This study asks what kinds of ways of action emerge in an unstable labor market situation, and wh... more This study asks what kinds of ways of action emerge in an unstable labor market situation, and what are the processes that form these particular ways of action? More particularly, this study examines processes of the precarization and subjectification of work, by focusing on precarious agency and asking what are the ways and possibilities that make the insecurity tied to precarious situations tolerable. The research data consists of 58 interviews with people living in precarious labor market situation. The interviewees include 33 women and 11 men, most of them well-educated and aged between 30 and 45. The first data pool consists of 28 interviews conducted with the same people twice, at a seven-year interval. The second data pool consists of 30 interviews obtained from the Finnish Social Science data Archive (FSd). The above data have been analyzed through inductive content and concept analysis. The results of the analysis can be described through four entities that stress different ways of action. The ways of action are constructed in relation to time, motion, control and human relations. The insecurity of labor market situation strengthens one's need to predict and secure future. This makes it difficult to focus on the present, and the way of action becomes that of restlessness. One must show commitment to and passion for work, because constant changes and anxiety about future employment undermine real possibilities for commitment. The present is protected by shortening the time perspective, and by giving up the attempt to control one's own life. The vulnerability of one's ties to the labor market also means remaining in the reflective motion. Breaks in career repeat the need to contemplate on one's own desires and to relate them to the existing realities of working life. The way of action becomes that of searching. If the norms guiding one's action are contradictory or contradict the practices of working life, one's agency becomes obstructed, and the way of action becomes that of getting lost. Agency is executed by ways of trying, tolerating and enduring. One's distance to working life's forces and the search for autonomy are regulated by various strategies of management. Work or employment that resembles entrepreneurship may well be experienced as one's own choice that guarantees employment and the overall pleasantness of life. In addition, autonomy is constructed discursively by distancing oneself from conventional meanings of work. However, the employers may organize precarious work in ways that increase dependency. One such way is chaining consecutive fixed-term contracts, which makes one question the value of one's own work. The way of action becomes that of observing and modifying oneself for the purposes becoming worthy of the community. Precarious workers do not merely "experience" the insecurity "produced" by the labor market; instead, as interactive agents in this process they, too, give meanings to matters. However, their possibilities of achieving agency that would make the insecurity livable vary. The key question is the way the organiza¬tion of precarious work creates unequal possibilities of experiencing that one has carried out one's work well and that one's way of working is unique and valuable.
Scandinavian journal of work and organizational psychology, Jul 17, 2017
The aim of this qualitative inquiry is to offer novel insights on the individual and organisation... more The aim of this qualitative inquiry is to offer novel insights on the individual and organisational consequences of temporary work, especially in relation to performance. This study examines how fixed-term employees engage, and are enabled to engage, in their day-to-day work activities under the conditions marked by limited time horizon and resulting anticipatory orientation. The data consist of 30 open-ended interviews with highly educated fixed-term employees. A thematic analysis of the data showed that the anticipatory orientation -a necessity for predicting the future and preparing for it at the cost of the present -related to performance in several ways. Employees were forced to slide elsewhere while simultaneously trying to perform, which was associated with feelings of restlessness and the need to regulate and hide emotions at the workplace. In addition, employees could experience detachment from work due to the soon-to-beoutsider position within the organisation. Especially in the context of serial fixed-term contracts and hope for permanent position, intensive efforts to earn a place by adjusting and appearing as 'appropriate' were present. Overall, the results imply that fixed-term working conditions may lead to a deterioration of one critical performance resource: a reasonable time horizon in harmony with the work requirements. Without this resource, employees may not be able to perform at a self-satisfactory level and thus are exposed to stress. In order to understand the consequences of non-permanent work, the role of temporality and the conditions of self-satisfactory performance should be acknowledged and further examined.
