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Inclusive workplaces for people with disability – a rapid literature review In Sweden, the Discrimination Act (SFS 2008:567), aims to counteract discrimination and promote equal rights and opportunities for all despite factors such as disability, sex, ethnicity, and religion. In practice, this means that work organizations need to work for diversity and inclusion. This work is often manifested through recruitment process and to ensure, for example, that gender and disability do not constitute an obstacle for employment. However, the fact that an organization achieves diversity does not automatically mean that the employees have a sense of inclusion. Shore et al (2011, p. 1265) define inclusion as “the degree to which an employee perceives that he or she is an esteemed member of the work group through experiencing treatment that satisfies his or her needs for belongingness and uniqueness”. Inclusion in working life leads to many positive aspects such as good working relationships, job satisfaction, intention to stay, improved work performance, sense of organizational belonging and commitment, well-being, increased creativity and career opportunities (Shore et al 2011). Exclusion, on the other hand, risks leading to negative effects on psychological and physical health (Alexanderson, 2004), regardless of whether the exclusion occurs due to obvious prejudices or subtle forms of discrimination (Shore et al 2018). The purpose of our presentation is to present a systematic overview of the research on disability and inclusion in working life and identify knowledge gaps relevant for the Swedish context. The study is conducted as a systematic literature study with literature search in international and Nordic databases. The project used predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria and all reviewed articles in this project represent research of good standard. Furthermore, we will present a short overview of a 3-year research project starting in January 2023, that to some, Kristina Palm presented a rapid review about inclusive workplaces for employees with disabilities. Suzanne Millmark presented a short overview of a 3-year research project starting in January 2023, that to some extent builds on the review and aims to examine disability and remote work.

QC 20220927

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine and discuss conditions for workplace learning in gender-segregated workplaces in the public sector, how social constructions of gender contribute to (or constrain) the workplace learning conditions within two workplace contexts. Design/methodology/approach The research was carried out through an interactive approach with data from 12 semi-structured interviews with workers and first-line managers from technical maintenance and home care in a Swedish municipality, validated at an analysis seminar with 27 participations, from both workplace contexts the Swedish Work Environment Authority and us researchers. Findings The results indicate that gender affects conditions for workplace learning and contributes to an enabling learning environment in the male-dominated workplace context and to a constraining learning environment in the female-dominated workplace context. The identified differences are created in both organisational structures and the organisations’ cultures. Research limitations/implications When analysing conditions for workplace learning from a gender perspective, the approach of comparative, cross-case analyses is useful. An interactive approach with women and men describing and analysing their work experiences together with researchers is a fruitful way of making gender visible. Practical implications The theoretical approach in this study illuminates how social constructions of gender operate and affect conditions for workplace learning and contributes to a deeper understanding of underlying causes to unequal conditions in different workplace contexts. Social implications The findings imply a gender divide which, from the theoretical strands, can be seen as an expression of asymmetrical power relations and where these gendered learning conditions probably also affect the quality of the services. Originality/value The findings contribute to existing gender theoretical literature by demonstrating that gender, QC 20201224, Genusmedvetet arbetsmiljöarbete - lärande nätverk i kommunal sektor

The aim of this article is to critically explore how formal and informal work practices interplay with gender in the shaping of homecare service’s work environments. An ethnomethodological view on doing gender is applied in combination with theories about challenges in relational work.The material is drawn from two projects represented by (i) a cooperative inquiry about Swedish homecare service’s work environments, with homecare service workers and first-line mangers (seven included in this article) and (ii) six semi-structured interviews with employees from a national work environment authority. The analytic procedure was qualitatively based using an abductive approach when looking for cohesive themes. Gendered organizational shortcomings that interplayed with the shaping of the work environments were lack of clear work descriptions, boundaries for work, resources for embodied work, and limited knowledge about risk assessment in relational work., QC 20210826

The approach in this article is to study leadership activities from the shop-floor workers’ perspectives during the implementation of a Lean-inspired production concept – an angle of approach that corresponds to a need for a deeper knowledge of the interactions between organizational structures and the physical work environment. The empirical findings are from a national R&D program called the Production Leap and collected through different methods: semi-structured interviews carried out at eight manufacturing companies, the open-ended part of a longitudinal survey, and participative observations. Lean leadership practices at these companies do not enable the possibilities of developing the technical systems or work relationships between the managers and the shop-floor workers. Instead, they provide the means and activities to circumvent coordination problems and create a feeling of participation. The results here indicate that leadership activities and coordination of work do not, as it is sometimes argued by the proponents of Lean, ‘turn the pyramid’ of power upside down. One reason for this is the lack of social structures in the organization., QC 20150519

