Problematization: Financial departments have during the recent years developed due to environmental changes, and so has the controller profession. Controllers are working hard in the shadow of the CFO, together with an unclear definition over their tasks. By shedding light on the controller can their value-creation for the organization be defined. Purpose: The purpose of this research is to examine developments of the controller profession from a Swedish organizational context. Furthermore, this thesis aims to investigate if there is an expansion of the controller professions role, within organizations, that affecting their ability to create value. Methodology: The research has been conducted with a qualitative approach. In this study was 8 interviews performed with controllers in Swedish organizations. This research further examines the controller profession from a general context, in other words, without no specific industry orientation. Findings /conclusions: The findings of this study argue for that there still exist an indistinct definition over the controller profession, thus developments within their role can be confirmed. The traditional view of controllers’ work should therefore be prolonged. Controllers are still just as accountable for financial assignment, the role has however, developed to become involved in most of parts organizations’ businesses and adapted an advisory role. The advancements have made the controller role to a central position with great ability to create value within an organization, yet, to what extend depends on various factors and aspects.

Studiens syfte är att studera ohövligt beteende som individer i kontorsverksamheten upplever, bevittnar eller själva utövat samt bidra med kunskap om nuvarande typer av ohövligt beteende i samtida arbetsliv samt bidra med kunskap inom området genom att jämföra tidigare forskning som utförts inom ämnet. Studien grundar sig i en kvantitativ metod samt en tematisk analys där en enkätstudie distribuerades via mejl till fyra företag och ett fackförbund placerade runt om i Sverige, samt två sociala medier genom personliga inlägg som var offentliga på hela plattformen. Totalt 51 svar samlades in från enkätstudien. Resultatet visade att ohövlighet är mycket vanligt på kontorsverksamheter i Sverige. Den grupp som har högst risk att utsättas för ohövligt beteende på kontorsverksamheter är kvinnor. Resultatet visade en signifikant skillnad mellan åldersgrupper och grupper med olika yrkeserfarenhet gällande i vilken grad man utsatte andra för ohövligt beteende. Studien visade även ett positivt samband mellan frekvensen av ohövlighet och upplevd trygghet samt upplevd trivsel på arbetsplatsen. Den vanligaste formen av ohövlighet i kontorsverksamheter är olika former av exkludering som undvikande beteende, undanhålla information och att inte ge andra medarbetare respekt. Resultatet visade att den vanligaste formen att diskutera ohövlighet sker i form av officiella schemalagda möten. / The aim of this study was to investigate workplace incivility that individuals may experience, witness or practice in office operations and contribute with knowledge about the current sort of workplace incivility behavior in contemporary working life and compare previous research conducted within the subject. The study is based in a quantitative and a thematic analysis where an online survey was distributed via email to four private companies and one trade union in Sweden and two social media platforms through personal posts that were public across the platform. A total of 51 answers were collected from the online survey. The result from this study showed that workplace incivility is a relative common in office operations in Sweden. The group that has the highest risk of being targeted by workplace incivility in office operations are women. The results showed a significant difference between age groups and groups with different professional experience regarding the degree to expose others to rude behavior. The study also found a positive correlation between the frequency of workplace incivility and experienced safety and also pleasantness at the workplace. The most common behavior of workplace incivility in office operations is different forms of exclusion as avoidance behavior, withholding information and not give another coworkers respect. Results showed that the most common way of communicating working climate are by having official scheduled meetings.

