Högskolan i Skövde

Purpose: This study aims to explore the impact of social comparison orientation (SCO) on financial management behavior (FMB) in a developing country with a collectivist culture. It examines how SCO is related to FMB directly and through financial self-efficacy (FSE) and how financial socialization (FS) moderates the SCO–FMB relationship.

Design/methodology/approach: Data was collected from 301 adults in Dhaka, Bangladesh, using self-administered survey questionnaires. Mediation and moderation analyses were performed using Smart PLS software.

Findings: The results indicate that SCO was positively associated with FMB. FSE mediates this relationship, enhancing SCO’s positive impact on FMB. Additionally, FS moderates the effect of SCO on FMB, with higher levels of FS strengthening this positive relationship.

Research limitations/implications: The primary implication of this research is the revelation that SCO can positively impact FMB, contrary to traditional views, particularly when FSE mediates the relationship and FS moderates it. The findings suggest that interventions aimed at enhancing FSE and promoting FS can improve FMB. These insights are valuable for financial educators, policymakers and individuals in developing countries seeking to improve financial behavior.

Originality/value: This study makes four significant contributions: first, it demonstrates a positive direct relationship between SCO and FMB. Second, it reveals that FSE mediates the relationship between SCO and FMB. Third, it shows that FS moderates the SCO–FMB relationship. Fourth, it focuses on a sample from the emerging middle class in a developing country representing a collectivist culture, providing unique insights into this dynamic segment.

Background: The Swedish public administration has for long carried the brand of the management philosophy New Public Management, which is often associated with, among other things, result oriented planning and control. In recent years, a new administration philosophy has been introduced, trust-based governance and leadership, as a complement to address some of the weaknesses with the aforementioned New Public Management. These two administration philosophies constitute the background of this study and consequently the rationale behind why the two governing ideals, trust and control, are being examined within the Swedish Public Employment Service. 

Purpose: The study aims to develop an understanding of the significance that the governing ideals, trust and control, have on both section managers and employees within the agency. This is done by exploring and analyzing how and why section managers within the Swedish Public Employment Service work to balance both governing ideals in relation to their employees. 

Question: How and why do section managers within the Swedish Public Employment Service work to balance both governing ideals, trust and control in relation to their employees? 

Method: To carry out this study, a qualitative method was used. The studies' empirical results consist of eight semi-structured interviews with section managers from the Swedish Public Employment Service. 

Results and conclusion: The results of this study show that the studied section managers within the Swedish Public Employment Service balance trust and control by acting as a filter for their employees. This is done by masking the communication of the controls to the employees. Furthermore, the section managers realize the effects and impact that an increased focus on control has on employees, and they are therefore critical of the comprehensive control mechanisms that exist within the organization.

This article discusses wage setting in SMEs in eight European countries, how wage setting in small firms differs from that in larger firms and how trade unions address the issue. The context is the increased decentralisation of wage setting. Wage setting is analysed at four different levels: the workplace, the regional, the industry and the national level. The main finding is that trade unions’ ability to secure higher wages for workers in SMEs depends not upon workplace organisation, but upon well functioning industrial relations institutions. That is, if workers in SMEs earn less than employees inlarger companies, this is due not to the size of the company but to the absence of a comprehensive collective bargaining system that encompasses SMEs.

Purpose: The purpose of the article is to analyze how physicians and nurses, as the two major health care professions, experience psychological empowerment for managerial work. Design/methodology/approach: The study was designed as a qualitative interview study at four primary care centers (PCCs) in Sweden. In total, 47 interviews were conducted, mainly with physicians and nurses. The first inductive analysis led us to the concept of psychological empowerment, which was used in the next deductive step of the analysis. Findings: The study showed that both professions experienced self-determination for managerial work, but that nurses were more dependent on structural empowerment. Nurses experienced that they had competence for managerial work, whereas physicians were more ignorant of such competence. Nurses used managerial work to create impact on the conditions for their clinical work, whereas physicians experienced impact independently. Both nurses and physicians experienced managerial work as meaningful, but less meaningful than nurses and physicians' clinical work. Practical implications: For an effective health care system, structural changes in terms of positions, roles, and responsibilities can be an important route for especially nurses' psychological empowerment. Originality/value: The qualitative method provided a complementary understanding of psychological empowerment on how psychological empowerment interacted with other factors. One such aspect was nurses' higher dependence on structural empowerment, but the most important aspect was that both physicians and nurses experienced that managerial work was less meaningful than clinical work. This implies that psychological empowerment for managerial work may only make a difference if psychological empowerment does not compete with physicians' and nurses' clinical work. 

In 2002 University West received a specific mission from the Swedish government to develop Work-integrated learning (WIL), but already in 1990 the University Board of Directors branded the university “as the first and only WIL educational and research institution of higher education in Sweden” (Piperet al., 2023). Since 2020 University West also offers a PhD program in WIL with the aim to enhancelearning in the workplace (University West, 2023). However, WIL was a track within previous PhDprograms at University West. These actions are likely to impact the research outcomes of the university,but it is unknown to what extent this has happened especially in comparison to other universities inSweden. Governmental funding can have a powerful impact on institutional behavior (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2020), which likely also influences individual researchers’actions. In addition, organizational strategies of universities can also influence academic researchcollaboration (Kienast, 2023). Therefore, it is likely that the specific national mission and University West’s strategy concerning WIL has had traceable effects in research publications, however thebibliometric level of impact is unexplored.

