Tutkimuksella kohti tasa-arvoista työelämää
WeAll

Social and Economic Sustainability of Future Working Life

Researcher Blog

Collaborative Leadership – Effectiveness & Constraints

  The role of a ‘leader’ occupies a significant position in achieving the organizational wide objectives such as increasing employee motivation, minimizing employee turn-over as well as advancing equality and fairness in the organization. Generally speaking, leadership is not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ phenomenon since there is no universally accepted definition or style. Nonetheless, with increasing workplace diversity in the 21st-century organizations as well as fast deployment and adoption of interactive communication channels, the role of the leadership is changing and considered more challenging and demanding. It is assumed that every organization is diverse rather than monolithic, where people with diversified cultural & educational background, gender, and skill-sets provide immense learning and growth opportunities. This workforce diversity in the 21st-century organizations with advanced interactive communication channels motivates the development of new leadership styles to meet the variant organizational needs and requirements. Among these evolving leadership styles, the collaborative leadership occupies a key position. Working collaboratively in any organization drives the concept of a shared vision to develop a new kind of leadership. This collective approach, in turn, motivates the leaders, employees, stakeholders, and other organizational agencies to interact in thought-provoking dialogues in order to find the best possible answers and solutions collectively, rather than producing heroic or a “great person approach”. Therefore, it is safe to argue that collaborative leadership style disrupts the traditional or bureaucratic approaches and triggers the idea of shared, distributed, network, relational, transformational, and horizontal leadership approaches that create the synergetic attitudes of collaborative leaders and promising high impact over the organizational performance. It is widely believed that collaborative leadership style performs distinctly by establishing new rules and laws for joint actions, strengthening the fragile relationship between and among the different organizational hierarchy, and accelerating the search for novel ideas to resolve conflicts in the organizational performance. Despite these immense benefits of working collectively, sharing power is a major constraint in developing collaboration which somehow creates the lack of trust. In addition, collaborative leadership style is found to be not working effectively at the time of making quick strategic decisions. In diverse workforce organizations, ethics and values are difficult to maintain in a collaborative environment. Societal & cultural forces, language barrier and organizational structure, can be a hindrance in demonstrating the collaborative leadership practices successfully. Another constraint is the generation gap in promoting the collaborative leadership effectively because younger employees found to be less interested in working collaboratively. Yet, collaborative leadership, when exercised in a context-sensitive way, can be a valuable leadership approach in supporting diverse people’s opportunities to meaningful and productive work, and consequently better organizational performance. Shabnam Shaikh, Suvi Heikkinen & Anna-Maija Lämsä University of Jyväskylä School of Business and Economics

Stakeholder blog

Meditoi ja tuottavaa työtä tee!

