This thesis aims to critically explore the concept of “place branding” and “place marketing” in the context of public organizations. By employing Theo van Leeuwens model for discourseanalysis the study looks to find out how selected public organizations legitimize the branding and marketing of the place that they represent. Based primarily on Lennart Lundquists theoretical understanding of economism and the values of public administration, the study means to shine a light on the problematic relationship of public marketing and democratic values. The results are further analyzed with the help of neo-institutional theory with the goal of finding overarching ways to explain the nature of this relationship. The key findings indicate that, as predicted the discourse of branding and marketing is infused with neoliberal values that according to Lundquist are in many ways incompatible with the values of political democracy. These values are also intertwined with a discourse based on the values of democracy, welfare, and communication. The neo-institutional reading of this relationship points to the studied organizations search for legitimacy based on two, partially incompatible sets of values. This in turn could be interpreted as the decoupling of legitimizing structures and everyday work.

Syfte: Syftet med studien var att skapa en ökad kunskap och förståelse för organisationers förhållningssätt till normkreativ reklam   Metod: En deduktiv studie av kvalitativ karaktär genomfördes genom fem intervjuer med Vattenfall, Synoptik, Sparbanken Rekarne, TUI och Vinter.   Slutsats: Studien visade att organisationers förhållningssätt till normkreativ reklam varierar. Studien påvisade även att de organisationer som hade ett positivt förhållningssätt arbetade aktivt med normkreativ reklam och ansåg att det var en självklarhet eftersom detta uppvisade samhällsansvar. CSR, uppmärksamhet och utökad målgrupp var bidragande orsaker till att organisationer valde att använda respektive att inte använda normkreativ reklam. Studien belyste även att normkreativ reklam påverkar två av varumärkesidentitetens beståndsdelar; kultur och personlighet. / Purpose: The purpose of the study was to create a greater knowledge and understanding of organizations' perception of norm creative advertising.   Method: A deductive study with qualitative data conducted through five semi-structured interviews with Vattenfall, Synoptik, Sparbanken Rekarne, TUI and Vinter.    Conclusion: The study showed that organizations' approach to norm creative advertising vary.  The study also showed that organizations' that had a positive approach to norm creative advertising worked with norm creative advertising in their organization and believed that it was a matter of course as this demonstrated corporate social responsibility. CSR, attention and extended target group was contributing reasons why organizations choose to use or not to use norm creative advertising. The study also showed that norm creative advertising affects two of the brand identity elements; culture and personality.

This study starts off with an introduction to the challenges organizations today encounter concerning managing knowledge and finding suitable staff that meet the needs of the organization. Thereafter the challenges are seen through the aim of diversity. Several studies discuss the pros and cons of the impact of diversity, and more specifically ethnic diversity among the workforce. This results in a more focused approach on the subject of ethnic diversity, the impact it has on organizations and how ethnic diversity could be managed and also exemplify how they manage. In order to bring light upon the challenge’s organizations face, this study chose an inductive approach with qualitative interviews as the methodical focus. With eleven interviews concluded and brought together in the empirical analysis chapter the focus of the theoretical framework was combined to problematize the results of the empirical findings. Finally, the study concludes that the challenges and possibilities concerning ethnic diversity and organizations need of knowledge can be described through a few conclusions. It is found that there are several positive results on business value and improvement within work environment in dynamic and diverse organizations. By focusing on openness and inclusion an organization has better chances of implementing a suitable organizational culture that allows exchange of knowledge between colleagues of different cultural backgrounds. Also, leadership qualities that allow inclusion, self-criticism and focuses on creating the mentioned work environment is preferable. By paying attention to individual prejudice it is possible to counter the negative impressions of different cultures in order to become less prejudice. One way is to encourage discussions to expand the horizons of colleagues and try to become an intercultural and learning organization. The linguistic aspect is also important to consider, and it is shown how ignoring of language differences has several negative impacts on organizations, but that it at the same time are ways to counteract the negative effects. It is also important to remember to try to see past generalizations and focus on the values of the individual and realize that it is more about the competence of the individual than that of the cultural background.

