The present research tested whether and how regulatory focus as a motivational variable influences the ways in which people appraise, process, and react to events in romantic relationships. Regulatory focus theory distinguishes between (1) a prevention focus, which emphasizes the fulfillment of security needs, duties and obligations, and is associated with heightened sensitivity to aversive outcomes, and (2) a promotion focus, which emphasizes the fulfillment of nurturance needs, accomplishments and aspirations, and is associated with heightened sensitivity to rewarding outcomes. Based on regulatory focus theory, it was assumed that promotion and prevention focused people would appraise, react to, and process interpersonal events involving a romantic partner in different ways. In addition, it was expected that the distinct ways of experiencing such events are reflected in differences in relationship quality. Three studies using college student samples were conducted to test these notions. Evidence was found that individual differences in chronic prevention focus affect the ways in which people react to aversive events in relationships. No support was obtained for regulatory focus theory??s predictions regarding prevention focus processes in association with rewarding outcomes, and predictions related to the promotion focus system were also not supported. As expected, chronic promotion focus was related to higher relationship quality, and chronic prevention focus was associated with lower relationship quality. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

The authors used the frameworks of reciprocal determinism and occupational socialization to study the effects of work characteristics (consisting of control and complexity of work) on personal initiative (PI)--mediated by control orientation (a 2nd-order factor consisting of control aspiration, perceived opportunity for control, and self-efficacy) and the reciprocal effects of PI on changes in work characteristics. They applied structural equation modeling to a longitudinal study with 4 measurement waves (N = 268) in a transitional economy: East Germany. Results confirm the model plus 1 additional, nonhypothesized effect. Work characteristics had a synchronous effect on PI via control orientation (full mediation). There were also effects of control orientation and of PI on later changes in work characteristics: As predicted, PI functioned as partial mediator, changing work characteristics in the long term (reciprocal effect); unexpectedly, there was a 2nd reciprocal effect of an additional lagged partial mediation of control orientation on later work characteristics.

This issue of WeltTrends features the debate about the future of the transatlantic relationship and world order after the Iraq war. It was started by Thomas Risse with his article in the previous edition. Thomas Risse elaborated on three main points of contention between the United States and Europe: the role of international law and multilateralism, democracy and human rights, and the strategy towards new security threats. <br>Most of the scholars, contributing to the debate in this issue agree with Risse in that there is no alternative to the transatlantic partnership and offer possible paths towards its renewal. The debate will be continued with additional comments and a rebuttal by Thomas Risse in the next Winter issue.

Subcontractors today find themselves in an increasingly fierce competitive environment, much due to the famous or should we say infamous globalisation. When the big important clients of subcontractors expand over boarders the subcontractor might be obliged to follow them, especially if holding competences of particular value to the outsourcing principal. A subcontractor that thus follow a client abroad might take a great leap, both in regards to what cultural differences or geographical distance might exist as well as the risk associated with such an investment. In this thesis we have highlighted the situation of these so-called client-following subcontractors. The purpose is to investigate how well client-following subcontractors take advantage of opportunities in a new market and how the relationship with the client has affected this. We found that a qualitative study would best serve our purpose and to be more specific we chose the method of case studies. Two Swedish subcontractors was selected through certain criteria and contact via an outsourcing principal. These two cases was researched through in-depth interviews but also by gathering secondary data such as financial reports. To further increase our understanding of the research area we put significant focus on building a sound frame of reference. Three main theoretical areas was emphasized; first the internationalisation process, second customer relationship and trust, and third strategic choices for subcontractors. In conclusion we found distinct differences in the underlying strategies of the two cases that could be connected to just what laid behind the decision to internationalise. We could develop this picture by looking at the relationship between the subcontractor and its major client in both instances. A relationship in which more long-term objectives are taken into account had a positive effect on the expansionary strategy of the subcontractor. / Underleverantörer idag möter allt hårdare konkurrens vilket till mångt och mycket beror på den välkända, eller ska vi säga den ökända, globaliseringen. När stora och viktiga kunder till underleverantörer expanderar över gränserna kan underleverantörerna vara tvungna att följa efter, speciellt i de fall där dessa har kompetenser av särskilt värde för uppdragsgivaren. En underleverantör som följer efter sin kund kan därför ta ett stort steg, både gällande kulturskillnader och geografiskt avstånd men också den risk som är förknippad med en sådan investering. I denna uppsats har vi belyst situationen för dessa så kallade klientefterföljande underleverantörer. Syftet är att undersöka hur väl klientefterföljande underleverantörer utnyttjar möjligheterna i en ny marknad och hur relationen med klienten har påverkat detta. Vi fann att en kvalitativ studie bäst tjänade vårt syfte, för att vara mer exakt valde vi att göra fallstudier. Två svenska underleverantörer valdes utifrån vissa kriterier och via kontakt med en uppdragsgivare. Dessa var sedan undersökta genom djupgående intervjuer men också genom sekundärdata som exempelvis finansiella rapporter. För att ytterligare öka vår förståelse av ämnet lade vi extra vikt på att bygga en gedigen referensram. Tre teoretiska huvudområden identifierades; först själva internationaliseringsprocessen, sedan kundrelationen och tillit, och sist strategiska val för underleverantörer. Sammanfattningsvis fann vi distinkta skillnader i de underliggande strategierna av de två fallstudierna vilka kunde kopplas till vad som låg bakom beslutet att internationalisera. Vi kunde utveckla bilden genom att titta på relationen mellan underleverantören och dess huvudkund i båda fallen. En relation som tog mer hänsyn till långtgående mål hade en positiv effekt på den expansiva strategin hos underleverantörerna.

