Studiens syfte är att undersöka vilka konsekvenser en nationell kris kan få på organisationsnivå, vilka strategier som använts för att hantera krisen, samt medarbetarnas uppfattning av krishanteringen. Studien har utformats som en fallstudie där kvalitativa intervjuer genomförts i en kommunal verksamhet, med inriktning på integration, mitt under en pågående flyktingkris. Intervjuerna har omfattat medarbetare, föreståndare samt chefer och HR på strategisk nivå. Resultatet visar att den nationella flyktingkrisen fått stora konsekvenser för verksamheten. Bildandet av en händelsegrupp, med uppgift att söka lösningar på strategisk nivå, användandet av HR som expertroll samt ledningens agerande har varit de mest framträdande strategierna. Ledningens agerande har präglats av tillgänglighet, förtroende och acceptans. De har även visat mod och flexibilitet genom att förändra rekryteringsprocessen samt låtit medarbetare utvecklas genom ökat ansvar och mandat. Bland tidigare forskningsbidrag fokuserar endast ett fåtal på medarbetarnas upplevelse av krishanteringen. Vår studie lyfter fram medarbetarnas uppfattningar och visar att delaktighet, stöd och feedback varit avgörande för krishanteringen. / The purpose of this study is to examine what consequences a national crisis can have on organizational level, what strategies has been used to manage it, and the co-workers perception of the crisis management. The study has been designed as a case study within a Swedish municipality during an ongoing refugee crisis. Qualitative interviews were conducted on three levels of the organization covering the perception of co-workers, head of the units along with managers and HR on a strategic level. The result shows that the national refugee crisis has had a large impact on the municipality and their everyday operations. Establishing a crisis management team, using HR as an expert resource and the actions taken by leaders were the most salient strategies. The leadership expressed by the management was characterized by availability, trust and acceptance. They showed courage and flexibility by changing the recruitment process and letting the co-workers develop through enhanced responsibility and by giving clear mandates. Previously, there has only been limited research focusing on the co-workers perception of crisis management strategies, a gap that this study aims to reduce. From this perspective the result shows that participation, support and feedback has been prominent for the co-workers perception of the crisis management.

Emotions play a profound role in the workplace, especially in the human service profession. Service agents, for example educators, are expected to express socially desired emotions in a service interaction with learners. This direct face-to-face contact with learners requires a lot of emotions and in order to advance educational goals, teachers perform Emotion Work. Factors like the individual factor Emotional Intelligence and organisational factors like Job Autonomy, Supervisor- and Co-worker Support have a profound impact on how Emotion Work is experienced. Emotion Work has an influence on the experience of Well-Being. The objective of this research is to determine the relationship between Emotion Work, Emotional Intelligence, Organisational Factors and Well-Being within secondary schools in South Africa. The research method consists of a literature review and an empirical study. A cross-sectional survey design was used to collect the data. A non-probability convenience sample was taken from 257 educators in high schools in the Gauteng Province. The Schutte Emotional Intelligence Scale (SEIS), The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (English version) (OBLI). Scale from the Frankfurt Emotion Work Scales (FEWS) and Organisational Factor Scale were used as measuring instruments. The statistical analysis was carried out with the SPSS-programme. The statistical methods utilised in the article consisted of descriptive statistics, Cronbach alpha coefficients, factor analysis (using a principle components analysis), Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients and multiple regression analyses were used to analyse the data. A factor analysis confirmed two factors for Burnout, consisting of Exhaustion and Mental Distance; Emotion Work also consists of two factors namely Positive Emotion Work and Negative Emotion Work, Emotional Intelligence (four factors) consisting of Mood Regulation/Optimism, Emotion Management/Social Skills, Emotion Appraisal and Emotion Detachment. The OF (Organisational Factors) and UWES both showed acceptable internal consistencies. The analysis of Pearson correlations in this study showed that Exhaustion is negatively correlated with Job Autonomy, Supervisory Support and Engagement, while positively correlated with Negative Emotion Work and Mental Distance. Mental Distance is negatively correlated with Job Autonomy, Supervisory Support and Engagement and positively correlated with Negative Emotion Work. Engagement is positively correlated to Mood Regulation/Optimism, Emotion Management/Social Skills, Co-worker Support and Supervisory Support. Emotion Management/Social Skills is positively correlated to Emotion Appraisal and lastly Supervisor Support is positively correlated to Co-worker Support. A regression analysis with Engagement as dependent variable indicated that Positive Emotion Work, Negative Emotion Work, Mood Regulation/Optimisrn and Supervisor Support in an educator environment were the best predictors of Engagement. With Exhaustion as the dependent variable, Negative Emotion Work, Job Autonomy and Supervisor Support were the best predictors of Exhaustion and with Mental Distance as the dependent variable, Negative Emotion Work, Job Autonomy and Supervisor Support were the best predictors of Mental Distance. Recommendations are made for the educators' profession and for future research purposes. / Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007

