Browsing by Subject "activity theory"

This masters' thesis explored the use of the body, tools, and the environment in craftwork from an embodied cognitive perspective. More specifically the activity studied was wooden boatbuilding. Activity theory was used to map the elements and the dynamics of the wooden boatbuilding activity in relation to the object of work (a wooden gunboat). The research interests (related to body, tools and environment) were positioned among the different elements of the wooden boatbuilding activity (tools, subject, object, outcome, rules, community and division of labor) by following an activity theoretical structure. Previous research has shown that the abilities of the body are quite often overshadowed by the abilities of brain alone, even though cognition is embodied due to its dependency on the characteristics of the agent's physical body. The objective of this research was to seek further understanding on the position of the body and its role in an activity of craft with the use of tools and environment. By having an embodied cognitive perspective, the research looked at the types of materials from the environment that were applied for work, and how material artefacts have contributed to the body's performance during craft. In addition, the research took into account the characteristics of the work environment that enabled the body of craftsmen to work more efficiently. Specifically, the thesis captured a two-day data collection of videos and interviews in the dockyard of Suomenlinna Fortress, based on the method of ethnography. The data collection gathered material for the analysis of the craftwork on a wooden gunboat model, during a process of craft called caulking. For the analysis, the work of five subjects (wooden boat builders) was observed closely. The method applied for analysis of data was thematic analysis, which required a selective process of data, based on relevant or reoccurring themes identified throughout video files. The most representative themes of the activity were framed in sets of images for further interpretation, and in that way enabling the validation of themes and their relevance to the research questions. As a result, the themes identified in the activity of wooden boatbuilding were (1) the abilities of the body, (2) the limitations of the body, (3) the body and the process of sensing, (4) the affordance of tools, (5) tools as mediators, and (6) the affordances or the environment. All these themes were building blocks for conceptualising the role of the body in the craft of wooden boatbuilding, the role of tools in the craft of wooden boatbuilding, and how the environment is used in the craft of wooden boatbuilding. This research concluded that, while activity theory allowed a holistic understanding of a craft activity, such as wooden boatbuilding, embodied cognition was vital for conceptualising the role of the body as a starting point in relation to all elements of the activity, including tools and environment. In addition of certifying the usefulness of this combination (embodied cognition and activity theory), perhaps the most relevant finding of this research was the so-called APDCS (area of potential development of craft skills), which could contextualise the integration among body, tools and environment in the craft of wooden boatbuilding through the development of various tasks.

Objectives. This research addressed the problems and prospects of Lean Six Sigma (LSS), one of the world's most popular organizational development methods at present. The study enriched this method by suggesting a more sustainable way of organizational development. The previous research on LSS mainly focused on the technical tools in utilizing the production process. Drawing on the theory of Expansive Learning, this research evaluated the learning process of LSS by focusing on the practitioners. The purpose of the research was twofold. First, it analyzed the contradictions of LSS project activity in the research site. It was expected to uncover the problems that jeopardized the learning process of the practitioners. Second, it discussed the zone of proximal development (ZPD) of LSS project activity for the research site, with the purpose of shedding light on the possibilities of future development and learning. Methods. The research site was an international aircraft manufacturer in China. Eleven LSS practitioners were interviewed, including eight Green Belts, one Black Belt, one Master Black Belt and one Green Belt team member. The data were analyzed by adopting three methods: the analysis of conceptions, the Analysis of discursive manifestations of contradictions, and the analysis of action-activity transformation in expansive learning. The ZPD was sketched from two dimensions: the first one by analyzing the action-activity transformation of the practitioners; the second one by evaluating the conception of "what have expanded" in the practitioners due to the project experiences. Results and conclusions. The analysis uncovered eight contradictions in LSS project activity system. Five were scattered in the project activity itself between or within varied elements of activity. Three were between the project activity, the department-based work activity and the LSS training activity. One case in which the GB's trials in breaking the constraints in his own project resulted in collective expansive learning efforts cross projects was analyzed as the representation of action-activity transformation. In addition, some practitioners had re-conceptualized their work motivation through the project experience, seeing Lean Six Sigma as a conceptual tool for understanding strategic work planning and gaining long-term work motivation. In conclusion, two dimensions of the ZPD were suggested: first, an integrated top-down and bottom-up approaches for organizational transformation; second, transcending from LSS as the "concrete tool in individual skill appropriation" to the "conceptual tool in collective work reconceptualization". The organizations adopting the LSS method can reflect on this thesis to improve their LSS practices by paying attention to the "critical transition agent" for cross-functional processes' interaction, the employees' learning initiatives and work motivation.

