Conceptions of teachership in the professional identity construction of adult educator graduates

The aim of this study was to investigate the conceptions of teachership among graduates (n = 126) from a Finnish higher education study programme called Pedagogical Studies for Adult Educators. The conceptions of teachership comprise notions of teaching and of oneself as a teacher. Accordingly, the conceptions of teachership are viewed as one element in the process of constructing teacher identity. Currently, we have little knowledge about the professional identity construction of adult educators, even though there is a growing need for adult pedagogics in the changing professional life. Based on a qualitative thematic analysis of open-ended questionnaire data, three main conceptual categor…

Miten käsitteellistää ammatillista toimijuutta työssä?

Artikkelissa tarkastellaan, miten toimijuus on ymmärretty monitieteisessä keskustelussa. Lisäksi pohditaan, miten ammatillista toimijuutta työssä tulisi käsitteellistää. peerReviewed

Ikääntyneet aikuiset kuntoutustyöntekijöiden puheessa : työn kohteesta osallistuvaksi aikuiseksi?

Artikkelissa kuvataan kuntoutustyöntekijöiden puhetta ikääntyneistä aikuisista ryhmämuotoisessa kuntoutuksessa. Aineisto koostuu kuudesta kuntoutustyöntekijöiden moniammatillisesta fokusryhmäkeskustelusta, jotka toteutettiin kuudessa kuntoutuslaitoksessa. Aineisto analysoitiin diskurssianalyysiä hyödyntäen. Kuntoutustyöntekijöiden puheesta tunnistettiin viisi puhetapaa, joista arviointipuhe liittyi sosiaali- ja terveysalan (sote) kontekstiin, ohjaus- ja riskipuhe asiakkaiden oppimisen ja muutoksen kontekstiin sekä toiseus- ja oivalluspuhe työntekijöiden asiantuntijuuteen. Kuntoutuksessa tavoitellusta asiakaslähtöisyyden periaatteesta huolimatta työntekijöiden arviointi-, ohjaus- ja riskipuh…

Professional agency in a university context: Academic freedom and fetters

Professional agency is an urgent topic in academic contexts, albeit relatively unexplored, and elaborated with contradictory conclusions on its extent and characteristics. To contribute to the discussion, this multimethod study investigated professional agency within a Finnish university. We utilised questionnaire data and interviews to explore agency, as manifested in influencing at work, developing work practices, and negotiating professional identity. We found that overall, these three dimensions of agency were manifested fairly substantially, and in a similar manner among the academic staff. The study further emphasises the social nature of professional agency, and presents theoretical …

Identity and Agency in Professional Learning

This chapter elaborates professional learning from two complementary perspectives, namely professional identity and agency. Starting with the conceptualization of identity and agency, the chapter illustrates how professional identity and agency are intertwined with workplace learning at the individual and social levels. In theoretical terms we adhere to a subject-centred socio-cultural approach. This implies that professional learning is seen as a dual process, involving identity negotiation and the development of work practices (including the practice of agency), with both aspects taking place within the socio-cultural and material conditions of the workplace. We see professional identity …

Johtamisen merkitys luovuudelle informaatioteknologian organisaatioissa

[Lukijalle] Ammatillinen toimijuus, luovuus ja johtaminen – onko näillä asioilla tekemistä toistensa kanssa? Kyllä on ja pitää olla. Elämme yhteiskunnallisesti ja taloudellisesti mielenkiintoista aikaa, joka on lukuisten uhkien, jännitteiden ja epävarmuuden sävyttämä. Nyt ratkotaan työelämän haasteita tehokkuusvaateineen ja neuvotellaan työelämän pelisäännöistä. Julkisessa keskustelussa on parjattu huonoa johtamista sekä työpaikkojen huonoa ilmapiiriä. Ratkaisuksi on usein tarjottu innovaatioita ja luovuuden lisäämistä, työhyvinvointia unohtamatta. Ratkaisuehdotuksissa on varmasti perää. Ongelmallista tuntuu kuitenkin olevan se, että yhtä yleispätevää ratkaisua etsitään ja pyritään tarjoama…

Fostering learning opportunities through employee participation amid organizational change

