Counselling is one of the most commonly utilized tools in the work place. The purpose of this paper is to explore how four employers utilize early counselling sessions related to absences due to illness. A qualitative research method has been used and four human resource managers have been interviewed. The research questions have been divided into three categories: the counselling structure, the counselling model and the counselling dilemmas. The interviews have been transcribed and processed through these three categories.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how a public library, as an information center and a meeting place, may contribute to bring Swedes and immigrants closer to one another, which is a prerequisite for integration. To realize this purpose, I have asked three questions. Which conditions and demands are stated in central documents for libraries immigrant activities? What do the library called Biblioteket Västers multicultural activities contain? How does the library conceive its object to strengthen immigrants identity so that its activities, contribute to integration? As method, I have used hermeneutics, which means that I have interpreted the thesis material. In the theory I have described relevant literature and confirmed the importance of identity, language and the majoritys acknowledgement for integration.

Aim: The aim of this study is to understand why people have changed their preferred community over time. What are the main factors when changing to a new one?Method/material: The method has consisted of personal interviews with six different people in the ages between 20-22 and of different gender. The main material that has been used in this essay is the theory of Uses and Gratifications as explained by Denis McQuail, the theory of Convergence culture by Henry Jenkins and the theory about Communites of Practice by Etienne Wenger.Main results: This study shows a heavy affection that the use of communities often centers round the people around the community, rather than the functions that the communities themselves provides. Having people that you know on the community you choose is a vital part for people or at least having the support of other people and changing to another community at the same time.

In the following study I probe the social world of hard-rock music. By conducting interviews with four young male enthusiasts of this music I try to develop a general picture of this social world, as well as of the basic elements on which this particular subculture is constructed. The identity of a hard-rocker is based upon a number of factors beyond just a preference for that music. Throughout the interviews I encountered many implicit norms that one must followed in order to be able to see oneself as a true hard-rocker. I also found that from the respondents? perspective, the mainstream culture has, throughout the history of metal music, used various ways to counter the spreading of this genre.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to investigate how contemporary Swedish picture-books describe ethnicity. The analysis is based upon eight books that were published during the period 1996 to 2006. The thesis is based upon a qualitative content analysis and a model of analysis that has been constructed with inspiration from Maria Nikolajeva and Pil Dahlerup and their conceptions of analyzing literature. The study?s theoretical framework is primarily based on the sociology of literature and the perspective of the society in literature.

Previous research often includes juridical, political, economical and historical aspects of the Sami population. The research about the Sami women are limited therefore is was important to investigate the living conditions of the Sami women. The purpose with the study was to investigate the living conditions of the Sami women from a culture- and reindeer-herding view in relation to social gender and the majority society. Four individual interviews were performed with women who worked with reindeer-herding in the Sapmi area in north of Sweden. The interview guide was semi-structured and the data were analysed with the phenomenological method Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, which has a focus on subjective experiences.

This essay elucidates upper secondary students? literacy practices, (literacy events, literacy competencies and literacy culture) during a typical day, with focus on the daily literacy practices. A literacy ethnographic study conducted in the environment which participants naturally are, at home, at school and in leisure. The study is inspired of a project, Skriftbruk i arbetslivet, ´Literacy Practices in Working Life´, that conducted by Anna-Malin Karlsson, Per Ledin and Olle Josephson, in collaboration with Vetenskapsrådet ´Science Council´(2002-2004).The result of this study shows that students from professional preparing programs not use such literacy competencies that been tested in traditionally reading comprehension test, particularly much. However, do they read a lot during the literacy practices day by television, computer and mobile phone.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate some aspects of teaching environmental issues, as they are manifested in another culture. In this paper, I will discuss how you teach environmental issues, how the teaching environment is formed, and what an environmental issue means to a South African teacher, as well as, if there are any cultural aspects to what an environmental issue is. Seven observations were made and qualitative interviews with four teachers teaching Life Science in Cradock, South Africa - The results showed that these South African teachers, independent from each other, followed a similar pattern in their teachings. These patterns contain gathering information concerning environmental issues in the immediate surroundings, as well as using the text book and teaching environmental issues through lectures. It was not possible to draw a conclusion about the cultural aspects in association to environmental issues.

