This thesis investigates the activities of two secondary schools in relation to their duty to promote community cohesion (intercultural understanding and cohesion within communities) and their engagement in global educational partnerships and international activities. In particular this study seeks to ascertain if there is a relationship between community cohesion and global educational partnerships –whether the activities and outcomes from one could inform the other in relation to intercultural understanding. There is little research on the relationship between these two initiatives. The research explores the understanding and experiences of staff involved in these initiatives in the two schools and that of pupils in Key Stages 3, 4 and 5 (11-18 years). Data is generated through semi-structured interviews and document analysis, providing a rich description of participants’ understanding and whole-school activities. What has emerged from the findings is a complex and subtle picture of two schools and their interpretations of their duty to promote community cohesion, engage in international activities, and the relationship between the two. Effective practice is identified such as developing inclusive perspectives through pupil peer-led teaching. However, barriers to effective practice have also been identified and include how cultural diversity is understood and presented through binary perceptions of ‘Other’. Such perspectives, alongside complex paternal power relations evident in educational partnerships with schools in the global South, are identified as problematic in the promotion of intercultural understanding and cohesion. The dominant political discourse, guidance for schools and the role of the schools’ inspection framework (Ofsted) are also influencing factors. Postcolonial Theory is used to interrogate policy and practice and presents alternative perspectives, and these, it is contended, can offer new ways forward in creating a ‘third’ space for intercultural understanding through global educational partnerships and community cohesion.

This student thesis in General Management addresses how leaders can bridge the gap between work groups and teams in geographically dispersed organizations and partially distributed teams. These types of organizational structures are increasingly common in the globalized world of business, and bring benefits to many organizations by for example connecting skilled workers regardless of their location through the means of information and communications technology. However, previous research within the field of work in dispersed settings has identified several challenges that these settings entail, including areas like for example group cohesion and motivation. If not handled, these challenges may have negative effects on team performance and organizational effectiveness. Previous studies have mostly targeted the challenges in isolation. The purpose of this study is to provide a holistic perspective, connecting different challenges in order to pinpoint reasons and effects. By identifying consequences that follow from being geographically dispersed and investigating how the challenges affect a real-world organization, the study aims to suggest countermeasures to deal with these consequences. Theory is built using Informed Grounded Theory, based on primary data from 21 in-depth interviews conducted at a Swedish high tech company. Through an analysis combining the primary data with secondary data stemming from relevant literature, the study presents conclusions including suggested countermeasures to overcome challenges imposed by work in dispersed settings. The study identifies communication as the key factor with possibility to affect group cohesion and motivation directly, and thereby also performance indirectly. Thoughtful use of different types of communication can in fact counteract challenges and lead to increased productivity and well-being. The study has implications for organizations that are planning for, or currently utilizing a dispersed organizational structure, and aids in understanding the collected effects of the challenges involved. The study is conducted at one company, which can be seen as a limitation. To counteract for this limitation, the researchers have put in effort to emphasize generalizable factors.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka lagidrottares uppfattning av tränarens uppgiftsinvolvering och dess effekt på upplevd lagsammanhållning och idrottsprestation utifrån kön och tävlingsnivå. Kopplingar gjordes till Need Achievement Theory, Achievement Goal Theory och Multidimensional Model of Leadership. Deltagare bestod av totalt N=220 manliga och kvinnliga lagidrottare från allsvenskan till U17. Frågeformulären bestod av CSAI-2, PeerMCYSQ och LSS. Resultaten visar att elitpresterande män har mer konkurrens inom lag och uppfattar tränaren som mer demokratisk än elitpresterande kvinnor. Elitpresterande kvinnor har mer förbättring inom lag. Amatörpresterande män har mindre konkurrens och uppfattar tränaren som mindre uppgiftsinvolverad. Slutsatsen är att lagidrottares olika uppfattning av tränares beteende kan bero på idrottares ansträngning, relationer och autonomi. Resultaten diskuteras i relation till tidigare studier och teori. Förslag på implikationer och framtida studie ges. / The purpose of this study was to investigate team sport athletes perception of the coachs’ task involvement and its’ effect on perceived team cohesion and athletic performance by gender and competition level. Connections were made to Need Achievement Theory, Achievement Goal Theory, and Multidimensional Model of Leadership. Participants consisted of a total of N=220 male and female team sport athletes from allsvenskan to U17. The questionnaires consisted of CSAI-2, PeerMCYSQ and LSS. The results shows that elite performing men have more competition within the team and perceive the coach as more democratic than elite performing women. Elite performing women have more improvement within the team. Amateur performing men have less competition and perceive the coach as less task involved. The conclusion is that team sport athletes varied perception of coaches behavior can depend on athletes effort, relations and autonomy. The results are discussed in relation to previous studies and theory. Suggestions on implications and future study is given.