Länsförsäkringar in Värmland, Sweden, had during the year 2003 a total level of 6.1 percent of people on the sick-list, which was higher than average in the business (4,5%) and for salaried employees in the private sector (3,3%). The average age of those put on sick-list was 47 years, whish is four years higher than the average for the whole LF-group. The cost for the total amount of people being on sick-list at LF-company (6,1%) was estimated to 1 500 kkr, according to a calculation model coming from Försäkringskassan. For every percent the sick level could be reduced, the company would save 239 kkr. To map out the state of health of each and every collaborator in LF, the company offered all employees to make a health profile at the company's health service, Clarahälsan AB.

The study?s purpose was to gain comprehension and knowledge about immigrate women?s vision on benefits respective disadvantages with arranged marriages.The study?s question at issues was:(1) How do the women consider that the ideal marriage is suppose to be?(2) How do the women experience that their vision on marriage has changed in a new culture?(3) How do the women consider that parents reasons, around the choice of a partner at arranged marriages?To be able to answer these questions at issues we used a qualitative method where interviews carried out with four immigrated women from four different countries where Islam is widespread religion. Common for these women is that they all are Muslims and that they come from countries where arranged marriages are practiced. They also have concrete experience of arranged marriages, either through themselves or someone they know.Material from interviews was analysed with a help of patriarchal theory and social constructivism. We have also analysed the material with a theory about culture and a theory about groups.

With this paper we intend to investigate what kind of benefits there are by adding commodity futures to a well-diversified portfolio. Since the last fifteen years the commodity speculation has grown tremendously, which partially can be explained by that commodities exposes the investor to certain factors other than an investment in equities. According to our calculations the commodity futures have outperformed stocks during our research period, which partially could be explained by the increasing demand of physical commodities in developing countries e.g. India & China (Akey, 2005). By constructing different portfolios consisting of equities and corporate bonds we could investigate whether our portfolios will benefit from commodity futures and how this will vary over different levels of risk.

Vocational rehabilitation is an ongoing issue that directly or indirectly affects everyone at a workplace. In recent years, laws and rules have changed. The 1st July 2008 changes were made in the General Insurance Act (SFS 1962:381). These changes have meant that there is now a so-called rehabilitation chain.  The rehabilitation chain contains time frames for when sick people will have their ability to work tested against their normal work or to other jobs. If a person is considered having enough capacity to be able to work he or she will lose their entitlement to sick pay.The aim of our study is to investigate managers? perceptions of the new rehabilitation chain, with a focus on vocational rehabilitation of long-term sick to get them back to work.The method used was qualitative and data collection was done through nine semi-structured interviews.

The objective of this study was trying to understand bullying focusing on the bully. The questions at issue were: What can contribute in the making of a bully? What are the benefits and losses in bullying? What are the former bullies? thoughts on bullying, now in comparison to in their youth. This was investigated with a qualitative approach from a former bullys perspective, hence three former bullies were interviewed. The result was presented in themes and was then analysed from a social psychological and social constructionist perspective.

AbstractThe employer is obliged to initiate negotiations with the union organization to which the employer is bound by a collective agreement. This applies both to decisions which imply a substantial change in workplace operations or employment conditions of the individual employee. In case law this obligation has been very extensive through all cases that have been up in the Swedish Labor court. Due to this fact the employer?s duty to negotiate has been interpreted very broadly.

The intention with my study is to examine how teachers in school relate to the concept of learning styles and how they define an individualized education that focus on students? different learning abilities. My intention is also to raise their thoughts about what they think the benefits and the deficits may be with an individualized education that focuses on students? individual ways to learn.My study is based on the empiric material I have collected from interviews with five teachers, whom all worked in grade three. To analyze and discuss the interview answers I have had to my help Dunn-, Kolbs- and Gardners theories about peoples different learning abilities and learning styles.

