This is a case study which investigated the perceived consequences of the organizational change that was implemented in January 2013 at Karlstad University. The study aimed to explore the experiences of the employees concerning the changes in organizational structure and internal communication. This was done through a set of eight individual standardized qualitative interviews with members from different departments. A lot of effort and thought was given to the ethical implications and to create a comfortable and open climate during the actual interviews to ensure that the respondents felt free to speak openly and honestly about their personal opinions and experiences.It is evident that the overall vision was ambitious; aiming to create a more effective organization through cutting off excessive administrative personnel and streamlining decision paths. However according to the opinions of the respondents it was clear that the result was far from the desired goal.

This report provides a comparison between the products cellular concrete, foam concrete and LECA concrete. The questions to be answered during the work is how the cellular concrete stands up in cost terms to the existing competitors on the market, how the concrete products differ in design work, and in which situations the concrete varieties are preferred to use.Cellular concrete is a variant of ordinary concrete, with the difference that the ballast is exchanged from stone materials to expanded polystyrene beads (EPS). This substitution gives a product with higher insulation values but lower weight than ordinary concrete.The work was carried out by designing a survey which was sent to two hundred randomly chosen companies across Sweden, to see the building industry?s opinion of the product cellular concrete. The survey showed that cellular concrete was equals its competitors in terms of price, while the product was said to be more flexible, quicker and easier to cast.Then some of the companies, who participated in the survey, were interviewed to see more carefully, how the price, the workmanship and the time for casting and dehydration differed between the products.

The aim with this essay is to investigate the attitude that employers have towards conflicts at the workplace and how this affects their way to prevent and deal with conflicts among employees. Another part of the essay is to discuss pedagogical issues related to learning through conflicts. With this aim and these questions of issues, we have found out which attitude employers have towards conflicts at the workplace as well as how they prevent and deal with them. We have also investigated which opportunities for further development employers sees in situations of conflict. This study is based on qualitative interviews with six women who are head of units within the communal area.

Historical research about the so-called New Left was until the late 1990s an entirely newacademic field in Swedish academia. However, a large part of this research still deals withquestions concerning ?who did what? and perhaps more notably ?who was right?.This thesis is an attempt to move away from such inquiries and instead look towardshow one albeit small but very important part of this so-called New Left discussed andused the term America and things American. Formed largely around the Anti-WarMovement, the Marxist-Leninist ? or ?Maoist? ? Left naturally opposed US worldpolicies; but perhaps more interesting a significant part of the ideas about America andthe Vietnam War seemed to stem from USA itself ? such as naming your anti-war folkgroup ?Freedom Singers? after the US civil rights group ?The Freedom Singers?.Analyzing three Swedish Marxist-Leninist magazines the study thus complements theresearch on not only the Swedish New Left but also the study of anti-Americanisms;firstly, by examining what the Marxist-Leninist left considered particularly American;secondly, by studying in what context these particular Americanism was discussed; and,thirdly, by observing if these notions changed over time, and why.

Background: With the increased globalization food prices went down for a while, only to skyrocket to new levels. Prices of organic food, which already were more expensive than conventional, are now even more expensive. The current financial crisis results in reduced consumption which creates a threat to the smaller grocery stores. Globalization and the increased competition have had a negative impact on the environment but at the same time the desire to solve these issues has increased appreciably. The environmental aspect has been given higher priority by the individual, which led to a wider range of organic products and dramatically increased the number of stores selling organic products, leading to a greater competition among the stores selling organic food.  Problem definition: What factors are important for organic retail business long term survival?Purpose: Trough case studies analyze and evaluate the organic niche retail companies? strategies of marketing.Methods: This study is based on both qualitative and quantitative research methods.

The thesis aims to describe the current sales climate in the context of complex sales in business-to-business. The purpose is to increase the clients knowledge of sales and test the clients hypothesis that the sales climate is changing from Solution Selling to Insight Selling, further the thesis aims to contribute to the scientific debate of sales. Solution Selling is characterized, as the name suggest, by selling of solution to the customers needs. With Insight Selling the seller has a provocative approach towards the customer and the seller is searching for customers in the need of change. This is a qualitative study conducted with eight interviews and one focus group.

