The purpose of this paper was to gain knowledge about the conversation about developmental opportunities in the organization, and how a company uses it. The focus was on four different themes, purpose of the conversation about developmental opportunities in the organization, planning, execution and content, feedback. The sample consisted of six people, three employees and three managers of the company. The interviews were conducted by an interview guide, one for the employees and one for the managers. The results of the interviews showed that the conversation about developmental opportunities in the organization was used by managers to make all employees to strive in the same direction, an opportunity for employees to reconcile how their work performance is perceived by their managers, the use of a preparation model differs between managers and feedback was important.

Author: Nilsson LindaTitle: Appraisal talk- new ideals and new formsThe purpose of this study was to examine the concept of the appraisal talk. More specifically its aim was to find out more about the function and the meaning of the appraisal talk, for the organization, managers and co-workers point of view, and if there was any specific method applied. Two of the central questions were: How did the managers and co-workers describe the function and the meaning of appraisal talks? Were there any differences or similarities of the respondent?s point of view, depended of their position in the organization? The method of analysis was qualitative with a critical reflective approach. The study was based on interviews with three managers and four co-workers, in the public service of elderly care in Kalmar municipality.

Author: Nilsson LindaTitle: Appraisal talk- new ideals and new formsThe purpose of this study was to examine the concept of the appraisal talk. More specifically its aim was to find out more about the function and the meaning of the appraisal talk, for the organization, managers and co-workers point of view, and if there was any specific method applied. Two of the central questions were: How did the managers and co-workers describe the function and the meaning of appraisal talks? Were there any differences or similarities of the respondent?s point of view, depended of their position in the organization? The method of analysis was qualitative with a critical reflective approach. The study was based on interviews with three managers and four co-workers, in the public service of elderly care in Kalmar municipality.

 Performance appraisals- a study of the performance appraisals significance as a tool for development in the public sector.Anders Larsson and Åsalill OlssonPerformance appraisals have been given a central role in leading businesses in the public sector and are seen as a tool to create development opportunities and achieve better results. This has resulted that performance appraisal in many organizations takes up capacity and time. This was the starting point of our interest to study whether the time spent on performance appraisals effectively pays for itself in the organization, in other words whether the effects expected actually are achieved. The paper examines first line managers` views on staff appraisal purposes and effects of a function within the Landstinget. The survey design, methodology and transaction are of qualitative and quantitative method with three different sources: literature review of previous research, interviews with first line managers in Landstinget Västmanland and the results from an employee satisfaction survey conducted on behalf of Landstinget Västmanland.

 Performance appraisals- a study of the performance appraisals significance as a tool for development in the public sector.Anders Larsson and Åsalill OlssonPerformance appraisals have been given a central role in leading businesses in the public sector and are seen as a tool to create development opportunities and achieve better results. This has resulted that performance appraisal in many organizations takes up capacity and time. This was the starting point of our interest to study whether the time spent on performance appraisals effectively pays for itself in the organization, in other words whether the effects expected actually are achieved. The paper examines first line managers` views on staff appraisal purposes and effects of a function within the Landstinget. The survey design, methodology and transaction are of qualitative and quantitative method with three different sources: literature review of previous research, interviews with first line managers in Landstinget Västmanland and the results from an employee satisfaction survey conducted on behalf of Landstinget Västmanland.

Human capital is professional service firms' most valuable resource and its quality is closely linked to the quality of its services. The purpose of this study is to investigate how professional service firms appraise their employees. A comparative study between an architecture firm and a management consulting firm is conducted with the aim to identify and explain similarities and differences in performance appraisal. Two qualitative case studies are performed and interviews as well as documents are used to explore the area. The thesis builds on a critical perspective and it has an explorative approach.

The purpose of this study is to describe how the employee appraisal is perceived by managers, employees and representatives from human resources departments. The empirical material con-sists of 15 interviews: respondents were two representatives of the human resources departments, four unit managers and nine employees who work at a state institution or municipal management. In the study, I adopt a sociocultural perspective, with the communicative relational perspective. The latter is a special education perspective in which the interpenetration of participation, com-munication and learning emphasized.The result shows that the majority of employees would like to see that the talks will be held more frequently than once a year. One of the managers has in cooperation with his co-workers devel-oped a model based on that each year, in addition to salary talks, have an individual conversation, a conversation with each group and individual follow-up talks.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how theoretical investment appraisal techniques are applied in an investment driven company, regarding investments in fixed assets. The aim is also to investigate on what grounds the choices of techniques are justified, and what consequences these choices have on the overall investment appraisal. The study is designed as a case study of Divisionen, a production unit of a market leading company in Sweden, which is kept anonymous in this thesis. The empirical data consists of interviews with company employees and internal documents, including decision support for seven approved investment projects. The interviewees were chosen based on their role in the investment decision making process.

