Background: Having chosen to take a degree in international business, we have had many opportunities to meet people from different cultures. These encounters have, we believe, made our lives richer, but they have not always been problem-free. When different cultures come together, the differences inevitably become apparent. Being among friends, one can maybe laugh at these differences or it may be a good opportunity to get people to talk to each other, taking the time to explain why they do things a certain way. Being at work and experience these differences might not at all have the same ice-breaking effect - rather the opposite sometimes.

This paper deals with how seamen onboard merchant ships flying the Swedish flag apprehendthe culture, information and leisure possibilities that offer them by the Swedish GovernrnentSeamen's Service, HKF.The objective with this work is two folded: first of all suggest some actions to be taken inorder to improve the situation for seamen, based on the results from interviews with crewsonboard three merchant ships.Secondly, draw the attention to HKF's activity in general and to the activity of the SwedishSeamen's Library in particular, for people working within libraries.The result of this examination shows that people onboard really regards the service carriedout by HKF as very good in general, but there are some activities which hopefully can beimproved. However, perhaps the most important role can be played by the shipping companies,based on the wishes that came about from the seamen. These conclusions and discussion aredealt within chapter 8..

The main purpose of this two year master´s thesis is to study patterns, structures and relations within gender studies when combined with Library and Information Science(LIS). Further aims are to determine the character of student work considering, occurrence, gender and main theme, to study the progress of the intellectual base of gender studies within LIS and to evaluate the use of bibliometrics as a tool for researching the development of a discipline. To achieve these aims, a bibliometric study using both publication analysis and citation analysis, is carried out. The studied material contains student work, specifically focused on gender, from the Swedish School of Library and Information Science (SSLIS) from 1985?2012.

The aim of this essay is to study how cultures are presented in English textbooks for A-level students in Sweden. The aim is divided into three research questions, what does culture in English teaching mean, how is the English-speaking world presented in the textbooks and is the image that is presented stereotyped or does it try to challenge it? The study comprises of four textbooks from 1998-2008. The theoretical frame used in the essay is Edward Said?s Orientalism.

The purpose of this paper has been to explore how Swedish users of the file-sharing software Direct Connect perceive their own situation and the file-sharing phenomenon. In addition to ascertain what attitudes prevail in the file-sharing culture and what knowledge file-sharers have regarding the relevant Swedish legislation. The questions central to my area of interest were: - Why do file-sharers use the program Direct Connect? - What knowledge do file-sharers have of the relevant legislation in Sweden? - What attitudes prevail in the file-sharing culture? - Is file-sharing behaviour affected by an individuals experience and/or level of knowledge? I compared the results of my survey with earlier surveys done. In addition I compared categories within the file-sharing group such as gender, age, experience and level of knowledge to determine if there were any patterns within or differences between the groups.

As a result of globalization, multinational teams are being more frequently used in today´s businesses. This specific type of team can be described as heterogeneous when it comes to nationality and linguistics. The aim of this study was to explore the concept of multinational teams. This was made using culture as a main concept, and nationality, linguistics, and organizational culture in order to describe it. We intended to say something about how this type of team´s efficiency; when it comes to satisfaction and performance; was affected by national and linguistic heterogeneity within the team.

Abstract Our society is becoming increasingly multicultural and so are our schools. This study raises the question of how teachers are working to promote multi-culture and how they can create an understanding of the diversity in the classroom. One way is to use the literature. Literature is already well integrated by many teachers and widely used by pupils. By making use of literature related to multi-culture, pupils can get a deeper understanding of our society.

 The purpose of this thesis is to study the education of newly arrived 16-20 year old immigrants and how their education in the towns of Södertälje and Malmö matches up with national inquiry into the subject.The research questions in this thesis are as follow: What type of documents shape the work with newly arrived students? What's the preferred development surrounding the education of the newly arrived students nationally? What does the latest study, which is a proposed reform of the Gymnasium system, say about the education of newly arrived students?How does the local work connect with proposals of national investigations? Do the cities take responsibility for evaluating the education of newly arrived students? From arriving to graduating, what does the road to graduation look like for a newly arrived student? What is the curriculum of a newly arrived student?The methods used here are studies of investigations made primarily by Skolverket (The National Agency for Education) and Myndigheten för skolutveckling (The Agency for Development of Education), studies of local documents such as annual reports of quality and promotional material for programs at local Gymnasiums (High Schools), and interviews with local persons in charge of shaping the work with newly arrived immigrants.This thesis has not used theory as a foundation for structuring the analysis, but postmodern theory and the use of three dimensional power inspired the thesis.The conclusions made focuses on the future of the education for these teenagers at large and makes connections between the national investigations and the local work with immigration education.In order for these teenagers to be allowed to join the Swedish national Gymnasium, they need to learn Swedish, and integration seems to be an important part of learning Swedish quickly. .

