Browsing by Author "Liesvirta, Ülle"

In this thesis, taking place within the clothing industry of Finland, the impact of the globalisation of the economy on the pattern-maker's job was studied and the present day fields of know-how of the job were found out. The thesis answers the questions, what are the characteristics of the pattern-maker's job nowadays, and what areas of the know-how in the pattern-maker's job form the core know-how, which is repeated in every organisation. Earlier studies of the subject do not exist in Finland. Similar studies have been made in USA (Staples 1993) and in Estonia (2002). Pattern-makers who took part in this study were located in the Finnish clothing companies manufacturing or having clothes manufactured in series production, like clothing industry or chain of stores. A methodical triangulation was used in the thesis. In a phenomenological research of experience seven pattern-makers were interviewed and in a quantitative research 26 pattern-makers filled in a structured questionnaire. The phenomenological analysis has 2 parts. In the first phase using the professional background of the pattern-makers, the historical development of the clothing industry for the last 40 years was described. In the second phase of the phenomenological analysis the description of the pattern-maker's job was created based on the organisational strategy of the companies nowadays. The analysis of quantitative research material was performed by one-dimensional study of variables, where the variations in the amounts of variables lead to proportional conclusions. As a result of the structured questionnaire, the core know-how of the pattern-maker was pointed out. In the thesis, the concept of situationality was used to describe the continuous change in the clothing industry. This explains the continuous requirement of pattern-makers' commitment to the time and location. The researcher has a background of a pattern-maker and she works as a specialist instructor. With the thesis the researcher updates her professional competence. The analysis of the pattern-maker's job can be used to update the content of pattern-makers' education in the vocational schools.