BACKGROUND: In 2020 the Swedish Government started a gradual raising of the retirement age, but employers have been silent on the issue. Little is known about whether and how they reflect on what it will mean for their organization, or whether they already have, or are going to, make arrangements in order to facilitate and motivate older workers to stay longer.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to explore and describe managers' experiences of older workers and age management in connection with the increase of the retirement age in Sweden.

METHODS: Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with fourteen managers from a broad set of organizations in the public and private sectors, and from the Middle and East of Sweden. The transcribed material was analysed in line with qualitative content analysis.

RESULTS: The analysis ended up in seven main categories with associated sub-categories: Older Workers, Retirement Ages, Transition Initiatives, Competence Transfer, Competence Development, Increased Retirement Ages, Knowledge Gaps.

CONCLUSION: Our findings reveal that there is an ambivalence in addressing the issue of age among the interviewed managers, what we have interpreted and labelled as "silent age discrimination", and it was shown that they do not have elaborated strategies for age management.

Background In 2020, the world was affected by the COVID-19-pandemic. As a result, many companies were recommended to work remotely (FHM, 2020). This has meant that teams have transitioned to becoming virtual teams and office work has transitioned to teleworking. Managers' leadership has faced challenges in being able to handle the new situation and to exercise leadership remotely. The situation has led managers to change their leadership to resemble situational leadership.

Purpose The purpose of the study is to create an understanding of how a manager's leadership has changed over time, but mainly changes that occurred when Covid-19 hit the world. The study examines how leaders exercise their leadership in virtual teams at a distance. It has also highlighted employees' views on the change in the manager's leadership.

Method The study is based on a qualitative method with interviews and surveys. The interviews were conducted with nine different managers from different companies and industries. The surveys were conducted by 32 employees to complete the interviews.

Result Based on the empirical results, the researchers were able to see to the study that the transition to teleworking has been very different for managers. The managers had had to adapt their leadership to the situation they were in. The managers had all been put to the test in their leadership to adapt to the new situation and the environment, which was mainly the difference that the managers experienced is the contact with their employees.

Conclusions In conclusion, leadership has been more supportive than governing. Because all organizations look different, they have faced different challenges depending on their situation. The study shows that more supportive behaviour has been used in general. It has been shown on a few occasions that a governing leadership style has been useful, but it is not possible to say which leadership style is best suited for teams that transition to virtual teams during a pandemic because all organizations face different situations and challenges.

Purpose: The purpose of this work was to analyze the factors that contribute to burnout in those who works in health care. Method: The following work consists of literature study. Analysis: Several scientific cross-sectional articles from different countries were used with the aim of investigating which work environment factors often occur and cause the burnout among physicians, nurses and assisted nurses. Result: During the result, it was reported the burnout is caused by many factors such as stressful working days, young age, lack of work experience, family status, number of children, close cooperation with many patients, little contact med colleagues, high demands and ingratitude from the patients, problems with finances, lack of rest and individual´s health problems. Using the Maslach Burnout Inventory and Copenhagen Burnout Inventory used in articles, fatigue syndrome was clearly defined, and its factors carefully analyzed. Discussion: In the discussion two different Burnout Inventory – surveys were described with the support of articles. In addition, the characteristics of a survey were discussed, with was supported by Bryman (2008); and articles, used in the analysis, were presented to ensure their credibility.

Det saknas forskning inom området ledarskap för den skandinaviska byggsektorn i allmänhet. Den här studien tar sin utgångspunkt i medarbetarens syn på ledarskapet i ett större byggprojekt hos ett av nordens ledande bygg- och anläggningsföretag. Studien är gjord som en kvalitativ undersökning och sex intervjuer genomfördes med representativa medarbetare från organisationen. Respondenterna var en blandad grupp, några tillsvidare anställda hos PEAB, andra tillfälligt inhyrda. Frågorna berörde de anställdas upplevelse av det utövade ledarskap som de själva exponerats för från sina närmaste ledare. Ledarna i fråga var de närmaste överordnade som de anställda har kontakt med på daglig bas. Men även frågor om organisationskultur, arbetsglädje och trivsel undersöks. Svaren från respondenterna transkriberades och kodades för att analys skulle kunna ske. Med symbolisk interaktionism som yttre ramverk analyseras svaren även med socialutbytesteori, rättviseteori, gruppteori och situationsanpassat ledarskap. Utifrån en rad teman presenteras resultat, analys och diskussion. Studien visar på en komplex bild av medarbetarens syn och tankar på sin arbetsplats, kommunikationen som sker där, relationen till andra anställda samt hur man ser på sina ledare. Studien Generellt framkommer att man är nöjd med sin arbetsplats och det utövade ledarskapet. Man när en konservativ syn på termen ledare/chef men talar egentligen om en ledare. Man tycker att det finns en förståelse för att alla är mänskliga och kan göra fel från ledarna och det uppskattas, men viss irritation och missnöje finns. Det råder en gruppindelning på arbetsplatsensom kan vara farlig att se bort ifrån.