The purpose of this thesis is to study how Swedish independent record labels, or indie labels, fared on the Japanese market. The research questions were based on how Swedish independent record labels establish themselves on the Japanese market and how the cultural differences between the nations affect the business relationship. It was decided to execute a case study on two Swedish independent record labels and the Swedish export council for music. The ones chosen as study objects were B & B Records, Razzia Records and Export Music Sweden. The conclusions were that the indie labels need to understand the importance of personal business relationships when trying to get established on the Japanese market.

In my scientific essay, I an experienced child minder, describe two different preschools cultures and investigate how preschool culture can be influenced and created by different conditions. In my first story I describe a professional preschool with a preschool director who is involved in the activities every day. The second story is about a preschool that is characterized by a different preschool culture and members of the staff who are stuck in old patterns and with an absent preschool director. What is it that really creates a professional preschool? I want through my essay highlight pedagogues child perspective, attitude, approach to ethics and preschool values.

Can the lack of functional cross-cultural communication among individuals within an international organization be the reason for cultural clashes to occur, and lead to conflict between two cultures within the same organization?Our aim is to try to create a potential model of how cross-cultural problems can be studied, in order to contribute to the solution of the problem. And to examine whether the theories, which form the basis of our model can be applied in reality.The research have assumed from the hermeneutical approach for a holistic view of the problem area. The deductive approach has been used in order to distinguish whether the theories can be applied to reality, and qualitative research method for collecting data.The focus lies within cross-cultural communications, which defines the various cultural factors that can affect organizational culture. Hofstede dimensions and the social structure are mentioned and cultural factors as language and religion.

The purpose of this study was to investigate and compare how and why consumers of different ethnic backgrounds value and prioritize product attributes among food in certain ways. We expected to find culturally bound attitude differences and our aim was to relate those to, and challenge, present knowledge of information structures. Consequently, we also aimed to use this new knowledge of attribute attitudes in connection to assortment variety theory, as attributes constitute important motives to how consumers perceive variety. A theoretical framework was constructed to suit our purpose and function as an analytical tool, consisting of Culture perspectives, Information structures (product attributes), and Assortment variety. In this thesis we focused on attitudes and consumer perspectives and excluded actual behaviour and the retailing perspective.

This essay discusses organizational culture and focus on corporate creativity and innovation. The aim is to see which organizational factors that foster creativity and innovation in organizations. The essay will provide answer on how organizational culture can encourage creativity and innovation and how organizations can promote the rise of a creative work environment. The research design of this essay is a qualitative case study with interviews at Gotland Energi AB (GEAB). The interviews provided insight in factors that can foster creativity and innovation in organizations.

The purpose of my study is to explore teachers reasoning regarding the motivation of students in religious education. I investigate the teachers' expectations of the students' behaviors which are being judged by the teachers, in order to assess whether the students their classes are motivated or not.                      In order to present views of the teachers? reasoning, the study uses qualitative method and is based on interviews, conducted with eight different high school teachers.The results show that teachers tend to expect the motivation of the students to contradict their own expectations before starting a course or they presume that the expectations are going to be confirmed in class. Furthermore teachers seem to have preconceived ideas regarding how motivated or un-motivated students behave in class.

The situation on the Swedish labour market is different in opportunities whether you are a native Swede or someone who has a foreign background. People with foreign backgrounds tend to have lower wages, higher rate of unemployment and often have temporary employment contracts. There is a conception that the Swedish culture is the standard and other foreign cultures are abnormal and different. The purpose of this study has been to investigate why there is discrimination on the labour market against ethnic minorities and how the Swedish history has contributed to the structural ethnic discrimination that we are struggling with. I have been using the right dogmatic method and a social science perspective as complement in order to answer the purpose.