SELF-DETERMINATION IN A FINANCIAL SECTOR
The role of leadership concerning self-determination in OP Pohjois-Savo
Ida Arppe
Master’s Degree Programme University of Eastern Finland Faculty of Social Sciences and Business studies
International Business and Sales Management
ABSTRACT
UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN FINLAND Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies
Master’s Program in International Business and Sales Management
Ida Arppe: Self-determination in a financial sector – The role of leadership concerning self- determination in OP Pohjois-Savo.
Master´s thesis: pages 125 Instructor: Saara Julkunen May 2021
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Keywords: self-determination, self-organization, motivation, leadership
The purpose of this research is to obtain academic information concerning leadership in connection to self-determination and self-organization in a financial sector.
Current academic knowledge concerning leadership and organizational government in connection to self-determination in real business context is limited. Especially in more traditionally
organized hybrid organizations are not present in academic research. Self-determination is repeatedly present in current business discussions and because of the ongoing changes concerning business environment, self-determined working methods are an area of interest in many
organizations.
The most central theory in this research is Self-Determination Theory introducing basic
psychological needs, motivation and self-leadership in connection to self-determination. For the purposes of this research the framework is expanded into organizational level and self-
organization theories and finally discusses leadership in connection to the topic.
This research is conducted as a case study. The principal is a financial sector operator, regional bank OP Pohjois-Savo. The empirical data is gathered by semi-structured questionnaire from specialist status employees working in the case organization. The research data is qualitative and analyzed with thematic content analysis. In addition, a descriptive data material concerning the case organization is gathered using quantitative statistical data and analysis to support qualitative findings.
This study provides real business context research knowledge concerning self-determination and self-organization. It produces useful practical contributions and managerial implementations in terms of leadership for the principal organization. Key findings are connected to concrete leadership activities supporting positive development of self-determination and main
development areas in the case organization concerning self-determination and self-organization are identified and discussed.
CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Business environment and self-determination 1.2. Purpose and research goals
2. LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1. Self-determination
2.1.1. Self-determination Theory 2.1.2. Motivation
2.1.3. Self-leadership 2.2. Self-organization
2.2.1. Division of self-organizing 2.2.2. Teal-Organization
2.2.3. Hybrid Organizations 2.3. Leading self-determination
2.3.1. Leading competence 2.3.2. Leading relatedness 2.3.3. Leading autonomy 2.3.4. Leading benevolence
3. METHODOLOGY, DATA AND ANALYSIS METHOD 3.1. Research context
3.1.1. Financial sector
3.1.2. OP Financial Group and OP Pohjois-Savo 3.2. Research approach
3.2.1. Case study 3.3. Research data
3.3.1. Questionnaire 3.4. Data analysis
3.3.1. Statistical analysis 3.3.2. Content analysis
4. EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS AND RESULTS 4.1. Case company descriptive analysis
4.1.1. Competence indicator 4.1.2. Relatedness indicator 4.1.3. Autonomy indicator 4.1.4. Benevolence indicator
4.1.5. Self-organization and organizational model 4.1.6. Motivation
4.2. Qualitative research analysis 4.2.1. Source of motivation
4.2.2. Actions supporting self-determination 4.2.3. Challenges of self-determination 4.3. Summary of the results
5. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS 5.1. Summary of the research
5.2. Key results and significance 5.3. Validity and research ethics
5.4. Limitations and further research potential
SOURCES APPENDICES
Appendix 1 Webropol questionnaire
Appendix 2 Information letter to respondents Appendix 3 Abstraction of data 1
Appendix 4 Abstraction of data 2 Appendix 5 Abstraction of data 3 Appendix 6 Abstraction of data 4 Appendix 7 Abstraction of data 5
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Business environment and self-determination
Traditional hierarchical organizations or bureaucratic organizations where top managers make the decisions and coordinate the operations are probably still the most common organizational structures today. From the managerial point of view, this type of organization is predictable and controllable. However, placing employees inside tight boxes does not necessarily offer possibilities for the organization to thrive or develop operations forward. (Martela & Jarenko 2017,16.)
