Employees can be resistant to work-based change, specifically when the change is due to disruptive or new technology. The purpose of this descriptive phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of 20 Swiss-based educational employees adapting to online technologies introduced in their workplaces. Disruptive innovation theory provided the conceptual framework for the study. Data were collected using semistructured interviews with 20 purposely selected participants from 3 Swiss-based higher education campuses. The modified Van Kaam method was used to organize and analyze the data. Four themes from participants' responses were identified: educational employees are not resistant to technology-based change, educational employees can move forward and become excited even when frustrated, educational managers should develop commitment and a project-based focus to reduce additional expenditure of time and effort, and continued experience and personal development can enable technology use and reduce resistance. Findings from the study may be used to reduce employees' resistance to technological-based change in higher education. The successful development and use of online education tools by educators provides society with choices, mobility, flexibility, and a personalized approach to learning.

The dissertation’s subject matter is mergers and acquisitions (“M&A”). The reason standing behind the dissertation is the ever growing number of announced M&A transactions around the world. The research shows why M&A are important for the company management and why managers today see them as one of the greatest challenges. The work includes a chapter dedicated to the history of M&A and its current state, which has been affected by the financial crisis. One of the main objectives of the dissertation is to connect the economic and legal views on M&A. The work confronts theoretical knowledge with actual M&A cases. In order to provide a clearer understanding of M&A, cases of both successful and unsuccessful M&A transactions in various industries are described. The dissertation includes a detailed description of the specific stages in the M&A process. It deals with the preparatory stage, due diligence, implementation, and the subsequent integration of the two and more merged companies. The dissertation also provides evaluation of the individual stages’ importance. Special attention is given to the most frequent problems occurring during the entire M&A process: human resources and the integration process. In addition, the dissertation responds to the changes in economic environment that took place between the economic boom, at the beginning of the millennium, and the recession that commenced in autumn 2008. It also shows possible future developments in M&A. The dissertation was based on a review of the existing secondary sources; on primary research in companies with experience in M&A, and on collaboration with the tutor and other experts in the M&A field. On the grounds of secondary sources review, primary research, and discussions with experts, a guide on how to successfully implement an M&A transaction was prepared. The dissertation is to serve for didactic purposes in educating future managers, as a guide for companies’ management which implement M&A transaction, and should provide a basis for further research and scientific work in the M&A field. The dissertation’s conclusion evaluates hypotheses formulated prior to its elaboration.

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Leadership has been of the highest interest for decades as leaders are one of the main factors for organisational success. However, when understanding start-ups the classical leadership theories lack insight into how a leader can grow and thrive together with the organisation. The most used theories today determine what is generally understood as good and bad leadership styles. However, these fail to incorporate the start-ups' unique position and the leaders´ dynamic relationship with their organisation. Start-ups act in new, uncertain environments and more than two-thirds end up failing before growing into an established organisation. The critical phase in which the leaders could affect whether a start-up shall grow or fail is called the transition phase.  This study therefore aims to understand the perspective of leaders in start-ups through growth. By looking through the leaders' perspective, the study investigates how the transformational- and transactional leadership affect start-ups through growth. The second aim of the thesis is to gain a further understanding of the managerial challenges leaders face due to start-up growth.  The study was conducted through qualitative interviews with CEOs and top managerial founders of start-ups in the Northern region of Sweden. The studies managers had all been part of the organisation's growth journey and provided unique insights into the mind of a leader.  The findings portray two main trends of leadership, proactive and reactive. These findings provide insight into the importance of knowledge and positive attitudes toward change as contributing factors for proactively working towards adaptation and development. The findings also portrayed that managerial challenges are mostly connected to the lack of knowledge of leadership. The study concludes with a proposed framework, introducing a complementary dimension to the body of literature on leadership and growth. The dimensions are “Knowledge of leadership” and “Positive attitudes of change”.

