The purpose of this study was to determine if leadership training, given to informal leaders, had a positive effect on manufacturing productivity. The leadership attributes of informal leaders were assessed using the Leader Attributes Inventory (LAI). Furthermore, the performance of informal leaders was measured using the Leader Effectiveness Index (LEI). Non-management employees from various departments in a manufacturing facility were placed in one of four experimental groups. A Solomon four-group experimental design was employed. A one-group pretest-posttest design was used to control threats to internal validity. The one-way analysis of variance procedure (ANOVA) was used to determine if there were statistically significant increases in manufacturing productivity of informal leaders. Findings suggested that training increased the manufacturing productivity of informal leaders. The increased productivity indicated that leadership training could help manufacturing facilities increase their productivity without capital expenditures. Findings did not indicate a statistically significant difference in leadership attributes. Findings also suggested there were no significant differences in the manufacturing productivity between employees with high leader attributes and low leader attributes. Based on this study, leadership training, given to non-management employees, may yield gains in manufacturing productivity.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur medarbetarna upplever att den informella ledaren påverkar säkerhetskultur- och arbete. En kvantitativ metod användes där skillnaden mellan grupperna (de som enbart har en närmsta chef och de som angett att de har både en närmsta chef och en informell ledare) analyserades med ett oberoende t-test. För att mäta samband användes informell och formell ledare som prediktorer och säkerhetskulturen som utfallsvariabel i en multipel regression. Därefter analyserades även flervalsfrågor gällande arbetsuppgifter- och områden i form av deskriptiv statistik. I organisationer som upplever att det finns en formell och informell ledare tycks båda fylla en roll för säkerhetskulturen, men den närmsta chefen upplevs vara av större vikt än den informella ledaren. Inga signifikanta skillnader observerades mellan grupperna. Slutsatsen var att både den formella och informella ledaren spelar en roll inom säkerhetskultur- och arbete, men att den formella ledarens roll är av större vikt. / The purpose of this study was to research how staff members of an organisation perceive how the informal leader affects the safety culture and safety work. A quantitative method was used where the difference between groups (one group with formal leaders and one group with formal and informal leaders) was analysed with an independent t-test. To measure correlation the informal and formal leaders were used as predictors and safety culture was used as the criterion variable. Multiple choice questions were analysed thereafter in descriptive statistics regarding the work assignments. In organisations where both an informal and formal leaders were perceived, it showed that they both have an effect on safety culture. No significant differences were observed between the groups. The conclusion was that both forms of leaders play a part in safety culture and work, but the formal leader has a bigger part than the informal leader.

Very little or any of the research within social language about different cultures of silence has been devoted to the norms of silence which exists within the speaking community of prison and which is shared by both inmates and staff. The purpose with the essay has therefore been to, from earlier research, investigate what the norms of silence in prison are, how these affect inmates and staff in their attitude toward each other and the communication between them, and if there are similarities in the norms of silence between the two groups and how these are expressed, regulated and applied within the speaking community compared with other cultures of silence. The essay takes it point of departure within theory of social language and how one uses the sound of language, words and turns in a correct way according to the norms and attitudes that exist within a speaking community and focus foremost around the culture of silence and its norms for silence and secrecy that exist within the speaking community which is shared by both inmates and staff in prison. The empiric collection has been done through qualitative method in combination with introspection, participation observation and interviews plus questionnaires which later have been interpreted and compared with earlier research. Four respondents, all of them staffs who have been or are active within the Swedish correctional system and have possessed varying posts, were interviewed or had to answer questionnaires which aimed to make the respondents to think about and to confirm the existence of a culture of silence. The result of the essay showed that staff, like inmates, have norms for silence and that staff in meeting with inmates shows varying degrees of attitudes, dependent if there’s about a closed respective an open ward, so that the verbal communication is affected by an informal attitude towards the inmates which is more accepted in open than compared with closed wards within the group of staff because the level of security is higher. Through the investigation of which norms of silence there are within the group of staff, generally, and how these are expressed and regulated within the speaking community through highlighting experiences and attitudes to better understand and explain the meaning of silence in different circumstances, and to compare the results in the essay with earlier science in order to bring forward similarities and differences in silence among inmates and staff with other cultures of silence, the essay has showed that there’s a culture of silence with norms of silence not only within prison, i.e. among inmates and staff, but within all speaking communities, which affect the communication with other groups or cultures negative, and that the formation of attitudes, i.e. negative social representation of others, and appliance and maintenance of the culture of silence is dependent on informal leaders which has a high status within the group.