There are few main problems concerning traditional organization models. They do not utilize most of the resources and strategic decisions are made among small amount of people and communicated to employees after words. Therefore, all the employee level expertise is neglected. The ability to operate reasonably and innovate are limited by various chains of approval, which causes the loss of many intelligent experiments.
However, the most problematic when it comes to bureaucratic organizations in today’s markets is slowness. Today, essential success factor in business is agility, which refers to ability to react fast to market changes. (Martela & Jarenko 2017, 16-19.)
Self-determination has been a widely discussed concept during the last few years. The amount of self-organized operators in the business field has grown significantly and there is a detectable shift in paradigm. In addition, there is an increasing interest towards the subject among researchers and theoretics, which can be detected from significant growth in the number of scientific publications (Martela & Jarenko 2017, 11).
Self-determination is an ability to operate without a need of outside guidance and control.
However, there is a need to make a difference between self-determination as an
individual feature and self-organization as a group feature. To become self-determent, an
individual must be self-motivated, goals must be clear and the level of competence to pursue the set goals requisitely high. Self-determination acquires a constant desire to stay in action and operate independently without outside pressing. These features acquire self- leadership, that has been stated to become a key success factor in the future. Self-
leadership means an ability to time management, assignment setting, resource control and prioritizing, which traditionally have been outsourced to superiors. Self-organization is a way to organize, where ready built top-managed structures have been minimized. There are no commander chains, hierarchies, solid roles or superiors in charge of decision making or permissions. Employees can organize the way they see appropriate and again re-organize as the needs and operational demands constantly change. People interact with others the way they perceive meaningful concerning the task in hand and different teams are formed based on current situation. Thus, it must be noted, that self-organization does not equal total despotism without limitations. (Martela & Jarenko 2017, 12; Nikula 2017, 291.)
According to Martela & Jarenko (2017) there are three key reasons why the breakthrough of self-determination and self-organization is currently happening. First, the operational field nowadays is more complex. Globalization, fast information and automatization have caused a demand of fast changes in business environment. To compete in this kind of environment, organizations must be even more adaptive and agile and stiff traditional structures, which create unnecessary barriers. Second, the continuing change concerning the nature of work, where routine work is transient force of nature and work tasks demand creative expertise and independent decision making and third, modern
information technology, that enables decentralized structures. (Martela & Jarenko 2017, 11; Nikula 2017, 291)
In addition to previous, employees today are more demanding than in the past. They expect freedom, trust, decision making possibilities, autonomy and quality leadership
from their employer. Organizations should be in connection to culture and people, not money oriented, and this can be detected from employee attitudes. Especially among Millennials born between 1983- 1994 inside current working communities, this change in values is visible and the Z-generation born after 1995, now taking their first steps towards working life, will multiply this impact. (Savaspuro 2019, 39-40.)
Some well-known examples concerning self-organization are Spotify, Reaktor, Futurice, Buurtzog and Morning Star. A Dutch home care service company Buurtzorg was
established in 2007 by a team of four people. After, it has been the fastest growing organization in Holland and in 2015 it employed 9500 care takers. With a 300 million turn over, it has claimed over 70 per cent of the Dutch home care market.
Simultaneously, the level of customer satisfaction is higher than in other operators and it has won the title of best Dutch employer four times during the 2010s. All this without middle management. There are 12 people teams operating individually in their regions supported by a 50 people support team and perhaps it is precisely the lack of middle management that makes it possible to provide home care services with 20 per cent lower costs than the competition. (Martela & Jarenko 2017, 10.)
Another example is a Californian tomato company, Morning Star with three factories, 400 employees and 700 million turn over, that produces around 40 per cent of tomato pyre consumed in United States. However, there are no superiors, anyone can make an investment decision, promotions are not offered and wages are determined based on employee decisions. Roles are organic and vary according what role is perceived the most useful for the organization. Operations are built on shared goals and coordination among employees. Turnover and profit in Morning Star have grown yearly with more than 10 per cent, when the average of the business field is around one per cent. When middle management working over operations is diminished, it is possible to save more than 30
per cent in wages, which is why self-organizing companies like Morning Star are likely to lead the way when it comes to business in the future. (Martela & Jarenko 2017, 10.) The opposite of self-organization is top-down organization, where management creates organizational structures and hierarchy. Individuals have significantly less leeway towards their actions and organizational decision making. However, in reality it is not possible to make either-or division concerning organizations but rather they can be placed in a continuum where at the other end are fully controlled organizations and on the other structures, that give employees power to organize operations in a way they see suitable.