The aim of the study is to analyse the learning process of the Dorze weaving in Ethiopia and its implications on Education for Sustainable Development, ESD. My two main questions are: 1. How do the Dorze understand their learning process in weaving? 2. What conclusions concerning education for sustainable development applied on textile handicraft can be drawn from the findings of my case study?   In order to answer these questions I have made a field study on the Dorze (the weavers) in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia for 10 weeks. The study has a socio-cultural and narrative approach and the method used are interviews, observations and review of documents. The result is presented in a “metastory” where I retell the stories and introduce the results of the study and that gives answers to question 1. UNESCO’s recommendations on ESD are used to analyse the findings and give the answer to question 2. The result shows that the learning process depends on the environment with its people, who have gathered knowledge of raw material and techniques for generations but the latter also needs to develop to meet new challenges. “Shiro Meda” is the centre of learning. To grow up in “Shiro Meda” it becomes natural to work with textile production, accept a special lifestyle with clear gender differences and a hierarchical structure. The educational model of spinning and twisting are “learning by doing”, whereas young boys start practising weaving under the leadership of an older teacher step by step.   From an ESD perspective the Dorze education is holistic, practical, individualized, and contains some problem solving even if the students are not participating in decisions on how they learn. The education is highly integrated in the daily life of the weaving community and is also relevant to the surrounding local community. Moreover the education transfers a historical legacy of cultural continuity, and has shown itself to be dynamic and adaptable to change. A weakness in this traditional knowledge system is the low profit the weavers are making and the set hierarchical and gender rules which need to be developed in order to be sustainable for future challenges. The final discussion highlights the relevance of my findings for a Swedish learning context. / 2010ht4661

Although Talent Management is an area of research that has captured the attention of many as organizations around the world compete for talent, it is a relatively new area of research. Sweden is a country where the shortage of skilled workforce is significant and demand is high, especially in the knowledge-intensive industry. Hence, the aim of the thesis is to contribute to the understanding of how organizations in Sweden in the knowledge-intensive industries, attract and retain talents through talent management practices. This study is based on a qualitative methodology where the data collection was conducted through eight semi-structured interviews with ten respondents. The results show that talent can be defined both as something that all employees can become and develop into, and as personal qualities, but also depending on the context and situation. Talent attraction is achieved through employer branding and reputation building. A good reputation can be achieved through honesty and openness, through partnerships with other actors that are beneficial to the organization and through personal encounters both outside and inside the organization. In addition to the obvious benefits, an organization can develop methods to develop and enable career goals. Organizational culture can have an impact on the work of Talent Management and thus can set norms and influence perceptions of talent within an organization.

Ett företagsekonomiskt problem är att kompetenta medarbetare är en begränsad tillgång som organisationer måste konkurrera om. Employer Brandings trestegsprocess och framförallt det första steget i processen, så kallat “Employee Value Proposition”, kan hjälpa organisationer att skapa ett arbetsgivarvarumärke med attraktiva karaktärsdrag som medarbetare attraheras av. Studiens fenomendrivna forskningsgap är att beskriva vilka attraktiva karaktärsdrag som är relevanta i en svensk kontext utifrån ett medarbetarperspektiv. Studien grundade den empiriska insamlingen på teoretiska beskrivningar av tre karaktärsdrag: ansvarstagande, inkluderande samt anpassningsbar och lyhörd. En till största del kvantitativ enkät med tre kvalitativa inslag i form av fritextfrågor användes. Empirin tolkades med en tematisk analys och de på förhand bestämda teman var studiens teoretiska karaktärsdrag. Resultatet blev att karaktärsdragen hade en relevans men att det fanns skillnader mellan den teoretiska och empiriska beskrivningen. Tre nya empiriska beskrivningar utvecklades som är överensstämmande med de nuvarande och potentiella medarbetarnas bild av en attraktiv arbetsgivare i en svensk kontext. / A business administration problem is that qualified employees is a limited asset that organizations must compete for. Employer Branding's three-step process and, above all, the first step in the process "Employee Value Proposition" can help organizations to create an employer brand with attractive characteristics that employees are attracted to. The study's phenomenal driven research gap is to describe which attractive characteristics are relevant in a Swedish context from an employee perspective. The study based the empirical collection on theoretical descriptions of three characteristics: 1) accountability, 2) inclusion and 3) adaptability and responsive. A largely quantitative survey with three qualitative elements in the form of free text questions was used. The data was interpreted with a thematic analysis and the themes where the theoretical characteristics of the study. The result was that the characteristics had a relevance but that there were differences between the theoretical and the empirical descriptions. Three new empirical descriptions were developed that are consistent with the current and potential employees' image of an attractive employer in a Swedish context.