The purpose of this study was to inquire how social workers perceive and describe financial abuse of older persons. Six qualitative interviews were carried out and the assembled data was then categorized and analyzed using a theory considering exercise of power and ageism as a theoretical frame. Previous research has shown that at least 10% of older persons have been exposed to some form of abuse or violence; however, there is a lack of research carried out in a Swedish context regarding financial abuse specifically. The six persons interviewed in this study all presented financial abuse as some kind of violence and as previous research has shown the study suggests that this is an increasing problem. Further research ought to be carried out to increase the awareness of this particular form of abuse and to facilitate discovery and development of measures to prevent financial abuse of older persons.

Bipolar disorder is a chronic affective disorder, characterized by episodes of mania and depression. Previous studies have shown beneficial results for CBT in conjunction with pharmacotherapy over pharmacological treatment alone. The aim of the present study was to evaluate a CBT treatment in group for patients with bipolar disorder, run by Norrlands universitetssjukhus. The treatment group consisted of pharmacologically stabilized patients (n=12) who received group CBT. They were compared to a control group (n=5) who received pharmacological treatment only.

Organizations over the world increasingly start to realize the possibilities of the use of a social intranet, also known as Enterprise 2.0. The social intranets can be used to collaborate and communicate with colleagues in the workplace. Both Cook (2008) and Coope (Barnett, 2011) say that Enterprise 2.0 is about to fundamentally change the way organizations communicate. But do companies know how these tools can be used?The study emanates from three questions:How can social intranets be used in business?How can internal communication and collaboration get easier through the use of a social intranet?What are the possible risks with the use of social intranets?In this study we have in a qualitative manner been interviewing two companies that currently use social intranets in their daily activities ? Securitas and Skåneme-jerier.

A global world and international business induces not only opportunities for organizations such as increased possibilities to reach new markets but also challenges to maintain a coherent business. To meet these challenges, organizations need to harbor a global workforce where employees are sent abroad. These employees are called expatriates and receive very lucrative compensation packages to cover their increased expenses. Compensation packages are not only expensive but represent in their totality also a complex strategic challenge for both the organization and the expatriate. The purpose of this paper is to investigate which components of a compensation package that are important for different segments of expatriates.

Under senare hälften av 1990-talet har narkotikamissbruket i Sverige ökat. I denna uppsats undersöks huruvida detta har påverkat den övriga brottsligheten genom en analys av data frånen panel bestående av samtliga svenska län 1995 ? 2004. En Fixed-Effects- modell som kontrollerar för läns- och tidsspecifika effekter har anpassats till datamaterialet. Måttet på narkotikakonsumtion är baserat på den årliga enkätstudie som genomförs bland 18- åriga män som mönstrar till värnpliktstjänst i Sverige.

The right to the city has lately become the rallying cry for many urban social movements all over the world to challenge neoliberal planning, gentrification, the privatization of urban commons and growing spatial and social gaps in city and society. This senior essay studies urban social movements that in different ways advocate the idea of the right to the city. The term right to the city was coined in the late 1960s by French urban theorist Henri Lefebvre, who promoted the idea of the city as a common, a space belonging to everyone. The right to the city is not ?a return to traditional cities?, but ?a right to urban life? (1996:158).This study focuses on the city of Hamburg.

Advertisement is something that surrounds us in our everyday life. The two terms marketing and advertising are closely linked together and often considered as the same thing, although they are not. To be able to analyse the term advertisement it is crucial to separate it from the term marketing and observe advertising as a part of the complete marketing. We have two main focuses with this qualitative research and the first one of these is to analyse the changes in advertising when considering style, message and characteristics. The advertiser has a wide range of tools that he or she can use to make commercials follow the trends and changes in society.

To be a part of the future we have to make a profit, one way to improve the profit margin is by reducing the fixed costs. This paper discusses the financial results of equipment cooperatives in crop production. Through a case study of three farms in Södermanland, we have an example of how it can look today and how it could look tomorrow. The three farms are crop-producing farms with slightly different orientation. Jursta Gård, 155 hectares, and Djursnäs Säteri, 215 hectares, have grains crop and oilseed crops as the main crops, and Nibble Gård, 340 hectares, mostly have pasturelands and some grain crops.

The relationship between employer and employee is, from a judicial point of view, governed primarily by economic and employment contracts. However, a significant part of the dynamic is also dictated by tacit expectations and promises (so called psychological contracts). The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between perceived organizational support (POS) and psychological contract violation. Primary hypothesis assumed that there was a correlation between higher perceived organizational support and a reduction of feelings of violation from psychological contract breach. It was also assumed that employment time, sex and past breach experiences correlated with feelings of violation.