Examensarbete (4FE18E), Civilekonomprogrammet – Controller, Ekonomihögskolan vid Linnéuniversitetet i Växjö, VT 2023. Titel: ”Fallerar den ena, fallerar den andra” - En studie av relationen mellan kulturell- och cybernetisk verksamhetsstyrning i Sparbanken Eken Bakgrund och problem: Tidigare forskning har riktat fokus mot enskilda styrsystem och studerat dessa isolerade från varandra, något som bidragit till att ”antingen-eller-förhållanden” satt sin prägel och begränsat studiernas resultat. Kulturell styrning har i flera av dessa studier porträtterats som det nav vilket binder samman organisationer och skapar regler eller normerför att förklara och vägleda. Samtidigt går det att ställa sig frågande till om cybernetisk styrning fungerar utan hänsyn till andra system, eller om de är beroende av en specifik tolkning baserad på värderingar, antaganden och normer, för att fungera. Med utgångspunkten att cybernetiska kontroller är starkt beroende av tolkning, finns det en klar fördel av att studera verksamhetsstyrsystem i relation till varandra, inte var för sig. Förvånansvärt nog är det få studier som faktiskt lyckats precisera betydelsen av relationen mellan kulturell- och cybernetisk styrning. Tidigare studier har fångat relationen genom begreppen samspel och balans men inte beskrivit systemens relation på djupet. Med anledning av att system ofta studerats isolerade från varandra krävs studier som fördjupar förståelsen för relationen mellan kulturell- och cybernetisk styrning. Syfte och frågeställningar: Syftet med studien är att fördjupa förståelsen för relationen mellan kulturell- och cybernetisk styrning. Frågeställningarna som väglett undersökningen är hur kulturell styrning kommer till uttryck i cybernetiska styrmedel samt hur cybernetisk styrning kommer till uttryck i kulturella styrmedel. Metod och genomförande: Studien präglades av en kvalitativ forskningsansats med ett deduktivt angreppssätt. För att besvara frågeställningarna var Sparbanken Eken fallföretag, en bank med andra incitament för styrning än de som genomsyrar större banker. Insamlingen av empiriskt material utgick från semi-strukturerade intervjuer på olika hierarkiska nivåer, från ledning till medarbetare, dokument samt deltagande observationer. Det empiriska materialet bidrog till en förståelse för hur kulturell- och cybernetisk styrning kan tänka sig relatera till varandra och hur de bidrar till varandras utfall. I analysen sammanstrålades referensramen meddet empiriska materialet vilka det genom senare kunde dras slutsatser utifrån. Detta mynnade ut i ett nytt synsätt för hur relationen mellan kulturell- och cybernetisk styrning kan bli sedd. Slutsats: Relationen mellan systemen kommer till uttryck genom symbios. Därmed är systemen beroende av varandra och påverkas, på ett eller annat sätt, mer eller mindre, utav händelser i respektive system. Det som binder samman systemen är företags arbetssätt. På så vis kan arbetssättet för framställning av budget eller mål inom cybernetisk styrning, få inverkan på värderingar inom kulturell styrning. Värderingar kan sedan bli grunden för subkulturer vilka på ett gynnsamt eller missgynnsamt sätt kan påverka utfall inom cybernetisk styrning. Subkulturer med stort engagemang för styrning och de mål som satts upp inom cybernetisk styrning, påverkar sedermera utfallen av dessa genom arbetssättet. Därmed går det inte att se vart den ena styrningen börjar och slutar, de arbetar ständigt i symbios med varandra och är i starka beroendeställningar till varandras framgångar. Fallerar den ena, fallerar den andra. / Master thesis (4FE18E), Master of Science in Business and Economics, School of Business and Economics at Linnaeus University in Växjö, Spring 2023. Title: ”If one fails, the other fails” - A study about the relationship between cultural- and cybernetic management controls in Sparbanken Eken Background and problem: Previous research have focused on single control systems and studied these isolated from each other which has contributed to that “either-or-relationships” has left its’ mark and limited the studies’ results. Cultural controls have in many of these studies been portrayed as the hub that ties organizations together and creates rules or norms to explain and guide. At the same time, it is possible to raise questions about whether cybernetic controls function without consideration to other systems, or if they are dependent on a specific mode of interpretation based on values, convictions, and norms, to work. With the premise that cybernetic controls are strongly dependent on interpretations, there is a clear advantage of studying management controls systems in relation to each other, not one by one. Surprisingly enough, few studies have managed to pinpoint the importance of the relationship between cultural- and cybernetic controls. Previous studies have captured the relationship by using the concepts interplay and balance but have not been able to describe the systems’ relationship in depth. Since systems is usually studied isolated from each other, there is a need for studies that deepens the understanding for the relationship between cultural- and cybernetic controls. Purpose and research questions: The purpose of the study is to deepen the