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I denna uppsats har det undersökts varför socialsekreterare i en västsvensk kommun har valt att helt lämna sina yrken. Grundorsaken till undersökningen är att bristen på socialsekreterare idag är ett nationellt problem som Sveriges kommuner arbetar mycket med, speciellt i dagens samhälle när det strömmar in flyktingar som behöver tas omhand. Undersökningen gjordes med hjälp av kvalitativa intervjuer och en semistrukturerad intervjuguide. För att analysera resultaten av dessa intervjuer användes tematisk analys. Undersökningen visade att informanterna kände sig missnöjda med flera olika aspekter av sitt arbete. En av de faktorer som kom upp i alla intervjuer var att det krav de hade på sig på att vara tillgängliga hela tiden orsakade stress och avbrott i deras arbete. Ytterligare orsaker till varför de slutade var den höga arbetsbördan, brist på uppskattning och en missnöjdhet med ledarskapet. Informanterna hade gärna stannat kvar som socialsekreterare, eftersom de ansåg att arbetet var meningsfullt, men de andra faktorerna vägde tyngre än meningsfullheten, vilket gjorde att de slutade. Ett förslag som kom upp för att få individerna att stanna var att skapa ett så kallat kontaktcenter i receptionen, där mindre ärenden kunde hanteras direkt med klienterna. Detta hade då gett socialsekreterarna mer tid med sina egna klienter och mer energi till de tyngre fallen. / In this paper, it was investigated why social workers in a western Swedish municipality have chosen to leave their professions. The main reason behind this study is that the lack of social workers is a national problem that Sweden's municipalities struggle with, especially in today's society when refugees are pouring in and need to be attended to. The research was conducted using qualitative interviews. To analyse the results of the interviews several theories where used, such as motivation, salutogenic leadership, strategies of coping and role theory. For the interviews, thematic analysis was used. The study showed that the informers felt dissatisfied with several aspects of their work. One of the aspects that resulted from the interviews was that the demand to be available at all times, was too much for them. Some additional aspects to why they quit was the high workload, the lack of appreciation and dissatisfaction with the leadership. The informers would gladly have stayed as social workers since they considered it to be meaningful, but the other aspects weighed more heavily compared to meaningfulness which caused them to leave. One suggestion that was brought up to get the informers to stay was to create a so-called contact centre in the reception area where smaller errands could be handled directly with the client. This would have given more time for the social workers with their own clients and more energy for the more heavy cases.

Syftet med denna studie är att beskriva och analysera kollektivtrafikförvaltningen ULs internkommunikation och vad den har för inverkan på de anställdas meningsskapande och vilka roller som de formar. Frågeställningarna vi ämnat besvara är: 1. Hur de anställda skapar mening av den information och i den kommunikation som förs internt på UL. 2. Hur de anställdas roller som en konsekvens av internkommunikationen formas eller förstås. Undersökningen utgår från ett ramverk kring teorin om meningsskapande för att förstå hur de anställda kan skapa mening i den interna kommunikationen samt Ralph Lintons rollteori om individers uppsättningar av roller och totalroll, förväntningar på dessa och hur rollerna formas inom en organisation. Som metod har kvalitativa forskningsintervjuer gjorts med åtta anställda på UL. Materialet transkriberades, kodades och analyserades utifrån presenterade teorier. Resultatet visade på att internkommunikationen i stor utsträckning sker utifrån transmissionssynen och det saknas utrymme för horisontell och informell kommunikation, vilket fråntar medarbetarna möjligheten att aktivt delta i internkommunikationen. Detta försvårar den meningsskapande processen och skapar en obalans i medarbetarnas positioner och roller. / The purpose of this study is to describe and analyse the internal communication at UL, the operator of public transport in Uppsala, how the internal communication affects how sensemaking occurs among employees, and what roles they form. The problem statements are: 1. How employees make sense of the information and the communication at UL. 2. How the roles of the employees are shaped and understood as a result of the internal communication. The study proceeds on a framework of the theory of sensemaking to understand how employees make sense in the internal communication, and on the role theory of Ralph Linton, about the individual set of roles and the total role-set, the expectations on these and how the roles are shaped within the organisation. The method used was qualitative research interviews with eight employees from UL. The material was transcribed, coded and analysed based on the presented theories. The results showed lack of capacity for horizontal and informal communication, which divest employees the possibility to partake in the internal communication. This aggravates the process of sensemaking and creates an imbalance in the positions and roles of employees.