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka huruvida kommunikationen mellan medarbetare på en psykiatrisk intensivvårdsavdelning kan fungera som ett förebyggande verktyg för medarbetarnas upplevda psykosociala arbetsmiljö. Studien är genomförd med en kvalitativ metod där empirin har samlats in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med sju medarbetare på en psykiatriska intensivvårdsavdelning. Empirin har tolkats genom en hermeneutisk ansats. Resultatet av studien visar att den interna kommunikationen mellan medarbetarna har en stor inverkan för den upplevda arbetsmiljön. På grund av den studerade avdelningens stundtals påfrestande och stressiga arbetssituation var de faktorer som påtalades som viktigast för att må bra på arbetet sammanhållning, förtroende, öppen kommunikation och humor. Dessa framkommer genom studien vara kommunikativa verktyg som går att arbeta förebyggande för att främja välmående på arbetsplatsen. / The aim of this study is to examine how communication between co-workers in a psychiatric intensive care unit can function as a preventive tool on the co-workers perceived work environment. The study is conducted through the use of a qualitative method. The result stems from semi-structured interviews with seven co-workers in the psychiatric intensive care unit. The result has been interpreted trough a hermeneutic approach. The empirical data of the study shows that the internal communication between the co-workers has a big impact on the perceived work environment. Due to the sometimes tough and stressful work environment of the care unit, the most distinguishing factors shown to be important for the well-being at the workplace were: group cohesion, trust, open communication and humour. These are through the study found to be communicative tools that can be used in the proactive work to foster the well-being on the workplace.

In October of 1998 the category 5 storm, Hurricane Mitch, struck Nicaragua, leaving in its wake mass destruction and devastation. Numerous aid agencies and social organisations poured funds into the country to assist in emergency disaster relief efforts, and to rebuild the lives of those who lost their homes and livelihoods (damnificados). El Mirador in the city of Matagalpa is one example of the many communities built with aid monies after Hurricane Mitch. This thesis uses qualitative data constructed from in-depth interviews with participants (community members in El Mirador) to understand the level of successful community development that has been achieved, the ability for longer term sustainability as a result of community development strategies, and the areas in which community development has failed. Through an examination of the relationship the community has with the NGO the Communal Movement, the question of long term sustainability becomes important. The most telling indicator (that development practice is unsustainable) is the unproductive coping mechanisms of community members as aid and social organisations withdraw leaving members with ineffective social networks and at times uncooperative behaviour. Added into this is the arrival of new members into the community, and squatters, who have only added to the feelings of segregation already apparent, as a 'them and us' mentality develops. This study provides a detailed case specific analysis of community development through disaster relief efforts. It highlights some of the consistent, broad inefficiencies as well as more location and situation specific difficulties of community development. Moreover, it adds to the growing body of literature researching how disaster relief can become more effective and sustainable in the longer term.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is guided by a collection of principles known as the ASEAN Way, which emphasizes sovereignty and consensus. When external pressures have forced ASEAN to face contentious issues, internal divisions have torn at the group’s cohesion, and consensus has proved difficult to reach. When Myanmar’s military dictatorship was put on the fast track to ASEAN membership in the mid-1990s, democratic Thailand and the Philippines objected, and strong Western pressure to delay Burmese accession put the group in a difficult spot. Fifteen years later, territorial disputes in the South China Sea pitted ASEAN claimant states against non-claimant counterparts inclined to support an assertive and wealthy China’s point of view. In the first case, reaction against US attempts to sway ASEAN’s decision united the group in support of Myanmar’s admission; in the second case, China’s economic inducements succeeded in dividing the group, to the extent that a 2012 summit ended in disagreement and rancor. ASEAN will need to revise some aspects of the ASEAN Way, particularly sovereignty norms, and create greater binding force to generate the cohesion necessary to effectively deal with future regional problems.

