The importance of good relationship among parties in the construction industry has been accepted as one of the central issues of an organisation's success. The growing acceptance to the Relational Contracting approaches that representing partnering, supply chain alliances and other types of collaborative working relationships shows how construction organisations are moving forward from the traditional adversarial culture to a more harmonious working environment. However the application of the Relational Contracting Norms in the context of national culture has received relatively little attention in the literature. This study attempts to fill this void by investigating how good relationships develop within construction projects in Malaysia. It also investigates the adaptability of the relational contracting norms in different cultural setting and explores whether similar relational contracting norms emerge in different projects before developing a relationship development model that is applicable to the academic and practitioners. By using qualitative approach, the main data was collected from 36 semi-structured in-depth interviews across four case studies. The results were validated by 20 follow-up interviews with selected respondents, two stages of expert interviews and cross-case analysis. This study found that good relationships within construction projects in the Malaysian construction industry developed from the interplay of twelve structural and relational dimensions that went through three stages of relationship development process in project setting. It highlights the significant importance of the value and emotion-related dimensions in developing good relationships. A relationship development model was produced based on these twelve dimensions (special contract directive, power, performance, trust, commitment, loyalty, personal relationships, emotions, values, social interaction, work inter-dependency and political connection). The research contributes to construction management literature by supporting the Transaction Cost Economics Theory and extends the Relational Contracting Theory. It proposes seven new dimensions that are incorporated in the newly proposed relationship development model. Although the study was conducted in a specific national culture, it is argued that the model is applicable to other context on the basis that spiritual, emotional and human components of the work experience could be learned by other cultures.

The first chapter relates the size of the present-day LGBT population to the discovery of gold during the nineteenth century gold rushes. Comparing the surroundings of gold rush counties to other mining counties, we find that there are currently 15% more same-sex couples in former gold rush counties and that residents of these counties have more favorable attitudes toward homosexuality. Gold rush counties were initially isolated, mostly uninhabited and lacked strong formal institutions, which helped shaping pro-LGBT attitudes. Examining channels of persistence, we provide empirical evidence for selective migration and the lack of strong religious institutions. The second chapter examines the impact of gender focused labor legislation on women’s labor force participation and economic empowerment. We rely on historical legislative acts passed by state legislatures and exploit whether or not states passed regulatory laws regulating overall and industry specific employment and work conditions for women, night work laws and labor laws requiring provision of seats for working women. We exploit the fact that not all states enacted these laws as well as the variation in the timing of enactment of such laws. Our results show that women in comparison to men in treated states are more likely to be in the labor force post introduction of night work laws in comparison to control states. We also document the effect of industry-specific labor policies on women’s likelihood to be employed in the affected industry and in higher-wage occupations within the industry of interest. Policy implications of our findings endorse the adoption of labor laws in favor of women to advocate their empowerment through a higher involvement in the labor market and financial independence. The third chapter tests the doctrine of first effective settlement by relating early settlers’ culture to within state variation in gender norms in the United States. In 1973, the cultural geographer Wilbur Zelinsky postulated that the distinctive traits of early settlers at initial stages of institutional development may be crucial for cultural formation. I capture settlers’ culture using past female labor force participation, women’s suffrage and financial rights at their place of origin. I document the distinctive characteristics of settlers’ populations and provide suggestive evidence in support of the spatial (across locations) and vertical (over time) transmission of gender norms. My results show that women’s labor supply is higher, in both the short and long run, in U.S. counties that historically hosted a larger settler population originating from places with favorable gender attitudes. My findings shed new light on the importance of immigrants’ characteristics and their countries/states of origin for cultural formation in hosting societies.

This essay processes how masculinity is expressed and used in regards to fatherhood. What does the father maintain and distance himself from when it comes to fatherhood and how does it affect the father's identity. The concept perspectives that are used in this essay to describe and understand manliness are hegemonic masculinity and the theoretical perspective discourse. The empirical data drawn from interviews will be subjected to discourse analysis. The interviews are based on five men with different ethnicities as well as different backgrounds and socioeconomic status. The reason I chose different informants was to see if it has an impact on the way men think of masculinity and how this manifest in to fatherhood, as well as which norms and values they adhere to and takes distance from in regards to their children.  There are several factors that can explain how humans think and act, however, these experiences are often based on factors from your childhood, society and culture which are always intertwined. This study investigates how experiences and interactions concerning masculinity from an early childhood shapes and is transmitted on to ones child when one becomes a father.

Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka vilka hinder och motsättningar som rådgivare och forskare upplever i forskningskommersialiseringsprocessen inom högskolenära inkubatorer. Studien bör ses som en förstudie för att i ett senare skede kunna skapa en effektiv innovationsprocessmodell för högskolenära inkubatorer. Uppsatsens frågeställningar har undersökts ur ett innovationstekniskt perspektiv med hjälp av teorier om bland annat inkubatorer, innovationsprocesser och akademiskt entreprenörskap. Resultatet visar att det finns ett antal kulturkrockar som medför risk för att rådgivare och forskare talar förbi varandra. Andra hinder och motsättningar i forskningskommersialiseringsprocessen är skillnader i språkbruk, forskarens multipla roller, uppfattningar om arbetstempo samt att matchningen mellan entreprenör och forskare är svårorganiserad och tidskrävande. / This essay seeks to examine which obstacles and oppositions business coaches and researchersexperience in the research commercialization process in university business incubators. This studyshould be seen as a pre-study with the intention of contributing to later on building a newinnovation process model for university business incubators. Essay questions have been examinedfrom the perspective of innovation technology and are linked to theories about incubators,innovation processes and academic entrepreneurship. The result is that there is a number of culturalclashes that brings along a risk for misunderstandings between business coaches and researchers.Other obstacles and oppositions in the research commercialization process is differences inlinguistic use, the multiple roles of the researcher, interpretation of working pace and also that thematching between researcher and entrepreneur is time-consuming and hard to organize.

The purpose of my study was to find out how staff in after-school activities thinks they work with norms and values, we may call this values education, and how this in turn may influence children's norms and values. By extension, how children are socialized with each other and develop socially. In my research, I have interviewed five of the after-school activities staff who work with children aged 6-9 years at a school in the neighbourhood Rinkeby-Kista in northwestern Stockholm.The results show that after-school activity according to the staff can play a very important and sometimes crucial role in children's social development. Staff believes that if they do not learn the social rules by participating in playing and games in early childhood, when growing up they are outside and cannot participate. By their pedagogical approaches, in terms of values and norms, the adults in after-school activities can help children to become socialized into a community of solidarity and eventually as adults become responsible citizens able to function and participate in society.

This essay deals with how we can look at children's differences and create an approach through interculturality as a method. The essay highlights the importance of collegial reflection, but also the individual reflection and that it is a necessity to create a common consensus on how to work with children who have a different pattern of behavior. The act describes two different events where staff from other departments act in such a way that I react to their attitude towards children who have a different behavior or a variation in function. But the dilemma of the event is also a non-action by me, as I feel that I am not acting in such a way as I should, which raises questions within me, over what is stopping me? and how is it that we look at children's differences so differently? With the help of literature that gave the opportunity for reflection on how an intercultural approach can be created and understanding of the importance of intersubjectivity in relationships, I have gained a greater understanding of how I should act in the future. The literature I have used mainly is articles written on behalf of Skolverket, Emilson,  Lahdenperä,  Edfeldt and Brodin and Hylander that describe Daniel  Stern's method of intersubjectivity. And Emilson's thesis The desirable child: education expressed in everyday communication documents between teachers and children in preschool. The result that I have come up with after putting myself into different perspectives, read and reflected on the dilemma is that Today I understand the importance of us thinking through and conducting a dialogue about how we can create an understanding of children's inequality and their abilities. But also how complex the work with values and norms is. But that just by taking time to reflect and say to each other can still create an understanding of how we think and why.  Collegial reflection is therefore important. / Denna essä tar upp hur vi kan se på barns olikheter och skapa ett förhållningssätt genom interkulturalitet som metod. I essän belyses vikten av kollegial reflektion, men även den individuella reflektionen och att det är en nödvändighet för att skapa en gemensam samsyn i hur vi ska arbeta med barn som har ett avvikande beteendemönster. I essän beskrivs två olika händelser där personal från andra avdelningar agerar på ett sådant sätt att jag reagerar över deras förhållningssätt gentemot barn som har ett avvikande beteende alt. en funktionsvariation. Men dilemmat i händelsen är även en icke handling från mig, då jag känner att jag inte agerar på ett sådant sätt som jag borde, vilket väcker frågor inom mig, över vad är det som hindrar mig? och hur kommer det sig att vi ser på barns olikheter så olika? Med hjälp av litteratur som gav möjlighet till reflektion över hur ett interkulturellt förhållningssätt kan skapas och förståelse för intersubjektivitetens betydelse i relationer, har jag fått en större förståelse för hur jag borde agera i framtiden. Litteraturen jag använt mig främst av är artiklar som är skrivna på uppdrag av Skolverket, Emilson, Lahdenperä, Edfeldt samt Brodin och Hylander som beskriver Daniel Sterns metod om intersubjektivitet. Samt Emilsons avhandling Det önskvärda barnet: fostran uttryckt i vardagliga kommunikationshandlingar mellan lärare och barn i förskolan. Resultatet som jag har kommit fram till efter att ha satt mig in i olika perspektiv, läst och reflekterat över dilemmat är att jag idag förstår vikten av att vi tänker igenom och för en dialog om hur vi kan skapa en förståelse för barns olikhet och deras förmågor. Men även hur komplext arbetet med värderingar och normer är. Men att just genom att ta tid för att reflektera och säga till varandra ändå kan skapa en förståelse för hur vi tänker och varför. Därför är det viktigt med kollegial reflektion.

