Kunskap och ledning inom socialtjänsten

This study is about manager’s view on use of knowledge. It focuses on managers on a strategic level, working in municipal social services. The aim was to gather an in-depth understanding of factors that influence how managers describe and perceive the use of knowledge, in their mission as a manager as well as in their organization. A background to this issue is the longstanding debate about what type of knowledge that best would serve the purpose of social work. Strong political efforts have been made to implement evidence-based practice (EBP) in the social services in Sweden. The management of each municipality is a main target for these efforts. The study was based on eight semi-structured interviews with managers in a Swedish municipality. The analysis was mainly based on two different types of theoretical perspectives. The first, focusing on the manager’s incentives and motives. For this Goffman’s dramaturgical approach to human interaction was used. The second perspective was aiming to complement with a broader view on factors with influence on a social and ideological level. Here Donileen R. Losekes constructionist perspective was used as an important analytical tool. The result suggests that knowledge from superior sources, such as governmental policy reports, political directives, etcetera, is most important to managers on a strategic level. The analysis also indicates that the social services lack uniform principles and procedures for how decisions regarding use of knowledge are made. Further on that use of knowledge are closely interrelated to contextual factors