The purpose of the thesis is to examine why women face greater difficulties than men in the management consulting industry when advancing as well as to identify potential success factors that enable women to overcome the existing difficulties. In order to fulfil the purpose, a theoretical framework including gender and organisational theory has been applied to a qualitative case study of two Swedish management consulting firms. A number of difficulties have been identified related to women's career advancement, which are the following: the male leader and the stereotypical male leadership, firms having higher expectations on women's performance, women's reluctance to self-promotion and to play "the organizational game", women's preference of social networks, men's tendency to promote other men, and the choice and conflict between a career and family life. The identified success factors that enable women to overcome these difficulties are: adapting the male leadership style, having an extrovert behaviour, becoming more active in professional networks, promoting one self, actively seeking to gain more attention, and prioritising one's career. These success factors can be summarised as women adapting a more male-like behaviour.

The aim of this research is to evaluate whether the social environment of Swedish high school students affects their views on the multicultural society. The research material was collected through the use of two focus groups containing high school students from two different schools, one group is used to a multicultural social environment while the other group is used to a less multicultural social environment. With the researcher acting as a moderator in the focus groups, the students discussed different questions regarding multiculturalism, gender equality and religion. The theory that this research is based on suggests that the social environment and the social capital affects the students views on the multicultural society. The results of the research were evaluated and connected to the theory.

This essay deals with risk management and social risks, which have received increased attentionin recent years. Methods for dealing with social risks, for example within local Risk andvulnerability assessment (RSA), are currently under development. The purpose of this paper is toexamine if and how social risk can be quantitatively assessed and mapped using GeographicInformation Systems (GIS). The definition of social risk that the essay is based on states: "Theprobability of unwanted events, behaviors or conditions originating in the social conditions thathave a negative impact on the objects that are worth to preserve.? A number of social riskindicators that can be used for a spatial analysis have been operationalized based on thisdefinition.

The aim of this essey was to find out what kind of help problem gamblers can get at social service offices in the region Västra Götaland in Sweden. We also examined the knowledge regarding gambling problems at social sevice offices and who the head of the social service offices regarded having the responsibility for the question of helping problem gamblers. As a last question we wanted to know if the size of the population in the community had an impact on these questions. Central questions in our essey asked are:How much help does the social service offices in the region Väsra Götaland offer problem gamblers? Who has the responsabilety to help problem gamblers according to social service offices?What knowledge does the social service offices have concerning problem gambling?Does the population of the community have an impact on theese questions?This is a quantitative study made as a webbservey to the head of the social service offices in the region Västra Götaland.

AimThe aim with the work is to investigate if outdoor life at an early age will contribute to a maintained interest as a grown-up, and what other reasons play a part in maintained/lost interest. Questions:? Are the people active within outdoor life/physical activity today?? How much time do the people devote to outdoor life/physical activity?? What factors during the growth, from preschool to grown-up, contribute to a maintained or lost interest in outdoor life?MethodSince we wanted to bring forth all eventual factors that may have effected the people in their physical activity today we chose to do a qualitative study using deep interviews. The investigated group consists of six former students, four girls and two boys, from the I Ur och Skur preschool Mulleborg. Today the respondents are between 20 and 24 years old.ResultsThe investigation shows that all respondents are active with some kind of outdoor life or physical activity today, but there is a difference in how much.

The aim of this paper is to analyse the social movement Planka.nu with reference to the theory of new social movements in order to engage in a discussion about the presence of ?old? tradition and ?new? trends. As well as empirical, the purpose is also theoretical and methodological: to examine, and extend, the discussion about new and old social movements. A qualitative method is used. The analytical framework is based on a combination of theories of social movements and new social movements.

The focus of this thesis is on what is considered to be a suitable foster home. For the study to be carried out an application had to be made to get access to the foster home assessments in a medium-sized municipality in Sweden. With the support of attachment theory and theory of standards different categories have been picked out and analyzed in foster home assessements that have been approved. The conclusion to what is considered to be a suitable foster home is a complex issue, as there are many factors that are interacting. Social workers seem to focus on the importance of a family?s ability to provide some kind of stability and security for a child who is considered to be placed within their home.

There is an irregularity in the interregional migration in Sweden. An increasing proportion ofthe population is drawn to the metropolitan areas, which creates problems for the smallermunicipalities and towns when their population declines. At the same time, our whole societyis faced with a great challenge: we need to redirect towards a sustainable development, wherethe environmental issues are discussed and dealt with to secure that all present and futuregenerations are given equal opportunities to live a good life.The aim of this study is to, focusing mainly on the environmental dimension of thesustainability concept, examine the attractivity of housing with sustainability claims. Toanswer this, three research questions were used:? Was the migration motive to reduce their environmental impact a part of the decision tomove, among migrants who had moved to housing with sustainability claims?? If the motive was a part of the decision, how much impact did it have compared to othermigration motives?? Which factors in housing aiming at sustainability are considered important by peopleliving in housing with sustainability claims?The research questions have been answered using quantitative data, gained in the form of selfadministeredquestionnaires which were distributed in four different residential areas withsustainability claims in the county of Västra Götaland, Sweden.

