Motivated to retain? A study of motivational factors among trainees in a FMCG company

Talented employees are important for companies, and graduate programs are designed to internal educate talented students to make them a strong resource for the company. A problem is that trainees tend to leave the company after the program. This master thesis investigates how trainees become motivated, during and after the program, to retain within the company and where the perceived expectation gaps are. By finding the factors and the gaps, companies can retain the employees for a longer period of time, which saves both time and knowledge and reduce costs. In order to find an answer to the purpose, ten semi-structured in-depth interviews have been conducted with current and former trainees. Some of the former trainees are today managers, which gives this thesis both an employee and a management perspective. The interviews will be analyzed together with; company documents regarding the trainee program and theories and concepts consisting of e.g. intrinsic motivators, extrinsic motivators, management/leadership and the concept of career and its influence on the personal motivation. This research revealed that the motivating factors for the trainees are; personal development, change in their work life and advancement in the career. Companies should offer internal education, clear communication and “tools” for the trainees to create a network through mentorship and social connection with other trainees. It is not enough to give trainees economic incentives as high salary and bonus. But it is important to design the reward system in a motivating way throughout the trainees’ career so it does not become demotivating for other employees or trainees. The found expectation gaps have their ground in the communication where the trainees think they will receive a higher position within the company after the program than what they get. They also have expectations to be offered internal courses. By finding and minimizing the gaps, trainees will be more motivated to retain within the company for a longer period of time

Swedish Presidency Ambitions and ESDP

The Swedish Presidency of the EU has been promoting the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) during its six months at the centre of European politics. The ongoing Swedish Presidency has presented a number of ESDP issues on which it would like to maintain momentum. Its ESDP priorities cover areas like capability development, increased coherence between crisis management instruments, ongoing operations, European armament cooperation and EU relations with other international organisations such as NATO and the UN. Of these areas, three key issues are characteristic for ESDP priorities, namely usability, capability and operations.The Swedish Presidency has primarily focused on improving existing ESDP instruments and structures rather than creating new ones. In line with its overall approach to the EU, and the Presidency in particular, Sweden seems to prize efficiency and usability rather than providing a more visionary leadership in the area of ESDP. These issues faithfully reflect Sweden’s practical approach to the EU and crisis management: ESDP is an instrument that needs to be developed and used

Variations on the Theme of Information Literacy – Implementation of Information Literacy into the First-Year Curriculum at Åbo Akademi University

How can information literacy (IL) courses be organized into the curriculum in the best possible way for first-year students at Finnish universities? This question has been discussed time and time again. At Åbo Akademi University we have, since fall 2015, developed a course in Academic study skills where IL is included in the course. This means that IL is now for the first time included in all study programmes at the university. The IL module is, however, implemented in different ways in different faculties. In this article, we will focus on the method of embedded learning of IL in the study programme of Chemical Engineering, as it was implemented during the fall semester 2015 for all freshmen. For the first time the library was involved in a “hands-on” project with practical tasks at the Faculty of Science and Engineering. The students were motivated to learn how to search for information and how to improve their skills in reference management, and they passed the course

Cultivation of Luffa cylindrica : an exploratory study on the growth, development and morphology of sponge cucumber (Luffa cylindrica) in cold greenhouses with frostguard

