Teija Norri-Sederholm, Minna Joensuu and Johanna Lammintakanen
The purpose of this paper is to investigate opportunities and challenges for multi-professional paramedic-firefighter units in small municipalities in Finland.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate opportunities and challenges for multi-professional paramedic-firefighter units in small municipalities in Finland.
Design/methodology/approach
The data were collected by means of four focus group interviews conducted with managers (N =12) and a questionnaire comprising open-ended questions for the personnel working in the units (n =73). Data from both sources were analyzed using inductive content analysis.
Findings
The empirical results suggest that the use of multi-professional units (MPUs) may be one means of providing a better standard of service in rural areas. However, the working practices and different professional backgrounds in MPUs are considered challenging by the personnel. Managers had a broader perspective; during the interviews they raised matters such as citizen characteristics, legal issues like varying working hours, and economic aspects. Both the personnel and the managers agreed on the strengths and weaknesses of the MPU model in principle.
Practical implications
The results of this study may clarify the opportunities and challenges posed by MPUs in rural areas from the perspectives of personnel and managers.
Originality/value
The study provides novel information on MPUs comprising paramedics and firefighters, who function at the interface of emergency medical services and rescue services and who have new tasks in rural areas, including home healthcare support and accident prevention.
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Olli Lehtonen and Markku Tykkyläinen
Purpose – This chapter aims at analysing the spatial pattern of the impending shortage of rural labour in North Karelia, Finland. The focus of the analysis is on forestry, which…
Abstract
Purpose – This chapter aims at analysing the spatial pattern of the impending shortage of rural labour in North Karelia, Finland. The focus of the analysis is on forestry, which has a demand for labour that is spread evenly over the entire region.
Methodology – Future population development up to 2020 is predicted by roll-up calculation model, which reveals the future potential of local labour in forestry by area type.
Findings – Economic development shapes the socio-economic landscape. The economic boom since the mid-1990s towards advanced production and services has led to the strengthening of a concentrated regional structure in North Karelia. Forest resources are increasingly being utilized through labour living in the municipal centres, as the supply of competent labour in the distant and core rural areas has been on the decline. Therefore, in the future municipality centres will have to supply the labour force for forestry and its associated services within a reasonable commuting distance.
Practical implications – In order to enable the efficient use of forest resources in the future new policy options such as more efficient forest management through the enlarging of the forest holdings to be harvested, the use of foreign labour, contract work and the better utilization of redundant rural housing and infrastructure should be considered as an addition to the traditional engineering approaches aimed at increasing mechanization. At any rate, if nothing is done, the aim of making more intensive use of forest resources and converting the forest biomass to energy may not be achieved in a region such as this.
Marianne Jaakkola, Soila Lemmetty, Kaija Collin, Minna Ylönen and Teuvo Antikainen
This study aims to increase the understanding of the starting points and presuppositions of organizational learning (OL) processes in a hospital’s surgical department based on the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to increase the understanding of the starting points and presuppositions of organizational learning (OL) processes in a hospital’s surgical department based on the existing theory of OL and to make visible the practical possibilities of the theory in this context.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was conducted as a case study. The data were collected from personnel of the hospital’s surgical department and consisted of 26 thematic interviews. The data were analyzed using qualitative theory-driven content analysis.
Findings
This study found different starting points for both employee-oriented and organization-oriented learning processes that could potentially progress to different levels of the organization: from individuals to a wider group or from a large group to an individual. The starting point of employee-oriented learning processes was depicted as everyday life problems or situations or was based on the person’s interest. The starting points of organization-oriented learning processes were described as achieving or maintaining the organization’s expected skill levels, pursuing continuous development or pursuing the organization’s specific development needs. Different kinds of presuppositions were also located within the OL processes.
Originality/value
This study produced new practice-based knowledge about the starting points of OL processes and their presuppositions. In health-care organizations, learning is especially important due to intensive and complex changes, and this study provides empirical evidence on how to enhance learning.
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Henriikka Vartiainen, Teemu Valtonen, Juho Kahila and Matti Tedre
In 2022 generative AI took the Internet world by storm. Free access to tools that can generate text and images that pass for human creations triggered fiery debates about the…
Abstract
Purpose
In 2022 generative AI took the Internet world by storm. Free access to tools that can generate text and images that pass for human creations triggered fiery debates about the potential uses and misuses of generative AI in education. There has risen a need to check the popular utopian and dystopian narratives about AI against the diversity of hopes, concerns and future imaginaries that educators themselves associate with generative AI. The purpose of this study is to investigate the perspectives of Finnish teacher educators on the use of AI in education.
Design/methodology/approach
This article reports findings from a hands-on workshop in teacher training, where participants learned about how generative AI works, collaboratively explored generative AI and then reflected on its potential and challenges.
Findings
The results reveal nuanced, calm and thoughtful imaginaries rooted in deep understanding of educational policy, evaluation and the sociocultural context of education. The results cover teachers’ views on the impact of AI on learners’ agency, metacognition, self-regulation and more.
Originality/value
This article offers a unique exploration into the perceptions and imaginaries of educators regarding generative AI in specific (instead of “monolithic AI”), moving beyond dystopian views and instead focusing on the potential of AI to align with existing pedagogical practices. The educators contrasted the common techno-deterministic narratives and perceived AI as an avenue to support formative assessment practices and development of metacognition, self-regulation, responsibility and well-being. The novel insights also include the need for AI education that critically incorporates social and ethical viewpoints and fosters visions for a future with culturally, socially and environmentally sustainable AI.
