Invandringen i Sverige är stor och medför kompetens som organisationer borde ta tillvara på. För att kunna ta tillvara på kompetensen som kommer med de nyanlända krävs en effektiv och lyckad integration. Syftet med undersökningen är att öka förståelsen för hur social integration går till samt vilka faktorer som påverkar den. Det finns tidigare forskning angående ämnet integration, där studiernas fokus främst ligger på individnivå. Studien är nödvändig för att öka förståelsen av integration på organisationsnivå. Studien är unik då den fokuserar på en integration mellan individer från olika kulturgemenskaper i Sverige. Forskningsansatsen är induktiv med deduktiva tendenser, med en kvalitativ flerfallstudie där undersökningen genomförts inom två organisationer där multikulturell integration pågår. Integrationen har undersökts genom 11 intervjuer, där empirsikt material har samlats in. Analysen av det empiriska materialet har gjorts med hjälp av utvalda teorier som har lett fram till följande slutsatser. En integration är en process i två steg. Det första steget innebär praktiska problem både när det kommer till organisation- och samhällsnivå. Det andra steget är något mer komplext då det innefattar personliga känslor angående delaktighet och samhörighet. Det är individens känsla som mäter hur nära klimax integrationen är vilket medför att graden av integration är svår att mäta. Då graden är svår att mäta medför det svårigheter att veta om full integration går att uppnå. Det finns många faktorer som påverkar integrationsprocessen bland annat: kommunikation, ömsesidighet, nationell eller internationell kultur i organisationen och ledaren. Ledaren i en organisation har ansvar att hjälpa den nyanlända. Vid kunskap om hur integrationsprocessen går till har ledare större möjlighet att agera rätt för effektiv och lyckad integration. En lyckad integration är viktig för multikulturella organisationer för att nyttja kompetens, verka ändamålsenligt och tillfredsställa den växande mångkulturella marknaden. / Immigration in Sweden is ongoing, therefore the relevance of this study is illustrated by Sweden’s modern political environment. Efficient, effective integration of immigrants involves applying an immigrant’s useful skills for the benefit of organizations and the community. The purpose of our study is to increase the understanding of how effective social integration works and also identifying important factors that influence the process. The study is unique in its focus on the social integration of Sweden’s growing immigrant population at the organizational level. The research approach is inductive with deductive tendencies. The integration process is a qualitative multiple case study that has been analyzed through 11 interviews within two organizations. Empirical data gathered in these interviews added to preexisting theories have led us to the following conclusions. Integration is a two-step process. The first involves practical problems both within the community and within the organization. The second step is more complex and includes individual feelings about the degree of participation and belonging. In the second step it’s difficult to measure the degree of integrational level . The complexity of the measurement makes it hard to know if full integration is possible to achieve. Some of the factors that affect integration process are: communication, reciprocity, national or international culture of the organization and the leader. A leader of an organization has a responsibility to help immigrants. With the knowledge about how the integration process works leaders have a bigger opportunity to act in a way that helps the process to become successful. Successful integration is essential for multi-cultural organizations to utilize the skills available to operate efficiently and satisfy the needs of a multicultural labor market.

Virtual teams improve organizational performance and competitiveness because they reduce business travel and allow team members to work from anywhere, anytime, using the Internet to complete projects. Although researchers have identified benefits of using virtual teams, knowledge about how cultural backgrounds influence virtual team performance is limited. Illuminating this relationship may help leadership improve team performance. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of team members with different cultural backgrounds to understand their effect on team performance. The research questions were based on the conceptual framework of organizational cultural theories developed by Schein and Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner. Interview questions were electronically distributed to a purposeful sample of 20 participants who worked on virtual teams and could describe their lived experiences. Data were collected, coded using open and axial techniques, and analyzed for themes and patterns. Key themes emerged such as cultural backgrounds, language barriers, communication, conflict, and use of information technology. Findings included techniques for improving communications, understanding different cultural backgrounds, and the satisfaction of team members. Implications for positive social change include an improved understanding among virtual team leaders regarding how different cultural backgrounds influence team performance. Results of this study may benefit organizations by helping them better manage the performance of multicultural virtual teams, thereby leading to improved product development and reduced costs associated with activities such as business travel and remote work.

