In multicultural societies like Canada where cultural diversity always exist, ethnic groups strive to preserve their cultural heritage and not become assimilated by the mainstream culture. Today, ethnic groups such as the Hellenic Community of Ottawa seek innovative means to sustain cultural elements such as ethnic language, religious beliefs, and social, cultural and leisure pursuits. This phenomenological study presents the perspectives of recent administrators of the Hellenic School of Ottawa toward language and cultural maintenance. The results of this study indicate that the Hellenic School of Ottawa is vital and effective for maintaining the Hellenic culture and language beyond the 3rd and 4th generation, as it includes the instruction of Greek language and familiarization with Greek culture. The results also indicate that students of the language school: (1) Are provided with an opportunity to learn Greek which may not be received at home, (2) learn to appreciate their ethnic heritage through language oriented leisure activities, (3) make friendships with those of same ethnic cultural heritage, (4) learn to have a deeper appreciation of multiculturalism and its place in Canadian society, and (5) develop confidence to speak their ethnic language. This study also provides suggestions for the enhancement of the operation of the HSO, such as addition of more Greek-content leisure activities, organization of trips to Greece, and expansion of the instructional time.

As intolerance against Mexican Americans and Mexican migrants persists in the United States-- apparent in the passage of Arizona State Bill 1070, Arizona House Bill 2281, and multiple English-only laws-- Chicanas and Mexicanas continue to resist by sustaining relationships and knowledge through storytelling. This dissertation employs a floating borderlands framework to explore how Chicanas and Mexicanas in the United States-Mexico borderlands use storytelling in oral and written traditions to keep cultural and regional knowledge. Floating borderlands is an interdisciplinary framework that reveals survivance, that is, survival as an act of resistance, through cultural maintenance, agency, and creativity in lived experiences. Drawing upon concepts and research from disciplines that include Mexican American Studies, American Indian Studies, Gender and Women's Studies, and Education, floating borderlands reveals how storytelling helps Chicanas and Mexicanas maintain an understanding of home and homelands that facilitates resistance to obstacles such as racial and gender discrimination and challenges to their right to be in these spaces. This dissertation acknowledges multiple forms of knowledge keeping by Chicanas and Mexicanas throughout the last two centuries; recognizes intersectionality; and complicates or creates multiple layers in narratives of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. This project is directly informed by narratives of Chicana and Mexicana life in the borderlands. It centers oral and written traditions, including my original poetry. Key words: Chicanas, Mexicanas, border, borderlands, floating borderlands, survivance, oral traditions, written traditions, home, homelands, migration, identity, cultural maintenance, poetry, story.

Researchers have already studied organizational culture and expansions of organizations separately. However, the combination of these, how organizational expansion challenges may affect cultural aspects is rare and the niche of this study. This qualitative case study investigates how organizational culture can be maintained during fast workforce expansion in a product department. The first step in this study was to study what can characterize an organizational culture in a department where product development and technology are central, in a software development scaleup. The empirical results present 13 cultural areas characterizing the organizational culture in the case company, which has similarities to Clan culture that promotes collaboration and personal development. Similarities with Engineering culture and Hacker culture are present in the product department as well. Some cultural aspects may be seen as unique for the case company’s product department, which are humbleness and the focus on work-life balance. Further, some employees argue that they have never felt as proud of the product at previous workplaces, as they do at the case company. These cultural aspects have explicitly been explained as unique in the empirical results and not found in the reviewed literature. Further investigation focused on possible reactions to a workforce expansion, by the interviewed employees. This included both positive expectations and areas of concern. The challenges that may occur in a fast-growing workforce and possible solutions were investigated as well. Four areas of possible expansion challenges were detected in the empirical results, which were related to organizational structure changes, cultural distribution, inclusive organization, prioritizations, and work focus switches. Through the analysis process, cultural aspects that may be affected by these challenges were analyzed and discussed. The presented possible solutions focus on how to manage possible challenges that may occur and at the same time maintain cultural aspects of foremost trust, inclusion, transparency, diversity, culture distribution, constant change, and innovation. / Forskning om organisationskultur och tillväxt av företag har tidigare gjorts separat. Kombinationen av dessa ämnen, hur utmaningar relaterat till tillväxt av ett företag kan komma att påverka kulturella aspekter är sällsynt och denna studies nisch. Denna kvalitativa fallstudie undersöker hur organisationskultur kan bevaras under snabb tillväxt av antal anställda i en produktavdelning. Först gjordes en tolkning av vad som karakteriserar en organisationskultur i en avdelning där produktutveckling och teknik är det centrala, i en produktutveckling scaleup som jobbar med mjukvara. The empiriska resultaten presenterar 13 kulturella områden som karakteriserar organisationskulturen på fallföretaget, vilken har likheter med Klankultur som främjar samarbete och personlig utveckling. Likheter med Ingenjörskultur och Hacker-kultur är också närvarande i produktavdelningen på fallföretaget. Vissa av de kulturella aspekterna kan anses unika i fallföretagets produktavdelning, vilka är ödmjukhet och fokus på work-life balance. Fortsättningsvis argumenterar vissa anställda att de aldrig känt sig så stolta över produkten de utvecklar på tidigare arbetsplatser, till skillnad från den stolthet de känner för produkten på fallföretaget. Dessa kulturella aspekterna har ansetts unika av de anställda i de empiriska resultaten och har inte påvisats i andra studier inkluderat i litteraturstudien. Nästa fokus i studien var att undersöka vilka möjliga reaktioner de intervjuade anställda på fallföretaget hade gällande tillväxt av antal anställda. Dessa reaktioner belyste både positiva förväntningar och orosområden. De möjliga utmaningarna som kan uppkomma i en snabbväxande organisation och möjliga redskap för att lösa dessa undersöktes också. Fyra områden av möjliga tillväxtsutmaningar upptäcktes i de empiriska resultaten, vilka var relaterade till förändringar av organisationsstruktur, kulturdistribution, inkluderande organisation, prioriteringar och arbetsfokus. Under analysprocessen upptäcktes kulturella aspekter som kan komma att påverkas av dessa möjliga utmaningar, vilka var analyserade och diskuterade. De presenterade potentiella lösningarna fokuserar på hur man bemöta dessa möjliga utmaningar sammanknippade med företagstillväxt och hur man samtidigt kan bevara kulturella aspekter så som främst tillit, inkludering, transparens, mångfald, kulturdistribuering, konstant förändring och innovation.