Att överföra organisatoriska mål till praktiskt socialt arbete : Socialsekreterares och familjebehandlares erfarenheter av internsamverkan i arbetet med barn och unga

This study explores the experiences of social workers and family therapists regarding collaboration in their daily work with children and adolescents, by combining the theoretical framework of the ROS model and neo-institutional organizational theory, including the related concept of institutional logics.The study is based on a total of six semi-structured interviews with three social workers and three family therapists. The results have been analyzed using a theoretical thematic analysis, from which four themes emerged in relation to the study’s aim and research questions. The findings include that: (1) There are both informal and formal forms of collaboration, and the purpose of collaboration is to achieve a shared understanding and higher quality of work; (2) There is a distance between social workers and family therapists, which is rooted in the fact that they abide by different logics and that there is a lack of knowledge about each other’s work and methods; (3) Clients are the ones most affected by either functional or dysfunctional collaboration and are also those who suffer the most from the consequences; and (4) There is a desire to work more closely together, with improved communication and greater trust in each other’s abilities. The study highlights the importance of communication in collaboration and reveals a gap between the organizational goals of collaboration and how these are implemented in practice.