This Master´s thesis was primarily focused on examining the role of authentic and transformational leadership styles in enhancing the psychological capital (PsyCap) of employees in the international hospitality industry. We aimed to deepen our understanding of the relationship between these leadership styles and employee PsyCap, and to explore how this relationship is moderated by contextual factors within the industry. The study adopted a qualitative approach, which is less commonly used compared to previous research, by conducting semi-structured in-depth interviews with leaders and employees in International Hospitality Organizations. The findings of our study align well with previous and existing research, suggesting that authentic and transformational leadership styles play a role in enhancing employee PsyCap. Thus, the authors further suggest that the findings provide implications that the relationship between the leadership styles and employee PsyCap is influenced by contextual factors such as cultural context. A crucial insight from this study is that the characteristics of these two leadership styles can be expressed in a variety of ways which are dependent on the contextual factors, requiring leaders to adapt how they demonstrate their characteristics due to the moderating role of contextual factors. This study adds to the existing body of knowledge on leadership, employee well-being, HR-management, and psychology, and provides practical managerial implications for leaders primarily working in the international hospitality industry. For future research, a more comprehensive examination of the moderating role of contextual factors is suggested, with a focus on elements such as organizational culture, national culture, and a deeper exploration of how these factors support the study's assertion that there is variability in the relationship between leadership style and employee PsyCap. Essentially, contextual factors may have a moderating role in this relationship, requiring leaders to adapt their actions associated with authentic and transformational leadership traits. This highlights the multidimensional nature of how authentic and transformational leadership characteristics can be expressed dependent on context and underlines that further investigation is needed.

This essay deals with the influence of leadership on student use of Smart phones as an ICT tool at after school care. I use a qualitative, hermeneutical method that departs from two stories. I also use qualitative interviews with both structured and unstructured questions. My reflections and interpretations are, through the interviews, complemented by my colleagues’ views of the use of Smart phones and how that is affected by how the activities are managed. I have faced a dilemma in my stories where I have to choose between following the school’s rules or help the students that need help with the use of Smart phones. Reflecting on the stories leads me to view my own leadership and style of leadership in a critical light and to view myself in a wider context within a problematic organization with a hierarchical leadership. This leads to other dilemmas that occur in a school organization, where helpful factors to a change can be seen in different perspectives with the open dialogue as an advantage.

Bakgrund: Konflikter är ett fenomen som förekommer i alla kontexter där individer integrerar med varandra. Konflikter har alltid funnits men synen på konflikter samt hur det hanteras har förändrats genom tiden. Konflikthantering är en viktig del i ledarskapet och är en av de viktigaste och centrala uppgifterna för en ledare. De flesta ledare ser konflikthantering som problematiskt eftersom de tycker att det är jobbigt och obehagligt att hantera konflikter på grund av rädslan för individernas reaktioner. Tidigare forskning har visat att det finns ett samband mellan ledarskap och konflikthanteringsstrategier men det finns fortfarande en kunskapsbrist inom området. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att förklara om det finns ett samband mellan det situationsanpassade ledarskapet och konflikthanteringsstrategierna samt om sambandet kan ge ledare större möjlighet att hantera konflikter framgångsrikt. Metod: Denna studie har en kvalitativansats, där semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med två organisationer, där en butikschef och tre medarbetare i respektive organisation intervjuades. Resultat: Denna studie har kommit fram till att det finns ett samband mellan det situationsanpassande ledarskapet och konflikthanteringsstrategier. Genom att kombinera stilarna i det situationsanpassade ledarskapet med konflikthanteringsstrategier och med hänsyn till både medarbetares och ledares åsikter kan rätt konflikthanteringsstrategi väljas, vilket också kan främja individernas utveckling. / Background: The phenomenon conflict occurs in every context where individuals integrate with each other. Conflicts have always existed but the way we see and manage them have changed through time. Conflict management is an important part of leadership. Most leaders believe conflicts are a problematic issue that is difficult to manage, because of the fear of the consequence that may appear. Previous research has shown that there is a correlation between leadership and conflict management but there is still a lack of knowledge in the field. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine if there is a correlation between the situational leadership and conflict management strategies and if it can provide leaders with greater possibilities to handle conflicts successfully. Method: This study has a qualitative approach where semi structured interviews with two organizations were made, with both of the store manager and three employees in each organization. Results: The results of this study have shown that there is a correlation between the situational leadership and conflict management strategies. Through combining the styles of the situational leadership with conflict management strategies and with regard to both employees and managers opinion and behavior can a suitable strategy be adopted, which can encourage individual growth.

