Title: The significance of small talk on leadershipDate of seminar: 13 October 2010Course: Bachelor paper in Business, in Organization, 15 ECTSInstitution: Swedish Business School at Orebro UniversityAuthors: Linda Andersson & Ebba HallbergAdvisor: Gabriella WennblomPurpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify and describe how leadership is affected by the small talk, with these three managers. This with the manager?s perspective as a starting point, within the three services we examined.Research methodology: This paper is based on a qualitative method. Targeted open interviews were carried out with three respondents. Literature in the organizational field has been searched through to give a base for the study.Theoretical framework: This paper uses the theory of communication, the theory of leadership and the theory of small talk.Conclusion: The conclusion we make is that the small talk makes it easier for the modern leadership, this is because the small talk, among other things, allows the manager to spread information and to avoid misinterpretation, and that the manager become more involved in the company.Keywords: Communication, small talk, leadership.

För att åstadkomma en hållbar utveckling lyfts utbildning, av internationella policydokument för en hållbar utveckling, fram som mänsklighetens bästa hopp och mest effektiva medel[1]. Därför intresserar denna studie sig för hur svensk skola tar ansvar för att den potential som utbildning bär på skall utnyttjas. Studieobjektet i denna studie är läroböcker för den inledande fysikkursen på svenska gymnasieskolan, fysik A eller fysik 1. Vidare har undersökningen, med stöd i forskning om undervisning för hållbar utveckling, avgränsats ytterligare genom att endast rikta sig mot de uppgifter som finns i böckerna. Metoden som använts är en kvantitativ innehållsanalys där frågor om någon, och i så fall vilka, aspekter av hållbar utveckling och vilka kunskapsemfaser som betonas har ställts till böckernas samtliga uppgifter.

Franchise theorists have to a large extent failed to keep up with the actual development in global franchise chains. The recent emergence of fast growing multi-unit-franchisees has fundamentally been ignored, and it has been claimed that the new phenomenon can be regarded as a mere replication of the franchisors? structure and control system into sub hierarchies. This study however, suggests that the reality is more complex. Through conducting case studies of two Nordic multi-unit-franchisees, new theories are built explaining how and why control systems are designed the way they are.

Denna studie syftar till att ta reda på vilka element som höjer det innovativa klimatet i företag och organisationer. Utifrån dessa element har författarna skapat kriterier som heter ?Soft innovation?. Visionen är att framtiden skulle kunna standardisera dessa kriterier. En abduktiv metod har använts.

Denna studie syftar till att ta reda på vilka element som höjer det innovativa klimatet i företag och organisationer. Utifrån dessa element har författarna skapat kriterier som heter ?Soft innovation?. Visionen är att framtiden skulle kunna standardisera dessa kriterier. En abduktiv metod har använts.

Background: Inter-organisational ways of working have become more and more common during the last decades. In order to attain efficiency and productivity, such inter-organisational relationships need to be governed and controlled. However, studies have shown that inadequate control is one of the main reasons for why inter-organisational relationships fail. One of the means that can be used for governing and controlling a business is management control. The use of management control in inter-organisational contexts is a quite unexplored area of research at the present time, which might seem somewhat surprising considering the fact that inadequate control is a common explanation for why inter-organisational relationships fail.

The municipality of Falkenberg is a result of a unification of several smaller municipalities in 1971, each one with a small library. This left Falkenberg with an unusual large amount of smaller branch libraries. The object of this thesis is to describe and try to understand the political conflicts that have erupted during the period 1971-1994. Through a case study containing press clippings from the local newspaper, different reports, political meeting protocols, a historical background of the library and a study of library specific norms and regulations I can create an image of the heated debate. The participants in this debate can be divided into politicians and civil servants and the conflict circles round the fact that from an economical perspective, there is not enough budget to keep all the small, local libraries.