The PhonePages of Sweden is a company that develops software for mobile units, especially cell phones. This thesis treats the development of, and contingencies for, a mobile phone directory, using the limited resources found in a mobile unit. The project was implemented and executed at The PhonePages with the intention of creating a product to sell to a third party.By studying different solutions, their benefits and drawbacks, an abstract picture of the product was constructed. Problems covered include compatibility problems caused by todays platform diversity as well as problems with saving, organizing and presenting data.The main goal was to create a phone directory which does not make external information retrievals. The service should contain both company and personal information, with name and phonenumber.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to create an understanding of how customer engagement, communication / interaction and customer insight are driving forces behind the use of Social CRM from a leadership perspective.Method: The purpose of the study, we believed it was appropriate to use a qualitative approach to conduct the study. The empirical data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The sample consisted of 10 companies located in the Gävle area who are active on social media. The interviews were coded to obtain keywords and patterns. These patterns and keywords are then analyzed to arrive at the study's results.Results and contributions: Our results suggest that all the identified benefits, customer engagement, customer insight and communication are driving forces to make use of social CRM.

Lean Production is used by many manufacturing companies. Companies in process industries do not use Lean Production to the same extent today. This is part of the report's issue to explore how Lean Production can be applied to a company in the process industries.The investigated company is a processing company that manufactures various types of foil. The company wishes to streamline its production and has therefore asked the authors to examine if Lean Production can offer the company improvements in their production. Lean Production value stream mapping tool has been selected to identify and analyze the current state of two of its products in production.

Human capital is professional service firms' most valuable resource and its quality is closely linked to the quality of its services. The purpose of this study is to investigate how professional service firms appraise their employees. A comparative study between an architecture firm and a management consulting firm is conducted with the aim to identify and explain similarities and differences in performance appraisal. Two qualitative case studies are performed and interviews as well as documents are used to explore the area. The thesis builds on a critical perspective and it has an explorative approach.

Problem: What attitudes do young adults have towards Functional food?Is there any relation between these attitudes and young adults behaviour towards Functional Food?Purpose: The purpose of our thesis is to understand young adults attitudes towards Functional Food and also examine the relation between these attitudes and their behaviour towards Functional Food. Method: The authors of this thesis have used a qualitative method for data collection, focus group interviews.  There were two focus groups interviews performed on high-school students at Alléskolan in Hallsberg. The interview questions and the analysis of the primary data have been based on the frame of reference. Conclusion: Our investigation shows similar results as previous studies about consumers attitudes towards Functional Food. Our respondents had mixed attitudes towards Functional Food.

women. The womens social movements for emancipation and equality within marriage created both freedom and anxiety among the population. A Swedish suffragette, Ellen Key was in the forefront to form opinions that reached the population. In addition, she also became a friend to the Swedish journalist and writer Hjalmar Soderberg. In this way, Key influenced Soderbergs social knowledge and writing.

Background and problemThe biggest difference between companies and non-profit organizations are their purposes. Companies? purpose is to generate profit to the shareholders. Non-profit organizations do not have any shareholders and their purpose is to offer service to receivers of benefits.There are a lot of non-profit organizations today and the competition for the donations is rough. Non-profit organizations can influence the publics? decision of who to support by creating a financial reporting that appeal to the public.PurposeThe purpose of this essay is to examine how non-profit goals are measured in non-profit organizations and if there are a practice on the subject.MethodologyWe choose a qualitative approach as we wanted to understand the reality by explaining it with words.

Title: A study about conditions for leadership in knowledge-intensive firms.Authors: Cecilia Ekström and Niklas SandbergKeywords: Leadership, knowledge-intensive firm, hierarchies, followers.Background: Leadership is becoming one of our greatest social myths and is considered a total solution for many problems that occur in an organization. The view of leadership is usually from a top-down perspective, which contributes to an often underestimated view of the follower. Just as it is important to understand the leader's view of leadership, it is important to understand how employees view the structure from which the leader derives its legitimacy. The existing conditions in knowledge-intensive firms, such as autonomy, place special demands on the formal leadership.Purpose: The purpose of this study takes an employee perspective, to understand what the conditions are for formal leadership in knowledge-intensive firms.Method: A qualitative research method was used and empirical material was collected through interviews with employees in knowledge-intensive firms. The empirical material was analyzed by the respondents? mental images which were set against the theoretical framework of the thesis.Conclusions: The conditions for formal leadership in knowledge-intensive firms make it advantageous to have a leader with a withdrawn role.