This study asks what kinds of ways of action emerge in an unstable labor market situation, and wh... more This study asks what kinds of ways of action emerge in an unstable labor market situation, and what are the processes that form these particular ways of action? More particularly, this study examines processes of the precarization and subjectification of work, by focusing on precarious agency and asking what are the ways and possibilities that make the insecurity tied to precarious situations tolerable. The research data consists of 58 interviews with people living in precarious labor market situation. The interviewees include 33 women and 11 men, most of them well-educated and aged between 30 and 45. The first data pool consists of 28 interviews conducted with the same people twice, at a seven-year interval. The second data pool consists of 30 interviews obtained from the Finnish Social Science data Archive (FSd). The above data have been analyzed through inductive content and concept analysis. The results of the analysis can be described through four entities that stress different ways of action. The ways of action are constructed in relation to time, motion, control and human relations. The insecurity of labor market situation strengthens one's need to predict and secure future. This makes it difficult to focus on the present, and the way of action becomes that of restlessness. One must show commitment to and passion for work, because constant changes and anxiety about future employment undermine real possibilities for commitment. The present is protected by shortening the time perspective, and by giving up the attempt to control one's own life. The vulnerability of one's ties to the labor market also means remaining in the reflective motion. Breaks in career repeat the need to contemplate on one's own desires and to relate them to the existing realities of working life. The way of action becomes that of searching. If the norms guiding one's action are contradictory or contradict the practices of working life, one's agency becomes obstructed, and the way of action becomes that of getting lost. Agency is executed by ways of trying, tolerating and enduring. One's distance to working life's forces and the search for autonomy are regulated by various strategies of management. Work or employment that resembles entrepreneurship may well be experienced as one's own choice that guarantees employment and the overall pleasantness of life. In addition, autonomy is constructed discursively by distancing oneself from conventional meanings of work. However, the employers may organize precarious work in ways that increase dependency. One such way is chaining consecutive fixed-term contracts, which makes one question the value of one's own work. The way of action becomes that of observing and modifying oneself for the purposes becoming worthy of the community. Precarious workers do not merely "experience" the insecurity "produced" by the labor market; instead, as interactive agents in this process they, too, give meanings to matters. However, their possibilities of achieving agency that would make the insecurity livable vary. The key question is the way the organiza¬tion of precarious work creates unequal possibilities of experiencing that one has carried out one's work well and that one's way of working is unique and valuable.
Artikkelissa tarkastellaan tapoja, joilla prekaariin työmarkkinatilanteeseen liittyvää epävarmuut... more Artikkelissa tarkastellaan tapoja, joilla prekaariin työmarkkinatilanteeseen liittyvää epävarmuutta tehdään elettäväksi. Analyysissa fokusoidaan erityisesti niin sanottuun pieneen toimijuuteen, joka on havaittavilta muodoltaan vähäistä, mutta jonka tarkoituksena on säilyttää toimintakyky ja -tunto epävakaissa olosuhteissa. Analyysi pohjautuu 44 epävakaassa työmarkkinatilanteessa elävän henkilön teema- ja kerronnalliseen haastatteluun. Epävarmuus omaksuttiin erityisesti luovuutta ja itsenäisyyttä vaativassa työssä osaksi työn tekemisen tapaa ilman aktiivisia pyrkimyksiä kontrolloida sitä. Tulevaisuuden ajattelun ja ennakoinnin välttäminen toimi tapana taltuttaa epävakauden synnyttämää levottomuutta ja mahdollistaa keskittymisen nykyhetkeen. Epävarmuutta siedetiin ja olosuhteisiin tyydytiin erityisesti silloin, kun työn prekaarisuus mieltyi omaksi valinnaksi ja ammatinvalinnalliseksi kysymykseksi. Sietämistä rakennetiin osaltaan työelämän nykytilaa koskevan epävarmuuspuheen ja joustav...
Artikkelissa tarkastellaan sosiaalipalveluyrityksen johtamista neljan hoivayrityksen omistaja-yri... more Artikkelissa tarkastellaan sosiaalipalveluyrityksen johtamista neljan hoivayrityksen omistaja-yrittajan haastattelun kautta. Aineisto kerattiin osana Hoivayrittaja johtajana -tutkimushanketta. Hankkeessa kavi ilmi, etta monet hoivayrittajat suhtautuvat ambivalentisti itseensa johtajina. Artikkelin lahtokohtana on taman ambivalenssin tarkempi analyysi ja tarkastelu suhteessa hoivayritysten muuttuvaan toimintaymparistoon. Haastatellut naisyrittajat eivat tunnustautuneet johtajiksi tiettyjen sukupuolittuneiden johtajan ja johtamisen mielikuvien valossa. Esiin nousivat hoivayritysten erityispiirteet: pienja naisyrittajyys seka asiakaslahtoinen toimintatapa. Johtajuus ei rakentunut ammattijohtamisen kaavan mukaisesti, vaan nojautui hoitotyon osaamiselle ja ammatillisille arvoille, yhteiselle perustyolle ja tasavertaisuudelle. Johtaminen emannointina oli huolehtivaa, mutta jamakkaa toiminnan organisointia ja sen perusedellytyksien varmistamista. Hoivayritysten ja niiden johtamisen kehitta...
