New graduate nurses' developmental trajectories for capability beliefs concerning core competencies for healthcare professionals : A national cohort study on patient-centered care, teamwork and evidence-based practice.

Background: This study aimed to describe the developmental trajectories of registered nurses' capability beliefs during their first 3 years of practice. The focus was on three core competencies for health professionals-patient-centered care, teamwork, and evidence-based practice. Methods: A national cohort of registered nurses (n = 1,205) was recruited during their nursing education and subsequently surveyed yearly during the first 3 years of working life. The survey included 16 items on capability beliefs divided into three subscales for the assessment of patient-centered care, teamwork, and evidence-based practice, and the data were analyzed with linear latent growth modeling. Results: The nurses' capability beliefs for patient-centered care increased over the three first years of working life, their capability beliefs for evidence-based practice were stable over the 3 years, and their capability beliefs for teamwork showed a downward trend. Linking evidence to action: Through collaboration between nursing education and clinical practice, the transition to work life could be supported and competence development in newly graduated nurses could be enhanced to help them master the core competencies. Future research should focus on determining which factors impact the development of capability beliefs in new nurses and how these factors can be developed by testing interventions.

Utbrändhet som arbetsskada och motståndsberättelse

Burnout as occupational injury and narrative of resistance During the last years of the 1990s and the first years of the 2000s, burnout was a common diagnosis for sick listing in Sweden. That burnout is directly related to working life was acknowledged by medical experts as well as in the public debate. The number of applications for occupational compensation due to social and organizational factors in work rose from a very modest degree to nearly a forth of the claims among occupational diseases. In this article 48 individual claims for compensation in cases of burnout as occupational disease are analyzed as narratives of resistance. In this respect they are seen as alternative accounts of risk in working life, but also as narratives about resistance. The concept, narratives of resistance, is used to understand the claimants’ argumentation for rights to compensation, as well as how the claimants draw upon public narratives of societal transformation to understand how they themselves have become ill from occupations that normally are not thought to be hazardous. One conclusion from the analysis is that the claimants regard their illness as the resistance of the body against changes in society and working life. 

A study visit to a vitual company

To integrate study visits to different workplaces in higher education implies important benefits for the course quality. The study visit gives the students a better understanding for the real situations they will meet in working life. However for practical and economical reasons is that not always possible. The purpose of this project is to create a virtual company that shall replace the real one for study visits. The goal is to create a realistic picture and that intended use of it can come as close as possible to a real study visit. It is also important to facilitate linking theory and practice. The virtual company is built up by pictures, videos and text. All material is made available on a web page and when entering the students will meet a layout of the company. From that position is it possible to walk around and look at videos from different workstations. Besides that can they also listen to interviews with managers and representatives of staff as well as reading reports concerning productivity and the work environment. The focus of the study visit is work sciences, therefore the material also include some visualized information about work hazards. On the web page there are also a number of tasks for the students to carry out. Until the autumn 2011, 132 students at Dalarna University have visited and produced reports from the virtual company. They were studying in programs for mechanical engineering, production technicians and human resource management. An evaluation among some ten students showed that the study visit to the virtual company is flexible in time and effective, but that students wish to have even more detailed information about the company. Experiences from four years of use in a number of classes show that the concept is worth further development. Furthermore with production of new material the concept is likely to be applicable for other purposes.

Role of headmasters, teachers and supervisors in knowledge transfer about occupational health and safety to pupils in vocational education

Background Young people are at an increased risk for illness in working life. The authorities stipulate certain goals for training in occupational health and safety (OHS) in vocational schools. A previous study concluded that pupils in vocational education had limited knowledge in the prevention of health risks at work. The aim of the current study, therefore, was to study how OHS training is organized in school and in workplace-based learning (WPL).   Method The study design featured a qualitative approach, which included interviews with 12 headmasters, 20 teachers, and 20 supervisors at companies in which the pupils had their WPL. The study was conducted at 10 upper secondary schools, located in Central Sweden, that were graduating pupils in four vocational programs.   Result The interviews with headmasters, teachers, and supervisors indicate a staggered picture of how pupils are prepared for safe work. The headmasters generally give teachers the responsibility for how goals should be reached. Teaching is very much based on risk factors that are present in the workshops and on teachers’ own experiences and knowledge. The teaching during WPL also lacks the systematic training in OHS as well as in the traditional classroom environment.   Conclusion Teachers and supervisors did not plan the training in OHS in accordance with the provisions of systematic work environment management. Instead, the teachers based the training on their own experiences. Most of the supervisors did not get information from the schools as to what should be included when introducing OHS issues in WPL.

