The personal research portal : web 2.0 driven individual commitment with open access for development

Peer-reviewed

Urapolut ja niihin vaikuttavat tekijät S-ryhmässä

Urateoriat ovat murroksessa, kun urat ovat muuttumassa perinteisistä urapoluista rajattomiin, monisuuntaisiin uriin. Samaan aikaan erilaisten trainee-ohjelmien määrä lisääntyy vauhdilla. Urapolkujen tutkiminen on tästä syystä erittäin ajankohtaista. Tämän tutkielman tarkoituksena on tutkia, miten S-ryhmässä työskentelevien kaupallisen kenttäkoulutuksen käyneiden ja sen käymättömien urapolut eroavat toisistaan. Viimeaikaisten teorioiden mukaan urat voidaan jakaa objektiivisiin ja subjektiivisiin uriin sekä perinteisiin ja rajattomiin uriin. Aikaisempien tutkimustulosten pohjalta tarkastellaan yksilöiden uravalintoja ja käsityksiä hyvästä urasta. Myös yksilön sosiaalistuminen organisaatioon vaikuttaa sitoutumiseen ja tätä kautta uraan. Tutkimuksessa on käytetty kvalitatiivisia menetelmiä ja havaintoaineisto on kerätty sähköpostikyselyiden avulla S-ryhmässä työskenteleviltä henkilöiltä. Tutkimustulokset osoittavat, että urapolut ovat erilaisia. Kaikki tutkimukseen osallistuneet kenttäkoulutetut ovat johtaja-asemassa, vertailuryhmän henkilöt asiantuntija- tai päällikköasemassa. Tulosten mukaan ei kuitenkaan voida todeta, että näiden kahden ryhmän urakäsitykset olisivat huomattavasti erilaisia. Onnistunut ura nähdään useimmin subjektiivisesti haastavana, omien tavoitteiden ja kehittymisen saavuttamisena.

Nuevas perspectivas de la orientación profesional para responder a los cambios y necesidades de la sociedad de hoy = New Perspectives in Career Counseling which Respond to the Changes and Needs of Society Today

In this paper a brief outline of the origin and development of vocational guidance and career development during the 20thcentury is presented We elaborate a summary of the changes society has suffered during the last decades, and which affect career counselling either directly or indirectly, and which imply a need for modifications in the current approach to career counselling. Subsequently, we propose new perspectives that will be needed to face these changes, and which have been suggested by different authors. Also some competencies needed by career counselors while acting at different levels of intervention are suggested

Making Sense of Women Managers’ Identities through the Constructions of Managerial Career and Gender

This doctoral thesis is about gendered managerial identity construction of women managers. Finnish women managers have been researched from the viewpoints of equality and discrimination issues, careers, and women’s overall positions in work life. However, managerial identity has remained as an unexplored territory. The phenomenon is approached discourse analytically; an interview material that is gathered from 13 women managers in the South-Karelian region is in focus. By studying discourses it is possible to open up understandings how meanings are given to experiences. Women managers’ identity construction is examined from the perspectives of managerial career, managerial practices, and gender. Gender is a meta-concept in this research, as it so profoundly affects our sense of being and acting, although the meaning of it often remains undervalued, invisible, or even denied. This research shows that gender becomes highly visible in managerial contexts, when it is used for some specific purpose, that is, treated as a strategy. By studying women managers it is possible to demystify often so abstract managerial ideals, and open up their taken-for-granted masculine subtexts. It is argued that from the point of view of conducting managerial work, the meaning of self-knowledge appears as critical.

