Browsing by Subject "organisaatiokulttuuri"
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(2023)The idea of this thesis was to build an understanding of the organizational cultures of two organizations that are parties to an acquisition. By characterizing the current culture of these organizations, it is possible to facilitate the merging and alignment of cultures, so that cooperation in the new situation would be successful. The research was a quantitative survey during fall of 2022, and based on the data from the survey, cultural profiles were built for both organizations. By comparing these cultural profiles, plan was to find the areas and entities in current cultures where they are similar and can so be seen as the company’s core competence and strength. Idea was also to find the areas where the current cultures are different and where the so-called collision of cultures could happen, or where the differences can be turned into strength. Both organizations were well represented in the data, but there were less answers in open questions than was expected. According to the results, the most important factor in both organizations is its employees and people-to-people cooperation. Also, both cultures emphasized their own industries, which are slightly different for these two organizations. The results did not reveal a large clash of cultures, but especially on the main group’s side, the organizational culture could require refinement and harmonization throughout the entire company.
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(2022)Previous research shows that multicultural and multilinguistic organizations can be more effective and creative than other organizations. Building trust in workplace strengthens commitment to work and eliminates conflicts and disagreements between colleagues. Organizational culture is partly impacted by how trust building materializes in practice in work community. The purpose of the study was to discover how international experts experience trust building and work commitment in a multicultural organization. The study was conducted in the IT organization that is part of a bigger Finnish organization. The study answered two research questions: (1) What should an organization guarantee to its employees to build trust and commitment? (2) What informal factors contribute to building trust in a multicultural work community? This study was conducted qualitatively, and semi-structured interview was used as a method to collect research material. In total, six people were interviewed for the study. They all work for the IT organization and do not speak Finnish as their mother tongue. Three of the interviewees had moved to Finland when they started working for the organization and three others work from their home countries as consultants for the organization. Theoretical content analysis was used as the analysis method. The results of the study suggest that international professional’s benefit from clear goals, roadmaps, and strategies that guide their work. These should be available in English. In addition, multicultural teams’ benefit from being able to build their own ways of working that takes multiculturalism and language barriers into account. Informal acquaintance is also useful in building trust. International colleagues had positive experiences of colleagues and supervisors who had helped them when they moved to Finland, for example. In addition, it has been important for the international experts to learn Finnish and learn about the Finnish culture. In order to build trust and commitment, it is important that the organizational culture supports the needs of multiculturalism and multilingualism, and the employees implements the culture in everyday life. The results of the study can be applied in building trust and commitment of multicultural teams.
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(2014)Objectives. The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of work and family coordination. The study focused on parents of young children working shortened work week as well as their superiors and the HR experts of their organizations. The study also looked at whether the employees experience conflicts of roles in the coordinating work and family as well as the importance of the organization and the management of the organization in work and family coordination. The theoretical background consisted mainly of theories and interaction models describing work and family as well as the models describing organizational culture and the well-being at work. Methods. Interviews which were collected from three organizations were used as the research material. The interviewees were parents of young children working shortened work week as well as their superiors and the HR experts of their organizations. Total number of interviewees was 11. The study was a qualitative study and the analysis method used was content analysis. Results and conclusions. The results of the study showed that the experiences of coordinating work and family were mainly positive and the employees felt having succeeded quite well in coordinating work and family. The importance of management and supervisors in the success of coordinating work and family turned out to be very significant. Even though the employees in this circumstance did not feel the need for specific personal support, they saw it important that the family-friendliness is reflected in the attitudes, behavior and organizational culture. The study results highlighted the division of labour between the spouses and the taking care of their own areas of responsibility to succeed in coordinating the everyday life effectively. Problems seen involved with coordinating work and family were career stagnation, as well as the fact that the workload didn't decrease in relation to working hours. The study results confirm the importance of the individual's own decisions, the organization's participation as well as the opportunities offered by the society in coordination of work and family. The study results support the views expressed in the theory on coordinating work and family life and on the family-friendliness of the organizations. Further research, particularly on male-dominated fields would be important for men's voice to be heard and to think about what types of incentives would make fathers to join the arrangements more often.