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Purpose – The purpose is to analyse the initial stages of co-operation between a Finnish community intranet-developing project and a ‘telecottage’ enterprise in a South-eastern…
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose is to analyse the initial stages of co-operation between a Finnish community intranet-developing project and a ‘telecottage’ enterprise in a South-eastern Hungarian village community.
Findings – Both the Hungarian telecottage and the Finnish North Karelian intranet initiatives have achieved much publicity in and outside their countries; their success stories and experiences have also spread with the agency of researchers, by their academic publications and the lines of their personal and professional, often international networks. The case in focus is also evidence for more such informal ideas/innovation–transfer processes, supported by information and communication technologies (ICTs).
Methodology – The author, a Hungarian researcher working in Finland, has been an increasingly involved participant and observer of the evolving joint project, hence is the more subjective voice, and the action research-approach is employed.
Originality/value of chapter – This chapter presents an example of action research in the fast-developing ICT arena which clearly complements other research approaches in the field.
Kjell Andersson, Erland Eklund, Minna Lehtola and Pekka Salmi
Purpose – To discuss the rural–urban dichotomy and its far-reaching implications, first and foremost from a rural sociological point of view, and at the same time, to structure…
Abstract
Purpose – To discuss the rural–urban dichotomy and its far-reaching implications, first and foremost from a rural sociological point of view, and at the same time, to structure the volume and present the individual chapters.
Methodology/approach – Literature review and analysis of scientific discourse.
Findings – The rural–urban dichotomy has been very persistent in demographic and other kinds of rural and urban research despite intense discussions about its shortcomings in nearly half a century. However, there are mounting arguments for alternative conceptions of rural–urban relations, some of which are found in the chapters in this volume.
Originality/value of chapter – This chapter presents some new ideas about the rural–urban dichotomy, and alternative, more realistic conceptions of rural–urban relations, at the same time as it gives an introduction to the volume.
Niina Väänänen, Leena Vartiainen, Minna Kaipainen, Harri Pitkäniemi and Sinikka Pöllänen
This study aims to explore student craft teachers’ conceptions of sustainable craft. This is an important issue because the Finnish National Curriculum of Basic Education…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore student craft teachers’ conceptions of sustainable craft. This is an important issue because the Finnish National Curriculum of Basic Education emphasises sustainability, especially in craft education, and teachers play a vital role in preparing pupils to meet the future challenges. Because the concept of sustainable craft is open-ended, there is a need to rethink pedagogy in craft education and higher education.
Design/methodology/approach
The data were collected in the form of essays from future craft teachers (N41) studying craft science in the Finnish higher education system. The essays concerned both general conceptions of sustainable craft and reflections on the student teachers’ craft practices. The data were analysed using grounded theory to gain a deep understanding of how student craft teachers conceptualise sustainable craft. The data were quantified and statistically assessed for dependencies between variables and transferability of results.
Findings
The study revealed that sustainable craft is conceptualised as a system and that student teachers approach sustainability from different orientations: practice, product, immaterial and holistic.
Originality/value
The emerging theory offers a new concrete tool for understanding the abstract concept of sustainability in higher education and suggests that sustainability can be addressed through tangible methods of craft. This theory proposes craft as a tool to conceptualise of sustainability for broader use in education for sustainability (ESD) and as a concrete tool for developing pedagogy for ESD.
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Kari Lepistö, Minna Saunila and Juhani Ukko
This study investigates the effect of total quality management (TQM) on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) ' profitability by examining whether the new TQM dimensions of risk…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates the effect of total quality management (TQM) on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) ' profitability by examining whether the new TQM dimensions of risk management, digitalization, stakeholder management and system deployment, facilitate the impact of traditional TQM dimensions on profitability.
Design/methodology/approach
A structured survey of 271 Finnish SMEs divided into industry companies and service companies was used.
Findings
Risk management facilitates the relation between continuous improvement and company profitability. Digitalization does not facilitate the relation between TQM dimensions and company profitability. Stakeholder management facilitates the relation between management/leadership and company profitability, customer focus and company profitability and continuous improvement and company profitability. System deployment does not facilitate the relation between TQM dimensions and company profitability.
Originality/value
Most prior studies are based on the traditional TQM classification. The TQM dimensions of this study are more comprehensive than previous studies and take into account the latest trends in business development. The findings of this study differ from most previous studies and provide a source of reflection for SME management on how TQM should be implemented so that it affects the company's profitability.
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Kari Lepistö, Minna Saunila and Juhani Ukko
This study examines whether certification improves the dimensions of total quality management (TQM) and whether the impact of certification is similar across companies of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines whether certification improves the dimensions of total quality management (TQM) and whether the impact of certification is similar across companies of different sizes and industries. The benefits of certification for companies have been widely discussed in recent years. The general debate has been partly marked by the dispute about whether companies will benefit more from certification or the implementation of TQM. This debate has led to numerous studies on the benefits of certification; however, few studies simultaneously have examined traditional TQM issues and the requirements of the new quality standard, ISO 9001: 2015, as well as the updated European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) criteria.
Design/methodology/approach
This study was conducted via a survey of Finnish SMEs and covered both industrial and service companies. The study comprehensively compared industrial companies with service companies and small companies with medium-sized companies.
Findings
In industrial and small enterprises, certification clearly has a positive effect on the dimensions of TQM, but a similar effect was not observed in medium-sized enterprises or in the service sector.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies to examine the effect of certification on TQM in different types of SMEs while simultaneously considering EFQM and ISO 9001:2015 in Finland. The significant originality of this research lies in the formation of a comprehensive research framework for the dimensions of TQM.