At the largest university in Tanzania, University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), the gender distribution is unequal. At the University’s Department of Mathematics (DoM), the number of women ranges between 20-30 %. As a PhD degree can pose an important bridge into higher academic positions, the purpose of this study is to discern the current prerequisites for women to complete a doctoral degree at UDSM, compared to their male colleagues. The thesis is based on a field study carried out at DoM, in the spring of 2018. As such, both the formal and the perceived conditions could be examined. During the field study, both focus groups and individual interviews were held. By means of Grounded Theory, a mainly inductive method, the empirical framework obtained from the field research has guided the study and recurrent observations from the local context analysis have shaped the results. As the methodological outset for the study also draws on abductive reasoning, it results in that the analysis is concurrently theoretically guided and based on obtained data. The conclusions from the field research show that the conditions for female and male PhD students at UDSM are not equal. There are policies, quotas and other initiatives introduced in an attempt to level the playfield, however, other policies and social norms that create challenges for women in their strive for an academic career are still in motion. Among other things, as women are expected to be the primary caretaker and there are no support systems in place, the decision to start a family affects women’s studies more than men’s.

Most recent research show that the role of the modern controller has changed from thetraditional bean counter towards a business partner role. However, all literature does notagree with this notion, claiming that the controller is still more of a bean counter. Further,what it actually means to be a business partner also differs between researchers. The rolechange has also brought several new challenges for the controller. The purpose of this studyis to examine what it means to be a controller at a consultancy company in the IT industry,and what challenges and opportunities exist for business partnering. This is achieved usingcase study as the research design, including qualitative data from interviews of ten controllersof different seniority. The findings are analyzed through a theoretical framework consistingof role theory combined with previous literature on the topic. The findings of the study showthat the role of the controller at the case company shared more similarities with the traditionaldescription of a bean counter than a business partner. While more elements of businesspartnering started to appear as seniority increases, the controllers still felt like they weredoing too much bean counting activities. However, some opportunities for businesspartnering were still found at the company. The study suggests four major challengescontributing to role issues and hindering the controllers from becoming business partners.The four challenges are related to (1) lack of adaptation to new technology, (2) a centralizedorganizational structure, (3) the interplay between financial and business departments, and (4)accountability issues.

This dissertation starts from the observation that expectations and perceptions of non-members of the EU are usually neglected in the study of EU's enlargement process. In order to better understand the sources of pro-integration (or anti-integration) foreign policies of the neighboring states, I employ the conceptual apparatus of "role theory". This work utilities the concept of "national role conception", defined as domestically shared views and understandings regarding the proper role and purpose of one's own state as a social collectivity in the international arena. On the cases of Russia and Turkey, I show how historically constituted domestically shared ideas about a role, function (or mission) of a particular state within wider international (European) environment inform their respective policies towards contemporary EU. For the Turkish elite's understandings of the proper role of Turkey within broader international environment is typical the dominance of kemalist nationalist discourse of modernization. Modernization and the quest for the status of respected European power form the core of Turkish identity. In light of this perceptions, the EU membership fits into the kemalist discourse as an accomplishment of the historical mission of attaining the standards of contemporary civilization. On the other side, the discourse of Russian elites is embedded predominantly in universalist messianic discourse, which is often spiced with realist and geopolitical concepts. To sum up, if we want to understand why Russia does not even think about the possibility of entering the EU, we have to take into account the burden of universalist tasks which Russia feels obliged to cary in the name of History or God. Moreover, Russia feels the obligation to protect (both from external threats and internal decay) Europe itself. Entrance into the EU would, quite logically, jeopardize the fulfillment of this historical tasks.

This doctoral thesis asks what ideational factors underlie parties' national role conceptions in narratives on violent conflict and crises abroad. It explores French and German parties' national role statements in the case of the 2011 military intervention in Libya. The thesis lies at the intersection of Foreign Policy Analysis research focused on domestic foreign policy actors, International Relations studies on ideas in international relations and Party Politics scholarship looking at international issues in party campaigns and competition. It develops a theoretical framework using role theory and combines it with scholarship on international norms and ideologies. It contributes to role research on domestic role contestation and role socialisation. It adds a study of parties' national roles to this scholarship. It also advances the conceptual development of the role theory approach through an exploration of the responsibility concept within national roles. The main finding of the thesis is that parties often agree on the national role but sometimes interpret the same role differently. Moreover, sometimes parties can propose alternative national roles. The theoretical framework permits to trace variation in role interpretation to foreign policy traditions, international norms and ideologies. The central argument is that parties do not necessarily agree on the national role and its interpretation even when confronted with the same situation and events. It suggests that variation in national role interpretation can matter because parties contest the national role and, thereby, may point to role conflicts and dilemmas that may have an effect on future role selection and performance.

