Environmental sustainability has in recent years become an increasingly current issue and so also in the urban planning process, which has led to municipalities working on implementing this in their daily work. This study aims to explore how goals for environmental sustainability are taken into consideration in the urban planning process. This is done by studying the practical enforcement of environmental sustainability goals in the urban planning process. The study was conducted through interviews with municipal officials working in Göteborg, Linköping and Norrtälje, as well as analysis of governing documents. The result suggests that municipal ownership of land, clear objectives in governing documents and constructive dialogue with developers are important to provide good conditions for implementing environmental sustainability goals in the urban planning process. However, the municipality's resources can influence to which extent this work can be conducted. / Miljömässig hållbarhet har på senare år blivit en allt mer aktuell fråga och så även i stadsbyggnadsprocessen, vilket har lett till att kommuner försöker hitta sätt att implementera detta i sitt dagliga arbete. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur mål om miljömässig hållbarhet tas i beaktning i stadsbyggnadsprocessen. Det görs genom att studera den praktiska tillämpningen av miljömässiga hållbarhetsmål i stadsbyggnadsprocessen. Studien är genomförd genom intervjuer med kommunala tjänstepersoner verksamma i Göteborg, Linköping och Norrtälje, samt analys av styrdokument. Resultatet tyder på att kommunalt ägande av mark, tydliga styrdokument och en konstruktiv dialog med byggherrar är viktigt för att skapa goda förutsättningar för implementering av miljömässiga hållbarhetsmål i stadsbyggnadsprocessen. Men att kommunernas resurser kan påverka vilken utsträckning detta arbetet kan genomföras.

Free floating electric scooters is a relatively new phenomena in many cities across the world and despite the Covid-19-pandemic, electric scooters are growing in popularity. There are however mixed opinions on whether electric scooters are environmentally friendly or not and if they are an option for municipalities to utilize in their planning towards more sustainable cities or not. Laws are also lacking for regulating this new means of transport. This study aims to examine how municipalities can plan for electric scooters in their traffic planning as well as examining if electric scooters work according to the municipalities’ visions for their future traffic planning. This study also aims to map out what Swedish cities have electric scooters today and examine what characteristics these cities have. The study has been conducted through interviews with two Swedish municipalities, one Norwegian municipality and one provider of free floating electric scooters. A literature review of several municipalities’ planning and strategy documents has been carried out as well. Findings show that free floating electric scooters exist in the most populous municipalities in Sweden. The municipalities have a high share of students and young people in the ages 18-35, which is the age group that tend to use electric scooters the most. The municipalities have a lower amount of days with snow-cover than the national average. Findings also show that municipalities are positive towards free floating electric scooters and think that they fit in with the overall visions for the municipalities’ planning.

Regional project finance is an important national economic instrument for regional develop-ment in Sweden. Despite that, the research on the subject is limited meaning that there is little knowledge of the instrument’s distribution and consequences. This is problematic regarding the goal of the project funds, which is to contribute to growth throughout the country. The aim of this thesis was therefore partly to investigate how the distribution, and the applications of, regional project funds differ between Swedish municipalities with different geographical characteristics, partly to analyse the reasons for these differences. The study was a qualitative case study of Västerbotten and was divided into two parts. The first part was based on a data material on project funds of Region Västerbotten between 2014-2020 to examine how the project funds were applied for, and distributed, between the region´s municipalities during that period. The second part was mainly based on transcripts from interviews with municipal officials from six municipalities to examine the explanations for those differences. The result shows that there are significant differences between municipalities with different geographical characteristics of Västerbotten which is explained by differences in access to resources and participation in collaborative projects between the municipalities. In conclusion it therefore seems to be some challenges in enabling the whole country to take advantage of these funds.

