<p>The elderly care is an area of great importance to women. Women are more often in need of elderly care; they work with the service and provide a majority of the informal service. Research shows that managers’ work-related prerequisites are significantly different between the male dominated technical administration and the female dominated care and educational administration. Studies also show that what the highest managerial organisation gives priority to, often permeate the whole organisation. The head of town is the highest deciding official civil servant with an overview of the different municipal administrations. This study focuses on the middle managers in elderly care seen through the head of town s’ conception of leadership in geriatric care. The comprehensive aim of this thesis is to study the head of town s’ conceptions of leadership in municipal elderly care through a gender perspective.</p><p>To elucidate the gender perspective, the head of towns’ conceptions about leadership in elderly care is contrasted to leadership in the male dominated technical administrations. Theories that this thesis theoretical ground is built on is organisations and leadership theories integrated with theories about genus and equality. A qualitative approach through interviews has been chosen as the method for this study. The respondents constitutes of seven persons that are the head of town and one of whom are a woman.</p><p>The result shows that middle managers in elderly care and middle managers in technical admini-strations share the same level of responsibility, but their leadership differs from one another in one respect: the municipal mangers in elderly care are responsible for far more personnel. Only 13 percent of the head of towns are women. Therefore the head of towns are a relatively homogenised group; hence it is a possibility that the decision making will be one-dimensional. This study shows that the head of tows are not very well-informed on the organisation in elderly care.</p><p>All of the head of towns describe the situation of the manager in elderly care as very strained. Generally, the female dominated elderly care is given significantly worse prerequisites and conditions in the working environment than male dominated technical administration, despite the fact that the municipality is the employer of both administrations and despite the fact that the municipal should work actively with equalization. Sweden is one of the most equalised countries in the world but even though municipalities are legally bound by a political directive to work actively with equality, the question of structural inequality is disregarded when an entire activity is given significantly poorer conditions.</p><p>When managers in elderly care are given poor possibilities to exercise their leadership, both per-sonnel and the elderly in need of care are affected. Municipal middle managers and their personnel have poor working conditions and the staff in elderly care can not get enough guidance and time for reflection continuously in there works. This structural discrimination affects women in several ways: a majority of the elderly who are in need of the service and a majority of the personnel are women.</p> / <p>Äldreomsorg är ett område som är särskilt viktigt för kvinnor då det är kvinnor som i hög grad har behov av äldreomsorg, arbetar i äldreomsorg samt står för merparten av de informella insatserna. Forskning visar att kommunala enhetschefers förutsättningar i arbetet väsentligen skiljer sig mellan mansdominerade tekniska förvaltningar och mellan kvinnodominerade omsorgs- och utbildningsför-valtningar. Forskning visar också att det som den högsta ledningen i en organisation prioriterar och värderar som viktigt oftast genomsyrar hela organisationen. Kommunchefen är i den kommunala or-ganisationen den högst beslutande tjänstemannen med översikt över kommunens olika förvaltningar.</p><p>Denna studie fokuserar på äldreomsorgens enhetschefer men genom kommunchefernas föreställ-ningar om äldreomsorgens ledarskap. Studiens övergripande syfte är att studera kommunchefers före-ställningar om ledarskap i kommunal äldreomsorg med utgångspunkt i ett genusperspektiv. För att tydliggöra genusperspektivet kontrasteras kommunchefernas föreställningar om äldreomsorgens ledar-skap gentemot kommunchefernas föreställningar om ledarskapet i den manligt dominerade tekniska förvaltningen. De teorier som studiens tolkningsramm bygger på är organisations och ledarskapsteori-er integrerat med teorier om genus och jämställdhet. Med utgångspunkt i studiens syfte har en kvalita-tiv ansats med intervjuer valts som metod. Respondenterna utgörs av sju kommunchefer, varav en kommunchef är kvinna.</p><p>Resultatet visar att enhetscheferna i äldreomsorgen och enhetscheferna i den tekniska förvaltning-en har ett liknande ansvar, dock skiljer sig ledarskapet åt på en väsentlig punkt. Enhetscheferna i äld-reomsorgen har betydligt fler anställda som de ansvara för. Endast 13 procent av kommuncheferna i Sverige är kvinnor. Då kommuncheferna således är en relativt homogen grupp finns det risk för ett endimensionellt beslutsfattande. Denna studie visar att kommuncheferna inte är tillräckligt insatta i äldreomsorgens organisation. Samtliga kommunchefer beskriver att enhetscheferna i äldreomsorgen upplever sin arbetsmiljö som mycket ansträngd. Den kvinnligt dominerade äldreomsorgen har betyd-ligt sämre förutsättningar och villkor i arbetsmiljö än den manligt dominerade tekniska förvaltningen. Detta trots att kommunen är en och samma arbetsgivare för dessa båda verksamheter och trots att kommunerna skall arbeta aktivt med jämställdhet. Sverige är ett av de mest jämställda länderna i värl-den och kommunerna är genom rättsliga och politiska direktiv tvungna att arbeta aktivt med jämställd-het missas ändå denna strukturella ojämställdhet där en hel verksamhet ges sämre förutsättningar.</p><p>Att enhetschefer i äldreomsorgen ges sämre förutsättningar att utöva ledarskap, får konsekvenser för omsorgspersonalen men också för omsorgstagarna. Omsorgspersonalen kan på grund av enhets-chefens arbetsbelastning inte få möjlighet till kontinuerlig handledning och reflektion i sitt arbete vil-ket kan leda till en sämre kvalité i omsorgen. Denna strukturella diskriminering drabbar således kvin-nor i flera led då majoriteten av omsorgstagarna, personalen och enhetscheferna är kvinnor.</p>