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(2017)A connection has been shown between a school's social capital and, on the one hand, their academic performance, and teacher well-being, on the other. A need for skills to develop one's school and occupational community is evident, since working in a school can be taxing, especially for teachers in the early stages of their career. The aim of this thesis is to identify strengths and weaknesses in social capital building (e.g. formation of networks, norms or trust) in a school community. A secondary goal is to take part in the seemingly diverse theoretical discussion around social capital. The thesis' theoretical frame was narrowed down to internal social capital, and it was further developed through organisational social capital research into three dimensions: structural, relational and cognitive. The data consisted of nine (9) staff interviews in an urban school, originally collected for a study focusing on well-functioning local schools (Tolu) in the University of Helsinki. Qualitative content analysis with a theoretical orientation was applied. The data was first organised into thematic categories, after which it was analysed with the help of earlier operationalisation of social capital. Both strengths and weaknesses were found. The main structural strengths were e.g. connectedness to the school area and a shared educational ethos. Weaknesses in this dimension were structural holes and a somewhat exclusive school area, to name some. Relational social capital was supported by explicitly stated policies and open conversation, to name a few, whereas staff commitment to said policies and differing expectations could be seen as challenges. Finally, the cognitive dimension of social capital was built on traditions and an organisational culture promoting staff involvement. This dimension was challenged by changes in faculty and commitment to organisational goals and vision. Norms are essential for the formation of any community, but too strong a norm may become restricting for the actors in a social structure. A balance between norms and flexibility could be beneficial, so that social capital may be seen as a resource rather than restriction.
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(2019)Target: This study examines school culture and its change in technology-intensive schools through principals' experiences. The aim of the study was to gain deeper understanding on three related themes: 1) How the principals have experienced the change in school culture and which factors they have perceived (2) to facilitate or (3) to hinder the change. Furthermore, the goal was to understand which factors related to technology-intensive schools' functions and leadership have improved the change processes and what kind of challenges the school and the management have experienced along the way. The theoretical framework of this study is based on the theories of organization culture and more specifically on school culture and related concepts. Method: The research data for this study was gathered from 13 schools across the Helsinki capital area and it consisted of semi-structured interview material from the principals of the targeted schools. The data was analyzed by qualitative content analysis. I grouped and thematized the interview data, coded and categorized meanings related to the themes identified, and, finally, analyzed the interdependencies between the categories and meanings. Findings and conclusions: The findings of this study indicated that the collaboration culture in schools has evolved. The principals reported that the teachers use more collaborative working methods and share knowledge more actively with others than before. The findings also revealed that the learning environments are more versatile than before and the working methods appear to be more innovative. The principals also de-scribed that the gap between the school and students as well as the gap between school and the society have narrowed. The most important factors supporting the cultural change were perceived to be leadership and the increasing collaboration between teachers. In addition, external support in its different forms as well as resources allocated to schools appeared important. Particular emphasis was given to the guidelines indicated by the newest national curriculum. On practical level, modern learning environments and learning tools were highlighted to be a pre-requisite for the development of digital school culture. The cultural transformation is hindered, according to the principals, by the resistance to change among teachers. Renewing old working methods and altering the professional identity is arduous and may generate negative attitudes towards change. Also, some external factors seemed to complicate the change process. Especially the limited working hours of teachers and principals seemed to decelerate the development. Furthermore, some principals experienced the negative public discussion concerning the digitalization of schools frustrating. The principals described that the role of technology in school culture change is to serve as an enabler for widening and renewing the ways of working and the environments for learning. The results of this study indicated that some change in school culture has occurred but the systemic change is still in process. The results together with former theory constituted a model of innovative and collaborative school culture. The model can be used for improving the school culture to better correspond to the challenges of the constantly changing world and knowledge society.
Now showing items 1-5 of 5