How does the recent wave of preferential trading arrangements affect, the incentives for further trade liberalization of member states, and the possibility of obtaining global free trade? And are there any differences in this aspect between custom unions and other forms of preferential trading arrangements? These questions are well debated and have divided international trade researchers into two camps, one in favour for preferential trading arrangements and the other side against them. I have used well acknowledged researchers in the area of international trade theory to make a literature study of the above mentioned key elements in the debate. When comparing the two sides I have focused mainly on their differences, assumptions and results. I have come to the conclusion that there is nothing to be alarmed by of the wave of regionalism that?s occurring in the world today, but caution should be applied and more research in this area is necessary before any certain conclusions can be drawn.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka och problematisera den ideale medborgaren i Lgr11 och Making the PYP happen: A curriculum framework for international primary education (2009). En kvalitativ textanalys av de båda läroplanerna har genomförts för att undersöka karakteristiska drag och färdigheter hos den ideale medborgaren, samt bakomliggande filosofier och begränsningar.De två läroplanerna och deras medborgarideal är på många sätt väldigt lika varandra, men de olika påverkansfaktorerna leder dem till olika uttryck av deras demokratiska grundtanke. Analysen visar att de båda läroplanerna ligger i linje med den internationella läroplansutvecklingen vad gäller sitt demokratiska medborgarskapsideal, men att Making the PYP happen: A curriculum framework for international primary education (2009) påvisar en mer konsekvent och aktiv tolkning av den demokratiska medborgaren. De två läroplanerna är grundade i olika pedagogiker och läroplanskoder, något som påverkar elevens relation till stoffet och därmed även beskrivningen av den ideale medborgaren. Som andra läroplaner är de formulerade på ett särskilt sätt av särskilda anledningar, något som kräver en medveten hållning hos de lärare som vill utbilda demokratiska och källkritiska medborgare ? i enlighet med läroplanen!.

The purpose of this master thesis is to study the correlation and meaning of current ideas and practice at the public library of Gothenburg. This was done by comparing the visions and ideas expressed by the library through the library plan, with how the daily practice looks. For the theoretical framework organizational theory is used and research data was collected both from public documents and through observations. The public library of Gothenburg were chosen for the study because of it's newly renovated facilities. The idea is that these facilities make a suitable study object of the current ideas and priorities of the public Swedish library in general.The results show that the public library practice in Sweden still rests on the original public library ideas such as offering information for free and treating every user as equal.

This Bachelor?s thesis is about bossless organizations. We have observed that the hierarchical structure that the majority of organizations is structured by today is a remnant of a time long gone, and can be an obstacle for independent thinking and responsibility inside organizations. We want to question the accepted perception that an organization is best structured in a hierarchic form.The purpose of the thesis is to provide an understanding of how a bossless organization works and to give a concrete explanation of the consequences of this kind of organizational structure.The thesis is of a qualitative nature and is designed with an inductive approach at an organizational level. We conducted a case study on a bossless company and supplemented this with secondary sources from three other bossless organizations.It concludes that the bossless approach can work and that there are a number of advantages to benefit from it.

The legal right to take time off from work to care for one`s children has been regulated in Swedish law since late 1930. This right was limited to mothers and was provided under restricted forms. There was a long qualification period and the length of parental leave was limited.Since then, the right to parental leave has been extended through several modifications of the law. The question of equality in both the labour market and the private sector has been one of the greatest forces behind these changes. By including men in the right to take parental leave, the work place has become more equal and it is now considered a natural part of the employee?s life to request time off to care for children.Labour Arbitration Court has shown through its case law that equality in the work place is of the utmost importance and has shown its support in this matter through its judgements.

The object for this study is a company developing and manufacturing vehicles for heavy transportation. The company distributes their products on a global market. Therefore the company is required to have efficient internal production development processes in order to successfully beat the competition. The purpose of this master thesis is to study how this particular company intends to implement their standardized theoretical product development process within their organization and how well it is done. We intend to identify and specify if the process has any unexploited capacity.

The present study sought to examine the collaborative role of the student organization Here 4 U and the impact of this collaboration on the organization and its partners. As a point of departure a questionnaire was distributed to supervisors, principals and other cooperation partners of Here 4 U, the most prominent quantitative results of which were related to previous research, new institutional theory and empowerment theory. It turned out that partners interacting with Here 4 U felt that the collaboration was necessary and wanted to continue with it. The respondents to the questionnaire were asked to define the concept of collaboration. Factors emphasized by respondents included feeling of community, security, and common goals.

