This thesis is about how the front-staff in two service companies experience empowerment. Competition for business in today's society is becoming increasingly fierce, which means that they must find a way to differentiate themselves from competitors. Service has become a way to compete. Front-staff competence and ability to offer a good service is a crucial factor when the company's success is being measured.Empowerment in business is used as a tool to create motivation and satisfaction of individuals at work. Companies using empowerment can create the freedom and opportunities for employees to act at their own intelligence and discretion.

Talking about sexuality -Medical staffs´ experiences of conversations about sexuality with patients at a cardiology unit The background of this essay is the taboo to talk about sexuality among people who suffer from some kind of illness. When a person gets ill and need medical attention, his or her life changes dramatically. The patients get treatment for their symptoms. The illness and treatment have often an influence on the patient?s sexuality.

The purpose of this study is to increase an understanding of what prevents the mandatory reporting law, based on the preschool staff's approach to mandatory reporting law about child abuse and neglect to social services, and how these barriers affect their decision to report. The study will also understand what preschool staff experience facilitates the mandatory reporting process and what can be done to improve the process even more. The questions of the study were based on the purpose of the study and have been formulated in two questions:What prevents the mandatory reporting law requirements for preschool staff and how can these barriers be removed? What facilitates for preschool staff to be confident in the decision to report child abuse and neglect, to social services?The study used qualitative semi-structured interviews with five people working at the preschool, including two preschool teachers and three childcare workers. An interview guide was designed as a help to answer the questions about what the barriers are and what it is that makes it easier for the preschool staff, regarding the decision to report cases of child abuse and neglect to social services.The results, based on the five interviews , shows preschool staff's thoughts of the knowledge on the mandatory reporting law, the mandatory reporting process, their perspective of the mandatory reporting law and the uncertainty surrounding the mandatory reporting law.The study's analysis consists of the results that have been analyzed using the theory of social representations, in which the analysis shows an understanding of how the preschool staff act and think about the mandatory reporting law requirements based on their everyday knowledge.

The aim of this study was to investigate how staff members at residential homes experience encountering sexuality among the youths. The study was conducted by using qualitative interviews with four staff members at four different residential homes. The interviews have been analyzed by using content analysis and have been looked at through a perspective of experience, as described by Richard Stevens, and by applying developmental psychology. The results show that, although sexuality is experienced as being distinctly present and being a topic of major concern, the staff members have given sex-education as a means by which to raise their own competence little or no thought. One way to interpret this is that sexuality and sex-education haven?t been given a sufficient space in the work with the youths.

The purpose of this study is to increase an understanding of what prevents the mandatory reporting law, based on the preschool staff's approach to mandatory reporting law about child abuse and neglect to social services, and how these barriers affect their decision to report. The study will also understand what preschool staff experience facilitates the mandatory reporting process and what can be done to improve the process even more. The questions of the study were based on the purpose of the study and have been formulated in two questions:What prevents the mandatory reporting law requirements for preschool staff and how can these barriers be removed? What facilitates for preschool staff to be confident in the decision to report child abuse and neglect, to social services?The study used qualitative semi-structured interviews with five people working at the preschool, including two preschool teachers and three childcare workers. An interview guide was designed as a help to answer the questions about what the barriers are and what it is that makes it easier for the preschool staff, regarding the decision to report cases of child abuse and neglect to social services.The results, based on the five interviews , shows preschool staff's thoughts of the knowledge on the mandatory reporting law, the mandatory reporting process, their perspective of the mandatory reporting law and the uncertainty surrounding the mandatory reporting law.The study's analysis consists of the results that have been analyzed using the theory of social representations, in which the analysis shows an understanding of how the preschool staff act and think about the mandatory reporting law requirements based on their everyday knowledge.

The purpose of this study was to examine how Swedish high school students view school staff members, in general, but in particular school counselors. The research questions focused on getting the students descriptions of the staff members roles and functions within the school. The study was conducted using focus group interviews. The answers were divided into themes and then analyzed using role theory and previous research. The results showed that the students relationships with family, friends and previous knowledge about the staff members in school, affects their willingness to seek the support of school staff members.

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether abnormal stock returns could be identified as a result of a layoff announcement during weak economy.Method: An event study methodology.Theory: Efficient market hypothesis, signal theory.Empirical results: Quantitative data from observations of stock prices in thirty two companies listed on the Nasdaq OMX Stockholm, in the period 2008 -2012.Conclusion: The results indicate that the market reaction was negative because there were negative abnormal returns on the Stockholm Stock Exchange during the period 2008-2012 in connection with the layoff announcements. The market reaction was milder when staff reductions were carried out as a result of a restructuring and stronger when staff reductions were carried out as part of a cost reduction program.The layoff announcements elicited different market reactions depending on the company's industry affiliation. The most negative reaction was in the Healthcare industry. Negative abnormal returns were lower in industries Industrials, Consumer Services and Consumer Goods. There were no abnormal returns for shares of companies in the industry Financials.