Background: Despite the fact that organizations have been working to promote gender equality for several decades, the working environment in Sweden is not yet equal. However, problems often arise during the integration of gender equality in organizations, and too often organizations' gender equality work fails in practice. One way to deal with this is to set goals for gender equality, strategies for achieving these and then convey the strategies through policies. Statistics show that the auditing industry is an industry that is far from being equal, where men dominate at higher levels. At the same time, researchers argue that there are structures and methods in the auditing industry that are not gender neutral. Earlier research also shows that in organizations internal processes it turns out that it surprisingly often occur gender divisions and segregation between the sexes. The authors found a gap in previous research about how the gender equality strategies are reflected in the internal processes of audit firms and how gender equality is perceived by the employees and therefore considered it essential to study this more closely. Purpose: The essay aims to provide an insight into how audit firms work to achieve gender equality, if there are better or worse ways to handle inequality in the auditing industry, and how the perception of gender equality in the companies differs among employees Method: In this multiple-case study, a qualitative research method with a deductive approach is used. The empirical data has been collected through semi-structured interviews and then linked to the theory and analyzed with a comparative approach Conclusion: There are both advantages and disadvantages with the audit firms' gender equality strategies. The audit firm that handles the problem most effectively examines and analyzes the entire organization's structures and processes to find what causes inequality, thus promoting equality in the company. The authors also observe a difference in how the employees perceive the inequality in the workplace, which was that position and length of employment seemed to have an impact on how big a problem they experienced in the inequality at partner level in the auditing industry. Those with a higher position and a longer employment period show greater awareness and insight into the problem of an unequal distribution of gender at the partner level.

Bakgrund: Användandet av PMS och olika styrmedel är föremål för ständig diskussion. Ett populärt verktyg inom styrning är det balanserade styrkortet, som kombinerar finansiella mål med ickefinansiella mål. Dessa mål fastställs och verkställs utifrån en organisations strategi. Hybrida organisationer är organisationer som har flera olika målsättningar, och har visats ha svårighet att identifiera sina mål inom det balanserade styrkortets perspektiv. I den svenska kontexten är en typ av hybrida organisationer kommunala bostadsbolag. Tidigare studier har efterfrågat vidare forskning om användandet av PMS i hybrida organisationer, varför en studie av omfattningen av kommunala bostadsbolags användning av det balanserade styrkortet kan bidra till forskningsområdet. Syfte: Skiljer sig omfattningen av redovisningen av de olika dimensionerna kopplade till det balanserade styrkortet mellan kommunala och privata bostadsbolag? Metod: Studien har applicerat en kvantitativ metod där vi, i linje med tidigare studier, tillämpar en kvantitativ innehållsanalys som består av 30 kommunala bostadsbolag och 30 privata bostadsbolag årsredovisningar. Studien bygger på en deduktiv ansats där en hypotes formulerats utifrån befintliga teorier. Erhållen empiri har använts för deskriptiv statistik, korrelationsmatrisen samt OLS-regressioner för att beskriva omfattningen av redovisning utifrån det balanserade styrkortets olika dimensioner. Slutsats: Studiens resultat visar att det finns vissa samband mellan kommunalt ägande av bostadsbolag och omfattningen av redovisningen av de olika dimensionerna i det balanserade styrkortet. Kommunalt ägande visade signifikant negativt samband med omfattningen av det finansiella perspektivet och interna-processer-perspektivet i det balanserade styrkortet. Av kontrollvariabler för storlek visade endast materiella anläggningstillgångar positiva signifikanta samband med omfattningen av redovisningen. / Background: The use of PMS and various management control systems is the subject of constant debate. One popular tool is the balanced scorecard, which combines financial and non-financial goals described in several different dimensions. These goals are set and executed dependent on the strategy of the organisation. Hybrid organisations are organisations which have several different goals, and have shown difficulty in identifying what their goals are in the context of the balanced scorecards various perspectives. In the context of Sweden, one type of hybrid organisations are municipal housing corporations. Earlier studies have requested further research regarding hybrid organisations and their use of PMS. This study aims to contribute to this area of research by studying the extent of municipal housing corporations use of the balanced scorecard. Purpose: Does the extent of the reporting of the different dimensions in the balanced scorecard differ between municipal housing corporations and private housing corporations? Methodology: The study applies a quantitative method in which we, in line with earlier studies, apply a quantitative content analysis which consist of 30 municipal housing corporations and 30 private housing corporations. The study is constructed with a deductive approach where a hypothesis has been formulated by existing theories. Obtained empiricism has been used for descriptive statistics, correlations matrix and OLS-regressions to describe the extent of the reporting of the different dimensions in the balanced scorecard. Conclusion: The results of the study show that there exists some relation between municipal housing corporations and the extent of the reporting of the different dimensions in the balanced scorecard. Municipal ownership showed a significant negative relation with the extent of the financial perspective and the internal processes perspective. For the control variables regarding size, only fixed assets showed a significant positive relation with the extent of the reporting.

