Search

Work is a central part of our lives in many aspects. Half of our awake time is for most of us performed as paid work. At work, we create the values we need to live the life we desire. At work, we are socialized and shaped into the human beings we are. We are all concerned about how our work will be in the future; will we be able to handle the new technology or will we be replaced by a robot? Do we see the new technology as The wolf is coming or God's gift to mankind? This is an existential question and the future work is shaped here and now. This means that we need to get a picture of what is happening so we can act, but we also need a vision of where we want to go. Our mission as a researcher is to find the pathways to the Sustainable work, but in order to to find the way, we sometimes have to take on the role of the wolf and ask the uncomfortable questions. Validerad;2021;Nivå 1;2021-03-08 (johcin)

Substitutionsbehandling är en vårdform som rekommenderas av Socialstyrelsen för personer med ett långvarigt opiatberoende. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur samverkan kring klienterna fungerade, samt vilka stödinsatser som kunde bli aktuella utifrån klinternas behov. Då substitutionsbehandling anses vara kontroversiellt, fanns även ett intresse av att undersöka de professionellas upplevelser av vårdformen. Studien bygger på kvalitativa intervjuer med yrkesverksamma (n=8) som i sina olika yrkesroller hade kontakt med klienterna. Resultatet analyserades utifrån systemteori, stämplingsteori och empowerment. Studiens huvudresultat visade att det förekom mycket samverkan kring klienterna och att det fanns flera stödinsatser tillgängliga för den enskilde. Inställningen till substitutionsbehandling var till övervägande del positiv och de främsta argumenten för vårdformen uppgavs vara de personliga vinsterna för klienterna. Slutsatsen är att det krävs mer än mediciner för att upprätthålla drogfrihet och klienternas sociala nätverk kan vara avgörande för en lyckad behandlingsprocess. Studiens resultat kan därmed bidra med kunskap om substitutionsbehandling.

Det finns positiva tecken på att något ska hända med arbetslivsforskningens villkor. Mer bekymmersamt är att facket och arbetsgivarna vill återskapa ett nationellt centrum för arbetslivsforskning i Stockholm. Vi bör inte fortsätta att reproducera bilden av att svensk arbetslivsforskning försvann när Arbetslivsinstitutet lades ned. Det finns många starka forskargrupper på universiteten ute i landet. Nu är det viktigt att vi ser till att de positiva signalerna blir verklighet på ett klokt sätt så att bredden i arbetslivsforskningen säkras.

Godkänd; 2015; 20151209 (leab)

Projektet Lönsam arbetsmiljö för städare visar hur städares arbetsmiljö och hälsa kan förbättrasom en bred satsning, som både innefattar fysiska och psykosociala arbetsmiljöfaktorer,genomförs. Även samband mellan god arbetsmiljö för städare och konkurrensfördelar harpåvisats.Städare beskrivs ofta som en utsatt yrkesgrupp i en hårt konkurrensutsatt bransch därdåliga arbetsförhållanden, höga sjuktal och tidiga pensionsavgångar sägs vara karaktäristiskt.Rekommendationer för hur städares arbetsmiljö ska förbättras översköljer branschen mendet finns ett glapp mellan teori och praktik och många av rekommendationerna införs inte ipraktiken. Detta tycks delvis bero på de hårt pressade priserna, som både leder till enförsämrad arbetssituation för städarna och till en bromsande effekt på långsiktigtarbetsmiljöarbete. Idag saknas goda exempel som visar hur städares arbetsmiljö i praktikenkan förbättras. Projektets slutsatser bygger på empiriska studier av en arbetsmiljösatsning som enkommunal städenhet har genomfört i syfte att förbättra de anställdas hälsa samt att höjakvalitén på städtjänsten. Satsning kan sammanfattas med orden ökad delaktighet och ökatinflytande för städarna samt förbättrade sociala relationer och kortare beslutsvägar.Satsningar på god fysisk arbetsmiljö för att minska den fysiska belastningen har ocksåbedrivits kontinuerligt. Vidare har städenheten getts möjlighet att omfördela de egnaekonomiska resurserna och anser nu att de genom strategiska satsningar har gynnat denegna organisationen, städarna och de offentliga verksamheter som utgör enhetens kunder.Fram tills idag har städenhetens strategi varit lyckad. Den arbetsrelaterade sjukfrånvaronhar sjunkit, kvalitén och effektiviteten på städtjänsterna har ökat och städarna beskriver enökad arbetsglädje och arbetsmotivation. Städenhetens arbetsmiljösatsning kan sägas utgöraett gott exempel för andra städorganisationer, oavsett ägandeform, för hur arbetsmiljö förstädares kan förbättras.