The cellular market is today suffering from great customer dissatisfaction. Simultaneously, the services offered by the different cellular providers are very homogenous, causing strict competition where various price strategies have been the main mean of battle. From a business perspective, implementing pricing strategies, to keep up with increased network investments, is a short term solution.In a market characterized by lacking customer satisfaction and harsh competition, research has shown the importance of highlighting customer relations in marketing. This type of marketing, which one could refer to as relationship marketing, is considered an efficient, economic, and strategic method of showing the importance of customer loyalty. To get insight in the relationship between the customers and the cellular providers, as well as to show the importance of relationship marketing, this study has used qualitative interviews to find what develops strong customer loyalty.The results showed that increased customer loyalty is achieved when an emotional bond is created.

The purpose of this master?s thesis is to examine whether the role of a public library in a rural community is different from that of a town library. To answer this, a case studie of two public libraries has been made. Interviews, collection of documents and observations were carried out on location in one public library located in a rural area, and one public library, situated in a town. A modified version of an analysis model, originally developed by Andersson and Skot-Hansen, was used to analyse the data.

Many Swedish urban neighborhoods have since they were constructed suffered from a bad reputation and have had a lack of strong socioeconomic groups settling there. This study is about a suburb in a medium-sized Swedish town and the purpose is to find out which social problems that exist there. The aim is also to explain the actors who work with adolescents in the area, which interventions and activities are offered, and whether they can be characterized as pro-social, as well as how the cooperation between the actors looks like. A qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews was carried out, involving nine respondents, who are active in the public and nonprofit sector. The interview guide used is designed and divided into different themes based on the survey questions.

This thesis is based on an assignment from a unit within an international group manufacturing industrial products. The purpose of the thesis is to analyze and suggest ways to improve the cost accounting system in use at the unit. The main source of empirical data has been interviews with employees. The theoretical framework is based on a comparison between traditional/standard costing and activity-based costing (ABC). The cost accounting system in use is described in detail and classified as a traditional/standard cost accounting system.

Studien syftar till att studera jämställdhetsarbetet och synen på jämställdhet i en kommunal förvaltning. Ambitionen är att ur ett jämställdhetsperspektiv identifiera förbättringsområden och komma med förslag på strategiskt jämställdhetsarbete och hållbar jämställdhetsutveckling inom förvaltningens olika enheter. I vår studie har vi använt en kvalitativ ansats i syfte att nå en djupare förståelse för hur respondenterna upplever och ser på jämställdhet och jämställdhetsarbetet i förvaltningen. För att nå en sådan förståelse har vi sammanlagt gjort tio semistrukturerade intervjuer varav en dessa tio var en informantintervju. Vi använde oss av Kvales meningskoncentrering där de större meningarna som intervjupersonerna uttalade formulerades mer koncentrerat för att underlätta analysen av vår empiri.

This study aims to create an understanding of how employees relate to directives that come from a level above them in the hierarchy and is to be implemented in their working activities. This is studied by examining a case where a work group has tried to implement orders, given to them by the government and through a work group in the level above them in the organizations, concerning how employees working with child health care is to educate parents regarding the child convention. The method that have been use in this study is group interviews with 19 child health care nurses and the two main questions that are asked is why has it been difficult to implement the orders and how have the child health care nurses expressed their resistance to the changes, this since only five of the nurses had begun working with the child convention. The theories that have been used focus on how resistance towards change is expressed, organizational incapability and reluctance towards change, as well as how grass root bureaucrats relates to change. The conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that it is important to let the concerned parties participate from the beginning of the process, to minimize their reluctance to the changing process.

Intimate partner violence is a problem which is increasingly drawing attention in society. The authority responsible for providing care and support to victims of intimate partner violence and their children is the social services. The purpose of this study was to show how social workers deal with intimate partner violence and to create a description of how this work is currently carried out in seven municipalities in the north-west of Stockholm. This was done through a quantitative survey including all investigating social workers in the municipalities concerned. The results were analysed with concepts from organizational theory.

The aim of the study was to gain a deeper understanding of the expectations that assistant nurses in the elderly care have on unit manager's leadership and the consequences if the expectations are not met. To answer the purpose of this paper a qualitative research was conducted with interviews with six assistant nurses in municipal elderly care. To analyze the empirical material communication were used as a theoretical concept. Communication includes codes, signals and messages to be interpreted by the parties in a conversation and they can be both verbal and nonverbal. This means that communication is complicated and can cause confusion if it is interpreted wrong.