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Purpose This paper aims to examine employee-driven innovation (EDI) intertwined with learning, creating a new description combining these two concepts: employee-driven learning and innovation (EDLI). This paper provides insights into the nature of EDLI based on the existing theories and perspectives. It seeks to elaborate EDLI as an ongoing process in and through work. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on Jaakkola’s (2020) guidance for structuring a conceptual article. The authors first describe the theoretical starting points related to EDI and then elaborate its relationship with learning at work, with the aim of structuring the key elements involved, drawing on and interpreting existing theory and knowledge. Findings In summary, advanced here are five premises for describing EDLI at work: (1) EDI and workplace learning are strongly intertwined phenomena, (2) learning in the EDI process occurs simultaneously at the intra-personal and inter-personal levels as a reciprocal process of adaptive and innovative learning, (3) innovations are only manifested in and are relevant to the specific cultural-historical and social context of particular enterprises, (4) the continuity of innovations and learning processes is enabled by participation and (5) triggers from outside the workplace, behind the innovation and the specific consequences (that transcend workplace boundaries) of the innovation anchor aspects of the process outside the workplace or work practice. Originality/value The paper advances a description and justification of EDLI. As such, it extends, connects and updates previously established theoretical models and explanations of this about EDIs. Based on the premises advanced here, the theoretical and practical contributions are discussed and the research gaps and needs for further research identified.

Luet Työsuojelurahaston rahoittaman JoKo-hankkeen (Lähijohtaminen kestävän oppimisen edistäjänä työelämässä) loppuraporttia. Tuomme tässä raportissa esille havaintojamme hankkeen aikana kerätyn haastatteluaineiston annista ja toteutetun ryhmävalmennuksen kokemuksista ja luomme niiden pohjalta syvempää ymmärrystä oppimisen kestävyydestä työssä. Suomalaisessa työelämässä painotetaan osaamisen ja jatkuvan oppimisen merkitystä erityisesti asiantuntijatyössä, mutta ymmärrystä oppimisen kestävyydestä meillä on vielä hyvin vähän. Tutkimusta hyvinvointia lisäävän eli kestävän oppimisen tukemisesta ja johtamisesta meillä on vielä vähemmän. Tällainen ymmärrys on kuitenkin ensiarvoisen tärkeää huomioiden nuorten työntekijöiden kasvavat paineet ja työuupumuksen lisääntymisen. Näihin haasteisiin vastaamiseksi JoKo-hankkeen loppuraportti pyrkii tuomaan lisävalaistusta. Joko-hankkeen tutkimuskontekstit ovat sairaala, poliisin ennalta estävä yksikkö ja ICT- alan organisaatio Pinja Oy. Tutkittavat kontekstit ja organisaatiot ovat valikoituneet tutkimuksen ja kehittämisen yhteistyötahoiksi niiden ajankohtaisuuden vuoksi erityisesti tutkimiemme ilmiöiden suhteen. Viime aikoina esillä ovat olleet niin terveydenhuollon johtamisongelmat ja SOTE-uudistuksiin valmistautuminen kuin teknologia-alan johtamisrakenteiden haasteet. Poliisin ennalta estävän yksikön työn ja oppimisen tutkiminen on ollut tärkeää JoKo-hankkeessa erilaisia uusia yhteiskunnallisia ilmiöitä ymmärtääksemme ja niihin vastaamiseksi poliisityön avulla. Tässä JoKo-hankkeen loppuraportissa kuvaamme hankkeen toteutusta, teoreettisia ja käsitteellisiä lähtökohtia, keskeisiä löydöksiä sekä ryhmävalmennuksen toteutusta. Pohdimme lisäksi, miten löydöstemme perusteella työelämässä tulisi ohjata ja johtaa työssä tapahtuvaa kestävää oppimista, ja mitä oppimisen ja sen tukemisen ymmärtämiseksi tulisi edelleen tutkia. Hankkeessa on tuotettu tämän loppuraportin lisäksi tieteellisiä artikkeleita, kongressipapereita ja kansantajuisia julkaisuja. Raportin loppuun olemme koonneet hankkeen tuotokset: julkaisut, kongressiesitykset ja viestinnän, joiden avulla voi edelleen laajentaa ymmärrystä hankkeen tarkastelun kohteena olleista ilmiöistä. Lisäksi voi tutustua ryhmävalmennuksen aikana tuotettuihin organisaatiokohtaisiin kehittämisideoiden suunnitelmiin. Työssä oppimisen tueksi raportin loppupuolella on myös työkalupakki, jossa esitellään konkreettisia välineitä oppimisen tukemiseksi ja johtamiseksi organisaatioissa. Työkalupakki ja kehittämisideat tarjoavat toivoaksemme sovellettavia ja kokeilemisen arvoisia käytänteitä erilaisiin työyhteisöihin.

