Lappeenrannan teknillisen korkeakoulun alueellinen vaikuttavuus

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on selvittää Lappeenrannan teknillisen korkeakoulun (LTKK:n) koulutuksellista ja taloudellista vaikuttavuutta Etelä-Karjalassa ja kehittää sitä kuvaavia mittareita. Lisäksi selvitetään sidosryhmien näkemystä LTKK:n imagosta sekä osaamisen ja inhimillisen pääoman alueellista merkitystä. Tutkimus on luonteeltaan toiminta-analyyttinen, mutta sisältää myös käsite-analyyttisiä ja nomoteettisia piirteitä. Lähtökohtana vaikuttavuuden tarkastelussa pidetään yliopiston yhteiskunnallisia funktioita. Nämä funktiot ovat: opetus, tutkimus sekä olemassaolo ja toiminta. Tässä tutkimuksessa yliopisto nähdään inhimillisen pääoman kartuttajana, työvoiman tuottajana, työllistäjänä, rahavirtojen lähteenä, yhteistyökumppanina ja innovaatiokeskuksena. Myös yliopiston imagoa pidetään yhtenä vaikuttavuuden osatekijänä. Tutkimus sisältää sekä teoreettisen että empiirisen osan. Teoriaosassa käsitellään yliopiston vaikuttavuuteen liittyviä käsitteitä ja malleja, osaamisen alueellista merkitystä ja yliopiston roolia inhimillisen pääoman tuottajana sekä yliopiston imagon merkitystä. Tutkimukseen liittyi LTKK:sta vuonna 1997 – 2000 valmistuneille tehty kyselytutkimus sekä sidosryhmiin kohdistettu teema-haastattelu. Tutkimuksen empiriaosassa mitataan LTKK:n alueellista vaikuttavuutta opetukseen, tutkimukseen sekä olemassaoloon ja yhteistyöhön liittyvien mittareiden perusteella. Tutkimuksen perusteella voidaan todeta, että LTKK:n merkitys työvoiman tuottajana on voimakkaasti kasvanut, samoin kuin valmistumisen jälkeen Etelä-Karjalaan jäävien osuus. LTKK:sta valmistuneet pitävät koulutuksen antamia valmiuksia pääosin hyvinä, mutta työnantajat näkevät puutteita muun muassa johtamis- ja sosiaalisissa taidoissa. LTKK saa toiminnallaan aikaan huomattavia rahavirtoja ja on tärkeä yhteistyökumppani alueen muiden toimijoiden kannalta, lukuun ottamatta pienyrityksiä. LTKK:n imago on maakunnassa positiivinen, mutta sen valtakunnallinen tunnettuus on huono.

CREATING A MODEL FOR INVENTORY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Tutkielman tarkoituksena oli mallintaa varastonhallintajärjestelmä, joka olisi sopiva case yritykselle. Tutkimus aloitettiin case yrityksen varastonhallinan nykytilan kartoituksella, jonka jälkeen tutkittiin varastonhallinnan eri osa-alueisiin. Varastonhallinnan osa-alueista käsiteltiin varastotyyppejä, motiiveja, tavoitteita, kysynnän ennustamista sekä erilaisia varastonhallinnan työkaluja. Sen lisäksi tutkittiin erilaisia varaston täydennysmalleja. Teoriaosuudessa käsiteltiin lisäksi kolmea erilaista tietojärjestelmätyyppiä: toiminnanohjausjärjestelmää, sähköisen kaupankäynnin järjestelmää sekä räätälöityä järjestelmää. Tutkimussuunnitelmassa nämä kolme järjestelmää rajattiin vaihtoehdoiksi, joista jokin valittaisiin case yrityksen varastonhallintajärjestelmäksi. Teorian ja nykytilan pohjalta tehtiin viitekehys, jossa esiteltiin varastonhallintajärjestelmän tieto- ja toiminnallisuusominaisuuksia. Nämä ominaisuudet priorisoitiin neljään eri luokkaan ominaisuuden kriittisyyden mukaan. Järjestelmävaihtoehdot arvioitiin viitekehyksen kriteerien mukaisesti, miten helposti ominaisuudet olisivat toteutettavissa eri vaihtoehdoissa. Tulokset laskettiin näiden arviointien perusteella, jonka jälkeen tulosten analysoinnissa huomattiin, että toiminnanohjausjärjestelmä sopisi parhaiten case yrityksen varastonhallintajärjestelmäksi.

