<p>The focus of this dissertation is on how communication regarding work environment and work related risks can be understood from an organizational communication perspective. Based on a case study of communication about work environment and work related risks in the Swedish forest industry, the present study discusses institutional influences on organizational sense making processes. A central question has been how to understand the organizational field as a cultural and communicative arena where concepts and ideas connected with issues in the field are communicated between different actors.</p><p>The empirical data was gathered using different methods. A questionnaire aiming at screening media habits and information gathering strategies of forest machine contractors was used. Based on information from that screening, mass media content was analysed, such as daily newspapers, trade press and advertisements for forest machines. Also, interviews with actors in the field were analysed thematically with respect to how to unveil hidden key symbols and cultural valuations of forest machine work, the work environment and how to handle work related risks in forest work. The key symbols that were identified to organise conceptions about forest work and occupational risks connected with it contained information about different attitudes towards how to handle risks and other problems in the work environment. Two main types of conceptions were identified, technologically oriented conceptions and person oriented conceptions.</p><p>The analysis revealed a fragmented picture of forest work. Yet, the picture was more or less common to the organizational field as a whole. Building on institutional theory and theories of sense making, the study results in a deeper understanding of sense making in relation to work environmental issues by applying an organizational dimension to risk communication in an organizational field.</p>

The focus of this dissertation is on how communication regarding work environment and work related risks can be understood from an organizational communication perspective. Based on a case study of communication about work environment and work related risks in the Swedish forest industry, the present study discusses institutional influences on organizational sense making processes. A central question has been how to understand the organizational field as a cultural and communicative arena where concepts and ideas connected with issues in the field are communicated between different actors. The empirical data was gathered using different methods. A questionnaire aiming at screening media habits and information gathering strategies of forest machine contractors was used. Based on information from that screening, mass media content was analysed, such as daily newspapers, trade press and advertisements for forest machines. Also, interviews with actors in the field were analysed thematically with respect to how to unveil hidden key symbols and cultural valuations of forest machine work, the work environment and how to handle work related risks in forest work. The key symbols that were identified to organise conceptions about forest work and occupational risks connected with it contained information about different attitudes towards how to handle risks and other problems in the work environment. Two main types of conceptions were identified, technologically oriented conceptions and person oriented conceptions. The analysis revealed a fragmented picture of forest work. Yet, the picture was more or less common to the organizational field as a whole. Building on institutional theory and theories of sense making, the study results in a deeper understanding of sense making in relation to work environmental issues by applying an organizational dimension to risk communication in an organizational field.

The importance of the elk (Alces alces) in the Stone Age societies of northern Sweden constitutes the major focus of this thesis. The point of departure is a simple but crucial observation: this animal is the common denominator between the three stationary types of remains known in this region from the period 4000-1800 BC. Here, I refer to the pit falls, the rock art sites, and the mounds of burnt stone. Pit falls have been used for trapping elks, and can be found on the migration trails that have been used by these animals for thousands of years. On the rock art sites, the elk constitutes the most frequently depicted motif, and the mounds of burnt stones contain extremely large quantities of elk bones. If the elk had not held a central position in the life world of prehistoric people in the northern Swedish region of Norrland, these archaeological materials would certainly have had a different appearance. I claim that it is the significance of this animal that has led to, and shaped, the emergence of these material remains. In this study the overall importance of the elk is investigated. My main question is how the elk’s significance affected the prehistoric societies of Norrland. I found that the elk’s material remains led to a range of consequences. The pit falls, rock art sites and mounds of burnt stone tied the prehistoric people to certain areas in the landscape. However, at the same time, these remains required to be constantly in transformation to be usable. Pit falls, for example, have to be re-digged in order to at all function as traps for big game. The conceptual dichotomy between permanence and change can be traced in the ways in which the elk motif at the rock art site at Nämforsen was altered. The elk figures are depicted with either straight or angled legs. I interpret this variation as an indication of the fact that the elk motif functioned as a key symbol – a motif that is able to express a range of meanings when it becomes altered and varied. The emergence of depicting the opposition between mobility and permanence tells us that the Stone Age societies had problems uniting these two concepts. I interpret this as signifying that these hunter-gatherers became aware of the “Neolithic aspects” of their own social structure.