Die Arbeit setzt sich mit der Internationalisierung des Wohnungsmarktes in Deutschland auseinander. Hierbei wird der Frage nachgegangen, wie sich nach dem Komplettverkauf kommunalen Wohneigentums Kommunikation und Zusammenarbeit auf dem Wohnungsmarkt und im Rahmen von Stadtentwicklungsprozessen ändern. Anhand von Fallstudien in Kiel, Osnabrück und Wilhelmshaven werden kommunale und wohnungswirtschaftliche Handlungsstrategien und Interaktionsorientierungen lokaler Akteure miteinander in Beziehung gesetzt. Auch wenn mit Hilfe eines Urban Governance-Ansatzes gewonnene Erkenntnis große Unterschiede bei kommunalen Gestaltungsansprüchen zeigen, ist ein prinzipieller Steuerungsverlust nach der Veräußerung nachweisbar. Vor allem finanzwirtschaftlich orientierte Investoren und ihr geringes investives Interesse führen zu einer nachhaltig geringer werdenden Gestaltungskraft auf Quartiersebene. / Certainly since the late-1990s deregulation as well as local authority debt reduction eventually has begun to take effect on local authority housing. In this context, the owners of public housing sold large quantities of their housing stock as well as whole housing companies. The sale of publicly owned housing property to international investors creates new opportunities for the housing economy due to different approaches to management and marketing. At the same time, sales to ‘new investors’ also bear risks for housing markets, urban renewal and urban planning. In this context, local authorities not only face a growing range of actors with increasingly diversified economic interests. But also, in addition, they are expected to initiate processes of integrated urban development in order to respond to structural change and its consequences. Research into newly emerging and changing relationships between actors in local housing markets is only in its beginnings in the field of regional studies. This work pu rsues as its key question: Following the complete sale of local authority housing stock, how do approaches, communication as well as strategies for collaboration of key actors in the housing markets develop under conditions of structural change? The focus of the comparative empirical case studies rests on the fields of urban development and the housing market. A comparative case study design with a heuristic-descriptive urban governance approach in Kiel, Osnabrück and Wilhelmshaven was chosen. Corresponding to the knowledge from the detailed evaluation, results and conclusions are to be drawn for the praxis and for further research.

Rekryterare inom kommunala verksamheter har tidigare använt sig av fysiska anställningsintervjuer vid rekrytering, men har på grund av covid-19 pandemin ersatt dessa med videointervjuer. Enligt tidigare forskning begränsas den icke-verbala kommunikationen i samband med videointervjuer vilket riskerar att påverka rekryterarens uppfattning och omdöme av kandidaten. Forskning visar även att kandidater som intervjuas via videolänk tenderar att bli rankade lägre än de som intervjuas via ett fysiskt möte. Den teoretiska referensram som används i studien består av Media Richness Theory och Social Presence Theory som båda analyserar hur den icke-verbala kommunikationen går att avläsa i olika kommunikationskanaler. Studiens syfte är att bidra till ökad kunskap och förståelse för hur rekryterare inom den offentliga sektorn, som har växlat om från att arbeta på en fysisk arbetsplats till att arbeta på distans, upplever användandet av videointervjuer. Vidare syftar studien till att undersöka vilken påverkan videointervjuer har på urvalet av kandidater i en offentlig rekryteringsprocess samt hur negativa effekter som uppkommer i samband med videointervjuer kan förebyggas. Studien har genomförts via kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer med HR-medarbetare från mindre kommuner i Sverige som arbetar med rekrytering. Studiens slutsats visar att den begränsade icke-verbala kommunikationen vid videointervjuer underlättar beslutsfattande baserat på den sökande kandidatens kompetens och erfarenhet. Vidare visar studien att användningen av olika kommunikationsmedel under rekrytering ger olika förutsättningar för rekryteraren att inhämta information om den sökande kandidaten, vilket understryker vikten av att sökprocessen utformas på ett liknande sätt för samtliga sökande kandidater. Studien visar även att det finns ett samband mellan hur kandidater hanterar det digitala mötesrummet och hur de blir bedömda i urvalet för tjänsten. Detta på grund av att ickeverbal kommunikation, på ett särpräglat vis, även påverkar samtalen i en