Many organizations today work in projects, a method of organizing work to provide a clearer focus on goals and more control of every aspect of the assignment. A project is, simply put, a plan to achieve a specific result. In turn, project management means to use various tools and methods to facilitate and streamline the effort towards achieving the goal with the project.Risk management is the activity that refers to finding, identifying and quantify different types of risks and take appropriate action towards reducing or eliminating these risks to the extent possible. With increased use of projects as a method of working the demands for managing risks better become stronger. The question that this thesis tried to answer was: ?What kind of risks does the IT industry think are linked to their projects and in what way does these companies manage these risks??Among the project leaders interviewed, the authors could see a great variation in lines of thought and values regarding the importance of risk management and how risk management should be handled.

This report describes a study of how educationalists, from one preschool group, approach to and respond to children ?s creative activity in preschool. To answer the survey ?s purpose I used four research questions, which is the following:-What function do the educationalists give the creative activity in the working?-How do they see the importance of thecreative activity for thechild and its development?-How doeducationalists considerthat theyrespond to the child's creative activity?-Is thereany norms surrounding creative activity in preschool?The theoretical base of the study is rooted in the sociocultural perspective, where creative activity and visual arts can be seen as mediating cultural tools. The method is a qualitative interview of five preschooleducationalists.

In this thesis I discuss about economical and political transition in countries that is consecutively being induced by influential external actors. Looking closer on the role of the EU as a dynamic transitional force, with the intention of examining to what extent the EU can pursuit its interest and modify the economical as well as the political structures of transition countries. With relations to four transition states on the Western Balkans, more precise Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia-Montenegro and Macedonia (FYROM), I have examined the influential position of the EU. Another feature that is discussed is the approach of the EU and the cause of it in respect to the Western Balkans. Since the end of the crises in Kosovo the EU was given the leading roll in stabilizing and reconstructing the Western Balkans.

The present MA thesis analyzes how body and blood functions as historical and narrative elements in Yu Hua's novel Chronicle of a Blood Merchant (1995). In the novel, the story and the plot can not be regarded as disparate items; the two levels of the text are tightly interwoven by what the thesis introduces as a sangvinolent narration. The term conceptualizes the use of blood as a structural element and the thrust of the text, in this case how the ability to sell blood is a prerequisite for the story and the plot.Close readings reveal the structural correlations between the blood-selling main-character Xu Sanguan in the plot on the one hand, and in the story on the other, which can be detected to have, inter alia, an effect on the temporality of the narrative. Themes linked to identity, belonging and survival (performativity, mimicry, reification and alienation) permeate the text. In the novel the body and bodily fluids are sacrificed in order to form and enforce perceptions of identity and societal roles.The rhetorical use of ?blood and tears? (Ch.

The purpose of this paper is to study how the TV program Border Security: Australia?s FrontLine (Gränsbevakarna Australien) can be seen to reproduce networks of human and non-human actors. The aim is thus to investigate how boundaries between nations are upheld and how people, as a consequence, are discoursively categorized and what preconditions this create for people?sidentity- and meaning-making practices.The theoretical and methodical framework is built upon Bruno Latour?s work on Actor-Network-Theory, and discourse analysis inspired by Michel Foucault. The empirical material consists of two episodes of the TV program.

The aim of this master thesis is to obtain a greater understanding of childrens choice of favourite books, insight in their reading experiences and their thoughts about the reading of these books. We also want to investigate if, and if so, how childrens librarians obtain knowledge of the childrens reading preferences and reading experiences and how they use this knowledge in their work to stimulate childrens reading. To reach our aim we have been carrying out quantitative interviews with six children aged nine to ten years and three childrens librarians working in public libraries. As a theoretical starting point we use the reader-oriented theory and Chambers Reading circle, which states that support from adults is the most important factor in the childs reading process. The empirical results are linked to theories and earlier research and are analysed under four different themes.

This essay is written in order to expose the construction of collective identity in textbooks for Swedish as a second language. To help visualize the process that shapes and categorize sub-jects based on a relational identity formation I assume mostly from Ernesto Laclau and Chan-tal Mouffe's discourse analysis theory frame. The paper called it as discourse theory. There are two textbooks in Swedish as a second language to be studied. Based on the textual materi-al found in the textbooks I perform a discourse analysis involving mainly focus on relational identity construction.

