KKJKT project: An investigation into crisis leadership at Finnish universities and universities of applied sciences using panel discussions and surveys

Abstract

COVID-19-pandemia osoitti, että koulutuksen jatkuvuuteen pyritään myös poikkeusoloissa, ja että koulutusjärjestelmän kriisinkestävyyttä arvostetaan. Koulutuksen kriisijohtamisen tutkimus ennen COVID-pandemiaa keskittyi kuitenkin vain osaan koulutusorganisaatioiden nykyisin kohtaamista erilaisista kriiseistä, ja suomalaisesta korkeakoulutuksesta on tehty suhteellisen vähän kriisijohtamiseen liittyvää tutkimusta. Tämän tutkimuksen ensisijaisena tavoitteena on arvioida kriisijohtamisen nykytilaa suomalaisissa korkeakouluissa (sekä yliopistoissa että ammattikorkeakouluissa) ja laatia suosituksia, joilla helpotetaan suomalaisten korkeakoulujen tulevaa kriisisuunnittelua, kriisitilanteisiin vastaamista ja niistä toipumista. Hankkeen tavoitteena on edistää tutkimuksellista ymmärrystä kriisijohtamisesta ja samalla auttaa kehittämään kriisijohtamista korkeakouluissa, jotta korkeakoulut pystyvät paremmin ylläpitämään toimintaansa ja tukemaan kaikkien yhteisön jäsenten hyvinvointia tulevissa kriisitilanteissa.

Hankkeen pääasiallinen aineisto koostui asiantuntijoiden paneelihaastatteluista ja korkeakouluille tehdystä kyselystä. Paneelihaastatteluissa haastateltiin eri henkilöstöryhmiä suomalaisista korkeakouluista ja korkeakoulujen kanssa yhteistyötä tekevistä organisaatioista. Kaksikymmentäviisi (25) henkilöä osallistui vähintään yhteen kahdesta paneelikokonaisuudestamme: ensimmäisessä paneelikokonaisuudessa (joka koostui kuudesta paneelista) selvitettiin panelistien käsityksiä kriiseistä ja heidän kokemuksiaan kriisijohtamisesta, ja toisessa paneelikokonaisuudessa (joka koostui neljästä paneelista) keskusteltiin siitä, mitä toimivaan kriisijohtamiseen tarvitaan. Osallistujat tulivat yliopistoista (17), ammattikorkeakouluista (4) ja muista korkeakoulujen kanssa yhteistyötä tekevistä organisaatioista (4; esim. liitot ja opetus- ja kulttuuriministeriö). Yhteensä panelistit edustivat 14 eri organisaatiota (kuusi yliopistoa, neljä ammattikorkeakoulua ja neljä muuta organisaatiota). Osallistujien asemat heidän omissa organisaatioissaan vaihtelivat suuresti: paneeleihin osallistui opetus- ja tutkimushenkilöstöä (10), korkeakoulujen johtoa (5) sekä ammatti- ja asiantuntijahenkilöstöä (6). Neljä panelisteista oli kansainvälistä alkuperää.

Kaikki paneelikeskustelut käytiin Zoomin välityksellä, nauhoitettiin ja kirjoitettiin puhtaaksi. Paneeliaineiston kokonaiskesto oli yhteensä 23,75 tuntia. Molemmilla kierroksilla kaksi paneelia käytiin englanniksi, ja loput suomeksi. Suomenkieliset paneelit käännettiin englanniksi. Aineiston koodasi alustavasti kaksi tutkijaa, jotka koodasivat itsenäisesti erilliset haastatteluryhmät (englanninkieliset ja suomenkieliset) käyttäen lähtökohtana teoriaperusteisia koodeja ja luoden koodeja induktiivisesti koodauksen aikana. Tutkijat tapasivat säännöllisesti keskustellakseen havaitsemistaan teemoista ja käyttämistään koodeista, jolloin koodit ja teemat kehittyivät hankkeen aikana. Paneelikeskustelujen analyysi on edelleen käynnissä tätä julkaisua tehtäessä. Paneelien nauhoituksia ja puhtaaksikirjoituksia ei voida julkaista, koska niissä on henkilötietoja; olemme kuitenkin liittäneet mukaan täydelliset kaksikieliset (suomi ja englanti) tiedotteet, jotka jaoimme panelisteille ennen paneeleja ja niiden jälkeen.