Understanding social dynamics and interactions between people in uncertain situations is vital for all organizations that seek new solutions to complex situations in rapidly changing environments. This phenomenon is fundamental to modern Cultural Historical Activity Theory that intertwines all elements of collective activity system and chains them towards new expansive paths of development. This study aims at investigating how background social interactions and characteristics of groups play a role in subsequent social dynamics and discourse in meaningless situations. Meaningless situations are created in double stimulation experiments run on groups of individuals in the University of Helsinki during 2012-2013. In these experiment, groups of 2-4 people are left uniformed in a room for 30 minutes, while their interactions are observed and recorded by investigators. The concentration of this analysis is on Finnish nationalities with shared activity. Such sample selection allows for better isolation of the dynamics in question from other confounding factors such nationalities and types of activities. In this study, I explore how: 1) differences in the discourse in the experiments; 2) differences in social dynamics before and during the experiments; as well as 3) interaction between social dynamics and discourse, affect groups’ decisions to break out of meaningless situations. I draw my conclusions from thematic analysis of experimental data, and additional information retrieved from subsequent interviews. Analysis of the data shows that social interactions between groups’ participants before the experiments had a decisive impact on the discourse, further social dynamics, and ultimate decisions to break out of meaningless situations in the experiments. The more affiliated the participants of the groups were before the experiments, the less group dynamics and co-constructive discourse there were in the experiment, and the more likely they were to leave the experiments prematurely. Accordingly, highly cohesive groups of co-workers, who had obviously completed major stages of group dynamics before the experiments, eventually broke out of meaningless situations in the experiments. These groups were devoid of the necessity to undergo further group dynamics through co-constructive discourse. On the other end of the spectrum are the groups of students who were acquainted before the experiments superficially at most. In these groups, we could observe further group formation, and unifying themes in the discourses that they led during the experiments. The groups of students did not break out of meaningless situations in the experiments, even though the initial stages of the break-out-process in these groups were more intense than it was the case in the groups of co-workers. The findings in this study should have repercussions for Cultural Historical Activity Theory in general, and its practical formative interventionist approach - Change Laboratory, in particular. The observations made in this study are in line with major claims in contemporary Cultural Historical Activity Theory that a search for new object-oriented activity is perpetual and mapped from the complex of social interactions chained in historical processes. Moreover, they touch upon an additional important dimension – discourse within groups in uncertain situations, that is to be explored further in future research.

This study examines supervisors' emerging new role in a technical customer service and home customers division of a large Finnish telecommunications corporation. Data of the study comes from a second-generation knowledge management project, an intervention research, which was conducted for supervisors of the division. The study exemplifies how supervision work is transforming in high technology organization characterized with high speed of change in technologies, products, and in grass root work practices. The intervention research was conducted in the division during spring 2000. Primary analyzed data consists of six two-hour videorecorded intervention sessions. Unit of analysis has been collective learning actions. Researcher has first written conversation transcripts out of the video-recorded meetings and then analyzed this qualitative data using analytical schema based on collective learning actions. Supervisors' role is conceptualized as an actor of a collective and dynamic activity system, based on the ideas from cultural historical activity theory. On knowledge management researcher has taken a second-generation knowledge management viewpoint, following ideas from cultural historical activity theory and developmental work research. Second-generation knowledge management considers knowledge embedded and constructed in collective practices, such as innovation networks or communities of practice (supervisors' work community), which have the capacity to create new knowledge. Analysis and illustration of supervisors' emerging new role is conceptualized in this framework using methodological ideas derived from activity theory and developmental work research. Major findings of the study show that supervisors' emerging new role in a high technology telecommunication organization characterized with high speed of discontinuous change in technologies, products, and in grass-root practices cannot be defined or characterized using a normative management role/model. Their role is expanding two-dimensionally, (1) socially and (2) in new knowledge, and work practices. The expansion in organization and inter-organizational network (social expansion) causes pressures to manage a network of co-operation partners and subordinates. On the other hand, the faster speed of change in technological solutions, new products, and novel customer wants (expansion in knowledge) causes pressures for supervisors to innovate quickly new work practices to manage this change.