The professional role of unit managers in elderly care : A qualitative interview study of unit managers' professional role in elderly care in relation to New Public Management

Background: In Swedish elderly care, New Public Management (NPM) can be identified in several different ways, for instance it has entailed changed control principles with an increased element of various standardized instruments. Another important feature is that political governance has become increasingly decentralized. The unit managers within elderly care are the professional group that to a large extent has the responsibility to implement various changes. For unit managers, this means a complex professional role with a responsibility for the staff and their work environment, the budget and the realization of the organization's overall goals in practice. Hence the unit managers' professional role often entails conflicts of loyalty between competing interest on different levels in the organization. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate how the unit manager's work processes and professional role in a medium-sized municipality can be understood in relation to NPM. Methods: The study was conducted through individual interviews with eight unit managers in elderly care. Respondents were recruited through e-mail, all respondents worked in the same medium-sized municipality. The interviews were conducted using an interview guide. We used a qualitative empirically driven thematic analysis method to categorize our data. In our analysis we implored a deductive approach, using several concepts from a critical perspective in relation to NPM. Results: Unit managers' professional role in elderly care in the chosen municipality is largely characterized by budget, administrative work and a lot of time is devoted to evaluating different key figures. Thus, the way in which the professional role of unit managers and elderly care in general is organized, managed, and evaluated in the municipality we studied can be understood as a form of NPM. The position of unit managers is an intermediate position between the organization, staff, caregivers, and relatives. Unit managers are faced with many demands from management, from caregivers and from relatives. The biggest challenge both in the present and in the future is the recruitment of educated and experienced staff