Health care organizations are facing rapid changes, frequently involving modification of existing procedures. The case study reported here examined change processes and learning in a health care organization. The organizational change in question occurred in the emergency clinic of a Finnish central hospital where a new action model for shift-specific nursing supervision was being introduced. The aim of this study was to investigate some of the employee participation and learning opportunities amid this organizational change. The data collection was ethnographically informed, and the data consisted of audio-recorded and observed meetings, observations of the new action model, and field inte…

Constraints and challenges on learning and construction of identitites at work

This paper analyses and discusses different constraints on workplace learning, vocational development and formation of identity. We ask how the learning and development of vocational identities are related to the various learning constraints and restrictions present in the socio-cultural contexts of the workplace. The study utilizes 20 interviews of industrial designers and nursing staff in Finland. The data on the vocational students was collected with Internet questionnaires (N = 1125) from these two fields; technology and transport, and social services and health care. The results indicated that constraints on learning and professional/vocational identity development at work were mainly …

Professional Agency and Creativity in Information Technology Work

The meaning of professional agency in the context of professional learning, as well as in the development of working practices and work organisations, is pivotal. The role of creativity is also crucial for long-term economic growth in the current global environment, which is characterised by rapid changes in both technology and economy. Hence, it is important to study the relationship between professional agency and creativity. In this chapter, we explore professional agency and creativity within two Finnish information technology organisations. This study’s data include interviews with staff members and open-ended questionnaire responses to the question ‘What is creativity in your work?’. …

Emotions in leaders’ enactment of professional agency

Purpose Although there has been an increase in workplace studies on professional agency, few of these have examined the role of emotions in the enactment of agency at work. To date, professional agency has been mainly conceptualised as a goal-oriented, rational activity aimed at influencing a current state of affairs. Challenged by this, this study aims to elaborate the nature and quality of emotions and how they might be connected to the enactment of professional agency. Design/methodology/approach Data are collected in the context of a leadership coaching programme that aimed to promote the leaders’ professional agency over the course of a year. The participants (11 middle-management lea…

Work, power and learning in a risk filled occupation

In this article we describe various ways in which power is exercised between personnel in a hospital operating theatre. We aim to investigate how the forms of discursive power and workplace learning are intertwined with each other by utilizing an ethnographic approach in the fieldwork. Our data were collected mainly through observations and interviews with surgical residents, physicians and nurses. In the article we describe the delicate ways in which power is exercised and resisted in everyday practices. We argue that there is a close relationship between learning and manifestations of power, together with the various forms of these manifestations and the restrictions that may be placed o…

Myöhäismodernissa ikänormit murtuvat – ikä on itsestä kiinni

Kun tutkittiin työntekijäin käsityksiä siitä, mikä on iän merkitys ammatillisessa osaamisessa ja osaamisen kehittymisessä, nousi aiempaa selvemmin esiin ikääntyvien työntekijäin kokemuksellinen osaaminen sekä monet työelämän tarvitsemat osaamisen vahvuudet. Kronologista ikää tärkeämmäksi koettiin persoonalliset ominaisuudet. Kun ikää, osaamista ja sen kehittymistä tarkastellaan, tulisikin tarkasteltavaksi ottaa työtehtävien laatu, kokemuksen merkitys ja kokemuksen suhde ikään.

Professional learning and agency in an identity coaching programme

This article addresses the professional learning that occurred in an identity coaching programme. The arts-based programme aimed to enhance the participants’ professional learning, notably through helping them to process their professional identities. Professional learning was seen as resourced by the participants’ professional agency, and by the promotion of such agency. Through interviews, we investigated what the participants perceived they had learnt during the programme, and the potential differences in learning outcomes between professional groups from university and hospital contexts. The findings showed that the programme was perceived as a rich learning arena in the domains of the …

Ikääntyvät työntekijät ja työelämän aikuiskoulutus

Ammatillinen toimijuus : rakenne, mittari ja tuki

Emotional Agency at Work: The Development and Validation of a Measure

Despite intensive research on agency in education and work environments, the topic remains underexplored through the lens of emotions. This study conducted the development and validation of a quantitative measure to explore emotional agency in working life. Empirical data (N = 240) were collected via a web-based survey within the professional domains of healthcare and real estate services. The participants’ age, educational level, and gender corresponded to the domain-specific and general employee distribution in Finland. The questionnaire items were based on a theoretical construct of emotional agency at work. Exploratory factor analysis indicated that emotional agency includes two dimensi…