In 2001, Swedish authorities imposed a new obligation upon all firms with ten or more employees to undertake annual wage surveys, ‘workplace equality audits’ in which it is possible to ascertain, remedy and prevent unwarranted wage differentials and other unfair employment terms between men and women. An important implication of the new system, called ‘workplace equality renewal’ (självsanering), is that, at the level of the firm all Swedish employers must explain what they mean by work of ‘equal value’ as opposed to ‘different value’. This article discusses the practical pros and cons of the new system, and considers how the surveys can be used in research into the present state of gendered work division. A main finding is that the introduction of this new legislation in the long run might change the Swedish industrial relations system as well as the preconditions for many companies’ human resource management policies. Yet, neither the governmental agencies involved nor the parties’ confederate organizations have been able to clarify what the issue is really about to the single, small business employer or to the local trade union branches. Many employers find any interference, whatever it may be, threatening and trade unions have not realized the potentialities of the system from an employee perspective, potentialities connected to the fact that companies are now more or less forced to make transparent their wage policies at large.

Background: On the 16th of January 2020, a new coronavirus was discovered in the Chinese city of Wuhan. At that time, the risk of the disease reaching Sweden was assessed as very low. Due to the pandemic, teleworking has experienced rapid growth, leading to changes in working methods where the emergence of digital technology has facilitated the development of teleworking. Digitization contributes to the fact that most employees can work anytime and anywhere they want. Teleworking is characterized by spatial and temporal flexibility. Several factors affect employees' community spirit and cooperation and in the present study the focus will be on how teleworking affects employees' community spirit and cooperation.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe the employees perception of telework and specifically the impact of telework on employees' community spirit and cooperation during the Covid-19 pandemic. In the present study, the public sector is examined.

Method: To give a descriptive picture of the chosen area the study is based on a qualitative approach. The study is based on qualitative interviews with employees belonging to municipal services.

Conclusion: The study shows that the community spirit is still just as good for the reason that the employees had a good cohesion even before the pandemic. The employees have maintained good community spirit and they experience the feeling of belonging and well-being as they can still meet each other by using digital tools. The communication has maintained despite the fact that the employees now meet virtually. Employees experience a decrease of close contact and social interaction, which can lead to them experiencing social isolation, as the natural closeness to each other was more natural in the workplace. The cooperation has maintained through the transition to digital form, however, the study shows that the cooperation has not improved. Digital workplace meetings have been introduced and now take place at approximately the same frequency as before, which means that the workplace meetings have been preserved despite teleworking. By that means, they continue to carry out joint activities despite teleworking, which can lead to a reduction in the risk of employees experiencing social isolation.

This special issue uses the occasion of the centenary of the Whitley Commission Reports to illuminate the contemporary crisis in public service industrial relations from a historical perspective. In all six countries studiedBritain, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and the USApublic service employment is labour intensive and quantitatively significant in the overall economy. Public services have also been major targets of neoliberal reforms, starting in the UK and the USA at the turn of the 1980s and in the other countries about a decade later. In addition, the relatively high union density and the political dimension of public services and public union strategies have been major targets of new public management and more latterly austerity. However, the regressive period has had a differential impact in different countries. In the liberal market economies of the UK and the USA, the neoliberal turn has destabilised traditional patterns of public sector industrial relations to greatest effect. While in the more coordinated market economies, traditional arrangements and values have been more resistant to austerity and neoliberal reforms. We attempt to shed light on these differential impacts through a critical analysis of the historical evolution of public sector industrial relations in each country.

Background: One challenge that today's organizations face is to retain their competent employees and make them feel committed. Managers' attitudes affect the relationship with employees, which means that choosing a leadership style can affect employees' performance. Transformative leadership can strengthen the relationships between the manager and colleagues among themselves, which can affect the emotional connection that the employee has to the organization.

Purpose: The study aims to investigate whether there is a positive relationship between transformational leadership and affective commitment. This is done to find an effective way to retain employees. The hope is that the study will contribute to a strengthened picture of previous research by investigating a new industry.

Method: To be able to answer the purpose, a quantitative method was used. A total of 41 respondents from four different organizations participated in a survey.

Conclusion: The results of the study were able to demonstrate that there is a positive relationship between transformational leadership and affective commitment. Thus, the study may reinforce previous research's reasoning that transformative leadership can be contributing to improving affective commitment even from the context examined.

Background: A rapid change to working remotely has taken place as a consequence of the covid-19 pandemic. Business have faced several challenges when communication and relations have had to be managed digitally. Leadership is an important role in the development of a business and thus the following study looks at how increased distance leadership affects the design of work and thus bank employees´ motivation. The study focuses on the banking sector, where it is investigated based on Hackman and Oldham´s “Job characteristic model” which characteristics of a task affect the motivation in a distance leadership.

Purpose: The purpose is to investigate how increased distance work has affected the work design and motivation of bank employees.

