Syfte: Syftet med studien är att öka kunskapen om hur kommunikation med och involvering av medarbetare inverkar på medarbetares inställning till en omorganisation. Metod: Forskningsansatsen är av kvalitativ karaktär. Det empiriska materialet har samlats in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer utförda på Polismyndigheten Region Nord som genomgår en omorganisation. Materialet tolkades med hjälp av vår egen modell som är baserad på tidigare forskning, då vi utgått ifrån de resultat vi funnit i vår litteraturstudie.  Resultat och slutsats: Bristfällig kommunikation och lågt medarbetarinvolverande inverkar till att medarbetare intar en likgiltig eller negativ inställning gentemot en omorganisering, och att en bra kommunikation och ett högt medarbetarinvolverande leder till en positiv inställning. Vi upplever att kommunikation är den starkaste faktorn eftersom bra kommunikation är en förutsättning för att medarbetare ska uppleva att de har inflytande och därmed är delaktiga i omorganisationen. Vi anser även att vår studie visar att en negativ inställning till en omorganisation innebär att medarbetare motsätter sig en omorganisering.  Studiens bidrag: Ge en ökad förståelse för vilka faktorer som inverkar till att medarbetare motsätter sig en omorganisering, samt vilken inverkan kommunikation och involvering av medarbetare har på medarbetarnas inställning till en omorganisering. Förslag på vidare forskning: Vi kom i denna studie fram till att bristfällig kommunikation innebär att medarbetare upplever att de inte involveras i förändringsprocessen, vilket i sin tur leder till ett bristande förtroende för organisationen och därmed även ett motstånd till omorganisationen i sig. Vårt förslag på vidare forskning är att testa den nya modell vi kommit fram till för att se om dessa slutsatser är överförbara även på andra organisationer som genomgår en organisationsförändring. / Aim: The aim of this study is to improve our understanding on how communication and employee involvement affect employees' attitude towards an organizational change. Method: Our research approach is qualitative. The empirical data was collected through semi structured interviews conducted at Polismyndigheten Region Nord, which is currently undergoing an organizational change. We used our own model, based on previews researched, to analyse the data.                    Conclusions: The lack of good communication and low employee involvement leads to employees’ developing a negative or indifferent attitude towards an organizational change. Communication is the strongest factor do to the fact that good communication is essential for making employees’ feel involved in the changing process. Our study also shows a connection between a negative attitude towards an organizational change, and employees’ being against change in general. Contribution of the thesis: Provide a greater understanding for which factors that influence employees’ to oppose an organizational change, as well as which impact communication and employee involvement have on employees' attitudes towards an organizational change. Suggestion for future research:           Our conclusion based on this study, is that poor communication makes employee’s feel that they are not involved in the change process, which leads to a lack of confidence for the organisation and a resistance for the organizational change. Our suggestion for future research is therefor to test our new model to see if our conclusions are transferable to other organizations undergoing a change process.

This study sets out to investigate the connection between digitally achieved traceability and the production personnel's view of traceability. The results presents a number of factors to consider when designing traceability solutions in a manufacturing setting. The study was conducted in a qualitative manner, with the main data collection done through interviews. The results show that the production worker's stand point towards traceability is based on three factors: performance measurement, surveillance, and increased workload. Each of these factors should be taken in to consideration when designing traceability solutions. These factors, and suggestions for how to work with them, is put into the context of a steel manufacturer that is in the process of implementing traceability in their production process.

The thesis focuses on the impact of the EU Directive (2002/14/EC), which was incorporated into UK employment law, with its phased implementation starting on 6th April 2005. The empirical evidence is based on a survey and predominantly on case-study research that involved interviews with: managers, employees and trade union representatives, together with the collection of relevant documentary evidence. The empirical findings, especially for the non-unionised sector, indicate that the reflexive nature of the Information and Consultation of Employees (ICE) Regulations has mainly stimulated the development of organisation-specific or tailor-made information and consultation arrangements, which minimally comply with the legislative provisions. Moreover, the development of such arrangements is primarily based on the ad hoc momentum that is generated by business pressures (i.e. collective redundancies, transfer of undertakings etc) and can be viewed as reflecting the conceptual framework of legislatively prompted voluntarism. The ICE Directive is aimed at bringing a consistency to the establishment of basic and standard information and consultation arrangements across the workplaces in Great Britain. Subsequently, it should promote the harmonisation of employee participation practices amongst the UK and other EU countries, as it has the goal of ensuring that there is a minimum floor of rights in relation to information sharing and consultation with employees. Nevertheless, the Europeanisation of British industrial relations cannot instantly take place through the adoption of such EU directives. With regard to this research endeavour, it emerges that the extant national idiosyncrasies cannot be substantially altered, whilst business pressures and employers’ goodwill continue to be key drivers in the development of employee participation and consultation arrangements in Great Britain, albeit within the newly adopted legislative and statutory framework.

