The improvement programme Six Sigma has often been surrounded by an air of success since it was introduced in the 1980s. Yet there are cases in which introduction of the Six Sigma improvement programme show far from successful results, even complete implementation failures with no traces of the Six Sigma methodology or any improvements after completion of the introduction. These failures can cause severe damage to organizations through direct monetary loss caused by a negative result of the investment. Indirectly the failure can cause confusion in the organization and loss of employee motivation. The conclusions have been derived based on a qualitative case study at a Swedish telecommunications company.

Compulsive gambling has lately become a more common and serious issue in our society. The number of compulsive gamblers is constantly increasing alongside the growth of the gambling industry and the consequences of compulsive gambling include both economical and social disasters. Every addiction has a start, and so does compulsive gambling, which is why we chose to perform a survey in order to determine the possible causes to why individuals are drawn to gambling and what leads them into compulsive gambling, and also during which circumstances do they find the strength and will to come out of their addiction to gambling. The theories that are used in this paper include globalization, socialization, Bauman´s consumption society and empowerment, alongside the six phases of gambling by Custer and Milts, describing the way in and the way out of compulsive gambling. This survey is one of the qualitative kind, which means that the chosen theories are connected to the ten interviews that were done with gamblers of various kinds.

The possibility for plants to utilize phosphorus in soil is a prerequisite for conducting agricultural production, both small scale and professional. Spreading of phosphorus fertilizers and manure is therefore seen as a necessity in today's agriculture in order to achieve high yield. Manure management, livestock farming and manure storage could contribute to the eutrophication of lakes and rivers. For instance, when the ground becomes saturated, phosphorus leakage could be seen in surface runoff or in point sources resulting from inadequate manure storage management.In the municipality of Växjö there is still many bodies of water that do not reach the Swedish environmental water quality standard of "good ecological status". This thesis has therefore analyzed the manure management and storage on agricultural farms which may have contributed to eutrophication in the municipality.The method for this thesis was a literature study, a questionnaire survey with 820 receivers and a summary of issued inspection reports from 2013.The results highlight the ways in which agriculture may have contributed to the eutrophication of lakes and streams in the municipality of Växjö.

The thesis aims to examine how companies optimize the human capital from a value creation perspective. The value creation will be related to transfer of knowledge, recruitment, staff turnover and development. The thesis has a deductive approach and six qualitative interviews have been conducted. The results from the interviews will be strengthened with a quantitative data analysis of two measurements; value added per employee and human capital efficiency. The theoretical framework includes definitions of human capital.

TitleFactors for success : a study of school libraries at compulsory schools and how to integrate them in the educationAbstractThis Master's thesis aims to identify success factors for the integration of school libraries in the education. The search for factors are concentrated to three areas: control documents for the school and school library, the Principal and organisation and the collaboration of librarians and teachers.The method consists of three parts: a documetary study, a questionnaire survey and interviews. The documentary study aimed to reveal how concrete control documents for schools and school libraries are concerning pupils' information literacy and school libraries. The questionnaire survey gave a general view of the situation of school libraries in Skåne and to help identify two suitable objects for closer examination. Gunnesboskolan and Rönnowskolan were chosen, and the principals, the school librarians and teachers representing different subjects were interviewed.Our results indicate that there are important factors in all three areas examined.

This paper gives an introduction to the theory of minimal surfaces. It is in- tended for undergraduate students with some basic knowledge of differential geometry and complex analysis.After defining the concept of minimal surface and giving a brief histo- rical survey, we look at some well-known minimal surfaces and a few of their characteristic properties. The connection between minimal surfaces and harmonic functions is discussed and the Weierstrass-Enneper represen- tation formulas are introduced. We also present Bjo?rling?s problem and give some examples. .

The purpose of this study has been to examine what it is in the situation that affects which leadership that is applied on the members of the organization. Our questions that we have explored were; What is it in the situation that influences the leadership applied on an individual or staff group? What similarities and differences have emerged by Hersey and Blanchards situational leadership model?Further, we used qualitative semi-structured interviews at the interview procedures with three managers and three employees. Hersey and Blanchards situational leadership model and Goffmans theory in the book "The presentation of self in everyday life" have been used as a foundation and inspiration in this study.We have found that circumstances like the size of the staff group along with the organizations financials and the resources affect the leadership behavior and how well it is matched with the employees. The function of the leaders position in the context, and the purpose of the situation influences how the leadership is formed.