Method: A qualitative and quantitative method has been used in the study's data collection. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with three bank managers who have extensive experience in the banking industry. A questionnaire has also been sent out to employees to capture their perspective. Two more interviews were conducted with employees to gain a deeper insight into their view of distance work.

Conclusion: In the case of distance leadership, it is important that the manager has a good structure with clear guidelines for what applies. The loss of social interaction weighs heaviest and since the spontaneous dialogues disappear during a distance work are communication and feedback two important factors. There are those who have appreciated distance work more than others, but everyone agrees that an effective work takes place because it creates benefits in the private life.

This study is a qualitative study where the writers intended to find out women's personal experiences of their career path through in-depth interviews with six female managers in senior management positions. The purpose of the studies was therefore to create a deeper understanding of women managers' experiences of success factors in their career advancement, in the private sector. That is, what has been decisive for their advancement but also their experiences of any obstacles that have appeared along the way. The aim of the study is also to investigate whether the female managers' experiences are in line with previous research and theories that claim that it is more difficult for women to advance in their careers. In-depth interviews provide a deep understanding of each woman's experience of her career and how they view their own career and what factors have been decisive for them. In this way, the writers in this study wanted to contribute with knowledge about what it is like as a woman to advance in the private sector, in a Swedish context. The results showed that the female managers' experiences are consistent with previous research and studies. However, the female managers do not consider themselves to have experienced any obstacles in their career path, although the writers interpreted that they nevertheless encountered some obstacles.

In this paper, the 206 papers published at the Swedish Production Symposium (SPS) conferences in 2018, 2020, and 2022 have been analyzed, primarily focusing their relationship to the six industrial challenges identified by Produktion2030. Based on the analysis, ten in-depth interviews with representatives from the Swedish Production Academy (SPA) and industry have been done. These interviews have reflected on the analysis of the papers from the SPS conferences as well as progress during the years of the SPS conferences. The emergence and implementation of the SPS conferences have a similar time span as the Vinnova program Produktion2030. The analysed papers indicate that the focus and development directions of the two have been similar, but not completely overlapping. The close collaboration between academia and industry in Swedish production research is clearly shown by the papers and indicated through an alignment with the industrial challenges indicated by Produktion2030. Of all the papers, 2/3 clearly state such collaboration, and the interviews indicate that the extent of the collaboration is even more extensive than that. The findings from the analysis also include the distribution of research funders involved, gender distribution among authors, and where they are from. Two findings that stand out are the need to more clearly state funding bodies for the published research and to also state more clearly in the papers how, in what way, and with whom the researchers collaborated. 

Background: When the pandemic broke out about two years ago, many sectors of the labor market were hit hard. One of the sectors hardest hit was healthcare. Healthcare has faced several challenges as the number of patients and the shortage of nurses has increased. This has placed high demands on all employers in healthcare to be able to recruit new staff and most importantly to retain existing staff. In order to be able to attract new staff and retain existing staff, it is required that employers find key elements in what employees consider to be attractive work.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze the perception of nurses regarding their believes on what makes their profession attractive within the municipal (government) sector. By using the “model for attractive work” (Åteg, et al., 2004), the purpose is to describe and analyze characteristics that are considered attractive work for nurses in the municipal sector. The study is conducted in the municipal sector's home health care.

Method: The study is based on a qualitative method with a deductive research approach. Empirical data is collected that are based on an employee perspective to give the study an increased credibility. There were a total of eight semi-structured interviews with nurses within the homecare sector in a smaller municipal in the western region of Sweden.

Conclusion: The results of the study show that there are several characteristics that the nurses in the present study considered to contribute to attractive work. Relationships with colleagues, stimulation and variety of tasks are the characteristics that are most important when it comes to attractive work. Salary is also something that is prioritized, however, the relationship with colleagues weighs higher. This does not exclude that the other dimensions that the study addresses are unimportant, but the four above are highly valued. The relationship with colleagues is important insofar as the nurses have someone to discuss with and gain new knowledge from. The stimulus within the work was important and to achieve this, internal training could contribute to an increased stimulus. Variety of tasks was also one of the most important dimensions and contributes strongly to the attractive work, this was also something that the administrative tasks could contribute by reducing the administrative work.

Background: Digitization has increased rapidly in recent years, which places demands on flexibility and adaptability. Mental illness such as anxiety, depression and fatigue have in recent years become the most common cause of sick leave in Sweden and this often leads to long sick leave. Employees’ health can be promoted by companies by offering various health-specific programs, activities and measures and by forming a well-functioning work organization that is beneficial to productivity, well-being and health.

Purpose: To investigate employees' experiences of using a mobile health application, GOOZO, as inspired by gamification, to promote work-related health.

Method: An exploratory case study with an inductive approach. Nine semi-structured interviews were conducted with HR staff and employees at an organization that has implemented a digital health and personnel strategic tool. Analysis of the data has been done with a qualitative content analysis.

Result: Four categories with associated subcategories have emerged. These are individual motives for use, social co-operation, the employee's commitment and the application’s functionality.

