In this thesis, the author strives to examine commitment to organizational values at Swedbank – the Central region through a longitudinal study at three different organizational levels (regional management team, branch manager and assistant branch manager) and this by a broader perspective. In order to gain a better understanding of the chosen subject the study proceeds with a theoretical framework that is concentrated to commitment to organizational values and three factors that might affect this commitment, namely; education, employment time and organizational function. Furthermore, a qualititative approach was used to collect the empirical data consisting of interviews. The purpose of this thesis is to closely examine how three managers at different organizational functions have worked with the organizational values and their employees’ commitment to the values during the last year by studying the three variables; education, employment time and organizational function. The conclusions highlights education and organizational function as two factors that have gained more focus in the managers work with committing their employees to the values. Education plays a crucial role since the manager’s uses similar approaches to some extent but also other methods. The regional management team stands out due to the group reflections. The branch manager is also using a somewhat more unique approach, monthly dialogues. Since the three organizational values; open, simple and caring are not explicitly defined, and are more generally stated there is room for interpretation and education is argued to be the solution for this issue. The importance of organizational function is highlighted in different aspects- balancing hard and soft goals and also the importance of leaders - delegation of responsibility. Regarding the factor employment time, the three interviews were united in this question. No employee has yet displayed a lack of commitment. However, those who have incorporated the values in a good way have done this in a personal way.

Anorexia nervosa är ett allvarligt tillstånd med hög dödlighet i långtidsuppföljningar. Trots detta finns i dagsläget ingen tydlig evidens vad gäller val av metod eller effektivitet när det gäller behandling för denna problematik. Föreliggande uppsats rapporterar preliminära resultat från en randomiserad kontrollerad studie av självhjälp med e-poststöd för individer med full och partiell anorexia nervosa. Syftet var att undersöka huruvida en behandling i självhjälpsformat som bygger på rekommenderade riktlinjer för vård av anorexia nervosa samt acceptance and commitment therapy är effektiv med avseende på beteende-, attityd- ochpersonlighetsvariabler relaterade till ätstörningsproblematik samt generella variabler som depression, självkänsla, tillfredställelse med livet och social anpassning. Under tidsperioden inkluderades 15 deltagare i studien och randomiserades till behandling(N=7) eller väntelista (N=8). Deltagare genomgick EDE-intervju före och efter behandling respektive väntelista samt svarade på en rad självskattningsformulär. Behandling respektive väntelista pågick under 12 veckor där deltagare i behandlingsgruppen arbetade på egen handmed ett nyskrivet självhjälpsmaterial med stöd via e-post från en kontaktperson.”Intent-to-treat”-analyser visade på enstaka signifikanta förbättringar i inomgruppsjämförelser mellan för- och eftermätning för behandlingsgruppen på attitydvariabler. Deltagarna i behandlingsgruppen försämrades dock signifikant på den generella variabeln social anpassning. Beräkning av kliniskt signifikanta förbättringar visade på enstaka förbättringar för enskilda deltagare. Ingen deltagare rörde sig ur en ätstörningsdiagnos men två deltagare i behandlingsgruppen ökade i vikt. Ingen deltagare i väntelistgruppen ökade lika mycket, istället gick tre ner motsvarande vikt. Slutsatserna är att resultaten är för preliminära för att med säkerhet kunna uttala sig ombehandlingsformatets effektivitet för denna problematik. Data från fler deltagare samt uppföljningsmätningar behövs för att kunna besvara frågeställningarna på ett adekvat sätt.

Understanding how committed employees are within an organization is a valuable tool for managing and fostering a successful work environment. A continued appreciation of employee commitment is especially beneficial following organizational change as it has been shown that change inevitably impacts commitment levels to some degree. This study investigated organizational commitment within a subpopulation of the newly restructured Parks Canada Agency using an established survey instrument. The findings revealed that an employee's tenure and work location currently influences commitment levels among the sample that was surveyed. This study also found that commitment to the Parks Canada mandate significantly differs from the expressed commitment to the current state of the organization. An effort to improve the moderate levels of organizational commitment would be a valuable strategy for enhancing the employer-employee relationship and contributing to the positive effects of the organizational change.

