Abstract Title: Hur kan chefer i fastighetsmäklarbranschen motverka personalomsättning – En kvalitativ studie av gruppdynamik och teambuilding. Level: Final assignment for Bachelor Degrees in Business Administration  Author: Magnus Flodmark and Oscar Stridh Supervisor: Kristina Mickelsson and Dr Agneta Sundström Date: 2019 June Aim: The purpose of the study is to gain an understanding of whether / how a manager within the real estate brokerage industry works to counteract and reduce staff turnover.  Method: The point of the study is qualitative with an inductive approach. Through interviews with managers in the real estate brokerage industry, empirical data was collected and analyzed with thematic analysis.  Result & Conclusion: What emerged from our interviews was that staff turnover is still seen as a major problem in the real estate brokerage industry. The managers in the industry are well aware of the problem and actively work to try to curb it.  Staff turnover in the real estate brokerage industry is largely caused by the lack of financial results for the brokers. The solution according to our respondents is to work with the group dynamic. A tool that is highlighted is work with teambuilding, which is also supported by previous research. In addition, we have also discovered that the managers in the real estate brokerage industry work with recruitment, where they place great emphasis on group dynamic factors instead of focusing solely on previous financial results. In this way, they try to solve the problem with high staff turnover. Contribution of the thesis: The study contributes to an increased understanding of how managers can work to reduce staff turnover, including work with group dynamics and team building. The recruitment process is considered one of the most important steps in reducing staff turnover. The study also contributes with knowledge to the real estate brokerage industry about how staff turnover can be prevented through concrete methods and emphasizes the importance of the recruitment process. Suggestions for future research: We propose to carry out studies to find out why employees choose to terminate their employment voluntarily, for example by interviewing formerly active brokers who have chosen to change industry. We also suggest that research should be carried out in the same area but from the employees' perspective. Key words: Group dynamic, Teambuilding, Well being at workplace, Trust-based relationship, sustainable leadership, Employee turnover, Staff turnover, Personalomsättning.

Bakgrund: Ett återkommande problem bland tjänstemän inom bemanningsföretag är en hög personalomsättning som mestadels kan kopplas till stress och bristande engagemang. Detta medför utmaningar för företagen när det gäller att skapa lojalitet och behålla personal i en konkurrenskraftig bransch. Teambuilding är ett verktyg företag använder för dess positiva effekter, där återkommande begrepp är kommunikation, engagemang och ledarskap. Vidare är teambuildingens relation till lojalitet någonting som tidigare forskning belyser, vilket har använts som teoretiskt perspektiv i denna studie och ligger till grund för det framtagna syftet. Syfte: Att förklara influerandet av teambuilding på lojaliteten bland tjänstemän i bemanningsföretag. Metod: En induktiv ansats har varit grunden i denna studie eftersom vi vill förstå och förklara innan vi sedan applicerar en teori som ska hjälpa oss att tolka vår insamlade data. För att besvara vårt syfte inom den angivna tidsramen valde vi att genomföra en kvalitativ flerfallstudie. Vi har använt oss av semistrukturerade intervjuer och dessa har genomförts med åtta informanter från två olika bemanningsföretag. Innan det var möjligt att presentera empirin gjorde vi en tematisk dataanalys för att kartlägga informanternas upplevelser. Slutsats: Analysen av den data som samlades in kunde generera ett svar på syftet med studien. Resultatet visar att teambuilding har positiva effekter på lojaliteten bland tjänstemän i bemanningsföretag. Lojaliteten påverkades från olika perspektiv som dels bekräftade tidigare forskning men där även ett nytt synsätt på relationen mellan teambuilding och lojalitet påvisas. / Background: A recurring problem amongst officials in staffing companies is a high staff turnover that can mostly be linked to stress and a lack of commitment. This poses challenges for companies in terms of creating loyalty and retaining staff in a competitive industry. Team building is a tool companies use for its positive effects, where recurring concepts are communication, engagement, and leadership. Furthermore, the relationship of team building and loyalty is something that is highlighted by previous research, which in this study has been used as a theoretical perspective and helped form the developed purpose. Purpose: To explain the influence of team building on the loyalty among officials in staffing companies. Method: An inductive approach has been the basis of this study to understand and explain before applying a theory that will help us interpret our collected data. In order to answer the designed purpose within the specified timeframe, we chose to conduct a qualitative multiple case study. We have used semi-structured interviews, and these have been conducted with eight informants from two different staffing companies. Before it was possible to present the empirical data, we did a thematic data analysis to map out the informants' experiences. Conclusion: The analysis of the collected data was able to generate an answer to the designed purpose of the study. The result shows that team building has positive effects on loyalty among officials in the staffing companies. Loyalty was affected from different perspectives that both confirmed previous research but also demonstrated a new approach to the relationship between team building and loyalty.