I denna studie undersöks hur gemenskap och sammanhållning i en ungdomsblåsorkester ser ut och hanteras både utifrån orkesterledarens och de deltagande ungdomarnas synvinkel. Även betydelsen av gemenskap och sammanhållning och hur den tar sin form är frågor som besvaras i uppsatsen. Datamaterialet består av intervjuer med olika grupper av ungdomar ur den studerade ungdomsorkestern samt en intervju med orkesterns ledare. Den studerade orkestern kommer från en stad i mellersta Sverige. I resultatet visas att det är viktigt med en orkestergemenskap och att gemenskapen fås och visar sig i både sociala och musikaliska aktiviteter som bland annat resor, läger, fikastunder, repetitioner och konserter. Blåsorkestern har tydliga musikaliska mål med sin verksamhet och både Ledaren och ungdomarna vill att orkestern ska låta bra och uppnå goda musikaliska resultat. För att nå goda resultat menar Ledaren att gemenskap och sammanhållning är en förutsättning för att verksamheten och det musikaliska arbetet ska fungera. De sociala aktiviteterna ses visserligen som viktiga och för många en bidragande orsak att stanna kvar i Blåsorkestern, men själva musicerandet ses ändå som det allra viktigaste. Resultaten diskuteras utifrån formella och informella aktiviteter med utgångspunkt i teorier om grupper och dess processer, ledarskapsteorier och teorier om sammanhållning. / The present study examines how the community and cohesion in a youth wind band may appear and is handled both by the orchestra conductor and the participating youth's point of view. The importance of community and cohesion and how it takes its shape are questions that are answered in the study. The data material consists of interviews with different youth groups from the studied youth wind band and an interview with the wind band's conductor. The studied band comes from a town in central Sweden. The result shows that it is important to have an orchestra community and that the community is present and active through both social and musical activities, including trips, camps, coffee breaks, rehearsals and concerts. The wind band has clear musical goals with their activities and both the leader and the youth strive for a good sound and to achieve good musical results. In order to achieve good results the leader emphasizes that community and cohesion is essential for the activities and the musical work to function. The social activities are certainly regarded as important and for many a contributing factor to remain in the wind band, but musicianship is still seen as the most important factor. The results are discussed based on formal and informal activities on the basis of theories of groups and its processes, leadership theories and theories of cohesion.

The growing awareness of functional linkages between rural and urban territories has led to a re-thinking of the rural-urban dichotomy. This was flanked by a more general reconceptualization of space, directly coming from the rise of spatial planning and the shifting process from government to governance. Thus, the concept of “soft space” came to the fore, defined as the space of governance and integrated approach. The EU Commission has launched a new instrument aimed at fostering the territorial approach of the new Cohesion Policy, namely the Integrated Territorial Investment (ITI). This research wants to investigate the added value of the ITI instrument in governing and institutionalizing the rural-urban linkages at the metropolitan level. In doing so, the author has created a conceptual framework based on three main concepts directly coming from the concept of soft space, namely institutionalization, governance capacity, and integrated approach. The empirical study is focused on Poland, in particular, dealing with the case of Warsaw, Krakow, and Wroclaw. As a result, this research argues that the ITI in Poland has represented an attempt to improve the cooperation between capital cities and their surrounding areas, even though its outcomes can be questionable.

Vi kämpar för något, vi är förortssoldater. Det är ett alltmer förekommande fenomen att ungdomar i förorter runt om i Sverige samt internationellt startar upplopp och av olika anledningar skapar en motreaktion där de går till attack mot polisen. Syftet med denna uppsats är att lyfta samt ta del av ungdomar boende i Kronogårdens röst, samt får en djupare förståelse för ungdomarnas upplevelser kring polisens agerande tiden före samt under upploppet som var i Kronogården den 31/8 – 2/9 2016. Som avgränsning har vi valt att vända oss till ungdomar boende i Kronogården som deltagit aktivt eller varit närvarande under upploppet. Studien genomfördes i en hermeneutisk-femenologisk forskningsansats med kvalitativa intervjuer. Studiens empiri bygger på ett antal intervjuer med sex ungdomar i åldrarna mellan 16-24. Studiens resultat analyseras med hjälp av tidigare forskning samt relevant utvalda teoretiska begrepp. De begrepp vi använder oss av i studien är makt, social sammanhållning och stigmatisering, detta för att kunna få en djupare förståelse för samt kunna tolka ungdomarnas upplevelser. I resultatet framkommer det att ungdomarna upplever att de blir trakasserade av poliser och orättvist behandlade jämfört med ungdomar boende i andra områden samt att upploppet var deras motreaktion, ett sätt att uttrycka sin frustration och göra sin röst hörd. Det framkommer även att det finns olika uppfattningar om polisen och dess bemötande samt agerande, beroende på om polisen arbetar inom närpolisen eller den utomstående polisen. Vidare visar även resultatet att området, Kronogården har en stor betydelse för ungdomarna där det finns en stark social sammanhållning och att ungdomarna upplever att media till stor del har bidragit till den negativ bild som finns om Kronogården och om ungdomarna som bor där. / We are fighting for something; we are soldiers of the suburb. It's a reoccurring phenomenon that the young people in the suburbs around Sweden and around the world starts riots and for different reasons it creates a reaction where they go to attack against the police. The purpose of this essay is to uplift and take a part of the voice of the youth from Kronogården, and furthermore get a deeper understanding of the experience that the young people got from law enforcement both during and after the riots on the 31/8 – 2/9 2016. As a demarcation we have chosen to focus on the youth living in Kronogården that have participated or were present during the riots. This study was conducted in Hermeneuticphenomenological research approach with qualitative interviews. The ground of the study is emphasizing the interviews from 6 young persons from the ages 16-24. The essay is analyzed with help from previous researched and relevant theoretic notions. The notions we use in this essay are power, social cohesion and stigma, so that we can get a deeper understanding and accurate interpretations of the young people's experiences. In the result it appears that the youth feel harassed and unfairly treated by the police in comparison to other young people living in other neighborhood's and that their action against the police is actually a reaction to the treatment from law enforcement. Their way of expressing a discontent and frustration and a way to get heard. It also appears to be several different perceptions about the police and their conduct, depending if it's the community police or an outside law enforcement. Furthermore it also show that the community Kronogården has an enormous impact both emotional and physical on the people, they have sense of belonging and a very strong cohesion between the residents and they feel that media is a huge contribution to the negative interpretation of both the young people that live there and of the community as a whole.

