Because of an increasing demand from customers and changing external environment, there is a need for continuous improvements, for both manufacturing and service organizations, to meet these demands. Manufacturing organizations have been working systematically with quality improvements for a long time, but it has not been as common for service organizations. Because of that the methods to use for implementation of the systematic improvements have not been designed to fit service organizations, and not either for public organizations. The purpose of this thesis is to explain if and why the Swedish Road Administration?s organizational culture and handling of ideas and deviation support an implementation of continuous improvement management.

Our purpose was to investigate which readiness, different sectors in a minor city has to meet honour-related problems. We wanted to investigate how they manage honour-related problems and how the co-operation in these cases is between different authorities. Our questions at issue were: Which knowledge's, experiences there are about the culture of honour, which resources has the authorities and how is the co-operation between different organisations work?We have collected present documentation and research about the subject. We made eight quality interviews with different persons within professions, as we understood, came in contact with cultures of honour.

The aim of this study is to examine the collection One Thousand and One Nights (also: The Arabian Nights) from a european perspective, by comparing different european translations. The study focuses on three translations into Swedish from different periods of time and how the tales have changed in the translation process - depending on the prevailing line of approach and Western perceptions of Eastern standards. The thesis of the study is that Eastern culture, from a Western perspective, has been seen as exotic and different but not as a high literary culture and that this view has affected the translations into european languages. The study shows, among other things, that Western culture is many times considered normative in the translations and that the translators often give their own voices a prominent role, also that common Western notions of the East affects the translations.The word ?orientalism? is used frequently in the study and it refers primarily to the image of the Orient as it is described in Edward Saids' book Orientalism: as a Western construction whose main purpose is to strengthen its own conception of the Orient and thereby strengthen the Western identity as better than the Orient.

The idea of bringing mindfulness into organizations has become increasingly popular. While previous research has shown positive effects of mindfulness practice in individuals, consequences of introducing mindfulness in organizations remain largely unexplored. This thesis examines those consequences through a qualitative study. We conducted semi-structured interviews with members of two case companies. Based on the effects which mindfulness has been shown to have on individuals, our analysis was especially focused on the areas of efficiency, effectiveness and organizational culture.

While conducting our practical training we experienced how the structure and the complexity of the municipal administration could, from a white-collar workers perspective, become a limitation and burden for efficient work. Deriving from this experience we found an interest in how politicians reasoned with regards to their relationship with supervisor in municipal old-age care. Kouzes och Micos (1979) ?Theory of organizational behavior in human service? became our point of departure. Their framework was therefore the foundation for our research and work throughout this paper. Our aim with this research was to examine how politicians viewed their relationship with supervisor in municipal old-age care.

The Veiled Party: A Discourse Analysis of Sweden Democratic Texts aims to further the understanding of the underlying ideology of the Sweden Democratic party, by revealing whether or not there is any ideological content that include race, racialization, and racism in the party?s political texts. The study offers a background description of the discursive change in the social and political climate of debate in Sweden, which opened a policy window for xenophobic agenda setting. In addition, the study delivers a presentation of the public debate regarding the Sweden Democrats, as well as statements by party representatives.Through a social constructionist and discourse analytic framework, the study aims at understanding how the application of racial ideas are done and mapped. The core of the theoretical framework is a critical race and whiteness theoretical approach.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the arrival of class society is expressed in the social dance of high society during the second half of the eighteenth century. The study is based on the idea that culture and society develope in interaction; that changes in the economic, political and social life determine the cultural expressions as well. What I wish to examine is whether cultural themes from the developing bourgeois culture ? individualism, to be precise ? is expressed in the social dance during the second half of the eigthteenth century. // The study shows that public balls definitely gave people a chance to show off on the dance floor in spite of social rank.

The representative democracy has become weakened during the last decades. At the same time the United Nations declared at the Rio de Janeiro meeting in 1992 that environmental problems can best be solved by involvement of all concerned citizens in decision-making. The main purpose of this study has been to examine if citizens panels is a possible way to involve citizens in environmental decision-making and what the outcomes can be. Furthermore the study has investigated what the participation has contributed to environmental politics and how representative the results have been. This has been carried out by investigating the Piteåpanel in the municipality of Piteå by conducting interviews.The result of the study shows that the involvement of the citizens in the decision-making influenced the environmental politics of the municipality.

The aim of our Master´s thesis is to investigate the development of the different libraries in the former communities of Flisby and Lofta during the former part of the twentieth century. We ask the following questions:How did the libraries in Flisby and Lofta develop between the years of 1905 and 1952?How can we understand the libraries? dependency of funding of different kinds? We have used case study as a method, and we have adopted a source criticism approach. We have mainly used our local archives and among other things we have investigated various sorts of protocols, annual reports, auditor?s reports and the accounts that were sent to the Board of Education.

Folkhälsovetenskapligt program.

This paper develops a theory for understanding negotiation situations involving states and indigenous peoples. Using relevant constructivist theory as a starting point, the paper develops a theory about understanding the relationship between power and culture implicit in the concept of the state. This relationship is examined in negotiations situations involving states and indigenous peoples. States are constituted by social structure and are representatives of the national culture. At the same time states are actors within the international system and a part of the culture of Westphalia.

The aim of this master thesis is to analyze how and why Scandinavian-American history has been used in exhibitions in both Scandinavia and the United States after the end of the Great Migration. More specifically, the thesis deals with the Swedish and American exhibitions of the controversial Kensington Rune Stone, discovered in Minnesota in 1898. Despite the fact that its authenticity has been disputed by academic expertise, it has been displayed by many prominent actors. The Rune Stone is one of many purportedly pre-Columbian artifacts found in the United States. Moreover, it is an identity marker, harboring many kinds of identity constructions. The thesis therefore focuses on the meanings that the Rune Stone has been charged with since its discovery, as historical culture and in specific exhibits, on how it has been displayed, and on why it has been exhibited at  national museums in both Sweden and the United States. The principal source materials are five exhibitions of the Kensington Rune Stone.

This theisis aims to expand the understanding of how the termination of Östran local editorial staff is effecting the municipality politics and organisation orientated substance of the rivale newspaper Barometern when it becomes a monopoly news paper. I examine if the hypothesis in consideration of the press investigation of 1972 will occur through a quantitative analysis of selected articles in Barometern and Östran in 2010 and 2014. I examine if the information will be insufficient, if it will be a monopoly of opinion formation, if the investigative journalism will be suffering and if the group communication will be worse.With this analysis it becomes clear that the news paper Barometern cover less of the municipality politics and organisation orientated substance when it is a competive news paper. My analysis shows us that the information will not be insufficient, it will not be a monopoly of opinion formation, the investigative journalism will not be suffering and the group communication will be worse when Östrans local editorial staff is terminated. .

Flexicurity is a union of the English words flexibility and security. The union of the two words to one common term, hints that flexibility and security does not have to be each others counterparts in order to achieve good economical development and employment. Flexicurity, as it is found in Denmark, is described as a three part model composed of active labour market politics, generous financial compensation in the case of unemployment and flexible labour law. The existence of strong collective agreements and three part cooperation is of great importance for the good flow of the Danish model. The same goes for education of different kinds.

The focus in this study is on the situation of Roma in Sweden. The purpose is to see the integration strategies that are reflected in Swedish politics, considering the inclusion of Roma. Idea analysis has been used as method, and I have analysed the text to find expressions of four different ideal types that represent four different types of integrations processes. The material consists of the government?s strategy plan for the Roma?s inclusion in Sweden between 2012-2032.