The aim of this thesis was to determine the authenticity of fruit food for infants using molecular and instrumental methods. In the experimental part, plant DNA isolations from fruit leaves (peaches, apricots, plums and apples) and bananas were performed. Further, DNA was isolated also from five commercial products, and from model mixtures that were prepared in terms of content identical to the commercial mixtures. The isolated DNA was characterized and verified by qPCR with plant DNA-specific ITS2 primers. Three triple primer pairs were selected, and their specificity was evaluated when performing multiplex PCR. This method makes it possible to detect more types of fruit in one reaction, reducing the economic and time requirements for detection. As none of the selected primer pairs were sufficiently specific for the apricot, the evidence from the plum and peach was further realized using duplex PCR. High resolution melting curve analysis was used for better DNA type recognition. Subsequently, agarose gel electrophoresis was performed to analyse the fragment lengths. Furthermore, experiments have been made to identify some specific phenolic substances in commercial and model fruit mixtures by HPLC. Since phenolic substances are degradable under unsuitable storage conditions, the presence of individual compounds was not detected by this method.

ABSTRACT    Date:              06.06.20 Level:             Bachelor Thesis in Business Administration, 15 cr  Institution:    School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University  Authors:         Mohamad Kaddoura               Erandika Perera                 Pia Sophie Paulsen                            (90/06/24)                           (88/06/29)                       (98/01/10) Title:              Corporate Social Responsibility and its Effect on Employee Retention Tutor:             Edward Gillmore Keywords:      CSR, HRM, employee retention, employee satisfaction, employee needs Research  question:        How does internal Corporate Social Responsibility affect employee retention  in an organization? Purpose:         To examine & identify how Corporate Social Responsibility affects employee retention as well as to determine & evaluate the relationship between CSR and employee retention. Method:         This thesis is based on the deductive approach which leads to quantitative data analysis through a cross-sectional time horizon in form of a rating question survey. The entire research is developed on Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill’s (2008) onion model. Conclusion:    Internal CSR, together with HRM, is influencing employee satisfaction through policies and strategies that are directed at employees and adapted to employees’ individual preferences. These preferences were identified in the form of needs and motivating & hygiene factors. The findings suggest, that even when high employee satisfaction is achieved, employee retention intention is not guaranteed. CSR, therefore, has a direct effect on employee satisfaction but not necessarily on employee retention.

Sammanfattning   Datum: 2020-06-08   Nivå: C-uppsats    Institution: EST – Ekonomi, Samhälle &amp; Teknik, Mälardalens Högskola.   Författare: Sebastian Beyermann (95/08/08), Ida Bohm (95/08/17), Cornelia Petersen (96/03/08)   Titel: Ledarskap i banksektorn - En studie i ledarskap och prestation    Handledare: Kerstin Nilsson   Nyckelord: Ledarskap, prestation, bank, HRM, mål   Frågeställningar: <ol type="1">Vilka faktorer i sitt ledarskap anser chefer inom banksektorn främja deras medarbetares arbetsprestation? Vilka faktorer i ett ledarskap anser chefer inom banksektorn kan hämma deras medarbetares arbetsprestation?    Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att bidra med förståelse för vilket typ av ledarskap som är gynnsamt med avseende på arbetsprestation inom banksektorn.    Metod: Studien är genomförd med en kvalitativ ansats. Insamlingen av primärdata har skett genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Studiens sekundärdata är baserad på vetenskapligt granskade artiklar inom uppsatsens forskningsämne. Studiens teori, bakgrund samt problemformulering är baserade på både primärdata och sekundärdata.    Slutsats: Den transformativa ledarskapsstilen upplevs genomgående som den mest använda och rekommenderade ledarskapsstilen för att främja arbetsprestation. Strategisk resultathantering kan användas som konkurrensfördel och som ett redskap i ledarskap för att främja arbetsprestation. Tydlighet i mål och visionen hos organisationer är faktorer som behöver kommuniceras med tydlig sammankoppling till varje enskild medarbetare för att skapa framgång för organisationen.