Swedish mining companies and surrounding mining communities face many challenges when it comes to social sustainable development. For example, a strong mining workplace culture and community identity can create both strong cohesion but also lead to exclusion of certain groups, rejection of new ideas and reinforce traditional, masculine values. Other challenges include recruitment, as well as health and safety in relation to an increased use of contractors and automation of mining. The social dimension is relatively underdeveloped in studies of sustainable development in general and the mining industry in particular. This report reviews research on social sustainable development and mining with a special focus on (1) diversity of lifestyles, (2) gender, and (3) work conditions. Swedish and international research is reviewed and knowledge gaps are identified. All three areas of research can be regarded as relatively mature and they give important contributions to ourunderstanding of social sustainable development in relation to the mining sector even if they not always explicitly refer to it as such. There is a lack of research that links attitudes, policies and activities within companies to their impact on the wider society, and vice versa. Future research should also include the development of methods and indicators for social sustainability relevant for mining. Godkänd; 2014; 20141114 (leab)

Artikeln innehåller en diskussion om olika begrepp, synsätt och användning av kunskaper om arbetsmiljö och hur det har förändrats över tid i Sverige. Det gäller exempelvis hur kunskaper om psykosocial arbetsmiljö används för att förstå och diskutera ohälsa, styrning och utveckling – för individer, grupper och organisationer. Artikeln innehåller också reflektioner kring trender, framtid och några (eventuella) tankefällor och/eller språngbrädor i dagens och morgondagens arbetsliv när det gäller arbetsmiljö. Titeln ”Hundra år av långsamhet” markerar en viss otålighet över att förändringstakten och förändringsviljan inte alltid är så hög.

The Swedish mining industry experiences a major production and economic boost and Luleå University of Technology (LTU) has established itself as Europe’s leading mining university. Together they are, along with other actors in society, a leading innovation system. This innovation system, however, face a number of challenges, such as recruitment problems, demand for new technology and research, mining communities that need be upgraded and restructured and unequal, gendered work, organizations and innovation policy initiatives.In this paper we present a gender aware research and innovation agenda in the mining sector, which aims to create more gender equal innovation and thus contribute to a socially sustainable and internationally competitive development of the Swedish mining sector. The agenda, a result of interactive collaboration between the project team, LTU mining researchers and actors from e.g. LKAB, Boliden AB, Northland resources as well as The County Council of Norrbotten and the local communities, contains a list of tentative projects, defined by the innovation system. Some examples of projects are; Key roles of middle management for a gender equal mining industry, Gender patterns among mining entrepreneur companies, Gender aware and strategic recruitment, promotion and retention practices in the mining industry and Attractive and gender equal mining communities. The long-¬‐term vision, defined by the innovation system, is that the Swedish mining industry is a field of excellence, that the industry is well known for being world-¬‐class at breaking ore and gender patterns, that gender aware organizations and workplace cultures are created and sustained for efficiency, productivity and innovation as well as that regions and communities are characterized by economic growth, openness, tolerance and collaboration between mining companies and society. Drawing on theories and reflections on “undoing gender”, “degendering” and “gender toning down” we will in the paper also introduce a discussion on the relations between global mining industry, work organizations (mining companies, entrepreneur companies), labour unions, other actors, surrounding local communities and regional context etc. when it comes to doing and constructions of masculinities. Godkänd; 2013; 20131216 (leab) Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for the Swedish Mining and Metal Producing Industry

Validerad; 2013; 20131216 (leab)

Godkänd; 2013; 20150313 (andbra)

