Title: A study about conditions for leadership in knowledge-intensive firms.Authors: Cecilia Ekström and Niklas SandbergKeywords: Leadership, knowledge-intensive firm, hierarchies, followers.Background: Leadership is becoming one of our greatest social myths and is considered a total solution for many problems that occur in an organization. The view of leadership is usually from a top-down perspective, which contributes to an often underestimated view of the follower. Just as it is important to understand the leader's view of leadership, it is important to understand how employees view the structure from which the leader derives its legitimacy. The existing conditions in knowledge-intensive firms, such as autonomy, place special demands on the formal leadership.Purpose: The purpose of this study takes an employee perspective, to understand what the conditions are for formal leadership in knowledge-intensive firms.Method: A qualitative research method was used and empirical material was collected through interviews with employees in knowledge-intensive firms. The empirical material was analyzed by the respondents? mental images which were set against the theoretical framework of the thesis.Conclusions: The conditions for formal leadership in knowledge-intensive firms make it advantageous to have a leader with a withdrawn role.

The purpose of this qualitative study has been; how social bonds are interlaced between the social worlds contained within the analytical division of ?outside Internet? and ?within Internet?. What happens with the social bond as the individual oscillate between this analytic bisection? This purpose raises important questions of the use of Internet in everyday life.A new stance is taken toward studying the Internets integration into everyday life. The focus is adjusted to the importance of emotions.

The aim of our study is to explore the thoughts and beliefs held by the professionals who work with the sentence youth service for young offenders, and how they feel about the same.How is the sentence youth service perceived from a professional perspective? How does the concurrence look like between the police, the social services and the prosecutor, when it comes to young offenders? What kind of difficulties/challenges do the professionals see in the possibility to effect the sentence youth service?The study is based on a qualitative method. The data consists of seven semi-structured interviews with two police officers, four social workers and one prosecutor.The results of our study indicate that youth service is a good sentence for young first-time offenders; the study also indicates that concurrence between the different professions is a success factor; furthermore the study revealed that it was very difficult finding adequate working places..

The main purpose of this Master?s thesis is to analyse the portrayals of working-class life in a selection of works by the Swedish authors Ragnar Järhult and Per Gunnar Evander. The research questions are: * How is the working conditions described?* What political messages can be found in the works?* What image of the class society is shown?The second aim of this Master?s thesis is to analyse the concept of working-class literature and to investigate if the works of Per Gunnar Evander could be seen as working-class literature. Methodologically, the study draws on established theories, concepts and methods from the sociology of literature and the history of ideas.

Our study aimed at gaining insight of co-workers experiences of different factors that affects the verbal communication and leads to dialogue and misunderstanding between co-workers and their managers. The empirical material was gained from semi-structured interviews with co-workers at various departments within the same organization. We used a hermeneutic interpretive approach and our data was analyzed concerning different factors affecting communication. The result has been interpreted using the theories of deliberative conversations and dialogue competence. We have also used Illeris theory of learning.

The aim of the study was, through qualitative interviews with school counsellors in Swedish primary schools, to study what the counsellors are experiencing condition their ability to work proactively according to the Swedish Education Act provisions on student health. During the study, six interviews with school counsellors who worked in the same suburbs, was conducted. The theoretical approach that was used is Michael Lipsky's theory of street-level bureaucrats and the term discretion. The overall outcome of the study was that the interviewed school counsellors felt that they did not have good opportunities to work preventively as the Education Act requires. The main reason for this was the school counsellor?s heavy workload.

The aim of our study is to explore the thoughts and beliefs held by the professionals who work with the sentence youth service for young offenders, and how they feel about the same.How is the sentence youth service perceived from a professional perspective? How does the concurrence look like between the police, the social services and the prosecutor, when it comes to young offenders? What kind of difficulties/challenges do the professionals see in the possibility to effect the sentence youth service?The study is based on a qualitative method. The data consists of seven semi-structured interviews with two police officers, four social workers and one prosecutor.The results of our study indicate that youth service is a good sentence for young first-time offenders; the study also indicates that concurrence between the different professions is a success factor; furthermore the study revealed that it was very difficult finding adequate working places..

The exposed position of a social worker entails serious demands to their working environment. The experience of the working environment is coherent with various circumstances such as physical, technical and psychosocial factors. The aim of this study is to investigate how social workers in Gotland experience their psychosocial working environment. As a theoretical ground we describe the working environment regulations and it´s framework. Previous national and international research enlighten issues such as definitions of threat and violence, the significance of education and policys within social work, social support and riskfactors.