The overall aim of this thesis is to gain a better understanding how people with dementia and their spouses experience dementia over time, especially the impact it has on their inter-personal relationships and patterns of everyday life. Data were collected using separate semi-structured interviews with 20 persons with dementia and their spouses of 6 monthly intervals over an 18-months period (132 interviews in total), and analysed using constructivist grounded theory. Analysis suggested that whilst spouses are aware of and acknowledge the diagnosis of dementia, they do not routinely talk about it but rather the focus of their combined efforts is on making life as meaningful as possible. To do this couples, rather than individuals, actively ‘work together’ to create a ‘nurturative relational context’ in order to sustain the quality of their relationship, and maintain the self-image and sense of agency of the person with dementia. In order to create a ‘nurturative relational context’ couples continued to ‘do things together’ for as long as possible by understanding complementary roles underpinned by a mutual appreciation of each others contribution in a way that builds upon the remaining strengths of the person with dementia. Their focus is therefore on ‘couplehood’ as much as ‘personhood’. An analysis of the complete data set identified three temporally sequenced but overlapping phases of the experience of couplehood termed ‘sustaining couplehood’, ‘maintaining involvement’, and ‘becoming alone’. ‘Sustaining couplehood’ had the primary goal of ensuring that the spuses’ ‘work’. This involved four interrelated sets of activities: talking things through, in order to ensure good communication and acknowledge and value differences; being affectionate and appreciative by demonstrating continued attractiveness to their spouse; making the most of things by enjoying everyday pleasures, looking for positive interpretations of events and focussing on the present (living for today); and finally, keeping the peace by being aware of potential points of friction and not responding to difficult behaviour. Both the person with dementia and the non-affected spouse were active strategies in the above process. In addition both spouses worked to ‘maintain the involvement’ of the person with dementia by ensuring that they had an active role to play. However, despite their efforts, eventually the non-affected spouse took on an increasing role and this occurred in a number of ways, either by the person with dementia consciously ‘handing over’ responsibility or more passively ‘letting go’, or by the non-affected spouse ‘taking over’. ‘Sustaining couplehood’ and ‘maintaining involvement’ often occurred simultaneously but the relative emphasis changed over time as ‘sustaining couplehood’ became more difficult and increasing effort was expended in ‘maintaining involvement’. As this occurred the data suggested that the non-affected spouse became increasingly ‘alone’ as the dementia progressed. This process has yet to be fully explored, however, it is clear that for spouses a complete understanding of the dementia experience is not possible without consideration of ‘couplehood’.

