The purpose of this essay was to analyze the management and steering of the social welfare service. The objective was specifically to examine how the leaders approach their position as managers of the social welfare service, and also how they approach their way of steering. The social welfare service acts under political decisions, but the management interpret and transform these decisions into actions. The managers of the social welfare service are therefore important from a democratic perspective. The study was based on five qualitative interviews with two managers of the unity, two departmental managers and the head manager of the social welfare service. The analysis is based on two perspectives; the Role Theory and the System Theory. One of my conclusions of the study was that the level of the management greatly influences how the managers perceive their way of managing and steering. The interviewees' description of their way of managing and steering was therefore varying. They developed different roles as managers, based on the demands that each level of management are exposed to. The different levels of management have many roles, but the most prevalent roles for the head manager of the social welfare service is a leading and decision-making role, whereas the departmental managers have an intermediary role, and the managers of the unity have an instructional role. The head manager experience demands from the politicians, while the other managers experience demands from their managers, as well as from the people they are managing. A further conclusion is that the interviewees use similar instruments in their way of steering. All of them emphasize the importance of communicating with their colleagues, as well as including the colleagues in the discussions that influen...