Monikanavaisuuden hyödyt ja haitat - tutkimus monikanavaisuudesta palveluntarjoajan ja asiakkaan näkökulmasta

Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää, voidaanko asiakkaan ja palveluntarjoajan odotukset yhdistää muodostettaessa palveluntarjoajan monikanavamallia. Monikanavaisuus tuo asiakkaalle mahdollisuuksia ajasta ja paikasta riippumattomaan asiointiin. Asiakkaan näkökulmasta tämä tarkoittaa usein sitä, että hänen oppimansa asiointitapa muuttuu. Asiakas kokee haittana sen, että joutuu panostamaan uuden asiointitavan opettelemiseen ja odottaa tämän muutoksen tuovan hänelle hyötyjä. Monikanavaisuuden hyödyt asiakkaalle punnitaan tässä muutostilanteessa. Palveluntarjoaja odottaa monikanavamallin tuovan kustannussäästöjä, sillä kanavavalinnat ovat keino kehittää asiakkuuksia ja vaikuttaa yrityksen kannattavuuteen pitkällä aikajänteellä. Monikanavamallin toteuttaminen vaatii palveluntarjoajalta alkuvaiheessa resursseja, investointeja ja halutun muutoksen tavoitteellista johtamista. Tutkittavat asiakkaat valittiin Suomen Posti Oyj:n Yritykset ja yritykset –asiakassegmentistä. Tutkimuksessa ei löytynyt asiakaskohtaisia eroja asiakkaiden odotuksista palveluntarjoajien monikanavamalleihin, mutta hyötyodotusten suhteen tunnistettiin kolme erilaista asiakastyyppiä: kustannussäästöjä odottavat hintaorientoituneet asiakkaat, palvelun entistä parempaa sujumista odottavat palveluorientoituneet asiakkaat ja oman valinnanvapautensa merkitystä painottavat asiakassuhdeorientoituneet asiakkaat. Palveluntarjoajan tulee pystyä viestimään ja argumentoimaan asiointitavan muutoksesta kullekin asiakkaalle merkityksellisellä tavalla. Teorian ja empirian pohjalta voidaan sanoa, että asiakkaan ja palveluntarjoajan odotukset voidaan yhdistää muodostettaessa palveluntarjoajan monikanavamallia. Tämä edellyttää, että palveluntarjoaja tuntee asiakkaansa niin hyvin, että tietää millaiset eri asiakkaiden hyötyodotukset ovat.

Impact of Investment Strategies on Performance in Pulp and Paper Industry

The main objective of this study was to examine, what kind of investment strategies the leading European and North American pulp and paper industry companies (PPI) used in 1991-2003, and how the selected strategies affected their performance. The investment strategies were categorised in three classes including mergers and acquisitions, investments in new capacity and investments in existing capacity. The results showed that mergers and acquisitions represented the largest share of total investments in 1991-2003 followed by investments in existing capacity. PPI companies changed investment strategies over time by increasing the share of mergers and acquisitions, which decreased investments in new capacity especially among North American companies. According to the results, good asset quality and investments in new and existing capacity provided better profitability than often expensive acquisitions. Also the capacity decreases had a positive impact on profitability. Average asset quality and profitability were higher among European companies. The study concluded that in the long term the available value creating investment opportunities should limit capital expenditure levels, not the relation of capital expenditure to depreciation.