The position of the subsidiary CEO is characterized by its complexity in terms of the level of independence and control that s/he possesses. The subsidiary CEO is not only con-trolled by the parent company in certain aspects but in some cases also by the board of directors of the subsidiary. This raises questions about what the subsidiary CEO is left to decide by him/herself and if it is possible to infact categorize him/her as a middle manager? In order to gain more insight into these intriguing questions we formulated our purpose as follows: The purpose of this thesis is to examine how the subsidiary CEO controls the subsidiary consider-ing the dual role perspective. In addition, four research questions were formulated to support us in the search for answers to the amount of control that the subsidiary CEO has. The research questions were intended to the highlight the control aspect from different angles, and to discover what the parent company and board of directors controlled. In addition, we were also curious about whether it was possible for the subsidiary CEO to influence his/her superiors. To enlighten us of the situation of the subsidiary CEO we made seven semi-structured interviews, whereof four with subsidiary CEOs. The three additional interviews were made with co-workers to the subsidiary CEOs. This was done to get a different perspective on the role of the subsidiary CEO. With the purpose and research questions as a base we asked questions on these topics and the answers were recorded and transcribed in order to give us a stable foundation to stand on before moving on to the analysis. The findings confirmed our view that the CEOs in some cases, especially when it comes to larger financial decisions, are controlled by the parent company. Further, reports are sent regularly and the overall organizational vision has to be adopted by the subsidiary. On the other hand the subsidiary CEOs regards themselves as very independent when it comes to the management of the subsidiary. Indeed, we were able to see some general characteristics of the job of a subsidiary CEO, such as the freedom of formulating and implementing strategies for the subsidiary. In addition, they solely decide how to run the daily operations as well as deciding on questions concerning the personnel. Further, we conclude that the subsidiary CEOs can neither be categorized as merely a CEO or a middle manager, since our study shows that they are a combination of both. It is their level of independence which decides how to perceive their role and this varies from case to case. Finally, the level of control much depends on their relationship with the parent company as well as the sub-sidiary board of directors.