It is important for teachers to get a wide knowledge about diversity as we live in a more globalized world. This paper aims to contribute to this knowledge. The paper aims to describe the impact of a more globalized world and how this globalization has changed the early childhood education and care systems in China, Russia and Germany. The focus will be on how globalization has changed preschool and kindergarten, and the consequences there of. The consequences of the changed norms and values of these countries have been studied with the focus on preschool and early childhood education. Theoretical frameworks used as tools for analysis are children’s perspective, ecological systems theory, Esping-Andersen's theory of welfare regimes, “Regimes of the World” and Shulman’s theory of teachers’ knowledge base. We have gone through earlier research and assembled it through a literature study. As it turns out, the ideological change has indeed caused a tremendous change in preschool policies. Preschool children have been allowed more agency and influence in all three previously autocratic nations, including those who remain autocratic. There are norms and values pushedby the state, the families, and the professionals. These norms sometimes overlap, but not always. The norms and values sometimes differ in theory and practice, due to material conditions. Preschools are subject to both norms and values from outside change, as well as agents in their own right. Children can and do form their own norms and values in addition to what adults teach them.

Text in German / The present thesis undertakes a comprehensive survey and criticak analysis of the concept of duty and its significance in the prose of Siegfried Lenz (born in 1926). It concentrates on those novels and narratives in which duty is the main motif; these are Schwierige Trauer (1960), Das Feuerschiff (1960), Deutschstunde (1968) and Ein Kriegsende (1984). After an introduction which outlines the development and the influence of the concept of duty in Germany, the thesis deals with Lenz's prose in chronological order. Siegfried Lenz's main motif is the significance of the concept of duty within the moral code of the individual, the specific meaning and influence of which has been developed in Germany. Lenz does not deny that duty is a necessary element of the process of socialization. But he rejects the unreflected and uncritical acceptance of a dubious morality based on a sense of duty, at the expense of individuality and responsibility for oneself. It is a deformed understanding of duty which Lenz exposes and criticizes in his work: a characteristic mark of submissiveness and slavish obedience ("Untertanengeist und Kadavergehorsam"). These distortions are determined by political-historical events, theological dogmas, philosophical theses and an authoritarian upbringing. The reasons for the attitudes and behaviour of Lenz's fictitious characters have their roots in those factors. Lenz always insists on reflection. He refuses the uncritical acceptance of a morality based on duty, which allows a person to avoid his or her responsibility. However, Siegfried Lenz neither attempts to construct a social background nor does he offer recipes for a new social order. Rather he restricts himself to the sceptical questioning of norms and values, which are maintained by authority. The author creates a conflict in a hermetic environment, for example a ship or a small village, in which his fictitious characters have to prove themselves. By confronting his readers with such an extreme situation and the protagonists' questionable decisions, Lenz forces his public to reconsider their own position. The author's aim is to make his readers realize that right and wrong cannot always be distinguished in a clear-cut manner / Linguistics and Modern Languages / D.Litt. et Phil. (German)