videointervju, men på ett annat sätt än i den traditionella fysiska intervjun, såsom genom en kandidats datorvana, ljussättning och bakgrund i rummet. Avslutningsvis konstaterar studien att det finns ett behov av att kombinera fysiska intervjuer med videointervjuer för att optimera framtida rekryteringsprocesser samt främja lika förutsättningar hos de sökande kandidaterna, studien mynnar således ut i ett förslag på en uppdaterad modell av den traditionella sökprocessen för rekrytering. / Recruiters working in different municipal departments have previously used face-to-face job interviews when recruiting new employees, due to the covid-19 pandemic however, these have been replaced with video interviews. Non-verbal communication is reduced in video interviews, affecting the recruiter's perception and assessment of candidates. According to previous studies, candidates interviewed via video link risk being ranked lower than those interviewed in person. The theoretical framework supporting the study consists of Media Richness Theory and Socia lPresence Theory, both of which analyze how non-verbal communication may be perceived through different communication channels. The purpose of the study is to contribute to increasing the knowledge and to further the understanding of public recruiters experiences of recruitment via video link. The study focuses on recruiters who have shifted from working in a physical workplace to working from home. Furthermore, the aim of the thesis is to investigate the impact of video interviews on the selection of candidates in the public recruitment process and how negative effects that arise in connection with video interviews may be prevented. The study was conducted via qualitative semi-structured interviews with ten HR employees, working with recruitment in smaller municipalities in Sweden. The thesis conclude that the limitation of non-verbal communication in video interviews facilitates recruiter’s decision-making in terms of basing the decision made on competence and experience. It also shows that different means of communication provide different conditions for the recruiter to obtain information, which emphasizes the importance that the search process looks the same for all candidates. The study also shows that there is a connection between how candidates handle the digital meeting room and how they are assessed in the selection for different positions. This is because there is a distinctive form of non-verbal communication that affects the conversations in a video interview in a different way than in the traditional face-to-face interview, such as a candidate's computer skills, lighting and background in the room. The results show that in order to optimize future public recruitment processes and to promote equal opportunities for all applicants, there is a need to combine face-to-face interviews with video interviews, the study thereby concludes with presenting an updated model of the traditional search process.

Bakgrund: Digitaliseringens utveckling har under de senaste åren accelererat och innebär utmaningar för organisationer kring att snabbt kunna anpassa sig efter nya förhållanden och ställa om (Guinan et al., 2019). Chefsarbetet har därmed blivit alltmer komplext då chefer behöver ha inblick i den tekniska utvecklingen (Zeike et al., 2019). Till följd av förändringar i omgivningen ligger fokus på att ha en välutvecklad strategi för att kunna möta de utmaningar som uppkommit (Liedtka, 2000). Beslutsprocesserna har under distansarbetet blivit mindre effektiva och tar längre tid. Organisationer behöver se över sin strategi och utveckla arbetsformer för att anpassa dem till det flexibla arbetssätt som digitaliseringen medfört (Gabryelczyk, 2020). Syfte: Med hjälp av studien ämnar vi skapa en förståelse kring de utmaningar och möjligheter som uppkommit vid strategiska beslutsprocesser till följd av digitaliseringen. Ämnet belyses utifrån en kommunal verksamhet, vilket Almeida et al. (2020) menar inte forskats kring i stor utsträckning tidigare. Metod: En kvalitativ metod användes för studien. Semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med åtta personer som underlag för empirin. Förutom det, samlades även två dokument in som komplement till intervjuerna. Slutsats: Den digitala transformationen genomsyrar hela organisationen och bör tas i beaktande vid det strategiska beslutsfattandet. De faktorer som enligt det empiriska resultatet påverkat den strategiska beslutsprocessen är informationstillgänglighet, begränsad kommunikation samt deltagande. Det empiriska resultatet visar att den faktorn