Todays workers are living in a rapidly changing environment and adaptability has become one of the most valued competences. Because of economical competition, demands imposed on workers are getting more and more elevated. The opposition between constraints of efficiency, search for performance, workload and private life, combined with a loss in work meaning and in social support, contribute to expose workers to job stress and burnout. Besides dealing with high workload and exigencies of adaptability, workers are expected to create their own career opportunities and development. More specifically, in order to stay competitive, organizations need workers that are active and creative at work, workers that are ready to invest not only their time, but also their mind into their work. In other words, they need workers to be engaged in their work. Given this apparent opposition between increased risk for job stress and burnout on the one hand, and increased need of engaged workers on the other, it is necessary to investigate which conditions are prevalent in the development of those phenomena. In this thesis, we present a theoretical overview of burnout and engagement concepts (chapter1 and chapter2, respectively). We then expose how they are integrated into the theoretical framework of the Job Demands-Resources (JDR) model, and what criticism it can be addressed (chapter3). Chapter4 is dedicated to our research objectives, which are declined in five empirical studies. In study1(chapter5) and study2 (chapter6), we aim at validating the Positive and Negative Occupational States Inventory (PNOSI), a tool that was designed to measure positive and negative workers reactions to their working environment. Results indicate that the tool is composed of two factors, one measuring negative occupational state and the other measuring positive occupational state. This structure was replicated on a variety of samples. Negative occupational state can be conceived as an intermediate state occurring before burnout, while positive occupational state seems to be similar to work engagement. Both are different from commitment and workaholism. The impact of item wording, and interactions between items on the one hand and gender and age on the other were also investigated. In study3 (chapter7), we aim at validating the JDR model on three-wave longitudinal data that we collected among workers of a Belgian public administration. In addition, this study aims at validating the JDR model using predictors derived from stigma and social identity literature. Results indicate that perceived prejudice predicts higher burnout, whereas group identification predicts higher engagement. This was found above the effects of job demands and job resources, respectively. An interaction effect was also observed: among those who identify strongly to their occupational group, engagement was lower when workers also perceived high prejudice towards this group. Study4 and study5 also aim at validating the model using new types of predictors. Study4 (chapter8) more specifically focuses on the health-impairment process of the JDR model. It investigates whether person-related factors (namely workaholism) predict burnout in addition to job demands. Study4 also longitudinally testes whether job strain can indeed be considered as an intermediate state occurring in response to high job demands before burnout develops. We found that job strain acts as an intermediate, shorter term reaction to high job demands, before the occurrence of burnout. Results were mitigated as to the role of workaholism. It was hypothesized that this variable would initiate another kind of process, dealing with person-related issues. In study5 (chapter9), we focus more specifically on the energetic process, and investigate whether workers work-related personal demands (namely, the expectations they develop with regards to their own performance) predict engagement above the effects of job and personal resources. Results indicate that work-related personal demands predict high future engagement, above the impact of job and personal resources. However, no reciprocal impact of engagement was observed. We end this thesis with a discussion of our results and a general conclusion.

This thesis gives the reader an understanding for newsletters within e-commerce, and how to work with them as a channel for marketing. Furthermore it explains the technical and graphical demands, and how to ensure that the newsletter reaches the intended receivers. A successful newsletter can entice people to shop, but can also help to strengthen a brand and the relationship between the customer and the company. During the writing of the thesis, it has emerged that the most important part of a newsletter (which also determine whether or not the receiver reads the letter) are the subject heading, sender, layout, headlines, images and the deregistration link. A part from working with the different parts of the letter, the sender should also be aware of the technical and graphical demands. Since the E-mail clients are looking out for images, fonts that are not embedded in the computer, and for questionable words there’s a big risk for ending up in a spam filter when not considering the demands. To ensure that the letter reaches the receivers it is common to test it against spam filter, look at it in the different E-mail clients, use A/B split test and finally test what time and day that fits the receivers the best. One of the strongest arguments to use E-mail communication is because it is an extremely measurable medium. With help from special programmes one can easily find out which E-mails bounced, why they bounced, how many opened the E-mail, which links they clicked, who deregistered and who forwarded it. The answers to these questions are all valuable information since it gives an understanding for the customers and gives the sender a chance to improve the letters.

While many employees are engaged in their jobs, others suffer from poor working conditions and impaired well-being. Research suggests that job demands may impair employee work attitudes and health while both job resources and personal resources can have positive effect. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the relative importance of job demands, job resources, and a personal resource (self-efficacy) for employees’ health and motivation at work. Questionnaire data were collected from white-collar employees of a Swedish construction company (n = 156). Results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed the relative importance of job demands, job resources and personal resources. The job demands were negatively related to health and motivation at work, while the job resources and the personal resource were linked to better health and motivation. The findings generally supported the hypotheses. The specific types of demands and resources were significant varied across outcomes and, unexpectedly, workload was positively correlated with job performance. The findings contribute to a growing literature which indicates that lower job demands and access to both job resources and personal resources may improve employees' health and motivation at work.