Etätyöntekijöiden sitoutuminen organisaatioon

Tutkielman tarkoituksena on osallistua liiketaloustieteelliseen keskusteluun organisaatiositoutumisesta. Pro gradu -työn tavoitteena on tunnistaa, mitkä tekijät vaikuttavat etätyöntekijöiden sitoutumiseen ja minkälaisia lisähaasteita etätyöskentely luo sitoutumiselle. Tutkielman teoriaosuudessa käsitellään etätyön eri lajeja, etätyöhön siirtymisen edellytyksiä, erilaisia sitoutumismalleja sekä sitoutumiseen vaikuttavia tekijöitä. Tutkimuksessa käytettiin laadullisia tutkimusmenetelmiä. Havaintoaineisto muodostuu yhdeksästä teemahaastattelusta. Haastateltavat etätyöntekijät edustavat tasaisesti kaikkia etätyönteon muotoja. Analyysimenetelmänä on käytetty teemoittelua, joka helpottaa aineiston jäsentelyä. Tutkimustulosten perusteella etätyöntekijöiden organisaatiositoutumiseen vaikuttavat eniten työn haasteellisuus, uralla etenemisen mahdollisuudet, esimiestoiminta ja työilmapiiri. Tutkimuksen mukaan etätyöskentely vaikuttaa etenkin työilmapiiriin, työnkuvan selkeyteen, työstä saatavaan palautteeseen sekä sisäiseen viestintään.

Career satisfaction among medical school professors: a case study in Brazil

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the career satisfaction of medical school professors in relation to initial motivation, satisfaction factors, and the desire to remain in the profession. METHODOLOGY: A qualitative methodology was used, based on questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with faculty members at a federal institution of higher education in Brazil. RESULTS: For 42.86% of the sample, teaching began while they were medical students; 80% had chosen teaching either as a vocation or due to influence from families or professors; 20% chose teaching as a professional opportunity. The majority, 57.14%, stated they were happy with teaching, and 51.42% did not plan to leave the career. Factors involved in satisfaction with teaching were: the possibility of remaining up-to-date in the medical profession, the feeling of doing their duty, their contribution to training future doctors, and contact with young people and the university setting. Factors leading to dissatisfaction were pedagogical (33.33%), economic (30.95%), institutional (14.28%), and relational (14.28%). CONCLUSIONS: Subjects expressed a positive attitude towards teaching, and because of their great personal satisfaction with the career, they did not plan to leave it. These findings should shed light on factors that interfere with career satisfaction and help increase those that promote satisfaction, thus improving the productivity and well-being of medical professors.

Médico de família: ser ou não ser? Dilemas envolvidos na escolha desta carreira

A Estratégia Saúde da Família é responsável por reorganizar o Sistema Único de Saúde brasileiro por meio da Atenção Primária. O aumento substancial de programas e vagas para residência em Medicina de Família e Comunidade, ocorrido desde 2002, é uma das estratégias para suprir o crescente mercado de trabalho correspondente. Entretanto, menos da metade dessas vagas são ocupadas. A literatura brasileira apresenta poucas evidências sobre o motivo desta baixa procura. Alguns países que optaram pelo fortalecimento da Atenção Primária em seu sistema de saúde também experimentam uma crise aparente na escolha desta carreira pelos egressos médicos. Neste ensaio, revisamos algumas questões envolvidas nesta escolha, apontando sua complexidade e a necessidade de investigações sistematizadas sobre as motivações dos alunos de graduação em optarem ou não por esta especialidade médica, particularmente no Brasil.

