Risto Harisalo

Communication as a determinant of organizational innovation

This study of 32 small and medium-sized industrial enterprises explored eight distinct aspects of communication, as appraised by the staff n 493, and innovative performance, assessed by two indicators: perceived innovation effectiveness and patent statistics obtained from the Patent Register at the National Board of Patents and Registration of Trademarks. The results showed that intra-organizational aspects of communication, such as encouragement of initiatives and critical evaluation of performance, were associated with both indicators of innovative performance. In addition, a participative climate and interaction between the personnel in R&D, marketing and production were related to perceived innovative effectiveness, whereas interaction with clients and other firms related to the number of patents in the organization. The link between communication and innovation was interdependent with the organizational and staff characteristics including the number of personnel, administrative and R&D intensity, the level of vocational training, and the age distribution of the staff.

Trust-creating practices for marketing managers

Abstract This paper deals with trust-creating and maintaining practices from the point of view of marketing managers. It shows how they can introduce trust into their customers and organizations. It is emphasized that successful business is based on trust between participants. In complex, turbulent and volatile environments trust brings about significant benefits to companies. It lowers transactions costs, promotes innovations and efficiency, and furthers peoples willingness to share their experiences and insights. Mistrust, in turn, makes conflict-solution difficult for them and creates extra costs for all. People who mistrust each other are unwilling to share ideas, collaborate, and help each other.

Coordinating co-production in complex network settings

This article draws together the concepts of network management and co-production with complexity sciences. So far, these approaches have rarely been connected in research literature. We suggest that this conceptual framework offers new insights for analyzing the challenges of co-production in complex network settings in the local public services. The aim of the article is to find out how complex network structures meet the co-production process in the context of social and health care services. The empirical part of the article presents a Finnish case study of a multiprofessional service network producing social and health care services for youth. Here, the clients, in this case children and young people with a need for social services, often need multiple services from different service providers simultaneously. Our research findings suggest that the outcomes of the service process are not only dependent on the clients needs, but rather on organizational and professional interests. Our research gives new insights for the discussion on co-production; when it is applied as an intended policy to improve and deliver public services, the complexity of interaction among the street-level workers and the detached professional frameworks should be kept in mind.

Trust Management in the Finnish Ministries: Evaluation of Management Systems

Abstract Our purpose was to find out to what extent civil servants—managers, specialists, and experts—in 13 Finnish ministries have confidence in their management systems. We defined trust as a kind of deep sentiment, more fundamental than mere acceptance, satisfaction or legitimacy. Trust and mistrust are strong motivators for cooperation and collaboration. They are logical outcomes of social interaction in terms of management systems and context. We found out that civil servants are more likely to trust management if it acts professionally with no emphasis on political factors. Ministers, for instance, can efficiently earn their trust with administrative experience and behavior norms. Our analysis showed that there are both well‐trusted and ill‐trusted components in management systems implicating that management must be the object of continuous development. As a whole civil servants have more confidence in work community than in strategy, structure, people policies, and administrative processes of the ministries.

Welfare State: From Dream to Reality

Abstract It is customary to defend and develop the welfare state by appealing to benevolent dreams and expectations and to exclude analysis on what really happens when popular plans are turned into action. The article shows that there are serious problems in every welfare dimension; public services, public regulation, financial transfers, and intergovernmental relations. The purpose of the article is to uncover what these problems are and to demonstrate how they could be solved. If they go unsolved, they provoke criticism which weakens the legitimacy and trust in public authorities.

Emergent Positive Culture in a Media Organisation: Satakunnan Kansa a Newspaper Case Study

Abstract The purpose of the study is to find out what organizational factors create and strengthen positive culture in a newspaper organization. The analysis showed that positive culture is a real economic factor expounding humane, productive, and innovative journalistic work. Regression analysis uncovered three organizational factors promoting positive culture; developing competences, emphasis on quality, and cultivating humour.

Looking for the Causes and Consequences of the Global Financial and Banking Crisis: Neo-Liberalism in the Dock

The current financial and banking crisis must not be mistaken for evidence of the impracticality of market economics, nor should the crisis be attributed to any lack of economic regulation. The message of the political centre-right to European voters must rather be the following: Decentralisation of political and economic power still helps society to cope with current and emergent problems and possibilities in a much more efficient and humane way than centralised political decision-making. When innovation and development are widely encouraged, societies are less likely to become vulnerable to economic setbacks and upheavals. A market economy, combined with autonomous local self-government, will lead to structural sustainability in societal development.