Scandinavian Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 2017
The aim of this qualitative inquiry is to offer novel insights on the individual and organisation... more The aim of this qualitative inquiry is to offer novel insights on the individual and organisational consequences of temporary work, especially in relation to performance. This study examines how fixed-term employees engage, and are enabled to engage, in their day-to-day work activities under the conditions marked by limited time horizon and resulting anticipatory orientation. The data consist of 30 open-ended interviews with highly educated fixed-term employees. A thematic analysis of the data showed that the anticipatory orientation -a necessity for predicting the future and preparing for it at the cost of the present -related to performance in several ways. Employees were forced to slide elsewhere while simultaneously trying to perform, which was associated with feelings of restlessness and the need to regulate and hide emotions at the workplace. In addition, employees could experience detachment from work due to the soon-to-beoutsider position within the organisation. Especially in the context of serial fixed-term contracts and hope for permanent position, intensive efforts to earn a place by adjusting and appearing as 'appropriate' were present. Overall, the results imply that fixed-term working conditions may lead to a deterioration of one critical performance resource: a reasonable time horizon in harmony with the work requirements. Without this resource, employees may not be able to perform at a self-satisfactory level and thus are exposed to stress. In order to understand the consequences of non-permanent work, the role of temporality and the conditions of self-satisfactory performance should be acknowledged and further examined.
Nurse entrepreneursÕ attitudes to management, their adoption of the managerÕs role and managerial... more Nurse entrepreneursÕ attitudes to management, their adoption of the managerÕs role and managerial assertiveness Aim This study explores the attitudes of Finnish nurse entrepreneurs to management, their adoption of the managerÕs role, managerial assertiveness, development and training needs in management and associated factors. Methods The research was conducted as part of a questionnaire survey among 335 entrepreneurs with different educational backgrounds. The sample for the study reported here consisted of those respondents who had a registered nurse degree. The data were analysed using SPSS statistical software. Results Nurse entrepreneurs took a positive attitude towards management, but there were obvious shortcomings in their adoption of the managerÕs role. They also showed a lack of managerial assertiveness. Half of the respondents had development needs and one-third had training needs in relation to management. Conclusions Nurses who are planning to start up in business should have earlier leadership experience and should attend some form of management training. Implications for nursing management The provision of care and nursing services is increasingly taking place in the private sector. This study contributes to our understanding of the managerial role of nurse entrepreneurs in this new environment.
Toivon ja toiveikkuuden prosessit ammatillisessa kuntoutuksessa
Kuntoutus
Ammatillisella kuntoutuksella pyritään tukemaan työllistymisen, työhön paluun ja työssä jatkamise... more Ammatillisella kuntoutuksella pyritään tukemaan työllistymisen, työhön paluun ja työssä jatkamisen edellytyksiä. Työelämätavoitteiden asettaminen voi kuitenkin olla haastavaa tilanteessa, jossa työllistymiseen ja työssä selviytymiseen liittyy moninkertaista epävarmuutta. Tässä kontekstissa on hyödyllistä pohtia toiveikkaan tulevaisuusorientaation ehtoja. Tässä tutkimuksessa tarkastelimme sitä, millä ehdoilla ammatillinen kuntoutus voi tukea työelämätulevaisuutta koskevaa toivoa. Kysyimme erityisesti, millaiset kuntoutuksen toimintatavat ja prosessit vahvistavat ja millaiset heikentävät toivoa ja toiveikkuutta. Teoreettisena lähtökohtana hyödynnettiin ajatusta toivon erilaisista muodoista, erityisesti tavoitteellisesta toivosta sekä avoimesta toivosta, toiveikkuudesta. Aineiston muodostivat 17 Kelan ammatilliseen kuntoutukseen osallistuneen henkilön teemahaastattelua. Aineisto analysoitiin hyödyntäen haastattelukohtaista tiivistämistä, induktiivista koodausta sekä yhdistävää, teorias...
Kela launched a new service-vocational rehabilitation supporting integration into work-in 2017. T... more Kela launched a new service-vocational rehabilitation supporting integration into work-in 2017. The service combined former work try-outs, job coaching and mental health rehabilitees' job coaching. In this study, we examined the implementation of vocational rehabilitation supporting integration into work in relation to the foundations of the service: promotion of employment and the active agency and support of the rehabilitees. We focused particularly on the targeting of rehabilitation, the role and agency of rehabilitees, the functioning of the service, and support and counselling within the service. The study applied multiple perspectives and methods. Data were collected with a mail inquiry to service users in 2017 (n = 439) and their interviews (n = 15), an electronic inquiry to service providers (n = 49) and interviews with their representatives (n = 18), and interviews with the contact persons of the workplaces that participated in the rehabilitation (n = 15). According to the survey results, a personal experience of correct timing was crucial for the success and positive outcomes of the service. Service users had varied needs for support. A sufficient, tailored amount and form of support provided to the rehabilitees from their individual coaches was important in enabling agency. Support was a dynamic phenomenon that included activities, roles and responsibilities among all parties within the service. Lacking the experience of having an influence in one's own life, a livelihood viewed as insufficient, higher age, musculoskeletal disorders, and prolonged unemployment were linked to lower service outcomes. It would therefore be vital to consider what would make the service a well-functioning whole for rehabilitees with varying needs and goals. It is also essential during the service to take into account the operating logic of the labour market and work organisations and to cooperate with organisations proactively. Ensuring rehabilitees' resources and experience of having an influence in one's own life would likely contribute to the functioning of the service.
