Jan Johansson

I'm the head of the Department of Business Administration, Technology and Social Sciences. I am also leading a big division in Industrial Work Environment. You will find further information on me in my CV (see below)).

Research at the Division of Industrial Work Environment is carried on in cooperation with large and small companies and organisations, both manufacturing companies and service companies, in the public as well as the private sector. We are for example running a number of projects in heavy process industries (pulp and paper, steel and mining) and the engineering industry. But we also have many research projects in health care and medical treatment, upper secondary school, and vocational education. Many projects have a theoretical foundation while others are more applied. Thematically, our projects can be described in terms of areas, which may appear to be quite different but are often interrelated and overlapping

Work environment, workplace design and production systems

A common point of departure is a holistic view of work, people and technology. This means, for example, development of methods for planning and designing production systems that are sustainable in the long term, work organisation and workplaces adapted to human conditions and prerequisites. For example, the development and application of methods for ergonomically designed workplaces using risk analyses, work analyses, ergonomic analyses, models, and computer simulation. A relatively large number of projects deal with work environment and work environment management, for example research in systematic work environment management in small business.

Work organisation, change processes, and learning

Issues related to work organisation are studied at different levels – the individual, the organisation, the company, the labour market and the training and education systems. Other areas studied may also include change and implementation processes, methods for change, learning, user participation and involvement, alongside the development and application of interactive methods. Several projects address different aspects of competence development, learning at work, individual learning, and organisational learning. Many projects deal with changing conditions in the labour market, new qualification requirements, and new needs with regard to basic and vocational education.

Gender research

The division has a number of projects sharing a gender research perspective although they have different content, for example research on gender and work organisation, gender and technology, and women’s work and their situation in the labour market and at companies.