Mental Illness in the Workplace : A study about department managers in Swedish municipalities

The purpose of this study is to form an understanding regarding the mental health and wellbeing of department managers employed at Ljungby, Växjö, and Älmhult municipalities. Previous studies have shown that there has been an increase in mental illness and sick-leave among managers especially within Swedish governmental organizations. The study of this topic is therefore of great relevance due to statistics showing its increase in recent years. This study is based on a qualitative research method. Ten department managers were interviewed and at least three were employed at one of the selected municipalities to create as evenly distributed results as possible. The theoretical perspective that the collected data is analyzed through is the social constructivist perspective combined with Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical perspective. The concepts used from the social constructivist theory are social phenomena, reification, typification and roles. Theoretical concepts used from Goffman are performance, façade, team, role, and collective representation. The result of this study shows that the majority of department managers in the three municipalities experience their mental health as stable, but their well-being decreases in times of pressure or when there is an excessive workload during a longer period of time. Moreover, the department managers generally believe that the demands placed on them as managers are reasonable, thus their mental states were unaffected. Lastly, the policies and laws regarding the management of mental illness provided by the municipality was reported to be sufficient and well-functioning in supporting the employees’ wellbeing.