Browsing by Subject "itseohjautuvuus"

The purpose of this master’s thesis is to examine professional agency in self-managing work teams. The developmental processes focusing on work stress the ability to manage own work, therefore assessing these possibilities is essential to comprehend the ability of individuals and organizational structures to enable these demands. The theoretical framework is based on examining flexible and agile organizational structures, which emphasises self-management and self-managing teamwork as a focal part of the way flexible organizations operate. Furthermore, the theoretical framework consists of the theory regarding professional agency. The understanding of professional agency is based on a subject-centered socio-cultural approach. The research questions are 1) how do the interviewees describe their professional agency and 2) what kind of themes occur in self-managing teamwork that support professional agency? This thesis is a qualitative interview study, and the research material consists of eight employees’ interviews who work in self-managing teams. The analysis was carried out as a theoretically guided content analysis, in which the material was categorized as central themes. The results showed how professional agency in self-managing teamwork was described by directional factors, participation and inclusion, as well as the development of work and competence. The results also indicated how self-managing teamwork supported professional agency by the themes of developmental mentality, power structures, and the quality of work community dialogue. The interviewees had good opportunities to influence their work and participate in decision-making, but these were determined by the employees’ unprompted actions. Therefore, self-managing teamwork can be interpreted to support professional agency. However, taking in account the context-specific nature of self-managing teamwork and the complex nature of professional agency, further research is required to consider varying work communities.

The study examines the manifestation of dignity and the relationship between dignity and survival in the documentary “Autolla Nepaliin – Unelmien elokuva” and in the charity project which was described in the documentary. As the project had achieved its aims, it was considered a success. The material used was the speech of the documentary, transcribed to text. The speakers were the project team as well as people who had experienced comparable issues as the project team. The study represented a qualitative research method. The material was analyzed by the means of theory-based content analysis. The study was based on self-determination theory, which claims person succeeds and feels better when psychological needs, ie autonomy, competence and relatedness are met (Ryan & Deci 2000, 68.) From the theory Martela (2015, 37–54) has derived the concept of the motivational diamond used in the study. It is divided into dignity and survival. Survival consists of acceptance and status as well as safety and resources. Relevance requires the realization of relatedness, contribution (doing good), competence and autonomy. Most observations were made of relatedness, which was evident in the four circles: insiders, related people, project-connected circle, and random people circle. Doing good turned out to be a planned dream of volunteering. Autonomy permeated the entire project and was reflected in ideas, enthusiasm and patient work. Alongside autonomy, responsibility emerged. Competence was realized as learning and development, as well as identifying skills, sources of strengths and barriers. Most of the survival material was related to safety and resources resources, including travel progress, equipment and health. Acceptance and status were realized in social media approvals which affected the accumulation of money. Emotions determined the relationship between dignity and survival, forming a dialogue between them. The project serves as a metaphor for working life projects and their success. It is necessary to identify and define the circles of relatedness, to consider the development of competence, the manifestation of autonomy and the possibilities of contribution. Although funders approve goals defining the project work, it is also worth setting a goal that is relevant to oneself. This also supports the achievement of the official goals.

The ageing of population and workforce has major economic and social consequences for Finnish society. The aging, over fifty years old, workers are the largest age group on the labor market. The aim of this Master's Thesis is to understand work-efficacy and expertise of aging workers through their own accounts and descriptions of work, professional ability and development opportunities. The work and the knowledge of seniors are the research themes of this study. The research questions concerning work were: What are the impacts of age and experience on work-efficacy from the seniors perspective? What kind of plans and possibilities do seniors have for developing their work and advancing and their career? The research questions concerning expertise were: What are the impacts of age and experience on professional knowledge from the seniors perspective? How seniors build up professional knowledge and expertise? The research is qualitative and the data was produced by semi-structured interviews. The nine interviewees were ageing personell of communal technical sector. The method of this research was theory bound content analysis. The research concepts were based on social cognitive self-efficacy theories of Albert Bandura and critical theory of self-directed learning of Jack Mezirow. In the frame of this study these theories guide and structure the analysis of learning, self-directiveness, and professional developmental potential and possibilities of senior adults. The findings of this study showed that the age and experience increase efficacy and interest in developing work and expertise. Developing capabilities and expertise in rapidly changing environment requires proactivity, self-directiveness and critical reflection of working and learning. In the case of the aging workforce aims of lifelong learning are relalized. From the perspective of ageing personell networking and benchmarking are seen as the most efficient way of developing work and regenerating learning in the workplace. Seniors develop their work and expertise actively. As the retirement age approaches the developing efforts are sifted from advancing one's own expertise and career to developing of the work and knowledge of the organization. Transferring the knowledge and expertise of seniors to younger members of organization is also important. The research findings are noteworthy because the potential of aging workforce and value of their expertise is not yet fully understood and appreciated. Supporting and enhancing aging workers efficacy, learning and development is important from the seniors own point of view but also essential for Finnish competitiveness and society.

