Organisationsförändring under kriser : En kvalitativ studie om socialsekreterares upplevelser av organisationsförändring under coronakrisen.

The aim of this study was to describe and analyze the social workers’ experiences of the organizational change in social service caused by the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus. This has in turn created a stressful and a demanding environment for the social workers. Thus, it is of highly importance to examine the social workers’ reactions and experiences to this change. The study has done so by mainly focusing on three different aspects, namely, how the social workers experienced the communication before and through the change, their participation in the change, and the psychosocial effects of the change. Empirical data was collected through semi-structured interviews with seven social workers who all work in the south of Sweden. The results were then analyzed and interpreted through three different theories, namely, the communication model described by Lindkvist, Bakka and Fivelsdal, coping strategies and strategy E and O. This study reached three conclusions, first that social workers had a tendency to use different coping strategies because of the pressure and stress caused by the organizational change. Second, most social workers experienced that the leaders’ way of managing the change led to a lack of participation. Third, and final conclusion, the social workers had different experiences of the communication where one group experienced that it was good while another group experienced the opposite