Conclusion: Using a digital application to promote work-related health can be a good way to draw attention to the importance of health. Gamification is also an incentive to increase the social coherence at the workplace, as activities with a competition focus can engage employees. The results of the study contribute to meeting the global Goals 3, 8 and 10 of the UN Agenda 2030.

Background: One of the biggest changes of our time is digitalization. Digital innovation has been crucial and opened opportunities for communication and collaboration with companies around the world. Virtual teams have become a big part of today's work situation. Digitalization has created greater challenges for leaders to engage and motivate employees. To promote each individual's talent, creative ideas, driving force and performance, there is a framework, called performance management, that promotes this type of labor. An important aspect of performance management is also considered to be “learning”. As far as is practically possible, learning and work should be integrated.

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of digitalization on digital team leadership, performance management and organizational learning.

Method: The study uses both qualitative and quantitative data but mainly has a qualitative focus where a multiple case study at four companies made it possible to achieve the purpose. In the thesis, they are referred to as Company A, B, C and D. There, a triangulation was carried out which consisted of interviews with people in leading positions, an employee survey at all companies was implemented and collection of documentation from the companies and their websites.

Conclusion: In the survey, Company A, B, C and D have become examples of how the impact of digitalization looked for different companies and industries in terms of digital team leadership, work with performance management and organizational learning. The study showed that digitalization has greatly affected digital team leadership. On the other hand, the impact of digitalization in terms of work with performance management was not very significant as all companies have been working with digital tools and systems before. In terms of organizational learning, the study finally shows that digitalization has had an impact on the process of becoming a learning organization.

The study highlights the problem and the special work environment faced by retail as a workplace. Uncomfortable working hours, the presence of customers and stressful environments are some of the peculiar features familiar to those who work in retail, features that might be what attracts people to the industry in the first place.

The purpose of the study is to gain in-depth knowledge of what factors in the workplace that drives motivation and specific motivation in the retail sector. In addition to which factors contribute to motivation, it also identifies what essential factors there are to form a functioning workplace. Based on Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory, these different factors are identified to create a greater understanding of the interaction in the workplace.

Two main issues have been the driving force in the design of the current study. These were how applicable Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory is in retail and its current context in Sweden and how a more motivating workplace can be achieved for store staff.

In order to be able to answer the questions, previous studies in the subject have been studied and interviews conducted. The interviews were conducted with both owners / store managers and employees at each workplace. Theory and empirics have then been analysed.

The results of the study show that some factors from Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory are still current, some have changed and that some additional ones have been added. This has resulted in a modified model of Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory.

While level design is a concept commonly used in western game companies, it is veiled in a lack of clear conceptualization. Many research papers on the subject describe the role of level designer as elusive, and there is a great variation in the descriptions used in job listings for the role. This paper aims to identify a set of characteristics for the field of level design, by reviewing literature and analyzing responsibilities and requirements in job listings. To obtain more inclusive and cross-cultural results, interviews were also conducted with Japanese game developers to explain the concept of level design in their industry. By combining the qualitative data from interviews and literature analysis, with the quantitative data from job listings (n=33), the research highlights common denominators for the role of level design, but also demonstrate cultural differences and discrepancies between academia and industry. Thus suggesting gaps in current research as well as culturally. The findings aim to elucidate directions for future research, and promote focus towards the needs of the industry.

This paper focuses on the impact of the 2007/2008 financial and economic crisis on the public sector and its labour relations in Spain, the UK, Sweden and Germany. The analysis of the contextual background - general and societal economic developments as well as industrial relations - in which such transformations happened embeds the comparison of the four country case studies. Our findings show that the crisis and austerity policies furthered some short-term divergent developments of the public sectors in the countries considered but long-term convergence can be also expected. Some theoretical conclusions from these mixed developments in the aftermath of the crisis are drawn.

BACKGROUND

A transition to an activity-based office from cell-offices has become a popular office design in Swedish municipalities. The activity-based office can be considered a functional solution for knowledge-intensive organizations and the remodelling can be explained as an organizational change. Some of the most common reasons for organizational change failing are due to the inadequate use of human resources. HR's expert knowledge of human resources can therefore play an important role in organizational changes to activity-based offices.

PURPOSE

The study's purpose is to describe the roles HR takes in organizational change to activity[1]based offices.

METHOD

The study was conducted using a qualitative method through semi-structured interviews with eight respondents in five Swedish municipalities.

CONCLUSION

Organizational changes to activity-based offices can be seen as a cyclical process of change where the transformative change, which consists of the redevelopment, also consists of evolutionary change processes that in turn affect the human resources. This interpretation means that HR's roles in an organizational change to activity-based offices have been identified in the phases of change unfreeze, change and refreeze. The work with human resources is characterized by continuous improvement work and can thus be understood as an evolutionary process of change without a specific end. Based on HR's expert knowledge of human resources, the study's results thus show that HR employees in the studied municipalities act as change leaders in the evolutionary change processes that an activity-based office entails rather than linked to the transformative.

IT has been a male-dominated area for a long time with a clear underrepresentation of women. Stories from when the field was created paint a picture of a very one-sided mentality type of field where women’s own perspective and ideas are often ignored and that their perspectives carry no importance for IT and society.