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.

Denmark and Norway have more explicit syllabuses for English as a Foreign Language and more time allocated to EFL than Sweden. If measures have been taken to improve the syllabus and to increase time for EFL in these countries, do these measures need to be taken in Sweden too? This study aims to explore time allocation and the use of Content and Language Integrated Learning approaches in the primary school years 1-3 in Sweden. 114 teachers participated in this study through a web-based questionnaire. The findings show that teachers experience time constraints associated with EFL, and a third of the respondents state that they compensate for the time constraints associated with EFL through CLIL approaches. However, whether or not CLIL is indeed present in primary school years 1-3 is difficult to decide, due to the lack of a common frame of reference for CLIL in Sweden and in primary schools, as well as the contextual variables that affect and shape EFL and CLIL. Little, if any, research into the effects of CLIL in years 1-3 in Sweden has been carried out, so this study might help to highlight possible areas of interest for future research and prompt further exploration of the field.

This bachelor thesis examines gender related jokes in Swedish outhouse books (dassböcker), and howwomen and men are constructed and portrayed in text and image between 2003-2020. Outhouse bookstypically consist of jokes based on stereotypes of women, men and other groups and are intended toamuse readers during visits to the outhouse or private toilet. I used critical analysis and queer theoryto examine assumptions regarding gender visible in the material. The analysis shows how Swedishouthouse books employ genusslentrianer, (unreflected and repeated gender stereotypes) in theirportrayal of women and men, constructing women as ’naturally’ responsible for unpaid labour in thehome, and reproductive work such as caring for children. Further, women and men are in the materialdepicted as opposites based on binary and essentialist assumptions about gender and gender roles, andthe material adopts a male gaze which portrays men as simple and women as (unnecessarily)complicated. The analysis makes visible normative assumptions about woman and men as cis,heterosexual, and aspiring to live in nuclear families. However, it also shows taken for granteddifferences between assumed male and female heterosexuality, constructing women as ’naturally’monogamous, while men are presumed to aspire to have multiple sex partners. Finally, in theirportrayal of gender and heteronormative gender roles, Swedish outhouse books establish men’sdiscrimination, objectification, and sexual abuse of women as not only normative gendered practices –but also as humorous.

