Developing Line Management at case organisation

Abstract

This thesis was created with an Embassy located in Helsinki to investigate what the organisation could do on a local level to improve its line management after discovering there were points of development from a yearly employee survey.

Employers in all industries and sectors must reconsider their approach to leadership and leadership development in the changing world in order to keep their relevance. In the theoretical framework of this thesis leadership theory and development are discussed in addition to the differences between leadership, management and coaching. Employee experience, employer brand and talent attraction are considered from the public sector point of view. Theory on cultural differences between host and sending state is also explored.

This thesis uses a mixture of case study and action research approaches. Quantitative secondary data is used as the start off point for research and primary data is collected using qualitative data collection methods at workshops. Facilitation methods used in the workshops included brainstorming, root cause analysis and collaboration.

As the result of the action research style iterative process, a clearer picture of the challenges, opportunities, skills and management training needs of the organisation emerged. Based on this I created a Line Management Training, which can be utilised by the case organisation to impact their line management. This training includes modules on the labour law and conditions the line management takes place in, the tasks that line managers are responsible for and how line managers should build their relationship with their employees.