Sandstedt, Thomas (2013) – On Recruitment in Academia in the Cases of Department Heads and Research Students   This thesis study how academic and scientific culture act and handle the balance between different interests, demands and preferences and what is considered central and valuable in the leading and managing within universities in Sweden. These are set against each other whenever department heads and research students are to be recruited.  Questions are asked whether procedures come into play when recruiting heads of department, and whether the final choice is determined by regulations and/or academic norms. There has only been marginal research in the field. The recruitment of department heads has not been statutory since 1993, while admission to research studies is regulated in detail.  The study was implemented before the autonomy reform of 2011. Central and local regulatory systems between 1993 and 2011 form the juridical framework of the study.       My frame of reference is a New Institutional Theory approach together with studies of the environment, history and traditions of academia.  The basis of the studied context is the scholarly community of academics.  Demands from government and parliament as expressed in regulatory systems, general guidelines, funding, policies and letters of regulation have also been taken into account within the reference frame.  The empirical material consists of interviews with professors including associate professors conducted in seven universities and eight departments between 2007 and 2009. The results show that there are certain rules of the game that are applied when department heads and research students are being recruited, which give an indication of what is considered valuable for internal management within Swedish universities. The recruitment processes are informal, collegial and institutionalized. When department heads are recruited all colleagues have the possibility to participate, whereas when research students are recruited the group involved is more limited.  In the latter case it is financing as well as the role of the supervisor that seem to play the crucial role in finding the most suitable doctoral student. Internal criteria are reformulated into rules of the game by colleagues and the process is situation-bound. These rules are based on collegial and scholarly interests, demands, norms, traditions and values. Informal criteria offer the opportunity for flexibility and situational adaptation when departments choose their head. These criteria contribute to limiting the number of candidates, which may make it difficult to find the right person. The students admitted to research education are expected to be able to profit by such education and to possess a scientific attitude. These requirements may vary from one admission to another, and the impression is that the circle of potential research students is limited.

Syftet med vår studie är att undersöka hur kulturella normer och värderingar stödjer eller hindrar förändringar, för att ta reda på varför det inte är jämställt på chefspositioner. Vidare vill vi undersöka hur organisationer kan förändra dessa kulturella normer och värderingar och hur jämställdhetsplanen kan användas som ett förändringsverktyg i arbetet mot ökad jämställdhet på chefspositioner. Utifrån en kvalitativ metod har vi intervjuat fem arbetstagare inom polisen i Karlskrona, då det är en organisation som inte är jämställd på chefspositioner, trots aktiva åtgärder. Vi har utgått från organisationskultur som teoretisk utgångspunkt, då vi anser att det är relevant för vår studie. Några av slutsatserna i studien är att det finns olika åsikter angående hur kulturella normer och värderingar stödjer eller hindrar arbetet för förändring mot ökad jämställdhet på chefspositioner och hur organisationer kan förändra dem kulturella normer och värderingar som utgör hinder för kvinnor att avancera samt hur jämställdhetsplanen kan användas som ett förändringsverktyg för att påverka jämställdhetsarbetet. Trots olika åsikter bland respondenterna går det att konstatera att kulturella normer och värderingar utgör hinder som påverkar kvinnors vilja att avancera genom att de påverkar individerna inom organisationer på olika sätt. Vidare tyder vår studie på att det går att förändra kulturella normer och värderingar till viss del genom ökad medvetenheten samt ny kunskap om problemet med bristande jämställdhet. Vi kan även konstatera att jämställdhetsplanen kan användas som ett förändringsverktyg trots att den många gånger tenderar till att endast bli ett pappersarbete. / The aim of this study was to investigate how cultural norms and values support or restrict changes to find out why it is not equal in management positions. The study also examines how organizations can change those cultural norms and values and how the gender equalityplan can be used as a tool for change in the work towards gender equality in management positions. With a qualitative approach five workers within the police in Karlskrona were interviewed, because it is an organization, which is not equal in management positions, despite active measures. The theoretical approach that was used is organizational culture. Some of the study’s conclusions are that there are different opinions about how cultural norms and values support or restrict the work of change towards gender equality in management positions and how organizations can change the cultural norms and values that constitute barriers to women's advancement and how the equalityplan can be used as a tool for change to affect gender equality. Despite different opinions, we can establish that cultural norms and values obstruct women's willingness to advance. Furthermore, our study also concludes that it is possible to change cultural norms and values to some extent by increased awareness and knowledge about the problem of gender inequality. We can also observe that the equality plan can be used as a tool for change even though it often tends to be a paper work.