Det anses idag vara upp till individen att se till att vara anställningsbar, därav ligger ett stort fokus på individperspektivet i frågan om anställningsbarhet. Ur ett individperspektiv handlar anställningsbarhet om vad som kan anses vara viktiga egenskaper och kompetenser för att individen ska klara av att möta konkurrensen och de skiftande kraven på arbetsmarknaden. Syftet med denna studie är att ta reda på vilka upplevelser och tankar som finns bland personalvetarstudenter, alumner och arbetsgivare för att försöka förstå hur en kan bli medveten om sin egen anställningsbarhet och kunna påverka den. I studien undersöks deltagarnas upplevelse av begreppet anställningsbarhet, hur de föreställer sig att olika val kan påverka anställningsbarheten, samt hur personalvetarstudenters och alumners inställning gällande anställningsbarheten kan påverkas på olika sätt. Detta är en kvalitativ studie där resultatet bygger på semistrukturerade intervjuer, med ett urval studenter, alumner och arbetsgivare, som analyserats med hjälp av tematisk analys. Resultatet visar att det blir svårt att påverka den egna anställningsbarheten utan en självmedvetenhet, vilket förutsätter en förmåga att kunna reflektera över sina val, erfarenheter, egenskaper och kompetenser. Det visar även att individens upplevelser och förväntningar påverkar inställningen gentemot arbetsmarknaden vilket leder till att de kan gå miste om arbetsmöjligheter. / Today it is considered to be the individual's responsibility to ensure that they are employable, hence a significant focus on the individual perspective on employability. From an individual perspective, employability implies what can be regarded as important characteristics and competencies for the individual to be able to compete and match the changing demands in the labor market. The purpose of this study is to investigate Human Resource Management (HRM) students, alumni, and employers' experiences and thoughts that intend to understand how to become aware of one's employability and ability to influence it. The study examines the participants' experience of the concept of employability, how they imagine that different choices can influence their employability, and how the attitude of HRM students and alumni regarding employability can be influenced in different ways. This is a qualitative study and the result is based on semi-structured interviews, with a selection of students, alumni, and employers, which is analyzed using thematic analysis. The result shows that it will be difficult to influence one's employability without self-awareness, which requires an ability to reflect on one's choices, experiences, characteristics, and competences. It also shows that the individual's experiences and expectations affect the attitude towards the labor market, which means that they may miss out on job opportunities.

RQ1: What diversity management practices facilitate gender representation in the workplace? RQ2: Which challenges arise when implementing gender quotas into the work environment?  Purpose: The impact of this research is twofold: it will address a knowledge gap in the academic literature on gender challenges, gender quota application and follow-up in business, as well as contribute to research on practice-based diversity and quotaring. Additionally, this study will have an impact on how issues like this are handled in practice.  Method: Five semi-structured interviews with managers in various positions in a multinational organization, as well as three focus group discussions, were conducted as part of this qualitative study to allow interactions between theories and empirical findings. In addition to the interviews, the theoretical framework allowed for a thematic analysis. Conclusion: The empirical data gathered for this study has provided sufficient evidence to conclude that a firm's acceptance of diversity and diversity management policies and practices, such as gender quotas, is highly valued by stakeholders, but often difficult to admit. When it comes to incorporating efforts like inclusion and diversity into a firm’s plans, diversity has proven to be quite beneficial, however using gender quotas as part of diversity management techniques is frowned upon. We can also conclude that women still face significant challenges solely based on gender in the business world, such as salary differences, pregnancy, attitudes and males’ perceptions, to name a few. Thus, gender equality still has a long way to go.

Background: Digital technologies have been revolutionizing the corporate world during the last few decades. Companies that want to keep their competitive positions are forced to adapt. The digitalization of the corporate Human Resource function is of special importance in this regard due to the increasing role of digitalized HRM for business success. The existing research on the digital HRM implementation environment and the factors that shape it is limited to bigger companies operating in developed economies, with nascent research available for small and medium-sized firms operating in emerging economies. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore how individual-, firm-level and environmental context-specific factors shape HRM digitalization in SMEs in emerging economies context with Russia as an example. Method: To achieve an in-depth understanding of the research phenomenon, a qualitative study with an exploratory design was conducted. Empirical data was gathered through semi-structured interviews with ten professionals with extensive experience in HRM digitalization in SMEs, chosen by purposive sampling method. An abductive research approach enabled establishing the connection between obtained empirical insights and existing knowledge from the literature on HRM digitalization. Conclusion: As a result, the following factors were identified as the most influential for the implementation of digital HR tools in Russian SMEs. At the individual level, it is top executives digital awareness and innovativeness that facilitate implementation. At the firm level, it is SME’s resource munificence, innovation-friendly corporate culture, low hierarchical structure and developed IT infrastructure that enables implementation. Finally, among context-specific factors, the following appeared to shape the implementation: declining national economy, unpredictable business environment, highly competitive business environment, IT vendors' market specificity, governmental policy in terms of digitalization, labour market specificity. Most of the contextual factors contributed to the disabling environment for HRM digitalization, with a few exceptions.

