Sustainability is a complex system of interaction between a hospital, individual, community, and environmental factors that is required to work in harmony to keep a patient healthy. With the complexities that exist within healthcare, the nurse leader is required to ensure that the care environment, processes and the safety behaviours required from nurses to provide safe healthcare is in place and sustained to contribute to the enhancement of patient safety, whilst in the care of the diverse nursing workforce. The aim of the study is to develop an action plan to sustain best safety culture practices for improved patient outcomes in hospitals with a culturally diverse nursing workforce. Methodology: A multiple method design was utilised to study the safety culture and positive work environment (hospital climate) that exists among culturally diverse nurses and how it is managed by the nurse managers in order to identify and describe actions that can be included in an action plan to sustain best safety culture practices for improved patient outcomes. Purposeful and convenience sampling methods were used in the study. Two hospitals, with a very diverse nursing workforce were purposefully selected to participate in the study. Pretesting of the questionnaire and e-Delphi embedded assessment validation instrument were done by participants not part of sample groups. Phase 1: The Hospitals outcomes data for nursing admission assessment within 24-hours, falls and hospital acquired pressure ulcer incidences and hand hygiene rates were collected on a checklist. Phase 2: Two questionnaires (1) nurses capturing: biographical data and culture, patient safety (nursing admission assessment within 24-hours, falls and HAPU and hand hygiene), and safety culture and positive work environment (hospital climate); (2) nurse managers capturing: biographical data and culture, patient safety (nursing admission assessment within 24- hours, falls and HAPU and hand hygiene), safety culture and Positive Work Environment (hospital climate) and just culture practices. Phase 3: the Draft e-Delphi action plan with embedded assessment validation instrument was developed. Phase 4: The panel experts selected to validate the e-Delphi draft action plan with embedded assessment validation instrument in pre-determined rounds. Data analysis: Phase 1: The outcomes data was displayed in bar graphs and illustrated that (1) the nursing admission assessment within 24 hour period not been sustained over time for the medical, surgical, paediatric and critical care areas; (2) a hundred and sixty two fall incidence; (3) ninety six HAPU incidences and (4) hand hygiene rate of between 80-94% being reported. Phase 2: A participation rate of 46.33% by nurses and 73.91% by nurse managers were achieved. The data for the 2 questionnaires indicated the need to include 54 action statement to address the culture, patient safety, hospital climate (PWE), safety culture and just culture gaps identified. Phase 3: the e-Delphi draft action plan developed based on literature review and data from phase 1 and phase 2. Phase 4: 100% participation rate was achieved. Consensus was reached within two rounds that the 54 action statements are essential and important for patient safety and identified the responsible persons required enacting on action statement and timeframe required to complete action. Recommendation: The Action Plan to enhance a sustainable Culture of Safety to improve patient outcomes were decided by panel experts. Plan to disseminate the plan among the CNO for implementation. / Health Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Health Studies)

During the past decade, research on competence development and cross-cultural organisation has been acknowledged both in academic circles and by industrial organisations. Cross-cultural organisations that have emerged through globalisation are a manifestation of the growing economic interdependence among countries. In cross-cultural organisations, competence development has become an essential strategic tool for taking advantage of the synergy effects of globalisation. The objective of this thesis is to examine how competence development programs are conducted and to identify barriers and enablers for the success of such programs, especially in a cross-cultural organisation. To identify the processes involved in managing competence development programs in a cross-cultural organisation, a case study method was chosen. A total of 43 interviews and 33 surveys were held with participants, facilitators and managers in competence development programs at four units of IKEA Trading Southeast Asia located in Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia, respectively. In addition to the observations made on these four competence development programs, a study of the literature in related research areas was conducted. The interviews were held and the survey data collected in 2003 and 2004. In the findings, the barriers identified were cultural differences, assumptions, language, and mistrust; the enablers were cultural diversity, motivation, management commitment, and communication. The conclusions are that competence development is a strategic tool for cross-cultural organisations and that it is extremely important to identify barriers to, and enablers of, successful competence development, and to eliminate the barriers and support the enablers right from the early stages of competence development programs. / <p>Report Code: LIU-TEK-LIC-2006:44</p>