Over the past few decades, hundreds of empirical investigations have examined the construct of “workplace commitment”. Much of this research is based on the assumption that commitment is tied to longevity within a given organization. In other words, those most committed are those who plan to remain with an organization. Work patterns, particularly within leisure delivery systems, are often inconsistent with the longevity model. Leisure settings often rely less on full-time lifetime employees and more on contingent workers, those working part-time, seasonally or on a temporary basis. Consequently, much of the commitment literature offers limited insight to leisure managers. Further, research efforts within the commitment literature have, perhaps unnecessarily, focused their efforts on commitment to the organization. An emerging literature suggests that commitment may be focused on a variety of entities. This literature would benefit from a more expansive view of commitment and the entities to which it is directed. Traditional views of, and research in, workplace commitment may be inappropriate for contingent employees. Finally, the commitment literature is dominated by quantitative and questionnaire-based methodology (Cohen, 2003). This study is intended to address many of these issues by using qualitative methods to explore the ways in which various commitment types emerge among contingent employees in a variety of leisure settings. Consequently, this study examines the meaning of commitment to contingent employees in selected leisure services. It focuses on what these contingent employees felt most connected to in their specific workplaces; in essence their stories of what commitment meant to them. The study sample was composed of students enrolled in an undergraduate Recreation and Leisure Studies Program. In order to take part in the study, students were to have engaged in a series of short-term professional-related experiences. Initial contact with potential participants was through a short introduction in 2nd, 3rd and 4th yr recreation class. Six classes were used in this study with a total of 168 responses collected. Class members were asked if they would be willing to participate in a 60-90 minute interview to further discuss their work experiences. 24 participants took part in a semi-structured interview in which questions were asked about the intensity and focus of their commitment. It has been suggested that contingent employees may express little emotional commitment because of the limitations of their work experience (Chang & Chelladurai, 2000). However, in this study, the topic of passion or desire came up repeatedly during the interviews. For these contingent employees, commitment seemed very affective in nature. Their commitment was based strongly on enthusiasm and passion for various components of the work setting. There were many such components or foci raised by the participants. Consistent with Stinglhamber et al.’s (2002) multi-foci perspective of commitment, these individuals’ passion was typically directed to more than one entity. All five major foci of commitment (to the organization, supervisor, occupation, workgroup and client) helped build passion and commitment for these participants. While this is not uncommon, it is noteworthy that commitment to the organization (which dominates much of the private sector commitment literature) was prevalent in only two of the interviews. In each of these cases, however, it is unclear whether the organization or people within the organization engendered that commitment. While the individuals expressed support for the organization, their remarks seemed more directed at people in their respective organizations. Overall, those who revealed the greatest commitment (toward any foci) echoed the importance of intrinsic motivation; they must love what they were doing. Among these participants, there was little evidence of passionate commitment to any organization. Instead, the emphasis was more often on some specific element within the workplace. The focus of their attention was most prominent toward clients and toward supervisors. For these contingent workers affective commitment (as opposed to normative or continuance) dominated their thinking about commitment. They worked at the locations because they wanted to be there, not as a result of external constraints. They not only wanted to work in these settings, but they were passionate about their work. It was evident that either they brought that passion when they first arrived or developed a passion while on the job. Although one cannot generalize this finding to all contingent workers in all settings, there was little evidence of outright indifference among these workers. Finally, 2 new foci of commitment were identified. Specifically, participants introduced commitment or attachment to place, and commitment or involvement in activity as they discussed job-related commitment levels. These variables, while new to the management/commitment literature, have each received considerable research effort from within the leisure community. Overall, this study suggests that the dominant business-based commitment literature has largely failed to consider job conditions specific to the contingent leisure service employee. Further, research in leisure settings suggests that attachment can expand beyond the traditional foci (the organization, people, unions, etc.) to include the setting in which the work occurs and the activities around which the work happens. This suggests that traditionally leisure-based issues (place and activity) can bring much to the work setting and the commitment of those who toil in those settings. For managers of contingent workers, understanding the importance of place and activity in addition to traditional indicators of commitment may prove significant in helping develop a more committed contingent employee in the leisure service settings.

Palliative care is founded on a holistic attitude, with the goal to alleviate suffering when a cure is no longer possible. Palliative care affirms life and regards dying as a normal process, providing possibilities of a quality time for the patient and family. Studies show that an increasing number of people choose to live the final phase of their life in their own home. A requirement for end of life care is an effective team work, where the nurse is responsible for more advanced care, and the caregiver’s provides the immediate care. The purpose of this study was to gain insight of caregiver’s experiences with patients in end of life care. An interview was conducted with seven caregivers, where the material is processed by a content analysis with qualitative approach. The results showed that the caregivers were engaged in meeting with dying patients and their families. Three themes emerged: to prioritize, to give and receive support, and to care with dignity. The following conclusions were found; Time and continuity is an essential constituent of the care for patients in palliative care. Caregivers should be given time for support and reflection. Skilled personnel with education and good knowledge of palliative care are needed in the care of palliative patients and their families.