In the middle are organizations, where teams are autonomous and self-organized but at the same time there are strict limitations concerning boundaries. Operations are led based on profit goals and other inflexible structures set by top management. In other words, self-organizing teams are combined with traditional bureaucratic structures. There is a significant amount of variation when it comes to autonomy and freedom towards work among organizations. (Martela & Jarenko 2017, 12-13.)
Based on different evaluations a third or even a half of current work tasks are replaceable with machinery in the near future. The abatis of central production instruments must be met with new operational logics. To understand the operational logics in the future, we have to understand, what kind of work is needed. All routine work, including physical and routine thinking, can be replaced. The abatis of work is the largest since the industrial revolution - with a difference that the current revolution proceeds significantly faster (Savaspuro 2019, 39). However, there are few difficult tasks to replace. One is creative expertise, ability to see entities and combine things in a new surprising way. Machines can find the answers in the future, but it is a task of a human to form relevant questions.
Another is human interaction. Even though machines in the future are able to detect things more accurately, there are some things that cannot be replaced like support and compassion. Creativity and problem solving cannot be managed with commands.
Creativity acquires intrinsic motivation and positive feelings, which are born from excitement. Therefore, employee well-being and vitality will become more central competitive advantage in the future. Self-organization can increase the perceived meaningfulness of work and answer the needs and conditions of today’s nature of work.
(Martela & Jarenko 2017, 23-24.)
Different forces in connection to fast changes in operational field including automatization, globalization, and increased complexity have created a business
environment where adaptive and self-organizing models are key success factors in variety of industries. Self-determination and self-organization are useful for innovations, fast development, recruitment and positive work motivation. (Martela & Jarenko 2017, 32.)
1.2. Purpose and research goals
In business environment today there is a growing demand for organizations to become more self-organized. However, only few organizations are naturally self-organized.
(Savaspuro 2019, 10). Self-determination in organizational level is new topic area in academic research and especially when it comes to government and leadership, self- determination research is relatively undeveloped (Savaspuro 2019, 25; Kostamo 2017, 108.). Even though during the past few years the discussion around self-determination has increased in Finland, the amount of actual academic research in real-life case organizations is limited.
To understand the meaning of self-determination, there is a need for real-life case examples concerning the topic (Savaspuro 2019, 22). Even though there is an ongoing abatis caused by changes in customer behaviour and digitalization in the business world,
the amount of research from traditional business areas, including financial sector, is almost non-existent. Majority of academical research concentrates on relatively new companies and innovative business areas with naturally more agile organizational models and does not provide information for traditional operators trying to adapt and renew operations and organizational culture to meet today’s new standards. This thesis provides research data from a traditionally hierarchical business operator, which after large
organizational changes within the past few years, has moved its operations towards employee self-determination and self-organization. It introduces the main areas of focus concerning leadership in this type of organization.
Thesis addresses concepts of self-determination, self-organization, motivation and leadership. The starting point, based on previous research and theory, is that self- determination acquires leadership and organizational changes to be successful (Deci &
Ryan 1987; Martela & Jarenko 2017; Salovaara 2019). The research aims to produce information concerning self-determination and leadership in concrete business environment in a case company. It tries to answer, how self-determination should be managed and supported to create optimal conditions for employees to become self- determined and organization to develop towards self-organization. The goal is to examine, what leadership actions support the creation of self-determination and self- organization in real business environment. In addition, motivation is examined closely because of its essential role in connection to self-determination and leadership. Concrete improvement areas in the principal organization are pointed out and development ideas given based on the information provided. The research is conducted in a bank OP Pohjois-Savo, which is also the principal of this thesis.
To produce accurate research data and information, three research questions were formed together with the principal:
1. How leadership can support positive development of self-determination?
2. How employees should be motivated when leading self-determination?
3. What are the main development areas in terms of self-determination and self- organization in the case company?
Theoretical framework of this research is presented in the next chapter in a form of a literature review. Chapter 2.1. introduces self-determination theory by Deci and Ryan (2000). It introduces the basic human needs, motivation and self-leadership in connection to self-determination. After words, this framework is expanded into organizational level in chapter 2.2. and chapter 2.3. concentrates on leadership in the context of self-
determination.