The thesis pertains to optimisation of workgroups in companies. It is based on the work of Dr. Meredith Belbin from the Henley Management College, who is the author of the so-called Belbin’s team role theory. The theory defines fundamental roles within a team including specifications of the behavioural patterns while stipulating that in order to ensure proper functionality of a team, it is essential for all the roles to be represented in it. However, in practice it is necessary for specific people to comply not only with certain personal and psychological requirements but also professional expertise and other requirements. Nevertheless, by the means of adding these parameters to specific people, an enormous number of possible alternatives of the resulting team, which may not be evaluated (easily and in the real time) using traditional methods, proves to come to existence. Therefore, the so-called genetic algorithms inspired by natural development processes originally described by J. G. Mendel and Ch. Darwin were selected for evaluation purposes. The genetic algorithms feature good solutions to the task to be resolved in a very short time while the task does not have to be based on exact specifications and therefore several solutions might exist. A Java application was created within the scope of the thesis; its core comprises a genetic algorithm and it was used for the purpose of modelling of specific teams. The results provided by the application were subsequently verified by the means of creation of teams used for completion of new tasks and monitoring their activities in practice. Furthermore, the model verification of teams previously created solely on the basis of experience of executives was performed and the respective results were compared.

This thesis is primarily focused on the field of evaluation of organizational training and its possible application on outdoor-teambuilding training activities. The goal of the paper is to critically analyze the current state of knowledge of training evaluation and, based on the discovered facts, to synthetize evaluation model, which could be used for evaluating outdoor- teambuilding programs. Firstly, the basic concepts of outdoor-training, teambuilding and evaluation are introduced. In the following chapters, there is the presentation and comparison of chosen evaluation models, which are used in the field of training. Above mentioned part provides a theoretical base for the thesis and based on this, there is a new model introduced, which is modified specifically for outdoor-teambuilding evaluation. In the conclusion, there are also recommendations for further studies and researches. Key Words: evaluation, training evaluation, evaluation models, applied evaluation, current trends in evaluation, outdoor training, teambuilding

Syftet med studien var att ta reda på hur gymnasieungdomar upplever utomhuspedagogiska moment i undervisningen. . Det är en kvalitativ undersökning gjord vid Bernadottegymnasiet i Stockholm. Studien baseras på deltagande observationer under drygt två fältdygn och på semi-strukturerade intervjufrågor med tolv elever, i tre fokusgrupper. Resultatet visar att elever upplever utomhuspedagogiska undervisningsmoment positivt. Eleverna anser att dessa moment utgör ett viktigt komplement till traditionell undervisning, och att utomhuspedagogik ökar både motivation och förståelse av begrepp, genom den autenticitet de erbjuder. Den positiva upplevelsen förstärks om lärsituationen upplevs som relevant och autentiskt. / The aim of this study was to investigate upper secondary school pupils' attitudes to outdoor learning. It is a qualitative study done at the Bernadotte upper secondary school in Stockholm. The study is based on participant observations during two days and on semi-structured interview questions with 12 pupils in three focus groups. The results show that pupils in upper secondary school experience outdoor learning as positive. The pupils argue that those exercises constitute an important complement to traditional education and that outdoor education increases both motivation and understanding due to the authenticity it offers. This positive impression is strengthened if the educational situation is perceived as relevant and authentic.