Manager's task to support integrated autonomy at the workplace : Results from an intervention

A new managerial task arises in today’s working life: to provide conditions for and influence interaction between actors and thus to enable the emergence of organizing structure in tune with a changing environment. We call this the enabling managerial task. The goal of this paper is to study whether training first line managers in the enabling managerial task could lead to changes in the work for the subordinates. This paper presents results from questionnaires answered by the subordinates of the managers before and after the training. The training was organized as a learning network and consisted of eight workshops carried out over a period of one year (September 2009–June 2010), where the managers met with each other and the researchers once a month. Each workshop consisted of three parts, during three and a half hours. The first hour was devoted to joint reflection on a task that had been undertaken since the last workshop; some results were presented from the employee pre-assessments, followed by relevant theory and illuminating practices, finally the managers created new tasks for themselves to undertake during the following month. The subordinates’ answers show positive change in all of the seventeen scales used to assess it. The improvements are significant in scales measuring the relationship between the manager and the employees, as well as in those measuring interaction between employees. It is concluded that the result was a success for all managers that had the possibility of using the training in their management work.

Attractive Work Process

Many companies both in Sweden and other parts of the world are since the beginning of the 21st century faceing a lack of work force (1,2,3). The ability to recruit and retain skilled employees is seen as one of the most important questions for the survival and development of the companies (4,5). Labour shortage is seen as the biggest obstacle for expansion for small enterprises in Sweden (5). There is a need for workplaces to be attractive, but how can the attractiveness be increased? Researchers at Högskolan Dalarna have during almost a decennium conducted research concerning attractive work. Based on a modell of qualities that contributes to make a work attractive (6) has a method aiming for raised attractiveness been developed for SME:s. All employees participate by answering a questionnaire about the importance of different qualities and to what degree they are fulfilled. Further discussions at the workplace on what to preserve and what to develop make the base for an action plan.Important experiences:• Discuss and establish the aim of the method with management and employees. • The company must be prepared to follow up and realize the action plan.• Agree about expectations – they must be realistic and practicable.• Reserve time to start the process and to end up in an action plan. • Avoid negative thinking and put problems away. • Take all the time small steps in the right direction.• Keep employees engaged and avoid the manager or process leader to take the command.• Use the strategy with small work groups; it gives better possibilities for participation and outspokenness.• Follow up studies are necessary to keep up the motivation.The most positive aspects of the method is its promoting perspective and that it engages all the employees.1.Rauhut, D. (2002). Arbetskraftsbrist och arbetskraftsinvandring: hot eller möjlighet för ekonomisk tillväxt? Östersund, ITPS, Institutet för tillväxtpolitiska studier.2.Funch, M. and C. Ehrnooth. (2008, 08-10-2008). Labour shortage despite financial crisis? Retrieved 2008-12-16, 2008, from www.norden.org/webb/news/news.asp?id=8113&lang=6. 3.Manpower (2008). Talent Shortage Survey 2008 Global Results: 10. 4.Bakker, A. B. and W. B. Schaufeli (2008). Positive organizational behavior: Engaged employees in flourishing organizations. Journal of Organizational Behavior 29: 147-154.5.Kennemar, J. and L. Jagrén (2008). Småföretagsbarometern. Stockholm, Swedbank Företagarna: 23.6.Åteg, M., A. Hedlund, et al. (2004). Attraktivt arbete. Från anställdas uttalanden till skapandet av en modell. Stockholm, Arbetslivsinstitutet.