Sweden has a long tradition of refugee immigration to the country and with labor skillshortage that exists in the construction sector, larger construction company in Swedeninitiated to start recruitment and education program to integrate high skilled immigrantengineers into their company.The purpose of this study aims to investigate how immigrants’ engineers experienceintegration in the construction sector by examining two different construction companies'programs in Sweden.The study was conducted using a qualitative method. The literature used has highlightedconfirmation issue areas. Subsequently, interviews have been conducted in a semi-structuredway with immigrant engineers working within the companies to investigate how integrationhas taken place from their point of view, in what was good and what is perceived less good.The analysis and discussion of the results have been used to ascertain how the immigrantsexperienced the time during the program. A general conclusion is from the perspective of theimmigrants that the opportunities are enormous with the program created by the company tointegrate immigrant engineers into the construction industry. / Sverige har en lång tradition med relativt omfattande flyktinginvandring och år 2016 invandrade det in mest i landet, omkring 163 000 människor. Många av de flyktingar som invandrat till Sverige under denna period har en hög utbildningsnivå. Med den arbetskraftsoch kompetensbrist som existerar i byggsektorn idag i förhållande till den stora massa byggnader och andra projekt som uppförs så resultera det i att stora byggföretag i Sverige initierade för att starta rekrytering eller utbildningsprogram med anledning till att integrera nyanlända/utrikesfödda med kompetens- och erfarenhet inom byggsektorn. Tidigare forskning indikerar att svårigheter uppstår vid integration, kommunikation, kulturella skillnader och validering. Med anledning till utmaningarna inom området som uppstår, erhåller man förståelse och förbättringar med integration av nyanlända/utrikesfödda ingenjörer i byggsektorn genom denna studie. Detta är någonting som alla byggföretag kan ta del av för en bättre integration. Undersökningen syftar till att utreda hur nyanlända/utrikesfödda ingenjörer upplever att de integreras in i byggsektorn genom att undersöka två olika byggföretags program i Sverige där målet med programmen är att integrera dem i sina verksamheter. Genom att undersöka tidigare studier inom integrationen utav högutbildade ingenjörer från länder likt Sverige för att sedan undersöka hur nyanlända/utrikesfödda upplever att de erhållit stöd för att integreras i den svenska byggsektorn. Undersökningen har utförts med kvalitativ metod. Litteraturen som används har belyst styrkande problemområden. Därefter har intervjuerna utförts på semistrukturerade vis med nyanlända/utrikesfödda ingenjörer som arbetar inom företagen för att undersöka hur de upplever integrationen skett från deras synvinkel, de som varit bra och det som upplevs mindre bra. Analysen och diskussionen av resultatet har använts för att konstatera hur de nyanlända/utrikesfödda upplevt tiden under programmet samt även då de blivit anställda inom företagen gällande att integreras. En generell slutsats är att från de nyanländas/utrikesfödda perspektiv är möjligheterna enorma med program skapade av företag till att integrera ingenjörerna i byggsektorn. Eftersom den utbildning man erbjuds under programmen gällande svenska språket, värderingar och normer på arbetsplatsen resulterar i att man erbjuds en anställning inom sitt kunskapsområde. Genom att delta i programmen ökar kontaktnätet för de nyanlända/utrikesfödda som är till fördel för att söka jobb eller bli rekryterad i framtiden. Vidare möts det individer från olika kulturer på arbetsplatsen som resulterar i att man utvecklar förståelse kring kulturella skillnader och att det bidrar för de nyanlända/utrikesfödda att enklare integreras båda på arbetsplatsen och i samhället.

