IKEA is probably one of the most well known Swedish companies in the world. During thepast decades millions of people all across the globe have decorated their homes according tothe style of IKEA. But just exactly how big and influential are they? Many, if not to say all,municipalities in Sweden wants IKEA to establish and build their famous stores in one oftheir towns. But at what cost? When deciding on a municipality to establish in, IKEAnormally tends to have an advantage when it comes to controlling the conditions and terms ofthe establishment.To undertake this dissertation I use a theory based upon the inter-organizational theoriescalled resource dependency theory.

The aim was to examinehow managers, based on similar education and policy background, perceive their leadership today, and how it according to them, maybe developed in the future. The sample consisted of younger and older managers within the same organization, with diverse experience in managementand leadership roles. Data were collected by two focus groups interviews and analyzed bya thematic analysis. The results indicated that managers, regardless of age and experience, have similar views on their management role and are in general positive regardingtheir leadership, despite stressand time pressure related issues. They have also suggested similar changes for future management and leadership roles.

The research within the management control systems-field and more specifically performance management has been rather shallow and not much has happened the last decades besides the balanced scorecard. The researchers see a lack of studies focusing on the effects of an integrated performance management system and also how it affects the different hierarchical levels and the tasks to perform.We decided to perform an essay with case study-characteristics by looking at both the strategic and tactical level at Volvo Group, or more specifically Group Trucks. We performed three different interviews, one at the group level and two at the division level. The aim was to see what effect an integrated performance management system had on the tactical level (i.e. the divisions).Our findings and corresponding analysis suggested that Volvo was a rather centralized company in order to get the performance management system to work by enabling a ?weekly control?.

Today, the catering personnel are an essential part of the safety organization on board Swedish passenger vessels in ferry services. Their responsibilities for the safety on board have increased in connection with the changes in regulations made on the shipping industry. These changes have been mostly related to human factors and structural leadership in the last 25 years.A well-functioning safety organization requires competence and commitment from every individual. Previous researches on Swedish passenger ferries concerning the safety organization have raised issues regarding the catering personnel?s perception of the safety on board.

How does IT-consultants reason in their consulting process regarding the development of a clients IT-based internal recruitment system? The purpose with this paper is to investigate how an IT-consultant is reasoning in a consulting process and investigate whether consultants are using established models and methods in their work. We have chosen to work with a qualitative examination to attain our purpose. In our work gathering the empirical facts we have been working with a case study, an observation and a simulation exercise. The combination of these has made it possible to carry out the paper and produce the most correct data possible. Conclusion: We state that IT-consultants do not use any theory-based methods, they use process methods created by themselves and their company.

The aim with this masters thesis is to investigate how gender is presented in Swedish picture books, in order to give librarians and other actors in the field knowledge about what kind of books they supply impressionable children with. I investigate if and how the changes concerning gender-equality in the Swedish society during the last 25 years are reflected in childrens literature, and compare how men and women are portrayed in four books from the early 1980s with four books from the 2000s. My study is delimited to three aspects of character formation, introduced by Maria Nikolajeva: description of psychology, actions and relations to other characters. It is carried through by consultation of Yvonne Hirdmans theory of how men and women are held apart and that the man in this relation constitutes the norm as well as Nikolajevas list of typical male and female characteristics. By reading and interpreting the chosen books, I analyse both text and pictures.

In this study, emphasis was situated around pupils? expectations regarding body shape and physical proficiency among teachers within the subject of physical education. Additionally, possible outcomes of failure to uphold such demands were put in relation to aspects of legitimacy. To enable such study a qualitative study including semi-structured interviews was conducted and carried through, involving six pupils in the third grade of upper secondary education. The pupils were mainly selected through a convenience sample with.

The aim of the study was to understand limitations and possibilities to the discretion of managers in order to fulfill wishes of users. The study is based on six interviews, three with managers and three with staff in common homes for mentally disabled people. The study took place in a municipality in Sweden in the spring of 2010. We used an interview guide with specific themes and questions. The theoretical framework was based on organizational theories as well as theories about management and discretion.