<p><strong>Problem.</strong> With the Swedish public sectors problem with efficiency in mind, several reforms have beeninitiated during the last decades. These reforms go, in academic contexts, under the name“New public management”. The reforms have resulted in, among other things, an increasedcompetition, privatization and goal-orientation in the public sector. These new conditionshave changed the public leadership challenge and demand an increased focus on innovation todecrease costs and increase value as a central aspect of the Swedish public leadership.</p><p><strong>Purpose.</strong> The purpose for this research has been to examine the conditions for innovation in a publicorganization and how the leadership can improve the organizational innovativeness.</p><p><strong>Method</strong>. This research does not aim to measure the innovativeness in a public organization, instead itfocuses on understanding the condition for innovation and how the leadership can affect theorganizational innovativeness. Hence, it is motivated that I use a qualitative approach in theresearch process. Semi structured interviews and precedent research are being used as afoundation for the results and recommendations given.</p><p><strong>Conclusion.</strong> The leadership’s opportunities to improve the organizational innovativeness depend on anumber of independent organizational variables and the adaption of the variables to oneanother and the system as a whole. Leadership includes both the formal boss and the coworkerin a relationship that ought to be characterizing by reciprocity and cooperation. Bothmanagement and leadership are vital competences for the formal boss as both structure andculture must support each other. The conditions for organizational innovativeness improve ifthe organization has a structure and a culture that enhances: transboundary cooperation, spaceand energy for creative activities, a common context that contributes to an organizationalidentity and motivation and competence and organizational learning. The examinedorganization needs to decentralize the right to make decisions, improve the openness of theculture, and strengthen the organizational identity and audit structures in purpose to facilitatetransboundary cooperation.</p>

Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Social service organizations have changed dramatically during the last decade in an effort to increase effectiveness and control. This has placed new demands on those in leadership roles, and the need for knowledge of how to lead these transformed organizations has increased. Transformational leadership is a leadership model based on vision and empowerment, one suggested to increase both employee effectiveness and well-being, but the usefulness of this model in the public sector has been questioned. The general aim of this thesis is therefore to increase our understanding of the transformational leadership process in the context of social service organizations by investigating factors that explain when and why transformational leadership emerges and is effective. Questionnaire data from social service employees as well as interview data from managers were used in three empirical studies. Results from Studies 1 &amp; 2 show that transformational leadership is positively associated with employee outcomes including commitment, role clarity, and well-being. Factors that might influence the effectiveness of transformational leadership were addressed in Study 1. It was found that leader continuity enhanced the effect of transformational leadership on role clarity and commitment, indicating that it takes time before transformational leaders actually have an effect on employees. Furthermore, co-worker support enhanced the effect on commitment, reflecting the role of followers in the transformational leadership process. The way in which transformational leaders influence employees was examined in Study 2, and climate for innovation mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and well-being both cross-sectionally and one year later. Finally, organizational factors that may hinder the emergence of transformational leadership were addressed in Study 3, and newly recruited managers were interviewed during their first year of leadership. Eight hindering factors in the organization to exhibit transformational leadership were identified, including the organizational structure, ongoing change, and the leaders’ working conditions. In all, this thesis has demonstrated the usefulness of transformational leadership in social services in terms of being associated with employee positive attitudes and well-being, and has also identified factors that may both help and hinder the transformational leadership process in this context.

Problem. With the Swedish public sectors problem with efficiency in mind, several reforms have beeninitiated during the last decades. These reforms go, in academic contexts, under the name“New public management”. The reforms have resulted in, among other things, an increasedcompetition, privatization and goal-orientation in the public sector. These new conditionshave changed the public leadership challenge and demand an increased focus on innovation todecrease costs and increase value as a central aspect of the Swedish public leadership. Purpose. The purpose for this research has been to examine the conditions for innovation in a publicorganization and how the leadership can improve the organizational innovativeness. Method. This research does not aim to measure the innovativeness in a public organization, instead itfocuses on understanding the condition for innovation and how the leadership can affect theorganizational innovativeness. Hence, it is motivated that I use a qualitative approach in theresearch process. Semi structured interviews and precedent research are being used as afoundation for the results and recommendations given. Conclusion. The leadership’s opportunities to improve the organizational innovativeness depend on anumber of independent organizational variables and the adaption of the variables to oneanother and the system as a whole. Leadership includes both the formal boss and the coworkerin a relationship that ought to be characterizing by reciprocity and cooperation. Bothmanagement and leadership are vital competences for the formal boss as both structure andculture must support each other. The conditions for organizational innovativeness improve ifthe organization has a structure and a culture that enhances: transboundary cooperation, spaceand energy for creative activities, a common context that contributes to an organizationalidentity and motivation and competence and organizational learning. The examinedorganization needs to decentralize the right to make decisions, improve the openness of theculture, and strengthen the organizational identity and audit structures in purpose to facilitatetransboundary cooperation.

