This study is an institutional analysis of the firm both as it is theoretically conceptualized and how it takes shape and changes. The role of power relations between manage¬ment and employees is especially examined with the aim of evaluating pos¬sible connections between the firm as an institution and power relations within it. Based on a comparison of two cases (two selected periods of the same organization) it asks ?How closely does each case match the conceptual characteristics of the firm??; ?What are the power relations between management and employees in each case??; and finally ?What factors account for the resulting differences??. It is found that there is a negative correlation between employee power and proximity to the firm as a concept.

The aim of the study was to understand limitations and possibilities to the discretion of managers in order to fulfill wishes of users. The study is based on six interviews, three with managers and three with staff in common homes for mentally disabled people. The study took place in a municipality in Sweden in the spring of 2010. We used an interview guide with specific themes and questions. The theoretical framework was based on organizational theories as well as theories about management and discretion.

ABSTRACTThe aim of this study has been to analyse and understand the effects of heteronormative structures in the Swedish asylum process. Homosexual refugees, seeking asylum in Sweden, is in focus when proceeding an analysis about these social structures and normative phenomena. The main discourse, being handled in this study, is between homosexuality and heterosexuality. However, central findings in this study consists of how different approaches, such as gender based identities as well as sexual preferences and ethnic background, combined is influencing the asylum process and the treatment of the asylum seekers.The analysis is based upon legal material, as well as the guidelines and work ethics of the Migrationsverket, which is being compared with theoretical approaches on heteronormativity and structural hierarchy. To achieve a wider understanding of the area and to gain more information, we have also performed interviews with relevant sources.Key-words: Heteronormativity, asylum seekers, homosexuality, power structuresSara Haugbak & Jenny Thomsen, Sociology C, University of Växjö, Sweden.

This essay is about the burial rites in the passage graves of Falbygden, Västergötland. My questions were: Can the burial ritual be understood by comparing the material culture inside and outside the tombs? What kind of grave offerings did the dead have? Most peculiar are all these beads of amber, what kind of meaning did they have? Was the position of the body a part of the ritual? The time period is the middle Neolithic.I selected four passage graves to investigate: Hjälmars rör (Falköping 3), Rössberga (Valtorp 2), Näs sn 7:2 Kvättak 5:1 and Frälsegården (Gökhem 94).My conclusion was that there are differences between the material culture inside and outside the tombs. Outside the ritual includes fire, inside the material culture are not burned. The material culture outside is more dominant than the finds inside, although the beads of amber are only represented inside and dominates the findings inside.

Research on Stone Age hunters and gatherers in Norrland has been lively since the 1960s. Central to this research are questions about the organization of society, sedentariness, continuity and resource management. One central part of life in the taiga is the need for fire and fuel. This aspect has been little discussed in conjunction with the mentioned research questions. My goal is to show that the matter of fire and fuel is an important one that needs to be taken in to consideration when discussing Stone Age Norrland and hunter/gatherers.

This essay shows how natural areas in Älta, a part of Nacka municipality southeast from Stockholm, been changed quantitatively and qualitative as a result of the increased housing construction in the area. Three issues are discussed. Namely: how has Ältas green areas been changed in sizes and quality in line with the settlement's expansion, what is the reason or the reasons to building of different types of accommodations, what has been and is the operators in connection with building of the different types of accommodations?The essay shows that the green areas has been decreased with over 2 km from 1901 to 2000 and in addition to these areas of approximately 1,1km been converted to a planned green structure. Älta has during the years gone through four eras of building types an era of small family houses ? an era of building one million houses on a national scale ? an era of terrace houses ? an era of sporadic building of different housing types (one family houses, pair houses, terrace houses and small blocks of flats).

The subject of this study is factors that contribute to immigrants wellbeing in their new country. Our purpose was to describe and examine different factors that according to eight immigrants have contributed to their wellbeing in Sweden. Our main question was: Which factors have, according to our respondents, contributed to their wellbeing in Sweden.To achieve this, we have conducted qualitative interviews with eight different individuals. We also collected current documents and research related to the subject matter. We chose three different theoretical perspectives: Antonovsky´s Sense of coherence, Maslow´s Hierarchy of needs and Mischel´s CAPS-theory (cognitive-affective personality system) as models for the explanation of our analysis.The result of our survey was that we could detach six different categories which the respondents expressed had contributed to their wellbeing.