Le complexe cohésine maintient associées les chromatides sœurs depuis la réplication jusqu’à leur ségrégation en mitose. Une question majeure est de comprendre comment la cohésion est établie lors de la phase S. Chez les mammifères et S. pombe, les cohésines sont associées de manière labile aux chromosomes pré-réplicatifs et l’établissement de la cohésion en phase S s’accompagne de la stabilisation de l’association des cohésines aux chromosomes. L’objectif de ce travail est de comprendre comment la dynamique des cohésines est régulée et comment son inhibition créée la cohésion.En G1 les cohésines associées aux chromosomes s’échangent avec le pool soluble et leur dissociation dépend de Pds5 et Wapl. La première partie de ce travail présente les résultats d’un crible génétique visant à identifier de nouveaux régulateurs de la dynamique des cohésines.L’établissement de la cohésion nécessite l’acétyltransférase Eso1 mais pas en contexte Δwpl1, indiquant que la seule mais essentielle fonction d’Eso1 est de s’opposer à celle de Wapl. L’acétylation de Smc3 par Eso1 contribue mais n’est pas suffisante pour contrecarrer Wapl, suggérant l’existence d’un autre événement dépendant d’Eso1. En G1, Pds5 agit avec Wapl pour dissocier les cohésines des chromosomes mais après la phase S, Pds5 est requise pour leur maintien sur les chromosomes et pour la cohésion à long terme. Pds5 co-localise avec la fraction stable de cohésines mais pas Wapl. Nous suggérons un modèle dans lequel la cohésion est créée par deux événements d’acétylation couplés à la progression de la fourche de réplication conduisant à l’éviction de Wapl des cohésines destinées à produire la cohésion. / Following DNA replication, sister chromatids are connected by cohesin to ensure their correct segregation during mitosis. How cohesion is created is still enigmatic. The cohesin subunit Smc3 becomes acetylated by ECO1, a conserved acetyl-transferase, and this change is required for cohesion. As in mammals, fission yeast cohesin is not stably bound to G1 chromosomes but a fraction becomes stable when cohesion is made. The aim of this work was to understand how cohesin dynamics is regulated and how the change in cohesin dynamics creates cohesion.In G1 chromatin bound cohesin exchange with the soluble pool and the unloading reaction relies in part on Wapl. The first part of this study reports on the identification of G1/S factors as new candidate regulators of cohesin dynamics.Following S phase a stable cohesin fraction is made. The acetyl-transferase Eso1 is not required for this reaction when the wpl1 gene is deleted. Yet, it is in wild-type cells, showing that the sole but essential Eso1 function is counteracting Wapl. Eso1 acetylates the cohesin sub-unit Smc3. This renders cohesin less sensitive to Wapl but does not confer the stable binding mode, suggesting the existence of a second Eso1-dependent event. The cohesin sub-unit Pds5 act together with Wapl to promote cohesin removal from G1 chromosomes but after S phase Pds5 is essential for cohesin retention on chromosomes and long term cohesion. Pds5 co-localizes with the stable cohesin fraction whereas Wapl does not. We suggest a model in which cohesion establishment is made by two acetylation events coupled to fork progression leading to Wapl eviction while keeping Pds5 on cohesin complexes intended to make cohesion.