Opintojen ohjauksen toimijoiden ja opetushenkilöstön kokemukset ammatillisesta toimijuudesta ja asiantuntijuudesta: Yhteys korkeakouluorganisaatioiden hallinnollisiin piirteisiin ja johtamiseen

Guidance actors’ and teaching staffs’ experience of professional agency and expertise - connection with the administrative features and leadership of higher education organizations

The topic of this article based doctoral dissertation is guidance actors’ and teaching staffs’ experience of professional agency and expertise and their connection with the administrative features and leadership of higher education organizations (HEIs). The dissertation consists of four sub-studies and four articles written about them as well as this summary article. The main purpose of the dissertation was to find out how the features of the administrative style and the management of the higher education institution are connected to the experience of the professional agency and expertise of the study counsellors and the teaching staff. With regards to the administrative features, the study also highlights the perspective of the ways in which study guidance is organized. The aim of the dissertation was to provide research information related to administration and management, which can be used to develop the experience of professional agency and expertise of the staff in HEIs. In the context of study guidance, the aim was specially to raise the importance and role of study guidance in higher education to the social debate, but also to develop study guidance in higher education as well as to consider the experience of professional agency and expertise from the perspective of the ways of organizing study guidance.

The dissertation was carried out by using a mixed-method research design. The organizational context of the study included multidisciplinary Finnish - language Universities of Applied Sciences (UASs), of which 11 participated in the study. Firstly, and integrative literature review was done, in which the topic was administrative loose and tight coupling as a feature of educational institutions. The data consisted of 32 peer-reviewed publications and was analyzed by inductive content analysis. On the basis of the literature review, a survey-tool considering the administrative loose and tight coupling (ALT) was developed and piloted with an electronic survey (n = 378). With the same electronic survey, the role and the ways of organizing study guidance in UASs were also studied by using OSG-tool developed during the dissertation (n = 261). Quantitative data were mainly analyzed by using principal component analysis and descriptive values. The further developed version of the ALT survey-tool was utilized in the mixed-method data collection and analysis, as data were collected through a semi-structured thematic interview (n = 21) and the ALT survey-tool was used as a stimulus in the interviews. The priority of the data focused on the qualitative interview data. The values of the ALT -tools’ sum variables were calculated manually, and the interview data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis emphasizing deductive approach.

The results of the literature review showed that the theoretical framework for administrative loose and tight coupling is still useful in today’s educational administrative research. According to the results of the literature review, the effects of these administrative couplings present themselves in a way that loose coupling is mainly a positive feature from the teaching staff’s point of view, and tight coupling is mainly a positive feature from the point of view of the organizational management. However, according to the results, excellent organizations show signs of simultaneous loose and tight coupling, which combines the best aspects of both administrative features, namely, loose coupling enables innovation and autonomy of individuals and subunits, as well as staffs’ experience of job satisfaction, and tight coupling brings with it guidance and regulation through which members of the organization can be committed to organizational goals and values, and enable organizational efficiency and accountability.

The principal components found in the ALT survey-tool for loose coupling were Support for innovation and autonomy (LC1) and Loose administrative control (LC2), and these principal components well describe the dichotomous nature of loose coupling. The principal components found in the data of tight coupling were the Shared meaning of organization’s strategic values and goals (TC1), Organizational efficiency and accountability of actions (TC2), and Normative and tight administrative control (TC3).

Based on the results of the OSG -tool, the starting points of study guidance in Finnish UASs are today mainly the same as at the beginning of the millennium, when the study guidance functions of higher education institutions were last examined at the national level. The titles and resources of study guidance actors still vary considerably, and there are also differences in the ways in which guidance is organized between organizations, although the decentralized guidance model was mostly represented. The role and visibility of study guidance in organizational strategies should be further improved. With the help of these results, it is possible to develop the study guidance in higher education institutions to a more holistic direction. This can also contribute to the experience of professional agency and expertise of the study guidance actors.

The results of the thematic interviews highlighted the potential link between the administrative features of expert organizations and the most valuable resource of the organization - motivated, committed, and competent staff. Features that facilitate and support the experience of professional agency of the study counsellors, and teaching staff, included the possibility of autonomy and organizational support for decision-making, positioning and influence; opportunity to exploit innovation; clear and sustainable rules, regulations, guidelines, and objectives; as well as low bureaucracy and hierarchy. Higher education organizations should also enable and ensure staffs’ experience of trust; the flow of information; an understanding of all aspects of the organization's expertise and operations; cooperation instead of a zero- sum game; adequate resources; as well as adequate familiarization of new staff members. The experience of professional agency was best supported by hybrid-type of administration that emphasizes the most positive aspects of loosely and tightly coupled administrative features.

The hybrid-type of administration supports best also study counsellors’ and teaching staffs’ experience of expertise. It allows the collaboration, clear and shared practices, and demonstrations of recognition and trust. It is also important that study guidance actors have an internal desire and motivation to do guidance work. Based on the results of the interviews, tightly coupled administration poses the most challenges to the staff’s experience of professional agency and expertise.