A multi-componential methodology for exploring emotions in learning

Studies on emotions in learning are often based on interviews conducted after the learning. Therefore, these do not capture the multi-componential nature of emotions and how emotions are related to the process of learning. We see emotions as dimensional and multi-componential responses to a personally meaningful events and situation. In this methodologically frontline study we developed a multi-componential methodology, which provides complementary information about emotions during learning. In this study, by using a within subject design of one person, we focused on emotions during the professional identity learning. In a laboratory setting, the subject was shown personally meaningful vide…

Interprofessional collaboration during an emergency ward’s rounds

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore interprofessional collaboration during ward rounds on a Finnish emergency and infection ward from the viewpoint of three central professional groups: physicians, nurses and secretaries. Design/methodology/approach – The authors utilise an ethnographically informed approach, with observations and interviews as the data collection devices. The data comprise ten interviews with staff members and ten hours of observations. The data were analysed using qualitative thematic analysis. Findings – The ward rounds were found to be rather physician- and medicine-centred, and mostly not interprofessional. Nurses and secretaries in particular expressed …

”Hyvät käytännöt ovat hyviä iästä riippumatta!”

Näyttää siltä, että työmarkkinajärjestöjen aktiivinen ikäpolitiikka on keskittynyt lähinnä eläkepolitiikkaa koskeviin kysymyksiin. Vaikka koulutukseen, osaamiseen ja urakehitykseen liittyvä elinikäisen oppimisen politiikka on työmarkkinajärjestöjen toiminnassa myös keskeisesti läsnä, on se tapahtunut ikäpolitiikasta erillään. – Older Workers in the Nordic Countries (OWN) -verkoston toimesta toteutettiin 2009-2010 välisenä aikana kyselytutkimus viidessä pohjoismaassa, jossa selviteltiin työmarkkinajärjestöjen ikääntyviä työntekijöitä koskevaa politiikkaa ja käytäntöjä.

Promoting inter‐professional teamwork and learning – the case of a surgical operating theatre

Hospitals, and surgical operating theatres (OTs) in particular, are environments in which inter‐professional teamwork and learning are essential to secure patient safety and effective practice. However, it has been revealed in many studies that inter‐professional collaborative work in hospital organisations faces many challenges and constraints. In this study we examine surgical operations as participatory practices from the perspective of inter‐professional learning and cooperation. We ask what kinds of shared practices enable learning and collaboration within the surgical operating team. We used an ethnographic approach to data collection including observations and interviews of surgical …

“Equally, but in our own way” : First-time parents’ prenatal expectations of coparenting

This study examined the expectations of expectant first-time parents on coparenting in a Finnish two-parent family. Thirty expectant couples were individually interviewed (N = 60) during the third trimester of pregnancy. The semi-structured interviews focused on participants’ expectations and hopes on future coparenting. Thematic analysis revealed that the expectant first-time mothers and fathers saw coparenting as multidimensional. They talked about coparenting in terms of 1) division of labour issues, 2) management of family dynamics, 3) childrearing agreement, 4) coparental support, and 5) learning and developing. Thus, the expectant couples hoped for a coparenting relationship in which …

University Teachers’ Professional Identity Work and Emotions in the Context of an Arts-Based Identity Coaching Program

In changing work contexts, there is a critical need to adopt practices that support professional identity work in order to promote individuals’ resilience and well-being at work. This chapter reports on an investigation into professional identity work and emotions in the context of an arts-based coaching program aimed at prompting experienced university teachers to process their professional identities. Since different (un)pleasant emotions emerged during the program, the chapter notably discusses the advantages and pitfalls of using arts-based methods among adults. The findings also contribute to the theoretical understanding of the role of emotions in professional identity processes by re…