Emotions play a profound role in the workplace, especially in the human service profession. Service agents, for example educators, are expected to express socially desired emotions in a service interaction with learners. This direct face-to-face contact with learners requires a lot of emotions and in order to advance educational goals, teachers perform Emotion Work. Factors like the individual factor Emotional Intelligence and organisational factors like Job Autonomy, Supervisor- and Co-worker Support have a profound impact on how Emotion Work is experienced. Emotion Work has an influence on the experience of Well-Being. The objective of this research is to determine the relationship between Emotion Work, Emotional Intelligence, Organisational Factors and Well-Being within secondary schools in South Africa. The research method consists of a literature review and an empirical study. A cross-sectional survey design was used to collect the data. A non-probability convenience sample was taken from 257 educators in high schools in the Gauteng Province. The Schutte Emotional Intelligence Scale (SEIS), The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (English version) (OBLI). Scale from the Frankfurt Emotion Work Scales (FEWS) and Organisational Factor Scale were used as measuring instruments. The statistical analysis was carried out with the SPSS-programme. The statistical methods utilised in the article consisted of descriptive statistics, Cronbach alpha coefficients, factor analysis (using a principle components analysis), Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients and multiple regression analyses were used to analyse the data. A factor analysis confirmed two factors for Burnout, consisting of Exhaustion and Mental Distance; Emotion Work also consists of two factors namely Positive Emotion Work and Negative Emotion Work, Emotional Intelligence (four factors) consisting of Mood Regulation/Optimism, Emotion Management/Social Skills, Emotion Appraisal and Emotion Detachment. The OF (Organisational Factors) and UWES both showed acceptable internal consistencies. The analysis of Pearson correlations in this study showed that Exhaustion is negatively correlated with Job Autonomy, Supervisory Support and Engagement, while positively correlated with Negative Emotion Work and Mental Distance. Mental Distance is negatively correlated with Job Autonomy, Supervisory Support and Engagement and positively correlated with Negative Emotion Work. Engagement is positively correlated to Mood Regulation/Optimism, Emotion Management/Social Skills, Co-worker Support and Supervisory Support. Emotion Management/Social Skills is positively correlated to Emotion Appraisal and lastly Supervisor Support is positively correlated to Co-worker Support. A regression analysis with Engagement as dependent variable indicated that Positive Emotion Work, Negative Emotion Work, Mood Regulation/Optimisrn and Supervisor Support in an educator environment were the best predictors of Engagement. With Exhaustion as the dependent variable, Negative Emotion Work, Job Autonomy and Supervisor Support were the best predictors of Exhaustion and with Mental Distance as the dependent variable, Negative Emotion Work, Job Autonomy and Supervisor Support were the best predictors of Mental Distance. Recommendations are made for the educators' profession and for future research purposes. / Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007

M.Phil. / Although a great deal of research has been conducted on diversity management in South Africa, very little of this research has focused on age diversity within interactive information societies such as libraries in South Africa. This study will focus specifically on academic libraries. It is also clear that most of the research regarding age diversity within Academic Information Services (AIS) has focused on managing the difference in ages between library patrons and library staff members. Very little of the research is devoted to age diversity between co-workers, and even less research has been conducted regarding Cuspers as a generational cohort within the library environment. This study is aimed at investigating age diversity within AIS in South Africa in relation to its effect on work, work performance and co-worker relationships. It is also aimed at encouraging organisations, and specifically AIS, to take cognisance of the current age demographic of their libraries and to develop and implement not only succession planning policies, but also relevant recruitment and retention policies in order to avoid employee and leadership vacuums. The research findings of this study are relevant as they give organisations in general, and specifically AIS within higher education institutions (HEI), a point of reference to guide the formulation of recruitment and employment policies that would appeal to the values and preferences of younger generational cohorts currently under-represented in these organisations. In addition, this study is of value with regard to the formulation of succession policies focused on the planning and training of new middle and top management staff members in order to improve current succession policies and plans.

