The aim of our study was to increase the awareness of the importance of implementation when a policy document is widely introduced. We wanted to examine how a political decision was implemented on different levels in a social care administration. We also wanted to examine the discretion related to the decision on different levels in the organisation, and if the work is followed up. The theoretical frame of reference in our study is Vedung’s implementation model and Lipsky’s theory about street-level bureaucrats. In order to create a deeper understanding of the phenomenon we selected the qualitative research interview and interviewed politicians, officials and care personnel in the organisation. We have studied how the policy document ”The common value basis” has been implemented in the organisation and the discretion one experienced on different organisation levels to work with the policy document. We also have studied how one worked with follow-up of the policy document. The results show that if you will succeed with implementation of policy documents in the organization you need to have a conscious strategy from the management concerning the implementation and a strategy of follow-up. This becomes a control system. Without a strategy for implementation and follow-up the discretion becomes large and leaves it to each employee to act free on the basis of their own frame of references.
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