Syftet med denna kandidatuppsats var att undersöka organisationer och volontärer som arbetar eller frivilligt engagerar sig med att hjälpa barn runt om i världen på olika sätt. Jag vill veta vad det är som driver dem i sitt arbete och hur de själva hanterar de tankar och känslor som kan uppstå då de kommer i kontakt med barn som saknar många av de rättigheter som barn enligt svensk lag ska ha rätt till. De valda organisationerna är bara en liten del av det enorma engagemang som finns bland människor som strävar för att alla barn ska få rätt till en god barndom. / The purpose of this bachelor`s thesis was to investigate organizations and volunteers that work or volunteer to help children around the world in different ways. I want to know what it is that drives them in their work and how they handle the thoughts and feelings that may arise when they come into contact with children who lack the rights that children according to Swedish law should have. The chosen organizations are just a small part of the enormous commitment among people who strive for all children to have the right to a good childhood.

Uppsatsen undersöker Statens informationsstyrelses fyra sammanställningar av folkberedskapens orts- och länsombuds årliga rapporter 1941-1944. Syftet är att ta reda på mer om vilken roll icke-statliga organisationer hade för roll i det kulturella folkberedskapsarbetet på lokal nivå runt omkring i Sverige under beredskapstiden. Genom kvalitativ textanalys lyfter studien fram vilka kopplingar Folkberedskapen (SIS) hade till icke-statliga organisationer och vilken verksamhet av folkberedskapskaraktär dessa organisationer bedrev. Resultatet visar att de redan etablerade icke-statliga organisationerna hade en mycket omfattande och tämligen autonom roll i arbetet.

Syftet med kandidatuppsaten är att skapa en större förståelse för hur Talent Management tillämpas hos svenska verkstadsindustrier. Fokuset ligger på hur verkstadsindustrier definierar både begreppen Talent Management och talang. Resultatet visar att deltagande organisationer har spridda definitioner av både Talent Management och talang. Dock finns det likheter mellan alla organisationers definitioner. Vidare fastställer resultatet att organisationer sällan arbetar med Talent Management efter enbart ett synsätt och dess praxis, utan arbetssätten sträcker sig ofta över ett flertal synsätt. För att förklara skillnaderna i definitionsvariationen tillämpas till stor del tidigare forskning inom området. Ett flertal teorier om varierande perspektiv på synsätt används som ett teoretiskt verktyg i studien. Studien genomförs med en kvalitativ forskning där sex semistrukturerade intervjuer med Talent Management-utövare från svenska verkstadsindustrier representeras. Resultatet från intervjuerna jämförs sedan med den tidigare forskningen i en analysdel där ett flertal ämnen mynnar ut diskussionsmaterial som presenteras i uppsatsens avslutande del. Faktorer till vad en talang representeras av bekräftar tidigare forskning likväl som ytterligare faktorer framförs som avgörande. Organisationers hantering av medarbetare med hjälp av Talent Management beror till stor del av organisationernas egna unika kulturer och värderingar, vilket till stor del bekräftar den tidigare forskningen inom ämnet. Genom detta kan resultatet av denna kandidatuppsats verka som ett komplement till den tidigare forskningen inom den svenska kontexten. Vidare kan även uppsatsen användas som ett underlag till praktikersamhället inom Talent Management-området gällande aktuella konkurrensfördelar, utmaningar och prioriteringar för verkstadsindustrier. / The purpose of the study was to form a greater understanding how Talent Management is implemented in Swedish engineering industries. Focusing on how the engineering industries define both the concepts of Talent Management and Talent. The result shows that the participating organizations have diverse definitions for both concepts, however, there are similarities found in all organizations definitions. Furthermore, the result states that organizations rarely work with Talent Management based on only one approach and practice, instead the working methods often extend over several approaches. To explain the differences for the definitions, an extensive application to previous research was applied. Several theories on the different perspectives on practices are used in the study. The study was conducted using qualitative research, which consisted of six semi-structured interviews with Talent Management-coworkers from Swedish engineering industries. The results from the interviews were compared with previous research and after analysis, several topics were presented in the discussion and conclusion. The research confirmed previous determined factors as well as additional ones. Organizations' management of employees with Talent Management, strongly depends on the organizations' own unique cultures and values, which essentially confirms previous research in the subject. Through this, the results of this study complement the previous research but now in Swedish context. Furthermore, the study can also be used as a basis for the practicing community within the Talent Management area to face current competitive advantages, challenges, and priorities for engineering industries.