(in English): In some libraries, intercultural services are already a regular part of operations. In the Czech environment they appear only sporadically, as confirmed by a questionnaire survey examining library services for people with specific needs. In the survey have participated 625 libraries and it turned out that only 6 % of them offer targeted services to foreigners, migrants or national minorities. Another 30 % of libraries are marginally involved in these groups. A survey of the use of Czech libraries by migrants have tried to discover the view from the other side. It consisted of a questionnaire survey with 122 respondents, and semi-structured interviews with eight respondents. The results showed that most respondents do not regularly use the services of Czech libraries. If migrants use the library, they evaluate their offer positively. Best rated were events in the library, which received an average rating of 1.12 on a scale of one to four. Furthermore, the reasons of non-use of Czech libraries were investigated - the most frequent reason was an other way of obtaining literature. Project Open Library in Madrid was chosen as an example of good international practice. The concept of intercultural mediation in libraries was presented in a case study. The question is whether migrants would...

Diversity of a country is often measured by the amount and spread of nationalities that live there. But also within a country, regions vary in their traditions and culture. Cultural homogeneity within communities is mixed up by (internal) migration, that, like international migration, increases diversity of a place. In a novel approach I therefore look at diversity in German municipality associations measured by different family names and investigate the effect it has on the number of generated patents. I show that cultural diversity and openness of a place affect its economic performance positively in terms of innovation also when referring to intra-country differences.

Syfte: Det finns en växande trend med ökad kulturell mångfald i samhället, organisationer och inom individer. Bikulturalism innebär specifik kompetens som underlättar ett relationsbyggande inom kulturell mångfald. Arbete organiseras dock ofta virtuellt, vilket försvårar relationsbyggandet. Syftet är att skapa ökad förståelse om bikulturella ledare och deras ledarskap i globala virtuella grupper (GVG). Hur visar sig bikulturella ledares kulturella kompetens i GVG?    Metod: En kvalitativ fallstudie som görs i en global organisation, marknadsledare inom sin sektor. Organisationen värdesätter mångfald och erbjuder en intressant kontext för studien. Studien antar ett abduktivt angreppssätt och semistrukturerade intervjuer gjordes med bikulturella ledare inom GVG. Teman identifierades från resultaten och presenteras under kategorier som kan härledas till teori om kulturell intelligens, CQ.  Resultat &amp; slutsats: Studien bekräftar tidigare forskning (Hong, 2010) om att bikulturella ledare, tack vare sin kulturella kompetens, är bra på att bygga relationer inom kulturell mångfald. Studiens resultat visar att detta även gäller inom en virtuell kontext.  Examensarbetets bidrag: Resultaten visar att relationer byggs virtuellt genom strategier för informell interaktion. Vår studie bidrar med två nya insikter. För det första, hur mer spontana virtuella informella möten kan skapas i praktiken, vilket är relevant för organisationer som arbetar i virtuella kontexter. För det andra, en ny insikt som inte har uppmärksammats i tidigare forskning om att virtuella informella möten också har fördelar som bidrar positivt till gruppens sammanhållning.  Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Studiens resultat kan förstärkas genom studier inom andra typer av organisationer. Vidare kan kvantitativa metoder resultera i större generaliseringar av resultaten. / Aim: There is a growing trend of cultural diversity in the society, organizations and within individuals. Biculturalism means competence that facilitates relationship building in cultural diversity. Work is often organized virtually, which complicates the building of relations. The aim is to create more understanding about bicultural leaders and their leadership in global virtual teams (GVT). How does bicultural leaders’ cultural competence manifest in GVT?  Method: Qualitative case study in a global organization, a market leader in its sector. The organization values diversity and provides an interesting context. An abductive approach is used and semi-structured interviews were conducted with bicultural leaders in GVT. Recurrent themes were identified from the results and are presented under categories, derived from theory about cultural intelligence, CQ.  Result &amp; Conclusions: This study confirms earlier research (Hong, 2010) that bicultural leaders, due to their cultural competence, are skillful in building relations within cultural diversity. The results show moreover, that this is also true in a virtual context.   Contribution of the thesis: The results reveal that relations are built virtually by using strategies for informal interaction. Our study contributes with two new insights. Firstly, how more spontaneous virtual informal meetings can be created in practice, which is relevant for organizations working in virtual contexts. Secondly, a new insight that has not been given attention in earlier research, that virtual informal meetings also have advantages that positively contributes to group cohesion.  Suggestions for future research: The results can be confirmed with studies in other types of organizations. Quantitative methods can result in larger generalizations.

