Quality Assurance in Service Procurement --- Total Quality and Total Quality Management refer to popular management philosophies in organizations these days. The purchasing department has an important part in the strive for organizational quality as several studies show corporate spend is significant and increasing. In this master thesis I study the actions companies take to ensure quality in service procurement. I argue that managing quality when sourcing services is particularly tricky, because of the special characteristics that belong to services. The purpose of the study is to examine whether different actions are taken to ensure the quality of different kinds of services.

Today?s media consumption and viewing behavior has led to an expansion in the marketand resulted in a media convergence. The competition gets fiercer with each player andthe outcome for the linear TV channels has to be to change in some way. This is aqualitative interview study with producers at Sweden?s leading children channel?Barnkanalen?, how they experience the adoption to this new media landscape.

This examine illustrates the section heads' and caregiving staffs' perceptions of the influence of New Public Management (NPM) in public retirement homes in Malmö. A central theme is to investigate if the main features of New Public Management are noticeable and if that's the case, are the consequences an advantage or disadvantage? The main features of New Public Management in this examine are: decentralization, competition, internal market, cost- conscious, management by objectives with a focus on results and costumer focus. To reach answers to the questions above, a quantitative and a qualitative approach has been chosen. The study is based on 41 questionnaires with enrolled nurses/nurse's assistants and four semi-structured interviews with section heads of retirement homes. Four different retirement homes have been participated in this study.

Background: Studies have shown that 66 children and teenagers in Sweden suffers from brain tumor every year. Children and teenagers who can´t participate in the regular school for a longer time for whatever reason, have by the school law the right to education in hospitals or institutions. Education that take place in other places than school most try to follow the same guidelines as his/hers usual school.  This applies to students in elementary school, compulsory school, special school, Sami school, secondary school and upper secondary school.Purpose:  The purpose of this study was to find out how three teachers at a hospital school plans their work with children in grade from 1 to 3, who suffer from cancer, especially brain tumor.  How can the teachers at the hospital school plan and organize their teaching so that it´s possible for the children whit brain tumor to feel as normal as possible. How does the common work between the consultant nurse, teachers at the hospitals and their ordinary school prevent the children to feel like an outsider?Method: I have chosen to do a qualitative study followed by three interviews whit three informants who works at a hospital school.

Till följd av dagens dynamiska omvärld ställs allt högre krav på organisationers förmåga att effektivt leda och genomföra organisationsförändringar. Dock är det få organisationer som framgångsrikt förmår genomföra förändringar då de saknar den nödvändiga kunskapen och kompetensen. Om organisationer ska förbättra sina möjligheter att lyckas och uppnå hållbara resultat, krävs det en ökad förståelse för de olika strategierna som kan tillämpas under förändringsprocessen, samt de fördelar och nackdelar dessa inbegriper. Syftet med studien är att bidra med en mer balanserad belysning av de fördelar och nackdelar som förknippas med den ledningsledda respektive delaktiga förändringsstrategin. Som ett led i detta ska vi analysera Swedbanks val av förändringsstrategi och via kvalitativa intervjuer försöka skapa en ökad förståelse för det undersökta fenomenet. Studien är av kvalitativ karaktär och empirin består av data från fem intervjuer med anställda i fallföretaget Swedbank som för närvarande genomgår en omfattande omorganisering. Respondenterna utgörs av Swedbanks Senior Advisor och Acting Head of Customer Intelligence, samt en regionchef och två kontorschefer. Studien har bidragit med en mer balanserad och nyanserad syn på de fördelar och nackdelar som lyfts fram inom teorin beträffande den ledningsledda respektive deltagande förändringsstrategin.

This thesis for the Master of Science degree was performed at Solectron Corporation in Norrköping. The background for the thesis was a need to develop and build two test fixtures to automatize testing and adjusting of transmitter modules (TX-fixture) and receiver modules (RX-fixture) which are head devices in DWDM-systems. The basic elements for the test fixtures are: Test board, switch board and DC/DC board. The main function of the test board is to handle communication between the transmitter and receiver modules and supply voltage to these modules. The test board was insufficient and modified with a microprocessor to handle the communication between the PC and the receiver module.

The result of this work is a plan for the development of an 1128 m2 elderly raised garden. The purpose has been to create an overall plan covering the long-term development of the garden. The work process has covered a description of the garden of today, review of requirements, analysis of the garden sections, design of a new plan as well as starting the construction of the new garden. The plan covers a time period of a couple of years to create the new garden since the construction work is carried out during spare time with small resources available. The planning must contain review of functions such as protection from insight, eating area and compost area. Also the esthetic expression must be planned. Colors, shapes, choice of material and plants together make up the esthetic expression. It is recommended to include anything you wish to create in the garden. In a raised garden one has to overcome the step to remove trees and shrubs and think different.