Chapter three explains research methodology, data collection and choices concerning analysis. Research approach in this thesis is a Case study and research data collected with a questionnaire. To provide best possible outcomes and to produce detailed enough information, the case organization is analysed by using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Descriptive analysis of the case organization and research group concerning self-determination is performed with statistical analysis. This descriptive analysis is done based on statements and multiple-choice quantitative questions. The actual qualitative research is done based on contents analysis to produce in-depth research data concerning the topic and conducted by analysing open-ended research questions. Results are
introduced in chapter four and finally chapter five discusses about main conclusions and
findings. It also addresses validity and ethics of the research and introduces further research proposals.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Self determination
2.1.1. Self-Determination Theory
Self-determination can be defined as an individual’s ability to function without control or guidance from upper superior levels (Martela & Jarenko 2017, 12). Today, the most cited theory when it comes to motivation research is Self-Determination Theory (SDT) by Deci and Ryan (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 17). Self-Determination Theory is an empirically based, organismic theory of human behavior and personality development. SDT’s analysis is focused primarily at the psychological level, and it differentiates types of motivation along a continuum from controlled to autonomous. The Theory examines how biological, social and cultural conditions either enhance or undermine the inherent human capacities for psychological growth, engagement and wellness. (Deci & Ryan 2017, 3.) Deci and Ryan state that goal-oriented behavior and psychological well-being can be achieved by concentrating on needs. According to Self-Determination Theory, self- determination needs specific innate psychological nutriments, that are essential for ongoing psychological growth, integrity and well-being. SDT identifies three basic needs that are competence, relatedness and autonomy. (Deci & Ryan 2000, 228-229.) SDT concentrates in what are the outcomes if these needs are reinforced and how individuals can satisfy these needs in a social environment. (Gagne & Deci 2005, 337.)
Competence of effectance can energize human activity and must be satisfied for long- term psychological health. (Deci & Ryan 2000, 231.) Competence is about the abilities of a person and especially about the experience of mastering the assignments and being
productive (Martela 2014; Martela & Jarenko 2015, 17). When the assignments are demanding enough and meaningful, the work generates experiences of success and the person can grow and develop. In addition, successful performances increase trust inside the work community. (Sinokki 2016, 237.) Learning new skills is an important aspect of competence and it must be noted that even a minor experience of ability and competence is enough in a situation where a person is developing. (Martela & Jarenko 2015,17.) Relatedness refers to desire to feel connected to others (Deci & Ryan 2000, 231). The experience of relatedness is generated when we feel that we are part of an encouraging community and a person is able to reach the best possible results in this kind of
environment. (Martela 2014; Martela & Jarenko 2015 18.) Relatedness is perceived in a community where the members share a feeling of cohesion and trust each other. There is an atmosphere of respect, relationships are positive and collaboration supports the feeling of security. (Hakanen 2011, 31; Sinokki 2016, 237.)
Autonomy refers to volition – the organismic desire to self-organize experience and behavior and to have activity that is concordant with one´s integrated sense of self. It is freedom and vital to well-being. (Deci & Ryan 2000, 231). It has been proven that autonomy increases motivation, satisfaction, productivity and commitment towards work (Savaspuro 2019, 22). Autonomy can refer to voluntariness and in order a person to experience voluntariness, the given assignments have to be interesting and a person has to be able to decide how to complete them (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 17). A freedom to make decisions independently and assignments, where a person can utilize his/her
strengths increases the perceived autonomy (Hakanen 2011, 31; Martela & Jarenko 2015, 17).
Deci and Ryan define needs as innate, organismic necessities rather than motives and needs at the psychological rather than physiological level. In SDT, needs specify innate
psychological nutriments that are essential for ongoing psychological growth, integrity and well-being. It must be noted, that fulfilling one or two needs is not enough. All the three basic needs must be fulfilled to achieve psychological well-being. (Deci & Ryan 2000, 229.) However, there can be individual differences when it comes to the strength of the given need. The three needs may vary among different people and can be fulfilled with different behavior. Nevertheless, the fulfillment is central to person’s well-being despite of culture. (Deci & Ryan 2000, 231-232). According to SDT, all the three psychological needs are global and have to be met in all the cultures in order to achieve well-being of people (Deci & Ryan 2000, 246).