”Ora et labora.” Jo keskiajalta lähtien benediktiinimunkkeja on kehotettu omistautumaan hengellisyyden harjoittamiselle rukoilemalla ja tekemällä työtä. 1 500 vuotta myöhemmin 2010-luvulla munkkeutta voidaan pitää marginaali-ilmiönä, mutta sen sijaan erilaisten henkisyysharjoitteiden hyödyntämisestä työelämässä on tullut valtavirtaa. Mindfulness on yksi tämän hetken merkittävimpiä henkisten käytäntöjen suuntauksia, ja samalla oire työelämän huolestuttavasta muutoksesta uusliberalistisen strategisten hallinnan keinojen vahvistuessa globaalisti, EU:ssa ja Suomessa. Onkin syytä kysyä mitä nykyinen työhyvinvointidiskurssi kätkee sisäänsä, millaisia motiiveja voidaan tunnistaa sen taustalta ja kuka todella hyötyy sen kehityssuunnasta? Mindfulness on nippu käytäntöjä, joiden avulla yksilö voi kiinnittää huomiota aisteihinsa, tunteisiinsa ja ympäristöönsä lempeydellä ja myötätunnolla tuomitsematta mitään tai ketään – esimerkiksi hengittämällä tai kiinnittämällä huomiota kehonsa tuntemuksiin. Mindfulness ammentaa niin buddhalaisuudesta, kristillisestä mystiikasta, self-help-ajattelusta kuin neurotieteestäkin yhdistäen niitä jälkiteollisen palvelutalouden tietotyöorganisaatioiden liiketoimintajargoniin (Cederström & Spicer 2015, 24). Se on eräänlainen mielen- ja itsehallinnan keino, josta monet kokevat saavansa apua esimerkiksi keskittymisvaikeuksissa. Erityisesti avokonttoreissa sekä tietointensiivisessä ja projektitapaisessa työssä monien eri tehtävien samanaikainen työstäminen ja jatkuvat keskeytykset ovat arkipäivää, jolloin keskittyminen voi olla haastavaa. Luostareissa munkkien ajateltiin pääsevän lähemmäs Jumalaa kilvoittelunsa avulla ja omistautumalla Jumalalle. Vastaavasti Karjalaisen (2018, 27) mukaan jälkiteollisen ihannetietotyöntekijän toivotaan omistautuvan työlleen esimerkiksi olemalla modernin viestintäteknologian avulla jatkuvasti tavoitettavissa ja esteettisen työn kautta muokkaamalla ulkonäköään ja työruumistaan työnantajan brändin mukaisesti. Henkisyys ja hengellisyys ovat pitkään kuuluneet työntekijän henkilökohtaisen elämän osa-alueelle, mutta mindfulnessin kautta tämä(kin) raja on häilynyt, jolloin työn vaatimukset valuvat entistä enemmän ihmisen koko elämän ja minuuden alueelle venyttäen kohtuuden rajoja. Tekemällä tietoisuusharjoituksia työntekijä saattaa kokea pystyvänsä keskittymään paremmin työhönsä ja tulla siten paremmaksi ja tuottavammaksi työntekijäksi. Samalla, kun työntekijöitä kannustetaan ja innostetaan kehittymään vielä tuottavammiksi, entistä suurempi määrä ihmisiä uupuu työssään. Ratkaisuna tähän nähdään työntekijän oma vastuu jaksamisestaan, keskittymisestään ja tehokkuudestaan, ei organisaation tai rakenteiden muuttaminen. Karjalaisen (2018,19–21) tutkimuksen mukaan vastuu työn rajojen hämärtymisen aiheuttamista ongelmista jää työntekijän harteille ja työhyvinvointidiskurssista tulee keino tiristää työntekijöistä viimeisetkin pisarat irti tuottavuuden näkökulmasta. Tämä kehityssuunta noudattaa uusliberalistisen hallinnan keinojen vahvistumista yhteiskunnassa. Gregor (2017, 10) määrittelee artikkelissaan, kuinka uusliberalismilla voidaan viitata talousjärjestelmään, poliittiseen ideologiaan sekä arvopohjaan. Vapaan markkinatalouden, yksityistämisen ja verojen vähentämisen kautta poliittisena ideologiana se tähtää pienen eliitin poliittisen ja taloudellisen vallan säilyttämiseen ja vahvistamiseen. Arvoina tämä näkyy yksilön vastuun ja vapauden sekä tuottavuuden ylikorostamisena. Karjalainen (2018, 3-5) kutsuu tätä uusliberalistisen kehityksen mukaista individualismin ylikorostamista ja henkisyyden muutoksen yhdistymistä siihen uushenkisyydeksi sekä nimeää mindfulness-harjoitukset sen merkittävimmäksi suuntaukseksi työelämässä. Kun työntekijöiden henkisyyskin valjastetaan tuottavuuden lisäämiseksi, ovatko 2010-luvun loppupuoliskon työelämän vaatimukset pian munkkien sitoutumisen tasoa ja niiden ohjenuorana versiointi luostarin toimintaohjeesta "Meditoi ja tuottavaa työtä tee"? Anna Ruokamo on teologian maisteri ja sukupuolentutkimuksen maisteriopiskelija (HY), joka työskentelee henkilöstöpalvelualalla. HR-ammattilaisena Anna on kiinnostunut erityisesti työhyvinvoinnista sekä ansiotyön ja muun elämän yhdistämisestä. Sini Peltokorpi on kasvatustieteiden maisteri ja sukupuolentutkimuksen maisteriopiskelija (HY). Hän työskentelee yläkoulussa erityisluokanopettajana ja on kiinnostunut erityisesti tasa-arvokasvatuksesta sekä tasa-arvo- ja yhdenvertaisuuspolitiikasta. Kirjallisuusluettelo Gregor, Anikó (2017) Who is for sale? Challenging the commodification of gender equality in the European Union. In 'The Future of the European Union - Feminist Perspectives from East-Central Europe'. Eszter Kovats (ed.). Budapest: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. 9-20. Cederström, Carl & Spicer, André (2015) The Wellness Syndrome. Cambridge, England; Malden, Massachusetts: Polity Press. Karjalainen, Mira (2018) Uushenkinen työ. Mindfulness jälkimaallistumisen, uusliberalismin ja työn hämärtyvien rajojen risteyksessä. Elore 1/2018. https://journal.fi/elore/article/view/72818/34599