Problem:                      What role do sub-contractors have in a partnering project? Purpose:                       The purpose of the case study is to describe, explain and understand the sub-contractor’s role in a partnering project. The study will complement existing partnering research that is one-dimensional. Method:                       The study had an abductive approach and was based on a literature study, which collected secondary data and created the theoretical framework, and a qualitative case study, where semi-structured interviews collected primary data and created the empirical chapter. The empirical study is based on interviews with six respondents, all participants in the same project, three sub-contractors, one main contractor and one project manager. To ensure that the empirical study answered the issue and is relevant in relation to the theoretical framework, an operationalization scheme was used in the development of the interview guide. The interviews were transcribed, commented, categorized and coded. The empirical study was built around the themes presented in the theoretical framework. The analysis was done by systematically testing the empirical material against the theories. The study has limited generalization possibilities since it only highlights one project but the study is not meant for generalization. Conclusion:                  The case study complements existing knowledge through the factors participation and trust where the sub-contractors role is explained, described and understood in the Swedish construction industry. Organisations and individuals who want to understand the role of the sub-contractor in a partnering project can use the case study. It can also be used in a more general meaning to raise knowledge about partnering. The study shows that formal means are not as crucial as earlier research states; instead the informal means are the important ones. / Frågeställning:            Vilken roll har underentreprenörerna i ett partneringprojekt? Metod:                          Studien genomfördes med en abduktiv ansats och baseras på en litteraturstudie, som samlade in sekundärdata och skapade den teoretiska referensramen, och en kvalitativ fallstudie, där semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes som samlade in primärdata och ligger till grund för empiri-kapitlet. Den empiriska studien baseras på ett urval av sex respondenter, alla aktörer i samma projekt, tre underentreprenörer, en huvudentreprenör och en projektledare. För att säkerställa att den empiriska studien besvarade frågeställningen och var relevant i förhållande till litteraturstudien gjordes ett operationaliseringsschema som användes vid utvecklandet av intervjuguiden. Intervjuerna transkriberades, kommenterades, kategoriserades och kodades. Empirin byggdes upp kring de teman som presenterades i den teoretiska referensramen. Analysarbetet skedde genom att systematiskt testa empiri mot teori. Studien har begränsade generaliseringsmöjligheter eftersom den endast utgår ifrån ett projekt. Den är dock inte menad att användas för att generalisera. Slutsats:                        Studien kompletterar befintlig kunskap genom faktorerna delaktighet och förtroende som beskriver, förklarar och förstår underentreprenörers roll i den svenska byggindustrin. Studien kan användas av organisationer och individer som vill förstå underentreprenörens roll i ett partneringprojekt. Den kan också användas för att få en mer generell förståelse för partnering. Studien visar att formella medel inte är lika avgörande som tidigare forskning menar utan det är de informella medlen som har betydelse.

Teamarbete (eng. teamwork) är förenat med positiva organisatoriska och individuella effekter, vilket kan förklara varför organisationer i allt större utsträckning vill genomföra teambuildingsinsater för att förbättra teameffektivitet och teamprestation. Det övergripande syftet med examensarbetet var att undersöka vilka effekter en specifik teambuildingsinsats kunde medföra för team i termer av reflexivitet, reella teambeteenden, teammedlemsskattad teameffektivitet samt ledarskattad teamprestation. Författarna ämnade också undersöka vilken effekt insatsen kunde få för enskilda teammedlemmar i termer av förändrad arbetstillfredsställelse och intention att sluta sitt arbete. Den teambuildingsinsats som genomfördes i föreliggande examensarbete syftade till att kartlägga och förbättra beteendeprocesser. Nio team från olika verksamhetsområden med totalt 57 teammedlemmar fick ta del av teambuildingsinsatsen. Två enkäter delades ut innan insatsen, en teamledarenkät och en teammedlemsenkät, samt en enkät från ett digitalt verktyg för teambuildingsinsatsen, för att undersöka effekterna av intresse. En eftermätning gjordes fyra till sex veckor efter teambuildingsinsatsen. Pearsons korrelationskoefficient, t-test, Wilcoxons teckenrangstest samt hierarkiska multipla regressionsanalyser användes för bearbetning av data. Resultatet visade på en signifikant ökning av skattning av reella teambeteenden samt ökning av teameffektivitet. Dessutom visade resultatet att förekomsten av reella teambeteenden kan predicera teams effektivitet över tid. Detta resultat legitimerar att organisationer i allt större utsträckning vill genomföra teambuildingsinsater som bygger på samma grund som den aktuella teambuildingsinsatsen. / Teamwork is associated with positive organizational and individual effects, explaining the increase in organizations’ implementation of team building interventions, in order to improve team effectiveness and team performance. The overall aim of the study was to investigate the effects of a specific team building intervention on teams in terms of team reflexivity, real team behavior, team rated team effectiveness, and leader rated team performance. The authors also aimed to investigate the impact of the team building intervention on individual team members regarding job satisfaction and intention to leave. The purpose of the team building intervention utilized for data collection was to map and improve behavioral processes. Nine teams from different industries with a total of 57 team members participated in the team building intervention. Prior to the intervention two surveys were distributed, one for team leaders and one for team members, as well as a survey from a digital team building tool, for evaluation of potential effects of the intervention. An additional measurement was made four to six weeks after the team building intervention. Pearson correlation coefficient analysis, t-test, Wilcoxon signed ranks test, and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to analyze data. The result showed a significant increase in estimation of real team behavior and increase in team effectiveness. In addition, the result demonstrated that presence of real team behaviors may predict team effectiveness over time. This result justifies organizations’ increase in implementation of team building interventions similar to the intervention investigated in the present study.