Computers and business systems are used more frequently in a world where IT gradually is taking over. This is also true when it comes to the real estate valuation process where actors on the Swedish real estate market are using automatic valuation systems for real estate appraisal. But the real estate agents have not yet seen the charm in using these automatic valuation systems for real estate appraisal. Can the real estate agents also use the automatic valuation systems? We developed our three main subjects: the valuation process, an automatic valuation system and the real estate market with assistance from scientific articles.

This master?s paper first presents some of the principal theories and concepts developed by the poverty researchers Rowntree, Titmuss, Townsend, Sen and Lister. These theoretical frameworks are then related to two documents from the EU and Sweden concerning combating poverty and social exclusion, bearing on the establishment of the ?Year 2010 against Poverty?. Finally, I discuss the value in practice of these theories and policy documents, as regards reducing poverty in Europe.It has become clear in this investigation that the theories and concepts from earlier research are still relevant to the formulation of contemporary policy programmes, and that earlier research helps us to avoid old traps in fighting poverty.

This dissertation aims to explore how an investment appraisal differs depending on if it is conducted by a municipal or a private real estate company. Municipal and private real estate companies are not performing on totally equal terms in the property market. A municipal company in Sweden has a public service mission. The consequence due to that mission is that they have limited yield potential but on the other hand the right to certain subsidies. They are also limited by the law of public purchasing (in Swedish: Lag om offentlig upphandling) in the investment process.

This report is a qualitative interview study which central content enlightens how movement and sports effects children?s performance in school. With the help of five different teachers in three different schools questions like; how does movement effect the performance of children in school? Have been answered.Lots of research and litterateur shows that children is doing better physical and mental, the concentration level is improved and the performance in school is better when exposed to more movement, also there are less conflicts and the students gets better motor skills.Comparison with the ?Bunkefloproject? has been done, which was a project in the south of Sweden where they let the children have physical education every day and then they examined how this effected their performance in school. With this basis this report will examine the teachers view on the subject.The result shows that the teachers think that there should be more movement in the daily schedule for the children because they seam to be more happy and concentrates better after movement.

AbstractThe indoor environment affects the human performance. Noise pollution, poor lightning and coloring are some of the factors that affect our work performance. The human is also affected by the air change and temperature, these factors are in most buildings possible to adjust and through this make economic savings. To find out about the indoor environment in the O-building a questionnaire was handed out, measurements/surveys and an interview was also made. 108 questionnaires where handed out to employees and students.

This thesis examines the subject of reference interviews and the ways librarians form an opinion of users information needs. Using literature and interviews with three librarians I look at the questions below: - Why and when are reference interviews needed? - What significance do they have? - What ideas exist about the performance of reference interviews? - Are there any differences in librarians views of the questions above compared to views in the literature? Results from literature studies and interviews show that reference interviews can be important when librarians try to find out more about users information needs. However its neither necessary nor possible to analyse all reference questions. Librarians therefore need to determine if a reference interview is needed or not.

Purpose - To analyze the relationship between supply chain management maturity, supply chain performance and financial performance in small and medium-sized enterprises (SME:s).Design/methodology/approach - The data comprises 15 SME:s that participated in a local logistic study in Gävleborgs län. The levels of supply chain mature within these firms were based upon an interview study and the financial performance of the firms was then examined using financial reports-based data.Findings -The results of this study indicate that there is a strong relationship between SCM maturity and SC performance in SMEs, some relationships between SCM maturity and financial performance, as well as some relationships between SC performance and financial performance. This means that if firms use maturity indicators in the SCOR areas to improve their processes, they will most likely achieve a positive effect on supply chain performance and probably also on financial performance. The result implies that the supply chain maturities in these firms are higher than expected with no one at the adHoc level.While this study is based on a rather small number of participating firms, it would be valuable to further test the significance of the indicated correlations between SCM maturity and performance in a large-scale survey.Research limitations/Implications - The research is an attempt to understand supply chain maturity and it´s implication on financial performance. Developing supply chain maturity is an opportunity for a company to gain superior performance.