SDT assumes that humans are active, growth-oriented organisms, who are naturally inclined toward integration of their psychic elements by integrating themselves into larger social structures. In other words, it is part of the adaptive design of the people to engage interesting activities, to exercise capacities, to pursue connectedness in social groups, and to integrate intrapsychic and interpersonal experiences into a relative unity.
The needs are natural, not learned, and that is the reason why they give motivative content to life. (Deci & Ryan 2000, 229-230.) Natural activity and naturally motivated behavior are part of oneself and there is a natural urge to seek challenges and new goals and assignments (Deci & Ryan 2000, 248).
As mentioned before, fulfilling one or two needs is not enough to achieve psychological well-being. All three needs must be met. Many behaviors are specifically aimed at satisfaction of the basic needs when little satisfaction has been forthcoming. However, when people experience reasonable satisfaction, they will not necessarily behave specifically to satisfy the needs. They will be doing what they perceive interesting or important. In other words, when the action is interesting or important, it does not have to have a specific goal to fulfill a basic need. (Deci & Ryan 2000, 230.)
In their study 2016, Martela and Ryan introduced one more basic need, benevolence.
Individuals have a humane desire to do good to other people and we suffer if we see other people suffer. (Martela & Ryan 2016.) In order to fulfill the need of benevolence, an individual must be able to do good by completing the given assignments. The positive affect can be within the work community, customers or wider in society. (Martela &
Jarenko 2015, 18) Through benevolence an individual can experience meaningfulness and dignity in their own lives. The experience of well-being is reinforced when a person feels that he/she is able to do good to others and also him-/herself. (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 51-61.) Fulfilling all the four introduced basic needs brings meaning to life and play a crucial role in terms of the perceived meaningfulness (Martela, Ryan & Steger 2018).
2.1.2. Motivation
This chapter explains motivation and its importance in connection to self-determination.
There is a correlation between motivation and self-determination. Individuals who are genuinely excited about their work are the most productive (Martela & Jarenko 2017, 24). Previous studies show that both self-determination and autonomy, and work environment that satisfy the basic psychological needs, increase the level of intrinsic motivation and well-being (Deci & Ryan 2008; Niemiec, Ryan & Deci 2009). According to research, employees with power of decision towards their work, experience more meaningfulness, less stress and are generally more content with their life. The level of commitment is also higher. (Thompson & Prottas 2006, 115.) Based on this information, it can be said that one of the most important things inside an organization is to create an environment that increases the level of intrinsic motivation (Martela & Jarenko 2017, 24).
Extrinsic motivation arises from external forces and action is based on external reasons.
In other words, the reason of action is separate from action itself. Extrinsic motivation is
reactive and answers to outside threats and functions as a tool to accomplish external factors or goals. (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 23-25.) There needs to be an instrument between action and consequence, like material or verbal reward (Gagne & Deci 2005, 331). Individual is not excited if the motives are rewards and fear of punishment (Martela
& Jarenko 2015, 25). It can be stated that motivation arises from various and different aspects. Monetary payment creates basic security but can also be used as a measurement of social achievements. Punishments can be for example critical feedback or unsatisfied customers. (Sinokki 2016, 225-226.) Extrinsic motivation is reactive and drains mental resources. Work, based on solely extrinsic motivation in a long term, can become exhausting. (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 26.)
Intrinsic motivation can be determined as motivation in which the action itself attracts an individual and action feels meaningful and valuable. Intrinsic motivation is proactive and arises from personal interests. (Gagne & Deci 2005, 331; Martela & Jarenko 2015, 23.) In addition, intrinsically motivated individuals seek challenges, which enables personal growth (Deci & Ryan 2000, 233-235). If an individual is intrinsically motivated, work is pleasurable and brings joy. Intrinsic motivation is in connection to positive feelings and thoughts. (Sinokki 2016, 226.) Individuals with intrinsic motivation work voluntarily, experience feelings of success and are more creative (Hakanen 2011, 30). The action is not forced and feels less straining (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 26).