This study explored the challenges faced by enterprises in adapting to the rapid digital transformation driven by Industry 4.0 technologies. Evaluating there turn on investment and measuring the business value of digital solutions can be difficult. Furthermore, it investigated the feasibility of enhancing the business value of the cloud-based application, Digital Dealer, through change management. It has a particular focus on the manufacturing and automation industry. The research was shaped by the literature review, which provided a theoretical basis and guided the case study design, leading to the development of a conceptual framework. The thesis employed an exploratory approach, utilizing an inductive methodology and gathering data through interviews and document analysis. The results shows that the definition of a digital tool’s contribution to business value varies among stakeholders. Effective change management is crucial, while barriers to adoption include perceived value, resistance to change, and technical issues. To increase and maintain the business value of digital tools companies should prioritize clear communication, stakeholder engagement, and continuous evaluation. This is concluded to enable effective implementation and enhancement of new technologies in their operations. / Denna studie undersökte de utmaningar som företagen står inför när de ska anpassa sig till den snabba digitala omvandlingen som drivs av Industri 4.0-teknik. Det kan vara svårt att utvärdera avkastningen på investeringen och mäta affärsvärdet av digitala lösningar. Fortsättningsvis, undersöktes möjligheten att öka affärsvärdet för den molnbaserade applikationen Digital Dealer genom förändringsledning. Den har ett särskilt fokus på tillverknings- och automationsindustrin. Forskningen formades av litteratur studien, som gav en teoretisk grund och vägledde utformningen av fallstudien, vilket ledde till utvecklingen av ett konceptuellt ramverk. Avhandlingen har en explorativ ansats med en induktiv metodik och datainsamling genom intervjuer och dokumentanalys. Resultaten visar att definitionen av ett digitalt verktygs bidrag till affärsvärdet varierar mellan olika aktörer. Effektiv förändringsledning är avgörande, medan hinder för adoption inkluderar upplevt värde, motstånd mot förändring och tekniska problem. För att öka och bibehålla affärsvärdet av digitala verktyg bör företag prioritera tydlig kommunikation, engagemang från aktörer och kontinuerlig utvärdering. Detta för att möjliggöra en effektiv implementering och förbättring av ny teknik i verksamheten.

Many companies must undergo organizational changes to achieve a more efficient business. This essay has focused on studying a small company, its development as well as its need for change. The company, Pärlans Konfektyr AB, is a manufacturing company located in Stockholm that has been operating since 2010. The company has in recent years, firmly increased its sales and is facing a number of changes as the company has grown.   The need for changes was mainly identified as technical, because of the need to implement a new business system. Understanding how a change takes place and how an organization can accomplish an implementation effectively is important as it requires a lot of time and resources. This has been investigated by studying theories and models for successful change and implementation work in previous research. The purpose of the study is to create an understanding of what kind of organizational changes a small company stands in front of and how these can be implemented in a successful way. The survey is a qualitative study and in order to be able to answer the study's research question, an interview survey has been applied, where the data has been analyzed and compared with previous research in the field. The conclusion of this study is that Pärlans Konfektyr AB is in a stage of ‘’growing pains’’ which leads to different challenges for companies that have strong growth in a short time. In combination with this growth, there is a need for new structures and routines in the business, for which several models from previous research can serve as auxiliary tools.

Individual food choices have a considerable impact on public health and the environment. The incidence of nutrition-related diseases has been continuously increasing during the last decades. Diets higher in plant-based foods have shown to be healthier and more environmentally sustainable.Many urban social innovation projects based on citizen engagement and community building are able to influence food consumption habits. However, there is a large variety of projects, which target specific population groups and focus on different sustainability issues. To understand how social innovation projects located in Germany, and especially Berlin, use citizen engagement and community creation to encourage nutritious and sustainable food choices, the research team conducted a qualitative research study consisting of semi-structured interviews and participant observations. The results were compared and validated using different social change, social innovation, network and leadership theories. When people with various backgrounds come together over a shared purpose and interact with each other, they can influence each other’s opinions and behaviors. A physical community setting was shown to be efficient to create awareness about sustainable and nutritious food choices. In order to include all population groups, citizens need to feel heard and understood, and have to be directly engaged in the decision-making process. A need for a leadership figure or a democratic leadership group is highlighted, and a combination of ‘transformational leadership’ and ‘authentic leadership’ styles proved to be the most effective. Urban food social innovation projects tend to cooperate with each other, as well as with other leaders and organizations, influencing them and serving as role models. These findings can help social innovation projects that implement citizen engagement and community building practices to efficiently promote nutritious and plant-based food choices among an urban population. Since this study is based on a limited number of organizations in Berlin and other regions of Germany, further research in other urban and/or rural environments is needed.

