Center for Activity Theory and Developmental Work Research

Anu Kajamaa, M.A. (Educ.), Doctoral Student

Tel.: +358 9 191 44195
Mobile: +358 408232358

Postal address:
Center for Activity Theory and Developmental Work Research
P.O. Box 26 (Teollisuuskatu 23-25)
Fin-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland

Current Activities

I study the consequences of a change project carried out with the Change Laboratory method in the Oulu University Hospital. The results of the study will serve as a creation of a research method for a larger research project, which is called "Stabilization and Diffusion of Innovative Forms of Work and Learning: traces, consequences and bridges".

My study has three methodological challenges. Firstly to develop an interview method by which collective information about change can be produced, secondly to develop a new way of doing evaluation study and thirdly to create a narrative method by which the Developmental Work Research change projects can be studied longitudinally. The practical aim of the study is to provide the organization under study better understanding of change, to support the sustainability of the organizational change efforts and in general to find out how organizations can make use of narratives.

The research frame of the study is longitudinal case study. The theoretical framework consists of three paradigms, which are Developmental Work Research, novel study of consequences and narrative approach. I collected data by narrative interview method. I also collected written and videotaped documents to find out the historical context of the change project.

The research questions were as follows. What different kinds of change narratives the narrators construct of the Change Laboratory project? What kind of change paths can be created of the narratives? How the consequences of the change project can be conceptualised with analytical tools? What kind of an hypothesis can be created of the consequences of the Change Laboratory project?

The analytical process of the data was multi-phased and the results of the study are multi-levelled. Firstly I extracted the change narratives construed by the interviewees from the data and emploted them. I created summaries of the main plots. I then continued the analytical process further.

Then I started to create categories according to the plots. I placed narratives under categories according to different types of changes they represented. The categories started to constitute a "map" structure. I named the main categories of changes to this story map as follows. Narratives of the change in requirements, narratives of the changes in premises and tools, narratives of the changes in the ways of working and the division of labour, narratives of the changes in agencies. There were many subcategories surrounding the main categories and I started to draw links between the categories. The story map then became a representation of different change paths and traces.

I started to conceptualise the consequences of the change project by analysing the different change narratives with a variety of conceptual tools, such as anchoring, trace, bridge, impoverishment, maintenance and cultivation.

I then started to integrate data analysed with different analytical tools. As I combined the data analysed with different methods I created a hypothesis, in other words a theoretical metanarrative, of the consequences of the change project. I also used the theoretical tools of Developmental Work Research in creating the matanarrative.

In the larger project the aim is to expand the study to seven other health care organizations in Finland and other actors than nurses, such as developers and leaders. The story map will later on contain their stories about the Change Laboratory projects as well. My intrest is also in studying the different voices among the different agents or different historical voices in the organization. The aim is to expand the study to analysing material data as well.

Documents

		Pro gradu tutkielma Anu_Kajamaan_pro_gradu-tutkielma.pdf	PDF 1.26 MB
		Recent conference presentations and papers Recent_conference_presentations_and_papers.pdf	PDF 17.1 KB
		Research Plan of the dissertation Research_Plan_of_the_dissertation__Anu_Kajamaa_July_2008.pdf	PDF 141.77 KB
		Tutkimus- ja kehittämishanke Projekteilla_kehittamisesta_kestavaan_kehittamiseen_-hanke.pdf	PDF 92.2 KB
		Tutkimus- ja kehittämishankkeiden loppuraportit Tutkimus-_ja_kehittamishankkeiden_loppuraportit.pdf	PDF 2.53 KB

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