understanding of the relationship between cultural- and cybernetic controls. The research questions that have guided the study are how cultural controls is expressed through cybernetic means of control and how cybernetic controls is expressed through cultural means of controls. Method and implementation: The implementation of the study was characterized by a qualitative research approach with a deductive nearing. To answer the research questions, Sparbanken Eken acted case company, a bank with other incentives regarding control than those permeating bigger banks. The collection of empirical material was based on semi-structured interviews on different hierarchical levels ranging from corporate management to co-workers, documents, and participatory observations. The empirical material contributed to an understanding for how cultural- and cybernetic control systems could relate to each other and how they contribute to each other’s results. In the analysis section, the frame of reference and the empirical material converged, through which conclusions later could be drawn from. This resulted in a new outlook for how the relationship between cultural- and cybernetic controls can be seen. Conclusion: The relationship between the systems is expressed through symbiosis. Hence, the systems are dependent on each other and are affected by, in one way or another, more or less, events in the respective systems. What ties the systems together is the company’s way of working. Thus, the way of working when constructing budget or goals within the cybernetic control system, will influence values in the cultural control system. Further, values may become the ground for subcultures which in a favourable or non-favourable way can affect outcomes in the cybernetic control system. Subcultures with great commitment to controls and goals set within the cybernetic control system, further affects the outcomes of these through the way of working. Thus, it is not possible to declare where one control system starts or ends, they work simultaneously in symbiosis with each other and are in strong dependency positions for eachother’s success. If one fails, the other fails.

På senare tid har de uppmärksammade härjningarna och våldsamma metoderna som används av Islamiska Staten i Irak och Syrien (ISIS) bidragit till en ökad oro och diskussion om vad som får muslimska ungdomar ifrån väst att ansluta sig till sådana hänsynslösa organisationer. Mot bakgrund av detta ville jag undersöka vilka tankar och antaganden som konstruerar en muslimsk ungdoms världsbild avseende identitet och tillhörighet. Denna studie syftar därför till att uppnå ökad förståelse för hur fenomenet radikalisering kan relateras till identitetsskapande hos muslimska ungdomar och vilka processer i identitetsskapandet som kan utgöra en risk för vägen mot radikalisering. För att lyckas med detta har jag utfört semistrukturerade utforskande djupintervjuer med muslimska ungdomar i Malmö. Min avsikt med denna studie har inte varit att utgå från att alla muslimska ungdomar är, eller har potential för att bli radikaliserade. Min avsikt har snarare varit att utforska hur identitet och tillhörighet kan säga något om vägar (pathways) till radikalisering oavsett av religiös tillhörighet. För att analysera informanternas berättelser har begrepp och ramverk från Social identitetsteori använts. Studien påvisar en stabil grund för bi-kulturell identifiering med en svensk och en muslimsk kontext bland ungdomarna som ingått i denna studie. Samtidigt går det att spåra en kluvenhet i att på grund av sin religiösa identitet inte alltid accepteras fullt ut i alla sammanhang och en känsla av medialt utpekande av muslimer som grupp. Informanternas berättelser synliggör också en upplevd intern konflikt bland muslimska samfund då terrorism som utförs i islams namn tvingar medlemmar i gruppen att både internt och externt markera ställningstagande i frågan om religiöst motiverat våld och terrorism. Denna konflikt i kombination med ett upplevt utanförskap som svensk muslim kan i sig vara grunden för att vissa ungdomar vänder sig in i andra delar av den muslimska gruppen för att söka acceptans och bekräftelse. I denna process finner en del av dessa ungdomar radikala och extrema rörelser. Dessa rörelser är isolerade från omvärldens intryck vilket möjliggör för extremism att gro. När medlemmar inom en sådan grupp vill öka sin status kan beteende och handlingar eskalera vilket kan leda till våld och terrorism. Ett sätt att förhindra denna väg mot radikalisering av unga muslimer skulle således kunna vara att skapa förutsättningar för muslimska ungdomar att kunna känna tillhörighet i sina olika sociala identiteter som både svensk och muslim. / As the brutality and violent means of the Islamic state in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has become evident a general concern and public discussion has emerged about what makes young Muslims from the Western world to join such devious organizations. In light of this I wanted to examine the thoughts and assumptions that constructs the feelings of identity and belonging of young Muslims in the city of Malmo. This study thus aims to create a wider understanding of how the phenomenon of radicalization can be related