This qualitative study involves the implementation of Lean and Kaizen methods in a Swedish service industry. Lean philosophy is based on a method to achieve more with less. In practical terms this means that the use of an organization's resources is improved. The origin of Lean is the Toyota Production System. Now, Kaizen methods give managers and employees a better more efficient system to reach their goals within the organization or company.

Age is one of two new discriminatory grounds in Swedish law. EU took official position against age discrimination by means of Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation. From January the 1st 2009 it is, by Diskrimineringslag (2008:567), illegal in Sweden to discriminate anyone based on age. The law covers all age groups and is applicable to various fields in society. Age differ from other discriminatory grounds since everyone has an age.

Title:Employer Branding ? Medias Influence on Vattenfall?s Employer Brand (Employer Branding ? Medias påverkan på Vattenfalls arbetsgivarvarumärke) Purpose/Aim:The aim of this study is to examine how a negative media image influences the Employer Brand of the Swedish company Vattenfall. First of all I will examine if Vattenfall have a strong Employer Brand and then if the media image have any influence over the Employer Brand. My hypothesis is that Vattenfall?s Corporate Culture is a big part of the Employer Brand and because of that negative media images has no power to influence on Vattenfall?s Employer Brand.

Betydelsen av ett gott chefskap inom äldreomsorgen är av stor vikt för medarbetarna, de boende och verksamheten. Omvårdnadsarbetet påverkas av chefens sätt att arbeta och det krävs därför att chefen är medveten om vad som utgör ett bra chefskap. Intervjuerna i denna studie är utförda med sju enhetschefer inom äldreomsorgen i Sverige. Syftet var att undersöka hur enhetschefer inom svensk äldreomsorg uppfattar sitt chefsarbete inom detta verksamhetsområde. Resultatet visade att arbetssätt, relationer, förhållningssätt och utvecklingsarbete är faktorer som enligt dessa chefer utmärker ett bra chefskap.

With starting point in the increasing ill-health in Swedish working life today, in form of for example absence due to sickness and early retirement pension, and the knowledge that the working environment effects peoples health in a big extent, I found it very interesting to inquire into how people within the working life experience health promotion and how this can be developed. A qualitative method was used to receive a deeper understanding for the employees? experiences and data was collected through semi structured interviews with employees on a bank called Ikanobanken, in Älmhult. The result shows, among other things, that respondents find responsibility and the opportunity to influence the learning processes and development important. It also became clear that the respondents find participation, motivation, communication and safety essential factors when related to changes in health behaviours.

The recent globalization has to some extent reduced the importance of specific cultures and instead creates a focus on the variation these different cultures provide. Under these circumstances the leader must adapt his leadership to face these new circumstances. The organisations today have to face these new leadership challenges which the global expansion brings. This is a prerequisite for organizations if they want to succeed and be more competitive in a more demanding environment.There are still big differences between the business cultures. There are also differences in the companies? home arena, between groups in the society and all the way down on a family level.

 The sawmill industry is a relative fragmented industry that is in an economic upswing andwith a hard competition. The customers have high demands on their suppliers and the highcustomer demand make it necessary for the companies to make a streamlining in planningand production. For that reason it is very important that the planning- and productionprocesses aren?t to complex and with a simple structure.The purpose of this report is to study and map out a marked out part of a planning- andproduction process, from adjust works to final delivery, at a company in the sawmill industry.Different methods have been used for the report, among others interviews and subordinatedmaterial.We have mapped out a marked out part of the planning- and production process at theCompany. This part we have studied, and we have analysed the process it self and otherthings connected to the process.We see the planning- and production process in the Company as complex.

The Profession of Real Estate Agents has by tradition been a male profession. However during later years the profession has changed. It is now many young women that are pursuing a career as a Real Estate Agent.In the light of this background we have researched how Real Estate Agents employed by Fastighetsbyrån and Svensk Fastighetsförmedling perceive their profession from an equality perspective.The investigation has been limited to include the counties of Värmland and Närke and have been conducted by interviewing Real Estate Agents of different age and sex and the managers of the firms.The study show that the Real Estate Agents perceive their profession in a positive way and that the work is divided equal. However it emerged that there were a division regarding different real estate types in certain agencies. The Real Estate Agents believe that the gender of the manager is of no importance.

This essay focus on work related stress and psychosocial enviroment in working life. The purpose of this study is to present a detailed description of regulation of the the Occupational Safety and Health Act and investigate how well employees are being protected by the law.I will also explain with the help of statistic which employees that most often suffer from work related stress and the results is discussed from a gender perspective.Work related phycosocial health is a big issue in todays workplaces, and people who suffers from stress are supposed to be protecteded by the the Occupational Safety and Health Act, but is that really the truth? The Occupational Safety and Health Act is a frame law, meaning the law is general and needs binding regulations to define the rules, and there is no such act about work related stress at the moment. No employer has ever been convicted for work related stress. At the same time the Occupational Safety and Health Act explains that the employer has a responsibility to take arrangement to prevent mental illness in working life.It?s mostly women who suffer from work related stress.