Purpose – Lean Production has in Sweden become the dominating ideal for ‘best practice’ in rationalization, organizational development and how to organize the work system. However, research into the effects of Lean for different stakeholders has produced ambiguous results. Furthermore, Lean practices seem to overlap with other popular management concepts, such as High Performance Work Systems, World Class Manufacturing and Total Quality Management. This confusion, combined with different methodological and theoretical traditions, has led to much debate and contradictory conclusions regarding Lean. The purpose of the paper is to illustrate some key methodological issues that need to be considered in future Lean research to allow increased understanding of Lean effects for different stakeholders, primarily meaning the customer, employer and employees. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on a multiple comparative case study, in which five Leancase studies are presented. All of the studies are of recent origin, and based in Sweden. The cases have been compared and contrasted based on the approaches to Lean, in terms of local ideals, operationalization and implementation. Findings – The findings from the case studies are in line with the existing literature, indicating that Lean has changed over time and that operationalization of the concept varies considerably between work life sectors. The findings demonstrate that approaches related to Lean differ significantly between the studied organizations and stakeholders. This applies to both the interpretations of the Lean concept itself, but also of the operationalization of Lean and implementation design. Although the cases show great similarities in the Lean ideals, the concept takes on many different forms when operationalized, which makes it very difficult to study through a priori definitions. Practical implications/recommendations – The large variation in interpretations of Lean complicates metaanalyses regarding potential impact of Lean on the primary stakeholders of an organization, i.e. the customer, employees and employer. Based on the case studies, we suggest that future investigations describe the Lean interventions in more detail. General descriptions or analogies, e.g. ‘learning organizations’, presumably increase the present confusion regarding Lean impact on different stakeholders. The case studies also illustrate the importance of describing factors that may mediate the effects of Lean, e.g. the local context of the investigated organizations, implementation design. More research is needed to identify these factors, how, and to what degree they mediate the consequences from Lean. Originality/value – The multidisciplinary approach of the included case studies provides an empirical richness that allows us to address the specific issues that need to be focused in the various disciplines investigating the impact of Lean on different organizational stakeholders.

Investments into the technology of the future require a firm basis in the needs of production industry. However, gathering, sorting and ranking cross-industrial future needs remains a steep challenge to technology developers. Gathering feedback from just one or a few case companies can result in a biased set of priorities, since feedback from specific industrial sectors may often be highly influenced by their industry- and product-specific challenges. The workshop method presented in this paper resolves this by using a highly interactive "mingling" technique to get participants in a large group workshop (between 15 - 20 people) to answer a specific question. The participants discuss ideas in smaller groups, share their findings to the group at large, co-operatively organize the input from all participants into functional categories, and finally perform a 'ranking' of the results. The outcome is a prioritized list of concerns to focus research efforts on, providing workshop analysts with a finished structure for reporting the results. The method was tested in two workshops within the project "The Operator of the Future" and resulted in plenty of positive feedback from participants, who felt that the input was relevant, well-structured, and easy to agree with due to the consensus categorizing. Godkänd; 2012; 20130208 (camgra) Framtidsoperatören

Increased global competition and forthcoming demographic changes is expected for the Swedish industry. The process and manufacturing industry needs to develop solutions that can provide increased flexibility and production efficiency. A key for the future competitiveness is the operator of the future who works closest to the value adding processes. In the project “The operator of the future”, “Framtidsoperatören” in Swedish, the overall aim is to increase the competiveness of Swedish industry by developing an advanced toolbox that meets future needs. In a pre-study, the tasks and needs of the operator of the future were investigated through workshops with 25 representatives from 15 Swedish process and manufacturing industries and system developers. The results had similarities across industries and suggest solutions that support communication, control and constant learning. The tools should be intuitive and situation adapted with use of strengthened senses. These results give the direction for a continued development of a future toolbox. Through a combination of new supporting technologies and new ways of collaboration the operators of the future might find their work more interesting, stimulating, and developing, leading to enhanced competiveness of Swedish industry. Godkänd; 2012; 20130208 (camgra) Framtidsoperatören

Godkänd; 2011; 20110613 (andbra)