In the WeAll project we explore factors that support and, on the other hand, restrict the opportunities of different people and diverse groups in working life. Demographic changes, regional differences, the reconciling of work and private life, as well as organisational and management practices, all affect these opportunities. We address how age, gender, class, ethnicity, sexuality, and location have an impact on working life. Our collaboration and dialogue with stakeholders promotes the co-production of knowledge on equalities and inequalities in working life, and on well-being at work.

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International research seminar: Gender in Male-Dominated Organizations, WeAll as a co-organizer

6th of November, 2019 at 12:15-16:15.
University of Jyväskylä (Mattilanniemi, Agora, Lea Pulkkinen Hall)

Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics hosts a research seminar “International Research seminar: Gender in Male-Dominated Organizational Contexts”. The seminar is organized in collaboration by WeAll Consortium, a project funded by the Strategic Research Council (SRC) at the Academy of Finland and Academy of Finland Postdoctoral Researcher Marke Kivijärvi. The seminar is funded by The Foundation for Economic Education, Finland. The seminar will be organized around two keynote presentations and a panel discussion.

In this seminar, we explore women’s careers, and their expeirencs of working in male-dominated organizational contexts. The seminar also addresses how masculinity has been constructed and naturalized, and what kind of requirements masculinity sets for women and their identity. Finally, the seminar examines ways to disrupt the prevailing gender order and how to increase equality.

The seminar is free of charge and fits ~50 people.

Schedule can be found here

Sign up here! Registration by October 18th.

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Invisibilities of Business Violence Seminar 23.9.2019

Associate professor Marjut Jyrkinen from WeAll is a keynote speaker in the seminar. Her latest book, with Elina Penttinen and Elisabeth Wide, is Emotional Workplace Abuse. A new Reseach Approach,  published in 2019 by Palgrave MacMillan.

Within business schools, violence is rarely mentioned as an outcome of business activities. Yet in contemporary studies from various fields, a number of connections between business and violence have been made increasingly explicit, from the expulsions caused by global market dynamics (cf. Sassen 2014), to violence associated with gendered globalization (Hearn et al. 2017), to the violent outcomes of firm activities in various developing contexts (e.g. Chowdhury in press; Varman and al Amoudi 2016), to intra-organizational emotional abuse (Penttinen et al. 2019). While violence in these contexts takes different shapes, a seemingly common feature is the role of invisibilities: of violence itself, of those people (and sometimes non-human animals) on whom violence is perpetrated, and of the role that business directly or indirectly plays in this.