som påverkat de strategiska beslutsprocesserna mest till följd av digitaliseringen är att information blivit mer lättillgänglig. Till följd av detta går det enklare att få fram information till beslutsunderlag och beslutsunderlagen kan därmed hålla en högre kvalitet. Dessutom har digitaliseringen skapat möjligheter till bättre omvärlds- och konsekvensanalyser. Informationstillgängligheten antas bidra till att chefer kan vara mer rationella i sitt beslutsfattande. Den andra faktorn som empiriskt identifierats är begränsad kommunikation i form av att informationsöverföringen mellan personer brister i viss mån och att diskussioner blir stelare under digitala möten. Resultatet visar att det trots detta, genom digitaliseringen rent tekniskt finns resurser för att kommunicera samt dela information. När den mänskliga faktorn kopplas in framkommer dock att diskussioner i själva verket blir stelare vid digitala möten jämfört med i ett fysiskt rum. Digitaliseringen kan alltså i viss mån antas gynna beslutsprocessen i och med att5effektiviseringar kan göras om de digitala verktygens potential utnyttjas, men beslutsprocessen kan även missgynnas på grund av stelare diskussioner. Den tredje faktorn är att deltagandet har främjats till följd av digitaliseringen. Resultatet visar att möjligheten till ett ökat deltagande genom att bemöta digitaliseringens möjligheter har bidragit till en större möjlighet till att deltagare, problem, lösning och beslutstillfälle sammanfaller. / Background: The progress of digitalization has been incremental in recent years which poses challenges for organizations to adapt promptly to new conditions and change (Guinan et al., 2019). Therefore, the managerial work has become even more complex as managers need to be aware of the technical development (Zeike et al., 2019). The focus remains on having a well-developed strategy and strategic decision making to adapt to the changes in the environment (Liedtka, 2000). The decision-making process has become less efficient and is more time consuming since people are working remotely. The organizations need to reevaluate their stratgies and develop their working methods to implement digitalization (Gabryelcyk, 2020). Purpose: The study conducted intends to create an understanding of the challenges and opportunities that have arisen in the strategic decision-making process due to digitalization. This subject shed light based on a municipality operation which according to Almeida et al. (2020) is not a subject that has been extensively researched before. Method: A qualitative method have been used for the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight people as a basis for empiricism. Moreover, two documents were added as a complement to the interviews. Conclusion: The digital transformation impacts the entire organization and should be taken into consideration in strategic decision-making. The factors that due to the empirical results have affected the strategic decision-making process are information accessibility, limited communication, and participation. The empirical findings shows that due to digitalization the factor that has influenced the strategic decision-making processes most is that information has become more accessible.Consequently, it is easier to obtain information for decision making. Thus, the decision foundation retains a greater quality. In addition, digitalization has created opportunities for better environmental and consequence analysis. The accessibility of information to managers is assumed to contribute to better rational decision making.The second factor empirical identified is limited communication. During digital meetings, the exchange of information has a propensity to be miscommunicated and sometimes part of the information is omitted, as well as discussions tends to be stiffer. On the other hand, the study results show that despite this, through digitalization, there are technical resources to7communicate and share information. However, when the human factor is involved, it seems that discussions become stiffer in digital meetings compared to physical ones. Hence, digitalization can to some extend benefit the decision-making process in terms of efficiency whilst utilizing the potential of the digital tools. Yet, it has also a disadvantage due to stiffer discussions.The third factor is that participation has improved because of digitalization. The results show that the opportunity for improved participation, through digitalization, has contributed to a greater opportunity for participants, problems, solutions, and decision making to coincide.

