| 1. |
- Wastesson, Karin, 1986-
(författare)
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Learning Managerial Work : First-line Managers’ Learning in Everyday Work within Swedish Elderly Care
- 2024
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This study’s overall aim is to contribute knowledge about first-line managers’ learning in everyday work within the context of elderly care. The study used a qualitative research approach and was carried out within four Swedish elderly care organisations. A total of 40 first-line managers were interviewed, 10 of whom kept time-use diaries. The theoretical framework is based on a workplace learning perspective originating from theory of situated learning. Situated learning theory includes the concepts of community of practice, legitimate peripheral participation, and membership, which serve as analytical tools to illuminate characteristics of learning from various angles. In addition, the concept of gender has been used to gain a deeper understanding for managers’ workplace learning in the female-dominated elderly care context.The findings showed that managers’ learning happened in a stream of varied tasks and interactions shaped by conditions in the workplace. The managers’ work was characterised by unpredictability and changing circumstances, which meant they continuously had to learn how to handle new situations and expand their repertoire of managerial practices. One common perception among themanagers was the importance of being able to make quick decisions with limited information, and assess the results afterwards. The managers learned how to deal with work situations by either maintaining and modifying current practices or inventing new ones. In addition to these three practices, their learning was affected by different conditions, particularly professional experience, work relationships and organisational conditions. The findings further showed that the managers had to learn to deal with expectations of how they should act in the managerial role based on their gender, and learn to navigate between gender ideals that permeated the female-dominated elderly care environment.Three conclusions were drawn from this study. The first was that managers took great responsibility for their own learning, including what they needed to know and how they would learn it. Despite the fact that they all had access to resources provided by the employer, managers often chose alternative ways to learn, usually by relying on informal networks and close personal relationships. As a result of this self-directed learning, they were able to make decisions that suited their learning needs, and effectively proceed in practice without having to confirm their chosen methods.The second conclusion was that work relationships played a central part in managers’ learning, within both the care work community and the first-line manager community. Work relationships with other first-line managers provided support for learning through, for example, knowledge exchange and joint discussions, as well as emotional support. Work relationships with subordinates were significant for learning, and could result in solutions to complex issues, which could have a direct effect on the daily operation of care work services. Due to the diverse mix of professions, varying interests, and formal positions of authority in the care work community, managers were required to devote considerable time and effort to facilitate collaboration and a shared repertoire. As a result, learning was seen as a stimulating and enjoyable experience, but was also demanding and sometimes boring.The third conclusion was that in the context of the female-dominated elderly care gender operated differently in two communities of practices. Male privilege was still prominent in the care work community, as men were accepted and perceived as legitimate leaders among their subordinates. Female managers instead had to navigate and balance the expectations associated with femininity and the managerial role in this community. However, the female-dominated elderly care context provided female managers with more opportunities to connect with equal peers and establish influential positions, whereas male managers could encounter challenges in gaining access to learning and participating in the first-line manager community.
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| 2. |
- Eriksson, Malin, 1969-
(författare)
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Social capital, health and community action : implications for health promotion
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background; The overwhelming increase in studies about social capital and health occurring since 1995 indicates a renewed interest in the social determinants of health and a call for a more explicit use of theory in public health and epidemiology. The links between social capital and health are still not clear and the meanings of different forms of individual and collective social capital and their implications for health promotion needs further exploration. The overall aims of this thesis are to explore the relationship between social capital and health and to contribute to the theoretical framework of the role of social capital for health and health promotion.Methods; Data from a social capital survey were used to investigate the associations between individual social capital and self-rated health for men and women and different educational groups. Survey data were also analyzed to determine the association between collective social capital and self-rated health for men and women. A qualitative case study in a small community with observed high levels of civic engagement formed the basis for exploring the role of social capital for community action. Data from the same study were utilized for a grounded theory situational analysis of the social mechanisms leading to social capital mobilization.Main findings; Access to individual social capital increases the odds for good self-rated health equally for men and women and different educational groups. However, the likelihood of having access to social capital differs between groups. The results indicate a positive association between collective social capital and self-rated health for women but not for men. Results from the qualitative case study illustrate how social capital in local communities can facilitate collective actions for public good but may also increase social inequality. Mobilizing social capital in local communities requires identification of community issues that call for action, a fighting spirit from trusted local leaders, “know-how” from creative entrepreneurs, and broad legitimacy and support in the community.Conclusions; This thesis supports the idea that individual social capital is health-enhancing and that strengthening individual social capital can be considered one important health promotion strategy. Collective social capital may have a positive effect on self-rated health for women but not for men and therefore mobilizing collective social capital might be more health-enhancing for women. Collective social capital may have indirect positive effects on health for all by facilitating the ability of communities to solve collective health problems. However, mobilizing social capital in local communities requires an awareness of the risk for increased social inequality.