There is an irregularity in the interregional migration in Sweden. An increasing proportion ofthe population is drawn to the metropolitan areas, which creates problems for the smallermunicipalities and towns when their population declines. At the same time, our whole societyis faced with a great challenge: we need to redirect towards a sustainable development, wherethe environmental issues are discussed and dealt with to secure that all present and futuregenerations are given equal opportunities to live a good life.The aim of this study is to, focusing mainly on the environmental dimension of thesustainability concept, examine the attractivity of housing with sustainability claims. Toanswer this, three research questions were used:? Was the migration motive to reduce their environmental impact a part of the decision tomove, among migrants who had moved to housing with sustainability claims?? If the motive was a part of the decision, how much impact did it have compared to othermigration motives?? Which factors in housing aiming at sustainability are considered important by peopleliving in housing with sustainability claims?The research questions have been answered using quantitative data, gained in the form of selfadministeredquestionnaires which were distributed in four different residential areas withsustainability claims in the county of Västra Götaland, Sweden.

The purpose of this study was to examine social workers working process in social assistance with focus on the child´s perspective. We were interested in learning about the existence of variations in approach and attitude between two municipalities. Question to be answered about what methods and approaches used by social workers to include the child´s perspective in the process of social assistance. Another question to be answered about what the manner in which social workers took into account the child´s perspective when the families apply for social assistance in relation to the operations and requirement. To fulfill the purpose, qualitative methods were used.

Background:Homeless persons who suffer of mental illness are one group which is marginalized worldwide. Homeless people have a fragmentary contact with healthcare and many of those who have drug abuse problems and mental illness are still undiagnosed. Still, this is not their only issue when various state agencies argue about who will take responsibility for this persons. Aim: To describe the factors that are perceived supportive or restrictive by homeless people with mental illness. Method: The material has been gathered via systematic and unsystematic searches and the study was designed as a literature review.

Title: The way to successLevel: Final assignment for a Master?s Degree in Business AdministrationAuthors: Larisa Glazkova and Veronika LarssonSupervisor: Jonas KågströmDate: 2011 ? JanuaryAim: Many companies are started each year, but only some of them are successful and generate worthwhile profits. Many new companies do not survive the first few years. The purpose of this thesis is to identify factors that can lead to success for small and medium-sized enterprises in Gästrikland.Method: We analysed 559 interview surveys that were collected during the years 2004-2010 and success factors were defined. Additionally, financial reports from the database Retriever were analysed.

This study aims to examine how social workers, in the Swedish social services, perceive and interpret LVU § 3 from a gender perspective. In total eight social workers participated in the study, attending interviews based on a vignette. From a gender perspective we wanted to found out how the social workers define "other socially destructive behaviour" and understand their thoughts about this subject. Moreover, we aimed to see if social workers perceive any differences between boys and girls behaviour. Based on several theories, two gender theories and concepts we have analysed our result from the interviews.

Sweden's population holds today one of the highest life expectancies in the world and an increasing number of Swedes believe that they have good health. However, the problem still remains that there exists significant differences in health between different population groups and neighborhoods. Two neighborhoods that demonstrate high inequality in health status are Rinkeby and Danderyd in Stockholm County.    The purpose of this study was to examine why health differs between different neighborhoods and how residents experience the area and their health. To answer this purpose a combination of statistical data and qualitative interviews with residents in Danderyd and Rinkeby has been used with an additional literature review.      The study showed that the causes of health inequalities between these neighborhoods was primarily concerned with the factors of education, economic conditions, ethnicity, conditions of comfort and companionship and the surrounding residential environment. The population in Danderyd, made up largely of people with high education, good economic conditions and few foreign-born, while the majority of Rinkeby?s population consists of individuals with low education, poor economic conditions and a high proportion of inhabitants of foreign origin, which are determining factors leading to poorer health status among the population.

Sandvik Wire needed a review of the administrative part of the order fulfillment process and especially the work around packing and the inventory of finished goods. Therefore we acquired the assignment to investigate the administrative part of the order fulfillment process in the company with the purpose to identify potential for improvement. This investigation was performed with focus on the terminal and packing functions. The purpose with the investigation was also to identify critical factors for an efficient order fulfillment process and investigate if information quality is such a factor.Data was collected through interviews and observations on Sandvik Wire. With the help of this data the information and material flows was mapped, the work within terminal and packing, and adjacent functions was investigated.