Residents in marginalized areas tend to show a lower level of confidence in the criminal justice system and carry out police reports and testimonies to the criminal justice system to a lesser extent than residents in other areas. In this scientific essay, a qualitative study is conducted to analyze the disinclination to leave testimonies and report crimes in marginalized areas, along with researching possible ways to improve the residents relationship with the criminal justice system. The theoretical framework for this study consists of Žižeks theory of violence, territorial stigma and social exclusion. The sample group for the study is advocates in non-profit organizations operating in marginalized areas. Using a semi-structured interview method, this study’s empirical findings reveals that a critical view of the criminal justice system, lack of confidence in the criminal justice system, ambivalent feelings about the residential area and mass medias stigmatizing effects are believed to cause a reluctance to cooperate with the criminal justice system in marginalized areas. Furthermore, our findings show that an admittance of the existence of racism within the justice system, increased communication, cultural competence, and safe meeting places are believed to improve the relationship between the residents and the criminal justice system.

During the last decades, corporations have become more multinational, and the concept of employee empowerment has become one of the largest management trends within organizations. Managers need to be flexible when working with multicultural employees and understand that practices are perceived differently depending on the national culture and organizational level. Today relatively little research has focused on empowerment from a multicultural perspective. Thus, the purpose of this thesis is to examine how empowerment is perceived in a multicultural company, by analyzing the perceptions of the employees with different backgrounds and positions in a single firm setting. In addition, this thesis strives to study how empowerment can be reinforced in order to overcome cultural and organizational differences. This was examined through a case study at a fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) organization in Sweden. Semi-structured interviews were held to obtain an in-depth understanding, while a survey was designed to support the interviews and to get a general picture of the organization. For the analysis, the respondents were divided into different categories, based on nationality and organizational level. The results indicated that the employees had an overall positive attitude towards empowerment in the case company, and that there is a relationship between the perception of empowerment and nationality. It also suggested that the perception of empowerment diverges between the levels of a multicultural organization, where subordinates, lower managers and top managers experience situations differently. In addition, the results indicated that the organizational culture should be utilized in order to overcome the cultural and organizational differences in a multicultural organization, through recognizing and solving the main problems that could affect the perception of empowerment. Particularly through maintaining good communication, which is vital in terms of empowerment, it is possible to strengthen the organizational culture. This in turn could reinforce the employee empowerment, as aspects that positively affect this concept could be encouraged through the organizational culture. / Under de senaste decennierna har företag blivit allt mer multinationella, medan konceptet empowerment har blivit en av de största management-trenderna inom företagsvärlden. Managers behöver vara mer flexibla när de arbetar med en multikulturell arbetsstyrka, samt ha en förståelse för att olika arbetstekniker kan upplevas annorlunda beroende på nationell bakgrund och position i företaget. Idag har relativt lite forskning gjorts inom området empowerment från ett multikulturellt perspektiv. Därför är syftet med detta examensarbete att undersöka hur empowerment upplevs i ett multikulturellt företag, genom att analysera uppfattningarna från anställda med olika bakgrunder och positioner. Dessutom strävar detta arbete efter att undersöka hur empowerment kan förstärkas för att överkomma kulturella och organisatoriska skillnader. För att studera detta har en fallstudie gjorts på ett företag inom snabbrörliga konsumtionsvaror (FMCG) i Sverige. Semi-strukturerade intervjuer genomfördes för att nå en fördjupad förståelse, medan en enkät designades för att stödja resultaten från intervjuerna och för att få en generell bild av företaget. För analysen delades respondenterna upp i olika kategorier, baserat på nationalitet och organisatorisk nivå. Resultaten på fallstudieföretaget indikerade att de anställda hade en övergripande positiv syn på empowerment och att det finns ett förhållande mellan upplevelsen av empowerment och nationell bakgrund. Vidare föreslog resultaten att synen av empowerment tenderar att skilja sig mellan olika nivåer på ett multikulturellt företag, då underanställda och managers på lägre och högre uppsatta positioner upplever situationer olika. Dessutom visade resultaten att den organisatoriska kulturen på ett företag kan utnyttjas för att överkomma kulturella och organisatoriska skillnader, genom att identifiera och lösa de största problemen som kan påverka uppfattningen av empowerment. Det är speciellt möjligt att stärka den organisatoriska kulturen genom att upprätthålla en bra kommunikation, vilket är vitalt inom empowerment. Vidare kan känslan av empowerment förstärkas genom den organisatoriska kulturen genom att uppmuntra de gemensamma värderingar som påverkar konceptet.