The purpose of the thesis is therefore to study how the field of networking- and system administration can become more inclusive for women. This was done with five semi-structured interviews with women who (in one way or another) work as network- and system administrators. The study itself is qualitative and has been coded inductively to let the women’s experiences and thoughts steer the presentation of data.

The results of the study show that, despite its placement on the gender equality scale, Sweden still has a lot to accomplish within the IT-field in order for it to become inclusive for women. This report also shows that there are consequences of this underrepresentation on design of IT-related things, systems, and equipment. These results also show that the IT-field needs to become more inclusive because the field misses out on a lot of important competence, but also that women’s inclusion in IT can have a positive influence on the economy as well. Further results show that companies, according to the participants of the study, must become better at recruiting, representation, and listening to women’s opinions.

Background: The banking and finance sector is an industry that has faced enormous pressure from digitalisation. Banks have no longer been able to rely on traditional working methods and have therefore switched to digital tools to streamline their way of working. With the transition, the question has also been raised regarding the requirements for digital knowledge that exist among first-line managers and the impact that digitalisation has had on their leadership.

Question: What digital knowledge does the digital development of today's first-line managers in banking and finance require and how digital aids have affected the leadership of first-line managers in relation to task-oriented and relationship-oriented leadership?

Purpose: The aim of the study is to investigate first-line managers' demand for digital knowledge and its impact on leadership work in the banking and finance sector.

Method: This study is of a qualitative nature based on an interpretive perspective. The empirical data is collected through seven semi-structured interviews with informants from seven different companies in the banking and finance sector.

Conclusion: The results of the study indicate that digitalisation has changed the leadership of organizations in the banking and finance sector. Digitization has created flexibility and efficiency for first-line managers. The result of this indicates that digital knowledge is important for leadership. According to the study, having the ability to handle digital tools as a leader is considered to lead to a more task-oriented leadership, this is because the empirical result indicates that digital tools are the new "colleague". Despite this, it is incredibly important that there is a focus on relationship-oriented leadership to promote physical relationships that create motivation in the workplace according to the study.

With increasing market deregulation, workplace relationships, identities, and functions are gradually transforming. This study problematizes the role of trade union organizations, looking at the phenomenon of performance appraisal interviews or so-called ‘developmental talks’ in the Swedish context. The critical tradition in organizational research and Michel Foucault’s notion of ‘technologies of governance’ (examination and confession) are utilized to scrutinize discourses produced by a trade union’s training video on developmental talk. As I will demonstrate, the trade union appears in the educational materials as an expert-therapist, assisting the worker in the development of a specific identity type — a ‘disciplined entrepreneurial self’ — that fits neoliberal demands addressed to labour. The paper emphasizes the legitimation of normalizing power by means of the video narration and it’s special concern for a particular category of employees, namely workers with non-Swedish background. The study ends with a discussion on a possibility of resistance to the regularity and normalizing effects of the video discourse.

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of “Korta Vägen” (The short cut), a targeted language program for qualified migrants in Sweden, in self-maintaining, well-being and perspectives for socio-economic integration for foreigners with academic diploma.

Design/methodology/approach

In-class observations, individual semi-structured interviews, focus-group interviews and written essays were used for data collection. A thematic analysis was applied as a method of data analysis. Amartya Sen’s capability approach constituted a theoretical framework of the research discussion.

Findings

Korta Vägen provides various resources for the participants, some of which (language training and internship) can become real advantages for employment. Others (IT, interview training and CV writing) are less translatable into concrete outcomes. The study suggests that satisfaction with the program is modulated by commitment to one’s professional identity, initial language proficiency, scope of cultural knowledge, the participants’ goals and the flexibility of the training offered. The acculturation frame of the program does not necessarily correspond with the objective need of many participants for quick entry into the labor market.

Originality/value

Insights into the social-psychological aspects of targeted language training as a measure for socio-economic integration can serve to enhance educational and institutional policies and professional practice.

We use a power resources approach to examine the effects of the 2008-2009 financial and economic crisis on public sector trade union power in Germany, Spain, Sweden and the UK, comparing structural, organizational, institutional, societal and political power resources before and after the crisis. Unions' power resources have (at least temporarily) weakened in Spain, with a similar but less pronounced trend in the UK; whereas in Sweden and Germany, one can detect ambiguous but slightly positive signals, which reflect neither the crisis nor opposition to austerity. As well as structural, organizational and institutional power resources, societal and political resources are decisive for public sector trade unions.

This paper investigates the situation and future development of human resources in Europe. It is discussed whether economic growth and growth of living standard in the future against the background of demographic changes is possible.

Collegiality is considered a hallmark of professionalism and involves specialization, equality, and leadership based on profession. Traditionally, within a profession, collegiality is treated as given and dealt with intra-professionally. This article, in contrast, studies collegiality as institutional work within the organizational context. We analyse how professionals and managers in a highly professionalized and institutionalized organization perform collegiality as institutional work. Interview and observational data shed light on collegiality in the practices of pastors in the Church of Norway. The findings highlight collegiality as a cultural ideal and a process of work beyond a mere governance structure. Collegial meetings constitute structural work that signals the intersection of conceptual work (theology) and operational work (daily challenges), facilitated by relational work. This article shows how collegiality constitutes institutional work that not only maintains the pastor profession as an institution but also gradually adapts it in response to external demands and strengthened management.