I den här rapporten beskrivs metoder och resultat från projektet Framtidsfabriken, vars idé har varit att bryta traditionella mönster vid utformning av produktionssystem genom att inkludera grupper som i vanliga fall inte deltar i förändringsprojekt. Projektet har bedrivits på Arbetsvetenskap vid Luleå tekniska universitet. Syftet med projektet har dels varit att problematisera och utveckla metoder för produktionsutformning och dels att bidra till utveckling av teorierna om ’det goda arbetet’. En konkret frågeställning har varit; Hur utformas ett modernt produktionssystem baserat på krav formulerade av kvinnor och ungdomar? Projektets mål har varit att utforma en vision av en effektiv, attraktiv och långsiktigt hållbar arbetsmiljö i industrin. En avgränsning i projektet har varit valet att arbeta med industrin som bransch och inte en specifik typ av produktion eller ett visst företag. Projektet har bedrivits om ett interaktivt projekt i samarbete med aktörer från industrin. Totalt har 121 personer fördelat på 59 procent kvinnor och 41 procent män medverkat som deltagare i projektet. Deltagarna i projektet har varit anställda på både chefs- och medarbetarnivå i industrin, ungdomar, samt representanter för branschorganisationer och fackförbund. Arbetet har huvudsakligen genomförts i form av workshops samt fokusgrupper och intervjuer. Metoden har varit Future Workshops, där deltagarna inledningsvis diskuterar nuläge för att sedan arbeta med framtida ideala lösningar och idéer om implementering av lösningar. Även andra metoder har nyttjats; ”Personas” för att förmedla nuvarande situationer i industrin, scenarier för att stimulera till idéer om framtiden samt olika metoder och associativa bilder för att stimulera kreativitet och kommunikation i gruppen. Analys av material från intervjuer, observationer, diskussioner, val av bilder, ljud- och videoinspelningar har inriktats mot förståelse av deltagarnas kontexter och tolkning av deras behov och preferenser. Projektet har varit annorlunda genom målsättningen att bryta traditionella mönster av produktionsutformning genom att inkludera grupper som i vanliga fall inte deltar i förändringsprojekt. En vision av ett modernt produktionssystem har utformats, baserat på krav formulerade av kvinnor. Några exempel från visionen är att alla är medarbetare på Framtidsfabriken. Det är lika många män som kvinnor på alla befattningar. På framtidsfabriken arbetas med filosofin ’livslång trainee’. Man arbetar med olika former av nätverk, där olika kompetenser både inom och utanför företaget möts för att stimulera till innovation, ständig utveckling och förbättring. Flexibel arbetstid möjliggörs via individuella scheman. I lokalerna finns mötesplatser för kommunikation, nätverk och projektarbeten. Lokalerna är ljusa och färgsatta enligt företagsidentiteten. Teknik och kommunikation underlättas via ett enhetliga system, som alla kan ta del av. Godkänd; 2011; 20110504 (andbra) Framtidsfabriken - en konceptfabrik formad av kvinnor

This paper looks at the challenges that most organizations face in the management of their work environments, with respect to the tools that they can use to effectively capture both the explicit and tacit knowledge held by their employees for subsequent reuse when decisions need to be made. The problem-identification workshop (PIW), which is a participatory tool for enhancing the management of work environment in an organization, was tested in an organization. Participants identified organizational problems, proposed solutions to them, realistically assessed the desirability and possibility of these solutions, and finally recommended action plans to the organization for its short-term, intermediate and long-term design and management of effective work environment towards enhancing work life and productivity in the organization. It was concluded that PIW is a good socio-pedagogic method that can be used as an intelligent participatory intervention tool by managers in organizations in the management of their work environments. Keywords: Work environment; Implicit knowledge; Problem-identification workshop; Socio-pedagogic method; Strategic participatory tool. Validerad; 2011; 20110201 (mohami)

This paper discuses the use of organizational activity theory to address concerns on the best way to digitized human work that can lead to the creation of a harmony between the human, technical and the social system, towards increased productivity in the deep mine industry. The aim is to develop the requisite knowledge on the use of social networking technologies (new communication models) to design highly digitised work activity in which open collaboration can be enhanced between the human and the technological functions of the work that will make cross value chain optimisation a reality. Data is collected using observation and video-recording of miners’ activities, as well as recorded interviews techniques. The systemic-structural activity theory (Bedny and Karwowski, 2007), which focus on both the sociocultural approach to activity study and the individual-psychological approaches to activity study, which are basic to the study of human work is used. The main unit of analysis is the mine production activity. The sub-unit of analysis is carried out at two levels. These are the “object oriented” activity level, and the “subject-oriented” activity level. The object-oriented activity is analyzed from the perspectives of individual miners using technological tools (highly mechanized equipments) in breaking the rocks (material objects). The subject-oriented activity is also analyzed from the perspectives of the individual miner and his subjective interaction with the communication models and the technological tools as social objects. It is argued that since organizations possess technologies for accomplishing work, organizational activity then emphasizes a work system design in which technology affects social relations in organizations by structuring collaborative processes which are important components of an organization. It is then concluded that the systemic-structural activity theory can help understand how to optimize a work system’s design, such as the digitized mine activity, in terms of its sociotechnical system characteristics. Godkänd; 2011; 20110910 (mohami)