08. Raportit ja kirjat / Reports and Books

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Yliopiston yksiköissä toteutettujen hankkeiden väli- ja loppuraportteja sekä tieteellisiä kirjoja / Interim and final reports from projects carried out within the university's units, also scientific books

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Browsing 08. Raportit ja kirjat / Reports and Books by Degree programme/Major subject "Työpsykologia ja johtaminen"

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    Interorganizational relationships of facility service providers : implications for integrated workplace services
    (Helsinki University of Technology, 2007) Miettinen, Ilkka; Department of Industrial Engineering and Management; Tuotantotalouden osasto; Järvenpää, Eila; Prof.
    Work and ways of working are undergoing constant changes. While the development of ICT and other supportive systems has helped modern workers to become mobile and enabled remote and distributed working, the development of worker performance has been lacking. The problem of improving worker performance is multifaceted and cross-disciplinary in nature. For example, in order to be productive, the modern worker must be motivated and competent to do the job, and to be supported by appropriate facilities and ICT tools. All the factors that together contribute to the performance of the knowledge workers can be fitted under the concept of workplace. Traditionally, the workplace has represented real estate and has consisted only of the buildings in which people work. In this study, however, workplace is seen as a bundle of services instead of being simply a fixed place. These services are aimed at supporting the workers and they are called workplace services. The primary objective of this study is to create new understanding of the workplace concept and to provide guidelines for future workplace development. As an empirical contribution, this study explores and identifies issues that prevent the workplace services from being transformed towards integrated service packages. Additionally, due to the integral nature of the worker in the workplace services setting, this study brings light to issues concerning the workers' significance in the workplace service provision. This study is a qualitative one, the empirical data of which consists of 27 semi-structured interviews. The interviews were performed with representatives of facility service providers. The goal of the interviews was to gain new understanding of the interorganizational relationships of service providers, and to better understand other actors within the workplace from the service provider point of view. The interviews also sought to understand the role of the worker within the workplace service setting from the service provider point of view. The results of this study indicate that service provider relationships to all workplace actors need to be developed to a more collaborative direction. Increased collaboration helps all parties, instead of minimizing their own costs, to maximize the value created for the most important workplace actor, the worker. This study also finds that the client, as the employer of the workers and they paying customer for most workplace services, has an integral role in workplace development. In the future, better understanding of the needs of workers as well as assuming a worker-oriented approach to workplace development is necessary. In order to develop the workplace, collaborative efforts between all parties are needed. Due to the multifaceted nature of the workplace, collaboration across functional and organizational boundaries will also be necessary.
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    Production, development and innovation in inter-firm networks
    (Helsinki University of Technology, 2008) Smedlund, Anssi; Toivonen, Marja; Dosentti; Department of Industrial Engineering and Management; Tuotantotalouden laitos; Faculty of Information and Natural Sciences; Informaatio- ja luonnontieteiden tiedekunta; Järvenpää, Eila; Prof.
    Inter-firm network relationships, knowledge intensiveness and regional competitiveness are fashionable subjects in management science today because of globalization, advancement in IT and firms' increasing focus on their core competencies. There is a need for clarifying the models and concepts to make sense of the phenomena of inter-firm network dynamics. A model of three typical network types is built in this study. The network types are labeled as production network, development network and innovation network. The model is based on the concept of three knowledge environments of an organization by Ståhle. The objective of the study is to find out how Ståhle's concept of mechanic, organic and dynamic knowledge environments are related to the inter-firm networks in a region, and what are the roles of brokering intermediary organizations in inter-firm networks. The study consists of four individual papers that concentrate on different aspects of inter-firm networks and the roles of brokering organizations in them. In the first two papers, the three-dimensional model of networks is put to action in describing the tangible and intangible flows in a cluster of small firms. In the third paper the roles of the intermediaries are described according to the model. In the fourth paper the roles of a certain type of an intermediary organization, knowledge intensive business services (KIBS) are defined accordingly. The findings of the study suggest that firms use inter-firm network relationships as strategic assets in order to benefit from them in their businesses. Production, development and innovation networks constitute basic tasks that a firm needs to engage in order to survive. According to the case study presented here, it was possible to discern these three networks in a regional cluster of small firms. It was found out that each of the networks has their unique functioning logic and effectiveness criteria. It was also found out that the regional intermediary organizations and KIBS are important actors to facilitate the network dynamics in a region. In this study, it is argued that Ståhle's concept of mechanic, organic and dynamic knowledge environments can be used as a background framework in the context of inter-firm networks. However, according to the case study, Ståhle's dynamic knowledge environment is not as chaotic in inter-firm networks as Ståhle claims. Based on the organization theory literature reviewed in the introduction part of the study, it can be suggested that Ståhle's dynamic knowledge environment is often a transient phenomenon: its role is to be utilized as a vehicle for transformation when an organization is converted from a mechanic, exploitation mode towards an organic, exploration mode without external pressure. This study contributes to the field of Knowledge Management, and especially its Finnish line of thought. Practically, this study helps managers to think about their inter-firm network relationships differently, and states that there is no one right way to arrange network relationships. Instead, managers of organizations and decision makers in regions will have to consider innovation functions, production functions, and development functions separately.