The aim of this study is to explore the experiences that migrant parents from the global South have regarding the child developmental assessments carried out by the Child Healthcare Centers in Sweden.  Over the past half-century, the study of child development has been dominated by developmental psychology. Child Studies has taken a critical approach to traditional developmental theories, highlighting the social construction of childhood as opposed to purely biological or universal frameworks. This raises important questions, such as whether all children develop at the same rate, what it means for a child to be in development, and whether various cultures perceive child development in the same way. The data collection method for this study has been semi-structured interviews with five parents originally from the global South living in Sweden who have attended the developmental assessments with their children. The data analysis method has been reflective thematic analysis, resulting in four themes: Age-based developmental milestones according to parents’ cultural perspective, parent’s perceived lack of cultural appropriateness in the child developmental assessments, differences about parental roles in child development according to cultural backgrounds and the centrality of the environment in child development for parents from the global South. The findings of the study are 1. Parents from the global South possess an understanding of child development partially similar and different compared to the one endorsed by the Child Healthcare Centers based on their cultural backgrounds. 2.The difference in the understanding of child development created cultural barriers that affect parents' involvement and contribution in the assessment, and in the appropriateness of the services they received.

Η μαζική μετακίνηση των ανθρώπων τόσο μεταξύ των Ευρωπαϊκών όσο και των τρίτων χωρών προς την Ευρώπη, έχουν επηρεάσει τη δημογραφική σύνθεση των χωρών υποδοχής μεταναστών, με αποτέλεσμα την αλλαγή των πολιτισμικών αξιών, την αναδιάρθρωση του δημογραφικού χάρτη και τη μετατροπή των κοινωνιών σε πολυπολιτισμικές. Ανεπηρέαστη δεν έμεινε και η ελληνική κοινωνία, που από μονοπολιτισμική έχει μετατραπεί σε διαπολιτισμική. Οι θεωρίες και οι έρευνες για τη γλώσσα και την ταυτότητα που έχουν διεξαχθεί μέχρι σήμερα σε μονοπολιτισμικά περιβάλλοντα είναι ανεξάντλητες. Ο σκοπός της μεταπτυχιακής εργασίας είναι να εισάγει τον αναγνώστη στα κύρια σημεία της ανάλυσης γύρω από τη σχέση γλώσσας και ταυτότητας, καθώς και η διερεύνηση του βαθμού που η ελληνική γλώσσα επηρεάζει τη διαμόρφωση της εθνικής και πολιτισμικής ταυτότητας των μαθητών που ζουν σε διαπολιτισμικές κοινωνίες. Επίσης, να διερευνηθεί ο ρόλος που διαδραματίζει η ταυτότητα και η γλώσσα σε διαπολιτισμικά περιβάλλοντα, εφόσον οι σημερινές σχολικές τάξεις παρουσιάζουν ανομοιογενή χαρακτήρα εξαιτίας της παρουσίας των πολιτισμικά διαφορετικών μαθητών. Για τη διεξαγωγή της έρευνας, σχεδιάστηκε και χορηγήθηκε ένα ερωτηματολόγιο, το οποίο δόθηκε προς συμπλήρωση στα παιδιά αλλά και στους εκπαιδευτικούς της Ε΄ και Στ΄ Δημοτικού των αντίστοιχων σχολικών μονάδων. Για την ανάλυση των δεδομένων χρησιμοποιήθηκε το Statistical Package for Sciences (S.P.S.S 19.0). Τέλος, παρουσιάζονται διεξοδικά τα αποτελέσματα της έρευνας, όπως και τα συμπεράσματα που προκύπτουν για το πολύκροτο ζήτημα. / The mass movement or people to Europe either from European or from the countries of the Third World have influenced the demographic composition of the host countries, and as a result the cultural values and the demographic map of each country have changed, leading to the transformation of societies into multicultural ones. Of course, the Greek society was not unaffected, being transformed from monoculture to multicultural as well. There have been conducted relentless theories and surveys for the language and identity in monoculture environments so far. The aim of this thesis is to introduce the reader to the main points of the analysis, regarding the relation of language and identity, as well as it investigates to what extent the Greek language influences the formulation of national and multicultural identity of the students who live in multicultural societies. Moreover, it analyses the role of identity and language in intercultural environments provided the current school grades have multicultural character due to the presence of students from different cultural backgrounds. A questionnaire was designed and filled in by students and teachers of fifth and sixth grade of primary school at the respective schools, in order for this survey to be conducted. For the analysis of the data the Statistical Package for Sciences (S.P.S.S 19.0) was used. Finally, the results of the survey are presented thoroughly as well as the final conclusions for this hotly debated issue.