Capability matrix – Identifying and evaluating the key capabilities of purchasing and supply management

Organizations gain resources, skills and technologies to find out the ultimate mix of capabilities to be a winner in the competitive market. These are all important factors that need to be taken into account in organizations operating in today's business environment. So far, there are no significant studies on the organizational capabilities in the field of PSM. The literature review shows that the PSM capabilities need to be studied more comprehensively. This study attempts to reveal and fill this gap by providing the PSM capability matrix that identifies the key PSM capabilities approached from two angles: there are three primary PSM capabilities and nine subcapabilities and, moreover, the individual and organizational PSM capabilities are identified and evaluated. The former refers to the PSM capability matrix of this study which is based on the strategic and operative PSM capabilities that complement the economic ones, while the latter relates to the evaluation of the PSM capabilities, such as the buyer profiles of individual PSM capabilities and the PSMcapability map of the organizational ones. This is a constructive case study. The aim is to define what the purchasing and supply management capabilities are and how they can be evaluated. This study presents a PSM capability matrix to identify and evaluate the capabilities to define capability gaps by comparing the ideal level of PSM capabilities to the realized ones. The research questions are investigated with two case organizations. This study argues that PSM capabilities can be classified into three primary categories with nine sub-categories and, thus, a PSM capability matrix with four evaluation categories can be formed. The buyer profiles are moreover identified to reveal the PSM capability gap. The resource-based view (RBV) and dynamic capabilities view (DCV) are used to define the individual and organizational capabilities. The PSM literature is also used to define the capabilities. The key findings of this study are i) the PSM capability matrix to identify the PSM capabilities, ii) the evaluation of the capabilities to define PSM capability gaps and iii) the presentation of the buyer profiles to identify the individual PSM capabilities and to define the organizational PSM capabilities. Dynamic capabilities are also related to the PSM capability gap. If a gap is identified, the organization can renew their PSM capabilities and, thus, create mutual learning and increase their organizational capabilities. And only then, there is potential for dynamic capabilities. Based on this, the purchasing strategy, purchasing policy and procedures should be identified and implemented dynamically.

Purchasing and supply management capabilities in Finnish medium-sized enterprises

Purchasing and supply management (PSM) has become increasingly important for companies to survive in current highly competitive market. Increased outsourcing has extended the role of PSM, making external resource management and supplier relationships critical success factors in business. However, the recent research has mainly concentrated on large enterprises. Therefore the PSM issues related to medium-sized enterprises represent a significant research area. The thesis aims to explore the status and role of PSM in Finnish medium-sized firms, understand how strategic companies consider PSM to be, clarify what are the competence requirements for PSM professionals, and increase the understanding of PSM capabilities needed from the points view of individual competence and organisational capabilities. The study uses data that was collected in 2007 from purchasing executives at the director/CEO level representing a sample of 94 Finnish firms. 54 % of the respondent enterprises had a supply strategy. The total supply cost was on average 60 % of firms' turnover. Centralisation of PSM and outsourcing of logistics will increase in Finnish medium-sized enterprises. The findings point out that Finnish medium-sized enterprises had strategical features of PSM. However, Finnish firms have not concentrated on making strategies that relate to PSM. The elements that explain the existence of a supply strategy could be found in this study. It can be concluded from this study that there is an advantageous base for the development of strategic PSM, because nearly all the enterprises were of the opinion that PSM capabilities have an effect on business success. When reviewing the organisational capabilities, the five most important development elements were supplier relationships, both operational and strategic processes, time management, and personnel's competence. Training in internationalisation, strategic management, and communication could help to improve competences of PSM personnel.

Approximation to the theory of affinities to manage the problems of the groupping process

New economic and enterprise needs have increased the interest and utility of the methods of the grouping process based on the theory of uncertainty. A fuzzy grouping (clustering) process is a key phase of knowledge acquisition and reduction complexity regarding different groups of objects. Here, we considered some elements of the theory of affinities and uncertain pretopology that form a significant support tool for a fuzzy clustering process. A Galois lattice is introduced in order to provide a clearer vision of the results. We made an homogeneous grouping process of the economic regions of Russian Federation and Ukraine. The obtained results gave us a large panorama of a regional economic situation of two countries as well as the key guidelines for the decision-making. The mathematical method is very sensible to any changes the regional economy can have. We gave an alternative method of the grouping process under uncertainty.