“Migration diplomacy” has emerged as a concept to theorize the increasingly important role of international migration and migration governance in states’ foreign policy and international relations, in an effort to bridge the gap between migration studies and international relations/foreign policy analysis. The concept has recently been more formally defined and introduced by Adamson and Tsourapas (2018), who suggest a future research agenda by proposing a structuralist, bargaining framework for analyzing states’ migration diplomacy, where states are either migrant receiving, sending, or transit states. This thesis argues that this theoretical approach risks overlooking key aspects and challenges that characterize international migration as a foreign policy issue and contemporary developments in the field. It investigates the shortcomings of establishing migration diplomacy as a chiefly rationalist bargaining concept, and suggests introducing role theory as an alternative approach for migration diplomacy analysis. It argues that role theory’s understanding of structural positions as partly interpreted and socially enacted, and its view of the international system as a more deeply social and normative setting can be particularly suited for understanding migration diplomacy aspects that a rationalist bargaining perspective overlooks. While not developing a fully formed role typology for migration diplomacy analysis, this thesis tentatively exemplifies this general approach through the case of Morocco’s migration diplomacy inrecent years.

<p>The purpose of this study was to examine how Swedish high school students view school staff members, in general, but in particular school counselors. The research questions focused on getting the students descriptions of the staff members roles and functions within the school. The study was conducted using focus group interviews. The answers were divided into themes and then analyzed using role theory and previous research. The results showed that the students relationships with family, friends and previous knowledge about the staff members in school, affects their willingness to seek the support of school staff members. For a student in need of support to approach a school counselor, it's important that the student has previously been acquainted with them. There is no general consensus among students on what a school counselor's tasks consists of. It is also rare that a student will voluntarily contact a school counselor themselves if they don't feel they know them well. The experience students get when interacting with staff members at school affects the students decisions regarding who to approach when in need of support.</p>

<p>Managerial behavior often differs between individuals and situations. To understand this variation the manager’s own interpretation of the role, context and role behavior is especially important. In this thesis several managers’ subjective views and understandings of their role during an organizational change period were investigated in great detail. The organizational changes were assumed to put pressure on the managerial role, exposing adaptive and dynamic role aspect and thereby shed light on differences in behavior. The general purpose was to thoroughly investigate the concept of ‘subjective managerial role’ by two contrasting approaches. One was influenced by concepts and methods used in social constructivism and constructionism (Study 1-3), and the other was a rational/cognitive approach influenced by theories and methods used in cognitive psychology (Study 4-5). Multiple case studies with subjective reports from five managers during a period of sixteen months were chosen as the empirical base. In the constructivist approach three judges were used to interpret the managers’ verbal reports during the beginning of the change period, focusing on indications of ‘subjective role projects’. ‘Subjective role projects’ involved reflections on situations, actors, purposes/goals and action strategies, all within a time frame of the past, present and future. This qualitative content of the role was investigated, and support for the existence of subjective role projects was tested (Study 1). The variation between the managers’ subjective role projects and their general project strategies were explored (Study 2). The judgment and construction process pursued by the three judges was analyzed (Study 3). In the rational/cognitive approach the focus was on role problems. A control model was used to represent subjective role conflicts, on both group and individual levels. Difficult situations described by the managers were complemented with goals and actions strategies, and the managers rated conflicts between these role components, while thinking-aloud (Study 4). Role conflict patterns and dimensions were further analyzed using two quantitative data models (Study 5). Finally, the subjective role construct was compared with a contextual interpretation of the role, based on information from the organizational and social role context (Study 6). The results supported the basic components in both the project model and the control model of the subjective role, but the latter approach would benefit from a more elaborated stimulus sampling. In both approaches the differences between the managers were assessed, but in the constructivist approach it was difficult to separate variation stemming from managers from variation between judges. In the rational/cognitive approach the variation was restricted to conflicting aspects in a specific model. The control model features and the quantitative conflict data made it easier to estimate variance. A major conclusion was that the two approaches complemented each-other in their descriptions of the subjective role. The project model was adequate for investigating the first sense-making phases in the organizational change process, while the control model approach could describe role conflicts and problems, especially on individual levels. However, they both could fit within a framework of a subjective role process model. Using these two approaches in role analysis can provide more information on the subjective role processes of the role incumbent.</p>