”Långt borta men nära”- en studie om socialsekreterares förväntningar på chefer och syn på arbete

This masters degree was a study of some social workers in Gothenburg Community and their expectations of leaders in general, their opinions of work and the leaders influence. The city of Gothenburg will within a few years recruit about 500 leaders. Depending on large pensions among leaders. It is important to have knowledge of the social workers expectations of leaders, their opinions of work and the leaders influence. It is also interesting to see if different generations have similarities or if they have different opinions. The aim of our studie was to look in to and analyze the expectations of leaders in general, their opinions of work and the leaders influence, among twelve social workers in Gothenburg, who are working in the individ and family care. We also wanted to look in to what similarities and differences that accured between different generations, social workers born in the eighties centurie and social workers born in the fifthies century. We chosed these ages because of the time between them and because the fifthies have several years left before pension. The eighties have recently started to work and they will be a large group in the working life during many years. These generations have different background whish can influence their opinions. The results showed that social workers expectations of leaders are that the leaders must lead and organize the work. The leaders is expected to take responsibility for a nice climate at work The social workers wants leaders who are strong, kind, good-hearted and have humour. The social workers want a great deal of support from the leader. The leader should be close, still not too close. Feedback is very important for the social workers. They also want a leader to have competence and experiences in the specific work. The fifties want a leader who is personally mature. The eighties want a leader who are group-oriented, supporting and who takes care of the safety of work. The social workers want the work to be developing, challenging and self-developing. They want to have a part of a group and they want to have a work with a meaning. The work with the clients is a motivating factor. The fifties want to attribute to the society. The eighties want a work that gives them opportunities to development. The contact with working friends is also important. The leader has an influence of social workers opinions of work, by support, encouragement and engagement. The leader’s way of leading is also important. The most important way of influence is to give the young social workers possibilities to development. The wages is not a big factor. We used a qualitative method. We interviewed twelve social workers, six were born in the fifties and six were born in the eighties. The answers from the interviews were the ground for our studie. Our theoretical basics were Mintzbergs theory of leadership and Maslow’s theory of human needs. We used these therories, litteratur and previous reserche. We analyzed and diskussed our results while we showed our results