Background

HRM handles all decisions that affect the relationship between humans and the organization by designing strategies for the utilization of human capital in order to achieve the organizational goals. The utilization of human resources is regulated by various laws where the Employment Protection Act is central. Furthermore, the Employment Protection Act is semi-dispositive meaning that it leaves room for interpretation of the law and negotiation of term on the labor market through collective agreements. Previous research has shown that the law is stiff and difficult to apply. This has led to an investigation about modernizing the law and adapting it to today’s labor market and the investigation was completed in June 2020. Due to the fact that the law is about to change it is important to understand how the Employment Protection Act is applied in the daily work.

Aim

The purpose of the thesis is to create an understanding of how the Employment Protection Act is applied in the daily work of both private and public enterprises. We want to highlight the factors that affect the application of the law of the Employment Protection Act in organizations daily work and how the organizations relate to the upcoming changes in the law. The understanding of how the Employment Protection Act is applied in daily work generates new knowledge that can be useful for everyone working with HR issues and for future changes in employment laws.

Methodology

The study has a qualitative approach that has elements of triangulation where data collection has been done with the help of interviews and questionnaires. Interviews were conducted with three organizations from the private sector and three from the public sector.

Conclusion

The study shows that there are factors affecting how the Employment Protection Act is applied in the daily work and that there are similarities and differences between the sectors. The clearest similarity has been that everyone wants to do the right thing, but they also cheat. Furthermore, the study shows that the sectors tend to mostly have a reactive approach to the upcoming changes in the Employment Protection Act.

This article analyses the different strike profiles in the Nordic countries, with particular stress on the role of collective bargaining. First, it compares working days lost during the past couple of decades in a broad sample of European countries. Denmark, Norway and Sweden are identified as belonging to a `middle' group, while Finland is an outlier. Second, it analyses the number of strikes, which shows enormous differences between the Nordic countries. Possible methodological explanations are considered, but mostly rejected; instead, the causes are located in the historical development of collective bargaining, and in details concerning the peace obligation and local bargaining practices. The recent dramatic fall in working days lost in most other European countries is found also in Finland and Sweden, but not in Denmark and Norway. The research emphasizes factors such as unemployment, workplace reforms and local bargaining. The conclusions are also related to previous findings from the comparative analysis of industrial conflict.

This paper focuses on how past knowledge of tools/artefacts affect their present use. The discussion is based on Wartofsky’s (1979) primary, secondary, and tertiary artefacts, and Engeström’s (1990) subsequent activity theoretical elaboration. While Engeström identifies two different kinds of internal (mental) secondary artefacts, this paper identifies an additional kind of tertiary artefact – ‘where-from’ artefact – that consists of experience based knowledge of the past. The conception of where-from, contributes to understanding, for instance, why people handle objects the way they do. This artefact, identified in a workplace study, also plays an important role in the process of learning through apprenticeship, since what novices are provided, in terms of instructions etc., partly depends on the more knowledgeable person’s past experiences.

This bachelor thesis is a qualitative case study with the intention of exploring the subject’s competence and skills development within a smaller section in the study object Västra Götalandsregionen´s administration Regionservice. Covid-19 has affected several aspects within organizations as many have been forced to adapt to teleworking. The purpose of this study has been to investigate, analyse and develop a deeper understanding of how managers within the study object have worked with employee’s skills development during teleworking. Managers have described their work with skills development through in-depth interviews. The purpose of the study has also been to examine how managers have worked with skills development before the pandemic with the purpose of developing knowledge of how managers work has been affected and changed by teleworking. The results showed that 5 increased digitization and the use of digital tools promoted managers' work with employee’s skills development in teleworking. As a result, skills development has become more flexible and timesaving, and the proportion of education has increased. Further results show that managers' work with competence development was affected and changed when the work environment was moved from the workplace to the home. Before the pandemic competence development was carried out physically in the workplace, during teleworking it was carried out digitally, which promoted competence development in general within the study object.

Den här studien har undersökt om en avskalad version av metoden Mindfulness-Baserad Stress Reduktion-låg dos (MBSR-ld), kan sänka stressnivåer och negativa känslor samt öka positiva känslor hos anställda på en arbetsplats. Som mätinstrument har Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) och Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) använts. PANAS har mätt deltagarnas upplevda positiva och negativa känslor och PSS har mätt deltagarnas upplevda nivåer av stress. De båda mätinstrumenten användes före och efter tre veckors utförande av en avskalad version av MBSR-ld. Totalt deltog 28 personer från en IT-arbetsplats, varav 14 personer deltog i en experimentgrupp (Män = 12; Kvinnor = 2) och 14 i en kontrollgrupp (Män = 13; Kvinnor = 1). Inget signifikant resultat påträffades i ökning av positiva känslor eller i sänkning av negativa känslor och stressnivåer. Eftersom tidigare studier påvisar att meditation kan sänka stressnivåer och negativa känslor samt höja positiva känslor, föreslår studien att mer forskning behövs inom området för att fortsätta utforska om mindfulness är en bra metod att använda sig av på arbetsplatser, eller inte.