The purpose of the study was to examine if intrinsic motivation and work commitment to the organization differs between permanent doctors and hired doctors. The total of 63 doctors who participated in the study made an internet-based survey with 21 questions taken from the Basic Need Satisfaction at Work Scale and 3 questions from the section ?work commitment? in QPS Nordic. The main results of the study showed that permanent doctors perceived a higher level of intrinsic motivation on all the three needs autonomy, competence and relatedness. Furthermore the result showed a tendency that permanent doctors perceived a higher level of work commitment to the organization then hired doctors..

This study investigates educators? experience of Intensive Behavioral Therapy (IBT) for preschool children diagnosed with autism. The aim is to examine, from the educators? perspective, how useful this method has been, what difference it made for the children with autism that took part in this training and also how the educators? have been able to organize and implement the method. The study is based on 6 semi-structured interviews and 29 surveys.

This thesis has been performed at International Aluminum Casting AB in Eskilstuna,Sweden.International Aluminum Casting is currently working with a number of improvementsin their production in order to achieve their vision of being the leading aluminum foundry in Sweden. As a step in their improvement efforts, focus was directed ondeveloping the company's fixtures for machining.Efforts were focused on two main objectives: to develop a complete proposal on afixture which leads to a more rational use of an assigned part and also form general design advice for development of fixtures in the future.During the work progress, discussions have been made with experts at International Aluminum Casting within the field of fixture design. The objective was to obtain sufficient knowledge about the underlying problems with the current fixture for the part. At this stage of the thesis, a number of essential criteria for fixture design were produced. Information and inspiration were obtained by examining the company?s currently developed fixtures.After gathering the necessary information the process of developing three different fixture concepts started.

In Sweden has the temporary agency work industry settled in an explosive way since the deregulation of the unemployment agency monopole in 1993. The demand of civil right for the employer that is rented out confronts the entire labour law regulation with new challenges.The purpose with this paper is an investigation of the principle of equal treatment in The Swedish temporary agency work act and also to create a deeper understanding of the effects of labour and employment relationship. An investigation of relevant collective agreements will be done to highlight the difficulties the principal of equal treatment is exposed to. Further on is there a will to gain understanding for the wage concept and what possible can be included in the wage concept in relation to the principal of equal treatment in The temporary agency work directive. By using the dogmatic method, an approach to descriptive identifying relevant sources of law and clarify the legal situation in the area.In the conclusions it will be determined that the principle of equal treatment in The Swedish temporary agency work act have different effects depending on if the temporary agency or if the client corporation is tied to an collective agreement alternative if a collective agreement is completely missing.

Many organizations utilize decision support systems in order to handle different tasks and tosupport the decision-making process. Decision support system is a broad term used to referto several different types of systems. These types of systems can handle a wide range ofoperations within the organization. Consequently this will have an impact on differentoperations within the organization. The main aim of this study was to create a betterunderstanding regarding the impact of decision support systems on the various operationswithin the City Council's procurement units which in turn will increase effectiveness.

The aim of this study was to understand how social workers perceive and understand violence and threats of violence from clients, and how it effect their working environment. It seems that the respondents understand the violence and threats of violence from clients as a result of the clients background problems, vulnerability, dependency and from ?the reason" that the client is currently in the contact with the organization. How respondents interpret the client´s behaviour based on the above-mentioned factors, seem to determine how the respondents perceive and define the violence and threats of violence by clients directed against them. Interestingly enough, although all respondents in the study experienced violence and threats of violence from clients, none of them perceived themselves as exposed at work. The answer to this is consensual.

This report is a part of the process of enhanced cooperation between fire rescue services in the region of North West Scania. The aim of the report is to study and analyze how the fire rescue service should be structured, in terms of rescue units and personnel, if no account is to be taking to the current organization. Two types of accident are considered in the report, traffic accidents and building fires. These are more affected by decreased response time than other accidents. Several suggested organizations are presented and they are evaluated with the computer program REP.

This essay is a case study of how two non-profit organizations, in the same line of business work with external communication and new media such as Internet and social media (Facebook and Twitter).Both these organizations are located in different countries and the purpose of the case study is also to find out if the differences in their work methods in communication depend on organizational or cultural differences. The case study was conducted in the organizations Sverige Amerika Centret in Karlstad, Sweden and The Swedish Council of America in Minneapolis, US. A qualitative approach executed through interviews and a qualitative content analysis of the organizations annual report from 2010. The result of the interviews and the document content analysis shows that there are differences in the way these organizations handle their work with external communications and new media. One of the organizations uses new media more actively in their work with communication and through that channel creates a relationship with its external audiences. The theories that has been used for this case study is Organization communication, Intercultural communication, Public Relations and Organization culture. Keywords: external communication, new media, culture and employees..