Rukoile ja työtä tee. Onni Puhakan kehitys innovaattorista oman tien kulkijaksi

Pray and work. The development of Onni Puhakka: from innovator to nonconformist This ethnological biographical study examines the modernization which began in the mid-1800s, continued into the mid-1900s, and has changed Finnish society in many ways. This era has been studied on a general level quite extensively, but this work explores the life and everyday experiences of Onni Puhakka (1870−1955), a farmer who spent most of his life in the town of Liperi. The goal is to find new perspectives on the development of the modernization process in society through the experiences of an individual. In this study, a central theme is the rural co-operative movement represented in Finland by Pellervo as well as its development in this country and as a significant undertaking in Onni Puhakka’s life. The co-operative movement was one of the most significant sectors affecting modernization in rural communities. The main character in the study is the grandfather of the present author, and thus this research belongs to the newly accepted ethnological research tradition of studying one’s own community. Written documents, mainly collected and preserved by Onni Puhakka himself during his lifetime, form the research material. The material consists mainly of Puhakka’s extensive correspondence, personal notes and diaries, documents related to his farm, and photographs taken by him. Earlier research and other written material examining the general development of the period were used to provide a background for the study. The co-operative movement formed a comprehensive ideology for Onni Puhakka, in which the possibilities for the development of both individuals and the community were combined. His life was based on a religious conviction, and he felt that the co-operative movement was the application of Christian love for one’s neighbour in practice. At the beginning of his active working career, Puhakka was an innovator, a reformer at the forefront of progress, but quite soon he became a sworn critic of the development of the co-operative movement in particular. One of Puhakka’s criticisms of the co-operative movement was the shifting of decision-making power to professional managers and central organizations, far from the reach of local actors. A fundamental reason for his dissatisfaction was the development within the co-operative movement in which the ideological background was forgotten, and economic goals and making a profit took an excessive significance. This assessment of the co-operative movement made by Onni Puhakka and his predictions about its development were not unfounded. This has been shown by several studies examining the development of both the Pellervo and working class cooperative movements. The professionalization of management, managerialism, as well as the direct links between professional managers of local co-operatives and central organizations have lead to the situation in which fewer and fewer people make the decisions, and management has as its goal economic success and growth. Co-operative enterprises that have grown in size have become estranged from the everyday life of their members. Instead of taking care of relations with the membership of the co-op, competitive ability and the market share have become the most important concerns of the management. As the membership has become alienated, their interest in large-scale co-ops has also become largely economic. A significant change among the membership of the Pellervo movement occurred at the stage when the co-operative movement shifted from rural areas to urban centres. This meant that the commitment of the membership became much looser than it had been in the farmers’ production and consumer co-ops. From the point of view of its members, the nature of the co-operative movement has become diametrically opposed to its point of departure: the active members who previously formed the subject of the co-operative movement have become the object of the economic activities of that same movement. The co-operative movement has been transformed from the progressive agent of change of its early years into a business activity which no longer has any significant task as a social reformer. This study confirms the observations of the latest research on modernization which states that modernization has not been a straightforward and inevitable development that has lead to the present situation. For example, the criticism directed by Puhakka toward the co-operative movement includes information that shows that a few others who were initially actively involved also criticized the development of the movement. Despite his occasional frustration, Onni Puhakka continued his criticism and attempts to get the co-operative movement to change its course and return to its ‘roots’. In the early years of the cooperative movement he probably did not differ much from the other pioneers in the sense that many of them had adopted and internalized the same values and motive for being involved that he had. However, Puhakka differed from his colleagues in the sense that he was able to believe in what he called the “fundamental values” of the co-operative movement longer than many of them.

Sitouttamisretoriikka yritysviestinnässä

This study focuses on work commitment creation on rhetorical level, that is to say, the rhetorical and linguistic means that are used to construct or elicit worker commitment. The commitment of the worker is one of the most important objectives of all business communication. There is a strong demand for commitment, identification, or adherence to work in various walks of life, although the actual circumstances are often somewhat insecure and shortsighted. The analysis demonstrates that the actual object of commitment may vary from work itself or work organization to one’s career or professional development. The ideal pattern for commitment appears as comprehensive: it contains affective and rational as well as ideological dimensions. This thesis is a rhetorical discourse analysis, or rhetorical analysis with discourse-analytic influences. Primarily it is a rhetorical analysis in which discourses are observed mainly as tools of a rhetorician. The study also draws on various findings of sociology of work and organizational studies. Research material consists of magazines from three and web pages from six different companies. This study explores repeated discourses in commitment rhetoric, mainly through pointing core concepts and recurrent patterns of argumentation. In this analysis section, a semantic and concept-analytic approach is also employed. Companies talk about ideas, values, feelings and attitudes thus constructing a united and unanimous group and an ideal model of commitment. Probably the most important domain of commitment rhetoric is the construction of group and community. Collective identity is constructed through shared meanings, values and goals, and these rhetorical group constructs that can be used and modified in various ways. Every now and then business communication also focuses on the individual, employing different speakers, positions and discourses associated to them. Constructing and using these positions also paints the picture of an ideal worker and ideal work orientation. For example, the so called entrepreneurship model is frequently used here. Commitment talk and the rhetorical situation it constructs are full of tensions and contradictions; the presence of seemingly contradictory values, goals or identities is constant. This study demonstrates tensions like self-fulfilment and individuality versus conformity, and constant change and development versus dependable establishment, and analyses how they are used, processed and dealt with. An important dimension in commitment rhetoric is the way companies define themselves in respect of current social issues, and how they define themselves as responsible social actors, and how they, in this sense, seek to appear as attractive workplaces. This point of view gives rise to problematic questions as companies process the tensions between, for example, rhetoric and action, ethical ideals and business conditions and so on. For its part, the commitment talk also defines the meaning of waged work in human life. Changing society, changing working life, and changing business environments set new claims and standards for workers and contents of work. In this point of view this research contributes to the study of working life and takes part in current public discussion concerning the meaning, role and future of waged work.