In this seminar, we invite four expert scholars on the question of business and violence to present and discuss insights from some of their recent and ongoing work:

o             Dr. Rashedur Chowdhury: (PhD, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge) Associate Professor at Southampton Business School, University of Southampton, and a Batten Fellow at Darden Business School, University of Virginia. His most recent works focus on the Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh and the Rohingya and Syrian refugee crises.

o             Prof. Jeff Hearn: Professor Emeritus, Management and Organisation; Research Director, GODESS Institute (Gender, Organisation, Diversity, Equality, Social Sustainability), Hanken. He has been involved long-term in international research and policy development around both (anti-)violence, and gender and diversity in organisations and management, e.g. the books, Gender, Sexuality and Violence in Organizations 2001, and Unsustainable Institutions of Men 2019.

o             Dr. Marjut Jyrkinen: Associate Professor in Working Life Equality and Gender Studies, University of Helsinki, and director of research consortium on sustainable working life (weallfinland.fi), funded by the Strategic Research Council at the Academy of Finland. Her research on gendered violence and violations in and outside organizations, leadership, and gendered ageism has been published in Gender, Work and Organization, Journal of Business Ethics, Gender in Management, and Work, Employment and Society. Her latest book, with Elina Penttinen and Elisabeth Wide, is Emotional Workplace Abuse. A new Reseach Approach,  published in 2019 by Palgrave MacMillan.

o             Prof. Rohit Varman: Professor of Marketing and Consumption at University of Birmingham. He uses interpretive methodologies and his current inter-disciplinary research focuses on structures of subalternity, market violence, and modern slavery. He has published in leading journals, including the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Retailing, Organization Science, and Human Relations.

 

Visit the webpage of the event here. The seminar is free of charge but registration is mandatory, please register here.

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Workshop: Developing employment and entrepreneurship services

TIME: 24 September 2019 1 pm – 4 pm

PLACE: Think Corner, University of Helsinki, Yliopistonkatu 4 (Think Lounge, 2nd floor)

In this workshop we will develop services aimed at enhancing the employment and entrepreneurship of people with foreign backgrounds living in Finland. We will tackle the fragmented nature of the often project-based services. We will take a hands-on attitude in order to improve the services, aiming to enhance their accessibility and impact.

To kick off the event we will hear short presentations by service providers and users. After the presentations we will work in groups to tackle specified problems and find paths to solutions.

We will work in Finnish and in English. The discussion groups are going to be arranged according to the preferred language and interests of the participant.

More info on the programme: www.facebook.com/events/1365590430262397/

A warm welcome to the providers, users, and funders of the services! 

Organizers: EntreFox Project (55+ entrepreneurs and working life, http://www.turkuamk.fi/fi/tutkimus-kehitys-ja-innovaatiot/hae-projekteja/entrefox/)

Centre of Expertise in Immigrant Integration at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment (kotouttaminen.fi/en/frontpage)

WeAll Research Consortium (Social and Economic Sustainability of Future Working Life, www.weallfinland.fi)

Women to Work Project (Helsingin kaupungin TYP, www.hel.fi/helsinki/en/administration/enterprises/employment/adult-services/)

In collaboration with:  Suomen Yrittäjät

Invitation as a PDF-file

Gender in Male-Dominated Organizations – seminar at JSBE (6 November 2019)

6th of November, 2019 at 12:15-16:15.
University of Jyväskylä (Mattilanniemi, Agora, Lea Pulkkinen Hall)

Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics hosts a research seminar “International Research seminar: Gender in Male-Dominated Organizational Contexts”. The seminar is organized in collaboration by WeAll Consortium, a project funded by the Strategic Research Council (SRC) at the Academy of Finland and Academy of Finland Postdoctoral Researcher Marke Kivijärvi. The seminar is funded by The Foundation for Economic Education, Finland. The seminar will be organized around two keynote presentations and a panel discussion.

In this seminar, we explore women’s careers, and their expeirencs of working in male-dominated organizational contexts. The seminar also addresses how masculinity has been constructed and naturalized, and what kind of requirements masculinity sets for women and their identity. Finally, the seminar examines ways to disrupt the prevailing gender order and how to increase equality.

The seminar is free of charge and fits ~50 people.

Schedule can be found here

Sign up here! Registration by October 18th.

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