Title: Diversities of diversity - fluctuating talk, meaning and practice of diversitySeminar date: 06.02.08 Course: Masters thesis in Business Administration, Programme for Managing People, Knowledge and Change, 15 University Credit Points (15 ECTS). Authors: Björt Ólafsdóttir & Clarissa Sia Choon YenAdvisors: Mats Alvesson & Susanne LundholmFive key words: Diversity, Discourses, Hypocrisy, Comparison, National contextPurpose: To identify and compare discourses around diversity within two companies operating in two distinct national contexts. One originated from and still situated in Iceland, while the other is a subsidiary for Asia-Pacific market in Singapore with American values from its headquarters in United States. We wish to explore what are the meanings and implications of diversity for the employees of each company, how their discourses on diversity reflect hypocrisy in the organizations and if and how national context has an impact on discourse on diversity.Methodology: Interviews were conducted, transcribed and codified. Comparison and evaluation of the different discourses were examined around diversity and in the talk of interviewees within the two companies.

Background: Since the coining of the phrase lean production by Womack, Jones and Roos in 1990, this mass production system of Japanese origin has been implemented in a multitude of organizations throughout the world, the results being predominantly positive from a financial point of view. The possibly negative effects of mass production on worker motivation have been discussed since quality of work life became an important political issue in Sweden in the 1970?s. As the popularity of lean service is now increasing, there are still unresolved issues regarding the transferability of a mass production system to the service industry, particularly with regards to the motivation of service employees.Purpose: The purpose of our thesis is to study the lean system of a Swedish bank, SEB Way, from a management- as well as an employee perspective in order to describe how lean may affect the work motivation of service employees.Research procedure: The study is empirically based on observations and interviews on multiple hierarchical levels at SEB. We have conducted a total of 13 interviews with front line employees at SEB, with the central SEB Way team as well as two external lean specialists.Results: The study indicates that SEB Way has little direct influence on the intrinsic work motivation of the SEB front line employees, as work motivation was present prior to the implementation of lean.

The Swedish political organization is subject for the investigation of this thesis, with regard to the realization of universal human rights. There is a discrepancy between the Swedish state's international undertakings in legally binding treaties and theactualization of human rights by local authorities. The local authorities are ruled by a complex function of both national and local government. Of interest here, is the effect that these, and other organizational aspects, between the national and the local, have for the realization of human rights in local authorities. Also, the discrepancy between the national and the local is attempted to be understood.

Purpose of this study is to describe and analyze school social work in rural area and being alone in social work at the school welfare/health team and how this affects the individual, professionally and privately.The theoretical framework highlights the empirical data through Goffman's dramaturgical perspective. The study highlights school social workers role on the scene as Goffman divided as the front and rear arena and how school social worker find strategies to cope with it alone work it takes to be a counselor in rural areas.One way to handle her role involves acting in one of the following three characters: the self-employed, infiltrator and tough guy.The study describes how the social worker harboring the stress in the profession; through recovery - physical and mental, on the back stage, backstage.On stage there are other players such as student health team, which also acts and affect what happens on the front stage.School social workers are working hard to position itself in relation to other professions in student welfare/health team and to have a mandate to act.In the analysis, it appears that the school social workers want a clearer role profession/ occupation profession and mandate to act, which may be complicated by today is the only counselor in student welfare/health team lacking identity. There is also a desire for further/ continuing education, but this is seen as an organizational pitfall when the manager does not have the same educational background as school social worker.Ultimately, it is the peripatetic life as a social worker at the school who is considered the most exhausting part of the work as a school social worker in a rural area. There is a great desire among the interviewed school social workers to have fewer schools to relate to and work on..

The National Libraries task to save and preserve the national cultural heritage has turned to a new challenge in a digital world. The preservation of born-digital material for future use requires not only saving the digital object itself but also information about the object, preservation metadata. This is a relatively new issue and the library community has very little experience in this area. It has become evident that international cooperation is necessary to solve the task and that the development of international standards is of fundamental significance. This thesis investigates what has been done to meet the problems with the fast obsolescence of digital material with the focus on metadata.

After a workshop in Kuopio held in June 2006, Interbull decided to go forward with the development of a system for beef international genetic evaluation and a three year project called Interbeef was launched in June 2007. The participating countries are so far limited to Europe and the only trait evaluated at present is adjusted weaning weight (weight at 200 days). The results from a first international genetic evaluation have been shared with the countries but are not yet official. The evaluation is based on data from purebred Charolais and Limousin. To achieve good estimates of proofs in an international context it is important that methods for data validation and model selection are implemented.

AbstractThe project "Sound and Play" have been implemented in collaboration with the toy company BRIO in Malmo. The purpose of the project was to examine whether and how BRIO in the future could develop toys around sound for Toddlers.The problem formulations that would be answered after completion of the project was "How could BRIO broaden its product range with the help of audio toys?", "How can you combine toys and sounds in an interesting way for children?", "How do you create a toy with sound that is fun for the child, but not annoying for parents?". Currently BRIO only has two toys with sound in this age group.The expression of the toy was going to be a mix of classic and cool and the overall feeling of the toy was going to be explorative and arouse curiosity in the child. This feeling would be communicated through simplicity and joy.

