This document reports the activities and impressions of 30 Swedish adult educators who exchanged ideas, experiences, and research results concerning adult education and learning at more than 20 conferences and seminars organized in the United States and Canada. The foreword briefly summarizes some impressions. (Among them are that adult education is more market-oriented in the United States than in Sweden, which has a more policy-oriented system; that Sweden may have more adults being educated per capita, whereas the United States and Canada may offer a wider variety of programs; and that Sweden may be more concerned with equality as it relates to adult education, whereas personal fulfillment may be a more common value in North America.) Part 1 of the document compares and contrasts the North American and Swedish systems, including such topics as study circles, study finance, outreach activities, workplace learning, public broadcasting, and adult learning, the status of research and development in adult education and the infrastructure of adult learning. Ten references are provided for Part 1. Part 2 contains a set of black and white photographs of the Swedish educators and of people and places they encountered during their visits to North America and Canada. Part 3 provides a smorgasbord of ideas, programs, notes, and references about the trip and the ideas exchanged there

The Swedish policy that work experience can be used as a substitute for formal academic entrance requirements for higher education is assessed. The social and economic background of introducing work experience in higher education policy is described, and the significance of work experience to enrollment patterns and for the form and content of higher education is addressed. The general characteristics of the Swedish admissions system and the effects on recruitment and admissions are outlined. Additionally, the effects of work experience on the educational process are considered from a theoretical viewpoint. Distinctions are made between three different functions of work experience as a ground for admission: work experience as a substitute for upper secondary school education (alternative route) for adults; additional credit in selection for all students; and formal requirement for admission to some study programs. Work experience also is classified as a basis for academic studies according to its content (relevant professional experience, work experience, in general, and life experience). The admissions schemes in Sweden and Denmark are compared, and those found in a few other countries are briefly noted. Some Swedish findings regarding different ways of valuing work experience as an admission criterion are summarized. It is suggested that institutions that are mainly oriented toward traditional groups do not have the same possibilities of using experience as do institutions with an educational design oriented toward nontraditional students. A bibliography is appended

Avhandlingen är en könsteoretisk studie av organisationsförändringar i industrin - med fokus på kvinnor som arbetar med produktionsarbete. Avhandlingen beskriver vad som händer med organisationsstrukturen och med genusordningen i organisationen när företaget försöker införa en platt integrerad arbetsorganisation. Empirin omfattar åtta svenska industriföretag: fem massa- och papper, ett tvätteri, ett charkuteri och ett elektronikföretag. Resultaten visar att återställare och dämpande krafter ute i lokala arbetsorganisationer drar organisationen tillbaka till sitt ursprungliga utseende. Många av återställarna har koppling till "kön" och genusordningen. De lokala organisationernas utgångsläge inför organisationsförändringarna bygger ofta på en struktur som ger olika villkor för kvinnor och för män. Denna könsordning är en förklaring till många återställare och det är dessutom ofta just den som återställs. Genusordningens segregerande och hierakiserande krafter gör att människor lätt återskapar gamla könsmönster i nya organisationer. Detta innebär att de nya organisationsmodellernas strävan efter integrering, tillplattning, kompetensutveckling och flexibilitet riskerar att motarbetas. En stark och omfattande könsmärkning och könsuppdelning i utgångsläget inför organisationsförändringen innebär många återställare och därmed svårare att införa den platta integrerade arbetsorganisationen.

Det finns positiva tecken på att något ska hända med arbetslivsforskningensvillkor. Mer bekymmersamt är att facket och arbetsgivarna vill återskapaett nationellt centrum för arbetslivsforskning i Stockholm. Vi börinte fortsätta att reproducera bilden av att svensk arbetslivsforskningförsvann när Arbetslivsinstitutet lades ned. Det finns många starkaforskargrupper på universiteten ute i landet. Nu är det viktigt att vi ser tillatt de positiva signalerna blir verklighet på ett klokt sätt så att bredden iarbetslivsforskningen säkras.

This empirical article presents a gender analysis of long-term impacts of some of the many organizational change projects in Swedish industrial work organizations during the 1990s. Based on the results of return visits to three industrial companies and their change projects (implementation of Lean Production or other modern organizational models) that I studied more than a decade earlier, I discuss how the work organizations eventually had changed and specifically how and whether organizational internal gender patterns had changed. The initial study showed gender-based restoring responses to strategic organizational changes, especially in the gender-segregated and gender-homogeneous work organizations. These responses conserved gender patterns as well as the organizations’ culture in general, resulting in less productive work as well as a problematic work environment. The follow-up study showed that the organizations slowly changed according to the modern organizational models (e.g., Lean Production), but at the same time, in some cases, keeping the same gender segregation and stereotypical gender markings of skills and work tasks or with new variants of unequal gender order. In addition, the follow-up study showed other and more positive results with emerging pattern of gender equality, at least in the form of reduced gender segregation and less stereotypical ideas concerning gender. The material indicates that the studied companies, in some aspects, developed into less gendered production organizations while taking some steps toward a modern organization and this was done without gender equality interventions. Therefore, the material indicated that, at least in part, gender equality could be seen as a prerequisite or perhaps even a side effect of modern organizational concepts. This article contributes to the emerging literature on an organizational theory of undoing gender as well as to the research of conditions and consequences of the modern organizational models.

Raises questions about the links between gender and organizational changes, and between gender and learning at work. The empirical base is a qualitative study of organizational changes in the pulp and paper industry, electronics industry, food industry, and laundry industry in Sweden during the late 1990s. In the studied companies, restoration responses in the work organizations brought the organization back its original form and function. Shows that gender exerts an influence on the existing work organization and on the organizational change. The learning organization, with its focus on integration and decentralization, challenges gender order, which is a strong system, built on segregation and hierarchy. Concludes that gender segregating and stereotypic gender-coding of workplaces and work tasks were strong restoring mechanisms and obstacles to strategic organizational changes, and to individual and to organizational learning.

On the advice of an independent consultancy specialising in ergonomics and man management, a new ladle preparation station was designed for SSAB in Lulea. Quantifiable savings close to £0.5M have resulted, plus less tangible benefits arising from a more satisfied work force

Explores realities between theoretical & practical developments in the advancement of gender equality in professional organizations. Gender inequality, understood to be a hindrance to the ultimate potential advance of any organization, has long been the target of theories & approaches aiming to help organizations restructure to allow for optimal gender equality & integration performance. However, it is often the case that even when these theories move beyond the rhetorical & into the realm of real institution, their ideal is not fully realized because of factors that make for only a partial implementation & therefore permit old ways of thinking to compromise the envisioned restructuring. In any such restructuring, both masculine & feminine roles undergo a change of definition & thus of application toward assignments that have stereotypically been predominantly associated with a given gender. Some of the facets of these mutations are detailed here. To potentiate a thorough change in gender roles & equality that would benefit both men & women as well as the organizations they work for, it is imperative to encourage further work that gains a deeper recognition of the actual symbols, structures, & practices that impact gender difference in all technical & organizational dimensions