Sweden has the reputation of being one of the most progressive countries in the world concerning work-life development and industrial democracy. In this article, an analytical overview of the development in these areas is provided, which includes the antecedents, major events, actor positioning and also the broad-term outcomes. Two major reform movements are described: one aiming to create a radically different work-life where workers control their own work with a power balance between labour and capital, and one a reformist movement aiming to create a degree of co-determination and a more engaging work-life without any major changes in power relations. The case shows that the radical movement was not able to generate radical change and that the reformistic movement achieved only partial success. The outcome over time has been a decreased interest in work-life development where co-determination practices are heavily institutionalized but perhaps do not provide better conditions for workers than in many other advanced industrial countries with a lesser degree of formal co-determination. 

The role of middle managers in organizations has proven to be filled with challenges. A middle manager's responsibilities are, among other things to report to senior managers, and to communicate decisions to employees while maintaining relationships at various levels within the organization. Middle managers are often portrayed in a negative way in earlier research. Majority of the studies show high stress levels and a negative psychosocial environment among middle managers.

The purpose of this study is to contribute with increased knowledge about how middle managers at the operational level in retail and café operations experience their work situation. The study focuses on middle managers' complex role as both employer representative and employee representative. To answer the study's research questions, the empirical data has been collected through semi-structured interviews. Unlike a lot of the previous research, the results in this study did not show that middle managers' work situation is characterized by high stress levels and a poor psychosocial work environment. This apart from one respondent who works in a stressful environment.

The study’s results presented three prominent challenges that middle managers face as a result of being situated between different hierarchies: (1) To keep the subordinated and the higher managers content, (2) To connect the communication chain of the organization and (3) To distinguish between the formal and informal managerial role. The results in the study also show that middle managers often use coping strategies to manage challenging situations. Particularly with the respect to showing social support from colleagues with the same role, taking a problem-focused approach during sudden unexpected events and emotion-focused coping during times when expressing dissatisfaction is needed.

This article discusses recent developments in public sector labour relations in Sweden from a historical, gender and power relations perspective. The main question is whether these trends challenge the established Swedish industrial relations system. Our point of departure - yet chronologically also the point of arrival - is the Swedish Municipal Workers' Union, Kommunal's, exit from the coordinated wage setting model within the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (Landsorganisationen, LO) in 2015/2016. The immediate reason was that Kommunal, representing one-third of the LO members, including many low-paid women, turned down the LO's proposal on a general wage increase for low-wage groups. Instead, Kommunal urged to upgrade wages for a specific member group, the auxiliary nurses. This broke an almost uninterrupted 20-year-long period of labour market cooperation and coordination that was introduced in 1997 through the so-called Industry Agreement (Industriavtalet). This agreement was launched in the wake of the deep financial crisis in the early 1990s, and the neoliberal move towards a complete decentralization of pay negotiations. How should this move by Kommunal be interpreted? Why, and when, has the centralized system become a straitjacket for Kommunal, when for decades it seemingly was a precondition for both private and public union strength?

This article discusses the origin and development of family-friendly policies and careers in Sweden. The starting-point for the discussion is that what ‘family-friendly’ is can never be separated from the gendered labour market. Drawing on Lotte Bailyn's analysis of gender ‘equity’, the article argues that the Swedish labour market has no doubt become much more ‘family-friendly’ over the decades, through family-friendly reforms, but the move has definitely lost pace, maybe even been slightly reversed, in the 1990s and 2000s. Seemingly, political and social reforms cannot reach much further without a radical change in people's views of labour division at home, i.e. in the private sphere.

Is cross-national trade union cooperation and labor solidarity a forgotten item on Nordic working life researchers’ agenda? And if so, why? Is not the matter more crucial today than ever, considering the challenges from globalization? True, there have not been too many studies in the field by Nordic scholars, and also true, the field is in great need of research considering the great labor market changes both nationally and globally over the last few decades. In order to find a remedy for this lack, a special workshop was dedicated to the subject at the Nordic Working Life Conference in Elsinore, April 2012. The response among the Nordic academics was not exactly overwhelming, but there were several highly interesting papers, bringing up new aspects or shedding new light on old ones. Some of the papers are now compiled in this special issue of Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies. All of them are individual texts and can be read separately. This introduction is just an attempt to put the articles into their common context, that is, to outline the framework within which they belong by highlighting some items they share.

In many countries there has been a move towards more decentralized labour market systems in the 1980s and 1990s. This process has been particularly notable in Sweden. This study analyses the origins of the Swedish decentralization from a historical and comparative perspective. The main emphasis is on ideological motives, linked to a shifting balance of power. The more decentralized Swedish industrial relations become, the greater the likelihood that the power relations between the two main parties change in the employers' favour. Even if internationally determined changes in the organization of work are important, changes in industrial relations still seem to be very much a question of a struggle between the different interests of employers and employees.