The public administration and its officials have a number of values which they have to relate to in their work. The values are a set of democratic and economic values.This study?s purpose is to examine how the officials at the National Insurance Office in Sweden give priority to these values. The study is performed by interviews with officials at two insurance offices.The study shows that the officials in a high degree value the democratic values legal security and public ethics. In turn they experience that productivity, which is an economic value, is being promoted in a high degree from the management.

Title: ?We become like a little ambassador in the country of Facebook? ? an essay on the pres-ence of Swedish National Radio on Facebook. (?Vi blir som en liten ambassador I Facebooklan-det? ? En uppsats om Sveriges Radios närvaro på Facebook)Number of pages: 34 (46 including enclosures)Author: Nina WillénTutor: Christian ChristensenCourse: Media and Communication Studies CPeriod: Fall 2010University: Department of Informatics and Media, Uppsala UniversityPurpose/Aim: My purpose is to examine what the presence of the Swedish National Radio on a commercial network like Facebook means and how the editors themselves argue about it. For the analysis I use critical political economy as a theoretical point of view.Material/Method: The material consists of interviews made from a qualitative method.

This paper examines if European integration has had an impact on national political parties by looking at the stances of the Swedish Green Party and the Left Party on the issue of the European Community and the European Union over time. With the development of the European Community and the European Union, national political parties face the challenge of an emerging political arena. European integration research has recently become more involved with what is called europeanization and political integration within the member states them self, this paper aims to provide further leverage to the thesis that national political actors undergo some degree of europeanization and are politically integrated in the EU, by examining manifestos of two historically eurosceptic Swedish political parties. The theoretical framework provided by neo-functional integration theory as well as europeanization is used to examine the empirical material in order to see if the political parties at the focal point of this study can be said to have undergone a change in political policy regarding the EC and EU, both in quantity and content. The analysis show that indeed both parties has undergone a change and what might be considered a europeanization, considering that the presence of the EU as a political issue seem to have risen in prominence and importance in the examined manifestos.

This study sets out to investigate the social significance and political use of three historical places, from the theoretical starting points of landscape, objects, society and rituals. The Teutoburger Forest in North Germany has had an international effect, being a german national icon during the reformation and through two world wars, Old Uppsala is a place of great importance for the creation and reproduction of Swedish national identity during several hundred years, and Eketorp ring fort on Öland in Sweden is of more regional importance. All these places have been used for social and political reasons through history. History can be used in a constructive or a destructive way. This study stresses the importance of a critical scientific tradition..

Records of P III fractures from 235 horses, 71 of them were standardbreds, treated at 3 major Swedish equine hospitals (Strömsholm, SLU and Mälaren hästklinik) between 1994 and 2004 were evaluated for information such as the patients age, sex, breed, type of fracture, affected leg, time and place of the injury, treatment and, if possible, result of treatment. For the standardbreds, result of treatment was also followed up through written correspondence with owners and by screening AB Trav och Galopp racing-results. Moreover, results of horses with type II and III-fractures treated with rest and therapeutic shooing only were compared to horses in which lag screw fixation were added to achieve interfragmental compression. Compared to the rest of the Swedish horse population, P III fractures were slightly more common among standardbred horses. The mean age of the affected standardbred was 5,8 years, compared to 7,9 years in the rest of the horse-population. Most horses injured themselves in the paddock.

AbstractThe European union experience sometimes difficulties in advancing its work due to the member states? different ambitions and interests. The budget is one common tool that the member states can use in order to implement different policies according to their preferences. A large share of the budget is presently tied up in the CAP, the common agricultural policy. This share could be spent in another area and by doing so the EU could take a slightly different direction.

Background: Officers in the Swedish Armed Forces educates their soldiers in various skills and arenas. The Officers get their educational training in officer training courses conducted by the Swedish Armed Forces or the Swedish national defence college. The aim of this study was to find out how the cadets, belive that they are formed into educators, their views on the literature being used in the Swedish armed Forsces, and their views on leadership and educational science.Methods: The data for analysis were collected in spring 2010, by use of a questionnaire among cadets studying the tactical/operational program Ta/Op 07/10 at the Swedish national defence college. The respons rate was 69, 6 %.Results: The majority of the cadets thought that experience was the most important factor in becoming a good educator. Most of the cadets also thought that the literature being used by the Swedish armed forces was good, however, few cadets stated that they will use the material for reflection on their own teaching when working as officers.Conclusions: The Cadets had a positive attitude towards the educational philosphy and literature being used, but few will use the literature in reflecting on themselves as teachers.

The purpose of this examination paper has been to examine the situation for Swedish as a Second Language Programs in relationship to their interaction with the parents of the stu-dents. This case study was performed at two schools in the county of Stockholm. A com-parative analysis of both national and local documents for school governance was used to analyse the contents for incidents of parental involvement in schooling. Furthermore, qualitative semi-structured interviews were carried out with five staff-members holding key positions. The findings of the study are that schools tend to practice parental involve-ment only to the level that it is recommended in the national documents.