Title: Diversities of diversity - fluctuating talk, meaning and practice of diversitySeminar date: 06.02.08 Course: Masters thesis in Business Administration, Programme for Managing People, Knowledge and Change, 15 University Credit Points (15 ECTS). Authors: Björt Ólafsdóttir & Clarissa Sia Choon YenAdvisors: Mats Alvesson & Susanne LundholmFive key words: Diversity, Discourses, Hypocrisy, Comparison, National contextPurpose: To identify and compare discourses around diversity within two companies operating in two distinct national contexts. One originated from and still situated in Iceland, while the other is a subsidiary for Asia-Pacific market in Singapore with American values from its headquarters in United States. We wish to explore what are the meanings and implications of diversity for the employees of each company, how their discourses on diversity reflect hypocrisy in the organizations and if and how national context has an impact on discourse on diversity.Methodology: Interviews were conducted, transcribed and codified. Comparison and evaluation of the different discourses were examined around diversity and in the talk of interviewees within the two companies.

This qualitative study aimed to examine which discourses can be found within the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (BUP) and women?s shelters against domestic violence, concerning children that have experienced violence within the family, from two perspectives: the child?s need of father and of protection from violence. The study also aimed to examine which discourses can be found within the organisations concerning children?s well-being, how they define their mission concerning domestic violence and how this can affect the practical work with children that have experienced violence and their parents. The questions that the study aimed to answer were which discourses can be distinguished within BUP and the women?s shelters against domestic violence and how they can affect the different agencies? view of the child?s need and well-being.

This essay, Pictures from a death-bed, expands on the pictorial genre called post mortem portraits, a field with long history in the western society. A post mortem portrait is an artwork where the artist paint or photograph the model after her or his dead. My survey delineates to treat two specific pictures, one from the seventeenth century and one from the twentieth century. Both of them are portraits of dead boys on their death-beds, but the first one is a painting and the other one is a photo. By this survey I wanted to find both similarities and differentials between the pictures; if they were made by the same reasons, if you could see anything different between the portraits by children and by the portraits of adults, and finally, if there were any cultural or religious connections between the pictures and their existents.

Based on different integration policies, we aim to examine how five municipalities in Stockholm County are working to promote integration at a local level with focus on voter participation and to some extent, representativeness among foreign-born. Statistics provided by SCB shows that foreign-born tends to vote to a lesser extent than those born in Sweden. Further, we aim to examine the implementation of two policy documents established at a national level concerning integration in contrast to policy documents established at a local level in each different municipality. Further, we aim to examine summaries of actions taken in response to the local integration programs, as well as personal interviews. Each municipality will be considered separately, but we thus seek to make a comparative study.

This study aims to examine Business Intelligence research conduct within Swedish government agencies and workplaces in order to understand the recent debate regarding Business Intelligence research ethics and thus answer the following question: Does Business Intelligence praxis in Sweden meet ethical guidelines recommended by international field experts? A theoretical analysis of relevant and also recent publications, including a Business Intelligence method review, was conducted using qualitative content analysis. In order to validate the results from my theoretical analysis I conducted a series of interviews with a number of professionals who useBusiness Intelligence research in their work and decisionmaking process..

AbstractOur purpose was to understand how social workers experience the possible complexities that working with economical aid can entail. As an example we chose to focus on long-term economical aid work. We aimed to address the question of which factors could affect their work. In a prior study, done by Dellgran & Höjer (2003) the conclusion was drawn  that  the combination of economical aid, healthcare and schools makeup a third of  practical social work in the terms of the proportion of the amount of social workers, but only 8 percent of the research is done in those areas. Other studies (Stranz, 2007) demonstrate that the research that is done on working with economical aid is deficient.

This study investigates how Arabic-speaking students in Sweden use syntax and prepositions in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), and how their writing is influenced by Swedish grammar and Arabic dialects. The focus is on identifying systematic patterns of cross-linguistic influence and variation between different groups of learners. The data consists of written translations by 30 students in grades 7?9 who receive mother tongue instruction in Arabic. All students translated the same Swedish source text into MSA, and the translations were analysed with attention to syntactic structures and the use of prepositions. The theoretical framework draws on transfer theory, interlanguage theory, and the interdependence hypothesis, complemented by perspectives on multilingualism and diglossia. These frameworks make it possible to capture both external influences from Swedish and Arabic dialects, as well as internal processes of second language development.

Abstract Title: Veckorevyn.com. A study from power relations in the world of blogs Author: Klara Sigfridsson Department for Media and Cultural Studies, Malmö Högskola Tutor: Kristoffer Gansing This is a report that aims to research upon Fairclough´s Critical discourse analysis to emphasise the power relationship between professional bloggers and former amateur bloggers at the fashion-entertainment web page Veckorevyn.com. Professional bloggers as they appear in the research object and their power within the Media seem to be a subject that is very relevant these days. This paper will look at different factors that make professional bloggers popular and as an example on their responsibility as a role model. However, amateur bloggers do have an importance in this discussion as they are more and more competing with the professionals.