The association between sustainability and learning in organizations and workplaces represents a current articulated grand challenge for human resource development (HRD) and learning studies and practice, which calls for integrated inquiries. However, studies of learning in organizations and workplaces deal with sustainability in scattered and diverse ways that promote calls for more integrated understandings of the different approaches and associations. This article outlines the results from a scoping thematic review mapping out leading perspectives within the research fields of HRD, organizational learning (OL) and workplace learning (WPL). This article thus explores the perspectives that have been used in approaching sustainability in OL and WPL studies. The analysis of the identified studies shows that OL and WPL research has utilized four different perspectives in the approach to sustainability associated with learning: (1) balance perspective, (2) dimensional perspective, (3) integral perspective, and (4) outcome perspective. Findings are discussed with the purpose of producing a deeper understanding of how sustainability and OL and WPL are associated. In so doing, this scoping review clarifies and deepens existing knowledge and themes, and provides potential for future practical action and theoretical advancement for HRD and learning studies.

Itseohjautuvaa oppimista korostetaan etenkin aikuisten elämässä ja työssä. Usein se kuvataan myönteisenä, yksilölähtöisenä toimintana, jonka kautta itseohjautuvat aikuiset innostuvat, tuottavat luovia lopputuloksia ja voivat hyvin. Yksilölähtöisyys jättää kuitenkin huomiotta yhteisöllisyyden ja ympäristön merkityksen. Itseohjautuvaa oppimista tulisi lähestyä enemmänkin sosiokulttuurisesta kuin yksilöllisestä näkökulmasta.

Creativity can be enhanced through appropriate Human Resource Development (HRD) practices that support employees’ learning and competence development. The aim of this study is to increase our understanding of HRD practices that enhance creativity in Finnish growth companies. To achieve this aim, we searched for creativity requirements based on employees’ experiences expressed in interviews, and we studied HRD practices used in organizations that respond to the requirements of creativity. We gathered 98 interviews from personnel in technology, industrial and artistic design organizations and utilized them for a theory‐driven content analysis to identify the variety of requirements for creativity. We found that various HRD practices aligned with the requirements of creativity, including job design, teamwork, career development and everyday supervision and leadership. Thus, our findings indicate that HRD plays an important role in increasing creativity in the workplace and that it can best support creativity by taking the form of shared responsibilities in teams, clear career paths and everyday fair leadership. peerReviewed

Rapid changes in working life have raised awareness of the need for lifelong learning among personnel, and there is increasing concern regarding the sustainability of such learning, especially in growth companies, where learning can be seen as a prerequisite for many work practices. Hence, the aim of this study is to understand the sustainability of learning situations from the perspectives of individual wellbeing, widespread use of previous knowledge and rapid application of new knowledge. We broaden the understanding of workplace learning from the perspective of sustainability by identifying different workplace learning situations and outlining the sustainability of these situations. Two Finnish growth companies participated in the study, representing the technology and industrial field. The data consist of 68 interviews, and a qualitative thematic analysis was utilised. The study found three thematic categories of learning situations: technological development, structural changes within the organisation and formal learning situations. Sustainability perspectives manifested in these situations, but both negative and positive aspects of learning were observed. The findings can be utilised in organisations to enable more sustainability in learning. The research reveals a new and critical understanding of the sustainability of workplace learning. peerReviewed

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Changing technologies and competition in the field of information and communication technology (ICT) are challenging the learning of individual workers and teams alongside and through work. Organisations call for employees’ autonomy and self-directedness executed by agile operations and low hierarchies, where learning is also increasingly the responsibility of the individuals and teams themselves and occurs in practice without strong control of the organisation. Therefore, the multidimensional concept of self-directed learning becomes essential in the context of learning at work. In this study, we examine how employees in the ICT sector describe self-directed learning practices in the context of workplace learning. Our data consist of interviews with ICT employees in two organisations, which undergo an applied discourse analysis. The workers talked about self-directed learning as an obliged, creativity-enhanced as well as flexible and fast-paced practice. Self-directed learning was also described as a practice tied to work itself. The paper concludes with a discussion on how these partly conflicting discourses about self-directed learning practice in work could be considered in practices related to enhancing such learning in the ICT field. Suggestions for future investigations are also presented. peerReviewed