The purpose of this bachelor’s thesis is to examine what changes have taken place in space and spatialisation at hospital libraries during Covid-19 and how the changes have been experienced by the librarians. The empirical material consists of five semi-structured interviews conducted during April 2022. In the development of the interview guide and analysis of the interviews, the theoretical framework "La Production de l'Espace" by Henri Lefebvre has been used. Lefebvre’s theory is based on the fact that the social space is produced in a three-part dialectic based on the three dimensions: the perceived space, the conceived space and the lived space. The research questions for this study are: What changes were implemented at the hospital library during the pandemic? How have these changes been experienced by hospital librarians? How do the spatial dimensions of Lefebvre’s theory interact in the changes that the hospital library has implemented? The result of the study shows that the biggest changes that took place at hospital libraries during Covid-19 were that they needed to close their physical services and thereby increase digital communication, and that the librarians felt that the changes mainly had positive effects for the library and their own work situation. The results also show how the dialectical relationship between the dimensions is made visible through changes as a change of space and spatialisation affects and is expressed in several dimensions. By making changes in the library room, the physical aspects are affected, which in turn affects the experience of the room and also how we produce the room we are in. / Syftet med denna kandidatuppsats är att undersöka vilka förändringar som skett i rum och rumslighet på sjukhusbibliotek under Covid-19 samt hur förändringarna upplevts av bibliotekarierna. Det empiriska materialet består av fem semistrukturerade intervjuer genomförda under april 2022. Vid framtagande av intervjuguide och analys av intervjuerna har det teoretiska ramverket ”La Production de l’Espace” av Henri Lefebvre använts. Lefebvres teori grundar sig i att det sociala rummet producerats i en tredelad dialektik utifrån de tre dimensionerna: det upplevda rummet, det föreställda rummet och det levda rummet. Frågeställningarna för studien är: Vilka förändringar genomfördes på sjukhusbiblioteket under pandemin? Hur har dessa förändringar upplevts av sjukhusbibliotekarierna? Hur samspelar de rumsliga dimensionerna i Lefebvres teori i de förändringar som sjukhusbiblioteken har genomfört? Resultatet av studien visar att de största förändringarna som skett på sjukhusbiblioteket var att de behövde ha stängt för fysiska besök och därigenom öka den digitala kommunikationen samt att bibliotekarierna upplever att förändringarna främst gav positiva effekter för biblioteket och sin egen arbetssituation. Resultatet visar även hur det dialektiska samspelet mellan dimensionerna synliggörs genom förändringarna eftersom en förändring av rum och rumslighet påverkar och tas i uttryck i flera dimensioner. Genom att göra förändringar i biblioteksrummet påverkas de fysiska aspekterna vilket i sin tur påverkar upplevelsen av rummet och även hur vi producerar rummet vi befinner oss i.