Volunteering involves performing tasks without receiving any compensation for it. Interest in this idealistic commitment to non-profit organizations is growing and the primary reasons for this is to help other people, pursue their interests and contribute to the organization.The purpose of the study is to examine what it is that motivates individuals to commit to non-profit organizations. This study will only examine aid organizations. In order to answer the question four different theories have been used and these are the most fundamental theories in this field. These theories are Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Hertzberg's two-factor theory, Self-Determination Theory and The Gift.

The purpose of this paper is to examine motivation in studies and/or work among unaccompanied adolescents who received asylum in Sweden. We have examined how six unaccompanied refugee boys? ages 15-18 years describe their motivation, regarding both current studies and their potential future studies or work. We have attempted to capture the children?s stories about what the factors are that increase or decrease their motivation through qualitative research interviews.

Samtliga av Norrbottens vårdcentraler har länge haft problem i form av underbemanning av läkare. Landstinget har mött det problemet genom att använda sig av bemanningsföretagsanställda stafettläkare. Vårdcentralernas beroende av stafettläkare skildrades i denna studie ur arbetsgruppens perspektiv. Inom socialpsykologin finns ett flertal modeller för hur bland annat arbetsgrupper fungerar, utvecklas och påverkas. Faktorer som kontinuitet, målinriktning och ledarskap är alla begrepp som kan sägas påverka grupperna.

In this study the author attempts to identify factors that are determinants for why some pupils in Swedish grade school have high status in comparison with their peers. The study takes on the characteristics of both an ethnographic and a literature study by comparing the findings of interviews carried out with students of a first grade class with previous research. The study identify several tools for analyzing of how status may be understood in specific situations.The study also finds that important factors for gaining high status amongst children in aschool classes might be the ability to apply access strategies to get accepted in social interactions, such as game play, have the ability to create games that are enjoyed by peers and social skills, to name a few. Overall the study shows that children's game play with each otherare crucial for their social interactions and their social position. The study also show that children that have earlier established relationships with other children in a specific group alsohave a better opportunity to establish a high status position..

The purpose of this essay was to explore how the first-line managers in eldercare motivate their employees. In addition, we intend to study how the first-line managers acquire their leadership skills. To find answers to this purpose, we asked ourselves the questions; how acquires first line managers knowledge of how to motivate their employees? What is the first-line manager?s perception of motivation against their employees? The method we used was qualitative interviews with eight first-line managers in elderly care in Stockholm area. The results were analyzed by using two theories, Maslow?s hierarchy of needs and Hertzberg's two factor theories.

This essay examines the process of fair value accounting of financial assets in a Swedish commercial bank, in contrast to the theoretical approach stated by IASB. The theoretical background contains a review of the academic standpoint on fair value accounting and historical cost accounting, a detailed description of fair value accounting according to current and future IASB regulation and on the American FAS 157 regulation. The empirical case study describes the process of valuing and classifying financial assets into level 1 and level 2 of the fair value hierarchy. The analysis describes how the legal requirements for classification are interpreted and applied in practice when valuing bonds and derivatives. The authors provide an explanation as to why the majority of financial assets are valued mark to model rather than mark to market as well as a suggestion on how the share of market valued assets can be increased..

In this master thesis, which is made in a qualitative manner, we have as purpose to investigate the nurses' estimation of the hospital welfare officer. We find it interesting to take a closer look at their opinion, because of our earlier, bachelor thesis, based on the same subject, only then in the welfare officer´s perspective on themselves. We have interviewed ten nurses and our questions at issue were the following four: Where in the hospital´s hierarchy do the nurses place the welfare officer? In what way do the nurses look at themselves and on the fact that they are leagally authorized? How do the nurses define the welfare officer´s occupational sphere and his part of the medical care? Which opinion do the nurses have on the co-operation with the hospital welfare officer? The primary information, together with two maintheories and a collection of litterature on the subject have helped us to answer the four questions of issue. We have found that the results we see, in some ways are compareable to our first investigation.

This candidate thesis concerns the ?all but forgotten? material from the bronze age site named ?Raä 977, Hansbo 1:3, Vojmsjön, Vilhelmina?. During 1975-76, an archaeological dig was carried out by Västerbottens museum led by Ulla Walukiewich in an attempt to preserve the information the site held, before it was destroyed by the erosion brought on by the recently regulated sea ?Vojm? (Vojmsjön). The archaeological dig yielded a stunning amount of finds, samples and information previously unknown.