Managerial Careers in the IT Industry: Women in China and in Finland

This research focuses on the career experiences of women managers in the IT industry in China and Finland, two countries with different cultures, policies, size of population, and social and economic structures regarding work-life support and equal opportunities. The object of this research is to present a cross-cultural comparison of women’s career experiences and how women themselves understand and account for their careers. The study explores how the macro and the micro levels of cultural and social processes become manifested in the lives of individual women. The main argument in this thesis is that culture plays a crucial role in making sense of women’s career experiences, although its role should be understood through its interrelationship with other social processes, e.g., institutional relations, social policies, industrial structures and organizations, as well as globalization. The interrelationship of a series of cultural and social processes affects individuals’ attitudes to, and arrangement and organization of, their work and family lives. This thesis consists of two parts. The first part introduces the research topic and discusses the overall results. The second part comprises five research papers. The main research question of the study is: How do cultural and social processes affect the experiences of women managers? Quantitative and qualitative research methods, which include in-depth interviews, Q-methodology, interpretive analysis, and questionnaires, are used in the study. The main theoretical background is culturally sensitive career theory and the theory of individual differences. The results of this study are viewed through a feminist lens. The research methodology applied allows new explorations on how demographic factors, work experiences, lifestyle issues, and organizational cultures can jointly affect women’s managerial careers. The sample group used in the research is 42 women managers working in IT companies in China (21) and Finland (21). The results of the study illustrate the impact of history, tradition, culture, institutional relations, social politics, industry and organizations, and globalization on the careers of women managers. It is claimed that the role of culture – cultural norms within nations and organizations – is of great importance in the relationship of gender and work. Women’s managerial careers are affected by multiple factors (personal, social and cultural) reflecting national and inter-individual differences. The results of the study contribute to research on careers, adding particularly to the literature on gender, work and culture, and offering a complex and holistic perspective for a richer understanding of pluralism and global diversity. The results of the study indicate how old and new career perspectives are evidenced in women managers in the IT industry. The research further contributes to an understanding of women’s managerial careers from a cross-culture perspective. In addition, the study contributes to the literature on culture and extends understanding of Hofstede’s work. Further, most traditional career theories do not perceive the importance of culture in determining an individual’s career experience and this study richens understanding of women managers’ careers and has considerable implications for international human resource management. The results of this study emphasize the need, when discussing women managers’ careers, to understand the ways by which gendering is produced rather than merely examining gender differences. It is argued that the meaning of self-knowledge is critical. Further, the environment where the careers under study develop differs greatly; China and Finland are very different – culturally, historically and socially. The findings of this study should, therefore, be understood as a holistic, specific, and contextually-bound.

On Value Creation at an Industrial Intersection – Bioenergy in the Forest and Energy Sectors

The traditional forest industry is a good example of the changing nature of the competitive environment in many industries. Faced with drastic challenges forestindustry companies are forced to search for new value-creating strategies in order to create competitive advantage. The emerging bioenergy business is now offering promising avenues for value creation for both the forest and energy sectors because of their complementary resources and knowledge with respect to bioenergy production from forest-based biomass. The key objective of this dissertation is to examine the sources of sustainable competitive advantage and the value-creation opportunities that are emerging at the intersection between the forest and energy industries. The research topic is considered from different perspectives in order to provide a comprehensive view of the phenomenon. The study discusses the business opportunities that are related to producing bioenergy from forest-based biomass, and sheds light on the greatest challenges and threats influencing the success of collaboration between the forest and energy sectors. In addition, it identifies existing and potential bioenergy actors, and considers the resources and capabilities needed in order to prosper in the bioenergy field. The value-creation perspective is founded on strategic management accounting, the theoretical frameworks are adopted from the field of strategic management, and the future aspect is taken into account through the application of futures studies research methodology. This thesis consists of two parts. The first part provides a synthesis of the overall dissertation, and the second part comprises four complementary research papers. There search setting is explorative in nature, and both qualitative and quantitative research methods are used. As a result, the thesis lays the foundation for non-technological studies on bioenergy. It gives an example of how to study new value-creation opportunities at an industrial intersection, and discusses the main determinants affecting the value-creation process. In order to accomplish these objectives the phenomenon of value creation at the intersection between the forest and energy industries is theorized and connected with the dynamic resource-based view of the firm.