Jordens befolkning ökar samtidigt som jordens resurser minskar och klimatförändringarna blir alltmer akuta. Bygg- och fastighetsbranschen står för en betydande mängd av det totala avfallet ivärlden. För att vända denna trend måste återbruk av byggmaterial öka. Idag finns få etableradesystem för att återbruka material som har tjänat sitt syfte i en byggnad. Däremot börjar flera aktörerinse vikten av att ändra flödet av materialen inom respektive organisation och tillämpa metodersom är anpassade för cirkulär ekonomi. För att så mycket material som möjligt ska återbrukas krävsmer omfattande förändringar på samhällsnivå.Det finns åtgärder som varje aktör själv kan ändra för att öka materialåterbruket och därmedminimera mängden avfall. Examensarbetets målsättning är därför att skapa en bild avuppfattningen och arbetet kring återbruk i ett stort svenskt fastighetsbolag och andra aktörer i närasamarbete med Fastighetsbolaget. Existerande utvecklingsmöjligheter har även identifierats för attminska mängden bygg- och rivningsavfall genom att öka återbruket av byggmaterial. Vidare harlösningar föreslagits för hur en byggherreorganisation kan utveckla arbetet med återbruk avbyggmaterial. Syftet med examensarbetet är att öka kunskapen om återbruk för att effektiviseradess implementering och därmed förbättra resursanvändningen ur ett långsiktigt perspektiv.Studien visar att det råder en kunskapsbrist kring innebörden av återbruk och en variation idefinitionen av begreppet, vilka är två viktiga faktorer som försvårar implementeringsprocessen.Kunskapsbristen medför att det är svårt att motivera och öka återbruket i ett redan etableratarbetssätt. För att öka återbruk av byggmaterial i bygg- och fastighetsbranschen måste kunskapenom ämnet öka och spridas, exempelvis genom utbildningar eller god kommunikation inombranschen. De föreslagna metoderna för att öka motivationen är att ledningsgrupper tydligtkommunicerar de mål man vill uppnå och hur dessa mål ska uppnås. Vidare föreslås mer praktiskaalternativ på hur återbruk kan effektiviseras genom att tidigt planera för återbruk vid projekteringenav en byggnad eller lokal, använda standardiserade lösningar, bygga med demonterbara material,införa digitala verktyg för inventering och dokumentering, samt att implementera hyressystem förvaror där ett retursystem till materialtillverkaren möjliggör för ett senare återbruk. / The world population is growing while the planets resources are decreasing, and the climate changeis becoming increasingly acute. The construction and real estate industry accounts for a significantamount of the total waste in the world. To reverse this trend, reuse of building materials mustincrease. There are few established systems today for reusing materials that have served theirpurpose in a building. However, several actors begin to understand the importance of changingthe flow of materials within their organization and applying methods adapted to circular economy.In order for as much material as possible to be reused, more extensive changes are required at thesocietal level.There are actions that each party can change in order to increase material reuse and therebyminimize the amount of waste. The aim of the degree project is therefore to create an image of theperception and work on reuse in a large Swedish real estate company and other actors in closecooperation with the Real Estate Company. Existing development opportunities have also beenidentified for reducing the amount of construction and demolition waste by increasing the reuseof building materials. Furthermore, solutions have been proposed for how a developerorganization can expand their work with reuse of building materials. The purpose of the thesis isto increase the knowledge of reuse in order to streamline its implementation, thus improvingresource use in a long-term perspective.The study shows that there is a lack of knowledge about the meaning of reuse and a variation inthe definition of the concept. These are two important factors that make the implementationprocess difficult. The lack of knowledge means that it is difficult to motivate and increase reuse inan already established working method. In order to increase the reuse of building materials in theconstruction and real estate industry, knowledge of the subject must increase and be spread, eg.through education or good communication within the industry. The proposed strategies forincreasing motivation are that management teams clearly communicate the goals they want toachieve and how these goals will be achieved. Furthermore, the study proposes more practicalalternatives on how reuse can be made more efficient by planning for reuse at an early stage whendesigning a building, using standardized solutions, building with demountable materials,introducing digital tools for inventory and documentation and implementing rental systems forgoods where a return system for the material manufacturer enables a later reuse.

Six Sigma is one of the most successful improvement strategies of the last 5 decades and has been implemented worldwide by organizations in different sectors and sizes. Despite the popularity, 60% of all Six Sigma initiatives are abandoned or end in failure. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to investigate what factors large manufacturing enterprises in Sweden need to prioritize to introduce Six Sigma successfully. The research was conducted as a holistic multiple-case study where qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews with three companies. A thematic analysis was made to identify patterns between the companies about critical success factors associated with Six Sigma, Change Management, and Organizational culture. It was shown that Company 1 has introduced Six Sigma but has no defined plan on how to move forward with the initiative. Company 2 has fully introduced the method and is actively working with it, while Company 3 has failed with the introduction of Six Sigma. All identified factors were rated as either a success or a failure factor for each case company. The success factors differentiating Company 2 from the other case companies have been evaluated to be the most critical success factors. Top management commitment, Organizational support, Organizational culture, Communication, and Strategic plan have been identified as the most critical success factors that must be prioritized to introduce Six Sigma successfully. Furthermore, cultural factors such as communication between departments, supportive managers, and committed top management have been identified as important to introduce Six Sigma successfully. The results of this study can be applied to successfully introduce change initiatives in large manufacturing enterprises in Sweden.