Search results for "Participative decision-making"

‘You know that collaboration works when … ’ identifying the features of successful collaboration on behalf of children with disabilities in early chi…

2017

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study was to identify features of successful collaboration among professionals and parents involved in supporting children with disabilities in early childhood education and care. The study employed a multiple-case study design comprising 6 cases and 30 adult participants, who were interviewed regarding their collaboration on behalf of 6 children with significant disabilities ranging in age from 3 to 5 years. Applying a system-theoretical approach, analysis led to the development of a framework based on the concepts of ‘internal’ and ‘external’ features of collaboration. Whereas internal aspects refer primarily to the interpersonal interactions of parents and pro…

Innovativeness and Family-Firm Performance: The Moderating Effect of Family Commitment

2016

The positive relationship between innovativeness and firm performance is well established and applies equally to all businesses, including family firms. However, little is yet known about how the unique characteristics of family firms influence this relationship. Drawing upon the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm, this study explains how the interplay between innovativeness as a firm-specific resource and family commitment as a family-specific resource affects performance. The analysis of longitudinal survey data collected from Finnish family firms demonstrates a curvilinear (U-shaped) moderating effect of the owner family’s commitment to the firm, in that the impact of innovativeness o…

Organisational transition challenges in the Finnish vocational education – perspective of distributed pedagogical leadership

2012

The article examines organisational challenges in the Finnish vocational education and training (VET) to support students’ lifelong learning pathways. Investigation of organizational challenges is done through the students’ transitions either within one school level or from one school level to another or to working life. For supporting the students’ learning pathways, it is argued here that specific attention has to be paid to collaborative practices of the personnel in order to guarantee the transitional fluency. This kind of collaboration is here called distributed pedagogical leadership. For examining the shared practices in the frame of distributed pedagogical leadership, the article in…

Assessing the impact of organizational learning capability on product innovation performance: An empirical test

2008

This paper examines how organizational learning capability affects product innovation performance. We define organizational learning capability through five dimensions or mechanisms: experimentation, risk taking, interaction with the external environment, dialogue and participative decision making. The impact of these mechanisms on product innovation performance is also analyzed. We use structural equations modeling to test our research hypotheses on a data set from the ceramic tile industry. Results support our conceptual model and underline the importance that learning has for innovation performance. Implications of the findings for both academics and practitioners are examined. © 2007 El…

Invited to labour or participate : intra- and inter-generational distinctions and the role of capital in children’s invited participation

2016

This paper applies aspects of Bourdieu’s conceptual toolkit related to capital, and analyses inter- and intra-generational relations of influence. Applying Bourdieu’s concepts to examples of case studies from a children’s parliament in Finland, and with reference to an adult resident forum, moments of continuity and disruption in the relatively stable patterns of distinction between children and adults emerge. Children in school councils (at times) are labourers for agendas set by teachers, but the children at the top of the structure’s hierarchy can benefit from cultural capital and a functional capital that enables them to set agendas and direct the work of others. The political capital o…

Individual Performance in Turbulent Environments: The Role of Organizational Learning Capability and Employee Flexibility

2015

Organizational learning capability (OLC) and employee flexibility help firms navigate the challenges faced by organizations operating in turbulent environments. OLC includes dimensions such as experimentation, risk taking, openness, dialogue, and participative decision making. Employee flexibility is considered a crucial tool for strategic human resource management in tackling environmental turbulence. Accordingly, we pose the following research question: how, and to what extent, is individual performance enhanced by OLC and employee flexibility in turbulent environments? The major impact that environmental turbulence has on change and flexibility requirements suggests that employee flexibi…

The relative relationship between education and workplace task discretion: an international comparative perspective

2019

International audience; Through analyses of Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) data, the following study considers the direct and indirect association between education and workplace task discretion in 30 countries. By focusing on cross-national comparison, it considers the ways in which these findings are dependent on both the overall level and the range of task discretion across occupational sectors within a country. Theoretically, individual-agency and critical-institutional hypotheses are compared, two perspectives that provide divergent explanations for the indirect association between education and task discretion. The findings partially support b…

'Participative foresight scenario mapping': adapting an MCM method to appraise foresight scenarios for the long term sustainable development of a sma…

2016

Multi-criteria mapping (MCM) appraisal has been used in projects involving decisions related to specific technologies or policies in risk analysis. In this research, MCM has been adapted for appraising in a participative way holistic scenarios for a small isolated island. The procedural novelty relies on how the scenario building and the criteria selection were undertaken. Two scenarios for Flores Island (Portugal) were developed in a two step process involving, firstly, specialised stakeholders and decision-makers, and secondly, lay citizens. The scenarios aimed at proposing alternative visions of future. This article analyses the methodological aspects of the project (scenario development…

GOING BEYOND TECHNOLOGICAL AFFORDANCES - ASSESSING ORGANIZATIONAL AND SOCIO-INTERACTIONAL AFFORDANCES

2019

Analysis of leadership dynamics in educational settings during times of external and internal change

2017

Background: The article concerns the tensions that can arise during demanding external, and consequential internal changes and considers how educational leadership is able to respond to them. Leadership is here understood as a collaborative endeavour, producing shared sense-making in situations of tension. Purpose: The main research question was: what kinds of leadership dynamics underlie situations of tension brought about by external and internal change? The sub-question was: what kind of micro-level sense-making processes, argued to be the true source of change, assist in revealing these dynamics? Programme: Educational organisations increasingly face demanding external changes, such as …