Emotional intelligence (EQ) has been claimed to be the most critical factor in determining a person's success in life, both personal and professional. EQ highly affects academic and job performance, leadership, stress, and well-being but is still not widely accounted for in recruitment processes. During the last 20 years a large number of researchers have shown interest in the concept of emotional intelligence, but few have studied its practical implications and how EQ-tests are used as a selection tool in recruitment processes. To create an understanding of the motivation for using the test, as well as its role in recruitment decisions, qualitative interviews have been conducted with recruiters at companies in Stockholm, Sweden. All interviewed companies use the self-assessment test EQ:i 2.0.

The well-being of employees has become a key concept in the rhetoric of the company boards and business literature of today. There is however not much statistic evidence of a connection between economic results and the perceived working climate. This thesis sets out to investigate whether there is a positive correlation between economic results and working climate on a work group level. It also aims to study which specific working climate factors influence the results. In order to meet its purpose this thesis analyzes employee satisfaction questionnaire data and economic results from more than 300 work groups.

Few would disagree that the media landscape has undergone significant changes the last decade. From bulky computers and plain mobile phones to portable High-Definition computers and multi-functional smartphones. Other media, such as newspapers and music, have evolved and prospered in a digitalized environment. The constant urge to digitalize aspects and functions of our daily lives seems almost instinctive. Television has taken further steps into this environment as it is now accepted and featured via the Internet.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka vad stress innebär, hur det upplevs och orsakas inom Räddningstjänsten, samt hur det kan förebyggas. Enkäten gjordes utifrån ett kvantitativt perspektiv och skickades till larmoperatörer och brandmän på Räddningstjänsten. Enkäten besvarades av totalt 33 respondenter. Deltagarnas ålder togs inte i beaktning, enbart antalet år av yrkeserfarenhet. Datan analyserades I SPSS, med hjälp av ett Chi-tvåtest och ett Pearsons's r-test.

Dealing with threats and violence at the workplace is a reality for many social workers, where a majority of them have to face client oriented incidents at least once during their career. Incidents are most commonly expressed as threats and harassments, but can also take place in the form of physical violence. Looking at the problem from a supervisor perspective, it will affect and possibly damage the specific exposed employee, the workplace as a whole and the clients. Supervisors are the ones responsible for developing workplace enviroments that are satisfyingly safe, for which guidelines can be found in law as well as in an emerging research area. Reasons as to why some people tend to become violent is as complex as reasons as to why some people seem to be more vulnerable or exposed than others. That is why means of preventing threats and violence can not be explained in one single way, but the answer must be sought on several levels.

Alnarp?s Healing Garden is a place for rehabilitation as well as an ongoing multidisciplinary scientific research experiment. The garden is built on research results from the disciplines of Landscape architecture, Environmental Psychology and Garden Therapy. In the garden, people diagnosed with burnout syndromes are being rehabilitated. The participants need safe and calm environments which activate their bodies self healing systems. Theories show that water as an element, per se, increases the observer?s preference for an environment.

Uppsatsens syfte är identifiera och analysera de förväntningar som medarbetare och chef har på varandra inom den avreglerade apoteksmarknaden och se hur väl dessa förväntningar överensstämmer med varandra. Detta görs med kvalitativa intervjuer.  Studien bygger på tre intervjuer, med två medarbetare och en chef, på ett mindre apotek i stockholmsområdet. Resultatet visar att förväntningarna, på rollerna medarbetare och chef, överlag överrensstämmer väl och även viljan att nå en ömsesidig förståelse mellan parterna är god. Potentiella problem kan uppstå i de områden där båda parterna visserligen har förståelse för varandras förväntningar, men inte äger möjligeheten att uppfylla dem.

It is said that concepts of organizational management can pave the way to success. This is not accurate and it is something that will be shown in the following study. Its most prominent conclusion is that the valuation governance to some extent has an impact on the formal structures, but that it had no further effects on the employee?s way of work. The purpose of this study was to investigate how the valuation governance is applied in Medley AB and the meaning of it.