This thesis focuses on immigrant fathers and the specific situation they face arriving in Sweden. The purpose of this study is to examine various systemic obstacles and eventual possibilities these fathers may encounter in the new country and how they affect their fatherhood. The paper is based on four interviews, with three men and one woman, who work with immigrant fathers partly in parenting educational programs. The informants? professional background varies.

This study has examined how social media has changed food companies way of holding contests. The study examines how food companies use contests with the help of social media and how they used to do the contests before the use of social media. We have also researched the users behaviours and opinions of companies contests on and outside of social media.In this study we have interviewed four people responsible for contests on the social media department on their respective food company. We also performed a survey that was published on Facebook and followed it up with interviews from two of the participants.This study has showed that contests on social media, as a technical aspect, have given new possibilities for the design of the contests. But there are still some unexplored areas around contests on Facebook and the companies do not know exactly what the users are demanding.

Soft rubber flooring have gained in popularity over the last years. Rubber flooring al-lows cow to move more freely without slipping and improves claw and leg health. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of a stepwise introduktion of soft flooring on cow`s placement in cow houses with robotic milking. A case study was carried out in a herd in northern Sweden with 41 cows. Observations were made every 15 minutes between 09.00 and 16.00 concering cow placement in cu-bicles, in cubicle alley, in feeding alley and in feeding alley with the head through feed-ing gate. One observation period was carried out per flooring alternativ: 1) all concrete slatted floor, 2) rubber slatted floor in feeding alley and concrete slatted floor in cubicle alley and 3) rubber slatted floors in feeding alley and solid rubber floors in cubicle alley. The study showed that 6 %-units fewer cows lay in the cubicles when the feeding alley surface was slatted rubber.

The object of this essay is to discuss the relationship between the definition of the concept of gender equality and attitudes towards gender equality and their consequences for gender equality measures. The point of departure is feminist political theory and interviews about attitudes towards gender equality at a department at the University of Linköping. The conclusions of this study is that there are a wide range of definitions and attitudes, and these conceptions are not necessarily the same as those being pointed out in the official gender equality policy at the University of Linköping. In this study the opinions of measures for gender equality among the interviewed are widely spread. Some finding Swedish men and women already being equal and therefore there is no need for measures, since this would result in discrimination of men since women would gain advantages from being women.

The purpose of the master thesis was to reflect and analyze music library activities and policies in the public libraries in the area around the city of Borås, in the south-western part of Sweden. With this thesis I also wanted to look at the interaction between the public libraries, the music school and the music associations in the same area. To investigate these matters, qualitative method was used in the form of interviews with seven librarians from seven different libraries and five representatives of different local music organizations. Other methods used were observations and source studies. The literature used discusses the role of the music department of public libraries as well as that of a music librarian working in a public library.

Titel: E-learning - en form för kompetensutveckling? Författare: Emely Andersson Helena Någård Handledare: Anders Nilsson Institution:Institutionen för Ekonomi och Management Blekinge Tekniska Högskolan Kurs: Magisterarbete i företagsekonomi, EFE 610 Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att kartlägga de faktorer som ligger till grund vid valet av e-learning som kompetensutvecklingsform samt vilka olika verktyg av e-learning som finns. Metod: Insamlingen av data har skett genom både personliga intervjuer och e-mail intervjuer med företag som använder någon form av e-learning i sin verksamhet. Vi har också varit i kontakt med sakkunniga som har erfarenhet av e-learning för att få ett bredare perspektiv på området. Slutsats: Slutsatsen vi har dragit är att det beror på flera olika faktorer om e-learning passar in i företaget och varje företag måste utvärdera dessa faktorer. Genom att titta på olika företag har vi hittat vissa gemensamma faktorer hos dessa företag. Huvudfaktorerna som har störst betydelse för om e-learning passar in i företaget är personalen, kostnaderna och vilka kunskaper det är som skall förmedlas.

Often, the green is handled as an opposite to the built, but if it could be seen as a part of the built and the society, the planning will be easier to handle. The thesis work wants to create a method that treats villages in an analytic way in a context; with green, blur, grey and all the other colors that together are the completeness.This master's thesis is made to be used as foundation in detail plannng in the municipality of Örkelljunga. Target audience is on one hand those who work with planning and green matters in Örkelljunga municipality, but also other planners who work with landscape.Literature in the field of green city planning has been studied and 30 methods for analysis have been valued. The method for analysis that has been used in this work is a merging of ten different methods and has included literature studies, sketches, interviews and work on spot. The ten methods are consciously chosen to together make one comprehensive and true image of the village, as far as it is possible.

AbstractThe overall purpose of this thesis was to investigate to what extent new research findings, in neuroscience and learning, may be useful in a school improvement context. In a qualitative interview study combined with questionnaire, we have investigated the approach to school improvement that exists in a municipality. Informants have been head teachers in preschool and primary school, special education teachers in a student health team and a development manager. The outcome of the study showed that all of the study participants, all of which have a formal mandated to work for school improvement occurs. It also shows that informants, according to their professional position, express different goals when relating to school improvement.