I takt med Covid-19-pandemins framväxt har de flesta företag tvingats till en mer virtuell kommunikationsform där möjligheten till traditionella, fysiska interaktioner kraftigt minskat. Denna studie undersöker hur globala, multikulturella team upplever omställningen till ett mer virtuellt arbete och hur det påverkar deras möjlighet att vara kreativa. Det har tidigare genomförts en mängd forskning på kreativitetsrelaterade utmaningar som multikulturella team ställs inför. Det saknas däremot studier på de utmaningar som virtuella globala, multikulturella team möter, vars tillgång till traditionell kommunikation är begränsad. För att studera detta har en kvalitativ studie genomförts. De tre kreativitetsrelaterade huvudkomponenterna, kulturell mångfald, kommunikation och konflikt, har undersökts. Med bakgrund i dessas samspel och förhållandet till virtualitet och kreativitet resulterar studien i att omställningen till en mer virtuell miljö upplevs, av teamen, vara hämmande för kreativitet. Framför allt avsaknaden av informell kommunikation visas vara den huvudsakliga anledningen till detta. / Along with the Covid-19-pandemic, most companies across the globe have been forced to work in a more virtual way, where access to traditional, physical interactions has been reduced. This study therefore investigates how global, multicultural teams experience the adjustment to more virtual work and how it affects their perceived possibility to be creative. Previously, numerous studies have been conducted regarding creativity-related challenges that global, multicultural teams face. However, what seems to be missing is research on the challenges that virtual global, multicultural teams face, whose access to traditional communication is limited. To examine this a qualitative study has been conducted. The three creativity-related key components, cultural diversity, communication, and conflict have been analyzed. With a background in their interplay and their liaison to virtuality and creativity, this thesis concludes that the change to a more virtual way to work is perceived by the teams to have an inhibitory effect on creativity. The deprivation of informal communication is especially shown to be the primary reason for this.

This paper puts the issue of Czech-Polish relationships into a context of the intercultural communication. The culturological approach used for the analysis of the communication between cultures brings a new holistic view. Factors of close cultures, the impact of a conflict as well as the importance of intercultural competences are analysed. Based on the Czech-Polish case, barriers to the intercultural communication are specified and discussed. These barriers rise from language, stereotypes, information, religion and history. A question of comicality and prestige of a language not to say entire culture is articulated. The new Network Theory of Barriers is suggested which introduces a closely related networked set of above mentioned obstacles. New platforms for the intercultural dialogue are outlined that can bring a possibility to step out of the circle of misunderstanding. These platforms consist of improving language skills, international institutions and the Internet.

Background: The society is rapidly changing in a demographic matter. As a result of this nurses are required to be equipped with the right skills and knowledge to approach a more diverse patient group. Hence, the health care is dependent on cultural competent nurses, without them the health care is vulnerable. Previous studies show that nurses are faced with great challenges when it comes to encounters with patients from different cultural backgrounds and that they lack the essential cultural knowledge which effects the quality and standard of care. This means high demands on the nursing curricula to integrate guidelines for cultural competence and educate future nurses in order to make them more prepared for their future profession. Aim: To explore nursing students experiences of practicing cultural competence in care of patients from diverse cultural backgrounds, a qualitative study in Gauteng province, South Africa.  Method: The chosen method was qualitative. Eight individual semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed with inspiration from Burnard’s (1996) four-step content analysis. Findings: The findings showed the main-category: beneficial components in cultural competent care, with three sub-categories: positive attitudes and adapting of care, gaining knowledge from cultural encounters with patients and existing contextual insights of own culture and other cultures. The beneficial components included the positive attitudes of the participants and their ability to adapt the care around cultural challenges. Gaining knowledge from cultural encounters with patients and having existing contextual insights of own culture facilitated the encounters with patients. Findings also showed the main-category: barriers in providing a cultural competent care with three sub-categories: disrupted communication, limited levels of cultural knowledge and lack of trust. Disrupted communication was mostly due to the language barrier, a huge problem as important information was left out and the system of getting interpreters faulted. The limited levels of cultural knowledge were based on limited knowledge about different cultures. Lack of trust originated from patients’ strong cultural belief while disbelieving in the westernized health care which resulted in a non-trusting relationship between health care personnel and patients.  Conclusion: There were several barriers as well as facilitators, though the barriers were more dominating in character. Therefore, more education is needed so nursing students feel empowered and more secure when encountering patients from different cultures. Continuing education is also needed for registered nurses as well as prospective and further research is required in order to obtain the best resources for implementation of cultural competence.