The Quest for CSR in Closedowns

This paper focuses on analysis of and suggestions for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) orienta- tion during the closedown process.The article addresses CSR considerations that adjust business strategies, which in turn change the Human Resource Management (HRM) focus. Our study fo- cuses on four best practice cases in Sweden, which are compared with three reported cases in the literature.All four best practice cases had a long notice period and socially responsible coordination of management and employees, which created adjusted corporate strategies.Three cases had the CSR orientation in the earliest stage, while the fourth case had this coordination during a later stage of the closedown process. We develop a model where we show that the scope for action increases if the CSR orientation and coordination of actions come early in the closedown process, due to the increased ability to adjust the business strategy and create a plan for outreach HRM activities and local community activities. 

Narration, Visualization and Mind : Movies in everyday life as a resource for utopian self-reflection

The paper is analyzing how people in late modern society characterized by de-traditionalization, use moving images as a cultural resource for the construction of meaningful subjective world views. As a theoretical concept with several dimensions, “sacralization of the self” (Woodhead & Heelas 2000: 344), is related to media theory. With a critical focus on ‘the self’, as a core aspect in contemporary media society Eric W. Rothenbuhler labels the individual self as one of “the sacred objects of modern culture” (Rothenbuhler 2006: 31).I want to emphasize the need for case studies in order to undertake a critical investigation about ‘the self’ and how consumption of fiction film is interconnected to spectator´s creation of self images, but also to understand how film engagement elicits self-reflection (Giddens 1991, Axelson 2008, Vaage 2009a). The paper make use of empirical data to illustrate and theoretically develop perspectives on how the audience uses fiction film in every-day life for the construction of the self, as well for the construction of more profound and long-lasting ideas of being part of a moral community (Brereton 2005, Jerslev 2006, Klinger 2008, Mikkola et al. 2007, Vaage 2009b). Some empirical findings support a conclusion that moving images creates a transitional space for the human mind, with the capacity of transporting the spectator from real life to fiction and back to real life again, helping the individual with an ongoing process of transforming the self, dealing with who you actually are, and who you want to become (Axelson 2008, Vaage 2009b).

Tid som välfärdsfaktor : förändrade motiv i svensk arbetstidspolicy

Time as a welfare factor This article presents the results of an archive study of working time development in Sweden. It investigates how structural policy change is moving from a social discourse closely related to Swedish welfare reforms, towards an economic discourse motivated by financial arguments. By doing so, the political measures to solve working time related problems in today’s flexible working life appear to be contradictory. On one side we find time-poor people on the labour market mainly supported by tax-reductions and private time saving solutions. On the other side we find time-rich people mainly supported by activation programs and/or welfare benefits. This is a system and a policy strategy that obviously disregards the other side of the coin.

High-School Students´ Summer Jobs and their Ensuing Labor Market Achievement : the Long Term Effect

In part because of high and persistent youth unemployment, adolescent students’ transition from school to work is an important policy and research topic. Many countries have implemented public programs offering summer jobs or work while in high-school as measures to smooth the transition. While the immediate effect of the programs on school attendance, school grades, and disposable income is well documented, their effect on the transition to the labor market remains an open question. Observational studies have shown strong positive effects of summer jobs, but also that the estimated effect is highly vulnerable to selection bias. In this paper, some 3700 high-school students applying for summer jobs in the period 1995-2003,via a program, are followed to 30 years of age. A quarter of the applicants were randomly offered a summer job each year. Among the remaining students, 50% had a (non-program related) summer job while in high-school. We find the income, post high-school, for the offered and non-offered groups to be similar and conclude that the effect of summer jobs on the transition to the labor market is inconsequential.

