This study examined a model of the antecedents and outcomes of mentor commitment to workplace mentoring relationships. The proposed model was based on the investment model of commitment. A total of 180 pairs of mentors and their protégés completed surveys that assessed model constructs. Results indicated that mentor relationship satisfaction and investment size predict mentor commitment, whereas mentor quality of alternatives and perceptions of managerial support for mentoring do not predict mentor commitment. Additionally, mentor commitment is associated with information exchange behaviors engaged in by mentors and protégés. These findings suggest that commitment plays an important role in mentoring relationships, and the investment model provides a useful framework for future research on this topic.

In Canada, new parents have access to maternity and parental leave following the birth or adoption of a child. Parental leave, which follows maternity leave, entitles new parents to 35 weeks of leave. Although both parents have access to parental leave, only a small percentage of fathers utilize it, despite the benefits for both fathers and their children. This gendered usage perpetuates the belief that family responsibilities are mothers’ responsibilities. This multi-level research study explored the organizational, manager, and employee characteristics that influence support for and use of parental leave by male employees. In 2012, seven large, Manitoba employers were recruited for participation and the sample included 550 male employees and 354 female and male managers. Data were collected using a structured interview at the organizational level and two self-administered questionnaires for managers and male employees. The hypotheses were tested using OLS regression and hierarchical logistic regression. Results indicated strong managerial support for parental leave use by men, although female managers were significantly more supportive than male managers. The strongest influence on support for parental leave use for both employees and managers was the personal use of parental leave. Male employees who perceived organizational family support and the view that men could take leave without negative career impact reported higher levels of perceived supervisory family support. Twenty-five percent of the sample had used parental leave, but those who had access to an Employment Insurance top up from their employer reported the highest leave use and the longest leave duration. Parental leave was extended from 10 to 35 weeks in 2000; the results indicate that fathers who had access to 10 weeks of parental leave were 80 percent less likely to report leave use, compared to those with access to 35 weeks of leave. Therefore, to increase fathers’ use of parental leave, organizations are encouraged to increase awareness and explicit support for parental leave, as well as offer a top up. To increase fathers’ leave use, future parental leave policy development should focus on both increasing wage replacement and the addition of a non-transferable leave for fathers, similar to that offered in Quebec.

The physical store frontline employees are the link between the organization and the customers. During 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic has had different effect on different retail sectors, some have had their worst results while ICA Maxi stores have increased their sales. This dissertation aimed to explore challenges the frontline employees and their store managers perceive they face during the COVID-19 pandemic in the retail store context. In order to explore these challenges semi structured interviews were conducted at an ICA Maxi store in the south of Sweden. The study found that the frontline employees are not involved in the decision-making process, that the leaders support is important for initiatives to be successful, and that there was no additional training for the frontline employees due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We draw the conclusion that while frontline employees are not included in the formal decision-making, they are still able to raise their concerns with their managers. We also draw the conclusion that managerial support is important when implementing initiatives for the frontline employees. Finally, we draw the conclusion that none of the frontline employees felt the need for any additional training. This study contributes to the scarce amount of research from the frontline employee perspective in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Practically, this study could be of value for store managers in order to enhance the customer interaction from a frontline employee point of view.

Research Question: How does the availability of remote work options influence employee     motivation and subsequently impact employee performance in a hybrid workplace setting? Purpose: The purpose of this research is to delve into the dynamics involved in hybrid work environments and evaluate the factors that contribute to employee motivation and consequently, performance. The research aims to determine how intrinsic, extrinsic and other facilitators influence employee motivation in these recently implemented work environments. Additionally, it seeks to explore two perspectives: that from an employee perspective and from a managerial perspective.  Method: A qualitative research method was employed in this thesis, with empirical data being collected through semi-structured interviews with managers and employees who work in office-based roles. Additionally, this study examines the relevant motivation theories to help understand the interview findings, providing a comprehensive framework for analyzing employee motivation in the context of hybrid work.  Conclusion: The employee interview respondents indicate that fulfillment of autonomy,   relatedness and work-life balance are crucial for maintaining motivation in a hybrid work setting. Although overall performance levels did not experience significant changes, managers reported encountering delays and challenges during the initial transition to remote work. Competence was one of the basic needs with little to no evidence of being impacted, however work efficiency tended to decline in a remote setting.

