Background: Motivation is a subject that is on everyone's lips in today's knowledge-intensive firms. What is motivation and what are we motivated by? We will, through three case studies, be grappling with the notion to clarify how managers and employees' perception of the concept is different, or possibly similar. Furthermore, the thesis examines whether the theory and practice of motivation are consistent with each other. Purpose: The purpose of our study is to seek understanding of what management within an organization believes are motivating their staff as well as how the staff perceive themselves be motivated by. We ask ourselves if organizations is up to date with the development of what motivates people.

Problem: The Swedish wage-setting has changed since the time for the breakthrough of the industrialism until today. Before that, wages often consisted of perquisites or goods that could be exchanged against other goods. Rural people were often self-sufficient. In some cases the farmer owned the land, in other cases they where tenants. At the time for the breakthrough of industrialism the demand for similar labour were increased.

?ÄTA-work? (Changes, Supplementary and Retiring works) is more or less common in all construction projects whether it is about houses, roads or railways, in the planning stage, or in the construction stage. For the Swedish Transport Administration, which is the largest purchaser of infrastructure in Sweden, ÄTA-work is a hotter topic than ever.Economists and managers want to draw conclusions on the projects share ÄTA-work, while the project manager is concerned about whether it is possible to draw any conclusions at all as each project is unique in itself and has its own merits. There is a big variation in the amount of ÄTA-work in different geographic districts in the Swedish Transport Administration.This study shows that the Swedish Transport Administration does not have a unanimous approach regarding the management of ?ÄTA-work?.

The store manager can make great benefits of having an eye on how the staff works towards the customer, because the personnel is an important tool when competing with other stores. This paper is focusing on the part that relates to the staff in the store, which is one of the key tools in the competition for customers after the customer made it to the store. Many stores have guidelines which the staff should follow when they meet with customers. If the staff is too tightly controlled by these guidelines, customers can perceive the first encounter with the staff as artificial and as if the genuine friendliness does not exist. It is important that the staff looks at the individual customer and treat every customer in a personal way and that the staff can see the customer?s needs.

We investigated a retirement home, where we looked at whether there are differences, disagreements or conflicts between teams who work day and night shifts. Our purpose was to examine the Heads of Unit and the employees perspectives on their perceived work situation, cooperation difficulties and why they emerged. We chose the general systems theory as our theoretical basis, which gave us the opportunity to highlight different parts that can affect the working climate and the cooperation of the working groups. The study also highlights the importance of structure, common goals, reporting and dialogue meetings. To understand the perceived work situation, we used methodological triangulation, using quantitative and qualitative methods (surveys, semi-structured interviews).

Visby is a city that at first glance is of medieval origins. The popular image of scientists today is that the city was formed in the Middle Ages. According to some of the researchers Visby was formed during the Viking Age, it is based on the basis that the area has been used for a long period. Urban development in the Nordic countries is complex and there are different opinions as to why the Nordic cities emerge. It is important to shed light on the underlying process on why cities are emerging to provide clarity as to why Visby city is emerging.

Background: First Line Managers are expected to create a health promoting work environment. Research has shown that the prerequisites for accomplishing a health promoting leadership are not always the best. Aim: The aim was to elucidate the prerequisites for a health promoting leadership as First Line Manager at a University hospital in Sweden based on competence, role, support structures and own durability. Results: First Line Managers at the chosen hospital seems to have rather good conditions for conducting a health promoting leadership. All respondents did have a university degree and most thought that their competence corresponded well with the role.

The aim of this study was to describe and analyse the perceptions that ten 12-15 yearold pupils with special educational need, who had been assigned a personal computer, have about Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the learning process. Data was collected by personal interviews and observations. Sociocultural perspective and phenomenographic research approach were used as theoretical and methodological frameworks in analyzing and understanding the result. The major conclusions were that most respondents perceived the computer as beneficial assistive technology for learning, but some felt singled out by having a computer to assist in learning. Students had various opportunities to succeed in using their tool depending on e.g.

This study is about being manager in social care and social welfare organisations. Ten women managers participate in the study and share their thoughts about management. Such organisations are an area where women are most frequent, so we wanted to take part of experiences women managers in this area obtain. The study concentrates upon factors these women encounter and which they feel can affect them in their daily work. The study shows that the women we interviewed have a basic interest in humans and a strong commitment to working for human well being.

Background: Studies that have been made in male-dominated organisations shows that only few women have succeeded in advancing to the higher positions in all businesses. Statistics shows that merely 4 % of the managers in all building companies are female. The manager role has earlier always been classified as most suitable for men resulting in barriers for women who strive for management positions. This problem is now very renowned and is called the glass ceiling. To improve the current situation, both the organization's structure and culture, have to be modernized for more women to succeed and get the courage to get into the industry.

This thesis aims to examine the conditions for entrepreneurship in Taiwan by the occurrence of cultural phenomenon guanxi. Based on the concept of familiness and guanxi, the family is central in this study of family business. Traditional descriptions of the Asian culture claim that guanxi is vital in the business context. Though, recent studies indicate that significance of guanxi seems to be changing. Therefore the purpose of this thesis is to create an understanding of the importance and relevance of guanxi in the context of Taiwanese family business.By travelling to Kaohsiung, Taiwan to interview six managers of Taiwanese family firms this study?s empirical material was gathered for further processing based on a qualitative approach.

The background to this report is the author?s ambition to understand individuals? work situation, how it?s formed in interaction between the individual and factors in the work-setting. Such an ambition is well in line with the concept of Human-Technology-Organization (HTO), a cross-scientific approach that puts a system-oriented perspective on how human, technolog-ical and organizational factors interact within work systems.The aim of this report was to explore managers? work-situation and generate an understanding of it from an HTO-perspective by using an organizational model as a framework for an interview guide and to analyze the work situation from an HTO-perspective following the ques-tions at issue:1. How does the managers experience their work situation?2.

Syftet var att kartlägga arbetstillfredsställelsen hos chefer i svensk äldreomsorg samt undersöka om det fanns några skillnader mellan chefer i privat och offentlig verksamhet. En rikstäckande webbenkätundersökning (N=104) genomfördes. Denna genererade både kvantitativ och kvalitativ data. Cheferna som sammantagen grupp visar på en förhållandevis hög arbetstillfredsställelse. Resultatet visade dock att det fanns signifikanta skillnader mellan privata och offentliga chefer vad gäller arbetstillfredsställelse.

This report discusses the development of lessons based on laborations for middle and high school.The purpose of the project was to research the possibility to affect students' attitude towards physicsthrough well-planned stimulating lessons. The lessons were based on the Light and Lasers OutreachKit, a teaching package made by the organisation Laser Classroom, and have been adapted for physicsin middle and high school. The lessons were developed on a pedagogical and didactical ground andwere improved with surveys and peer and self assessment. The lessons were based on laser light and itsproperties. One lesson covered the topic of single-slit diffraction, while the other treated geometricaloptics.

This report discusses the development of lessons based on laborations for middle and high school.The purpose of the project was to research the possibility to affect students' attitude towards physicsthrough well-planned stimulating lessons. The lessons were based on the Light and Lasers OutreachKit, a teaching package made by the organisation Laser Classroom, and have been adapted for physicsin middle and high school. The lessons were developed on a pedagogical and didactical ground andwere improved with surveys and peer and self assessment. The lessons were based on laser light and itsproperties. One lesson covered the topic of single-slit diffraction, while the other treated geometricaloptics.