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Titel: Earnings management i svenska kommuner Nivå: Examensarbete på Grundnivå (kandidatexamen) i ämnet företagsekonomi Författare: Frida Johansson och Jonas Magnusson Handledare: Jan Svanberg Datum: 2022 – januari Syfte: Syftet med studien var att undersöka och kartlägga huruvida earnings management i form av diskretionära periodiseringar förekommer i svenska kommuner. Metod: I studien har en kvantitativ forskningsstrategi tillämpats, med en longitudinell forskningsdesign. Finansiell information rapporterad från de 289 svenska kommunerna inhämtades från Statistiska Centralbyråns databas för räkenskapsåren 2017–2020. Insamlad data har testats med hjälp av multipla regressionsanalyser och har analyserats via statistikprogrammet SPSS. Resultat & slutsats: Resultatet relaterat till studiens första hypotes påvisade ett starkt signifikant, negativt samband mellan den relativa förändringen i periodiseringskostnader och större underliggande underskott innan dessa periodiseringskostnader. Det negativa sambandet kan tolkas som att de svenska kommunerna inte är benägna att belasta större underskott med ytterligare periodiseringskostnader enligt teorin om reningsbad. Utifrån resultatet falsifieras studiens första hypotes. Resultatet kopplat till studiens andra hypotes påvisade ett mindre signifikant samband, vilket ger, om än icke signifikant, visst stöd till antagandet om att de svenska kommunerna strävar efter att rapportera moderata överskott. Utifrån resultatet falsifieras dock även studiens andra hypotes. Uppsatsens bidrag till ämnet: Studien bidrar till att fylla forskningsgapet gällande earnings management i de svenska kommunerna genom förekomsten av diskretionära periodiseringar. Studien bidrar även till ett nytt teoretiskt perspektiv genom att föra in resultatutjämningsreserven i förklaringsmodellen till varför graden av earnings management i de svenska kommunerna minskat i omfattning. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Ett förslag till vidare forskning vore att undersöka om förekomsten av reningsbad och resultatutjämning som metod skiljer sig åt mellan kommuner de år ett val äger rum eller när en revision har skett. En annan synvinkel hade varit att genomföra studien med en kvalitativ inriktning. Detta då det endast finns ett fåtal tidigare studier gällande earnings management inom kommunsektorn som har använt sig av en kvalitativ metod. / Title: Earnings management in Swedish municipalities Level: Student thesis, final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration Author: Frida Johansson and Jonas Magnusson Supervisor: Jan Svanberg Date: 2022 – January Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate and identify whether earnings management in terms of discretionary accruals occur in Swedish municipalities. Method: In this study, a quantitative research strategy has been applied, with a longitudinal research design. Financial information reported from the 289 Swedish municipalities was obtained from Statistics Sweden database for the financial years 2017-2020. The collected data was tested using multiple regression analyses and is analyzed through the statistical program SPSS. Result & Conclusions: The results related to the first hypothesis of the study demonstrated a strongly significant, negative relationship between the relative change in accrual costs and larger underlying deficits before these accruals. The negative relationship was interpreted as if Swedish municipalities are not likely to burden larger deficits with additional accruals, according to the theory of big bath accounting. Based on the results, the first hypothesis of the study was falsified. The results related to the second hypothesis of the study, indicated a smaller significant correlation which provides, although non-significant, support for the assumption that the Swedish municipalities strive to report moderate surpluses. Based on these results, the second hypothesis of the study is also falsified. Contribution of the thesis: The study contributes to filling the gap of research for the Swedish municipalities on whether earnings management occurs in terms of discretionary accruals. The study also contributes to a new theoretical perspective by introducing RUR (profit equalization reserve) into the explanatory model of why earnings management has decreased in Swedish municipalities. Suggestions for future research: A suggestion for further research would be to investigate whether big bath or income smoothing as a method differs between municipalities in the years when an election takes place or when an audit has taken place. Another point of view would have been to conduct the study with a qualitative focus, as there are only a few previous studies for earnings management in the municipal sector that have used a qualitative method.