The elderly care is an area of great importance to women. Women are more often in need of elderly care; they work with the service and provide a majority of the informal service. Research shows that managers’ work-related prerequisites are significantly different between the male dominated technical administration and the female dominated care and educational administration. Studies also show that what the highest managerial organisation gives priority to, often permeate the whole organisation. The head of town is the highest deciding official civil servant with an overview of the different municipal administrations. This study focuses on the middle managers in elderly care seen through the head of town s’ conception of leadership in geriatric care. The comprehensive aim of this thesis is to study the head of town s’ conceptions of leadership in municipal elderly care through a gender perspective. To elucidate the gender perspective, the head of towns’ conceptions about leadership in elderly care is contrasted to leadership in the male dominated technical administrations. Theories that this thesis theoretical ground is built on is organisations and leadership theories integrated with theories about genus and equality. A qualitative approach through interviews has been chosen as the method for this study. The respondents constitutes of seven persons that are the head of town and one of whom are a woman. The result shows that middle managers in elderly care and middle managers in technical admini-strations share the same level of responsibility, but their leadership differs from one another in one respect: the municipal mangers in elderly care are responsible for far more personnel. Only 13 percent of the head of towns are women. Therefore the head of towns are a relatively homogenised group; hence it is a possibility that the decision making will be one-dimensional. This study shows that the head of tows are not very well-informed on the organisation in elderly care. All of the head of towns describe the situation of the manager in elderly care as very strained. Generally, the female dominated elderly care is given significantly worse prerequisites and conditions in the working environment than male dominated technical administration, despite the fact that the municipality is the employer of both administrations and despite the fact that the municipal should work actively with equalization. Sweden is one of the most equalised countries in the world but even though municipalities are legally bound by a political directive to work actively with equality, the question of structural inequality is disregarded when an entire activity is given significantly poorer conditions. When managers in elderly care are given poor possibilities to exercise their leadership, both per-sonnel and the elderly in need of care are affected. Municipal middle managers and their personnel have poor working conditions and the staff in elderly care can not get enough guidance and time for reflection continuously in there works. This structural discrimination affects women in several ways: a majority of the elderly who are in need of the service and a majority of the personnel are women. / Äldreomsorg är ett område som är särskilt viktigt för kvinnor då det är kvinnor som i hög grad har behov av äldreomsorg, arbetar i äldreomsorg samt står för merparten av de informella insatserna. Forskning visar att kommunala enhetschefers förutsättningar i arbetet väsentligen skiljer sig mellan mansdominerade tekniska förvaltningar och mellan kvinnodominerade omsorgs- och utbildningsför-valtningar. Forskning visar också att det som den högsta ledningen i en organisation prioriterar och värderar som viktigt oftast genomsyrar hela organisationen. Kommunchefen är i den kommunala or-ganisationen den högst beslutande tjänstemannen med översikt över kommunens olika förvaltningar. Denna studie fokuserar på äldreomsorgens enhetschefer men genom kommunchefernas föreställ-ningar om äldreomsorgens ledarskap. Studiens övergripande syfte är att studera kommunchefers före-ställningar om ledarskap i kommunal äldreomsorg med utgångspunkt i ett genusperspektiv. För att tydliggöra genusperspektivet kontrasteras kommunchefernas föreställningar om äldreomsorgens ledar-skap gentemot kommunchefernas föreställningar om ledarskapet i den manligt dominerade tekniska förvaltningen. De teorier som studiens tolkningsramm bygger på är organisations och ledarskapsteori-er integrerat med teorier om genus och jämställdhet. Med utgångspunkt i studiens syfte har en kvalita-tiv ansats med intervjuer valts som metod. Respondenterna utgörs av sju kommunchefer, varav en kommunchef är kvinna. Resultatet visar att enhetscheferna i äldreomsorgen och enhetscheferna i den tekniska förvaltning-en har ett liknande ansvar, dock skiljer sig ledarskapet åt på en väsentlig punkt. Enhetscheferna i äld-reomsorgen har betydligt fler anställda som de ansvara för. Endast 13 procent av kommuncheferna i Sverige är kvinnor. Då kommuncheferna således är en relativt homogen grupp finns det risk för ett endimensionellt beslutsfattande. Denna studie visar att kommuncheferna inte är tillräckligt insatta i äldreomsorgens organisation. Samtliga kommunchefer beskriver att enhetscheferna i äldreomsorgen upplever sin arbetsmiljö som mycket ansträngd. Den kvinnligt dominerade äldreomsorgen har betyd-ligt sämre förutsättningar och villkor i arbetsmiljö än den manligt dominerade tekniska förvaltningen. Detta trots att kommunen är en och samma arbetsgivare för dessa båda verksamheter och trots att kommunerna skall arbeta aktivt med jämställdhet. Sverige är ett av de mest jämställda länderna i värl-den och kommunerna är genom rättsliga och politiska direktiv tvungna att arbeta aktivt med jämställd-het missas ändå denna strukturella ojämställdhet där en hel verksamhet ges sämre förutsättningar. Att enhetschefer i äldreomsorgen ges sämre förutsättningar att utöva ledarskap, får konsekvenser för omsorgspersonalen men också för omsorgstagarna. Omsorgspersonalen kan på grund av enhets-chefens arbetsbelastning inte få möjlighet till kontinuerlig handledning och reflektion i sitt arbete vil-ket kan leda till en sämre kvalité i omsorgen. Denna strukturella diskriminering drabbar således kvin-nor i flera led då majoriteten av omsorgstagarna, personalen och enhetscheferna är kvinnor.