Valtakunnallinen kysely toteutettiin suomalaisten korkeakoulujen johdolle 10 yliopistossa ja 11 ammattikorkeakoulussa. Useimmissa korkeakouluissa kyselyn jakoi edelleen sisäinen yhteyshenkilö, jolle kerrottiin, että kysely tulisi jakaa "kaikelle akateemiselle ja hallinnolliselle johdolle laitosjohtajista rehtoriin". Kuitenkin viiden korkeakoulun kohdalla tutkijat saivat (tai kokosivat) sähköpostilistat organisaation koko johdosta aina laitosjohtajista rehtoriin ja lähettivät kyselyn suoraan sähköpostitse näille henkilöille. Kysely oli avoinna ja vastattavissa 26.2.–18.3.2024 välisenä aikana. Kysely toteutettiin JYU:n Webropol-palvelun kautta, ja se jaettiin ainoastaan jäljittämättömän yleisen verkkolinkin kautta.

Kysely oli kaksikielinen; se oli saatavilla sekä suomeksi että englanniksi, ja siitä voitiin pyynnöstä laatia myös ruotsinkielinen versio (tällaista versiota ei pyydetty). Koko kysely molemmilla kielillä on saatavilla tämän julkaisun liitteenä.

Vastauksia kyselyyn saatiin yhteensä 150, mutta näistä vastaajista yksi kieltäytyi suostumuksesta, 15 jätti vastaamatta muihin kysymyksiin kuin (ensimmäiseen) suostumuskysymykseen, ja kahdeksan vastasi ainoastaan taustakysymyksiin. Kun jätettiin pois vastaukset, jotka eivät sisältäneet vastauksia keskeisiin tutkimuskysymyksiin, otoskooksi jäi 126 vastausta, joista 87 ilmoitti työnantajakseen yliopiston ja 39 ammattikorkeakoulun. Kyselyn analysointi on vielä kesken tätä julkaisua tehtäessä; tavoitteenamme on julkaista anonymisoitu versio kyselyvastauksista analyysin valmistuttua.

Tämän julkaisun liitteet ovat seuraavat:

1 - panelisteille lähettämämme aineiston koko teksti sekä suomeksi että englanniksi 2 - kyselyyn kutsutuille lähettämiemme sähköpostiviestien ja esitteiden koko teksti sekä suomeksi että englanniksi 3 - kyselyn koko teksti sekä suomeksi että englanniksi 4 - kutakin paneelikierrosta varten laatimiemme PowerPoint-diojen koko teksti

Tämä teos on lisensoitu Creative Commons Nimeä 4.0 Kansainvälinen -käyttöluvalla. Tarkastele käyttölupaa osoitteessa http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

The COVID-19 pandemic period illustrated that the continuity of education is strived for, even in exceptional circumstances, and that the crisis resistance of the education system is highly valued. Before COVID, educational crisis leadership studies typically focused on only a subset of the wide range of crises that face educational organizations today, with relatively little work being done in the Finnish higher education context. The primary research goal of this project is to evaluate the current state of crisis leadership at Finnish higher education organizations (both Universities and Universities of Applied Sciences) and develop recommendations to facilitate Finnish higher education organizations’ future crisis planning, response, and recovery. The project’s aim is to further the scientific understanding of crisis leadership while facilitating development of crisis leadership at higher education organizations, in the hope that organizations will be better able to maintain operations and support the well-being of all during future crisis situations.

<br> <br>

We conducted panel interviews with a range of staff from Finnish higher education institutions and organizations related to higher education. Twenty five people participated in at least one of our two sets of panels: the first panel set (consisting of 6 panels) explored panelists' conception of crisis and their crisis leadership experiences, and the second panel set (consisting of 4 panels) discussed what is needed for crisis leadership. Participants were drawn from universities (17), universities of applied sciences (4), and organizations related to higher education (4; e.g., unions and the Ministry of Education and Culture); a total of 14 unique organizations were represented by the panelists (6 universities, 4 universities of applied sciences, and 4 other organizations). Higher education staff participant positions varied widely, and included teaching and research staff (10), higher education management (5), and professional and expert staff (6). Four panelists were of international origin.

<br> <br>

All panel discussions were held via Zoom, recorded, and transcribed; in total, 23.75 hours of audio was transcribed. Two panels in each round were conducted in English, the rest of the panels were conducted in Finnish. Finnish-language panels were translated to English. Initial coding of the dataset was conducted by two researchers independently coding separate sets of interviews (English vs. Finnish) using theory-based codes as a starting point while creating codes inductively during coding. The researchers regularly met to discuss the themes they were observing and codes they were using, allowing the codes and themes to develop over time. Panel discussion analysis is still in progress as of this publication. Panel recordings and transcripts cannot be released publicly due to the presence of personal data; however, we have attached the full bilingual (Finnish and English) communications we distributed to panelists before and after the panels.

