Supporting employee skill development from organisational culture perspective - a communication framework for analysing and aligning views
Beenen, Maaike (2021)
Beenen, Maaike
2021
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202102232597
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202102232597
Tiivistelmä
The digital transformation is changing how business is being done and these developments go with high speed. This has caused gaps in skill sets of employees, and an increased need for reskilling or upskilling. Organisations have recognised these needs in working life, but many struggle with this. Reasons for failing to respond are connected to either the strategy, management, organisational culture, employees, not being mature enough or lacking the resources, competences, or insights.
This thesis explores the topic of supporting employee skill development from organisational culture to find ways to help organisations to bring about a paradigm shift related to workplace learning and skill development, as this perspective is often not taken into account. Also, literature and practical tools are lacking a practical solution. The main objective of the thesis is to identify elements in an organisational culture that influence employees' skill development in order to align the employer's needs/goals and the employee's motivation/willingness by improving communication between both parties.
Literature found several elements of organisational culture that influence skill development that were categorised into five themes: Leadership, Strategy, Capacity, The Company as a workplace, and Me and my work. A communication framework for skill development from organisational perspective was proposed as no framework could both analyse the current situation of the organisational view and employee view and find blockers and enablers for skill development from both views.
It was used during the empirical research, a use case study in Valamis, to test if the proposed framework helps to find the enablers and blockers of skill development. On one hand, the quantitative research explored Valamis’ learning culture maturity, and on the other hand the employee view was studied with the help of the yearly Valamis employee wellbeing and satisfaction survey. Next to this it had a qualitative follow-up survey for some in-depth feedback about skill development in Valamis.
On overall level, the empirical research found that the situation in Valamis is quite good, the five themes were aligned. Several elements clearly help to enable skill development, such as leadership encouraging self-development, opportunities for learning at the workplace and applying those skills in everyday work, a good work atmosphere where employees are treated kindly and respectfully and can be themselves, and enjoying own work and being motivated to work at Valamis. Some misalignments were found too but these were identified to be individual blockers, and in some cases indicated difference in teams and offices but those findings were mostly not statistically significant.
This thesis can be a basis for discussing and reviewing the found enablers and blockers that influence skill development within Valamis. The communication framework for skill development from organisational perspective can help other organisations assess their own situation and improve support for employee skill development.
This thesis explores the topic of supporting employee skill development from organisational culture to find ways to help organisations to bring about a paradigm shift related to workplace learning and skill development, as this perspective is often not taken into account. Also, literature and practical tools are lacking a practical solution. The main objective of the thesis is to identify elements in an organisational culture that influence employees' skill development in order to align the employer's needs/goals and the employee's motivation/willingness by improving communication between both parties.
Literature found several elements of organisational culture that influence skill development that were categorised into five themes: Leadership, Strategy, Capacity, The Company as a workplace, and Me and my work. A communication framework for skill development from organisational perspective was proposed as no framework could both analyse the current situation of the organisational view and employee view and find blockers and enablers for skill development from both views.
It was used during the empirical research, a use case study in Valamis, to test if the proposed framework helps to find the enablers and blockers of skill development. On one hand, the quantitative research explored Valamis’ learning culture maturity, and on the other hand the employee view was studied with the help of the yearly Valamis employee wellbeing and satisfaction survey. Next to this it had a qualitative follow-up survey for some in-depth feedback about skill development in Valamis.
On overall level, the empirical research found that the situation in Valamis is quite good, the five themes were aligned. Several elements clearly help to enable skill development, such as leadership encouraging self-development, opportunities for learning at the workplace and applying those skills in everyday work, a good work atmosphere where employees are treated kindly and respectfully and can be themselves, and enjoying own work and being motivated to work at Valamis. Some misalignments were found too but these were identified to be individual blockers, and in some cases indicated difference in teams and offices but those findings were mostly not statistically significant.
This thesis can be a basis for discussing and reviewing the found enablers and blockers that influence skill development within Valamis. The communication framework for skill development from organisational perspective can help other organisations assess their own situation and improve support for employee skill development.