It is no longer news that organizations are now highly dependent on knowledge assets as a primary source of competitive advantage. It is for this reason that knowledge is considered as powerful because it one aspect that guarantees sustainable source of success of any organization. This thesis survey the postulation of knowledge codification and non-codification in the knowledge management perspective in a chosen company. The study of knowledge management perceives codification and noncodification as knowledge that can be retained, reused, shared and management. However, the existing studies pay little or no attention as to how both codificationand non-codification can be adopted at same time in an organization as a process to better improve value. In these regards, the research poses to examine, how both concepts can be used by human resource managers to foster knowledge within the organization. The research was carried out by examining several departments with special interest on the Human Resource Section of a consulting and service providing company (Competence Call Center) situated in Barcelona, Spain. It is important to note that this company has several branches and as such have a central repository where knowledge is stored for use and reuse by all workers. The study was actioned using a qualitative approach where interviews were made to the participants. Being a consulting and service providing company, the study focused on finding how codification of knowledge and human resource management practices which is linked to non-codified knowledge can be used to foster the sharing of knowledge in the organization and also, to know how the company codifies knowledge in such a way that it is not lost and can be reused by workers. The study finds that CCC being a company that check contents on social media platforms, such as Facebook, has a central repository were knowledge is stored, and a major finding is that such knowledge is stored in different languages which can be accessible to employees. Even though we examine the Barcelona branch of this company, it was discovered that all branches have similar working culture (cultural-fit) entailing that during recruitment decisions, that some sort of cultural training especially in information technology (IT) is carried out by the Human resource management department. These findings indicates that the knowledge domain of this company is of a codified nature and can be easily accessed but in addition CCC also ensures that noncodified knowledge is shared between workers through HRM practices. In the analysis, focus is on how codified and non-codified knowledge is shared inside the company. By this statement, we pose to say that the knowledge sharing is more than just codifying information or sharing non-codified knowledge, in contrast knowledge sharing is to create, to share, to retain and to reuse knowledge between individuals, individuals sometimes find difficult the process of knowledge sharing. Hence, in the adoption of codified and non-codified knowledge within the organization, the combination of working culture and other structured strategies or standardized professional roles for individual development, can pave way for the employee transparency and aid in improving individual domain knowledge.

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Det föränderliga samhället har lett till att organisationer präglas av flexibilitet och oförutsägbarhet. Det har lett till ett förändringstryck, där förändring har blivit det nya normaltillståndet för organisationer. Behovet av en lyckad förändringsledning har aldrig varit större. För att tackla denna föränderlighet krävs det att organisationer framgångsrikt implementerar strategier och metoder för effektiv förändring och skapa organisatoriska förutsättningar för chefer att leda ett förändringsarbete. Eftersom mellanchefer visar sig ha stor betydelse för medarbetares engagemang och syn på förändring, är deras roll viktig i arbetet med förändring. Syftet med studien var att, ur ett chefsperspektiv, undersöka och analysera Norrpilens organisatoriska förutsättningar avseende motivation, delaktighet, kommunikation och information samt trygghet för ett strategiskt förändringsarbete. Genom kvalitativa intervjuer har problemområdet undersökts i syfte att skapa en djupare förståelse om chefernas upplevelser att leda ett förändringsarbete. Av resultatet framkom att kommunikation, information och delaktighet i relation till varandra är grundförutsättningar för att chefer ska känna sig motiverade och trygga i det strategiska förändringsarbetet. Studien bidrog därmed med kunskap om vilka förutsättningar chefer behöver för att leda ett strategiskt förändringsarbete samt vilka förutsättningar Norrpilen behöver utveckla och skapa till framtida förändringsarbeten.

Tourism and hospitality play a crucial role in the growth of the Thai economy and hoteliers need to consider how to retain their talented employees. The major output of tourism and hospitality is service and this is most critically driven by the human capital of the organisation and supported by human resource practices. This study examined workforce expectations and experiences of work relationships, job security, WLB, pay and remuneration, PM systems, career promotion, training and development and challenging job roles in luxury five-star hotels in Thailand. It employs a multi-method research design using a pragmatic lens, mixed methods and sequential explanatory design through a survey of 578 respondents, followed by 62 semi-structured interviews, the study shows that national chain hotels are more willing and better able to adapt their HR practices initiatives to local conditions when compared to local and international chain hotels. Thai hotel employees emphasise harmonious social relations and a physical closeness to be taken care of by their supervisors and management team like family members. They are increasingly aware of the need for bundles of HR practices and managers therefore need to understand their workforce and the need to incorporate more flexibility in their working practices as part of a brandconsistent system. Finally, managers need to consider the relational psychological contract of the workforce and understand workforce commitment and how this relates to the broader strategy of the organisation.