Browsing by Subject "johtamiskäytännöt"

The aim of this study was to find out about the heads of daycare units (n = 11) well-being at work in Helsinki early childhood education area from the viewpoints of work engagement and leadership practices of the local district manager (n = 1). The survey asks: 1) In what ways work engagement is a part of the heads of daycare units well-being at work? and 2) What kind of leadership practices are recognized in leadership of the local district manager? The starting points for making the thesis were the work engagement model (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004) and model for servant leadership (Van Dierendonck, 2011). Experiences of vigor, dedication and absorption are characteristic for work engagement. It is possibile to experience work engagement when the leader acts like a servant leader (Hakanen, 2011). The data was collected in the spring of 2016. All the participants were themeinterviewed and the heads of daycare units answered to the work engagement scale, UWES Utrecht work engagement scale. In addition the investigator observed one areameeting. The qualitative research data analysis were applied theory based content analysis approach (work engagement) and theory guided content analysis approach (leadership practices). Quantitative data was analysed statistically with basic statistics. According to the results the heads of daycare units experience dedication the most. The most typical experiences were feelings that their job is significant. They experienced vigor about once or twice a week and the right amount of challenge in work supported it. Work experience was a positive resource in challenging situations. For absorption it was challenging that work seemed to be interrupted often and that priority of the duties had to be organized often once more. The leadership of the local district manager included providing direction, empowering and developing people and interpersonal acceptance, as in the model of Van Dierendonck (2011). Empowering and developing people seemed to make providing direction possible. In the early childhood education area, there were mutual trust between heads of daycare units and the local district manager. The local district manager allowed a lot of freedom to work to the heads of daycare units and she was there for them when in need.