Syftet med denna studie är att genom en kvalitativ forskningsmetod söka förståelse för och försöka fånga upplevelser av hur det är att leda det mindre företaget utan HR-avdelning. Studien har haft för avsikt att undersöka hur bland annat bristen på HR-stöd kan upplevas för den relativt ensamma ledaren. Utgångspunkt har tagits utifrån ledarrollen. Runt denna har teorier inhämtats som på något sätt kan knytas till upplevelser i ledningspositionen, från ledningsmodeller till grundläggande socialpsykologiska aspekter. Sex intervjuer har genomförts med fyra män och två kvinnor på högsta chefsnivå inom respektive företag. Varje respondent har olika erfarenheter och utbildningar och representerar vitt skilda branscher. Intervjuerna har spelats in och sedan noggrant transkriberats till text för bearbetning och analys. Analys har genomförts inledningsvis utifrån Grundad teori, där all teori och förförståelse bortsetts ifrån i möjligaste mån för att kategorisera texterna i två steg, i en typ av tematisering. Därefter har intervjusvar kopplats ihop med det teoretiska ramverket och befintlig forskning, och sedan tolkats utifrån detta. Studiens slutsatser pekar på många likheter i upplevelser på de olika företagen. Många utmaningar delas av samtliga och detsamma gäller belöningar. I enstaka fall skiljer de sig åt av olika skäl. Resultaten indikerar att arbetet med människor upplevs som det mest utmanande och krävande, men även som något av det mest positiva. Men det finns orosmoln av lite olika slag beroende på verksamhetssektor. Det finns också stöd utifrån att inhämta för ledaren genom lite olika strategier, enligt respondenterna i studien. Ledarskapet i det mindre företaget utan HR, kan tidvis som studiens titel indikerar upplevas som ensamt. Men behöver inte vara det hela tiden. / The purpose of this study is to, through a qualitative research method, seek an understanding of and try to capture experiences of what it is like to lead the smaller business without an HR department. The study intended to investigate how, among other things, the lack of HR support can be experienced for the relatively solitary leader. The starting point has been taken based on the leadership role. Around this, theories have been gathered that can in some way be linked to experiences in the management position, from management models to basic social psychological aspects. Six interviews have been conducted with four men and two women at the highest management level within each company. Each respondent has different experiences and educations and represents widely different industries. The interviews have been recorded and then carefully transcribed into text for processing and analysis. Analysis has initially been carried out on the basis of Grounded theory, where all theory and pre-understanding is set aside as much as possible in order to categorize the texts in two steps, in a type of thematization. Interview responses have then been connected with the theoretical framework and existing research, and then interpreted based on this. The study's conclusions point to many similarities in experiences at the various businesses. Many challenges are shared by all and the same goes for rewards. In some cases, they differ for various reasons. The results indicate that working with people is experienced as the most challenging and demanding, but also as one of the most positive. But there are clouds of concern of slightly different kinds depending on the business sector. There is also support based on obtaining for the leader through slightly different strategies, according to the respondents in the study. Leadership in the smaller company without HR, as the title of the study indicates, can sometimes be experienced as lonely. But it doesn't have to be all the time.

My thesis addresses the antagonism between the mystery of life and the destructive pursuit of power which forms a central theme in the works of Per Olof Sundman (1922–1992). The purpose is to show that Sundman uses the theme of the encounter/non-encounter and the destructive leader to examine the conditions for allowing a deeper experience of reality and the destructive exercise of power. I analyse these themes using concepts borrowed from literary studies (Atle Kittang, Paul Ricoeur, Bertil Romberg, Staffan Björck, Gérard Genette), the philosophy of religion (Martin Buber, Göran Bergstrand) and psychoanalysis (Ludvig Igra, Otto Kernberg, Erich Fromm, Julia Kristeva). My study highlights the problems associated with the destructive exercise of power, which is the overriding theme of Sundman's work.      I explore the theme of the encounter by using the concept pair I-You/I-It. With the aid of this concept pair, I throw light on the aspect of depth in our existence by describing the human encounter. In my analysis on the theme of power, I point out the personal qualities inherent in the destructive leader. I also explore the link between the destructive leader's inner conflict of narcissism and repressed weakness – a conflict projected to the outside world – and the emergence of violence. In order to reveal this inner process, I unearth on a latent level the theme of the destructive leader/stranger in Sundman's work. This enables me to single out the mechanism responsible for the emergence of destructivity in the human psyche, while showing the close link between this pattern of narcissism and projected weakness and a distorted view of reality.    Sundman contrasts this world of power with an integrative attitude to life. In his novel The Expedition, Sundman depicts life in the other world as being a state of human coexistence in which no one is seen to be a stranger. This idea of unity is reinforced by the choice of name for the first-person narrator of the other world. In this novel, the conditions enabling the flourishing of universalism as an attitude to life are also those that give expression in the I-You encounter to the experience of a deeper aspect to our existence.