Emancipating and developing learning activity: Systemic intervention and re-instrumentation in higher education.

The central theme of this thesis is the emancipation and further development of learning activity in higher education in the context of the ongoing digital transformation of our societies. It was developed in response to the highly problematic mainstream approach to digital re-instrumentation of teaching and studying practises in contemporary higher education. The mainstream approach is largely based on centralisation, standardisation, commoditisation, and commercialisation, while re-producing the general patterns of control, responsibility, and dependence that are characteristic for activity systems of schooling. Whereas much of educational research and development focuses on the optimisation and fine-tuning of schooling, the overall inquiry that is underlying this thesis has been carried out from an explicitly critical position and within a framework of action science. It thus conceptualises learning activity in higher education not only as an object of inquiry but also as an object to engage with and to intervene into from a perspective of intentional change. The knowledge-constituting interest of this type of inquiry can be tentatively described as a combination of heuristic-instrumental (guidelines for contextualised action and intervention), practical-phronetic (deliberation of value-rational aspects of means and ends), and developmental-emancipatory (deliberation of issues of power, self-determination, and growth) aspects. Its goal is the production of orientation knowledge for educational practise. The thesis provides an analysis, argumentation, and normative claim on why the development of learning activity should be turned into an object of individual|collective inquiry and intentional change in higher education, and why the current state of affairs in higher education actually impedes such a development. It argues for a decisive shift of attention to the intentional emancipation and further development of learning activity as an important cultural instrument for human (self-)production within the digital transformation. The thesis also attempts an in-depth exploration of what type of methodological rationale can actually be applied to an object of inquiry (developing learning activity) that is at the same time conceptualised as an object of intentional change within the ongoing digital transformation. The result of this retrospective reflection is the formulation of “optimally incomplete” guidelines for educational R&D practise that shares the practicalphronetic (value related) and developmental-emancipatory (power related) orientations that had been driving the overall inquiry. In addition, the thesis formulates the instrumental-heuristic knowledge claim that the conceptual instruments that were adapted and validated in the context of a series of intervention studies provide means to effectively intervene into existing practise in higher education to support the necessary development of (increasingly emancipated) networked learning activity. It suggests that digital networked instruments (tools and services) generally should be considered and treated as transient elements within critical systemic intervention research in higher education. It further argues for the predominant use of loosely-coupled, digital networked instruments that allow for individual|collective ownership, control, (co-)production, and re-use in other contexts and for other purposes. Since the range of digital instrumentation options is continuously expanding and currently shows no signs of an imminent slow-down or consolidation, individual and collective exploration and experimentation of this realm needs to be systematically incorporated into higher education practise.

Finnish Institutional Innovation Support Policies from Russian Entrepreneurs' Perspective: Establishing Cross-Border Technology Oriented Start-Up Firm

The purpose of this thesis is to study how Russian entrepreneurs perceive Finnish institutional environment and innovation support policies provided in the country, as well as to present a practical example in form of a case study of one technology oriented start-up firm which was established in Finland by Russian entrepreneurs. The empirical research of the thesis is conducted qualitatively in two parts. First part is conducted through online questionnaire with open questions in order to review the perceptions of Russian entrepreneurs in general. Second part is based on personal interviews with case company’s founders with the focus on the process of establishing the company in Finland. In the first part of the empirical research, five Russian start-up firms were contacted, and four responses were received. All of these responses were qualified for further analysis. The findings of the first part of the research reveal that Russian entrepreneurs have rather positive attitudes towards Finnish institutional innovation support policies. However, most of the entrepreneurs stated that they are unlikely to create their presence in Finland. As an outcome of the second part of the research, the process of establishing a case company in Finland is illustrated. In order to be able to establish companies in Finland, Russian entrepreneurs who have a permanent residence outside European Economic Area (EEA) are required to apply for a permission to perform business operations in the country. In addition, the established company must engage in improving the economical stand of the country by creating new work places, raising tax revenues, develop technologies and generate innovations in the country.