Effect of hydrodynamics on modelling, monitoring and control of crystallization

Crystallization is a purification method used to obtain crystalline product of a certain crystal size. It is one of the oldest industrial unit processes and commonly used in modern industry due to its good purification capability from rather impure solutions with reasonably low energy consumption. However, the process is extremely challenging to model and control because it involves inhomogeneous mixing and many simultaneous phenomena such as nucleation, crystal growth and agglomeration. All these phenomena are dependent on supersaturation, i.e. the difference between actual liquid phase concentration and solubility. Homogeneous mass and heat transfer in the crystallizer would greatly simplify modelling and control of crystallization processes, such conditions are, however, not the reality, especially in industrial scale processes. Consequently, the hydrodynamics of crystallizers, i.e. the combination of mixing, feed and product removal flows, and recycling of the suspension, needs to be thoroughly investigated. Understanding of hydrodynamics is important in crystallization, especially inlargerscale equipment where uniform flow conditions are difficult to attain. It is also important to understand different size scales of mixing; micro-, meso- and macromixing. Fast processes, like nucleation and chemical reactions, are typically highly dependent on micro- and mesomixing but macromixing, which equalizes the concentrations of all the species within the entire crystallizer, cannot be disregarded. This study investigates the influence of hydrodynamics on crystallization processes. Modelling of crystallizers with the mixed suspension mixed product removal (MSMPR) theory (ideal mixing), computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and a compartmental multiblock model is compared. The importance of proper verification of CFD and multiblock models is demonstrated. In addition, the influence of different hydrodynamic conditions on reactive crystallization process control is studied. Finally, the effect of extreme local supersaturation is studied using power ultrasound to initiate nucleation. The present work shows that mixing and chemical feeding conditions clearly affect induction time and cluster formation, nucleation, growth kinetics, and agglomeration. Consequently, the properties of crystalline end products, e.g. crystal size and crystal habit, can be influenced by management of mixing and feeding conditions. Impurities may have varying impacts on crystallization processes. As an example, manganese ions were shown to replace magnesium ions in the crystal lattice of magnesium sulphate heptahydrate, increasing the crystal growth rate significantly, whereas sodium ions showed no interaction at all. Modelling of continuous crystallization based on MSMPR theory showed that the model is feasible in a small laboratoryscale crystallizer, whereas in larger pilot- and industrial-scale crystallizers hydrodynamic effects should be taken into account. For that reason, CFD and multiblock modelling are shown to be effective tools for modelling crystallization with inhomogeneous mixing. The present work shows also that selection of the measurement point, or points in the case of multiprobe systems, is crucial when process analytical technology (PAT) is used to control larger scale crystallization. The thesis concludes by describing how control of local supersaturation by highly localized ultrasound was successfully applied to induce nucleation and to control polymorphism in reactive crystallization of L-glutamic acid.