Commitment to military service among Finnish conscripts

This research establishes the primary components, predictors, and consequences of organizational commitment in the military context. Specifically, the research examines commitment to the military service among Finnish conscripts and whether initial affective commitment prior to service predicts later commitment, attitudes, behavior, and performance, and, furthermore, analyzes the changes in commitment and its possible outcomes. The data were collected from records as well as by surveys from 1,387 rank and file soldiers, immediately after they reported for duty, near the end of basic training, and near the end of 6 to 12 months of service. The data covered a wide array of predictor variables, including background items, attitudes toward conscription, mental and physical health, sociability, training quality, and leadership. Moreover, the archival data included such items as rank, criminal record, performance ratings, and the number of medical examines and exemptions. The measures were further refined based on the results of factor analysis and reliability tests. The results indicated that initial commitment significantly corresponded with expected adjustment, intentions to stay in the military, and acceptance of authority. Moreover, initial commitment moderately related to personal growth, perceived performance, and the number of effective service days at the end of service. During basic training, affective commitment was mostly influenced by challenging training, adjustment experiences, regimentation, and unit climate. At the end of service, committed soldiers demonstrated more personal growth and development in service, had higher-level expected performance, and less malingering during their service. Additionally, they had significantly more positive attitudes toward national defense. The results suggest that affective commitment requires adequate personal adjustment, experiences of personal growth and development, and satisfaction with unit dynamics and training. This research contributes to the theoretical discussion on organizational commitment and the will to defend the nation and advances developing models to support and manage conscript training, education, leadership, and personnel policy. This is achieved by determining the main factors and variables, including their relative strength, that affect commitment to the military service. These findings may also facilitate in designing programs aimed at reducing unwanted discharges and inadequate performance. In particular, these results provide tools for improving conscripts’ overall attachment to and identification with the military service.

Kauppatieteellisestä täydennyskoulutuksesta saatavan osaamisen hyödyntäminen organisaatioiden toiminnassa

Tässä tutkimuksessa selvitetään, kuinka Lappeenrannan teknillisen yliopiston kauppatieteiden täydennyskoulutusohjelman eli KATI-ohjelman opiskelijan osaaminen saadaan osaksi organisaation toimintaa. Lisäksi tutkitaan, kuinka osaaminen saadaan sitoutettua organisaatioon ja kuinka opinnot vaikuttavat työntekijöiden urakehitykseen. Toimeksiantajana on Lappeenrannan teknillisen yliopiston koulutus- ja kehittämiskeskus. Tutkimus on kvalitatiivinen ja tehtiin teemahaastattelun avulla haastattelemalla kahdeksaa KATI-ohjelmassa opiskellutta. Lisäksi haastateltiin kolmea esimiestä tuomaan organisaation näkökulmaa tutkimukseen. Tutkimuksessa saatiin selville, että parhaiten osaaminen saadaan organisaation hyödyksi tarjoamalla koulutusta vastaavia ja haasteellisia töitä sekä mahdollistamalla työntekijän opiskelu työn ohella esimerkiksi koulutusmaksuihin osallistumalla.