This thesis is at qualitative case study on barriers in project implementation processes. The study specifically concerns the implementation phase, that is the space in which decision makers, social workers and citizens act and interact in relation to soecific methods in social work. The aim is to gain insight in existing barriers in a concrete process and snslyse how diffenrent agents act within this space. Futhermore the thesis seeks to uncover how and why the barriers occur.
My interest for the subject is to be seen ind the light of my professional experience, partly as a social worker, partly af a project manager. In my professional career I have participated in several projects and implementation processes, many of which were not successful. This has led me to question the ways og which decision makers choose to implement new working methods in social work. In this thesis I make two assumptions:
1. Selection and involvement of employees is crucial for the motivation, ability and willingness of the staff included.
2. Leadership and active management support promotes the implementation process.
The empirical data included in this thesis is produced from semi-structured interviews with project managers in five Danish municipalities, collaborating in an implementation project with Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victims (RCT). I have futher more obtained information frem the project manager at RCT and RCT's evaluation of the pilotproject "Mod en fælles indsats" (RCT 2006).
My approach is hermeneutic-phenomenological, as I wish to focus on the project managers interpretation (of the barriers in the implementation process). In order to comprehend and explain the mechanisms at stake in the process, I have chosen to use parts os Søren Winter's implementation model (Winter 2010). Additionally I have used Kjell Arne Røviks (2007) theories about contextualisation and conception in order to analyse how meaning is created amongst the agents within the space, created by the implementation process.
The analysis points to the importance of trying to identifiy the anticipated reactions and behavior of the employees when new working methods are to be implemented in the organisation. Futhermore it shows that leadership and active management support is crucial to succesful implementation of new working methods.