This thesis concerns how local governments use the concept sustainable development, and what the concept means. The concept of Agenda 21 and local Agenda 21 will also be discussed in this essay, because it's an instrument for local governments to specify their work towards sustainable development. I have interviewed civil servants in leading positions in the municipalities? work with environmental questions and sustainable development. In the choice of method for this thesis, I use the qualitative method and for the interviews I chose the ?semi structure way of interviewing?.This thesis shows that local governments? implementation of sustainable development and Agenda 21 differ between the municipalities.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the employers? responsibilities for rehabilitation ofemployees in Sweden, who due to illness or injury are unable to work. The process of therehabilitation will be analyzed in a gender perspective. A minor comparative study aboutrehabilitation in Denmark will also be carried out. The purpose is to see how the process ofthe rehabilitation is designed for those who due to illness or injury are unable to work, whichfactors that affects the rehabilitation and which differences there are between Denmark andSweden regarding the employers responibility for rehabilitation.

En chef använder olika färdigheter i sin vardag t ex kommunikation,relationsskapande och beslutsfattande. Likväl som chefen agerar med olikaledarstilar utifrån kontexten och medarbetarna. Kvaliteten på chefensfärdigheter och agerande kan bedömas i en medarbetarenkät därmedarbetaren även bedömer sitt och gruppens välbefinnande. Enmedarbetarenkät ska vara ett stöd för chefen att utveckla sitt ledarskap ochsin verksamhet. Denna uppsats analyserar de tio bästa och de tio sämstaenheterna från en medarbetarenkät i ett landsting.

In order for a retention of title clause (ROT-clause) to be valid against third parties underSwedish law, the debtor must be prohibited to dispose of the object transferred. Forinstance, the debtor must not be allowed to resell the object without the creditor?spermission or before the object has been fully paid. If the creditor gives consent to thedebtor?s disposal, he loses his right of separation.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Nature conservation on certified small private forest owners- a comparison between the two certification systems FSC and PEFC in southern Sweden Today two different certification systems are used in Sweden to certify forest, FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and PEFC (Pan European Forest Certification). During the last years certification of forests in general and different certification systems have frequently been debated. FSC is a globally widespread system and about 10 million ha out of 23 million ha Swedish forest is FSC-certified. The FSC-standard is mainly used by major forest companies and to some extent also by smaller private forest owners. PEFC is a European system and about 2 million ha Swedish forests is PEFC-certified today.

This study has been executed at the Public Employment Office, an institution that has beensubject for much debate during the last couple of years. The government has instructed theLabour Market Board to change the Public Employment Office toward a more effectiveorganization. This study examines one of the Public Employment Offices that are included in apilot project that aims to improve and develop work methods with the objective to become amore service minded organization. From this starting point we have investigated which effect thisorganizational change has had on the employee within this organization and within the pilotproject. In addition we investigate whether attitudes of the unemployed has an effect on thestaff´s work situation.

Då människor befinner sig till stor del av sin vakna tid på arbetsplatsen har denna blivit en viktig arena för hälsofrämjande arbete. Studier visar hur viktigt det är för företag att ha en frisk och välmående personal. Fokus ligger då oftast på företagets behållning av hälsofrämjande arbete. Syftet med studien var därför att beskriva hur anställda upplevde hälsofrämjande arbete på sin arbetsplats. Kvalitativa intervjuer genomfördes med samtliga anställda på ett litet företag.

The purpose of this thesis was to analyse if the six month rule in chapter 3 § 9 part 1 in IL is compatible with EU law regarding the free movement of employees and in case of discrimination whether the rule can be justified. First of all the retroactive salary for an unlimited taxpayer and during the period of income earning a limited taxpayer who later became unlimited taxpayer will be analyzed in order to determine if they are considered to be in a comparable situation. An unlimited taxpayer is subject to taxation in Sweden for all of his incomes regardless their origin. However there is an exception according to six month rule, which implies that physical persons who stay abroad due to their minimum six months employment are in Sweden free from their incomes earned abroad if they are taxed in the country of employment. Tax exemption is applicable even if the payment from an employee working abroad is made retroactively.Article 18 EUFF states a general prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of nationality.

 Performance appraisals- a study of the performance appraisals significance as a tool for development in the public sector.Anders Larsson and Åsalill OlssonPerformance appraisals have been given a central role in leading businesses in the public sector and are seen as a tool to create development opportunities and achieve better results. This has resulted that performance appraisal in many organizations takes up capacity and time. This was the starting point of our interest to study whether the time spent on performance appraisals effectively pays for itself in the organization, in other words whether the effects expected actually are achieved. The paper examines first line managers` views on staff appraisal purposes and effects of a function within the Landstinget. The survey design, methodology and transaction are of qualitative and quantitative method with three different sources: literature review of previous research, interviews with first line managers in Landstinget Västmanland and the results from an employee satisfaction survey conducted on behalf of Landstinget Västmanland.

The use of coaching is fairly up to date in the business world although it?s relatively new.Despite this, there?s a lack of clarity about what coaching is and what it signifies. Our point ishowever not to define coaching. Based on the normative coaching literature, the purpose is,from a critical discourse analysis to explore the power relations that affect the coach andcoached in their relation to each other, so as to be able to criticize managerial coachingrelationship as presented in the literature. This will contribute to enabling for a more opendiscourse.The theoretical image of managerial coaching described by the literature as a democraticexercised leadership by a certain type of behavior and attitudes, will lead to improvedorganizational performance.