Svenskt abstract: Denna uppsats syftar till att undersöka och belysa vad enhetschefer på en socialförvaltning efterfrågar för kompetensutveckling avseende sin personal, samt deras förhållningssätt gentemot kompetensutvecklingars innehåll och utförare. Jag vill med denna uppsats belysa enhetschefernas attityder till, och kunskap om, olika typer av kompetensutveckling för sin personal. Detta görs med hjälp av intervjuer med enhetschefer och förklaras utifrån organisationsteori med inriktning på ett instrumentellt perspektiv. Resultat i denna uppsats visar att det enhetscheferna efterfrågar är beroende av hur organisationsstrukturen är utformad, vilken kompetens som finns idag och vilken kompetens som fattas i organisationen.

Title: Communicate ? to provide an opportunity Authors: Ida Eriksson & Petra LindbergTutor: Johan Grinbergs, Mälardalen UniversityExaminer: Cecilia LindhSubject: Bachelor's essay, Business AdministrationKeywords: communication, internal communication, channels, communication models, communication theory, information, organizationPurposeThe idea of this study was to describe how ABB Sweden?s internal communication and information appeared in Västerås. The aim is also to see what tools and channels they use to communicate information internally and see how employees perceive them in Västerås.MethodWe have read literature in form of books and articles that discuss theories on the subject communication including internal communication, channels and tools. Interviews were conducted with employees of ABB and were to serve as the basis for our empirical work. A survey by the Communication Center was made in the spring 2010 and was also the basis for our empirical work.ConclusionsThe communication has been increasingly from one-to two-way communication. To get a functioning organization, it is required that the internal communication in the first place will work.

Scania som är ett multinationellt företag har som vision att alla medarbetare ska kunna delta och påverka sitt eget arbete, och att hantera dagens läs- och skrivkrav ses som en nyckel till det. Under 2005 startade Scania i egen regi ett läs- och skrivprojekt med mål att höja medarbetarnas läs- och skrivkompetens. 13.5 % av medarbetarna i motormonteringen anmälde sig till läs- och skrivprojektet. För att se vilket genomslag utbildningen har gett har vi anlitats av Scania för att utvärdera projektet. Syftet med vår studie är att utifrån djupintervjuer med Scanias motorbyggare undersöka skriftens betydelse i motorverkstaden samt söka svar på vad läs- och skrivutbildningen har betytt för motorbyggarna.

Sweden?s tourism increases and new hotel opens. Since 1978 to 2011, the hotel rooms in Sweden doubled. International congresses, sports- and artistic events are a few examples of what affects the hotel industry. Sweden is seen as an attractive destination and future forecast looks to have a positive trend.

BackgroundThere are different organizational structures and control and it has been proved difficult to find a combination between these that leads to goal congruence and improved efficiency. An organization can be structured according to hierarchical levels and the decision making can be either centralized or decentralized. Organizational control can be classified according to the amount of rules and balanced scorecard can be used to weld together the structure with the control.PurposeThe purpose is to create an understanding of how two types of structures and control in an organization appears and also to investigate how these differ from one another concerning the balanced scorecard as a control system. We will also investigate how the variables goal congruence and efficiency are affected by the implementation of the balanced scorecard.MethodTo answer the purpose of this thesis we have mainly used the qualitative method since we have studied two organizations thoroughly through interviews on different levels of the organization. The study also has some quantitative elements since we wanted to get a more truthful picture of the organizations.

Sammanfattning Titel: Lågkonjunktur ? En studie i vilka skillnader som finns för variationen i antal anställda inom IT- respektive industribranschen Författare: Emilio Nilsson, Oscar Kacprzak Handledare: Emil Numminen Institution: Blekinge Tekniska Högskola Kurs: Kandidatarbete i Företagsekonomi Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka och analysera för hur företagets ekonomiska data för den relativt unga IT-sektorn förklarar antal anställda gentemot hur företagets ekonomiska data förklarar nyckeltalet för en äldre mer erfaren bransch som industrisektorn. Metod: Vi har samlat ihop kvartalsrapporter från 1999 års första kvartal till 2009 års första kvartal för totalt 10 stycken företag som vi bedömt lämpliga för studien, 5 företag från IT-branschen samt 5 företag från industribranschen. Vi har därefter fört regressionsanalyser med antal anställda som Y-variabel och totala intäkter, aktienivå, rörelsekostnader samt rörelseresultat som X-variabler för att finna korrelationen däremellan. Slutsats: De framkomna resultaten från regressionsanalyserna pekar på att det finns skillnader branscherna emellan.