Browsing by Subject "Integration"

As a result of different on-going conflicts in Europe the refugee crisis has reached new heights. Millions of people are fleeing their homes in hope of finding safer places for them and their families. The on-going crisis has also affected our Finnish society. We need to develop strategies so that we can take care and integrate the people that seek for protection in our country. The integration of refugees is a difficult task that needs a lot of effort and planning. This thesis focuses on the integration of young immigrants. There are several ways of approaching integration, and there are many different ways of trying to enhance the integration of immigrants. Previous studies prove that sports could be a very useful tool when it comes to the integration of immigrants. The aim of this thesis is therefore to investigate if sports can enhance young immigrants integration, and if so, then how. The data was collected through individual interviews with five young immigrants. The interviews focused on the immigrants experiences within sports, and if they experienced that football somehow had affected their integration. The theoretical framework mainly consisted of Erik Erikson’s identity development theory and Henri Tajfel’s social identity theory. This study is qualitative and descriptive to its nature. The results of this study show that sports and in this case football works extremely well when it comes to integrating young immigrants. The young individuals felt that the sport gave them a bigger sense of community and acceptance in the Finnish society. Football also supported the individuals in their identity development and created new and important friendships for the immigrants. The individual’s experiences concerning sport and integration were almost all positive and the study proves that sport and especially football can be a very useful tool when it comes to integrating young immigrants.

Mitt syfte med denna avhandling är att undersöka hur flyktingar upplever bemötandet av finländska myndigheter och det övriga finländska samhället. Faktorer som kan påverka bemötandet utforskas samt hur bemötandet kan inverka på integrationsprocessen. Frågeställningarna som används i avhandlingen är: Vilka upplevelser har flyktingar av bemötandet av de finländska myndigheterna samt det övriga samhället? Vilka faktorer finns det som kan påverka bemötandet av en flykting? Kan ett visst bemötande påverka hur integrationsprocessen framskrider? I avhandlingen analyseras upplevelserna av bemötandet med hjälp av teorier om antidiskriminering och antiförtryck. Materialet samlas in med hjälp av forskningsintervjuer, som studeras med en kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultatet visar att det förekommer både positivt och negativt bemötande och att det naturligtvis är en individuell upplevelse. Resultatet presenteras med hjälp av två olika huvudkategorier: bemötande av myndigheter och bemötande av det övriga samhället. Diskriminering, faktorer och integration/språk är underkategorier. Bemötandet har en inverkan på integrationsprocessen och vissa faktorer kan urskiljas som inverkar på bemötandet. Bemötande och personer med flyktingbakgrund är två ytterst centrala områden inom socialt arbete och bör forskas mer i.

Abstract The Finnish Integration law is directed to support immigrants’ active participation in society, support equality and interaction of different population groups with each other. In this paper I discuss that in fact it is directed to assistance in finding employment overlooking the very essential part of integration process that begins after the start of working life. The question of how integration proceeds after this point is answered through the ethnographic case study of International Corporation logistics department with the focus on immigrant and native employees’ communication. The results can be divided into two parts, firstly concerning the immigrants’ precarious position, secondly, the specificity of their communication with Finnish nationals. Studying the context of the immigrant integration, I discovered that immigrants have a rather economically vulnerable position. The structure of logistics department determines the unfavourable conditions of their employment, offering only part-time job opportunities. Discrepancy between working hours set by the employment contract and those actually worked every month makes the income highly unpredictable. This inconsistency as well as hourly-based payment system put employees in a position of constant struggle to increase their income, and set the high flexibility requirement. Moreover, the welfare benefits unequal distribution is discussed as a factor of immigrant precarization. Study of the immigrant and native employees’ communication has shown the existence of boundary between them that is maintained and reinforced by the actors themselves through ascription and self-ascription processes. Immigrant employees, experiencing communication difficulties with Finnish nationals within their department and with other departments, have a detached and segregated position in the Corporation. In the context of immigrant economic and social vulnerability the full participation in the society of the host country could hardly be achieved. Recommendations were elaborated concerning defining the integration concept in official documents and concerning possible improvements in the studied corporation.

Syftet med avhandlingen är att med hjälp av tidigare litteratur diskutera integration som process och vad det finns för konkreta policyer i Finland med betoning på arbetsmarknaden. I avhandlingen diskuteras ifall integrationsprocesserna i Finland i dess nuvarande form möjliggör eller försvårar en lyckad integration av invandrare. Lyckad integration har ingen universell betydelse, i avhandlingen diskuteras därför även vad lyckad integration innebär och ifall det ens finns något som lyckad integration. Invandrare står inför flera strukturella hinder i processen att integreras, som hindrar en framgångsrik integration att uppnås. Dessa hinder och svårigheter diskuteras i avhandlingen i relation till de konkreta integrationsprocesserna i Finland. Resultaten i avhandlingen visar att integration som den tar sig uttryck i Finland inte motsvarar hur litteraturen beskriver det. Jag kom även fram till att integrationsprocesserna i Finland kräver en omstrukturering och omdefiniering för att en lyckad integration ska kunna uppnås.

In software configuration management, branching is a common practice, which can enable efficient parallel development between developers and teams. However, the developers might not be aware of the different branching practice options and how to exactly formulate a branching strategy. This could lead to an opposite effect towards productivity, and other issues as well. The focus of this thesis is in what branching practices are considered as beneficial, what affects their usability, what risks are involved, and how to plan these practices in a structured manner. There are plenty of branching practices presented in the literature, which can either complement each other or be completely incompatible. A lot of the practices' beneficiality depends on the surrounding context, such as the tools in use and project characteristics. The most relevant risk to branching is merge conflicts, but there are other risks as well. The approaches for planning a branching strategy, however, are found to be too narrow in the reviewed literature. Thus, Branching Strategy Formulation and Analysis Method (BSFAM) is proposed to help teams and organizations plan their branching strategy in a structured manner. Additionally, the issues of branching are explored in the context of an organization that has multiple concurrent projects ongoing for a single product. Information on this is gathered through a survey, semi-structured interviews, and available documentation. The issues that were found can be attributed to a lack of proper base strategy, difficulties in coordination and awareness, and test automation management in relation to branching. The proposed method is then applied in that same context in order to provide solutions to the organization's issues, and to provide an example case. BSFAM will be taken into use in upcoming projects in the organization, and it will be improved if necessary. If the proposed method is to be adopted more widely and its resulting information published, it could provide further research towards how different branching practices fit in different contexts. Additionally, it could help in new, generally better, branching practices to emerge.

The world is currently experiencing a notable shift in the pattern of migration. Immigrant receiving countries in different parts of the world have promoted integration policies to minimise the inequality. My purpose of this paper is to learn how immigrant entrepreneurship contributes to self-employment by the use of ethnicity and transnational connection. This text examines the role of ethnicity in the development and sustenance of the Nepalese entrepreneurship in the context of Finland, drawing from the first-hand data. I have found that the involvement of ethnic resources, co-ethnic employment, and transnational connection lead to a profitable return for the Nepalese ethnic entrepreneurship. Instead of conceptualising a general economic model of entrepreneurship, I argue that it should be understood holistically how these immigrant entrepreneurs construct such opportunities by depending on ethnicity and co-ethnic relationship. I conduct this study with a great interest in the context of Finland, with an effort to understand the function of the Nepalese caste system as it is one of the essential features of this entrepreneurship model. I combined certain statistical information from various Finnish and Nepalese official sources to illustrate my arguments. The study shows how the Nepalese immigrant/ethnic entrepreneurs and soon-to-be entrepreneurs’ tactics to seek opportunities attempts to encounter mainstream labour market exclusion.