Background: Sponsoring is a marketing and communication tool that has had a major growth over the last two decades. Sponsoring is one of the fastest expanding ways for companies to communicate with their target audience. Despite this, there has been a lack of awareness considering the sponsorship relationships and how they evolved. Most of the research conducted up to now within the area of sponsorship has just been focusing on the sponsoring part as a separated unit, without considering the connection with the sponsee. Purpose: The purpose for this research is to investigate the relationship between a sponsee and its sponsors to identify success factors and how the parties act in order to ensure these success factors. Method: This qualitative research has been conducted by a deductive approach where interviews were held as data collection method. The research has been based on a descriptive design. Conclusions: This research shows that strong commitment and good frequent communication are key factors in order to have a successful sponsorship relationship. The research also shows the importance of having mutual goals in sponsorship relationships, since mutual goals have a tendency to increase the commitment from both parties in a sponsorship relationship.

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Musikalisk prestationsångest (MPA) är ett vanligt förekommande problem bland musiker och kan i vissa fall omöjliggöra en karriär som musiker. Syftet med föreliggande studie var att utvärdera en 5 sessioners behandling med Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) för MPA. Resultatet är lovande, 7 av 8 deltagare fullföljde behandlingen och flera deltagare fick förbättringar på såväl ACT-relaterade mått som på mått för MPA. Resultatet motiverar vidare forskning om ACT för MPA. / Musical performance anxiety (MPA) is a common problem among musicians and can in certain cases make impossible a career as a musician. The aim with the present study was to evaluate a 5 sessions' treatment with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for MPA. The result is promising, 7 of 8 participants pursued treatment and several participants got improvements on ACT-related measures as well as on measures for MPA. The result justifies further research on ACT for MPA.

Bemanningsbranschen har under de senaste tjugo åren expanderat kraftigt i Sverige och visar på rekordhöga omsättningar, där allt fler söker sig till branschen. Det har också på senare år blivit allt vanligare med bemanningsföretag som specialiserar sig på studenter eller invidiver med egen verksamhet, vilket också är det som denna undersökning handlar om. Syftet med uppsatsen är att förstå bemanningskonsulternas uppfattningar om yrkesrollens fördelar och nackdelar, samt förstå vilken inverkan omfattningen av feedback, utbildning och utvecklingssamtal har för konsulternas känsla av commitment, identifikation och tillhörandeskap gentemot kund- och bemanningsföretaget. Undersökningen består av en kvalitativ metod med kvantitativa inslag där ansatsen är induktiv. Undersökningen innefattar semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem studerande bemanningskonsulter och en enkätundersökning som besvarats av 52 respondenter som alla uppfyller kraven för att medverka i undersökningen. Den teoretiska referensramen består av teorier som berör organisatorisk identifikation, commitment, psykologiska kontrakt, flexibilitet och makt. Resultatet av undersökningen ger indikationer på en komplex organisatorisk situation vad gäller identifikation, och tillhörandeskap där konsulterna kan ha multipla förhållningssätt vad gäller identifikation till båda företagen som ingår den i trepartsrelation som konsulten, kund- och bemanningsföretaget skapar. Resultatet vittnar också på att fördelarna med att arbeta som bemanningskonsult också upplevs som nackdelarna.

The purpose of this essay is to try to understand the relationship between the structures of modern working life and the development of burnout. By using the method of qualitative interviews we wanted to see if the Effort-Reward Imbalance Model could be applied to the data we had collected. Two questions have been highlighted in our research:               • Is it possible to establish a relationship between the structures of modern working life and the development of burnout among the subjects interviewed?   • Is it possible to explain the development of burnout among our interviewed subjects through the Effort-Reward Imbalance Model?       Our theoretical frames are the general theories of the modern society and the modern working life as developed by Anthony Giddens, Ulrich Beck and Zygmunt Bauman. We have also used Johannes Siegrist’s medical-sociological Effort-Reward Imbalance Model (ERI-Model). Our main findings are that the characteristics of modern working life mostly have had a negative affect on the lives of four of the five interviewed subjects. Hence, modern working life is one contributing factor to the development of burnout among our interviewed subjects. Four of five interview subjects fulfilled the three hypotheses postulated by the Effort-Reward Imbalance Model. This indicates that these individuals are at an increased risk of developing poor health. It also indicates that an imbalance between efforts and rewards as well as an imbalance between internal and external factors at the workplace might have contributed to their development of burnout.