The introduction of the virtual work environment has resulted in the creation of a new work structure where interaction between employees and leaders occurs through technological innovations such as teleconferencing, emails, and text messages. The absence of physical workspace has also created a diverse work environment with people from various cultural backgrounds working together as virtual teams. Existing studies have been conducted on leadership styles and culture in the traditional work environment, but few empirical studies have been conducted on leadership styles and culture in the virtual work environment. The purpose of this quantitative, nonexperimental survey study was to identify the relationship between cultural backgrounds and leadership styles in the virtual work environment. The data were collected by an online survey using the Bass and Avolio multifactor leadership questionnaire and Hofstede's cultural value survey module from a random sample of 303 participants with leadership roles in virtual work environments. Pearson correlation analysis was used to test the relationship between the dependent variables, transactional and transformational leadership styles, with the independent variables, being power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, and masculinity. The results of the study showed a negative correlation between the transformational and transactional leadership styles for individualism and uncertainty avoidance. There were no correlations between femininity and power distance for the transformational and transactional leadership styles. The study contributes to social change by confirming that cultural backgrounds can impact the effectiveness of the transactional and transformational leadership styles, regardless of the work environment.

Le traitement des maladies chroniques passe par plusieurs axes. L’un est technique et indispensable, issu de « l’évidence base médecine », il est biomédical et largement enseigné dans les facultés de médecine. L’autre est plus récent, moins présent dans les enseignements, et issu du « share decision making ». Ce dernier semble mieux considérer les valeurs du patient mais reste assujettie aux preuves biomédicales et investigations cliniques. L’abord du patient nécessite une interdépendance de ces deux approches et donc une part liée à l’éducation. La relation au patient se trouve modifiée par cette approche thérapeutique et impose au soignant un positionnement professionnel différent et requérant de nouvelles compétences. Il est intéressant de questionner au travers d’une étude menée dans deux milieux socio-culturels différents la possibilité d’un abord didactique des ateliers d’ETP. Cette approche, est menée dans un premier temps, par l’étude comparée des conceptions des patients et des soignants au cours de laquelle nous avons relevé des différences de conceptions non pas liées au macrocontexte mais plutôt au microcontexte et entre les soignants et les patients. Dans un deuxième temps, l’utilisation de concepts didactiques issus de la didactique des sciences, des travaux de Gérard Sensévy et de la littératie en santé va nous permettre de dégager des indicateurs et paramètres pouvant classer les différents types d’ateliers d’ETP et guider les soignants-formateurs au cours de leurs interventions éducatives. / Chronic illnesses can be treated along several axes.One of these is technical and indispensable, coming for the "evidence base medecine". It is biomedical and largely taught in medical schools. The other is more recent, less commonly taught and coming from "share decision making." The latter better considers the values of the patient but remains dependent on biomedical proof and chemical investigation. The patient approach requires an interdependence of the two approaches and is therefore, in part linked to education .The relation to the patient is modified by this therapeutic approach and requires and the caretaker to have a different professional position and requires new skills. It is interesting to question through a study lead in two different socio-cultural backgrounds the possibility of a didactic approach of the ETP workshops.Firstly, this approach, by the comparative study of conceptions of patients and caretakers during which we noticed different conceptions not only linked to the macro context but rather to the micro context between the two former.Secondly, the use of didactic concepts coming from the teaching of science from the works of Gérard Sensévy and the health literacy that allows us to identify the indicators and parameters.Allowing us to classify different types of ETP workshops and guide the care professionnal along their educational interventions.

This dissertation examines teacher’s perspectives regarding the classroom strategies, behaviors, and approaches they believed best support the development of African American students. Educator perceptions are valuable to understand because perceptions and attitudes undergird behavior and practices. This study focused on perceptions of teachers toward pedagogical strategies, approaches, and teacher behaviors that perceived to best support African American students because of the persisting achievement gap between African American students and their White, middle class counterparts. Culturally Relevant Pedagogy was used as the theoretical framework for this study as it describes approaches to teaching students from historically marginalized groups in ways that are more relevant to their cultural strengths, assets, and knowledge-bases. Q methodology was selected for this study because it was designed to examine human subjectivity using both quantitative and qualitative techniques. Forty-two teachers sorted 36 statements, each representing a practice, strategy, or behavior identified by participants as being culturally relevant to African American students, based on their perceived effectiveness. These 42 Q sorts were then correlated. Principal component analysis and Varimax rotation were used to examine the relationships among the correlations and extract 4 factors, 1 of which was bipolar, or containing two different, but mirrored perspectives. The factor arrays of these 5 perspectives were then examined, described, and named: Responsive to Students Cultural Backgrounds, Responding through Honoring and Exploring Culture, Responding through Structure, Routines, and Direct Advocacy, Conducive and Inclusive Learning Environment, Non-responsive Culture Free Pedagogical Practices. Implications and recommendations for practice, theory, and policy were also discussed.