"Starting in the 1980s with the first Toyota controlled production plant in the United States (NUMMI), the idea of Lean as derived from the Toyota Production System has become a popular method to improve production processes as well as any other procedure in organizations around the world. Over the last three decades a multitude of literature on Lean implementation and consulting companies offering help with the Lean transformation have emerged. The success rate of real Lean transformations however is often estimated to lie below 10% by experts such as Clifford Ransom or members of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME). This leads to the question of why most companies fail to sustain the Lean improvements that most of them are able to initiate during the early implementation stages. This thesis will therefore investigate the root causes that lead to a time dependent loss of Lean improvements from three different perspectives. One standpoint is given by the TPS beliefs which are united in the House of Lean. The second angle on the topic is drawn from an online search of expert opinions and the final evaluation is taken from analyzing a real case scenario at a plant in Trumbull, CT. After this thorough analysis of possible root causes a set of countermeasures is presented that will support an organization in avoiding the major mistakes of a Lean implementation. The three countermeasures include standardization to build a base for Lean improvements, employee involvement to assure sustainability through conviction and continuous instead of rapid improvement. Every countermeasure will be described theoretically as well as with the help of examples from real life scenarios to enable the reader to apply the suggestions immediately. A final discussion will then examine the improvements that where reached at the production plant in Trumbull, CT and show how the combination of all three countermeasures ensures the sustainability of these improvements."

The thesis examines the factors influencing the sustainability of employee involvement strategies in the Sri Lankan manufacturing sector. Applying the psychological contract perspective, the researcher attempts to explore how employee involvement strategies are sustained at the factory floor level. More specifically, the attempt is to understand the involved behaviour of employee in the perspectives of a relational as well as a transactional psychological contract. The empirical evidence is drawn from three case studies in to consumer products, tobacco products and garment manufacturing in Sri Lanka. The thesis highlights several key findings relating to the process of sustaining employee involvement strategies in Sri Lankan manufacturing firms. First, the existence of a psychological contract in the form of a relational contract supports the sustenance of employee involvement strategies. Second, the social exchange process that produces the relational contract in an employer-employee setting draws from situational factors such as the supportive climate created by employer and employee development programmes and the psychological factors, such as work values, job involvement, and commitment of the employee to organization. Third important factor: the trust placed in the organization by the employee develops exchange relationships with the organization, managers and fellow employees leading to a relational psychological contract, which results in the sustenance of outcomes of employee involvement. Some confirming evidence for the third factor could be drawn from situations where a break down of trust prompts a violation of the psychological contract. In such situations, the relational contract is transformed into a transactional contract resulting in the failure of employee involvement process. Finally, the thesis finds little evidence to support the view that moving down power, information, knowledge and skills and rewards to the frontline employees alone are sufficient to sustain an employee involvement process.

Nowadays most companies are now being faced with the reality that Corporate Social Responsibility is more than merely a fad. Drawing upon CSR, HR and stakeholder related theories this research aims to substantiate empirically by exploring HR¡¦s contribution to responsible leadership within corporations with the endeavor to explore to what extent Taiwanese companies have integrated CSR practices in their Human Resource Management policies and practices. Relying on the quantitative analysis of 82 questionnaires and qualitative analysis of interviews with CSR and HR executives from 3 corporations in Taiwan, an analysis of whether HR supporting functions towards employee training and development (CSR and General), employee wellbeing, employee engagement and CSR communication to employees contributed to the success of CSR programs. Findings of this research uncovered that companies pay due attention to employee training and development, employee wellbeing as well as employee engagement. The study also helped explain the existence of implicit CSR practices in Taiwanese firms suggesting that an inside-out approach to CSR communication exists in Taiwanese firms; most firms do not engage in philanthropic activities but are more akin to ensuring that they maintain a high level of employee work-life balance. The thesis concludes that the HR has the potential to dig deeper into the company levels and structures and identifying underlying definitional issues that may prevent or facilitate the success of CSR programs.