The importance of self-directed learning (SDL) in a business environment has been highlighted as a way to increase an organisation’s competitiveness and innovativeness. While organisations increasingly require SDL from employees, less attention is paid to the situations and frames enabling it. This study examines self-directed learning projects (SDLPs), situations in which SDL is realised as an individual or collective phenomenon. Based on ethnographic research, this study’s data consisted of field notes, field records and interviews. I used analysis of key incidents and ethnographic content analysis as an analytical tools. Four types of SDLPs was identified in the organisations studied: organisation-oriented, work community–oriented, work task–oriented and employee-oriented. The projects differed in terms of their learning goals and in the level of autonomy the employees exhibited. In addition, the study revealed that employee opportunities for SDL depend strongly on the cultural and structural frames of the organisations. peerReviewed

The importance of creativity and learning cannot be overestimated in education, in working life, and in society at large.

Under conditions of rapid changes in working life, there is an urgent need to examine the nature of creativity and learning in organizations. The aim of this study was to investigate the nature of self‐directed learning (SDL) practices in creative activity in technology‐based work. We focus on both individual and collective practices but also on the importance of organizational culture. The data consist of 46 interviews and observational field notes collected from participating organizations. Thematic and ethnographic analyses were utilized as tools to reveal the nature of SDL in creative activity. We found three themes describing of the nature of SDL in creative activity: a combination of individual and collective action, solving common problems through dialogue and discussions, and the organizational culture framing SDL in creative activity. Based on the findings, we provided support for that SDL in creative activity is manifested as a socio‐cultural phenomenon and SDL practices are intertwined with creative activity. We discovered organization cultural frames that can support the realization of SDL and creative activity in working life. However, more research on the relationship between these phenomena and the conditions for their realization is needed. peerReviewed

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to identify the challenges of low hierarchy and self-organised structures for employees’ learning and competency development at work. In the past decade, interest in employees’ and organisations’ self-directedness has increased. Self-organised structures are perceived as better able to answer to the quickly changing requirements of clients and business environments. Within these structures, employees are expected to take on more responsibility and maintain more control over their workplace learning, which means they must be self-directed and autonomous. An important question for this approach is how can workplace learning and employee competence development be enhanced.Design/methodology/approachTwo self-organised Finnish information and communication technology-companies participated in the study. With the help of data-driven content analysis, 36 interviews were analysed.FindingsUnclear roles, structures and areas of responsibility caused challenges during the guidance and support of learning, for long-term and sustainable professional development possibilities and in organising and prioritizing work tasks related to learning.Practical implicationsIn self-organised structures, there should be a means of the better supporting individual- and team-based learning. This will allow learning to have as much value as possible in the future and, therefore, be more sustainable. The findings are also important to be taken into account in managers’ and HR professionals’ education and training.Originality/valueThe findings of this study can offer insights into employees’ well-being emerging from the possibility to learn and be supported in that learning especially in self-organised structures, which so far has been scarcely studied.

Adult’s self-direction and self-directed learning (SDL) have become topics in the discussion of work-related adult learning and an autonomous approach, emphasizing responsibility and independence, has received increasing attention in studies of learning. In the context of SDL, in contrast, the importance of the learning environment and community has received less empirical attention. The aim of this article is to increase the understanding of the co-occurrence of sociocultural elements and self-direction in learning situations at work. From a practical viewpoint, it is important to understand both, the sociocultural and self-directed nature of different learning situations at daily work, so that organizations and workplaces can develop the practices that support learning and self-directedness in the work environment and create appropriate expectations for individual self-direction. In this study, we examined the elements of sociocultural learning and self-direction in police organization. The content analysis focused on interviews with 26 police officers, examining their descriptions of learning situations. The findings show that in learning situations at work, individual responsibility alternates with collectivity, peers, supportive supervisory work, and tools. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are highlighted.