Changes in the workplace have led to new ways of organizing and structuring organizations. Organizations’ desire to increase competitiveness, efficiency and flexibility has resulted in new conditions in the field of human resources. The new conditions have also created new roles and changing responsibilities for those working within human resources. The purpose of this study was to investigate how the implementation of Ulrich's model for HR transformation can impact on the human resource departments managerial support to first-line managers in the municipality of Uppsala. Today the municipality of Uppsala organizes its human resources based on the Ulrich's model, which divides the work into the units service center, the expert unit and business partners. The study is based on eight interviews with employees in the department of human resources, first-line managers and human resource managers within the organization. Their experiences of the new organizational model were examined. The study indicates that the managerial support generally is perceived as functioning adequately. The implementation of Ulrich's model, however, appears to have led to decreased knowledge about the activities in the sub-units of the overall organization when the human resource department is centralized. The reorganization also seems to have led to a lack of clarity regarding who is responsible for human resource issues. Raised uncertainties seem to have created subjective interpretations regarding who is responsible for what. The study illustrates, firstly, experiences of the employees of the human resource department of providing management support, and secondly first-line managers' experiences of the support.

In the construction industry today, there is a big demand of new recruits. One effective way of reaching new recruits is to consider other candidates than the majority which today populates the construction industry – men. Meanwhile women face a lot of obstacles in the industry as a consequence of the macho culture. Managers play an important role in the wellbeing of their employees and for the company culture. The study’s purpose is to research if managers in Sweden can influence women to staying in the construction industry by answering two research questions: (1) How can management support female employees to make them want to stay in the construction industry? (2) What support and tools do management need from their organisations to ensure the wellbeing and workplace satisfaction of their female employees?   A qualitative research approach was conducted and women working at construction sites, their managers, and human resources-personnel were interviewed. In total 12 interviewees were participating in semi-structured and in-depth interviews and a minimum of three interviewees came from the same company. In total three companies were included in the study. A thematic analysis was applied to the collected data and three overarching themes were identified.  The most important findings of the study have been: (1) Manager’s knowledge versus managers understanding of the obstacles women face in the construction industry. (2) Managers sharing the opinion of the equality issue progressing organically. And (3) that the conflict per se is not as important as how the conflict is being managed. To give women in the construction industry the right support to want to stay in the industry mangers need to develop a deeper understanding for women’s challenges in the industry, develop their conflict management, take a clear stance in their own role in the progression of the equality issue of the industry, and take proactive actions. The identified support managers need from their organizations is educations to understand the challenges women face in the construction industry and clear and standardized communication flow between employees and different level managers support. Furthermore, they need support from human resources-personnel to minimize the risk of recruiting women on the premises them being able to withstand the current culture in the industry, which today is fuelling the macho culture.

The present-day working setting has endured many developments over a couple of centuries.These developments have provided us with new working settings, concepts, and roles. Withthe advancements in technology and the underlying instigator of COVID-19, the remotesetting has become a commonality for many organizations. Concepts such as organizationalbelonging have grown to become a vital focus for companies and a necessity for employees.The role of the manager which was once simple and direct has become complex andmultidimensional. The rise in remote workers, full-time and hybrid, during and post-COVID19 has caught the attention of many researchers. Yet, the profound implications surroundingremote workers have been neglected. This study wants to shed light on remote workers’ senseof belonging and the factors regarding the managerial role that interplays into the mentioned.The purpose is to unfold how to effectively utilize the remote setting while creating apleasant environment for the employees. An environment directed by managerial support,interactions, and culture transmission will foster productivity, motivation, job satisfaction,and finally the sense of belonging of the employees. Lastly, this exploratory qualitative studywill through a combination of the abductive and inductive approach and a thematic analysisfathom the managerial role in remote working employees’ sense of belonging. In conclusion,this study argues that managers do have the power to shape the remote working environmentand thus, strengthen employees’ sense of belonging. Tailored supportive practices, supportiveleadership approaches, more engagement, deeper relationships, and consistent feedback andrecognition would improve the remote setting experience and belonging for the employees.