to identities of Muslim youth and how the processes of forming identity can compose a risk for the individual to find pathways to radicalization. To accomplish this explorative semi-structured interviews with young Muslims in Malmo was conducted. My intention with this study has not been to assume that all Muslim youth is, or has the potential to become radicalized. My intention rather has been to explore how identity and belonging can tell something about routes (pathways) to radicalization regardless of religious affiliation. To analyze the stories of the young Muslims who participated in this study concepts and frameworks from Social Identity Theory has been applied. This study shows that among the young Muslims participating in this study there is a stable basis for a bi-cultural identification with both a Swedish and a Muslim context. It is though possible to trace some ambivalence in the bi-cultural identity of these individuals as their experience as being Muslims e.g. their religious identity are not always compatible or fully accepted in all contexts. Additionally the participants also perceive that Muslims as a group is being publicly singled out and criticized by media. The stories also reveals a perceived internal conflict among Muslim communities as terrorism conducted in the name of Islam compels members of the Muslim group to both internally and externally mark position concerning religiously motived violence and terrorism. This conflict joint with the experience of exclusion among Swedish Muslim can potentially become the reason for some young Muslims to turn into the wide range of Muslim communities in search for acceptance and affirmation. In this process some individuals will find radical and extremist movements. The isolation these movements/groups experience from outside impressions then enables extremism to flourish inside the group. When members of such a group strives to improve individual status the behavior and actions of the group can escalate which in turn can result in violence and terrorism. Thus to avoid this pathway to radicalization the solution lies in creating conditions that allows for young Muslims to feel belonging and inclusion in their bi-cultural identities as being both Swedish and Muslims.

Abstract The purpose of this essay is to investigate how the popular male K-pop group BTS has influenced seven people, to motivate them to a better mental health and new life path in Sweden. The study examines purple dreams that represents mine and six other individuals’ stories that has found similar motivation from Korean popular culture. The method used in this study are autoethnography, my own prior memories and qualitative methods in the form of three interviews and three written stories. The theoretical perspective in the study consists of Blumer's interactionism, which provides a closer insight into how a fandom as a whole community acts and reacts in its inner workings. The results show that the informants experience an improvement in their mental state through this community. It also showed that communication between fans has helped improve mood, providing fans with a community to help fulfill some goals on the road to their dreams. It emerged in the interviews and stories that fans, and idols play a significant role in the BTS community. The community's experience show that culture and interaction are important to people's lifestyles and have contributed to better mental health.

This thesis examines Augustine and Friedrich Hayek’s notion of subjectivity in the context of cultural translation theory, following Talal Asad. Previous researchers have related Hayek to political theology and economic theology by observing the notion of market’s divinizing implications and tendencies, often through generalized methods of analysis and allegorical comparison. Research treating neoliberal subjectivity seldom considers it building on Christian theological notions. Given the lack of research on the given topic, more specific the relationship between theological and neoliberal understandings of subjectivity, it is pertinent to examine neoliberal subjectivity as expressed by Hayek, by comparing to saint Augustine. By a close reading of one of western societies most important theologians, Augustine, and comparing to Hayek’s economic vision of society, this study examines how Augustine and Hayek interact by using cultural translation as a methodological framework. Augustine’s notion of God, and Hayek’s notion of the market, is analyzed as explicitly proposing, or implicitly presupposing, notions of subjectivity. Translatability and untranslatability are used as methodological concepts for discussing where Augustine and Hayek’s notions overlap and where they differ. This study demonstrates that Hayek’s understanding of subjectivity in relation to the market has comparable aspects with Augustine’s understanding of human subjectivity in relation to God. Though some aspects where the authors differ, such as the understanding of knowledge, might be described as untranslatable. Use of cultural translation theory, allows for important nuances in the relationship between theology and economic understandings of subjectivity to transpire in analysis.