Equivalence and translation strategies in multilingual thesaurus construction

In the present dissertation, multilingual thesauri were approached as cultural products and the focus was twofold: On the empirical level the focus was placed on the translatability of certain British-English social science indexing terms into the Finnish language and culture at a concept, a term and an indexing term level. On the theoretical level the focus was placed on the aim of translation and on the concept of equivalence. In accordance with modern communicative and dynamic translation theories the interest was on the human dimension. The study is qualitative. In this study, equivalence was understood in a similar way to how dynamic, functional equivalence is commonly understood in translation studies. Translating was seen as a decision-making process, where a translator often has different kinds of possibilities to choose in order to fulfil the function of the translation. Accordingly, and as a starting point for the construction of the empirical part, the function of the source text was considered to be the same or similar to the function of the target text, that is, a functional thesaurus both in source and target context. Further, the study approached the challenges of multilingual thesaurus construction from the perspectives of semantics and pragmatics. In semantic analysis the focus was on what the words conventionally mean and in pragmatics on the ‘invisible’ meaning - or how we recognise what is meant even when it is not actually said (or written). Languages and ideas expressed by languages are created mainly in accordance with expressional needs of the surrounding culture and thesauri were considered to reflect several subcultures and consequently the discourses which represent them. The research material consisted of different kinds of potential discourses: dictionaries, database records, and thesauri, Finnish versus British social science researches, Finnish versus British indexers, simulated indexing tasks with five articles and Finnish versus British thesaurus constructors. In practice, the professional background of the two last mentioned groups was rather similar. It became even more clear that all the material types had their own characteristics, although naturally not entirely separate from each other. It is further noteworthy that the different types and origins of research material were not used to represent true comparison pairs, and that the aim of triangulation of methods and material was to gain a holistic view. The general research questions were: 1. Can differences be found between Finnish and British discourses regarding family roles as thesaurus terms, and if so, what kinds of differences and which are the implications for multilingual thesaurus construction? 2. What is the pragmatic indexing term equivalence? The first question studied how the same topic (family roles) was represented in different contexts and by different users, and further focused on how the possible differences were handled in multilingual thesaurus construction. The second question was based on findings of the previous one, and answered to the final question as to what kinds of factors should be considered when defining translation equivalence in multilingual thesaurus construction. The study used multiple cases and several data collection and analysis methods aiming at theoretical replication and complementarity. The empirical material and analysis consisted of focused interviews (with Finnish and British social scientists, thesaurus constructors and indexers), simulated indexing tasks with Finnish and British indexers, semantic component analysis of dictionary definitions and translations, coword analysis and datasets retrieved in databases, and discourse analysis of thesauri. As a terminological starting point a topic and case family roles was selected. The results were clear: 1) It was possible to identify different discourses. There also existed subdiscourses. For example within the group of social scientists the orientation to qualitative versus quantitative research had an impact on the way they reacted to the studied words and discourses, and indexers placed more emphasis on the information seekers whereas thesaurus constructors approached the construction problems from a more material based solution. The differences between the different specialist groups i.e. the social scientists, the indexers and the thesaurus constructors were often greater than between the different geo-cultural groups i.e. Finnish versus British. The differences occurred as a result of different translation aims, diverging expectations for multilingual thesauri and variety of practices. For multilingual thesaurus construction this means severe challenges. The clearly ambiguous concept of multilingual thesaurus as well as different construction and translation strategies should be considered more precisely in order to shed light on focus and equivalence types, which are clearly not self-evident. The research also revealed the close connection between the aims of multilingual thesauri and the pragmatic indexing term equivalence. 2) The pragmatic indexing term equivalence is very much context-depended. Although thesaurus term equivalence is defined and standardised in the field of library and information science (LIS), it is not understood in one established way and the current LIS tools are inadequate to provide enough analytical tools for both constructing and studying different kinds of multilingual thesauri as well as their indexing term equivalence. The tools provided in translation science were more practical and theoretical, and especially the division of different meanings of a word provided a useful tool in analysing the pragmatic equivalence, which often differs from the ideal model represented in thesaurus construction literature. The study thus showed that the variety of different discourses should be acknowledged, there is a need for operationalisation of new types of multilingual thesauri, and the factors influencing pragmatic indexing term equivalence should be discussed more precisely than is traditionally done.

