Thesis (M.A.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2005. / "December, 2005." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 24-26). Online version available on the World Wide Web.

University of Technology, Sydney. / The study critically examines definitions of "informal learning", focussing on the term's application in workplace training contexts. Drawing on Foucault, Heidegger and Habermas, it is argued that we cannot understand ourselves (and thus our informal learning) without challenging the assumptions of modernity and coming to terms with what Lyotard has termed "the postmodern condition". Industry trainers are at the forefront of implementing "designer" corporate cultures which, in the rhetoric of "work-based learning", make enterprises more innovative and competitive. This study challenges that rhetoric, showing that the implicit philosophy of contemporary workplace learning and training is framed by an economistic "human capital theory". The "stories" of industry trainers from several multinational corporations challenge assumptions about what is learnt through competency-based training and about corporate uses of informal learning. It is argued that being at work entails far more than simply performing the tasks one is required to do, which, in turn, effects the links between informal learning and formal education. The final chapters are directed towards expanding and realigning interpretations of "informal learning" away from the narrow and instrumental purposes for which the term has been appropriated. Equity, respect for the dignity of others, and a philosophy of ethics have a place in "workplace learning". Informal learning is shaped by our deepest ethical and moral responses. It does not follow that measurable tasks, what one can be observed doing at work, represent one's learning.

<p><strong>Date:             </strong>2009 – 05 – 28 <strong></strong></p><p><strong>Level:            </strong>Master thesis in Industrial Management with specialization in Sustainable Development, 30 hp</p><p><strong>Authors:</strong>       Nominchuluun Nyamdavaa                      Sam Amirebrahimi</p><p>                      Engerbrektsgatan 19                         Centrallasarettet Ing.21</p><p>                      72216 Västerås                                         72189 Västerås</p><p>                      073 – 696 93 69                                       073 – 907 74 91</p><p><strong>Tutor:</strong>           Magnus Linderström</p><p><strong>Title:</strong>             Organizational interactions in the energy sector regarding environment and growth – case study of Mälarenergi AB</p><p><strong>Problem:</strong>       Energy sector has been much debated regarding growth and environmental issues. Energy situation in 2020 sets an emergency that a New Energy Policy has to be made immediately in order to meet the growing energy demand without compromising the environment. Thus the energy sector is strictly regulated by national and international level policies. It is interesting to investigate how organizations interact with each other in the sector regarding growth and environment.   </p><p><strong>Purpose:</strong>       Aim of this thesis is to describe the inter-organizational relationships in the Swedish energy sector and analyze how organizations interact with each other depending on their attitude towards sustainable development. The research involves a case study of a local energy company Mälarenergi AB and different actors in its institutional field and how the company acts according to its interests in forming relationships with others.</p><p><strong>Method:        </strong>This thesis is an interpretive case study which aims to research the link between understanding and action. Organizational and institutional theories are used as theoretical framework. Empirical data will be collected through qualitative semi-structured interview with organizational members as well as secondary data that are collected through literature, documentation, archival records and previous researches.  </p><p><strong>Result:          </strong>The Swedish energy sector is a complex field that consists of different actors and complicated relationships. The sector is mainly affected by national and EU-level decisions thus a local energy company is regulated by national and EU-level environmental policies. Interactions with other actors are fundamental in Mälarenergi’s institutional field. Organizations form co-operations and collaborations in order to achieve environmental goals as well as to conduct joint R&D activities. The environment pressure made it clear that the organizations have to work together in order to maintain a sustainable growth in the energy sector.</p>