<br> <br>

We conducted a nationwide survey of higher education leadership at both universities and universities of applied sciences. The survey was distributed at 10 universities and 11 universities of applied sciences in Finland (a total of 21 unique organizations). At most institutions the survey was distributed by an internal contact, who was informed that the survey should be distributed to "all academic and administrative leadership from department chairs to the rector," though at five organizations the researchers were given (or compiled) email lists for all leadership from department chairs through rector at the organization and emailed the survey directly to those individuals. The survey was available between February 26, 2024 and March 18, 2024. The survey was conducted via JYU's Webropol service, and was distributed solely via a non-trackable generic web link.

<br> <br>

The survey was bilingual, available in both Finnish and English, with an option to create a Swedish version upon request (no requests for such a version were received). The full text of the survey in both languages is available as an attachment to this publication.

<br> <br>

A total of 150 responses were obtained, but one of these rejected consent, 15 failed to answer any questions other than the (first) consent question, and 8 included answers solely to background questions. After excluding responses that did not include any answers to core survey questions, we were left with a sample size of 126 responses, 87 of which listed a university as their employer and 39 of which listed a university of applied sciences as their employer.

<br> <br>

Survey analysis is still in progress as of this publication in August, 2024; our goal is to publish an anonymized version of the survey responses once our analysis has been completed.

<br> <br>

Attachments to this publication include

<br> <br>

1 - the full text of the materials we sent panelists, in both Finnish and English 2 - the full text of emails and fliers we sent to survey invitees in both Finnish and English 3 - the full text of the survey in both Finnish and English 4 - the full text of PowerPoint slides we made for each panel round.

<br> <br>

This work is licensed under CC BY 4.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.<br> <br> We conducted panel interviews with a range of staff from Finnish higher education institutions and organizations related to higher education. Twenty five people participated in at least one of our two sets of panels: the first panel set (consisting of 6 panels) explored panelists' conception of crisis and their crisis leadership experiences, and the second panel set (consisting of 4 panels) discussed what is needed for crisis leadership. Participants were drawn from universities (17), universities of applied sciences (4), and organizations related to higher education (4; e.g., unions and the Ministry of Education and Culture); a total of 14 unique organizations were represented by the panelists (6 universities, 4 universities of applied sciences, and 4 other organizations). Higher education staff participant positions varied widely, and included teaching and research staff (10), higher education management (5), and professional and expert staff (6). Four panelists were of international origin. <br> <br> All panel discussions were held via Zoom, recorded, and transcribed; in total, 23.75 hours of audio was transcribed. Two panels in each round were conducted in English, the rest of the panels were conducted in Finnish. Finnish-language panels were translated to English. Initial coding of the dataset was conducted by two researchers independently coding separate sets of interviews (English vs. Finnish) using theory-based codes as a starting point while creating codes inductively during coding. The researchers regularly met to discuss the themes they were observing and codes they were using, allowing the codes and themes to develop over time. Panel discussion analysis is still in progress as of this publication. Panel recordings and transcripts cannot be released publicly due to the presence of personal data; however, we have attached the full bilingual (Finnish and English) communications we distributed to panelists before and after the panels. <br> <br> We conducted a nationwide survey of higher education leadership at both universities and universities of applied sciences. The survey was distributed at 10 universities and 11 universities of applied sciences in Finland (a total of 21 unique organizations). At most institutions the survey was distributed by an internal contact, who was informed that the survey should be distributed to "all academic and administrative leadership from department chairs to the rector," though at five organizations the researchers were given (or compiled) email lists for all leadership from department chairs through rector at the organization and emailed the survey directly to those individuals. The survey was available between February 26, 2024 and March 18, 2024. The survey was conducted via JYU's Webropol service, and was distributed solely via a non-trackable generic web link. <br> <br> The survey was bilingual, available in both Finnish and English, with an option to create a Swedish version upon request (no requests for such a version were received). The full text of the survey in both languages is available as an attachment to this publication. <br> <br> A total of 150 responses were obtained, but one of these rejected consent, 15 failed to answer any questions other than the (first) consent question, and 8 included answers solely to background questions. After excluding responses that did not include any answers to core survey questions, we were left with a sample size of 126 responses, 87 of which listed a university as their employer and 39 of which listed a university of applied sciences as their employer. <br> <br> Survey analysis is still in progress as of this publication in August, 2024; our goal is to publish an anonymized version of the survey responses once our analysis has been completed. <br> <br> Attachments to this publication include <br> <br> 1 - the full text of the materials we sent panelists, in both Finnish and English 2 - the full text of emails and fliers we sent to survey invitees in both Finnish and English 3 - the full text of the survey in both Finnish and English 4 - the full text of PowerPoint slides we made for each panel round. <br> <br> This work is licensed under CC BY 4.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.