Software Development Process Modeling. Developers Perspective to Contemporary Modeling Techniques

Formal software development processes and well-defined development methodologies are nowadays seen as the definite way to produce high-quality software within time-limits and budgets. The variety of such high-level methodologies is huge ranging from rigorous process frameworks like CMMI and RUP to more lightweight agile methodologies. The need for managing this variety and the fact that practically every software development organization has its own unique set of development processes and methods have created a profession of software process engineers. Different kinds of informal and formal software process modeling languages are essential tools for process engineers. These are used to define processes in a way which allows easy management of processes, for example process dissemination, process tailoring and process enactment. The process modeling languages are usually used as a tool for process engineering where the main focus is on the processes themselves. This dissertation has a different emphasis. The dissertation analyses modern software development process modeling from the software developers’ point of view. The goal of the dissertation is to investigate whether the software process modeling and the software process models aid software developers in their day-to-day work and what are the main mechanisms for this. The focus of the work is on the Software Process Engineering Metamodel (SPEM) framework which is currently one of the most influential process modeling notations in software engineering. The research theme is elaborated through six scientific articles which represent the dissertation research done with process modeling during an approximately five year period. The research follows the classical engineering research discipline where the current situation is analyzed, a potentially better solution is developed and finally its implications are analyzed. The research applies a variety of different research techniques ranging from literature surveys to qualitative studies done amongst software practitioners. The key finding of the dissertation is that software process modeling notations and techniques are usually developed in process engineering terms. As a consequence the connection between the process models and actual development work is loose. In addition, the modeling standards like SPEM are partially incomplete when it comes to pragmatic process modeling needs, like light-weight modeling and combining pre-defined process components. This leads to a situation, where the full potential of process modeling techniques for aiding the daily development activities can not be achieved. Despite these difficulties the dissertation shows that it is possible to use modeling standards like SPEM to aid software developers in their work. The dissertation presents a light-weight modeling technique, which software development teams can use to quickly analyze their work practices in a more objective manner. The dissertation also shows how process modeling can be used to more easily compare different software development situations and to analyze their differences in a systematic way. Models also help to share this knowledge with others. A qualitative study done amongst Finnish software practitioners verifies the conclusions of other studies in the dissertation. Although processes and development methodologies are seen as an essential part of software development, the process modeling techniques are rarely used during the daily development work. However, the potential of these techniques intrigues the practitioners. As a conclusion the dissertation shows that process modeling techniques, most commonly used as tools for process engineers, can also be used as tools for organizing the daily software development work. This work presents theoretical solutions for bringing the process modeling closer to the ground-level software development activities. These theories are proven feasible by presenting several case studies where the modeling techniques are used e.g. to find differences in the work methods of the members of a software team and to share the process knowledge to a wider audience.

Induction practices : experiences of newly qualified teachers

The thesis consists of four studies (articles I–IV) and a comprehensive summary. The aim is to deepen understanding and knowledge of newly qualified teachers’ experiences of their induction practices. The research interest thus reflects the ambition to strengthen the research-based platform for support measures. The aim can be specified in the following four sub-areas: to scrutinise NQTs’ experiences of the profession in the transition from education to work (study I), to describe and analyse NQTs’ experiences of their first encounters with school and classroom (study II), to explore NQTs’ experiences of their relationships within the school community (study III), to view NQTs’ experiences of support through peer-group mentoring as part of the wider aim of collaboration and assessment (study IV). The overall theoretical perspective constitutes teachers’ professional development. Induction forms an essential part of this continuum and can primarily be seen as a socialisation process into the profession and the social working environment of schools, as a unique phase of teachers’ development contributing to certain experiences, and as a formal programme designed to support new teachers. These lines of research are initiated in the separate studies (I–IV) and deepened in the theoretical part of the comprehensive summary. In order to appropriately understand induction as a specific practice the lines of research are in the end united and discussed with help of practice theory. More precisely the theory of practice architectures, including semantic space, physical space-time and social space, are used. The methodological approach to integrating the four studies is above all represented by abduction and meta-synthesis. Data has been collected through a questionnaire survey, with mainly open-ended questions, and altogether ten focus group meetings with newly qualified primary school teachers in 2007–2008. The teachers (n=88 in questionnaire, n=17 in focus groups), had between one and three years of teaching experience. Qualitative content analysis and narrative analysis were used when analysing the data. What is then the collected picture of induction or the first years in the profession if scrutinising the results presented in the articles? Four dimensions seem especially to permeate the studies and emerge when they are put together. The first dimension, the relational ˗ emotional, captures the social nature of induction and teacher’s work and the emotional character intimately intertwined. The second dimension, the tensional ˗ mutable, illustrates the intense pace of induction, together with the diffuse and unclear character of a teacher’s job. The third dimension, the instructive ˗ developmental, depicts induction as a unique and intensive phase of learning, maturity and professional development. Finally, the fourth dimension, the reciprocal ˗ professional, stresses the importance of reciprocity and collaboration in induction, both formally and informally. The outlined four dimensions, or integration of results, describing induction from the experiences of new teachers, constitute part of a new synthesis, induction practice. This synthesis was generated from viewing the integrated results through the theoretical lens of practice architecture and the three spaces, semantic space, physical space-time and social space. In this way, a more comprehensive, refined and partially new architecture of teachers’ induction practices are presented and discussed.