tions for a personcentred approach. Evaluation of Kela's vocational rehabilita tion assessment. H... more tions for a personcentred approach. Evaluation of Kela's vocational rehabilita tion assessment. Helsinki: The Social Insurance Institution of Finland, Studies in social security and health 154, 2018. 137 pp. ISBN 978-952-284-054-7 (print), 978-952-284-055-4 (pdf). 93 Täysin eri mieltä 9 %, jokseenkin eri mieltä 7 %, ei samaa eikä eri mieltä 11 %, jokseenkin samaa mieltä 28 %, täysin samaa mieltä 38 %, en osaa sanoa 2 %, puuttuva tieto 5 %. 94 Täysin eri mieltä 55 %, jokseenkin eri mieltä 12 %, ei eri eikä samaa mieltä 12 %, jokseenkin samaa mieltä 7 %, täysin samaa mieltä 8 %, en osaa sanoa 1 %, puuttuva tieto 5 %. 95 Spearmanin rho = −0,15 (p = 0,005). 96 Spearmanin rho = 0,13 (p = 0,018). 97 Spearmanin rho = 0,12 (p = 0,034). 98 Spearmanin rho = 0,11 (p = 0,049). 99 Spearmanin rho = −0,17 (p = 0,003). 100 Spearmanin rho = 0,29 (p < 0,001). 101 Väite "kuntoutusselvitykseen osallistumiseen liittyi häpeän tunnetta": täysin eri mieltä 54 %, jokseenkin eri mieltä 14 %, ei samaa eikä eri mieltä 9 %, jokseenkin samaa mieltä 10 %, täysin samaa mieltä 5 %, en osaa sanoa 4 %, puuttuva tieto 4 %.
Despite the critical role of integration as a methodological concept in mixed methods studies, re... more Despite the critical role of integration as a methodological concept in mixed methods studies, researchers lack a theory for integrating. In this article, we introduce the concept of integrative strategy by analyzing three mixed methods rehabilitation-related studies. These studies represented an analytical strategy based on a multiperspective stakeholder approach, a theory-bound analytical strategy, and a theory-oriented synthesizing strategy. We define integrative strategy as a process in which the system of relations within the study is explicated and justified in accordance with the research purpose and phenomenon. This article contributes to mixed methods research by providing a novel concept of integrative strategy. The concept encompasses both study-specific practices of integration and their justifications, thereby bringing methodological discussions and practices closer together.
Tässä artikkelissa tarkastelemme Kelan työllistymistä edistävän ammatillisen kuntoutuksen osapuol... more Tässä artikkelissa tarkastelemme Kelan työllistymistä edistävän ammatillisen kuntoutuksen osapuolten kuvauksia suomalaisesta työelämästä. Keskitymme erityisesti työelämään liittyvien myönteisten näköalojen ja niissä esiintyvän optimisminanalysointiin. Toivo ja optimismi ovat aiemmissa tutkimuksissa osoittautuneet merkityksellisiksi tekijöiksi työhön paluun prosesseissa. Aineiston muodostivat kuntoutujien, omaohjaajien ja työnantajien haastattelut (47 kappaletta). Kuntoutuksenkaikkien osapuolten puheesta tunnistettiin myönteisiä näköaloja ja erilaisia optimismin muotoja. Optimismia esiintyi suhteessa työhön osallistumisen rakenteellisiin reunaehtoihin, kuten työkulttuuriin ja muutospotentiaalin tunnistamiseen. Lisäksi painottuivat omakohtaiset suunnanmuutoksen mahdollisuudet. Erityisesti omaohjaajilla korostui myös osatyökykyisten asemaa koskeva huolipuhe. Osatyökykyisten asema polarisoituvilla työmarkkinoilla sekä tasavertaisen ja osallisuutta mahdollistavan työelämän rakentaminen o...
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