Purpose – This paper aims to identify conditions affecting sustainability of Lean implementations in Swedish psychiatric healthcare, from a socio-technical perspective. Design/methodology/approach – Longitudinal focus group interviews were conducted with 24 first-line managers within Swedish psychiatric healthcare. The analysis was made using Cherns’ ten socio-technical principles and a framework for sustainable development work in healthcare. Findings – The most critical socio-technical principles for a sustainable Lean implementation were boundary location; power and authority; and compatibility. At hospital level, socio-technical principles were inhibited by the weak ownership of the Lean implementation. However, strong ownership at division level meant the same principles were supported. Unclear goals made follow-ups difficult which had negative effects on the learning processes in the Lean implementation. The role and responsibility of first-line managers were unclear in that they perceived they lacked power and authority resulting in negative effects on the participation – an important sustainability concept. Originality/value – Empirically based papers assessing Lean implementations in psychiatry are rare. This study is a contribution to the research area of sustainable Lean implementations in healthcare. The practical implication of this study is that decision makers, senior managers, first-line managers and psychiatrists can be supported in reaching sustainable implementations of Lean., QC 20160518

QC 20160121, Implementering av natverk - nyttiggorande av branschkunskap

In this paper a network for knowledge sharing is presented. The network turns to safety and health engineers, ergonomists and researchers working in or with the manufacturing industry. The aim with the network is to strengthen and share sector related knowledge on safety and health. The results show a high interest in this kind of network and that the need for knowledge on how to handle complex situations is in focus, and not how to solve specific one dimensional problems., QC 2016-02-11, Implementering av natverk - nyttiggorande av branschspecifik kunskap

The background to this article review is governmental interest in finding reasons why a majority of the employees in Sweden who are on sick leave are women. In order to find answers to these questions three issues will be discussed from a meso-level: (i) recent changes in the Swedish health care sector’s working organization and their effects on gender, (ii) what research says about work health and gender in the health care sector, and (iii) the meaning of gender at work. The aim is to first discuss these three issues to give a picture of what gender research says concerning work organization and work health, and second to examine the theories behind the issue. In this article the female-dominated health care sector is in focus.This sector strives for efficiency relating to invisible job tasks and emotional work performed by women. In contemporary work organizations gender segregation has a tendency to take on new and subtler forms. One reason for this is today’s de-hierarchized and flexible organizations.A burning question connected to this is whether new constructions of masculinities and femininities really are ways of relating to the prevailing norm in a profession or are ways of deconstructing the gender order.To gain a deeper understanding of working life we need multidisciplinary research projects where gender-critical knowledge is interwoven into research not only on organizations, but also into research concerning the physical work environment, in order to be able to develop good and sustainable work environments, in this case in the health care sector., QC 2016-02-11

QC 20140627

Det övergripande syftet med projektet har varit att - utveckla fallbeskrivningar för lärande genom en analys av hur det formella och informella jämställdhetsarbetet vid KTH är organiserat och på vilka arenor detta arbete utövas i praktiken, - utifrån fallbeskrivningar iscensätta lärandeprocesser i form av benchlearning om jämställdhetsarbete mellan de tekniska högskolorna i Sverige. En central del i metodansatsen är att jämställdhetsarbetets innehåll och form är kontextberoende. Det är inte möjligt att finna en standard för hur jämställdhetsarbete inom högskolan ska bedrivas, utan här krävs ett utvecklingsarbete som tar sin utgångspunkt i de enskilda organisationernas förutsättningar och behov.Projektet delas in i en intern och en extern fas. Den interna fasen består av en lärprocess om KTH:s eget jämställdhetsarbete och är en metodologisk förutsättning för att kunna utveckla benchlearning i den externa fasen. I projektets externa fas är fokus på att iscensätta ett lärande i form av benchlearning mellan de medverkande organisationerna, utifrån de lärande exempel som beskrivs i rapporten. Målsättningen är att utveckla ett bestående nätverk för lärande och erfarenhetsutbyte mellan de tekniska högskolorna, där empiri från de egna organisationerna kan ligga till grund., QC 20140919

QC 20160615

QC 20121218

QC 20120210

QC 20170515

QC 20120201

QC 20120201

NR 20140805

NR 20140805

Purpose - At present, healthcare organizations are facing both quality and financial challenges. Consequently, organizations in this sector have started to introduce Lean inspired production concepts in order to become more efficient and effective. The implementation of Lean in healthcare is not unproblematic, especially not within psychiatry, the context of which differs greatly from other sectors where it is more usual to see Lean implemented. The aim of this article is to identify managerial preconditions for the implementation of a sustainable Lean organization at a psychiatry division in a Swedish university hospital. Design/methodology/approach – An interactive case study approach was chosen with the purpose of gaining deeper knowledge and understanding of the first-line managers’ role during implementation of Lean. Focus group interviews together with 24 first-line managers were conducted. In the analysis, a socio-technical perspective was used due to the characteristics of the psychiatry healthcare context but also from a sustainability perspective. The empirical data from the focus group interviews were also complemented with a semi-structured interview with a key actor. Findings – Development work is context dependent and so is the implementation of Lean. This particular case study points out that clarity of the organizational structures within the Lean work, i.e. objectives and roles, affects the level of participation and consequently the sustainability of the Lean implementation. The empirical findings also show that a managerial lack of power and authority make it difficult for first-line managers (the majority being nurses) to prioritize engagement and time spent in Lean work. Originality/value – At present there are few studies on the implementation of Lean within the psychiatry healthcare sector and in a socio-technical context. In this article a model is presented, visualizing managerial preconditions for sustainable Lean in the context presented., QS 2014

Submitted manuscriptQC 20210527

Submitted manuscriptQC 20210527