Hälsofrämjande friskvårdsarbete : En fallstudie om friskvårdsarbete inom kommunal vård- och omsorgsförvaltning

Under senare år har frågan om ett hållbart arbetsliv blivit allt viktigare. Det innebär att goda arbetsförhållanden kommer att bidra till att människor orkar arbeta fram till pensionen. Friskvård har gått från att enbart vara en förmån till att bli en investering för att främja hälsa. Anställdas hälsa och arbetsmiljö är en del av personalfunktionens övergripande arbete för att behålla personal. Fysiskt krävande yrken som omsorgsarbete är ett stort arbetsmiljöproblem som kräver att organisationer försöker förhindra att arbetsrelaterad sjukdom inträffar. Syftet med detta examensarbete är att undersöka vilka förutsättningarna, ur ett medarbetarperspektiv, organisationer bör ta i beaktande för att skapa ett framgångsrikt arbete med hälsofrämjande friskvårdsaktiviteter inom kommunal vård- och omsorgsförvaltning. Arbetet är begränsat till personal inom Ludvika kommun. Friskvård kan förebygga sjukdom, men det kan också öka individens välbefinnande och kan därmed utgöra en framgångsrik strategi för att skapa hälsosammare arbetsplatser. En kombination av metoder användes för datainsamling, i form av en kvantitativ enkätundersökning och en kvalitativ fokusgruppintervju. Resultaten visade bland annat att majoriteten av de anställda är positiva till friskvård på arbetstid och att det är ett fördelaktigt sätt att öka deltagandet, även för dem som är mindre fysiskt aktiva. Tidsbrist och socialt stöd är skäl till varför fysisk aktivitet är lägre eller uteblir. Förutom att de anställda som har ett individuellt ansvar är det chefer, i samråd med organisationen, som har det övergripande ansvaret för att skapa goda förutsättningar för att främja hälsan.

Kunskapsöverföring- att leda rätt : Ledarens roll vid kunskapsöverföring i en organisation

I en rapport som Svensk Näringsliv (2010) har utfört beskriver de att företag redan idag och inom en snar framtid står inför den största pensionsavgången någonsin i Svensk historia. 40- talisternas avgång ställer företag inför stora utmaningarna, framförallt att lyckas genomföra en lyckad generationsväxling. De personer som går i pension har under sitt yrkesverksamma liv utvecklat en kunskap som många organisationer vilar på. En stor del av denna kunskap måste överföras för att organisationerna ska kunna fortsätta att vara effektiva på marknaden. Syftet med denna studie var att få en djupare förståelse för ledarskapets betydelse gällande kunskapsöverföring i en organisation, samt bidra med praktiska verktyg till chefer och medarbetare för att undvika att förlora värdefull kunskap vid en generationsväxling. Industriföretaget LEAX har själva identifierat ett problem i att överföra viktig kunskap i och med kommande generationsväxling. Deras önskan var att få hjälp med praktiska verktyg för hur de ska tänka och verka för att mildra kunskapsglappet som kan uppstå. För att undersöka detta och därmed uppfylla denna studies syfte har intervjuer genomförts med fyra produktionsledare, fyra medarbetare som förväntas dela kunskap och tre medarbetare som förväntas ta till sig kunskap. Innan intervjuerna genomfördes läste vi in oss på teori om kunskap, kunskapsöverföring och ledarskap. Eftersom begreppet kunskap har en bred betydelse och kan definieras olika beroende om den är individuell eller organisatorisk, började vi i vårt teoriavsnitt att bena ut detta begrepp. Nonaka och Takeuchi (1995) gör en förenklad bild av kunskap som ett isberg, där den explicita kunskapen benämns som toppen. Väl synlig över ytan på vattnet är den enkel att upptäcka och ta till sig. Under vattnet döljer sig en osynlig kunskap som är svår att upptäcka, så kallas implicit eller tyst kunskap. Denna kunskap utgör en enorm del av isberget och blir därmed viktig att bevara. Dock är denna kunskap svår att överföra då den är osynlig och svår att ta på. För att förstå vad kunskapsöverföring innebär, behöver organisationer identifiera vilken sorts kunskap som behöver överföras för att kunskapsöverföringen ska bli lyckad (Jonsson, 2012). Men även fast organisationer gör detta måste även ledningen förstå att kunskapsöverföring är en strategisk angelägenhet som kan ses som en process som involverar medarbetare. I denna studie har vi undersökt hur ledare kan skapa motivation, engagemang och resurser för medarbetare att vilja medverka och bidra till kunskapsöverföring. För att försöka förstå hur kunskap överförs i en organisation har vi använt oss av Nonaka och Takeuchi, (1995) SECI-modell. Modellen bygger på samspelet mellan den tysta och explicita kunskapen, vilket sker i fyra processer. Dessa processer har vi sedan utvecklat till en egen modell som inkluderar institutionella, organisatoriska och kognitiva faktorer. Utifrån dessa faktorer har vi skapat praktiska förslag på hur ledare tillsammans med medarbetarna kan planera kunskapsöverföring. Dessa praktiska förslag gynnar både individuell- och organisatorisk utveckling, samt bidrar till att mildra kunskapsförlust vid generationsväxlingen. Ett av de praktiska exempel vi utformat är en kompetensprofil, som är ett hjälpmedel för organisationer att identifiera vilken kunskap som medarbetarna besitter, vilket synliggör vilken kunskap det är som kan gå förlorad. Kompetensprofilen tillsammans med vår modell kan appliceras på liknande företag, men även på organisationer som verkar inom andra branscher. Eftersom denna kompetensprofil är utvecklad efter de krav som finns inom aktuell verksamhet, finns det möjlighet att anpassa efter andra verksamheter.