Increasing employee involvement in innovation activities opens up for opportunities to apply previously unused resources within established employee network connections. Despite identified possible outcomes from increasing participation, no previous research investigating how an IT infrastructure company can increase employee involvement in innovation activities exist. Therefore, this thesis investigates how a market-leading, Nordic IT infrastructure company can increase their employee participation in innovation activities through becoming a High Involvement Innovation Organisation, and the purpose of the thesis is to develop a recommendation of actions to take to increase employee involvement. To fulfil the purpose of the thesis, a single case study consisting of semi-structured interviews and two quantitative surveys was conducted. The project was initiated by an extensive literature search of the six identified main fields within High Involvement Innovation; Management support, Communication, Resource allocation, Competence development, Incentives and Measurements & KPI’s. The results from the study show a lack of sufficient communication and management support to be the main challenges for companies to conquer, as is confirmed in the literature. The conclusion is that the investigated firm has good preconditions to increase their employee involvement in innovation, and the provided recommendation consists of five actions for the firm to take; Communicate the urgency of innovation, implement a feedback system, stimulate the competitive culture through a recognition system, establish measurable innovation KPI’s and develop educational plans targeting innovation. / Ökat engagemang hos medarbetare i innovationsaktiviteter öppnar upp för möjligheter att tillämpa tidigare oanvända resurser inom etablerade nätverk för medarbetare. Trots att ökat deltagande medför identifierade möjligheter finns det ingen tidigare forskning som undersöker hur ett företag inom IT-infrastruktur kan öka medarbetarnas engagemang i innovationsaktiviteter. Därför undersöker denna avhandling hur ett marknadsledande, nordiskt IT-infrastrukturföretag kan öka sina medarbetares deltagande i innovationsaktiviteter genom att bli en High Involvement Innovation Organisation, och syftet med avhandlingen är att utveckla en rekommendation innehållande åtgärder att vidta för att öka medarbetarnas engagemang. För att uppfylla syftet med avhandlingen genomfördes en fallstudie hos ett företag bestående av semistrukturerade intervjuer och två kvantitativa enkäter. Projektet inleddes av en omfattande litteratursökning av de sex identifierade huvudområdena inom High Involvement Innovation; Ledningsstöd, Kommunikation, Resursallokering, Kompetensutveckling, Incitament samt Mätningar och KPI:er. Resultatet från studien visar att avsaknaden av tillräcklig kommunikations och ledningsstöd är de viktigaste utmaningarna för företag att övervinna, vilket bekräftas i litteraturen. Slutsatsen är att det undersökta företaget har goda förutsättningar för att öka sina anställdas engagemang i innovation, och den tillhandahållna rekommendationen består av fem åtgärder för företaget att vidta; Kommunicera hur brådskande innovation är, Implementera ett feedback-system, Stimulera tävlingsinstinkten genom ett system för uppskattning, Etablera mätbara innovativa KPI: er samt Utveckla utbildningsplaner som är inriktade på innovation.

This thesis aims to understand the risks faced by organizations operating in Northern Sweden when making decisions about digitalization. Through empirical analysis and discussion, the study investigates the influence of hindsight bias on risk perception and the decision-making process. The findings indicate that there is an arguable elevated level of hindsight bias is observed among all participants, with varying intentions behind this bias. One specific case highlights the influence of external decision-makers and the implications of their expertise. While an organization is acting in good faith by seeking advice from individuals of expertise as external decision-makers, who prioritize utility-maximizing choices, it exposes the organization to potential non-perceivable risks. The study reveals that individuals tend to overlook the risks associated with digitalization until they face tangible implications. However, the perception of risks is not artificially altered by expertise level, but rather triggered by occurrences. Moreover, the study identifies a pattern of elevated levels of hindsight bias, primarily in terms of foreseeability, coupled with a motivation for self-esteem. This pattern emphasizes the lack of communication regarding digitalization risks, which contributes to overconfidence and myopia in the decision-making process. The empirical analysis supports the notion that positive perceptions of digitalization and a failure to acknowledge possible implications result in individuals overseeing risks. Consequently, organizations in Northern Sweden run the risk of overconfidence and oversight if they fail to question the basis of their digitalization decisions or the motives and biases of their employees involved in the decision-making process.  In conclusion, this thesis reveals that the risks faced by organizations operating in Northern Sweden when making decisions about digitalization include a failure to perceive digitalization risks due to preconceived positive perceptions, which affects both employees and decision-makers, concluded from a two-perspective investigation. This behavior puts organizations at risk of overconfidence, particularly in the context of hindsight bias. Finally, the study responds to a research question inquired by past research and confirms that overconfidence reduces the availability of risks in the case of Northern Sweden.

This study aimed to investigate employee inclusion in the recruitment process in organizations operating in the public sector, and the role of employees in the decision- making process.The empirical research is based on six qualitative interviews with both leaders/managers and ordinary employees, who have the experience of either organizing or being involved in the recruitment process. Inductive approach was applied to compare the research findings with the theoretical frame of the thesis. The results of the study show that employees are being involved in the recruitment process and have given the opportunity to give inputs and different perspectives throughout the process. Though, the ordinary employees experience being excluded from the decision-making process, because the power of decision making is given to the leaders/management. It also became apparent through the research process, that some employees are reluctant and avoid being included in the recruitment process. The developed framework could be applied in organizations either as an inspiration or supplement or be used in future research. Employee inclusion in the recruitment process is rarely identified in the previous studies, therefore this study is filling the gap that is found in the previous literature.The author of this study suggests future researchers to examine employee exclusion from decision making or investigate employee reluctance, by applying different methods: mixed method, documents, interviews and so forth.

Yes / The remarkable evolution in the twentieth century has been a result of a new perspective in understanding the importance of investing in individuals and organizational human resources, and the implementation of capacity building strategies in various organizations and in societies. This paper explores the case of ICO, an international consultancy organization, based in the Middle East, specialized in architecture, engineering, planning, environment and economics. This qualitative study, using thirteen selected semi-structured interviews, observations, and secondary data, has been conducted in the Beirut design office of the organization. The paper aims to examine major human resource related capacity building themes in ICO which include employee involvement and motivation, recruitment and selection, in addition to performance appraisal and reward management.