The research develops a teaching method to increase students' self-direction in handicraft education. The purpose is to determine whether regular exercise of mindfulness increases the self-direction of the students. Research has emerged from the need for practice. Previous studies have shown that mindfulness affects self-directedness. Mindfulness is associated with better performance-oriented self-direction (Howell & Buro, 2011). Mindful-ness exercises develop children's concentration, stress management, self-directedness and self-awareness. In addition to self-directedness, mindfulness promotes socio-emotional un-derstanding and positive attitude. (Schonert-Reichl & Lawlor, 2010.) The study was conducted as a qualitative desing-based research. Ten seventh grade students participated in the study. The study involved an 8-week conscious presence intervention in craft education. The data were collected by observing students during the interventi-on and by a self-direction questionnaire before and after the intervention. The analysis was carried out as a theory-based content analysis. The analysis used an observation diary and a self-directed questionnare based on Alanen's (2014) self-directed themes. These themes include mastering the language of the craft, taking responsibility for the craft process, courage in action, and working fluency. The intervention in the study had a positive impact on the students' work flow. According to the study, the mindfulness exercises had a positive effect on the start of the students' craft classes. Pupils began to work in a more self-directed way after practicing mindfulness exercises. Based on this, exercises can be used in craft teaching to streamline the beginning of lessons. This study could not reliably determine the effect of the exercises on the students' self-directedness other than on board the lessons.

Objectives. During the last couple of years, the challenges of early childhood education in terms of work engagement and staying in the field have emerged even more acutely. In particular, there’s a great shortage of qualified early childhood education teachers. This study aims to find out which factors affect early childhood education teachers' work engagement. Previous studies show the connection between teacher well-being and work engagement to the realization of high-quality early childhood education. Internal motivation is a part of coping at work and work engagement. The theoretical background of this study is based on Richard. M. Ryan’s and Edward. L. Deci's Self-Determination Theory. According to the theory, people have three basic needs: achieving a sense of competence and the experience of autonomy and relatedness. The research aims to find out whether these are realized in the work of the early childhood education teachers who answered the research questionnaire. In addition, we will look at which factors support teachers at work, whether teachers are allowed to carry out their work as they wish, what kind of work environment supports their work, and what thoughts teachers have about changing fields. Methods. The research is a qualitative survey. The research material was collected using an electronic questionnaire. Some of the questions on the form were numerical, using a Likert scale to find out the fulfillment of the basic needs of the self-determination theory, and some were open-ended. 148 early childhood education teachers answered the form. The material was analyzed using discourse analysis. The answers were divided according to the research questions into three main groups: Factors that support work and challengers to work implementation, The importance of work environment, and Early childhood education teachers' thoughts about changing fields. Results and conclusions. The research revealed that there are many challenges in the work of early childhood education teachers that challenge engagement. Resources, the role of the director, cooperation in the work community, the team and with parents, professionalism and structures are factors that support the work, but the challenges and shortcomings that appear in these, in turn, cause exhaustion and fatigue. In addition, early childhood education teachers are frustrated by the lack of appreciation from society. However, the teachers experienced a strong sense of competence, autonomy and a sense of relatedness in their work. However, most of the early childhood education teachers who participated in the study had thought about changing fields and named numerous reasons for it, which means dissatisfaction with the things that are not in order (such as sufficient resources, salary and a peaceful work environment).

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a large impact on higher education students’ life and studying. Due to the pandemic students had to move into distance learning and this might have had a significant impact on students’ psychological basic needs and study engagement. The aim of this study is to examine differences between students’ gender, age and the stage of studies in psychological basic needs and study engagement. This study also examines the impact of psychological basic needs on study engagement. Earlier research indicates that gender, age, and the period of studies have an impact on psychological basic needs and study engagement and psychological basic needs are positively connected to study engagement. Data of this study has been collected in the autumn of 2020 and it is a part of the research carried out by Educational Sciences’ of University of Helsinki’s research unit. The data was collected anonymously from students from various faculties using an online form. The data included 1476 participants of which 1202 were women (81,4%) and 236 were men (16,0%). Age of the participants varied between 18 and 44. In this study the study engagement was measured by the version of school engagement scale originally developed by Salmela-Aro and Upadyaya (2012) and the psychological basic needs were measured in the framework of the self-determination theory. Gender, age and period of studies were used as background variables. The results of this study indicated that over 25 years old students showed higher study engagement, autonomy and competence than under 25 years old students during distance learning. Men showed a little more autonomy than women and first year students showed more both study engagement and all psychological basic needs than students in the later stage of studies. The results also indicated that psychological basic needs positively predict study engagement. The results of this study help to understand the importance of impact of psychological basic needs on study engagement. In the future it would be useful to think how the student’s psychological basic needs could be supported and maintained during distance learning.