Detta examensarbete innehåller ett pilotförsök för odling av Luffa cylindrica, svampgurka i kallväxthus vid Alnarps Trädgårdslaboratorium från 1 maj till 30 oktober, 2009. Syftet var att undersöka möjligheten att odla fram säljbara frukter och frön från detta växtslag i Sverige. L. cylindrica odlades i tre omgångar med såtidpunkter 1 maj, 1 juni och 1 juli. För varje omgång fördes anteckningar om plantornas utvecklingsfaser, mätningar av ackumulerad vattengiva och näringstillförsel. Registreringar gjordes av skadedjursangrepp, tillväxt av planta och frukt. I arbetet finns också en bilddokumentation av de olika utvecklingsstadierna. Undersökningen visar att det är möjligt att odla L. cylindrica i kallväxthus under svenska odlings förhållanden. Mogna frukter kunde skördas och förädlas till tvättsvampar.Cultivation trials of Luffa cylindrica were performed in a cold greenhouse at the Alnarp Garden laboratory 1 st of May to 30 st of October, 2009. The purpose was to examine the possibility of growing marketable fruit and seeds from the plant species in Sweden. L. cylindrica was grown in three independent trials with heat-only support, with sawing on the 1st of May, the 1st of June, and the 1st of July. Notes were made for each round of the plants development stages, including measurements of water and nutrient supply. Registrations were made of pest infestations, growth of plant and fruit. In the thesis is also included photo documentation of the different stages of development. The study shows that it is possible to grow L. cylindrica in the cold greenhouse under Swedish growing conditions. Ripe fruits could be harvested and processed to sponges

Power and resistance : leading change in medical education

The aim of this thesis was to explore perceptions and experiences of educational leaders leading educational change and development in health professions and interprofessional education. The sensitising concepts of the thesis were power and resistance and the thesis hence adopted theoretical power perspectives on educational leadership and employed qualitative approaches within the methodological framework of phenomenology. Study I explored the experiences of educational leaders leading change and development within an undergraduate medical programme. The educational leaders perceived a lack of authority and status towards their colleagues as a result of an unclear mission, the fact that education had a low level of status at the university as well as a lack of traditional means of power. They also experience meeting resistance towards change and development in the shape of change fatigue, organisational obstacles and conservatism. Their opportunity to use influence towards change and development emerged from a high degree of freedom as well as the creation of vicarious legitimacies connected to research or clinical work, instead of education. Study II further explored the experiences of educational leaders in undergraduate medical education and their identity formation. The educational leaders expressed an ambiguity towards their identity as educational leaders as a result of both an unclear educational role as well as the perceived difficulties in leading colleagues towards educational change and development. The educational leaders seldom experienced receiving feedback on their work from higher levels of the institution, which in turn lead them to feel that their role was mostly of a symbolic character. However, the status of being an educational leader was confirmed from time to time by other educational leaders as well as colleagues with a special interest in education. Study III explored the experiences of educational leaders leading change and development within a nursing programme. The educational leaders expressed the means of achieving educational change and development as building relationships with colleagues as well as using the elaborate decision-making structures of the programme. Experiences of resistance towards change were perceived as originating from lack of authority, organisational structures and memories and intrinsic avoidance of leadership. Study IV explored interprofessional education (IPE) as an example of educational change and development. A comparison of the definition, rationale and presentation of IPE between educational leaders and official policy documents revealed how underlying differences of meaning attached to IPE can create potential difficulties regarding implementation. Successful implementation postulates transparent and clear senior leadership support within an institution. The thesis shows how the findings of study I-IV are important to highlight in connection to research-based faculty development programmes for educational leaders in health professions education; a prerequisite for leading educational change and development successfully

Movement pattern of the Exeter femoral stem: A radiostereometric analysis of 22 primary hip arthroplasties followed for 5 years

Background The design of the Exeter stem may facilitate distal migration, but radiostereometric analysis (RSA) studies have been limited to 2 years of follow-up. Patients and methods We followed migration of the Exeter femoral stems in 22 primary hip arthroplasties for 5 years with RSA. Results All stems migrated distally and the median migration at 2 years was 1.34 mm, while at 5 years it was 1.77 mm. 7 stems migrated above accuracy between 3 and 5 years. (RSA) evaluation of the cement mantle could be performed in 14 cases, and in 5 slight migration was found. Most of the stems rotated towards retroversion and the median rotation at 2 years was 1.2°, while at 5 years it was 1.6°. We found 1 patient with impending clinical failure but no deviation in the RSA migration pattern, and 1 patient with unstable migration pattern but no clinical symptoms. Interpretation We found a greater distal migration of the Exeter stem for longer periods of time than seen with other types of cemented implants