Acting Agentically at Work: Developing a Short Measure of Professional Agency

Although professional agency has become an increasingly crucial issue in work organizations, investigators lack a brief instrument to measure it. This paper introduces a short measure to explore professional agency at work. Our aim was to shorten the original 17-item Professional Agency Measure, while also exploring its usability for cross-validating questionnaire datasets, and investigating the relationship between professional agency and work engagement. Three dimensions of professional agency emerged, with three items per dimension, across the domains of healthcare, real estate services, and information technology (all within Finland). All the dimensions (Influencing at work, Participati…

Tunteet ja työssä oppiminen: Rohkeus, turvallisuus, epävarmuus ja häpeä

Challenges for Surgical Residents’ Practice-Based Learning

This chapter explores the practice-based learning of surgical residents. We concentrate on the challenges encountered and experienced by the residents during their clinical practice. In line with Billett (2010), we understand learning through practice as a process that arises through the exercise of occupational activities. For the surgical residents this means that they learn through participating in various kinds of hands-on surgical practices and interactions in clinical wards and units.

A multi-componential methodology for exploring emotions in learning : using self-reports, behaviour registration, and physiological indicators as complementary data

Studies on emotions in learning are often based on interviews conducted after the learning. These do not capture the multi-componential nature of emotions, nor how emotions are related to the processes of learning. We see emotions as dimensional, multi-componential responses to personally meaningful events and situations. In this methodologically advanced pilot study we developed a multi-componential methodology, capable of providing complementary information on emotions in professional learning. For this purpose, we used a within-subject design applied to a single individual, with a focus on emotions during professional learning. Within a laboratory setting, the subject was shown personall…

Ammatillisen toimijuuden ja työssä oppimisen vahvistaminen : luovia voimavaroja työhön!

Agentic perspective on fostering work-related learning

Despite the increased recognition of the role that professional agency plays in work-related learning, little is known about what supports it. Based on current theoretical notions, the first purpose of this paper is to show that professional agency is closely intertwined with work-related learning. The second purpose is to introduce some main principles that promote professional agency and describe three work-related training settings that are aimed at fostering learning by taking into account agentic perspectives. These complementary settings include an identity coaching programme, a leadership coaching programme, and a work conference. Based on the qualitative meta-synthesis, the paper fu…

Piloting a Smart Rollator : User experiences with technology-related motivation and physical activity

Background: Improved life expectancy combined with suboptimal physical activity (PA)represents an increasingly salient public health challenge among the elderly. PA in late life is associated with fewer health problems in old age. Assistive information and communication technology might improve PA and alleviate health problems among the elderly.Objective: This pilot study aimed to quantitatively measure the motivational aspects relatedto rollator use and, by using qualitative interviews, outline how a Smart Rollator solution would motivate older adults to increase their PA in their everyday lives.Method: A total of 19 subjects between the ages of 63 and 91 years participated in the study. H…

The Reciprocal Relationship Between Emotions and Agency in the Workplace

In conjunction with a growing interest in professional agency, there is a need to understand how emotions are embedded in agentic practice. This chapter examines the emotions bound up with work and how these emotions are related to professional agency. The subjects of our study were leaders (middle management) and employees working in Finnish education and health-care organisations. A qualitative meta-synthesis was conducted to describe the relationship between professional agency and emotions. The study revealed a variety of emotions, including fear and enjoyment, related to professional identity, work, and social relationships. Among both employees and leaders, emotions were found to play…

The Multifaceted Nature of Agency and Professional Learning

The present volume has aimed to cover a broad range of approaches to agency at work, exploring its relationship with professional learning and development. Thus, the chapters included in this book have discussed the role of agency in learning and development, considering a variety of working life contexts and applying both conceptual and empirical perspectives. This final chapter provides an overview of both the conceptual approaches and the empirical implementations. We see the perspectives as complementary. From the content of the book, we discern the phenomena as falling on two main dimensions, clustering at opposite ends of these dimensions. Thus, the following contrasts are evidenced: …

Ikä, kokemus ja osaaminen työelämässä : työntekijöiden käsityksiä iän ja kokemuksen merkityksestä ammatillisessa osaamisessa ja sen kehittämisessä