The aim of this study was to examine how social work can be organized to promote individual`s right to participate in decisions that affect them, in the context of a current social policy state. The selection of participants was goal-oriented and based on individuals who are members of TOP Clubhouse in New York City. They are currently negatively affected by the newly issued social policy directives. Through six qualitative semi-structured interviews based upon research questions, I sought answers to how the clubhouse equips its members to take an active role against the new directives and what role in advocacy work the members considered themselves to have compared to staff. The results of the study show that the clubhouse model strength-based, relational and equal approach has a positive impact on individuals' right and willingness to participate in decisions that affect them. The results show that the clubhouse model promotes empowerment on both individual and political levels. Further the results illustrate that clubhouse members who experience high levels of individual empowerment tend to take a more active role in activist work at a political level. Furthermore, the results show that the relational base of the clubhouse contributes to a collective sense of empowerment at the political level, based on togetherness and solidarity, the clubhouse members organize themselves against the social policy directives. The staff take on two roles in the activist work, first a motivational and insight-creating role where staff contribute with motivation for the clubhouse members to organize against decisions that affect them negatively. The second role is “cause advocacy work”, where the study's results demonstrate how staff remove, through their power, structural obstacles in order for clubhouse members to have their voices heard in decisions that affect them. In conclusion, the study shows how a strengths-based practice can equip both individuals and groups with empowerment at an individual and political level, and how social work in this way promotes individuals' rights to participate in decisions that affect them. / Syftet med denna studie var, att ur en aktuell socialpolitisk kontext, undersöka hur socialt arbete kan organiseras för att främja individers rätt till deltagande i beslut som rör dem. Urvalet har varit målstyrt och vänt sig till individer som är medlemmar på TOP Clubhouse i New York City, och som just nu påverkas negativt av nytillkomna socialpolitiska krav. Genom frågeställningar sökte jag svar på hur klubbhuset utrustar sina medlemmar till att inta en aktiv roll emot de nytillkomna kraven samt vilken roll medlemmarna ansåg sig besitta jämfört med personalen i det aktivistiska arbetet. Studien bygger på sex stycken kvalitativa, semistrukturerade intervjuer där resultat visar att klubbhusmodellens styrkebaserade, relationella och jämlika modell har en positiv inverkan på individers rätt och vilja till att delta i beslut som rör dem. Resultatet visar att klubbhuset bidragit till skapandet av empowerment både på individ och politisk nivå. Klubbhusmedlemmar som upplever hög grad av individuell empowerment tenderar till att inta en mer aktiv roll i det aktivistiska arbetet, och förmår att organisera sig på politisk nivå. Vidare visar resultatet att klubbhusets relationella bas bidrar till ett kollektivt skapande av empowerment på politisk nivå, grundad på samhörighet och solidaritet organiserar sig klubbhusmedlemmarna emot de socialpolitiska direktiven. Personalens intar två roller i det aktivistiska arbetet, en motivations- och insiktsskapande roll där personalen bidrar till att klubbhusmedlemmarna vill organisera sig emot förändringar som påverka dem negativt. Den andra rollen berör ställföreträdarskap där studiens resultat visar hur personalen undanröjer strukturella hinder för att klubbhusmedlemmarna på olika vis ska få sina röster hörda i beslut som rör dem. Sammanfattningsvis visar studien hur en styrkebaserad praktik kan utrusta både individer och grupper med empowerment på individ- och politisk nivå, och hur de genom det kan få sin rätt till deltagande i beslut som rör dem beaktad.

The purpose of this study is to examine why the media has a more negative attitude towards lobbyism in 2014 compared to earlier years since the 1970s in Sweden. This study examines first if a change of attitude has occurred between the given years and whether the attitude is more positive, negative or neutral towards lobbyism in recent years compared to earlier years and lastly if the media are comparing different contexts in which lobbying takes place. The method of this study is based on quantitative content analysis, and on Kanol’s ideas that by implementing theories from different disciplines one can develop theories on comparative lobbying in order to increase and improve our knowledge on the phenomenon of lobbyism as the contemporary research on the subject are scars and underdeveloped. The material in this study are news articles that have been collected between 1970 to 2000 and every second year from 2000 up until 2014. This study also provides a comprehensive picture of the Swedish context in which lobbying takes place by gathering information from multiple sources and earlier studies as this information has as of yet not been gathered in a single study up until now. The conclusion is that there has been a change of attitude towards lobbyism in Sweden, however, the dominant attitude is not a negative but rather a more skeptical/cynical one which has increased since 1992. The term lobbying is controversial because it’s being mentioned in various topics that could be considered negative by the reader as the decision making whether the news article is negative or positive is subjective. Because the media has increased its negative news reporting overall and that the unconscious mind of the reader is also attracted to negative news reporting, the term lobbying can be considered “negative” overall as it is constantly being mentioned in negative contexts even when the article is not about lobbying. A reasonable explanation why the media has a more negative / skeptical attitude to lobbyism is because of previous scandals related to lobbying either in Sweden or outside the country's border, but also because the media can’t hold the elected officials responsible for their actions as transparency and accountability is absent. Because of the increased reporting in Sweden on lobbying from all over the world, the subject will most likely become more relevant on the Swedish political agenda.