Experiences from our Former Students

Arja Haapasaari

I graduated in December 2008. The Master’s programme answered well to my expectations and needs. I learned a lot about competence and organisational development. Most rewarding in the programme were the lively discussions we had in our seminars, inspiring thoughts and ideas we shared between students and our wise and warm instructors.

In my work as an HR consultant I have used different kinds of models and tools to get the employees to develop their own work. Impressive results have been reached with the Change Laboratory method in improving participation, learning and development in different organisations. Besides working as an HR consultant I am a doctoral student at the University of Helsinki. My research consists of a Change Laboratory project conducted in a big Finnish company.

 

Heli Heikkilä

The professors responsible for the instruction were experts with long, internationally acknowledged experience and perspective on the development of working life. In our class, we had students with very different educational backgrounds and work experiences. This made the seminars rewarding. The students worked on their Master’s theses from the very beginning. I became interested in work-related wellbeing and its nurturing in transformations.

Work on my Master’s thesis led me to my present job as researcher at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. I am now starting doctoral studies in the Doctoral programme for developmental work research and adult education.

 

Hannamari Kosonen

With a MBA degree as my background, I have worked as CFO, director, and senior consultant. My core competences are acquisitions, valuations, performance measurement, processes, and management. I have worked in different branches from industry to the service sector.

The instructors of the Master’s programme were brilliant. Their interdisciplinarity was amazing and made me feel inexperienced. Actually, that was the feeling I was seeking because I had during my relatively long work life detected problems which were solved by means of standard solutions and economic doctrines but with undesirable consequences.

Fellow students with different educational and professional backgrounds and made the programme very rich. Activity theory with its systematic approach to process and resolve contradictions expanded significantly my comprehension of organisational problems. I now understand how unaware a typical management is of the real causes behind the problems. Currently I am enrolled in the doctoral programme of CRADLE at University of Helsinki. In my doctoral research I am expanding and deepening the idea of my Master’s thesis.

Fellow students with different educational and professional backgrounds and made the programme very rich. Activity theory with its systematic approach to process and resolve contradictions expanded significantly my comprehension of organisational problems. I now understand how unaware a typical management is of the real causes behind the problems. Currently I am enrolled in the doctoral program of CRADLE at University of Helsinki. In my doctoral research I am expanding and deepening the idea of my Master’s thesis.

 

Anne Laitinen

I started in the programme 2008. From the very beginning we were encouraged to write our Master’s theses within existing research projects at the Center and that is what I did. For me, receiving supervision from and working alongside with experienced researchers sparked a true passion for research. The solid theoretical foundation acquired during the program made it possible for me to pursue my doctoral studies directly after the completion of my Master’s studies. 

I am now a student in the Doctoral Program for Developmental Work Research and Adult Education, part of the Finnish national graduate school of education and learning FiDPEL.

 

Liisa Lappalainen

I graduated in May 2011 and I can say that the Master’s programme answered well to my needs to change my career to new direction. Earlier I was a pre-school-teacher and now I wish to find a job where I can use those concrete tools what I learned to use during the programme. I learned a lot about organisational development and work study and the programme opened new perspectives into the developmental work research. Now I have more opportunities to work in human resources department.

The topic of my Master’s thesis was about the retraining and upgrading education at the construction industry education centre RATEKO. The aim was to find out how the adoption of the role of a supervisor has changed students everyday work. Retraining and upgrading education is multi-form teaching, which was arranged in the form of practical supervisor training at work.

 

Tarja Mäki

For me, the Master’s programme opened up entirely new perspectives into the development of work and human activities. In the programme we also learned to use concrete tools, such as the Change Laboratory and developmental dialogue. I use these ideas and tools in my own domain, namely construction management. The instructors and professors are top experts in their field. They are inspiring and get the best out of the students. Also students with diverse backgrounds enrich the work of the group by bringing in practical experiences and cases from their own specialties. The programme gave me a strong foundation for further studies in a doctoral programme which I have just started.

 

Mari Salmi

I wanted to broaden my competence in developing organisations from the perspective of work-related wellbeing. The Master’s programme met my needs and made it possible for me to get recruited to the kind of job I was aiming at.

At present I work as chief of work-related wellbeing at Ilmarinen, a major insurance company. I my work I support our client companies in their efforts to develop their employees’ work-related wellbeing by means of consulting and training in various work communities. The Master’s degree gave me a lot of knowhow and models for the development of the activities of organisations. The studies were particularly inspiring because of the expert guidance, supportive atmosphere and discussions with students representing different work experiences and educational backgrounds.