Improvement of competence management process by lifecycle and alignment approaches : the case of a non-profit organisation Green Net Finland

Abstract

The main objective of the thesis is to improve the case organisation’s competence management process. The case organisation Green Net Finland (GNF) is an association, non-profit network-based or cluster organisation, whose main activities include the preparation and implementation of development projects for the general benefit of society, focusing on environmental sustainability. GNF is a micro-size organisation. The nature of work in the case organisation is multitasking in parallel projects in different phases of the lifecycle. The purpose of the thesis is to align and connect managerial, developmental, and personnel competence processes and their elements with a focus on the effectiveness and interconnectedness of internal processes with the external environment. The development task of the thesis has two levels - working community-level and individual part. The primary direct beneficiary of the thesis is the case organisation and indirect beneficiaries are envisioned micro-size non-profit network-based organisations operating in a similar context as the case organisation. The theoretical framework of the thesis is based on sustainability and cognitive aspects, competencies, learning on an individual and organisational level, intergroup relationships, social learning, social norms, self-concept building, diversity and inclusion, matching and socializing of new employees into existing teams, biases and heuristics in decision-making and different approaches to strategy, innovation, and leadership. Well-established practices of the case organisation related to lifecycle-based management of development projects are utilized in constructing mixed methodology for the work under this development project. Abduction is an overarching method for the thesis work. One of the core findings argues that associating the development project lifecycle with the personnel life cycle and practicing drawing of visualizations in connection to reading theoretical texts or facilitating sense-making discussions helps to decrease a cognitive load on working memory and to see and remember elements and connections between them. Another core finding is that individuals’ attitude is a crucial type of competence connected to the capability to implement processes and to use knowledge. The main output from the working community-level part is constructing a lifecycle-based process map of competencies management in the case organisation and switching to a group-level approach. The core conclusion is that collective-level learning culture and accumulation of teamwork and problem-solving skills in small groups could help to decrease the cognitive load on the working memory of individuals, improve the psychological safety atmosphere within groups, and through this team performance effectiveness, as well as leave a time-space for growing of personal mastery skills. Drawing concept and process maps as a group effort can help to facilitate learning, developing, revisioning, sense-making, and innovating discussions. GNF Alignment Map drawn to visualize the organisation, elements, and connections between them is forming the main output recommendation of the thesis. Drawing a competence map at the individual level can help to objectively see the existing and future competencies and connections between the elements within the overall competence. Finally, layering the individual’s competence maps with the organisation alignment map is recommended as a useful method for feedback and feedforward group development discussions.