Yes, we can together! The virtual co-creative development process of a team
Pekkarinen, Virve (2022)
Pekkarinen, Virve
2022
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2022112323649
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2022112323649
Tiivistelmä
The Covid-19 pandemic has strongly contributed to the fact that virtual work practices have become a common part of our daily activities. The rapid technological development and multitude of new digital and online tools have enabled new ways of interacting and working together virtually. Digital tools and software have also enabled teams to do things virtually that have been considered earlier to be difficult or even inappropriate when done in virtual interaction.
The context of this thesis was a Finnish Higher Education institution. The active participants of the development process described in this thesis were members of a team of the Higher Education institution. Following an organization-level development process that ended in 2019, the team identified a need to develop its services, tasks, and role in the organization. This thesis aimed to facilitate the development process using virtual co-creative methods. In addition, the thesis aimed to explore how the virtual co-creative development process was experienced by the team members. The team engaged in the development process in 2020. The whole development process was decided to carry out virtually utilizing the possibilities enabled by digital tools and software due to the covid-19 pandemic and the face-to-face meeting restrictions following it.
The theoretical basis of the thesis was built around two main themes. The first theme, a team in a development process, includes discussing what is a team, different ways of organizing, team leadership, and organizational development. The second theme, creating together, includes discussing the concept of co-creation, engagement, motivation, agency, and environment for creating together. Action research and service design were applied as the development approaches in this thesis. The two approaches have many features in common, for example, iterative nature, sequential progression, interaction, social collaboration, and customer-centricity. The Double Diamond design process model was applied as the concrete framework for the development process. Different methods and tools were utilized in facilitating the development process and collecting data, for example, co-creative workshop, survey, barometer, personas, and user stories. The data were analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methods.
The results showed that developing services via a virtual co-creative development process can be done successfully. The team was able to develop its services and role, identify its key customer groups, and communicate the change in a customer-oriented way. The team members’ motivation and experienced agency during the process was high. A successful virtual co-creative process requires motivating and engaging the participants in the process and enabling the co-creation by providing a suitable virtual engagement platform. In addition, several promoting and hindering factors of virtual co-creation were identified as a result of this thesis. They were related to 1) Time allocation for co-creation 2) Tools, software, and technical skills, 3) Interaction and communication skills and practices, 4) Attitude, motivation, and commitment, 5) Community, collaboration, consideration, and sharing, 6) Active participation, 7) Shared and clear goals and clear guidelines, and 8) Facilitation. The results of this thesis, especially the promoting and hindering factors, can be useful when planning a co-creative development process planned to be carried out virtually.
The context of this thesis was a Finnish Higher Education institution. The active participants of the development process described in this thesis were members of a team of the Higher Education institution. Following an organization-level development process that ended in 2019, the team identified a need to develop its services, tasks, and role in the organization. This thesis aimed to facilitate the development process using virtual co-creative methods. In addition, the thesis aimed to explore how the virtual co-creative development process was experienced by the team members. The team engaged in the development process in 2020. The whole development process was decided to carry out virtually utilizing the possibilities enabled by digital tools and software due to the covid-19 pandemic and the face-to-face meeting restrictions following it.
The theoretical basis of the thesis was built around two main themes. The first theme, a team in a development process, includes discussing what is a team, different ways of organizing, team leadership, and organizational development. The second theme, creating together, includes discussing the concept of co-creation, engagement, motivation, agency, and environment for creating together. Action research and service design were applied as the development approaches in this thesis. The two approaches have many features in common, for example, iterative nature, sequential progression, interaction, social collaboration, and customer-centricity. The Double Diamond design process model was applied as the concrete framework for the development process. Different methods and tools were utilized in facilitating the development process and collecting data, for example, co-creative workshop, survey, barometer, personas, and user stories. The data were analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methods.
The results showed that developing services via a virtual co-creative development process can be done successfully. The team was able to develop its services and role, identify its key customer groups, and communicate the change in a customer-oriented way. The team members’ motivation and experienced agency during the process was high. A successful virtual co-creative process requires motivating and engaging the participants in the process and enabling the co-creation by providing a suitable virtual engagement platform. In addition, several promoting and hindering factors of virtual co-creation were identified as a result of this thesis. They were related to 1) Time allocation for co-creation 2) Tools, software, and technical skills, 3) Interaction and communication skills and practices, 4) Attitude, motivation, and commitment, 5) Community, collaboration, consideration, and sharing, 6) Active participation, 7) Shared and clear goals and clear guidelines, and 8) Facilitation. The results of this thesis, especially the promoting and hindering factors, can be useful when planning a co-creative development process planned to be carried out virtually.