Abstract: A public service sector in constant reformation is a common phenomenon in Sweden. This also includes the municipal care organisations. A central role in those reformations has the public middle chief who often is the one to implemented reforms to the organiza-tion's staff. This study is examining the role of the public middle manager in care organisations dur-ing the implementation of common ideologies value foundation in a present organisa-tion's reform. The study tries to elucidate in which way the public middle managers in municipal care organisations experience their roles, which expectations the management of the organisation has on their roles and how a present organisation changes inflict on the contents of the role. If the middle manager in a municipal care organisation feels like normative for the personal group is another aspect. There are four concepts used as theoretic framework in the study, organization, imple-mentation and public middle managers in a general aspect and the middle manager in a municipal care organisation in a specific aspect. The study is a case study of the munici-pal Y care organisation. It also contains observations on the middle managers and their staff's interaction during implantation of common value foundation. The procedure of this analyse is built on an abductive interpretation of collected data. In this study, it emerges that the administration of the organisation thinks a leadership from a competence perspective is important and that the leader should dare to lead. The organization's middle manager strives for a democratic leadership, which is the ground in a communication perspective. It is vague and difficult to define which the experiences of the common value foundation are by members of the organisations. Therefore, many municipal middle managers in the organisation feel that they have to interpret the value foundation on their own. However, they also experience a difference among their staff when they talk about their work during and after the implementation of common value foundation.

Syftet med vår studie var att undersöka hur organisatoriska faktorer som krav i arbetet och stödfunktioner kan påverka grundskolans mellanchefers förutsättningar att vara tillgängliga för medarbetare enligt medarbetarnas förväntningar. För att får svar på vårt syfte använde vi oss av en kvalitativ metod med semistrukturerade intervjuer. Resultatet från vår kvalitativa undersökning analyserade vi med hjälp av teorier kring krav i arbetet, kontrollspannetsbetydelse, mellanchefers behov av stöd och chefen som stötdämpare. Resultatet visar att medarbetarna förväntar sig att chefen är nåbar och tar sig tid genom att faktiskt lyssna aktivt när medarbetaren behöver det. Hur stödet ser ut påverkar hur mycket tid chefen kan lägga på att vara tillgänglig enligt medarbetarnas förväntningar. Ett stöd som fungerar frigör tid med medarbetarna medan ett ofungerande stöd istället tar tid från medarbetarna. Kraven på cheferna ökar, möjliga faktorer handlar om att omvärlden förändras och då ändras även arbetets förutsättningar som exempelvis fler uppgifter att hantera. / The aim of our study was to examine how organizational factors such as job demands and support can influence primary school middle managers opportunities to be available to subordinates under subordinates' expectations. To answer our purpose, we used a qualitative approach with semi structured interviews. The results was analyzed using theories of job demands, span of control, middle managers need for support and a theory about middle managers acting as a shock absorber between subordinates wishes and the managements demands. What kind of support the manager have affects how much time the manager can spend on being available for the subordinates. If the support isn´t adapted for the managers situation, the result will be more unnecessary duties for the manager and less time for the subordinates. The results show that subordinates expect the middle manager to be reachable and to take time to priority the subordinate when the subordinate needs it. Even if the manager can prioritize subordinates needs today, changes inside and outside the organization leads to higher demands on the managers.

Change is a timeless phenomenon that takes place in organizations daily. Research shows that middle managers are often perceived as opponents of organizational change. On the other hand, research also shows that their role is very important for implementing change. This qualitative study examines the potential challenges that may arise during the implementation of change. The study also aims to highlight the individual’s experience of the middle manager’s role during a change created by the upper line. Our choice of research methodology includes semi-structured interviews. The study consists of interviews of five middle managers in the Primary care of Region Gotland. The theoretical framework has been used as a guideline in the process of creating interview questions. The theory of the research study is constructed using theories about change management, change resistance, job satisfaction and the role of the middle manager. Our empirical data has been analyzed with selected theories. Our research indicates that the middle managers often end up in a conflict of roles. The most noticeable challenge for middle managers is the need to prioritize their roles. This often occurs due to a lack of resources. / Förändring är ett tidlöst fenomen som dagligen sker i alla organisationer. Forskning visar å ena sidan att en mellanchef ofta ses som en motståndare till förändring. Å andra sidan ses en mellanchefs roll som avgörande för att implementera och realisera en förändring. Syftet med studien var att utifrån ett mellanchefsperspektiv beskriva de utmaningar som upplevs i samband med ett, från ledningen skapat, förändringsarbete. Studien avsåg även att diskutera de bakomliggande orsakerna till utmaningarna. Studiens datainsamling har genomförts med hjälp av semistrukturerade intervjuer på det valda fallföretaget, primärvården inom Region Gotland. Semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med fem verksamhetschefer på samtliga av Region Gotlands vårdcentraler, både i egenregi men även de privata aktörerna. Studiens teori har baserats på forskning om en mellanchefs roll i ett förändringsarbete, förändringsprocessen, förändringsmotstånd samt motivations- och hygienfaktorer. Den teoretiska referensramen har även använts som grund för att ta fram frågorna till studiens intervjuguide. Resultatet av studien visar på att en mellanchefs roll är komplex och att en mellanchef möter på ett stort antal utmaningar i ett förändringsarbete. En mellanchefs främsta utmaning är att hen måste prioritera mellan olika roller som behöver intas i ett förändringsarbete. Bakgrunden till problematiken är tidsbrist, vilket överensstämmer med tidigare forskning inom ämnet. Studien visar även på att faktorer såsom stöd, delaktighet samt återkoppling bör vara uppfyllda för att uppnå ett lyckat förändringsarbete, vilket tillika kan antas vara några av förändringsarbetets utmaningar. Det är även en utmaning för en mellanchef att motiveras till att genomföra en förändring om inte hygienfaktorerna föreligger. Det främsta bidraget från studien är således en beskrivning av individer i en mellanchefsposition samt deras upplevelser av de utmaningar som uppstår genom ett, från ledningen, initierat förändringsarbete.