Interaction with industrial customers from a project selling company's perspective

This thesis studied the issue of interaction in industrial buyer-seller relationships. The aim of the thesis was to study the interaction from the seller’s perspective, especially from a project selling company’s perspective. The purpose of the thesis was to offer suggestions for the case company on how to improve interaction. The theoretical part of the study introduced the interaction framework of buyer-seller interaction, and the concept of interaction mechanisms. The focus was on studying the seller’s ways and means to utilize the interaction mechanisms. A case study research was conducted in the empirical part of the study, in which interaction in the case company was observed at a general level and through three different projects. The case company of the study was a project selling company. The case study data was gathered through individual interviews. Content Analysis was used as a research method for analyzing the case study data. Based on the case study findings, the results were drawn. The results indicated what should be done, in order to develop interaction in the case company. Finally, suggestions were provided for the case company on how to improve interaction, and a suggested interaction model was established for the case company. Although the thesis studied the topic from the viewpoint of only one specific company, it also offers outlook for other seller companies to improve their interaction.

Pursuing substantive participation in Russia : a perspective from international legal obligations and comparative law

Så som är fallet för många andra stater, kan vissa delar av den ryska förvaltningen ännu utvecklas för att till fullo uppfylla internationella standarder. Internationella fördragsorgan som övervakar förverkligandet i Ryssland av fördrag om mänskliga rättigheter framför ibland kritiska anmärkningar om den demokratiska utvecklingen i Ryssland. Enskilda fall där politiska rättigheter möjligen kränkts av ryska myndigheter har utan tvivel placerat Ryssland i fokus för internationell media. Exempel på sådana fall är mordet på journalisten Anna Politkovskaya, Sergei Magnitskys död i fängelse och fängslandet av medlemmarna i "Pussy Riot”. Likväl anser författaren av denna studie att politiska rättigheter i Ryssland förverkligas inom rimliga gränser och i enlighet med internationell människorättslagstiftning. Denna studie fokuserar på förverkligandet av den individuella rättigheten att delta i det politiska beslutsfattandet i Ryssland genom andra mekanismer för deltagande än val och folkomröstningar. Studien utgörs av en sammanställning av forskningsartiklar som har publicerats i olika internationella tidskrifter. Sammanställningen föregås av ett fristående inledande kapitel. Författaren koncentrerar sig på frågan om Rysslands invånare ges effektiva möjligheter att delta i handhavandet av allmänna angelägenheter och om det finns användbara rättsmedel till hands för skydd av de politiska rättigheterna. Författaren tar sig an en juridisk analys av rysk lagstiftning gällande olika sätt för direkt deltagande i beslutsfattande samt analyserar rättsfall angående direkt deltagande från domstolarna i Moskva, Perm Krai och Sverdlovsk Oblast. Denna studie använder sig även av en rättshistorisk infallsvinkel för att visa på den positiva dynamiken hos den historiska utvecklingen beträffande d e väsentligaste plattformarna för offentligt deltagande. Det bevisas att rysk lagstiftning som garanterar rätten att delta i beslutsfattande är väl utvecklad i enlighet med internationella människorättsfördrag, och att åtminstone domstolarna i de utvalda ryska områdena fattar beslut som stöder deltaganderättigheter som eventuellt kränkts av myndigheter inom den verkställande makten. Författaren kommer till den slutsatsen att de i denna studie inkluderade enskilda dokumenterade händelserna gällande administrativ felbehandling inte nödvändigtvis tillåter den direkta slutsatsen att det begås systematiska och grova kränkningar av medborgares deltaganderättigheter i Ryssland.