I den här studien har vi studerat ledarskap med koppling till genus, genom att studera tidigare forskning och sedan jämföra med det empiriska materialet genom intervjuer hos ledare. Intresset för det valda ämnesområdet uppmärksammades när vi genom statistik jämförde antalet manliga ledare med kvinnliga. Detta påvisade att det råder ojämställdhet mellan könen i antalet ledarskapsbefattningar. Därför valde vi att undersöka ämnesområdet ur flera aspekter för att skapa oss en uppfattning till den bakomliggande anledningen där manliga ledare besitter fler ledarskapspositioner än kvinnliga. Det finns mängder med forskning kring skillnader mellan manligt och kvinnligt ledarskap, det som skiljer denna studie från resterande är att vi utgår ifrån ledarskap hos män och kvinnor för att undersöka om ledarskap har ett bakomliggande genus. Detta genom att studera ledarskap med hänsyn till genusperspektivet där vi framhäver jämställdhet, ledarskap, egenskaper, föreställningar, maktpositioner samt kvinnliga och manliga ledarroller. I denna studie använder vi oss av en kvalitativ metod, nämligen djupintervjuer. För att denna metod anser vi vara relevant för rapporten då vi strävar efter djup och innehållsrik data. Vidare presenterar vi under vår teoretiska referensram tidigare forskning och teorier i form av vetenskapliga artiklar och avhandlingar. Teman som framhävs under den teoretiska referensramen är ledarskap, ledarskapsstilar, manligt och kvinnligt ledarskap, genusperspektivet på ledarskap samt stereotyper. Därefter presenterar vi i det empiriska avsnittet vår insamlade data i form av utförda intervjuer på sex olika ledare, varav tre manliga och tre kvinnliga. Där delar respondenterna med sig av sina tidigare erfarenheter samt uppfattningar kring ämnet. Efter att studerat tidigare forskning och intervjuat ledare inom olika ledarskapsbefattningar diskuterar vi under analys och tolkning, teori och empiri där vi jämför, tolkar och framhäver egna åsikter kring det valda ämnesområdet. Detta för att redogöra för en slutsats och besvara forskningsfrågan. Efter genomförd undersökning där vi tagit del av ledares erfarenheter och föreställningar och jämfört med tidigare forskning drar vi slutsatsen om att ledarskap inte direkt har ett bakomliggande genus. Det visar sig att ledarskap är personlighetsbaserat där det skiljer i egenskaper, värderingar och attityder. Detta för att vi är olika som individer och värderar olika. Samtidigt använder sig både manliga och kvinnliga ledare av egenskaper som klassas maskulint respektive feminint. Vi kan dock inte förneka att män av biologiska skäl har ett kroppsspråk och egenskaper som ger en bild av manlig dominans inom ledarskap till skillnad från kvinnor. / In this study, we have chosen to study leadership in reference to the gender perspective, by studying earlier made researches on this subject and comparing it to the empirical part through interviews with leaders. The underlying interest in the chosen subject was highlighted when we compared the number of male leaders with women, through statistics. This showed that there is gender imbalance in the number of leadership positions. Therefore, we chose to investigate in this subject area from several aspects in order to create a vision of the underlying reason why male leaders possess more leadership positions than women. There are numbers of research on differences between male and female leadership, what distinguishes this report from the rest is that our main focus is on leadership in men and women to examine whether leadership has an underlying gender or not. This by studying leadership with regard to the gender perspective, where we emphasize gender equality, leadership, characteristics, power positions but also female and male leadership roles. In this study, we are using a qualitative method through interviews. This is due to the fact that we consider this method as relevant for the report as we strive for deep and comprehensive data. Furthermore, we present previous research and theories in the form of scientific articles and dissertations under our theoretical frame of references. Themes that are highlighted in the theoretical part are leadership, leadership styles, male and female leadership, gender perspective on leadership and stereotypes. In addition to that we also present in the empirical part our collected data from the interviews that are conducted on six different managers, whereas three are men and three are women. There the respondents share their previous experiences and perceptions about the subject. After studying previous research and the responses from the interviewed leaders, we discuss in the analysis and interpretation part the theory and the empirical data. Through this, we compare, interpret and emphasise our own opinions about the chosen subject area. This will lead us to a result that can answer our research question. After examining leaders' experiences and perceptions in relation to previous research, we conclude that leadership does not directly have an underlying gender. It turns out that leadership is based on personalities rather than gender, because it differs in characteristics, values and attitudes. This because we are different as individuals and we value differently. Furthermore, to strengthen this conclusion it has been presented that both male and female leaders use qualities that are classified as either masculine or feminine, with that said they use each other'squalities. However, we cannot deny that men for biological reasons have a body language and characteristics that creates the picture of male dominance in leadership, unlike females.