The purpose of this study is to examine co-workers' experience of working within WISE and their perceived position in the company and at the labor market. The study also aims to investigate whether WISE contributes to perceived participation for co-workers, which is an ambition among these companies. The study answers three questions at issue; (1) How do co-workers within WISE perceive their work? (2) How do co-workers perceive their position and importance within the company and in the labor market? (3) How does work within WISE contribute to participation at the workplace? The study is based on a qualitative research method with an abductive approach. The questions at issue have been answered through eight semi-structured interviews with co-workers within two WISEs. The empirical material has then been analyzed on the basis of previous research linked to WISE and work, as well as our theoretical starting points, which are Empowerment, The work-first principle, Participation and SOC. The main results of the study shows that co-workers within the WISEs we have had contact with value work highly and as an important part of their lives. The work is described as meaningful as it provides the co-workers with a connection to colleagues and a place to be. The co-workers answers further indicate that they do not experience themselves as participants in an employment activity, but they see their position in the labor market as working individuals. By being active within a WISE, the co-workers have gained a sense of empowerment. The methods for how participation is achieved are similar between the two companies, where staff meetings are mentioned as the main strategy. The level of participation varies between co-workers, but what they all have in common is that they experience participation at the workplace. In this way, work within WISE have contributed to participation. / Studien har som syfte att undersöka medarbetarnas upplevelse av att arbeta inom ASF och deras upplevda ställning på företaget samt arbetsmarknaden. Studien syftar även till att undersöka huruvida ASF bidrar till upplevd delaktighet för medarbetarna, vilket är en ambition bland dessa företagen. Studien besvarar tre frågeställningar; (1) Hur upplever medarbetare inom ASF sitt arbete? (2) Hur upplever medarbetare sin position och betydelse inom företaget och på arbetsmarknaden? (3) Hur bidrar arbeten inom ASF till delaktighet på arbetsplatsen? Studien utgår från en kvalitativ forskningsmetod med en abduktiv ansats. Frågeställningarna har besvarats genom åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer med medarbetare inom två ASF. Det empiriska materialet har därefter analyserats utifrån tidigare forskning kopplat till ASF och arbete, samt våra teoretiska utgångspunkter vilka är Empowerment, Arbetslinjen, Delaktighet och KASAM. Studiens huvudresultat visar att medarbetare inom de ASF vi haft kontakt med värderar arbete högt och som en viktig del av deras liv. Arbetet beskrivs som meningsfullt då det tillför för medarbetarna ett sammanhang med kollegor och en plats att vara. Medarbetarnas svar tyder vidare på att de inte upplever sig som deltagare i en sysselsättningsverksamhet utan de ser sin position på arbetsmarknaden som arbetande individer. Genom att vara verksamma inom ASF har medarbetarna erhållit en känsla av empowerment. Metoderna för hur delaktighet uppnås är liknande mellan de två företagen där personalmöten nämns som den främsta strategin. Nivån av delaktighet varierar mellan medarbetarna men gemensamt är att de alla upplever delaktighet på arbetsplatsen. På så sätt har arbete inom ASF bidragit till delaktighet.

Automation could help organizations make work processes more efficient. The automatization could be seen as a digital co-worker and it is done by robotic process automatization (RPA) or artificial intelligence (AI). There is an ongoing debate about the effect of implementation of automatization. Should the effect be seen as a threat or a possibility for organizations and employees? This study examines how organizations are working or should work with automatization and what automatization requires from the organization. Moreover, this study explores automatization in organizations by studying academic books and articles about digitalization and change management. Articles and books are researched in three focus areas. The focus areas are: Goalsetting and effects, Attitude and Communication. In the empirical observation this study presents the findings from four Swedish organizations from different industries based on the focus areas. This study concludes that the work with automatization varies between the researched organizations. All four organizations were in the beginning of setting up automatization and had a vision to automate more processes. It is essential to start automatizing a small process instead of a large process or many at the same time. Also, it is necessary to map out work processes before automatization can be considered, since automatization requires distinct explanation of a process. Automatization should be managed by a business department and not from an IT-department. However, good collaboration between the two departments is vital. Furthermore, the effects, now and further on, of automatization should be communicated to the employees by their manager. Employees should be involved as change agents to help communicate the considered change to their colleagues. No resistance to change was found in any of the four organizations, instead scepticism was found more relevant in changes caused by automatization.