Arbetsterapeuters erfarenheter och upplevelser av arbetsförmågebedömningar i sjukskrivningsprocessen

Bakgrund:Att mäta och bedöma en persons arbetsförmåga är centralt i sjukskrivningsprocessen. Arbetsförmågebedömningar uförs ofta av arbetsterapeuter. Syfte: Att undersöka arbetsterapeuters erfarenheter och upplevelser av att göra arbetsförmågebedömningar som ligger till grund för eventuell ersättning från sjukförsäkringen i sjukskrivningsprocessen. Design och metod: Studien är en kvalitativ tvärsnittsstudie bestående av en litteraturstudie samt en fokusgruppintervju. Resultat: Arbetsterapeuterna känner sig väl rustade och trygga med att bedöma arbetsförmåga. De anser sig ha en gedigen kunskapsbank som gör dem lämpade för att utföra arbetsförmågebedömningar, ha klientkontakt och arbeta tillsammans med klienten i bedömningsprocessen. De upplever dilemma kring Försäkringskassans regelverk. Slutsats: Denna studie visar att arbetsterapeuter är väl rustade och känner sig trygga med att utföra arbetsförmågebedömninga

Higher risk of revision for infection using systemic clindamycin prophylaxis than with cloxacillin

To access publisher's full text version of this article, please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links field or click on the hyperlink at the top of the page marked FilesBackground and purpose - Clindamycin has not been compared with other antibiotics for prophylaxis in arthroplasty. Since 2009, the Swedish Knee Arthroplasty Register (SKAR) has been collecting information on the prophylactic antibiotic regime used at every individual operation. In Sweden, when there is allergy to penicillin, clindamycin has been the recommended alternative. We examined whether there were differences in the rate of revision due to infection depending on which antibiotic was used as systemic prophylaxis. Patients and methods - Patients who had a total knee arthroplasty (TKA) performed due to osteoarthritis (OA) during the years 2009-2015 were included in the study. Information on which antibiotic was used was available for 80,018 operations (55,530 patients). Survival statistics were used to calculate the rate of revision due to infection until the end of 2015, comparing the group of patients who received cloxacillin with those who received clindamycin as systemic prophylaxis. Results - Cloxacillin was used in 90% of the cases, clindamycin in 7%, and cephalosporins in 2%. The risk of being revised due to infection was higher when clindamycin was used than when cloxacillin was used (RR =1.5, 95% CI: 1.2-2.0; p = 0.001). There was no significant difference in the revision rate for other causes (p = 0.2). Interpretation - We advise that patients reporting allergic reaction to penicillin should have their allergic history explored. In the absence of a clear history of type-I allergic reaction (e.g. urticaria, anaphylaxis, or bronchospasm), we suggest the use of a third-generation cephalosporin instead of clindamycin as perioperative prophylaxis when undergoing a TKR. No recommendation can be given regarding patients with type-1 allergy

Fiber Evolution during Alkaline Treatment and Its Impact on Handsheet Properties

To understand the swelling effects of alkaline treatment on the morphological properties of fibers and physical properties of handsheets, bleached softwood kraft pulp was treated with NaOH at different concentrations. The results showed that the fiber swelling increased, but the shrinkage and elongation of the paper at a NaOH concentration of 6% or higher did not improve. Dissolution of amorphous material occurred during the treatment together with peeling reactions. The fiber length and shape factor decreased and the fines content increased with an increasing alkali concentration. The cellulose crystallinity decreased with an increasing NaOH concentration. This was confirmed by X-ray diffractometry, which also showed that some cellulose I was converted to cellulose II, especially at higher NaOH concentrations (\u3e 9%). The fiber curl and kink indices increased and the handsheet density decreased with an increasing NaOH concentration. However, the tensile index decreased more steeply than the density with an increasing NaOH concentration, possibly because of the lower number and strength of the interfiber bonds, increased kinks, and reduced fiber strength and length. The handsheet extensibility first increased and subsequently decreased as the NaOH concentration increased, which indicated that well-controlled NaOH treatment could be used to improve the extensibility of paper