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| 3. |
- Axelsson, Karin, 1969-
(författare)
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Entrepreneurship in a School Setting : Introducing a Business Concept in a Public Context
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Entrepreneurship has during the last decades gained an immense interest in academia, politics and practice. It is argued from politics that more entrepreneurs are necessary for the economic development. In addition, nowadays entrepreneurship is also perceived as a solution to social and societal challenges. This drives a need for entrepreneurial people everywhere in society who can cope with the inconstant and uncertain world of today. As a consequence, there are around the world numerous educational initiatives trying to inspire and fuel an entrepreneurial mind-set. Here, educations of all kind become relevant contexts since they provide an opportunity to affect children, youth’s and adult’s interest and attitudes towards entrepreneurship, and as such give a possibility to reach a vast number of people.Sweden is no exception, and in 2009 the Swedish Government launched a ‘Strategy for entrepreneurship in the field of education’ in which entrepreneurship is said to run like a common thread throughout education. The main focus is that self-employment is to become as natural as being an employee. As such the Government took an active stand for implementing entrepreneurship in the school setting on a broad front, from preschool to adult education.This development can be seen as part of New Public Management; a development where concepts from the private sector are lent and transferred to the public sector. Thus, when introducing entrepreneurship in the Swedish educational system, this at the same time means introducing a traditional business concept in a public setting. Therefore, the overall aim of this thesis is to increase knowledge of and insights on how a business concept – entrepreneurship – is operationalised and constructed in a public setting.When placing entrepreneurship in new societal contexts other questions arise and complexity intensifies. In this qualitative research, the empirical context in focus are schools. It investigates how entrepreneurship is constructed among teachers in their work. But also how this business concept is included in a non-business setting by studying how the entrepreneurship strategy is operationalised in educational practice.As such the thesis and its findings contribute to the scientific discussions on societal entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education, as well as on strategy and strategising in a public context. The research also aspire to serve inspiration, insights and food for thoughts on discussions and reflections on entrepreneurship within the school practice. This compilation thesis include five papers. To be able to fulfil the aim this research use a broad theoretical base and multiple qualitative research methods. The combination of methods include semi-structured interviews, in-depth interview using the stimulated recall method, focus group interviews, participative meetings, observations, document studies, digital questionnaires, written inquiries, analysing texts and critical incidents questionnaires.
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| 4. |
- Larsson, Susanne
(författare)
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Självbestämmande i LSS : En villkorad rättighet för personer med intellektuell funktionsnedsättning
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Persons with moderate to more severe intellectual disabilities have a legal right to exercise self-determination, and a right to receive individually tailored support to enable them to live independently. However, these rights are not always realised in practice. Taking the difficulties that the functional impairments imply as a starting point, the aim of this thesis is to critically review and accrue increased knowledge about what conditions for self-determination persons with moderate to more severe intellectual disabilities are given within the context of support services offered, according to the Swedish Disability Act. The study is a multiple case study, based on analyses of so-called implementation plans and notes from observations and interviews (with staff), all gathered within the same six units:three group homes and three daily activity units. By conducting thematic analyses and using concepts from Nordenfeldt’s action theory, as well as theory about positioning, three overarching themes were developed: staff’s supportive methods and approaches, staff’s non-supportive methods and approaches, and staff’s methods and approaches that are both supportive and not when it comes to opportunities for self-determination. For example, staff views on the persons’self-determination as being adequate are interpreted as supportive. As a contrast, the fact that enhanced support is rarely used and, if used, rarely to a degree that promotes the person’s own initiative, is interpreted as non-supportive, and the implementation plans are interpreted as both supportive and non-supportive. Fundamentally, the study shows that the practical possibilities to exercise self determinationare limited for persons with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities by certain aspects of staff methods and approaches, and by the organisation of the units where the support is conducted. Further research is suggested on how to enable practise, staff methods and approaches that, to a higher degree, consider the persons themselves when planning and conducting their support, on the organisational preconditions, the implementation plans included, for complying with the principles and political goals of a person’s self determination and on the impact of staff knowledge, not least when it comes to enhanced support and communication devices. Finally, the character of conducting support and what this means for the methods and approaches, should be investigated further.
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| 5. |
- Lidman, Linda, 1978-
(författare)
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Employee-driven innovation in the public sector : At the intersection of innovation support and workplace conditions
- 2023
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overall aim of this thesis is to contribute knowledge about employee-driven innovation (EDI), with a particular focus on conditions in the workplace when innovation support is introduced in municipal contexts. The thesis is based on 23 qualitative interviews with managers, employees, and innovation coaches from three municipal sites in Sweden where innovation support has been implemented. The four included studies examine how innovation support is set up, what role first-line managers play, what drives employees to engage in EDI, and the outcomes of innovation work in the studied cases.The thesis’ results show how innovation support was set up as parallel structures operating independently from regular municipal operations, which made it difficult for employees and managers to connect and integrate innovation work with everyday work. Furthermore, the results show how the studied municipalities did not define clear objectives for working with innovation, which in turn resulted in a multitude of inextricably linked negative effects for the innovation support operations, the managers, the employees, and the outcome of the innovation work. In addition, the study results demonstrate the importance of providing rich environments for learning and innovation in the workplace, to consider and support employee engagement in public sector innovation and to support the entire innovation process, including the implementation phase. The first conclusion drawn is that employee-driven innovation work happens at the intersection of innovation support and current workplace conditions. This implies that support measures need to be integrated into employees’ everyday work to create favourable conditions for EDI. The second conclusion is that it is imperative for municipal organisations intending to support EDI to define objectives for working with innovation and to anchor and communicate these objectives throughout the organisation.