Generic and professional caring in a Chinese setting: an ethnopraphic study

The objective of the present study is to describe the cultural care practices, meanings, values and beliefs which form the basis of caring in a Chinese context. The research has its starting point in a caring science perspective and a qualitative research approach with interpretative ethnography as methodological guideline. The theoretical perspective is formed by elements of the theory of caritative caring, developed by Eriksson, and the theory of Culture Care Diversity and Universality, developed by Leininger. Previous research of suffering, culture and caring is described and also a presentation of actual transcultural nursing research as well as a presentation of the social structure dimensions of Chinese culture is included in the theoretical background. The empirical part includes patients and relatives, nurses and Hu Gongs as informants. The data collected are analysed based on Geertz’s idea of forming “thick descriptions” through examining the “what, how and why” of people’s actions. The findings show that the family has a prominent position in Chinese caring practices. The patient plays an unobtrusive role and a mutual dependence between the patient and the family members is evident. The professional nursing care is an extended act which includes the family in the caring relationship. The care practices of the Chinese nurse are characterized by great professional nursing skills. Suffering is described by the informants as being caused by disease, pain and social circumstances. “Social suffering” is described as worse than physical or mental suffering. Culturally competent and congruent care is a prerequisite for avoiding cultural pain, imposition and blindness when caring for the suffering human being. The findings of the present study necessitate a broadening in caring theory to include the family in the caring relationship. A further conclusion is that a broadening in our perception and understanding of culture would promote the delivery of culturally competent and congruent care. Suffering need to be seen as enclosed in cultural patterns of how it is expressed, interpreted, understood and relieved. Care and caring need to be seen as embedded in culture and the care practices values and beliefs have to be congruent with the cultural patterns where the care is provided.

Making Sense of Shared Leadership. A case study of leadership processes and practices without formal leadership structure in the team context

Leadership is essential for the effectiveness of the teams and organizations they are part of. The challenges facing organizations today require an exhaustive review of the strategic role of leadership. In this context, it is necessary to explore new types of leadership capable of providing an effective response to new needs. The presentday situations, characterized by complexity and ambiguity, make it difficult for an external leader to perform all leadership functions successfully. Likewise, knowledge-based work requires providing professional groups with sufficient autonomy to perform leadership functions. This study focuses on shared leadership in the team context. Shared leadership is seen as an emergent team property resulting from the distribution of leadership influence across multiple team members. Shared leadership entails sharing power and influence broadly among the team members rather than centralizing it in the hands of a single individual who acts in the clear role of a leader. By identifying the team itself as a key source of influence, this study points to the relational nature of leadership as a social construct where leadership is seen as social process of relating processes that are co-constructed by several team members. Based on recent theoretical developments concerned with relational, practice-based and constructionist approaches to the study of leadership processes, this thesis proposes the study of leadership interactions, working processes and practices to focus on the construction of direction, alignment and commitment. During the research process, critical events, activities, working processes and practices of a case team have been examined and analyzed with the grounded theory –approach in the terms of shared leadership. There are a variety of components to this complex process and a multitude of factors that may influence the development of shared leadership. The study suggests that the development process of shared leadership is a common sense -making process and consists of four overlapping dimensions (individual, social, structural, and developmental) to work with as a team. For shared leadership to emerge, the members of the team must offer leadership services, and the team as a whole must be willing to rely on leadership by multiple team members. For these individual and collective behaviors to occur, the team members must believe that offering influence to and accepting it from fellow team members are welcome and constructive actions. Leadership emerges when people with differing world views use dialogue and collaborative learning to create spaces where a shared common purpose can be achieved while a diversity of perspectives is preserved and valued. This study also suggests that this process can be supported by different kinds of meaning-making and process tools. Leadership, then, does not reside in a person or in a role, but in the social system. The built framework integrates the different dimensions of shared leadership and describes their relationships. This way, the findings of this study can be seen as a contribution to the understanding of what constitutes essential aspects of shared leadership in the team context that can be of theoretical value in terms of advancing the adoption and development process of shared leadership. In the real world, teams and organizations can create conditions to foster and facilitate the process. We should encourage leaders and team members to approach leadership as a collective effort that the team can be prepared for, so that the response is rapid and efficient.