Osaaminen ei ole iästä kiinniKL Susanna Paloniemen kasvatustieteen väitöskirjan ”Ikä, kokemus ja osaaminen työelämässä. Työntekijöiden käsityksiä iän ja kokemuksen merkityksestä osaamisessa ja sen kehittämisessä ” tarkastustilaisuus. Vastaväittäjänä dosentti Raija Julkunen ja kustoksena professori Jorma Kuusinen.Miten ikä ja kokemus vaikuttavat osaamiseen ja oppimiseen? Susanna Paloniemi selvitti työntekijöiden käsityksiä ammatillisesta osaamisesta ja sen kehittämisestä sekä iän ja kokemuksen merkityksestä työelämässä. Hän haastatteli kuuden keskisuomalaisen pk-yrityksen 43 palvelutyössä ja toimisto- ja suunnittelualalla olevaa työntekijää, jotka olivat iältään 24–62-vuotiaita. The purpose …

Tunteita ja tuoksuja: Aikuiskasvatuksen tutkijatapaaminen Jyväskylässä

Aikuiskasvatuksen tutkijatapaamiseen mahtui iloisia kohtaamisia, kriittistä keskustelua, ajankohtaista tutkimustietoa ja käytännön innovaatioita.  Erityisesti tapahtuma toi tunteet aikuiskasvatuksen tutkimuskentälle – kenties ihan jäädäkseen.

What is agency? Conceptualizing professional agency at work

Abstract The concept of agency has become widely used in learning research, especially in studies addressing professional and workplace learning, but also in policy discussion on how to promote individually meaningful careers and life-courses amid rapid changes in working life. The purpose of this article is to provide a critical review of the multidisciplinary concept of agency, and to suggest a fruitful conceptualization of professional agency at work. The following questions are addressed: (i) How have the ontological characteristics and manifestations of agency been understood? (ii) How have the relationships between the social and individual aspects of agency been understood? We examin…

Experience, competence and workplace learning

PurposeThis paper aims to examine employees' conceptions of the meaning of experience in job‐competence and its development in workplace context. The aim is to bring out the variety of conceptions related to experience, competence and workplace learning.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on interview data from six Finnish small and medium sized enterprises. The data were collected as a part of a larger European Union research project, Working Life Changes and Training of Older Workers (WORKTOW) during spring 1999. The approach chosen for the analysis presented in this paper was phenomenography.FindingsThe findings in the paper show the importance accorded to experience in compete…

Yhteistyö ja moniammatillisuus akuuttihoidossa : ryhmätoiminnan ja moniammatillisen yhteistyön kehittäminen sairaalan päivystysalueella

Older rehabilitees’ life-course agency in Finnish gerontological rehabilitation

Aims: This study investigates gerontological rehabilitation sessions of Finnish rehabilitees in the framework of life-course agency from the perspectives of temporal orientation and agency. Methods: The research data were obtained by non-participatory observation in 11 individual goal-setting sessions between 11 rehabilitees and their personal counsellors. The data were analysed in accordance with data-driven, qualitative content and narrative analysis, with an emphasis on the life-course agency approach. Results: Four temporal orientations of older rehabilitees were identified in the rehabilitation sessions: (i) timeless, (ii) past, (iii) present, and (iv) life course. For each temporal or…

Ways of interprofessional collaboration and learning in emergency work

In the paper we aim to identify various ways of interprofessional collaboration and learning in an emergency unit at a hospital in Finland. According to previous studies, health care work faces various constraints which also challenge interprofessional interaction and learning. We ask what kinds of learning situations and challenges are manifested in moments of interprofessional practice. Ethnography was applied as a methodological approach. Empirical data were collected with the help of observations, audio taping, individual and focus group interviews, and suitable qualitative methods were utilised in the analysis. It was found that multi- and interprofessional collaboration and learning w…

Leadership as an enabler of professional agency and creativity : case studies from the Finnish information technology sector

This paper summarizes and elaborates the findings of a research project on leadership as an enabler of professional agency and creativity in information technology organizations. The synthesis in this paper is based on a summary of three primary studies. Each of the studies approached leadership, creativity and/or professional agency with a specific focus. Leaning on a mixed‐methods and ethnographic approach, including various empirical data collection and analytical tools, the project investigated the relationship between professional agency and creativity; issues that frame professional agency and creativity; and the meaning of leadership practices for the enhancement of agency and creati…