Today patients are more aware of their rights regarding their own care. They are more informed, more engaged and have more and individual requirements, which leads to increased demands for information and participation increases. The Health Act sets out the patients´ right to participation. Participation increases patient satisfaction with care, promotes healing and increases adherence to health care advise. The patient doesn´t always experience participation in their own care to the extent they wish, which suggests that nurse’s does not always succeed in getting the patient involved. The purpose of this study is to describe factors that are important for patient participation in nursing care in a nurse- and patient perspective. Nine research articles were analyzed with qualitative content analysis. The analysis resulted in two themes: health care relationships and communication. Through various acts of nursing care, patients experienced themselves as being seen and confirmed. Patients experienced a sense of security and trust, which is the essence of a trusting relationship, which in turn is the basis for caring and patient participation in their own care. Patient participation requires a sophisticated interaction between nurse and patient, a quest of a safe relationship that can lead the patient to see themselves seen and confirmed.       Keywords: patient participation, nurse-patient relationship, nurse, care

Projects are often spoken of in the terms of rational systems. However, some researchers point out the relevance of viewing projects as sets of relationships. Little is published about what aspects of relationships that are important for the managing of projects. We have argued for the necessity of such research. With previous research, our case study and interviews we indentified communication, responsibility, cooperation, togetherness and trust as important relational aspects in projects. The overall perceived success for projects in this case, was increased with the adoption of new agile methods. These new methods clearly favored communication and togetherness. We wish to present a perspective that will view projects as people and their relationships. / Projekt pratas ofta om i form av ett logiskt och rationellt system, men det är i sig ologiskt eftersom projektet i sådana termer inte existerar. Exempelvis kan projektet själv inte ha mål. Vid flera undersökningar har en majoritet angett relationer som den största framgångsfaktorn för projekt. Med hjälp av en fallstudie och tidigare forskning i ämnet anser vi att människor är det som kausalt skapar projekt och har därför intervjuat personer med olika roller med erfarenheter av arbete i projekt. Vår sammanslagning av empiri och teori pekar på att relationer existerar bland annat genom kommunikation, ansvar, samarbete, gemenskap och tillit. Men i detta fall är relationerna ock-så hårt styrda av strukturer och otydlighet. Vi har argumenterat för att ledningen, i vårt fall både kan och bör arbeta aktivt för att skapa fungerande relationer i projekt där uppgiften kräver det.

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Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate how retailer’s customer loyalty program can influence the channel power and what relationship between retailer with manufacturer can be created when channel power changes.   Method: A case study was adopted, and a qualitative research and face-to-face interview were used to collect the fundamental data.   Result &amp; Conclusions: The results exhibit that the customer loyalty program implemented by retailer can increase its channel power (both in basic power and market power) and create a dominant relationship with high channel conflict with its manufacturer. Based on the research of the case company, I found a close relationship with cooperation and trust could be developed based on the customer loyalty program between retailer and manufacturer to create benefit for the both.   Suggestions for future research: Only adopted one case and one interview in the research is the main limitation. Additionally, the limited sample size limited the research in some generalizations. It is difficult to use only one case to represent the whole situation of the market. In the further, a larger sample size adopted in research can increases the reliability of researcher’s generalization.   Contribution of the thesis: The research discloses how retailer’s customer loyalty program can influence the channel power. The drawbacks of the dominant relationship which caused by channel power rising have been researched. How to develop close relationship and what benefit it can bring to retailer have also been investigated in the end.

Decision making with the help of graphs has been applied for a long time. Previous to the introduction of computerized solutions, graphs and complementary pictures were hand drawn. With the introduction of computers came the colored and dynamic “animations” called simulations which are used today. The focal company of this study, Ångpanneföreningen AB, has during an extensive period of time constructed simulations of complex systems which they have used in order to satisfy specific needs of their customers in different areas. Depending on the complexity of the product and the needs it is ought to fulfill, the exchange of it will have a direct impact on the interactions carried out between the buying and selling parties in various ways. A question that this thesis looked to answer was how the utilization of simulations affects Ångpanneföreningen AB’s relationship with its customers. The purpose of this study is to describe how the use of a simulation program may affect the relation between two parties in a business relationship. A case study approach based on focused and semi-structural interviews has been used for this study.The effects of the use of simulations on a business relationship, in terms of benefits perceived, depend on the purpose set for the software. This meaning that it depends on whether the results and benefits are of such kind that they are possible to measure. However, if measurable, then the awareness of perceived benefits contributes to a stronger relationship since trust is likely to follow from met expectations. The simulation software offered by ÅF has the characteristics of both a product and a service with a highly technological nature. When dealing with simulations holding such attributes, a high level of exchanges is likely to be involved. Furthermore, interdependencies between two parties in a business relationship tend to develop as both the exchanges due to, and the complexities of, the simulation are of a high level, meaning that exchanges are needed in both directions.