This thesis studies the concept of balance in the management control systems (MCS) of a small Swedish company within the IT-sector. The aim is to evaluate the importance of balance and dynamics in MCS and investigate which factors affect them. The frameworks used are Simons (1994) four levers of control, and the five-factor model for balance and dynamics by Mundy (2010). The small IT company - the object of the case study - has grown extensively in the last years and needs to develop more formal MCS without losing efficiency and creativity in their fast-moving industry. The case study reveals that balancing MCS is important also in smaller companies with less formal MCS.

Studiens syfte var att undersöka om det fanns skillnader i personlighet och val av konfliktstil beroende av vilken placering respondenterna hade i syskonskaran samt om Locus of control skiljde sig mellan olika åldersgrupper. Samband mellan chefers konfliktstil och personlighet undersöktes också. De 103 respondenterna som var mellan 25-75 år, 63% män och 37% kvinnor, besvarade en enkät som bestod av demografiska frågoroch arbetsrelaterade frågor om chefskap. Tre test användes; ett personlighetstest, RottersLocus of Control och Thomas-Kihlman?s konfliktstiltest.

AbstractThe purpose with this study was to get knowledge if there are any possible differences in, and correlation between, experienced stress, experienced demands, experienced control and experienced social support in correlation to shiftwork.The study was made at two central hospitals in south of Sweden and had 90 participants (78 women and 12 men) that answered a questionnaire in the current variables. The result in experienced stress showed that there were no differences between shift workers. The results showed a difference between the day- and the nightshift in the correlation between control and stress. The writers speculates that the reason why the nightshift experience high stressvalues with high control can depend on the lack of presence by higher managers, compared with the dayshift. .

In this bachelor thesis, diagnostic methods for one of Siemens stem inlet control valves have been developed. The work has taken place during ten weeks at Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery AB in Finspång. The company produce steam- and gas turbines and also provides service and maintenance. The purpose with this project has been to develop diagnostic methods that oversee the health of the control valves. By using the developed methods you will know when it?s time for maintenance.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how the Management Control System is affected by a change in the owner structure from family owned to not-family owned. The study also tries to identify explaining factors behind the possible effects to the Management Control System. The study is based on a comprehensive case study on the company Alcro-Beckers which, in year 2001, was acquired from the owner Lindéngruppen fully owned by Ulf G Lindén. The acquirer was the non-family owned company Kemira OY, a Finnish stock listed group. The empirical foundation mainly comes from interviews conducted with people who were/are directly connected to the company, either as employees or as representatives for the owner.

Background: Performance measurement as a management control tool has received considerable academic attention. As the number of inter-organisational relationships, such as customer-supplier relationships, increases, there is a new scope for performance measurement as a management control tool. In order for a company to assess the effectiveness of its supplier relationships it has to define, measure and evaluate variables that are critical for the success of the relationship. The role of management control, and thereby of performance measurement, has increasingly been discussed in theory. However, empirical research in this area is still somewhat limited.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to study the effects that geographical distance have on the control systems in a scattered organization and how this, ultimately, affects the employees in terms of loyalty and motivation. In order to do this, a case study has been conducted on a multinational travel group and its local branches in Thailand. The study is based on a selected number of theories focusing mainly on control systems in multinational contexts as well as on theories regarding communication and autonomy. The conclusion of the study is that geographical distance has led to a rather large autonomy for the local branches and that the headquarter to a large extent rely more on formal control.

A degree thesis about quality control and assurance in construction. Made in cooperation with Wästbygg. An analysis was made of the self-monitoring control that is conducted during the construction. The data was collected from interviews from personnel employed by Wäsbygg as either work-leader, project-manager or quality- and environmental-coordinator. During the study there was also a review of the literature in the subject.

Recent years have been very turbulent for most private equity firms. Especially the financial meltdown in global economy has affected the industry, but also the public pressure has made private equity houses change their control strategies towards more conventional methods used in public companies. This thesis aims to put light on the control methods used in listed private equity houses which use a buyout strategy. The paper describes how the control methods change over the different phases the asset experience and how different value generating strategies use altered control methods. Using Merchant's (2003) framework for management control systems and Berg and Gottschalg's (2004) research on value generating strategies in buyouts the thesis shows that action controls as designing instructions for the board and a business plan, together with goal alignment is the commonly used control strategy directly after the acquisition.

In this master thesis, control algoritms using arm side sensors are investigated for an industrial robot. The sensors can be position encoders placed after the gearbox and accelerometers on the robot arms. Control strategies are discussed and evaluated for different models of the robot, after which chosen strategies are applied to a realistic model. Control algoritms using arm side sensors (LQ, dual-loop and PD-PID) are compared to a PID-controller that only uses measurements of motor position for feedback control. The comparison are done with respect to disturbance rejection, oscillation damping, robustness and tracking performance of a reference trajectory.

This thesis examines the approach for implementing strategy that has been applied by the study object, Svenska Spel. The specific approach originates from the theories of Elliot Jaques, whose key proposal is that individuals have different capability of carrying out tasks over different time-spans. The main purpose of the study is to analyze how the approach has influenced the management control systems in use, in order to ensure that the strategy is successfully implemented on corporate as well as operational level. Twenty in debt interviews conducted with employees, representing a vertical cross section throughout the organization, are the main source of the study?s empirical foundation.

Studien syftar till att se hur personlighet, söka-arbete self-efficacy och locus of control påverkas av arbetslöshet. Personlighet mäts enligt Costa & MacCraes fem-faktor modell och avser dimensionerna extroversion, neuroticism, öppenhet, trevlighet och samvetsgrannhet. Hypotesen är att det finns skillnad mellan nyarbetslösa och långtidsarbetslösa avseende personlighet, söka arbete self-efficacy och locus of control. Frågeformulär innehållande påstående om ovanstående faktorer besvarades av en grupp nyarbetslösa och en grupp långtidsarbetslösa. Resultatet visar inga signifikanta skillnader avseende personlighet och söka arbete self-efficacy mellan grupperna.

This study focuses on the politics around ecological sustainable development in Sweden today, with emphasis on urban development, building and living. The starting-point for this study is the environmental adapted city district of Stockholm, Hammarby Sjöstad. The primary focus of the study is to investigate what means of control the environmental investment in Hammarby Sjöstad is expressing, and to elucidate their ideological, political and social implications. The empirical material is primarily based up on the local Hammarby Sjöstad environmental program along with qualitative in-depth interviews with citizens of this district. The study is based on critical discourse analysis The result of this study is that the ecological investment in Hammarby Sjöstad partly constitutes a hidden exercise of power, taking shape as built-in physical measures in the dwellings and the neighbouring surroundings.

Background: Many companies have outsourced their IT-operations and their expectations of what this IT-outsourcing will contribute to the business are high. Cost cuts are not always a natural outcome of IT-outsourcing. Many companies that have outsourced their IT-operations consider it to be problematic and complex to exercise management control and reach cost control which was the purpose of the IT-outsourcing. Purpose: To describe and analyze what affect IT-outsourcing has on a company?s management control system and a company?s possibility to exercise cost control.

The change of control clause is nowadays a well used covenant in the Eurobond market, with the aims to protect bondholders in case of a leveraged buyout. This thesis intend to evaluate whether the change of control clause is a new phenomenon in the Eurobond market today and to estimate what have been the driven force for the popularity of it. The thesis found that the change of control clause already existed before and thus it is not a new phenomenon. Several factors where found though to explain the extended use of the clause today. Starting in 2005 the LBO activity increased rapidly, exposing almost every company to the risk of LBO.