The role of customer perspective in organizational renewal. A comparative case study of knowledge-intensive business services.

The objective of this thesis was to study organizational renewal from the customer orientation perspective. Customer orientation is divided into customer relationship management and customer knowledge, which both are important components of customer related organizational renewal capabilities. The study was conducted in knowledge intensive business service firms, which are required to renew their strategy, operations and processes constantly in order to gain and sustain competitive advantage. In the empirical research, two companies were studied, both offering services to their customers. The analysis was done in two phases; first each case was analyzed individually and then the cases were compared in a cross-case analysis. The most important finding was that customer orientation is considered important but it is not being utilized for organizational renewal in full capacity.

E-tailer business model creation: an information technology perspective

This research analyzes e-tailer business model formulation and the role of information technology in enabling value creation from the point of view of an e-tailer. The thesis explains the value creation dynamics and the components of an e-tailer business model and further illustrates how information technology enables value creation throughout the different components of e-tailer business models. The theoretical part of the thesis describes the sources of value creation in virtual markets through evaluating the explanatory value of traditional strategic management theories. The theoretical part advances to present an integrated model of the value creation mechanisms in the virtual markets and further describes the components of an e-tailer business model. The role of information technology in e-tailer business models are represented by illustrating how it is able to add value throughout the activities and processes of the e-tailer business model. The empirical descriptive qualitative single-case research focuses on demonstrating how a global retailer of consumer goods operates the different components in its business model. The findings indicate that information technology plays a considerable role in all the components of an e-tailer business model and should not be treated solely as a supporting business function, but rather as one of the most valuable assets in enabling successful e-tailing operations.

Product placement on personal blogs: a multiple case study from companies’ perspective

As traditional advertising is losing its value in corporations’ marketing, new and growing social media marketing channels are increasing their importance. The growing interest in the media and the lack of research on the subject create a clear need for this study. The objectives are to increase understanding about product placement in personal blogs and examine the benefits as well as the downsides created by this marketing channel and present the requirements for success. The study also takes a stand on what kind of things a successful product placement strategy in personal blogs includes and what points should be considered when creating a strategy. The study’s empirical part consists of seven thematic interviews with case companies’ representatives and one agent. The study’s personal blogs were delimited to consist only lifestyle and fashion blogs. The results show that product placement on personal lifestyle and fashion blogs is a strongly growing marketing channel and it is best suited to reach young women. It is also a very good channel to change and improve brand image. Via personal blogs it is possible to reach a large number of consumers with a very cost-efficient manner. Thus utilizing the channel is suitable for all companies regardless of the size of the marketing budget. Of course, companies have to consider the suitability of their product to the themes of blogs. Executing a successful campaign in this media requires good relationship management skills and understanding of this particular media as the final content is not in advertiser’s hands. As a marketing channel, personal blogs differ highly from traditional marketing channels because of their constantly changing nature and multidirectional quality where several parties are in interaction.