This essay is about how newly graduated teachers experience their first year in teaching. The main focus is linked to the theory about the pedagogy triangle of Bermuda. It involves two dimensions with six main aspects. The first dimension is the psychosocial-, including, ambition, demands and the possibility to achieve ambition and demands. The second dimension is the didactic-, including the what-, why- and how-qustions.  The results of the study shows that teachers experience their first year in teaching different, depending primarly of the ascpets of the psychosocial dimension. The didactic dimension tends to incoroprate into the psychosocial dimension via ambition and demands. Ambition and demands are vital for the understanding of  how newly graduated teachers experience their first year in teaching. It is throw these aspects they look upon the reality and estimate their performance. If the ambition and the demands are inline with the how the reality develop the feeling of satisfaction grow.

A presente dissertação centra-se no estudo do direito prestacional à saúde e de sua sindicação por intermédio de demandas individuais e coletivas. Para tanto, demonstrada a fundamentalidade formal e material do direito à saúde, analisa-se como os tribunais brasileiros se comportam diante das muitas objeções opostas à sua atuação. Constatada a elasticidade do tratamento conferido pela jurisprudência às demandas individuais, propõem-se critérios objetivos limitadores; diante da contrastante timidez dos julgados na seara coletiva, o foco passa a ser o escrutínio das possibilidades de controle judicial inexploradas. / This work focus on the right to health and its provision by means of individual and class actions. To this end, the fundamental nature of the right to health both in formal and substantial terms being established, one describes how the Brazilian Courts decide in view of the many objections opposed against their decisions. As the elasticity of the decisions taken by the Courts in relation to individual actions is verified, one proposes restrictive objective criteria; due to the contrasting shyness of the decisions in class actions, the focus migrates to the examination of unexplored possibilities of judicial control.

A presente dissertação centra-se no estudo do direito prestacional à saúde e de sua sindicação por intermédio de demandas individuais e coletivas. Para tanto, demonstrada a fundamentalidade formal e material do direito à saúde, analisa-se como os tribunais brasileiros se comportam diante das muitas objeções opostas à sua atuação. Constatada a elasticidade do tratamento conferido pela jurisprudência às demandas individuais, propõem-se critérios objetivos limitadores; diante da contrastante timidez dos julgados na seara coletiva, o foco passa a ser o escrutínio das possibilidades de controle judicial inexploradas. / This work focus on the right to health and its provision by means of individual and class actions. To this end, the fundamental nature of the right to health both in formal and substantial terms being established, one describes how the Brazilian Courts decide in view of the many objections opposed against their decisions. As the elasticity of the decisions taken by the Courts in relation to individual actions is verified, one proposes restrictive objective criteria; due to the contrasting shyness of the decisions in class actions, the focus migrates to the examination of unexplored possibilities of judicial control.

This thesis gives the reader an understanding for newsletters within e-commerce, and how to work with them as a channel for marketing. Furthermore it explains the technical and graphical demands, and how to ensure that the newsletter reaches the intended receivers. A successful newsletter can entice people to shop, but can also help to strengthen a brand and the relationship between the customer and the company. During the writing of the thesis, it has emerged that the most important part of a newsletter (which also determine whether or not the receiver reads the letter) are the subject heading, sender, layout, headlines,images and the deregistration link. A part from working with the different parts of the letter, the sender should also be aware of the technical and graphical demands. Since the E-mail clients are looking out forimages, fonts that are not embedded in the computer, and for questionable words there’s a big risk for ending up in a spam filter when not considering the demands. To ensure that the letter reaches the receivers it is common to test it against spam filter, look at it in the different E-mail clients, use A/B split test and finally test what time and day that fits the receivers the best. One of the strongest arguments to use E-mail communication is because it is an extremely measurable medium. With help from special programmes one can easily find out which E-mails bounced, why they bounced, how many opened the E-mail, which links they clicked, who deregistered and who forwarded it. The answers to these questions are all valuable information since it gives an understanding for the customers and gives the sender a chance to improve the letters.

Magister Commercii (Industrial Psychology) - MCom(IPS) / The financial industry revolves around organisations that provide financial services to people in the community. The largest contributor is the banking sector followed by the insurance sector. Financial services organisations face an ever-changing working environment that is constantly increasing in its complexity. New market entrants such as banks provide insurance products, customer preferences change, technology changes quickly, and ever-changing legislation governs the way in which insurance organisations conduct business with customers. Having to continuously contend with the losses, regulatory changes, and risk management, while having to increase the shareholders’ value, all impact on the global financial services industry. They in turn increase the job demands on employees.

The existing literature extensively covers the demands placed on advertising agencies, yet there is notably less research on how these agencies respond to these demands, especially in a comparative context. In response, this current study aims to investigate how advertising agencies navigate the complex market, where they must adapt to external demands while maintaining their unique identity. The goal is to deepen our understanding of how advertising agencies conduct their operations and handle the challenges posed by the intricate advertising industry. The concept of isomorphism, drawn from institutional theory, represents a significant contribution explaining how organizations tend to adopt similar patterns when influenced by common institutional pressures. This comparative interview study, between advertising agencies in Barcelona and Gothenburg, delves into how these agencies navigate between global and local demands. The findings point to isomorphic patterns among the agencies in these different cities, suggesting their adaptation to global trends. Concurrently, differences in the results indicate the ongoing need for them to tailor their approaches to their respective local contexts.