"Hyvät käytännöt ovat hyviä iästä riippumatta!" Työmarkkinajärjestöjen ikääntyviä työntekijöitä koskevan politiikan ja käytäntöjen vertailu

Näyttää siltä, että työmarkkinajärjestöjen aktiivinen ikäpolitiikka on keskittynyt lähinnä eläkepolitiikkaa koskeviin kysymyksiin. Vaikka koulutukseen, osaamiseen ja urakehitykseen liittyvä elinikäisen oppimisen politiikka on työmarkkinajärjestöjen toiminnassa myös keskeisesti läsnä, on se tapahtunut ikäpolitiikasta erillään. nonPeerReviewed

Ikääntyneet aikuiset kuntoutustyöntekijöiden puheessa

Artikkelissa kuvataan kuntoutustyöntekijöiden puhetta ikääntyneistä aikuisista ryhmämuotoisessa kuntoutuksessa. Aineisto koostuu kuudesta kuntoutustyöntekijöiden moniammatillisesta fokusryhmäkeskustelusta, jotka toteutettiin kuudessa kuntoutuslaitoksessa. Aineisto analysoitiin diskurssianalyysiä hyödyntäen. Kuntoutustyöntekijöiden puheesta tunnistettiin viisi puhetapaa, joista arviointipuhe liittyi sosiaali- ja terveysalan (sote) kontekstiin, ohjaus- ja riskipuhe asiakkaiden oppimisen ja muutoksen kontekstiin sekä toiseus- ja oivalluspuhe työntekijöiden asiantuntijuuteen. Kuntoutuksessa tavoitellusta asiakaslähtöisyyden periaatteesta huolimatta työntekijöiden arviointi-, ohjaus- ja riskipuh…

A Novel Instrument to Measure the Multidimensional Structure of Professional Agency

This study aimed to construct and validate a quantitative measurement instrument to determine the structure of professional agency in working life. Empirical data (N = 589) were collected via a web-based, theoretically informed questionnaire, within the professional domains of education, healthcare, rescue services, and information technology. The questionnaire items incorporated theoretically based dimensions of professional agency. The structure of professional agency was initially analysed via exploratory factor analysis. Thereafter, using exploratory structural equation modelling, the structure of professional agency was investigated with a view to confirmation and validation. The resul…

Challenges for surgical residents' practice-based learning

This chapter explores the practice-based learning of surgical residents. We concentrate on the challenges encountered and experienced by the residents during their clinical practice. In line with Billett (2010), we understand learning through practice as a process that arises through the exercise of occupational activities. For the surgical residents this means that they learn through participating in various kinds of hands-on surgical practices and interactions in clinical wards and units. peerReviewed

Integrating Self-Reports and Electrodermal Activity (EDA) Measurement in Studying Emotions in Professional Learning

Studies on emotions in learning have been mostly conducted through self-reporting questionnaires and interviews conducted after the learning situation, which seldom focus on professional workplace learning. Meanwhile, workplace and professional learning research has been introduced with emerging methods to capture the learning processes at multiple levels. Previous research on emotions has suggested that self-reports should be supplemented with psychophysiological data. Challenged by this, this chapter aims to present and discuss the integration of self-reported and psychophysiological data in studying emotions and professional learning. The empirical research data are obtained from five Fi…

Vaikutusmahdollisuuksista iloa työhön

An agency-promoting learning arena for developing shared work practices

Despite the emerging recognition of the pivotal role played by professional agency within work contexts, little is known about how agency is promoted and enacted in organised work-related learning settings. This chapter focuses on the work conference as an orchestrated agency-promoting learning arena. We understand professional agency as a necessary precondition of work-related learning, and we emphasise the potential of work conferences to activate and promote such agency. Our empirical study investigated three work conferences in education and healthcare organisations in Finland. Utilising assessments, the investigation addressed how the participants perceived the conditions for learning …

Fenomenografia ja variaatioteoria aikuiskasvatustieteen tutkimuksessa

Aikuiskasvatuksen tutkimusmenetelmiä: Aikuiskasvatuksen asiantuntijat esittelevät aikuiskasvatustieteen tutkimusmenetelmiä ja näkökulmia tutkimukseen.