No description available.

The primary motivation for conducting this study was the apparent conflict between Texas Education Agency guidelines for a vocational cooperative education program and the realities of actual program operation. In the program the mid-management student receives instruction, through a cooperative arrangement between the college and employers, in both academic courses and related vocational instruction.

The relationships between work and personal life have been on the public, business, and research agenda for about 35 years. Perspectives on these relationships have shifted from a work-family to work-life or work-personal life focus, from a conflict to a balance or enrichment view and, finally, from a segmentation to an integration perspective. This evolution, however, leads to a theoretical and practical impasse where neither integration nor segmentation can be seen as the absolute individual, organisational and societal value. This thesis takes the discussion one step further and focuses on individuals’ work/non-work experiences, calling for a humanistic case. The humanistic case urges placing individuals’ work/non-work experiences at the centre of human resources and at the centre of the work-life field. The aim of the thesis is to theorise individuals’ work/non-work experiences in their individual, organisational and societal contexts. To achieve the purpose, the thesis presents individuals’ work/non-work self-narratives. These self-narratives of six French middle-managers, three men and three women, underline how individuals experience their diverse life domains, namely the work, the family, the social and the private and their management. The self-narratives have been generated through in-depth qualitative interviews and diaries. The thesis explores and provides an understanding of individuals’ work/non-work experiences from a boundary perspective. Focusing on the processes behind individuals’ work/non-work experiences, the thesis reveals that work/non-work preferences for integration and/or segmentation are not sufficient to understand individuals’ experiences. It is essential to consider the preferences in relation to their level of explicitness and the development of work/non-work self-identity. Moreover, it is important to understand the roles of positive and negative work/non-work emotions emerging in the work/non-work process as a respective signal of individuals’ satisfaction or dissatisfaction in how their life domains are developed and managed. The thesis contributes to the work-life field, especially the boundary perspective on work and non-work by presenting a model of individuals’ work/non-work experiences. The model pursued is derived from 33 theoretical propositions. The study suggests a two-dimensional approach for life domain boundaries as a systematic combination of seven boundary types (spatial, temporal, human, cognitive, behavioural, emotional and psychosomatic) and their mental and concrete natures. It suggests a three-dimensional model for work/non-work preferences, revealing five major archetypes of work/non-work preferences between segmentation and integration, and stressing the emotional side of the work/non-work process. It shows that individuals value segmentation on a daily basis and integration on a long-term. This thesis concludes that segmenting and integrating is essential for the harmony of their life domains namely their work, their family, their social and their private.

Magister Commercii - MCom / Middle managers play an important role in contemporary organisations, particularly in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Research on middle managers in a HEI environment suggests that their roles, work practice and identities are under-researched. Middle managers occupy a central position in organisational hierarchies where they are responsible for implementing senior management plans. In HEIs in SA academic middle managers/heads of departments (HODs) face many challenges that are not commonly found in conventional organisations. In this qualitative study the contribution is based on the participants’ experiences in relation to an increasingly diverse workload and responsibilities. Using a fluid conceptualisation of identity and subjectivity, the researcher argues that academic middle managers are engaged in ethical and political practices through demands in the workplace. Drawing on theories on ethics put forward by Foucault, Levinas & Critchley, various aspects of ethics of ‘the self’ and ethics of ‘the other’ in relation to academic middle managers’ identities and practices are discussed. A case study was used with a cross-sectional research design to gather the data on academic middle managers in a single faculty in a South African HEI. Information gathered particularly focussed on the implementation of ethical practices. The findings show that middle managers’ work practices were dependent on their ethical goals and aspirations.