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This paper investigates Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 from the perspective of the hermeneutical implications of their historical context appropriated into a modern contextual understanding and possible application. To do this, four prominent historical theories (relating the ban to procreation, idolatry, against nature/the order of creation, and Canaanite practices) of the origin of the verses, and the ban therein, are chosen to be analysed. The analysis will be based on a theoretical framework which is modelled to present a theory of how historical knowledge and its derived hermeneutical implications enables a dynamically equivalent cultural appropriation. The investigation poses two questions – (1) what are the hermeneutical implications, and (2) what might a dynamically equivalent cultural appropriation into a modern context look like? In answering these question, it is found that when understanding the historical context as giving clues to the cultural world of the author and first reader(s), the four theories produce different results, but in none of them is it said to be either impossible or always possible to apply the ban. Further, even the group of people that are concerned by the ban differs. There is also a note of warning given, as these theories and others on the matter are very hard, if not impossible, to choose between, and therefore one has to motivate quite well why one selects one over the other in creating an interpretation and appropriation, since such a choice might, but should not, be more based on preference than on facts. Questions are in this paper sometimes posed but not answered, which runs in line with the overarching goal to rather draw some lines of interpretation than to hold an interpretation to be certain, while still exemplifying a transparent and theoretically well founded way to appropriate these verses. / Denna uppsats undersöker Leviticus 18:22 och 20:13 med fokus på den historiska kontextens hermeneutiska implikationer approprierade till en modern förståelse och eventuell applikation av verserna. För att göra detta kommer fyra vanligt förekommande historiska teorier till varför verserna med deras förbud finns (teorier som relaterar förbudet till fortplantning, avgudadyrkan, en handling mot naturen/skapelsens ordning, och kananeiska sedvänjor) analyseras. Analysen tar sin grund i ett teoretiskt ramverk som utformas för att visa hur en historisk kontext och dess hermeneutiska implikationer möjliggör en dynamiskt ekvivalent kulturell appropriering. Uppsatsen ställer två frågor: (1) Vilka är de hermeneutiska implikationerna, och (2) hur skulle en dynamiskt ekvivalent kulturell appropriering till en modern kontext kunna se ut? Dessa frågor besvaras utifrån ett perspektiv på den historiska kontexten som bidragande till att förstå författarens (eller författarnas) och de första läsarnas kulturella värld, och de fyra teorierna producerar ganska olika resultat. Det kan dock sägas att i inget av fallen blir slutsatsen att förbudet inte går att använda, eller att det alltid kan användas. Vidare framgår det att till och med vilka som berörs av förbudet skiftar beroende på anledningen till att förbudet finns. Ett varningens finger lyfts också för att påpeka att det är svårt, om inte omöjligt, att välja en av dessa teorier (eller de många andra som finns) som bättre. Därför måste sådana val, vilka sedan ligger till grund för tolkningar och tillämpningar, vara väl motiverade. Det finns annars en risk att sådana val kan ske mer baserat på preferens än fakta. Vidare ställs det frågor som inte alltid besvaras, vilket ligger i linje med viljan att snarare påvisa några tolkningsramar än att se en tolkning som korrekt, samtidigt som ett teoretiskt välgrundat och genomskinligt sätt att appropriera dessa verser exemplifieras.

Adapting literature from a cultural context to another is the main theme of my master's thesis. The aim is to determine how publishing houses adapt a book from a different cultural context to their own, and if there are any specific marketing choices being made during the publishing process.The thesis highlights two authors, Sara Stridsberg from Sweden and Silke Scheuermann from Germany. Interviews have been made with the publishers, editors and translators of the translated novels. One of the main themes is to be able to showcase differences between the Swedish and the German publishing business and their particular cultural characteristics in working with translated novels. I have found that the brand of a publishing house is important when making publishing decisions. For larger publishing houses, the economical capital is of importance, and for smaller publishing houses the cultural capital tends to be of a higher value. The book market is becoming more defined by the economy of attention and economization of culture, which is showing in all different aspects of the business; publishing houses, newspapers and agents are all adapting towards a more economic focus.