This study investigates the practices of four museums in two countries in relation to the notion of social inclusion and how their museum professionals reflect about the topic. The aim is to provide an empirical grounding of Sandell’s theory about the three levels of impact within which museums can address social exclusion: with individuals, specific communities and wider society. The practices of four museums will be analysed and discussed: Västmanlands läns museum and Västerås Konstmuseum in Västerås, Sweden and Musei Civici and Fondazione Palazzo Magnani in Reggio Emilia, Italy. To answer the research questions, nine qualitative semi-structured interviews were performed. The informants selected are museum professionals responsible for different public practices at their institutions. The interviews were taped and at a later stage transcribed. Additionally, documentation from different sources completes the empirical data. A qualitative analysis has been employed to analyse the data. Text analysis and thematic analysis were selected to scrutinize the data. I employed the deductive method to trace Sandell’s theory on the data. The findings show that the notion of social inclusion is a subjective concept. Nonetheless, all the informants’ ideas of social inclusion are consistent with Sandell’s definition. The practices enhanced by the museums to address social inclusion are different in nature but mirror the understanding of the concept expressed by the museum professionals and it is in line with Sandell's model. Therefore, his theory about the three levels of impact that museums can achieve implementing inclusive practices is verified by the empirical data. Moreover, my hypothesis about the link between the social inclusion enact by museums and the socio-cultural context is proved too. This is a two years master's thesis in Museum and Cultural Heritage Studies. / Denna uppsats undersöker på vilket sätt fyra museer i två länder arbetar med social inkludering samt hur deras medarbetare resonerar kring detta. Syftet var att se huruvida det går att empiriskt belägga Sandells teori, som handlar om att museer kan bekämpa social exkludering på tre nivåer: med fokus på individer, särskilda grupper eller samhället i stort. Den publika verksamheten i fyra museer har analyserats och diskuterats: Västmanlands läns museum samt Västerås Konstmuseum i Västerås, Sverige; Musei Civici samt Fondazione Palazzo Magnani i Reggio Emilia, Italien. För att besvara uppsatsens frågeställningar gjordes nio semi-strukturerade kvalitativa intervjuer med musei-arbetare. Informanterna arbetar i olika publika verksamheter inom dessa museer. Intervjuerna spelades in och transkriberades sedan. Utöver dessa har olika dokument från andra källor använts som komplettering. Analysen gjordes med hjälp av textanalys samt tematisk analys utifrån en deduktiv ansats, för att undersöka Sandells teori.  Resultatet av denna studie visar att begreppet social inkludering har olika subjektiva innebörder. Icke desto mindre överensstämmer alla informanters idéer med Sandells definition av social inkludering. Museers publika aktiviteter kopplade till social inkludering är olika till sin natur men speglar museiarbetares förståelse av konceptet och är i linje med Sandells modell. Därför stödjer forskningsresultaten hans teori om att museer kan bekämpa social exkludering på tre nivåer. Dessutom styrks även uppsatsens hypotes om sambandet mellan museernas sociala inkludering och det sociokulturella sammanhanget.  Detta är en masteruppsats i musei- och kulturarvsvetenskap.