This study highlights how pre-school teachers in a monocultural Swedish district looks at the concept of multiculturalism and what multiculturalism and /or intercultural approaches means in their pre-schools. The study takes its starting point in Johannes Lunneblads thesis "Förskolan och mångfalden" (2006) and Lpfö-98 (2006). The present study is a qualitative study in the form of interviews and the study have an intercultural and intentional perspective. The study shows that preschool teachers in the area perceive multicultural work as a compensatory education for children with non-European background. An analysis of the interviews on a deeper level shows that there is a broader understanding of multiculturalism that includes the class, sexuality and everyone of the children's "home culture?.

The purpose of my study is to question the model service marketing triangle and propose an alternative ways of looking at service marketing. The study is based on a deep, qualitative research. In the research of the material an abductive approach has been used. The primary information sources are interviews with project workers, which are being analyzed together with the theoretical background in part argumentations in the course of the thesis. In the last chapter they are unified.

The aim of this thesis has been to analyze and interpret several different discourses in Japan and from the findings see how the Ainu people and their existence in Japan have been defined in today's Japan and in who's interest it is to keep it this way. My findings was that the Japanese nation in all channels of society are reinforcing and perpetuating the belief that it constitutes an ethnically homogenous nation and that there exists no ethnic problems in the country. I found that schoolbooks don?t give adequate information about the Ainu people and its history, and the Japanese press is reinforcing the status quo by their selective silence and limited coverage on issues concerning the Ainu. The government has defined and legitimized the problem of Ainu within the framework of culture and tradition.

Denna studie undersökte kulturella skillnader i emotionella och kognitiva aspekter av subjektivt välbefinnande, mer specifikt uttryckt; nivåer av positiva, negativa och balanserade känslor och hur dessa påverkar välbefinnande. Studien innefattar 212 infertilitetsdrabbade kvinnor i det individualistiska landet Sverige och det kollektivistiska landet Iran. Korrelationsanalys, regressionsanalys och One-way ANOVA användes för att besvara forskningsfrågorna. Resultaten visade ingen kulturell skillnad i kognitivt välbefinnande; men Svenska kvinnor uppgav högre känslonivåer, medan de Iranska i större utsträckning kunde uppleva motsatta känslotillstånd samtidigt. Balanserad affekt var huvudsaklig prediktor för välbefinnande i båda grupper.

In organizations today Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is becoming a common means to try to gain legitimacy and credibility for their business. A successful CSR strategy has the potential to generate positive outcomes for a company and reaching out to stakeholders about the corporation?s contribution in the field is an important part of the work. In this study I examine how the employees at Max Hamburgare receive the corporation?s efforts within sustainability, how it is perceived and what this means to the employees.

Moldova is one of Europe?s poorest countries with a struggling business environment and an unpredictable political situation. The purpose of this thesis is to understand the implications of corruptions and why networks have come to play a key role in the Moldovan culture and if the formations of network are due to heritage or an effect of functionalism. The focus of the study is also to explain how the networks develop and the formation and maintenance of loyalty and trust among the members of the network. The study is of a qualitative nature that uses a key informant sampling method to get access to members of different business networks.

Ragnarök Online en plats på nätet, ett online-spel, där människor från hela världen möts och samverkar. Det är i detta möte personer emellan som den virtuella miljön Ragnarök Online skapas. Målet med denna uppsats är att visa på hur människor interagerar i, och skapar denna plats på nätet. Varför spenderar folk tid i virtuella miljöer? Är det annorlunda att agera i en virtuell miljö? Dessa är några av de frågor vi kommer att möta i texten.