This essay deals with the paradox of why the immigrants in Sweden, despite their considerable size of 12 % of the population and common interest and living opportunities, haven?t mobilized politically in any significant way. The aim with this essay is to reach a theoretical understanding of why this paradox exist. By the use of a critical case and a theoretical model, based on theories of collective action, the conclusion of this essay is that, despite the fact that the immigrants have a common interest and an organizational structure, the immigrants in Sweden has not mobilized politically in any significant way. The main reason for this is that they have a weak common identity and they don?t have the structural opportunities to act..

The topic of our thesis is Packaging Design as a Brand Building Tool and we are presenting the Scandinavian perspective. We found the topic interesting because, from a theoretical point of view, we identified a scarcity in research focusing on packaging design as a brand management tool, and from a practical point of view, we found out that businesses use packaging design at different levels in their communication efforts. Thus we wanted to provide both academia and business world with a clear picture to what extent and how businesses use packaging design in their brand-building process. Therefore the aim of our thesis is to provide practitioners and academicians alike with a better understanding of how packaging design can be used to create strong brands in the FMCG sector in the Scandinavian market. To reach the stated aim first we provided a solid theoretical background of packaging, its elements and its role in the marketing mix.

In recent years, the demands for effectiveness and evidence in social work have increased in all work areas, including that of healthcare. This has sparked the discussion on concepts such as practical- and theoretical knowledge and their respective roles in social work. In the light of this, the purpose of this candidate thesis is to investigate healthcare social workers understanding of practical- and theoretical knowledge in the working process as well as their respective influence and importance. This candidate thesis is based on three interviews with social workers from different departments in Norrlands Universitetssjukhus in Umeå, Sweden. To provide range to the thesis, the interviewees were chosen from a purposeful sampling.

The focus on this essay is derived from an international and national dialogue for sustainable development. The recommendation from international level has been to find solutions for governments to implement strategies for sustainable development between local and regional level. This initiative is to improve and stimulate the dialogue between the local inhabitants, officials, entrepreneurs and stakeholders in the communities together with the authorities on the regional level. The purpose is to share knowledge and find ways to learn about the natural systems and how to co-operate in the work of preserving the natural resources and developing different processes for a sustainable development. Many scientists? today stress the importance that ecosystem resilience is promoted by biodiversity conservation and that we need to find solutions for local ecosystem management practices.This essay aims to find theoretical approaches and perspectives that can be used in a wider framework to study co-operative processes between the local (agent) and regional (structure) level.

Title: The decisive opinion - A qualitative study of consumers opinions of eight Swedish fashion companies.Seminar date: 2008-01-14Course: Candidate thesis media and communication, 15 ECTS,Authors: Micela Danielsson, Frida ÅhsAdvisor: Larsåke LarssonFive keywords: Profile, Image, Brand, Fashion and AdvertisingPurpose: The purpose with this study is to evaluate and discuss the connection between profile and the companies? image in the eye of the consumer.Methodology: A qualitative method has been used in the paper, focusgruops interview with respondents from Örebro.Theoretical perspectives: The overall theory of the paper is describing fashion theory. profile, identity and image and advertising.Empirical foundation: Consumers from Örebro have made a contribution to the basis of our empirical study.Conclusions: The results show that fashion and clothes play a big part for the consumers and they ascribe it the part as a way to show their identity, image and express them selves. For none of the companies profile and image did not have a full connection, but a lot of times there were parts of the profile and image that had a connection. The questioned states that they get their opinions from merchandise, stores, store employees and different kinds of advertising.

An increased use of social media has enabled a new arena for HR functions and the work with HR issues. Proponents are critical of this, as it can lead to ethical and legal dilemmas. So far the research on this area is limited. On this basis I found it interesting to study how social media is used in connection with the recruitment process. Those who will benefit from this study are primarily those dealing with recruitment, but also others working with HR issues.

The aim of this study was to get knowledge of the communicationprocess between the branch head and the co-worker in communal geriatric care. To narrow it down we focused on how the branch head experience the communicationprocess in conflictsituations between co-workers and what she or he usually do to resolve the conflict. We made qualitative interviews with ten of the branch heads in communal geriatric care, in four communes. The questions we had in mind throughout the study was based on four keywords (communication, leadership, conflict and conflict management) of which we created a narrative story from every interviewing person to get hold of the experience and knowledge behind their interviews. In our analysis as Theoretical perspectives we used system theory, communication theory, attribution theory and the philosophy of Dialogue by Martin Buber.