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| 6. |
- Robertsson, Karin, 1986-
(författare)
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Mellan civilsamhälle och folkrörelse : Ett aktörsperspektiv på rekrytering och organisering av medborgerligt engagemang
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Civic engagement, commonly seen as concerning people's actions and activities,is generally studied at the individual level. In this doctoral thesis the term is used to examine and analyse how recruitment and organisation of civic engagement has developed since the mid-1990s at the organisational level in a Swedish context, as well as the conditions that have influenced and shaped this development. Three forms of civic engagement are examined: associational membership, volunteering and giving. In this thesis, interviews and text analyses are used. The analysis of archived webpages and annual reports demonstrates a more diversified range of forms of civic engagement available at the organisational level. It is expressed as an increased demand for different types of volunteering and giving, in addition to the more traditional form of civic engagement that associational membership constitutes in a Swedish context. The diversified range of civic engagement is accompanied by various recruitment practices such as marketing and fundraising, characterised by different institutional logics that guide the actual recruitment work within organisations. Interviews were conducted with elected representatives and employees at a senior level within non-profit human service organisations. The interviewees reasoning about the changing conditions for recruiting and organising civic engagement is understood as actions through which they reproduce or change logics. The study concludes that in practice, the recruitment and organisation of civic engagement can be seen as an expression of institutional complexity. It is argued that the collectively shared view of how civic engagement can and should be organised in a Swedish context is characterized by a complex composition of logics that prescribe different patterns of action for participants and organisations.
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| 7. |
- Sarkadi, Anna, Professor, 1974-, et al.
(författare)
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Are We Ready to Really Hear the Voices of Those Concerned? : Lessons Learned from Listening to and Involving Children in Child and Family Psychology Research
- 2023
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Ingår i: Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review. - : Springer Nature. - 1096-4037 .- 1573-2827.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A changing view of children, accelerated by the Convention of the Rights of the Child (UN in Convention on the rights of the child, UN Doc. A/RES/44/25, 1989, http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/pdf/crc.pdf) has shifted the landscape of child and family research over the last few decades. Once viewed with low credibility and operating outside the interpretive framework of adult researchers, the rights-bearing child is increasingly recognized not only as having the capacity but also the right to participate in research. More recently, this movement has transitioned from the direct engagement of children as research participants—now considered commonplace, although less so for those who are structurally vulnerable—to the involvement of children in research design, review, conduct, and dissemination. Yet, both practical and ethical challenges remain. While children have the right to participation, they also have the right to protection. In this commentary, we set out to: (i) lay forth epistemic, child rights, and child sociology arguments for doing research about, with and by children and youth; (ii) recount our own journey of including children and youth in research to demonstrate the unique knowledge and insights gained through these approaches; and (iii) offer lessons learned on how to engage children and youth in research, including the involvement of structurally vulnerable groups.
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| 8. |
- Eriksson, Maria, 1969-
(författare)
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I skuggan av Pappa : familjerätten och hanteringen av fäders våld
- 2003
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aims of this thesis are to shed light on the handling of fathers’ violence in the context of separation and divorce in Sweden today; and to analytically and empirically relate age, gender and kinship to each other. The aims are fulfilled by three interlinked studies of what constructions and the constructing of age, gender and kinship mean for the handling of fathers’ violence against mothers/co-parents and children: in social policy; by separated mothers; and finally by family law secretaries. Each study builds upon a separate set of qualitative material: public documents from three policy areas; thematically structured interviews with abused, separated mothers and family law secretaries. The empirical results make visible some unintended consequences of current attempts in Sweden to create gender equality, shared parenting, a “new father” and to promote children’s interests. Study one demonstrates that when the politics and policy regarding parenthood, separation and divorce are taken as the point of departure, the contemporary age-, gender-, and kinship-order stands out as patriarchal: as marked by father-power based upon ties of blood to not yet adult children. Furthermore, violent fathers neither exist as a concept nor as a policy problem. The interviewed mothers narrate how they have tried to deal with the co-parent’s/ex-partners’ behaviour as violence but have encountered hindrances; the interviewed family law secretaries’ handling fathers’ violence stands out as more of a non-handling, especially in the case of violence against children. When the everyday constructions and constructing of age, gender and kinship discussed in study two and three are taken together, the contours of the patriarchal order seen through the lens of policy are also made visible: fathers’ space for action is vast; children’ and mothers’ more limited. The analysis shows how political and professional handling of fathers’ violence through a non-handling is made possible by well-established notions of heterosexual relationships, fatherhood, motherhood, age- and kinship-relations, as well as family law secretary-professionalism. However, the two studies based upon interviews demonstrate not just how the everyday constructions and constructing mentioned above can be used to reproduce father-power, but also how this power can be challenged.
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