Merparten av kommunala verksamheter har under senare decennier implementeratstyrformen New Public Management - som innebär större fokus på kostnadsbesparingar,effektivisering och resultat. En av flera viktiga samhällsfunktioner som verkar inomkommunal verksamhet är hemtjänsten. Inom verksamheten utgör enhetschefen enbetydande roll för både organiseringen och omsorgsarbetets kvalité. Studiens syfte äratt undersöka hur enhetschefer inom den kommunala hemtjänsten upplever chefsstödi förhållande till yrkesspecifika krav och förväntningar avseende kostnadsbesparingaroch effektivisering. Studien inriktas på krav och förväntningar från överordnade cheferoch medarbetare. Metoden som använts för att uppnå syftet är av kvalitativ natur ochbestår av semistrukturerade intervjuer med enhetschefer från åtta olikahemtjänstorganisationer i två olika kommuner. Genom att jämföra intervjupersonernasutsagor samt relatera dem till tidigare forskning och teorier genererades ett resultatkring att enhetschefer inte upplever rollkonflikter och känslan av att vara klämd i denutsträckning som litteraturen skildrar. Medarbetares krav och förväntningar som ärmotstridiga överordnades riktlinjer påvisar brist på förståelse för en politikerstyrdorganisation och enhetschefers yrkesroll. Enhetscheferna upplever rollen somutmanande, komplex och beroende av chefsstöd. Det råder delade meningar om detchefsstöd som i dagsläget erbjuds. / Most municipal public service organizations have during recent decades implemented the New Public Management  approach – which means that the organizations focuses more on results through cutting costs and streamlining. Within public service there is an Elderly home care-unit. The elderly home care-units manager constitutes an important role in terms of both organizing and securing the quality of the care. The purpose of this study is to examine how the managers, within the Elderly home care-units in public service, experiences managerial support in relation to demands directly associated with ”New Public Management”. The study focuses on the demands and expectations from superiors and coworkers. The method which has been used in order to achieve the purpose of the study is of qualitative nature and consists of semi-structured interviews with Elderly home careunit managers from eight different districts in two different municipalities. Through comparing the interviews and weighing in previous research and theories, this study finds that Elderly home care-unit managers do not experience conflicting demands associated to their role in the same extent as prior research has shown. Coworkers’ demands and expectations, which are in conflict to those of superiors, shows lack of understanding for both a politically controlled organization and the role of an Elderly home care-unit manager. The Elderly home care-unit managers experiences their role as demanding, complex and dependent on managerial support. The opinions are split concerning what managerial support that is provided today.

Syftet i vår undersökning är att undersöka skillnader mellan mäns och kvinnors upplevelse av den psykosociala arbetsmiljön. För att kunna uppnå vårt syfte har följande frågeställning utformats: Är det någon skillnad mellan män och kvinnors upplevelse av stress, mobbning, sexuella trakasserier, socialt stöd, chefsstöd och autonomi i deras arbetsmiljö? Studien har utförts via vår webbenkät på sociala medier, Facebook och LinkedIn. Vår metod har varit av kvantitativ art och genomförts med 112 respondenter. För att få så många svar som möjligt har vi delat enkäten offentligt och via Messenger med vänner som kunde ta del av den. Motiveringen till att detta material används i denna studie är att det kan bidra till en förståelse för respondenternas upplevelse av stress, mobbning, socialstöd, chef stöd, sexuella trakasserier, autonomi, inflytande och egenkontroll, samt för att kunna jämföra skillnader mellan män och kvinnor i dessa avseenden. Resultatet avslöjade inga skillnader mellan män och kvinnor som var statistiskt säkerställda Eftersom respondenterna i studien har deltagit på eget initiativ avviker de sannolikt från populationen i sin helhet avseende intresse för och erfarenheter av könsskillnader och frågor om arbetsmiljö. Resultatet kan därför inte generaliseras till andra grupper i samhället. Vidare forskning bör använda sig av randomiserade urval för att undersöka könsskillnader gällande stress, mobbning, sexuella trakasserier, socialt stöd, chefsstöd, autonomi, inflytande och egenkontroll. / The purpose of our study is to investigate men's and women's experiences of their psychosocial work environment. To fulfil our purpose and our questions the following research question were formulated “Is there any difference between men and women's experience of stress, bullying, sexual harassment, social support, management support and autonomy in their work environment?” The study has been conducted via our web survey on social media, Facebook and LinkedIn. Our method has been of a quantitative nature and implemented with 112 respondents. To get as many answers as possible, we have shared the questionnaire publicly and via messenger with friends who could take part of it. The reason why this material is used in this study is that it can contribute to an understanding of the respondents' experience of stress, bullying, social support, manager support, sexual harassment, autonomy, influence and self-control, and to be able to compare differences between men and women in these aspects. The result showed that in some cases there are differences between men and women. However, the result showed that there were no significant gender differences. This suggests that further research should continue to investigate gender differences regarding stress, bullying, sexual harassment, social support, managerial support, autonomy, influence and self-control, since the result can be interpreted as being that generalizing conclusions in this regard cannot be drawn at this time.