Rehabilitation agency of older adults in group-based intervention

Aims: This study investigated the individual rehabilitation agency of older adults in a one-year group-based gerontological rehabilitation context. Here, rehabilitation agency is understood as being manifested when older adults make choices and decisions regarding their everyday lives, including notions of themselves. Methods: The data were obtained via non-participant observation of the final individual goal evaluation sessions of 38 older adults with their personal counselor. In these sessions, older adults discussed their rehabilitation outcomes, actions, choices and decisions during the rehabilitation year, along with their future in home settings. The data were analyzed using qualitati…

Multiple Forms of Professional Agency for (non)crafting of Work Practices in a Hospital Organization

In recent working life studies, professional agency is seen as pivotal to the development of work communities and work organizations. This paper addresses professional agency during a practicebased intervention (work conference) in a Finnish hospital setting. To develop work practices, the intervention sought to create a dialogical space for the promotion of collective professional agency. Here, we present an investigation of the manifestations of professional agency and how they emerged within and between professional groups. We also elaborate how professional positions frame the emergence of different manifestations of professional agency. The audio and video materials from the interventi…

Emotions in Learning at Work : a Literature Review

The research elaborating emotions in organizational settings has increased considerably in recent years. However, we lack a comprehensive understanding of the role of emotions in learning at work. This review aimed to elaborate how emotions and learning are understood in the field of workplace studies, and how emotions and learning at work are related. For the review, 31 scientific articles were selected and analysed. We found that emotions and learning were understood in a range of ways in the articles. Emotions were mainly defined as emotional experiences and responses, and learning at work mainly referred to learning through participatory practices. In addition, the review illustrates th…

Emotional competence at work

PurposeThe study investigated emotional competence at work and elaborated emotional competence in relation to sociocultural aspects of emotions at work.Design/methodology/approachEmotional competence at work was explored via interviews, surveys and observations. The study was conducted over one year, during which an emotion-training intervention was conducted within a medium-sized company, operating in the healthcare sector.FindingsThe study shed light on emotional competence at work, identifying three domains: individual emotional competence, emotional competence within interactions and emotional competence embedded in workplace practices.Research limitations/implicationsThis study was con…

INPROF – promoting teamwork processes and interprofessional collaboration in emergency work (2010–2012)

This paper summarises the findings of a research project on interprofessional collaboration in the emergency unit of a major Finnish hospital. The findings are discussed through a broad conceptual framework which involves work process knowledge and interprofessional collaboration. The project, carried out from 2010–2012, investigated different forms of, prerequisites for, and barriers to, collaboration, and the aim was to develop the work together with staff at the unit. An ethnographically informed research strategy was utilised, with observations and interviews as the main data collection methods. On the whole, collaboration in the emergency unit was found to function rather well; i.e. pa…

Kohtaa - osallista - edistä (KOE!) : toimijuusjohtamisen askeleet

The relationship of collective creativity with managerial work and workplace climate in hierarchical and less hierarchical organizations

Collective creativity, managerial work, and workplace climate can influence innovation, organizational learning, and productivity at work. However, little empirical research has examined these factors in everyday work, especially in relation to organizational hierarchies. This study explores the relationships among collective creativity, managerial work, and workplace climate in hierarchical and less hierarchical organizations. A quantitative empirical analysis was conducted using data from a survey of 265 respondents from six Finnish organizations. The findings show that managerial work and workplace climate that focus on building and maintaining trust and highlight empathy, fairness and e…

Agency at Work, Learning and Professional Development: An Introduction

The concept of agency refers to individuals’ capacity to make choices and to act on these choices to exert control over their lives. Such notions of agency have become increasingly popular within discourses on professional learning and development over the last 10–20 years. Unfortunately, these discourses have been rather abstract in nature. In addition, the various research strands concerned with agency in the workplace and its relationship to learning have been insufficiently integrated. The present book thus aims to collect, integrate and discuss within a single volume the range of perspectives on agency at work and the empirical research generated by these perspectives. It is hoped that…