The aim of this study was to examine how two integrating social enterprises relate to and combines social, ecological and economic sustainability and how they work with sustainable development in the field of social work. The study has been focusing on three questions: What are the values underpinning ?Macken? and ?Vägen uts? approach to sustainable development? What motivates these companies to work with ecological sustainability in the creation of new jobs? How do these companies combine social, ecological and economic sustainability? To answer our questions we have been interviewing nine employees through semi-structured interviews combined with observations and this study was analysed through a symbolic perspective. The conclusion of this study showed that these companies worked with specific themes to reach social sustainability. Recurring themes in the study was empowerment, recovery and the employee?s own experience of exclusion.

? Does Karlstad municipality have adequate institutional conditions to make the best use ofthe citizens? proposals??The purpose with the thesis is to investigate if citizens? proposals lead to a broader politicalinfluence. To answer that, I have done a case study about how Karlstad municipal administers citizens? proposals. The research assignment is: Does Karlstad municipal have adequate institutional conditions to make the best use of the citizens? proposals? The perspective is a democracy perspective and the theory is institutional theory and policy process theory.A selection of citizens? proposals that have arrived to Karlstad municipal between 2008 and 2010 have been studied in detail to analyze how the proposals have been administered and if it matters how the proposals are phrased.

AN EVALUATION OF EFFA-VÄSTERS PARENT PROGRAMME FOR PARENTS WITH CHILDREN 2-4 YEARS- A qualitative and quantitative research focused on content, effects and implementationAuthors: Fritz, Jesper & Johansson, LinaSupervisor: Koutakis, NikolausÖrebro UniversityAcademy of Law, psychology and social workSocial Work ProgramSocial Work 41-60 pointsC-essay, 15 pointsAutumn term 2008AbstractThis study is written on commission by The Unit for prevention which is a part of the Social welfare Services in the district of Örebro. The social work practice carried out by the unit is based on universal prevention, which includes providing parent programmes. The aim in this study is to describe and evaluate the EFFA-Väster parent programme, which has been compiled by social workers working at the unit, with regard to the content, effects and implementation of the program. The study is based on a non-experimental inquiry of an experimental group which has been subjected to a pre- and post test. Further, observations has been made of every program session to examine whether the program is implemented in accordance with the intention and how the program is received by the participants.

In Sweden there is an integration policy and a policy for national minorities. The integration policy aims to integrate newly arrived immigrants (nyanlända invandrare), whereas the minority policy aims to maintain and strengthen the rights of the national minorities. The national minorities are though, at times, included into the integration policy, even though they hold a minority status in Sweden. This paper aims to, through discourse analysis, investigate the research question: ?how is the content of integration referred to, when it is related to immigrants, contra when it is related to national minorities?.

The aim of the study is to learn more about the way preschool teachers work with Information and Communication Technology(ICT). More specifically, this study aims to explore how preschool teachers describe their experience of ICT, the conditions and opportunities to work with ICT, and their own knowledge and competence in the use of digital tools with preschool children. The research method consists of interviews with preschool teachers and observations at five municipal preschools in Stockholm as well as an analysis of the relevant passages in the Curriculum for the Preschool and the Curriculum of Stockholm city. This study shows that there seems to be great variation in the amount of ICT tools present in preschools. Preschool teachers expect a lot from ICT, and the improvements that it can make on their work.

The aim with this study was to increase the knowledge about as well as shed light on hidden refugees? living conditions by compiling research about hidden refugees? living conditions and complete this research by doing a field survey with people with different knowledge and experience of hidden refugees? living conditions. The result was analyzed on the basis of Nussbaum?s list of ten human abilities and the convention of human rights. The study showed that hidden refugees' living conditions are experienced as very critical, and characterized by lack of human rights as well as means to utilize and develop their abilities.

Title Becoming involved in the planning process - from the construction workers perspective.University/Institution Halmstad UniversityKeywordsEmpowerment through participation, construction workers involvement in decision making in the planning process, knowledge management and communication in the planning process, partnering, human resource managementAimThe aim of this bachelor thesis is to provide knowledge and examine how construction workers perceive involvement in the planning process of partnering projects, what they can contribute and what they get out of the planning process.Methodology The study was conducted with a qualitative approach in the form of semi-structured interviews.          The interview studie consist of 10 interviews with construction workers who are specially educated in participating in the planning process at the company ByggDialog AB.ConclusionAll respondents are positive to be involved in the planning process. The main advantages they can see is that they are able to influence technical solutions and methods that will be used later on in the production. Therefore it is important to consider when construction workers should be involved in the planning process so that they get the chance to influence in this decisions.When it comes to the decision making the construction workers should be involved in the decisions that are related to their tasks in the production such as technical solutions, choice of methods and materials. Their main duties and working hours should be in the production.Involvement in planning does not automatically mean that the construction workers are involved in the decision making, it is up to them how much they participate.