The Swedish labour market seems to be more gender equal today than what it has been before. A gender equality intervention as the practice of an equality plan is one of the strategies that have been used in the workplace to achieve equality. This study aims to examine women?s work experiences in purpose to identify gender patterns in working life in a comparison between the trading industry and the academy. Central aspects in this paper concerns opportunities for development, space in the workplace and expectations associated to gender.

We have decided to conduct a case study of German and Swedish mid-level managers within the automobile industry. Primarily we used a qualitative method of investigation and a phenomenographical methodological approach in order to conduct an in depth analysis. We conducted semi-structured interviews with six mid-level managers each in Germany and Sweden. The semi-structured interviews allowed us to conduct flexible interviews which enabled these managers to speak relatively freely about their own view of leadership. Throughout our investigation we have based our results on the empirical findings and at the same time sought explanations to different phenomenon in relevant secondary data, such as management literature, thus used the abductive method of investigation..

This thesis examines the power of developing countries within the World Trade Organization (WTO). The research question is if there is a change in the power relations between developing countries and developed countries from the establishment of the WTO in 1995 and until mid 2006, and if so, why this change is taking place? The thesis has its theoretical starting-point within regime theory and views it from a critical theoretical perspective. A multidimensional why of dealing with the concept of power is being used to answer if there is a change in the power relations? The conclusion is that there is a small change in the power relations and that the developing countries are gaining more, but limited power.

This thesis? objective is to evaluate the recently proposed Shy (2002) approach of estimating consumer switching costs. We apply Shy?s method for estimating switching costs on the Swedish markets for bank deposits and telecommunications. The evaluation has been achieved by comparing estimated results to economic theories, related Empirical studies, and our expectations.

This empirical study aims to determine whether Linnaeus University's formation in 2010 and subsequent reorganization has affected the employees' perceived motivation and job satisfaction.A combined approach was used in which both quantitative and qualitative questions were asked in the survey form. 101 survey responses is the basis for the analysis and these have been associated with SDT-theory in order to draw further conclusions.The study shows that among the respondents, there is a frustration that is possibly related to the two organizational changes. They feel that they have lost confidence in management as a result of not being part of decision making. The study also conveys a very fragmented picture, members of the organization perceive that they have very different possibilities to peform well, participate and have clear goals to work towards..

This study explores the relatively new phenomenon of online poker. More specifically, it elaborates on who the online poker player is, why s/he plays online poker, what the fascination of the game is, why s/he continues to play, and what the experience is. The study is delimited to focus on individuals who mainly play Texas hold?em online. The empirical material is based on semi-structured interviews with active online poker players, as well as on secondary data such as articles and literature.

Abstract Thou there are much written about management, are there, according to Mintzberg no simple definitions regarding how managers should operate towards other co-workers or employees. This essay outlines a perspective for study of managers, from an employees point of view. The study was preformed at one private company, and the empirical data was gathered from five employees. The methodological approach contained qualitative methods based on semi-structured interviews. By using this method, a deeper understanding regarding the questions was desired.

Purpose: To examine how a tour operator works to implement sustainability in the development of the business, as well as what significance it has to consumers in selecting a tour operator. Furthermore, the purpose is to provide recommendations on how tour operators should work to communicate their commitments.Methodology: The research strategy applied is a case study which follows an abductive approach. Qualitative and quantitative methods were applied to complement each other. A semi-structured interview with a tour operator and a consumer survey constitute the empirical foundation.Conclusion: The conclusion of the study is that consumers show a positive attitude towards CSR, but do not see it as a determinant when choosing a tour operator. Thus, CSR does not constitute a competitive advantage against competitors.

Today's society is characterized by constant changes. In order to adapt to the development, organizations must continuously come up with innovations and invest in new projects. As a result, the responsibility of organizations' leaders has increased. Parallel with this development, more and more firms incorporate mindfulness in the organizations, and many managers choose to practice mindfulness themselves. This case study is based on interviews with business leaders that have completed a course in mindfulness.

The aim of this thesis was to use qualitative approaches to show how teachers in primary school reason on their way to meet and communicate with children who have ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder). Research questions of the study were as follows: How does teachers in primary school reason about their way to communicate with children with ADHD? Do the teachers use some specific methods or means of communication with students who have ADHD? Do the teachers reason about their way how to handle conflicts with students who have ADHD? I collected my empirical material through a qualitative interview method. My theoretical starting points were interaction theory and the socio-cultural perspective. I have used these theories to analyze my material.

AbstractThe aim of this study is to investigate the implementation process and the implementation steering of the social development aspects, gender equality and integration, in the program for regional development of the region Kronoberg in the period of 2004-2007.The study asks three questions: 1) How have the social development aspects, gender equality and integration, been implemented in the program for regional development of the region Kronoberg? 2) What has facilitated or hindered the implementation of the two social development aspects? 3) What possibilities to steer the implementation process of the two social development aspects exist at the governmental and at the regional level?In order to answer these questions a qualitative method has been used. To be able to analyse the empirical material, which consists of documents and interviews, the theoretical framework comprehends the policy process and implementation steering. The conclusion is that the incorporation of the social development aspects in the regional development program does not fully correspond with the central intentions, and that is due to circumstances at the regional level..

There is a contradiction between not wanting to be alone, craving for fellowship, but still not wanting to socialize with just anybody. The purpose with this paper is to inquire into individuals experiences of loneliness and of fellowship, as well as the tension between individual/ and social needs. The empirical material consists of five semistrucured interviews with a mix of individuals with one common factor; they were all frequently visited the meeting/place Nyfiket in Helsingborg during the summer 2011. The result were interpreted on the basis of E.Goffmans theory concerning the inevitable role-playing in everyday life, E.Fromms discussion about individuals ongoing espace towards- or away from things in life. But also on the basis of Robert S.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to investigate the factors of children?s voluntarily reading in their spare time. We also want to know if the children choose non-fiction books for their voluntarily reading. The method as well as the empirical basis of this study is qualitative, with interviews of twenty-eight children in ages between 9 and 12 years. We conducted nine interviews with 3?4 children in each group.

Our main aim with this study is to shed a light over the social workers opinions about what they believe will be the consequences of introducing Housing First in the city of Stockholm. We wanted to examine the social workers perceptions about how Housing First could change their client?s autonomy and justice. Therefor we accomplished five qualitative interviews with social workers. We analyzed our empirical material with the theoretical terms; justice, autonomy and intern role-conflict.

Biodiversity can be described as the total variation of life forms, where diversity ranges from gene level up to the ecosystem level. The diversity can be calculated in a number of ways, and this study use one of these methods. In this study empirical food webs have been used and analyzed, where eleven characters are defined and used as parameters to calculate the Euclidean distances between food webs that describe the variation that may exist within classes of terrestrial, marine and freshwater habitats. The class who stood out and showed the greatest diversity at the ecosystem level was the marine food webs, which showed a high value of the average euclidean distance. The other networks were not as distinctive and the average of the euclidean distance in these classes was comparatively low..