Although Lean has received an increased amount of attention in the service context, research still has not established how successfully Lean manages to increase service productivity; since service productivity consists of both efficiency and quality. Research regarding productivity discusses the risk of a tradeoff between efficiency and quality in service production processes. Therefore, this thesis aims to explore if the tradeoff in a production setting with low variability in demand and low customer participation exists, after Lean has been implemented. With a qualitative approach, a case study has been conducted at Scandinavian Airlines Ground Handling to evaluate the effects of Lean in the baggage handling process. The result of the study shows that the tradeoff has not been overcome; efficiency has increased at the expense of quality.

Background: When a child is diagnosed with food allergy with risk of anaphylaxis, it affects the whole family. The child must learn to live with a chronicle disease and learn the importance of avoiding the specific allergens that may cause a life-threatening condition. The parents must adapt to a way of life with limitations in the everyday life as well as a constant concern for the child. They must learn to handle an auto-injector and to recognize symptoms of a coming anaphylaxis. Aim: The aim of this study was to describe parent?s experiences of living with children who has foodallergy with special focus on anaphylaxis.

Service quality occurs in service encounters where both customers and employees come together in an interaction. It is therefore important that the staff give their best because the interaction usually takes place in real time, which is referred to as the moment of truth.The aim of this study was to find out how luxury hotels are working to ensure good service quality, and how the staff are motivated to deliver this service. We wanted to examine this from a management perspective, and an employee perspective. Information was gathered through various interviews, where the staff at the Hotel Kämp in Helsinki and at the Sheraton Hotel Stockholm participated.Survey results show that employee motivation, training and empowerment have a significant impact to provide service in high quality. The results also show that the surveyed hotel, to certain level work in the same way, but it reveals some differences even when both hotels are part of the same concern..

Using mobile technology to make ends meet is currently a reality for many people. More and more peopleare working while travelling or work from home. Most knowledge workers are equipped with laptopsand smart phones. To find out how individuals are affected by having the ability to stay continuouslyconnected and work with mobile business applications, we have conducted a case study and in closecooperation with a company have created a prototype of such a mobile business application. Fourindividuals have tested our application and were then interviewed.

Chronic illness is associated with conditions that may result in psychological ill-health in the adolescence. Consequently there is a need for development of preventive psychosocial support interventions for this target group. The objective was to develop, implement, and evaluate the effect of supportive intervention group program for teenagers suffering from chronic illness - aiming at increasing quality of life and supporting mental and physical health. Method: Six different intervention groups were conducted between 2007 and 2011, age 13?17.

Considering water quality, landuse and reducion of wetland area in the watershed of Tidan, areas witch are in need of constructions to improve the water quality are identified. Constructions are suggested to be located within the smaller streams in the watershed, so that the water is treated before it reaches the stream Tidan..

Multiple factors are involved in control of beef sensory quality so great variation can be induced. The perception of meat quality can be affected anywhere in the product chain. Both the environment and the set of genes of the animals have an effect on the final output. A problem facing the beef industry today is the significant variations in meat quality between individual animals, which is reflected in the uneven quality of the meat that reaches the consumer. If the quality of meat in stores varies significantly over time, the consumers? trust may decrease.

In today's society there is tougher climate both financially and time wise. Accountants working under tight deadlines leading to the compromise between quality and quantity in the audit process and them therefor are being guilty of so-called reduced audit quality, RAQ. Reduced audit quality involves intentional actions designed to somehow reduce the evidence contained in the audit. We examine in this study the impact of time budget pressure (TBP), underreporting of time (URT), ethical organizational culture and charismatic leadership has on the frequency of RAQ.Previous research has already shown that there are clear links between TBP and RAQ, between URT and RAQ and between ethical culture in organizations and audit quality available. Five hypotheses were designed to the study.

Sustainability issues have become increasingly high-profile and important in recent decades. In addition, quality issues have come to play a central role in corporate marketing, strategy and management. The word quality can be defined differently in different contexts. This paper focuses on the concept of quality, based on the Total Quality Management perspective, which in Swedish has come to be known as Offensiv kvalitetsutveckling. Offensiv kvalitetsutveckling has been described as a theoretical framework in which an organization continually strives to meet and preferably exceed customer needs and expectations at the lowest cost through continuous improvement, and in which all members of the organization are committed and focused on the organisation's processes. The purpose of this study was twofold. First, to clarify the applicability of the theoretical model Offensiv kvalitetsutveckling as a theoretical explanatory model. Second, to explore how Max Hamburgerrestauranger AB performs according to the values in Offensiv kvalitetsutveckling. A multiple case study was conducted in order to explore these topics. The results showed that Max Hamburgerrestauranger AB is working in a dedicated and value-driven manner, aligned with the values ??that form the basis for Offensiv kvalitetsutveckling. The results also showed that the model for Offensiv kvalitetsutveckling could serve well as a theoretical explanatory model, but that the model would benefit from being developed, enriched or integrated with other models.

We have a business proposal. Instead of the consumers visit the country side in order to purshase we are interested in starting a shop with only regional produced products in the city. We have our base in a part of Sweden called Östergötland, therefore we have investigated the market for such a store in Östergötlands biggest city, called Linköping. The conclusion is that the store must sell food produced in the region. Another conlusion is that the store must be located near a bigger supermarket. Our main selling points are quality and that the food is produced in the near region.

Background: To be a parent to a child dying of cancer affect not just the parents themselves, but the whole family. Experiences of fear, powerlessness and anxiety surrounds them. Nurses need knowledge about parents? experiences to help and support these parents adequately. Aim: The aim of the study was to describe parents? experiences of losing a child to cancer, from diagnosis to the child?s death.

Aim: To describe nurses' experiences providing end of life care to patients. Method Descriptive literature study, 15 articles were included. The search was made in PubMed, CINAHL and by manual search. The articles were reviewed, analyzed and summarized. Results: For newly graduated nurses? experience in end of life care proved to be something new, developing, difficult to manage and frightening, but expected in the profession.

The purpose of this article is to examine issues concerning quality assurance in the Swedish family counselling. To obtain the purpose following factors have been analysed: what kind of requirements/criteria are put on the companies/practitioners, what the respondents think about the lack of common standards and criteria and their opinions concerning ?Lagen om valfrihetssystemet?. Monitoring of criteria, privatisation and increased competition are other factors that have been analyzed. The material was obtained from the family counsellors own association and was analyzed in the light of previous research and theories regarding the quality of family counselling however we also considered theories about quality within social work in general.

In recent years more and more people have been sick-listed due to stress and it has happened to more women than men. The purpose of this paper is to see if recoveringfrom stress related states of ill-health can be promoted through participation in a stress management course. Five women who were or had been sick-listed and had participated in the life management course were interviewed. The results show that the course was an important forum for expressing emotions. The participants were more positive about the future after than before they entered the course.

Liberal theorists typically argue that state action should not favor any particular conception of the good or meaningful life. On this view the defining characteristic of the liberal state is neutrality among rivaling ideas of the good. This thesis argues that state neutrality is impossible to maintain in practice. Two different versions of state neutrality; neutral justification and neutral aims, are used to analyze a wide range of political issues. It is concluded that far from being neutral, the liberal state favors individualistic and market oriented conceptions of the good life.