<p>Specialists in ergonomics believe that what is good ergonomics is also goodeconomics for many industrial settings. This relationship between ergonomicsand economics is supported by research on several industrial settings. Thisstudy turns to investigate this relationship within the maritime domain.Shipping naturally faces the same work environment problems as commonlyseen on work places ashore. Additionally, there is however a social and culturaldimension to the work environment in what might be the most globalisedindustry of all.This study is performed as a pilot study to a larger project within theeconomics of maritime ergonomics. The aim of this thesis is to review themajor issues in the research of maritime ergonomics and how cost-benefit ofergonomics is calculated in other domains. Furthermore, the thesis also aims atinvestigate which ergonomic factors that are considered the most important bythe shipping industry itself and if the economics of ergonomics is calculated inthe Swedish shipping industry.The review of scientific literature on maritime ergonomics is divided into threeareas of interest: organisation and management, occupational health and safetyand psychosocial work environment. No studies were found on cost-benefitcalculations within shipping. There are however several methods for evaluationand calculation from other domains. The result of the nine qualitativeinterviews shows a predominant occupation in the area of organisation.Important factors mentioned in the interviews that are believed to affect safety,productivity and well-being include leadership and social skills,communication between and within the shorebased organisation and the vessel,as well as knowledge on several levels. A survey among ten Swedish shippingowners shows that beyond the costs of sick-leave, the shipowners do not on aregular basis calculate the costs and benefits of ergonomics.Further research includes a stakeholder analysis; defining the operativemeasurements of productivity, quality and effectiveness for a maritime setting;an accident analysis and the compilation of Best Practise within shipping.</p> / <p>Specialister inom arbetsmiljöområdet är övertygade om att en bra arbetsmiljöockså är bra för ett företags ekonomi. Detta förhållande mellan arbetsmiljö ochekonomi har påvisats i flera studier inom olika branscher. Den här studienundersöker sambandet mellan en god arbetsmiljö och god ekonomi inomsjöfarten. Inom sjöfarten återfinns naturligtvis samma arbetsmiljöproblem somhos andra branscher men i det som kanske är den mest globaliserade branschenav alla finns det också en framträdande social och kulturell dimension iarbetsmiljön.Den här uppsatsen är utförd som en pilotstudie till ett större forskningsprojektinom sjöfart och arbetsmiljöekonomi. Målet med uppsatsen är att undersökainom vilka områden det forskas på inom sjöfartens arbetsmiljö samt attundersöka hur kostnadsnytta av arbetsmiljö beräknas. Dessutom ämnaruppsatsen undersöka vilka arbetsmiljöfaktorer som de olika sjöfartsaktörernasjälva anser vara de viktigaste och om branschen själv räknar på arbetsmiljönidag.Granskningen av den vetenskapliga litteraturen om sjöfartens arbetsmiljö äruppdelad i tre områden: organisation och ledarskap, hälsa och säkerhet, samtden psykosociala arbetsmiljön. Inga studier återfanns som berördearbetsmiljöekonomi inom sjöfarten. Det finns däremot ett flertal metoder ochmodeller för ekonomisk utvärdering och beräkning av arbetsmiljöåtgärder frånandra branscher. Resultatet av nio kvalitativa intervjuer visar fokus påorganisatoriska arbetsmiljöfaktorer. Viktiga faktorer som informanterna anserhar inverkan på säkerhet, arbetsmiljö och produktivitet inkluderar ledarskap;kommunikation ombord och mellan fartyg och landorganisation; och kunskappå olika nivåer. En undersökning hos tio svenska rederier visar att utöverkostnader för sjukfrånvaro räknar företagen inte regelbundet på kostnader ochvinster för arbetsmiljön.Förslag till framtida forskning inkluderar en intressentanalys, att definiera ochbeskriva de operativa rationalitetsmåtten produktivitet, kvalitet och effektivitetför sjöfarten, olycksfallsanalys och sammanställandet av exempel av ”BestPractise” inom sjöfarten.</p>

<p>Lean refers to the concepts of Lean operations, Lean principle, Lean philosophy, etc. It is what people often talk about in operation management. Clean refers to the concepts of being green, environmental friendly, less environmental impact, etc. These two words seem to be unrelated, but somehow connected.</p><p>In this thesis, we explored the linking between Lean and environmental issues; analyze the possible benefits of coordination between Lean and environment. In the case study, we assessed the overall Lean performance of Alderholmens mekaniska, a local manufacturing company in Gävle, Sweden. This company was seeking for solutions of their environmental wastes in the production.</p><p>We found that Lean activities could be used to achieve environmental objectives. Lean methods are capable of reducing environmental waste. To coordinate Lean and environmental issues could foster an organizational culture of continuous improvement in order to encourage people to improve for better overall performance; this also benefits the environmental performance.</p><p>Based on the observation in the company, and the questionnaire made during an interview with their Lean specialist, we gave some proposals on Lean implementation with emphasis on environmental issues, in order to solve their problems of environmental wastes and, furthermore, improve the performance.</p>