The effects of taxing truck distance on CO2 emissions from transports in retailing

To finance transportation infrastructure and to address social and environmental negative externalities of road transports, several countries have recently introduced or consider a distance based tax on trucks. In the competitive retail market such tax can be expected to lower the demand and thereby reduce CO2 emissions of road transports. However, as we show in this paper, such tax might also slow down the transition towards e-tailing. Considering that previous research indicates that a consumer switching from brick-and-mortar shopping to e-tailing reduces her CO2 emissions substantially, the direction and magnitude of the environmental net effect of the tax is unclear. In this paper, we assess the net effect in a Swedish regional retail market where the tax not yet is in place. We predict the net effect on CO2 emissions to be positive, but off-set by about 50% because of a slower transition to e-tailing.

Välbefinnande och positiva känslor i arbetslivet : En balansakt som kräver samspel

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka vad som ger medarbetare välbefinnande och positiva känslor på arbetsplatsen. Studien genomfördes genom kvalitativa intervjuer med sex medarbetare på fyra bank- och försäkringskontor i mellersta Sverige. Resultatet analyserades med hjälp av tidigare forskning samt teorier. Resultatet visar att det som skapar positiva känslor och välbefinnande i stor grad är relationer, dels med kollegor men också med kunder. Positiva känslor kan ha en väldigt hög spridningsförmåga bland kollegor, kunder och i organisationen. Det visade också att det är viktigt att det finns en balans mellan arbetsliv och privatliv samt mellan krav och kontroll. Att se på välbefinnande på arbetet ur ett samspelsperspektiv, där man integrerar både individ och organisation, visade sig också vara viktigt för att framgångsrikt kunna arbeta med dessa frågor.

Humorforskning i svenska organisationer och arbetslivssammanhang : en litteraturöversikt

Research on humor in Swedish organizational and working life contexts: a literature review The objective of this study was to provide a more coherent picture of research on humor in Swedish organizational and working life contexts, where even non-strictly organizational studies were included due to their high relevance in the research area. A systematic review of the literature published during the last 15 years was used to summarize an obviously undeveloped research area in Sweden. Published peer-reviewed articles that primarily examine humor were analyzed. Seventeen representative articles have been found and systematically reviewed and compared focusing on four questions: purposes and contexts of the studies, theoretical approaches, methods and main results. The analysis identifies four focal points that describe current state of humor research in Sweden: 1) positive function of humor appears to be a predominant research issue while humor’s subversive function, power relations and negative functions are less represented, 2) limited comparative studies of different contexts 3) biased theoretical approaches and limited studies of theory developing approach 4) overrepresented qualitative research approach. The above issues were discussed in relation to relevant international humor research.