Hezbollah and Taliban - hybrid adversaries in contemporary conflicts? : views on an adversary from the United States Armed Forces perspective

The experiences of the United States Armed Forces of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and Israel Defense Forces in the Second Lebanon War resulted a new term to surface called “hybrid warfare”. It was to describe the complexity of today’s battlefield. The term “hy-brid warfare” was never officially defined nor is it today. The updated version of the US ARMY Field Manual 3-0: Operations (Change 1) from February 22, 2011, introduced and defined “hybrid threat” and thus opened the discussion for hybrid adversary. In this thesis a model is introduced according to which any organization, group or an ad-versary can be examined and evaluated to see whether it qualifies as a hybrid adversary. It is demonstrated by the example of Hezbollah, which is recognized as the best example of an organization utilizing “hybrid warfare” and subsequently categorizing as a hybrid adver-sary. The model will be tested with Afghan Taliban to see whether both the model works and Taliban qualifies as a hybrid adversary or not. According to the model used in this thesis, it is concluded that Taliban does not meet the standards of a hybrid adversary, but with acquisition of standoff weapons it would quickly qualify as one. The model proved to work, and it could be used as a tool by intelligence of-ficers for estimating the threat levels of any group or identifying those groups that are al-ready or are about to develop into a hybrid adversary.

Building organizational creativity – a multitheory and multilevel approach for understanding and stimulating organizational creativity

Organizational creativity is increasingly important for organizations aiming to survive and thrive in complex and unexpectedly changing environments. It is precondition of innovation and a driver of an organization’s performance success. Whereas innovation research increasingly promotes high-involvement and participatory innovation, the models of organizational creativity are still mainly based on an individual-creativity view. Likewise, the definitions of organizational creativity and innovation are somewhat equal, and they are used as interchangeable constructs, while on the other hand they are seen as different constructs. Creativity is seen as generation of novel and useful ideas, whereas innovation is seen as the implementation of these ideas. The research streams of innovation and organizational creativity seem to be advancing somewhat separately, although together they could provide many synergy advantages. Thereby, this study addresses three main research gaps. First, as the knowledge and knowing is being increasingly expertized and distributed in organizations, the conceptualization of organizational creativity needs to face that perspective, rather than relying on the individual-creativity view. Thus, the conceptualization of organizational creativity needs clarification, especially as an organizational-level phenomenon (i.e., creativity by an organization). Second, approaches to consciously build organizational creativity to increase the capacity of an organization to demonstrate novelty in its knowledgeable actions are rare. The current creativity techniques are mainly based on individual-creativity views, and they mainly focus on the occasional problem-solving cases among a limited number of individuals, whereas, the development of collective creativity and creativity by the organization lacks approaches. Third, in terms of organizational creativity as a collective phenomenon, the engagement, contributions, and participation of organizational members into activities of common meaning creation are more important than the individualcreativity skills. Therefore, the development approaches to foster creativity as social, emerging, embodied, and collective creativity are needed to complement the current creativity techniques. To address these gaps, the study takes a multiparadigm perspective to face the following three objectives. The first objective of this study is to clarify and extend the conceptualization of organizational creativity. The second is to study the development of organizational creativity. The third is to explore how an improvisational theater based approach fosters organizational creativity. The study consists of two parts comprising the introductory part (part I) and six publications (part II). Each publication addresses the research questions of the thesis through detailed subquestions. The study makes three main contributions to the research of organizational creativity. First, it contributes toward the conceptualization of organizational creativity by extending the current view of organizational creativity. This study views organizational creativity as a multilevel construct constituting both of individual and collective (group and organizational) creativity. In contrast to current views of organizational creativity, this study bases on organizational (collective) knowledge that is based on and demonstrated through the knowledgeable actions of an organization as a whole. The study defines organizational creativity as an overall ability of an organization to demonstrate novelty in its knowledgeable actions (through what it does and how it does what it does).Second, this study contributes toward the development of organizational creativity as multi-level phenomena, introducing developmental approaches that face two or more of these levels simultaneously. More specifically, the study presents the cross-level approaches to building organizational creativity, by using an approach based in improvisational theater and considering assessment of organizational renewal capability. Third, the study contributes on development of organizational creativity using an improvisational theater based approach as twofold meaning. First, it fosters individual and collective creativity simultaneously and builds space for creativity to occur. Second, it models collective and distributed creativity processes, thereby, contributing to the conceptualization of organizational creativity.