<p>Building energy consumption has presented itself as one of the biggest proportion inenergy industries. Focus could really be placed on this field with a view to conservingenergy. One popular way to achieve ideal energy identification is to conduct an energyaudit. An energy audit is of interest in pinpointing energy losses. For small households,it could be a way of reducing energy spending, while for large companies it could beone crucial way to decrease energy expenditure and improve efficiency in operation.The Brynässkolan has been in use for many years and performing the audit is anattempt to increase its energy efficiency and ultimately cut down cost. Byinvestigating the school building’s climate envelope and lighting and measuringventilation unit we gained knowledge about its energy losses. We came up with someenergy-saving plans, among which some are inapplicable, the others are feasible.Finally some constructive suggestions are presented to the school administration.</p>

<p>Arbetsmiljö är ”summan” av både fysiska, sociala och psykiska upplevelser som en arbetstagare möter i arbetslivet. Dessa upplevelser skapas eller formas av olika faktorer som arbetstagaren dagligen möter på sin arbetsplats. Då psykosocial arbetsmiljö idag är en relevant och aktuell fråga är uppsatsen inriktad på detta ämnesområde.</p><p>I uppsatsen framställs den psykosociala arbetsmiljörätten ur tre olika perspektiv - rättsdogmatiskt, historiskt och empiriskt. Det rättsdogmatiska perspektivet är grunden för uppsatsen då det undersöks hur den psykosociala arbetsmiljön regleras i arbetsmiljölagstiftningen, samt vilket ansvar arbetsgivare respektive arbetstagare har gentemot den psykosociala arbetsmiljön. Den psykosociala arbetsmiljön och arbetsgivarna respektive arbetstagarnas ansvar regleras i Arbetsmiljölagen (1977:1160), i det följande AML, 3 kapitlet 1a, 2, 2a, 3 och 4 §§ samt föreskriften Systematiskt arbetsmiljöarbete (AFS 2001:1), i det följande SAM. Arbetsgivaren har tillsammans med arbetstagarna en skyldighet att samverka för att främja den psykosociala arbetsmiljön.  Arbetsgivaren har dock huvudansvaret att vidta alla åtgärder som krävs för att uppnå detta, bland annat att systematiskt genomföra undersökningar och riskbedömningar som beaktar de psykosociala aspekterna på arbetsplatsen. Arbetsgivaren ska dessutom tillgodose arbetstagarna med introduktion, instruktion och vid behov aktuell utbildning, allt för att arbetstagarna ska kunna vara aktiv i arbetsmiljöarbetet.</p><p>Som komplement till den rättsdogmatiska undersökningen utfördes en empirisk undersökning i form av två kvantitativa studier. Där undersöktes hur arbetstagarna upplevde den psykosociala arbetsmiljön på arbetsplatsen. Det framgick inga alarmerande resultat som krävde någon större redovisning.</p><p>Det psykosociala arbetsmiljöarbetet kan vara kostsamt samtidigt som det kan vara en framtida investering som i slutändan kan ge arbetsgivaren friska och mer tillfredsställda arbetstagare. Om kraft och energi läggs ned på goda arbetsförhållanden kan detta öka både trivseln och intresset hos arbetstagarna, som i sin tur ger resultat av en bättre ekonomi för verksamheten och därmed en attraktivare arbetsgivare.</p>

<p>The environment is one of the most significant global issues of today and companies and company leaders have realized its increased importance. In order to improve stakeholder relations and company transparency many companies have started to report their environmental performance through the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework. The purpose of our thesis is thus to examine how companies report their environmental performance in accordance with GRI. We examine the reporting by companies during a three year period to see if there has been a change in the way they report. Further, we intend to examine possible differences between the companies’ reporting. The three companies examined in this thesis all use the GRI framework when making their Sustainability Reports. They however report their environmental work differently as they can choose exactly how to report and what kind of information to add to the reports. The diverse information given in the reports complicates a comparison between the companies environmental reporting. Legislation can make comparison between the companies reporting more credible.</p>

Graduation date: 2004

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 1984. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 176-185). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.