This study was carried out during the spring of 2013 in Cape Town, South Africa with a Minor Field Study (MFS) scholarship funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). South Africa is a country with a complex society due to the still recent history of Apartheid. South Africa faces great challenges with the gap between rich and poor, high unemployment and deep expertise gaps between the white minority and the historically disadvantaged coloureds and black majority. As a result the contemporary situation is extensive segregation and difficulties for the multicultural population to conduct a common cultural identity. The aim of this study was to find out how four South African issues of international fashion magazines deals with the representation of black, white and coloured people. Furthermore, to find out how South African women from socially diverse areas experience and perceive this representation. Quantitative content analysis, connotative and denotative picture analysis and the conduction of interviews was made in order to reach a result. Consequently, it turned out that the investigated magazines do not present a fair and equal representation of the South African society, hence highly over representing the white minority in each magazine. Additionally, South African women do not describe the fashion magazines as presenting an equal representation of race, neither that a reality based ideal is being conveyed.

This MA thesis analyzes how the protagonists and the narrative structure relates to “the Child” as a linguistic/cultural construction in Mare Kandre’s early authorship (1984-1991). A thematic of children portraits defines this period of Kandre’s writing, which consits of the following works: In a Different Country (1984), The Annunciation (1986), Bübin’s Kid (1987), The Burning Tree (1988) and Aliide, Aliide (1991). Linguistic components, such as the word “child”, the name “Kid” and a reconstruction of the concept of childhood, holds an actuate position in these narratives when they first appear in direct relation to the protagonists. This suggests how generally accepted categories and concepts consciously are at work in Kandre’s writings. Consequently, a category such as “child” can not unproblematically serve as a definition of any of the protagonists, irrespective of their presumptive age. Combining philosopher Judith Butler’s theory of name-calling with theories in the field of Childhood Studies as presented by Susan Honeyman, “the Child” in Kandre’s works is explored through the hypothesis of its function as a name. Close readings reveal how the protagonists, in the encounter with an explicitly cultural or narrative context, are constituted as subjects through the linguistic category “child”. The protagonists can be considered both as subordinated by the conventionally manifested notion of life development as a linear, measurable progress and as introduced to the means which make possible a critical response to that same notion. Since the main protagonists strongly refuse to be defined by the conventions supporting “the Child” as a category, a dialogue is created which gives the narrative its force. That dialogue corresponds to different aspects of the concept of childhood, which place “the Child” as a construction at the heart of Kandre’s narrative composition.

<p>Webexhibits is a growing but unexplored, cultural phenomenon that indicates a new use of the Internet for cultural communication. In the essay two quantitative methods, logganalysis and websurveys, have been used to study the visitors in 5hus.nu. The purpose is to generate knowledge about webexhibits as a cultural manifestation and medium by studying the experience and actions of its visitors. To achieve the aim the paper explores the methodological questions of how to study webusers. Theories about the exhibition as a medium and the web as a virtual area of exhibits have been used to understand and interpret the results. The study also relates to the research field of Visitor Studies. The analysis shows that a new relationship and pattern of ommunication between the producer and its public is created in the"virtual"exhibition space. Interactivity contributes to differentiated experiences and varying ways in which visitors navigate the site. However the statistic results illustrate that the net is a traceable, complex and technical exhibition arena, where time and space are subordinated and where a new form of cultural activity is being developed.</p> / <p>Utställningar på webben är en växande men fortfarande outforskad kulturyttring, som vittnar om en vidgad användning av Internet för kulturell kommunikation. I uppsatsen tillämpas två webbaserade kvantitativa metoder: trafikanalys och webbenkäter, för att studera besökarna i en fallstudie av webbutställningen 5hus.nu. Syftet har varit att genom analys av besökarnasegna upplevelser och agerande generera kunskaper om webbutställningar som kulturyttring och medium. För att uppnå syftet ges en metodologisk redogörelse för hur besökarna i en webbutställning kan studeras. Empirin har tolkats mot kommunikationsteorier om utställningsmediet och webben som utställningsarena. Studien har även kopplats till det tvärvetenskapliga forskningsfältet Visitor Studies - besöksstudier. Resultaten visar tydligt på hur nya kommunikationsformer mellan avsändare och mottagare skapas i det ”virtuella” utställningsrummet. Interaktiviteten bidrar till att besökarnas upplevelser och agerande i hög grad skiljer sig åt. Samtidigt pekar statistiken på att webben är en mycket spårbar, komplex och teknikstyrd utställningsarena, där tid och rum får en underordnad betydelse och där en ny form av kulturaktivitet håller på att utvecklas. </p>