The main purpose of this thesis is to investigate how books are weeded in some Swedish public libraries today. It tries to shed light on some of the problems and obstacles that may arise, and on the criteria used by staff for weeding. I also hope to build a model for weeding, based on the results of my investigation. The method I have chosen for my work is qualitative interviews. The results of my thesis indicate that weeding is not the top priority of the staff at the investigated libraries.

The treatment that women get from health care staff can influence the experience of the abortion and how women manage to coping the experience emotionally. The aim of this study was to illuminate women?s experiences in connection with an abortion. The findings show that the women?s social situation led them to the decision of abortion.

?Studies have shown that patients receiving mechanical ventilation in an intensive care unit (ICU), who are entirely dependent on the nursing staff, often experience frustration due to a temporary loss of the voice source. Limited communication is an important factor contributing to patient discomfort. Nursing staff also report communication as frustrating and difficult.The aim of the present study is to introduce a neck-type electrolarynx as a communication aid in an ICU, to study the nursing staff experiences of communication with tracheotomized patients receiving mechanical ventilation, and to examine the patient´s experiences regarding communicative abilities. Communication between a ventilator treated, tracheotomized patient and members of the nursing staff was recorded and analyzed according to principles of Conversation Analysis (CA).The results show that several members of the nursing staff experience difficulties communicating with tracheotomized patients receiving mechanical ventilation.

AbstractTitle: The signification of the traditional gender roles in misuse treatment ? the experiences of eight addictsAuthor: Andersson Malin, Gunnarsson AnnelieSupervisor: Lindberg OddThe purpose with this essay is to study if the staff in two LVM treatment facilities do strengthen the traditional gender roles in their daily work and interactions with the clients. The aim was also to study if the staff reconstruct traditional gender roles and if this can be seen as an advantage or disadvantage in the treatment. Finally the aim was to investigate if the staff encouraged the clients to break loose from the traditional gender roles. A qualitative approach using face to face interviews was used.

AbstractIntroduction: The condition of human health and its lifestyle has become a great questioner towards the public healthcare of our country. Despite the recommendations of at least 30 minutes physical exercise per day, many individuals of our society do not get the recommended amount of physical activity.  To improve the situation a method called ?Fysisk Aktivitet på Recept, FAR (Physical Activity on Recipe). This means that licensed health- and medical staff, as district nurses are able to write prescriptions on physical activity to patients.Purpose: Was to highlight the district nurse?s experience in the role of the FAR-prescribers.Method: The study was conducted using qualitative method.

The intention of this essay is to study the Swedish General Staff as a learning organisation during the period of 1914-1918 based on the theoretical work developed by the philosopher Bertil Rolf. Previous international research on the Prussian/German General Staff has shown that it is considered to be the first learning organisation in history. The Swedish General Staff was based on the German General Staff model and the focus of this study is to compare the development the tactics in Germany and Sweden regarding defence and attack in trench warfare. The questions are: How were the possibilities for gathering and analysing informa-tion affected by the war? Which conclusions were made for trench warfare in Swedish conditions? What experiences from the war and exercises in Swedish army were implemented in manuals and training?The conclusion of the study is that the Swedish General Staff was functioning as a learning organisation during the WWI through the ability to follow the international development, mainly in the Central Powers, and by modifying the experiences to the prevailing Swedish strategic and tactical conditions.

In this study we have investigated how care users in a nursing home experience their possibilities for influence and treatment from the staff. The study was conducted through focus group interviews with six participants who we met on four occasions. Questions the study departs from are: How do users experience their opportunity to influence? How do the users experience the treatment from the staff? The study has a qualitative approach and has been analyzed by means of symbolic interactionism, with an emphasis on the Self. Our results demonstrate that in situations of good treatment there is also a good influence.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the correlation between hotels, their brands and the frontline staff within the industry. A competitive, international environment characterizes today´s hotel industry where brands are one of the strongest sources for a successful position amongst competitors. In the brand delivery, the front line staff is of utmost importance since they in many ways incorporate the brand values and the projected identity of the hotel. Hotels can use a variety of ways to communicate the brands identity to the front line staff in order to create the desired brand behavior, some more effective than others. At the same time the Swedish hotel industry, as many other, is characterized by a high percentage of staff turnovers.