The purpose of this essay is to examine how librarians perceive library plans, if they are important for their work and if so, in what ways. In order to analyze this, I have used a phenomenographic approach. My goal, by using this method, is to uncover perceptions and variations among these. The research questions are: What variations of perception of library plans exist among librarians? To what extent can the varied perceptions of library plans be linked to librarians' work? What does the variation of perception say, in relation to the expectations expressed in international and national documents, about library plans? The material used in a phenomenographic analysis consists of interviews.

The aim of this master thesis is to investigate how parents? in multilingual families perceive language learning and reading for young children, and how their practice of this can be understood in relation to their language situation and cultural background.This study focuses on the interaction between parents? and young children in the light of the literacy practice. Important concepts such as early childhood literacy and family literacy have been used to study language, culture and literacy practice as phenomena that interact. The theoretical framework is a sociocultural perspective. Through qualitative interviews with seven parents?, it was found that multilingual families have a strong ambition for their children to learn all the languages spoken in the family.

The globalization today has led to increased global competition. As companies seek out foreign markets in order to internationalize their operations, it is common that they encounter many cultural problems. Bribery and corruption is a common problem in international trade. Corruption is strongly linked to the national culture which means that corruption is accepted in differing degrees within different nations. This can be a problem when companies establish their operations in foreign markets.The purpose of this essay is to examine and analyze how companies act in a corrupt market without participating in corrupt activities.The authors have performed both a qualitative and a quantitative study.

The aim of this paper is to describe the position of the Swedish welfare state within the shaping of a Swedish national identity. This is done through the study of Mångkulturåret 2006, and its rhetorical context. The point of departure is that history is formed continuously in current speech and a text analytical method has been used. Mångkulturåret was issued by the Department of Culture as an extended perspective of Cultural politics. The rhetoric used in the official document Agenda för Mångkultur is analyzed through a comparison with earlier official documents on the field of multiculturalism and integration.

This thesis is intended to respond to the extent to which South African textbooks on the subject of history is linked to the governmental policy documents and whether they are producing and reproducing national identity. The two textbooks are aimed at students in grade 10. Both books were produced in 2008 but published by different publishers.The essay is based on Norman Faircloughs critical discourse theory which has been supplemented by Michael Billings theory Banal Nationalism, which assumes that it is the national words that remind us daily of our homeland that is producing and reproducing national identity.  The survey shows that both textbooks are closely tied to the government policy document for the teaching of history. The textbooks refer to the policy, both explicitly and implicitly. The two textbooks reproduce a common national identity in South Africa based on the discussions taking place in society.

Human capital is professional service firms' most valuable resource and its quality is closely linked to the quality of its services. The purpose of this study is to investigate how professional service firms appraise their employees. A comparative study between an architecture firm and a management consulting firm is conducted with the aim to identify and explain similarities and differences in performance appraisal. Two qualitative case studies are performed and interviews as well as documents are used to explore the area. The thesis builds on a critical perspective and it has an explorative approach.

ABSTRACTIntroduction: Violence towards employees in the psychiatric ward is increasing at an alarming rate. Reports concerning the effect on the staff?s psychological health are disturbing. These workforces are those most affected by brutality and for ages it has been looked upon as a part of the psychiatric line of work. This viciousness is threatening the safety for both the personnel and the patients.

ABSTRACT The aim of this thesis is to illustrate how surgical operation theatre nurses perceive debriefing within emergency health care. The study has a qualitative design with semi structured interviews that have been performed with seven operating room nurses working in emergency health care. The strategic selection consists of professional operation theatre nurses working in emergency care at Uppsala University Hospital. The main goal of this thesis is to increase the understanding of debriefing and to highlight the need of debriefing after difficult or unexpected events in the emergency health care profession.The interviewed nurses perceive debriefing as an important way to develop the day to day work, but also as a way to unburden the staff at the time of bigger traumas. Even though the effect of debriefing is not univocally positive in the literature, the staff perceives that it reduces different kinds of stress.