Den första januari 2015 trädde en ny regel i kraft, PBL 8 kap. 4 a §. Regeln innebär att kommuner inte får ställa egna krav på ett byggnadsverks tekniska egenskaper, även kallat särkrav. Med egna krav anses sådana krav som är mer ambitiösa än vad regelverket tillåter. Krav på byggnadsverks tekniska egenskaper finns angivna i plan- och bygglagen (PBL), plan- och byggförordningen (PBF), Europeiska konstruktionsstandarder (EKS) och i Boverkets byggregler (BBR). En anledning till förbudet är att särkrav anses påverka byggkostnaderna, vilket i sin tur påverkar förutsättningarna för att tillgodose behovet av bostäder. I utredningar som utfördes åt regeringen hävdades att särkrav medför merkostnader på mellan 10 och 15 procent vid bostadsbyggandet. Regeringen ansåg även att samma krav ska gälla över hela landet för att underlätta den industriella produktionen av byggnadsverk. När lagförslaget lades fram bemöttes det negativt av många kommuner och myndigheter, vilket gör det intressant att undersöka om kommunerna väljer att följa den nya regeln. Syftet med studien är att undersöka i vilken utsträckning kommuner, i bygglovsprocessen och vid upprättade av exploateringsavtal, bryter mot särkravsförbudet i PBL 8 kap. 4 a §. Studien utgår från exploateringsavtal och bygglovsärenden vars handlingar är upprättade efter 2015-01-01 då särkravsförbudet trädde i kraft. I studien ingår bygglovshandlingar från åtta kommuner i Västra Götalands län och exploateringsavtal från 34 av Sveriges kommuner. I studien används en kombination av en kvalitativ och kvantitativ metod samt en juridisk metod. Särkrav som förekommer i studien är klassificerade som tydliga eller vaga särkrav. Bedömning av särkravens klassificering är författarnas egna och utgår från grundsatsen att byggherren är fri att välja metod så länge föreskrifterna i BBR uppfylls. Studiens resultat visar att 24 av de 42 kommunerna som ingår i studien ställer särkrav, vilket motsvarar 57 procent av de granskade kommunerna. Tolv kommuner ställer tydliga särkrav, fyra ställer vaga särkrav och åtta ställer både tydliga och vaga särkrav. Var fjärde kommun hänvisar även till olika program, strategier eller policys där särkrav förekommer. I exploateringsavtalen är särkrav vanligast inom områdena hygien, hälsa och miljö samt energihushållning. I byggloven är särkrav vanligast inom områdena brandskydd, hygien, hälsa och miljö samt säkerhet vid användning. Studiens slutsats är att kommuner fortfarande ställer särkrav i stor utsträckning trots förbudet i PBL 8 kap. 4 a §. / On January 1, 2015, a new law came into force, PBL 8 kap. 4 a §. The law implies that municipalities may not impose their own demands on construction works technical properties, also known as special demands. Own demands are considered as demands that are more ambitious than the law allow. Demands on construction works technical properties are specified in the Planning and Building Act (PBL), the Planning and Building Regulation (PBF), the European Construction Standard (EKS) and in Boverket's Building Regulations (BBR). One reason why the prohibition came into force is that special demands affect construction costs, which affect the conditions to meet the need of housing. The government's investigations revealed that specials demands resulted in additional costs of between 10 and 15 percent in the residential construction. The government wanted as well that the same requirements would apply across the whole country to facilitate the industrial production of construction works. When the new law was presented it faced negatively by many municipalities and public authorities, which makes it interesting to examine if the municipalities choose to follow the new law. The purpose of the study is to investigate in which extend the special demand prohibition in PBL 8 kap. 4 a § are broken by the municipalities in the building permit process and in the establishment of land development agreement. The study is based on land development agreements and building permits documents that are signed after 2015-01-01. Building permit documents from eight municipalities in Västra Götaland and land development agreements from 34 of Sweden's municipalities are included in the study. The study use a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods as well as a jurisprudence method. Special demands which been presented in the study have been classified into clearly or vaguely special demands. The special demands classification are the authors own assessment and are based on the principle that the developer is free to choose the method as long as the regulations in BBR is met. The study's result points out that 24 of 42 municipalities that is included in the study, use special demands, which is equivalent to 57 percent of the audited municipalities. Twelve municipalities have clearly special demands, four have vaguely special demands and eight have both clearly and vaguely special demands. Every fourth municipality also refers to various programs, strategies or policies with special demands. Special demands are most common within the area of hygiene, health and environment and energy in the land development agreements. In the building permits are special demands frequently used within the area of fire protection, hygiene, health and environment and safety in use. The conclusion of the study is that municipalities still use special demands widely despite the prohibition in PBL 8 kap. 4 a §.