Tarkastelemme tässä artikkelissa avoimen yliopiston väylää työelämän tarpeiden näkökulmasta. Nojaamme Toinen reitti yliopistoon (TRY)-hankkeen yhteydessä toteutettuun kyselyyn ja nostamme esiin tuloksia siitä, millaisia työelämään liittyviä syitä opiskelijoilla on ollut tutkinto-opintoihin hakeutumiseen. TRY-hanke on opetus- ja kulttuuriministeriön rahoittama kehittämishanke (2018–2020), jossa ”tavoitteena on kehittää, pilotoida ja vakiinnuttaa käyttöön erilaisia reittejä korkeakouluopintoihin ylioppilastutkinnon lisäksi” (Toinen reitti yliopistoon, 2020). Mukana on 11 yliopistoa ja noin kolmekymmentä oppiainetta. Hankkeessa tarkastellaan avoimen yliopiston väylää eri kohderyhmien näkökulmista, ja yhtenä kohderyhmänä ovat juuri työikäiset, työelämässä olevat aikuiset (Haltia & Lahtomaa, 2019). nonPeerReviewed

Purpose The purpose of this study is to describe the construction of leadership through authentic dialogues at work and leaders’ actions as contributors to dialogic leadership. Design/methodology/approach The authors collected the data by recording the organisation’s meetings and discussions and used content analysis of dialogic leadership and typifying of critical moments as analytical methods. Findings On the basis of the findings, this paper suggests that dialogic leadership begins with a startup critical moment and progresses through the different positions by manager and employees through democratic interaction. Individual and collective level learning of participants and the formation of new knowledge were used in decision- or conclusion-making. The manager promoted the construction of dialogic leadership in conversation by creating important critical moments, which enabled a dialogue to start or contributed to already ongoing dialogue. Originality/value The study proposes concrete actions that can be applied in working life. This study provides a new understanding of the leader’s activities in promoting dialogue.

The meaning of professional agency in the context of professional learning, as well as in the development of working practices and work organisations, is pivotal. The role of creativity is also crucial for long-term economic growth in the current global environment, which is characterised by rapid changes in both technology and economy. Hence, it is important to study the relationship between professional agency and creativity. In this chapter, we explore professional agency and creativity within two Finnish information technology organisations. This study’s data include interviews with staff members and open-ended questionnaire responses to the question ‘What is creativity in your work?’. We conducted a qualitative data-driven thematic analysis and a theory-driven analysis. Based on the data, creativity was divided into five themes, with particular choices and decisions (i.e. manifestations of professional agency) being found to be linked to each of those themes. Based on the findings, it appears that creativity and agency are strongly related, although their manifestations depend on both the definition of creativity and the space and environment where the phenomena occur. On the one hand, agency manifests as a prerequisite for creativity, while on the other hand, it is an outcome of creativity. In addition, creativity and professional agency can also be seen as synonymous.

In this study, we aim to increase our understanding of socially responsible human resource development (HRD) practices that enhance creativity in Finnish growth companies. To reach this aim, we sea...

Kiinnostus eettistä johtamista eli johdon ja organisaation hyviä ja oikeudenmukaisia käytänteitä ja niiden vaikutuksia kohtaan on lisääntynyt. Eettinen johtaminen välittyy sekä työntekijöiden että asiakkaiden hyvinvointiin, ja se selittää jopa kolmanneksen organisaation innovaatiokyvystä. Epäeettinen toiminta ja sen tuottamat konfliktit taas aiheuttavat monia yksilöille, ryhmille ja organisaatioille epäedullisia seurauksia. nonPeerReviewed

In this chapter, we address the problem of designing an educational system for the development of both intelligence and creativity. Whereas the traditional education system has been designed for the development of intelligence and competencies, the sociocultural evolution that generated the Information Society calls for creativity as a key learning objective. This requires an understanding of the relationship between intelligence and creativity, which can be achieved through the theoretical framework provided by the space–time continuum (Corazza and Lubart in Journal of Intelligence 9:1, 2021). By purposely defining pedagogical space and pedagogical time, the space–time continuum can be applied to the case of educational systems, for which the four quadrants assume specific meaning in terms of pedagogical experiences and methodologies. Existing as well as future educational system models can be mapped over the space–time continuum. The final discussion concerns the design of a new educational system for the optimal development of both intelligence and creativity, exploiting a balanced approach which intercepts all of the four quadrants in the space–time continuum.