The purpose of this study is to contribute to the research on projectification of public administration. It aims to fill the gap of the previous research on implementation and hand over of project results to operating functions in municipal context by shedding light on project managers’ experiences in the Swedish municipal public administration. To reach this aim one research question has been used; what experiences does project managers have regarding implementation and hand over of project results in the municipal sector? When trying to answer the research question the study uses a definition of experience as someone’s impressions and thoughts, feelings and perception, practises and acts that is generated from a lived through or perceived experience. The study uses semi-structured interviews with ten project managers from different Swedish municipal public administrations and from diverse project types to gather material. The material has been analysed using thematic method and the analysis resulted in five different themes. The results show that project managers’ impressions and thoughts are that more responsibility is needed among actors connected to project and they seem to think that a possible shift in responsibility has occurred. They also think that a higher degree of regard needs to be taken to budget arrangements and that an important aspect is to establish and anchor the project in the main organisation and it is assisted through participation and promotion. The project managers feel and perceive mostly adverse feelings regarding implementation and hand over of project results. They seem satisfied when they can build alliances to succeed with implementation to reach utility realization in the ordinary operations.Finally, the study shows practises and acts that project managers utilizes regarding implementation and hand over of project results. They see great use from establishing, anchoring, and creating structure in the receiving operations. They ensure this by planning the hand over throughout the whole project, identifying and integrating with the receiver, affecting the formulation of goals and plan and produce material that can be handed over. They also use communications to a great extent and identifies that communication skill is an important skill to foster to succeed. They work hard to succeed with their mission and show a lot of flexibility and availability after their projects ended and recognizes that it is useful to stay contactable after the project result has been handed over to aid use of project results in the receiving operations.

Den svenska kommunala vuxenutbildningen har de senaste decennierna haft som inriktning att vara flexibel och anpassningsbar utifrån elevernas individuella behov. Den här avgränsade studien syftar till att utforska rektorers föreställningsvärldar och uppfattningar kring individualiseringen inom svensk kommunal vuxenutbildning. Fallstudien baseras på en analys av fyra semistrukturerade intervjuer med rektorer i två svenska storstäder. Resultatet visar att rektorerna i fallstudien uttrycker förståelse för och bottnar i styrdokumentens övergripande intention och riktning; inte minst när det gäller lärares förhållningssätt till den enskilda eleven i klassrummet, elevers val av tider och undervisningsformer samt den individuella handledningens betydelse. Här finns en bred samsyn kring individualiseringens nödvändighet och betydelse. Men rektorerna bär samtidigt på föreställningar om individualiseringens bortre gränser där de ser risker för motsättningar i prioriteringar mellan grupper i skolan, felaktigt använda resurser, hög arbetsbelastning på lärare samt en frustration över att inte kunna ställa krav på motprestationer från elevernas sida. Standardisering av undervisningen som en del av lösningen på detta är omstridd bland rektorerna medan digitaliseringen uppfattas som en möjlighet i processen. Förhoppningen är att studien kan utgöra en utgångspunkt och referensram för fortsatta studier om hur det lokala organisations- och ledningsperspektivet uppfattar individualiseringen inom svensk kommunal vuxenutbildning. / In recent decades, Swedish Basic Adult Education has focused on being flexible and adaptable based on students' individual needs. This study aims to explore principals' performances and perceptions of individualization in Swedish Basic Adult Education. The case study is based on an analysis of four semi structured interviews with principals in Basic Adult Education in two major Swedish cities. The results show that the principals express an understanding of, and are rooted in, the overall intention and direction of the governing documents; not least when it comes to teachers' attitudes towards individualized classroom practices, students' choice of times and forms of education and the importance of individual supervision. There is a broad consensus on the necessity and significance of individualization. But at the same time, the principals carry notions about the distant boundaries of individualization where they see risks of contradictions in priorities between groups in the school, ineffectively used resources, high workload on teachers and a frustration at not being able to demand any consideration in return from the students. Standardization of teaching as part of the solution is controversial among the principals, while digitalization is perceived as an opportunity in the process. Hopefully the study can constitute a starting point and frame of reference for further studies of how the local organizational and management perceives individualization in Basic Adult Education.