Kuntaorganisaation henkilöstöraportoinnin kehittäminen, case: Lappeenrannan kaupunki

Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on tutkia Lappeenrannan kaupungin henkilöstöraportointia ja auttaa sen kehittämistyössä siten, että se vastaisi paremmin toimialojen käytännön henkilöstöjohdollisia tarpeita. Nykyisellään henkilöstöstä tuotettua informaatiota voidaan pitää toimialojen johdon näkökulmasta puutteellisena ja vanhentuneena. Tavoitteena on täten auttaa kaupunkia kehittämään raportointityövälineitään vastaamaan nykyistä paremmin reaaliaikaisiin johdollisiin tarpeisiin kartoittamalla eri toimialojen henkilöstöraportointiin liittyviä toiveita. Teoriaosassa käsitellään henkisen ja aineettoman pääoman ulottuvuuksia, henkilöstövoimavarojen johtamisen toimintakenttää sekä henkilöstövoimavarojen raportointia. Empiirisessä osassa keskitytään Lappeenrannan kaupunkiin, sen henkilöstöraportoinnin nykytilaan ja mahdollisiin kehittämisehdotuksiin. Luonteeltaan tutkimusta voidaan pitää laadullisena tapaustutkimuksena, joka sisältää sekä deskriptiivisiä että normatiivisia piirteitä. Tutkimuksen perusteella havaitaan, ettei henkilöstöraportointi nykyisellään täysin vastaa esimiesten tarpeita, vaan sitä tulisi kehittää sekä sisällöllisesti että käytettyjen raportointivälineiden osalta joustavammaksi toimialojen erityispiirteitä huomioivaksi kokonaisuudeksi.

Motivational Influences on Transfer: Dimensions and Boundary Conditions

The focus of this dissertation is the motivational influences on transfer in higher education and professional training contexts. To estimate these motivational influences, the dissertation includes seven individual studies that are structured in two parts. Part I, Dimensions, aims at identifying the dimensionality of motivation to transfer and its structural relations with training-related antecedents and outcomes. Part II, Boundary Conditions, aims at testing the predictive validity of motivation theories used in contemporary training research under different study conditions. Data in this dissertation was gathered from multi-item questionnaires, which were analyzed differently in Part I and Part II. Studies in Part I employed exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, partial least squares (PLS) path modeling, and mediation analysis. Studies in Part II used artifact distribution meta-analysis, (nested) subgroup analysis, and weighted least squares (WLS) multiple regression. Results demonstrate that motivation to transfer can be conceptualized as a three-dimensional construct, including autonomous motivation to transfer, controlled motivation to transfer, and intention to transfer, given a theoretical framework informed by expectancy theory, self-determination theory, and the theory of planned behavior. Results also demonstrate that a range of boundary conditions moderates motivational influences on transfer. To test the predictive validity of expectancy theory, social cognitive theory, and the theory of goal orientations under different study settings, a total of 17 boundary conditions were meta-analyzed, including age; assessment criterion; assessment source; attendance policy; collaboration among trainees; computer support; instruction; instrument used to measure motivation; level of education; publication type; social training context; SS/SMC bias; study setting; survey modality; type of knowledge being trained; use of a control group; and work context. Together, the findings cumulated in this thesis support the basic premise that motivation is centrally important for transfer, but that motivational influences need to be understood from a more differentiated perspective than commonly found in the literature, in order to account for several dimensions and boundary conditions. The results of this dissertation across the seven individual studies are reflected in terms of their implications for theory development and their significance for training evaluation and the design of training environments. Limitations and directions to take in future research are discussed.