and complex work situation. Although the first-line managers sometimes expressed a need for better access to structural empowerment in terms of information, resources and support, they experienced psychological empowerment in their work. In Paper III, the results indicated that the more access the first-line managers had to structural empowerment over time, the more likely they were to feel psychologically empowered over time, resulting in lower ratings of their stress symptoms and higher ratings of their own self-rated leadership-management performance over time. Another finding in Paper III was the influence the number of subordinates per first-line manager had on the first-line managers’ ratings of structural empowerment and the subordinates’ ratings of structural empowerment and stress symptoms. In Paper IV, the results indicate that the more access the first-line managers had to structural empowerment at T1, the more access the subordinates had to structural empowerment at T2, and the higher the subordinates rated their first-line manager’s leadership-management performance at T2, when controlling for psychological empowerment. Conclusions: The working life of first-line managers in elderly care is complex and challenging, and they seem to need better access to structural empowerment (Paper I-IV). However, although deficiencies in access to structural empowerment were reported, the first-line managers experienced their work as a positive challenge (Paper 1) and felt that, though the work was not easy, it was worth it (Paper II).
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| 2. |
- Turunen, Päivi
(författare)
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Samhällsarbete i Norden : Diskurser och praktiker i omvandling
- 2004
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The dissertation deals with an inquiry concerning how the transformation of community work can be understood from a comparative perspective within the framework of social work in Scandinavia. Community work is examined by means of two main studies: an international literature review and an empirical study in four Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden). The transformation is discussed in the light of theories of modernisation and discourse analysis. The results propose that the transformation is characterised by differentiation, both divergence and convergence. The discourses are far from constant, while the practices seem to remain the same. There are surprisingly many similarities between settlement work and contemporary community strategies across the globe. Since the 1980´s, they have expanded rapidly because of the political and ideological changes within welfare states – towards decentralisation and devolution. The concept of community work has been replaced by a plurality of community-orientated concepts. Within social work, it has converged into community social work. The transformation of Nordic community work has also moved towards a national and local diversity. The Nordic countries share similar phases of transformation of community work, but also have traits of their own. In general, community work has been carried out as projects. Denmark is characterised as the promised land of projects, Finland as the community land of minimal number of projects, Norway as the land of co-ordinated projects, and Sweden as the land of structural project-ideology. The transformation has also resulted in a polarisation – an increased professionalisation in academic communities and deprofessionalisation in practice. A constant problem with community work is its temporary nature, due to dependence upon recurring projects. There is a great need for sector transcending and integrating research, knowledge and practice development within the area of community policy and practice, including community work.
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