The rapid development of information technology has enabled the use of virtual teams, which are teams whose members use IT to coordinate their activities from a dispersed setting. The phenomenon of virtual teams raises questions regarding issues related to this type of work, i.e. organisational identification and other problems related to virtual work. We have investigated how to best manage these teams in order for managers to be successful in the virtual environment by studying the advantages and disadvantages as well as success factors. The study has used a mixed methodology, where we have interviewed 8 managers that are active in virtual work and we have also conducted a survey to investigate how members of virtual teams perceives issues of organisational identification and issues related to virtual work. One of the most important findings of this study is that there was a positive relationship between level of organisational identification and level of virtuality, member involvement, and previous experience. The strongest predictor for organisational identification was although the level of member involvement. We can conclude that the main advantages of virtual work were cost reduction and the access to competence. The main disadvantage of virtual work was identified as lack of interpersonal relations in the workplace. Other disadvantages were found as unorganised meetings, unprioritised work as well as technological issues. The most important success factors were found to be Clear roles and Responsibilities, Pre-agreement/time plan, Defined Strategies. These three factors could be summarised as "What needs to be done, when and by who‟. Moreover, clear and distinct communication within the team in order to avoid misunderstandings, followed by User-friendly technology and to have previous experience of technology used was also identified as important factors in virtual work. Other success factors identified was the use of Face-to-Face meetings.

The purpose of this thesis was to provide an understanding of the underlying motives behind students’ voluntary work at a student nation. It was carried out as a qualitative case study, where the focus was placed on Östgöta nation workers. Östgöta nation represents one of the thirteen student nations found in Uppsala, Sweden. The theoretical review draws upon four concepts, namely, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, organisational identification, and organisational citizenship behaviour. Consequently, these four concepts were used to construct a theoretical model, which served as a framework to understand what factors affect worker motives. Empirical material was collected through the conduct of one focus group and five individual interviews, and was subsequently analysed using a thematic approach. Our findings suggest that the underlying reasons behind a student’s work motives are their inherent need to socialize, as well as to belong to a social group. In addition, workers tend to develop a high degree of relatedness between one another. This, in turn, leads them to exhibit behaviour, where they over-perform and help each other. The presence of such behaviour in the workplace, in conjunction with non-monetary rewards, provides us with an understanding of how students motivate their decision of working in a student nation. In conclusion, we advocate student nations to foster altruism and solidarity within their work environment, which would improve their capability of securing and maintaining a sufficient workforce.

Bakgrund: Samhällen förändras över tid. Kraven på företags ageranden i samhället har ökat, delvis på grund av en tilltagen globalisering och rörlighet, men även till följd av en ökad medvetenhet om företags påverkan på samhället. Utifrån dessa förändringar har begreppet Corporate Social Responsibility växt fram och tagit allt mer utrymme i diskussionen om företags sociala ansvar. Archie Carroll ämnade i sin CSR-pyramid att definiera gränserna för företags sociala ansvar och delades således in ansvarsområdena i fyra delar. Två utav dessa ansvarstaganden är etiskt och filantropiskt ansvar som denna studie riktar fokus på. Det etiska ansvaret omfattar aktiviteter och praxis som förväntas av samhället att företag ska utföra, men som inte har fastställts i lagar och förordningar. Det filantropiska ansvaret handlar om att företag kan vara goda samhällsmedborgare genom att bidra med sina resurser till samhället. Varken det etiska eller filantropiska ansvaret är lagstadgade, företag kan således själva välja om de vill delta i sådana aktiviteter. Det är inte enbart samhället som ställer krav på företags ageranden, utan även dess medarbetare. Det finns en avsaknad av studier som belyser medarbetarens perspektiv i frågan vilket gav inspiration till denna studie. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka huruvida medarbetare tycker att det är viktigt att företag tar ett etiskt och filantropiskt ansvar. Studien syftar även till att undersöka om etiska och filantropiska ansvarstaganden påverkar medarbetares benägenhet att identifiera sig med ett företag. Metod: Studien utgår ifrån en deduktiv ansats där hypoteser testas och analyseras. En kvantitativ metod valdes och en enkätundersökning genomfördes för insamling av datamaterialet. Medarbetarna som besvarade enkäten arbetar på köpcentret Asecs i Jönköpings kommun. Slutsats: Sammanställningen av enkäten visar att medarbetare tycker att det är viktigt att företaget tar ett etiskt ansvar. Det filantropiska ansvarstagandet ansågs inte som lika viktigt. Sammanställningen visar även att etiskt och filantropiskt ansvarstagande gör medarbetare mer benägna att identifiera sig med företaget. / Background: Communities change over time. Demands for corporate actions in society have increased, partly because of increased globalization and mobility, but also as a result of increased awareness of companies' impact on society. Based on these changes, the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility has grown and taken up space in the discussion about corporate responsibility. In his CSR pyramid, Archie Carroll intended to define the boundaries of Corporate Social Responsibility and divided the responsibility into four parts. Two of these responsibilities that this study focuses on are ethical and philanthropic responsibility. Ethical responsibility is activities and practices that society expects companies to carry out, but which have not been established in laws and regulations. The philanthropic responsibility is that companies can be good citizens by contributing their resources to society. Neither ethical nor philanthropic responsibility is statutory, so companies can choose whether or not to participate in such activities. It is not only society that sets demands on corporate actions, but also its employees. There is a lack of studies that shed light on the employee's perspective on the issue, which inspired this study. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate whether employees think it is important that companies take ethical and philanthropic responsibility. The purpose is also to investigate whether ethical and philanthropic responsibility affects employees' tendency to identify with a company. Method: The study is based on a deductive approach where hypotheses are tested and analyzed. A quantitative method was chosen and a survey was conducted to collect the data material. The employees who answered the questionnaire work at Asecs shopping center in Jönköping. Conclusion: The compilation of the survey shows that employees think it is important that the company takes ethical responsibility. Philanthropic responsibility was not considered as important. The compilation also shows that ethical and philanthropic responsibility makes employees more inclined to identify with the company.

Companies today are faced with competitive markets where a large number of similar products and services are offered, which leads to companies with strong brands gaining competitive advantage, as brands facilitate consumers rational decision-making. Previous studies explore the importance of a well-established brand and how to build a strong brand identity through brand identity management (BIM). The studies explain that BIM builds the foundation for wellbeing in the workplace, which in turn is reflected to the customer. Previous studies are aimed at different industries and the purpose of this study is to analyze the importance of a strong brand identity in the fast food industry to contribute more knowledge in that specific industry. The study is deductive with a qualitative approach and thus a qualitative case study has been conducted of Bastard Burgers to answer the research questions, in order to analyze how a company in the fast food industry works with BIM to deliver the brand promise and what result this has on the employees. The results show that brand identity is a crucial factor for companies in today's fast food industry as well as the quality of the food and service. To have a strong brand identity, you need a brand with a personality that is evident through the visuals such as the restaurant's appearance, clothes and logos. The results of the study show that working with BIM strengthens employees' identification with the organization. This in turn results in the employees being more likely to spread positive word-of-mouth, being satisfied with their job and are willing to do the little extra in the workplace.