This report examines the relationship between usability and subjective judgmentsabout aesthetic and emotional aspects of users of a web production. Through thedevelopment of two prototypes that reflects different aspects of usability and subjectiveassessments examined the consequences of a differentiation of the concepts andUsability and Likeability. Thereafter, an evaluation of the two prototypes are madethrough user testing. Finally, the results of the evaluation is presented and are relatedto the concepts of usability and likeability. .

The purpose of this study is to understand and analyze why individuals develop and manage to leave drug abuse. The material consists of interviews with eight individuals who have gone through a life of addiction and managed to change their lifestyle. We contacted the participants through the organization called KRIS (Criminals Redress with Society). The results indicate that the participants have had a troublesome upbringing and been labeled by society as outsiders which have led them into addiction. The results also show that they have all gone through a social conversion from the life as an addict to become sober.

In this study we have examined in which way the horse is used in Equine Assisted Therapy, and what effects the treatment staff experience and describes that the interaction with horses has on girls who self-harms. Our Empirical data was collected through qualitative methods such as interviews, participant observation and informal interviews with a total of six different informants, from five different activities with Equine Assisted Therapy for girls who self-harms. In the analysis we have assumed symbolic interactionism, a theory focusing on the human as a social being, where the self-image alters in the social interaction with other human beings. We interwove this theory with the Biophilia hypothesis, an explanatory model concerning human?s relationship to animals and nature.The conclusions we have found in the results are:Equine Assisted Therapy is a complementary treatment comprises both horseback riding and exercises which is not based on the horsebackEquine Assisted Therapy almost always involves three parts, the therapist, the client and the horse.

AbstractThe control of quality standard ISO 9001 has made the internal audit to be experienced as police authority and paragraph control. Because of that, motivation for internal auditors is low. To counteract the experience, there is a possibility to integrate internal audit with improvements in company?s processes. Theory has shown that a qualified and competent auditor can provide information that can help the organization's managements to make the right decisions that will improve product quality and result in new customer contracts.An opportunity to observe an internal and external audit at one of the case companies gave rise to this study.

In a dynamic and unpredictable reality, either rigid structures or silo architectures areappropriate ways to organize an agile organization. This thesis enlightens these relationsbetween Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and an organization who acts in a varied andconstantly changing business environment. In other words, this thesis enlightens the question:?How suitable is SOA to organize the enterprise who will meet a constantly changing andheterogenic business environment?.The thesis presents a model where an efficient organization must be agile to be able to actquickly in the business environments with constantly changing desires, needs, expectations,desires etc. According to the same model a Service Oriented Architecture organizes theenterprise elements such as processes, resources, competences, responsibilities, informationsystems etc.

In connection with that the last few decades have been characterized by major changes where also the rate of change has increased, changes in organizations has become a natural part of today's organizational activities. Every change involves a learning challenge and because of that every change is unique, its output is unclear. However, there is much research that highlights various factors critical to creating an effective change, among others internal communication.The purpose of this study is to investigate whether Engeström's theory can be applied to a completed organizational change and see whether an expansive learning has been promoted in connection with this. This is accomplished through interviews with six employees, all working in one of Sweden's leading property companies. Engeström's theory of expansive learning is applied in order to analyze whether learning is promoted in connection with the organizational change.The result of the study shows that Engeström's theory can be applied to a completed organizational change in order to analyze whether an expansive learning has been promoted in connection with this.

Agile systems development has in recent years become very popular, and many companies today claims to be working agile. At the same time there are studies about agile system development that indicate that there are difficulties in fully adopting the agile way. The purpose of this qualitative study has been to examine how true Swedish IT-companies conduct their agile system development compared to agile theory, and we have specifically for the purpose of the study designed a framework that has been used as an analytical tool. The framework helped us to maintain a structured and objective approach when we examined the participating companies and their practices. The study showed that there were differences regarding how true to agile theory the different companies conducts their agile projects, and that the differences in part depends on how long the companies have been working agile.