As explained in the previous chapters, when completing assignments, the three basic needs must be satisfied. In addition, an individual feels, that satisfying assignments are interesting. Therefore, competence and autonomy are important to intrinsic motivation.
However, they do not define intrinsic motivation. Intrinsically motivated behavior means that a person actions voluntarily without separate consequences. Maintenance of
intrinsically motivated behavior demands fulfilment of competence and autonomy. (Deci
& Ryan 2000, 233-235.)
Research states that intrinsic motivation and autonomic extrinsic motivation are both connected to performance, satisfaction, trust and well-being at work environment (Gagne
& Deci 2005, 356). Therefore, the performance and action should lead to both internal and external rewards to bring maximal work satisfaction. This can be achieved by extending the work in a way that activities become more interesting and internally motivative. External rewards like raise or promotion, should be in connection to actual operation. However, substantial external rewards as a source of motivation can be harmful to intrinsic motivation and have negative effects to performance. (Gagne & Deci 2005, 331, 356.) Traditional hierarchical organizations use mainly extrinsic motivation (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 25). As stated before, external rewards reduce the level of intrinsic motivation. However, if the external reward is unexpected this effect is almost non-existence. Positive feedback increases the level of intrinsic motivation and
accordingly negative feedback, which points out incompetence, reduce the level of intrinsic motivation. (Deci & Ryan 2000, 235.)
Extrinsic motivation can vary based on autonomy and control. Actions that are not interesting and intrinsically motivative demand extrinsic motivation. When motivation is controlled from outside, it has been started and maintained externally. One of the main factors in SDT is to distinguish the difference between autonomous and controlled motivation. Autonomy is connected to free will and experience of choice. Autonomous motivation increases well-being at work and effective performance whereas controlled motivation decreases them. (Gagne & Deci 2005, 333-341.)
Intrinsic motivation is one example of autonomous motivation. When individuals participate to action because it is interesting, they do it voluntarily. On the opposite side, control leads to pressure and forced action. Another form of external motivation arises when an order or rule, and values related to them, are internalized. (Gagne & Deci 2005, 334.) Assimilation is an active and natural process, in which an individual transforms
socially forced traditions into personal values. Assimilation makes it easier to adapt and form external orders again in a way, that individuals can become more self-determined.
Successful assimilation leads to better identification of social codes and they are accepted and integrated to self-image. A person becomes dedicated, conflicts are diminished, and action is more autonomous. (Deci & Ryan 2000, 235-237.)
Organismic integration Theory describes four different forms of motivation from external regulation to internal regulation (Deci & Ryan 2017, 214). External regulation is an example of extrinsic motivation where action is controlled because of external consequences. Action is based on external achievements like rewards or avoiding punishments. Action is taken only when it helps to achieve the set goal. External regulation is the most controlled form of motivation. (Deci & Ryan 2000, 236-237.) Introjection entails individuals’ taking in external regulations and maintaining them in a form that is relatively isomorphic with the external regulations. However, with
introjected regulation the contingent consequences are administered by the individuals themselves. The main sources of motivation are pride or threats of guilt and shame.
Introjection is often stated as ego involvements, public self-consciousness or false self- ascriptions. Regulations are in the person but have not become part of the integrated set of motivations, cognitions and affects, that constitute the self. Introjected regulations are within the person, but still external to self. Unlike external regulations, that have poor maintenance and transfer, introjected regulations have been partially internalized and are more likely than external regulations to be maintained over time but remain relatively unstable form of regulation. (Deci & Ryan 2000, 236; Gagne & Deci 2005, 334-335.) Identification is the process, in which an individual realizes and accepts the value of a behavior. People have more fully internalized its regulation and have adopted it as their own. The internalization is fuller than with introjection and the behavior more part of the
identity. As a result, the behavior is more autonomous, although still extrinsically motivated rather than a source of enjoyment and satisfaction. Regulations are based on identifications, because if the self has endorsed them, they are expected to be maintained better and associated with higher commitment and performance. (Deci & Ryan 2000, 236.) With identification, regulation actions are voluntary and sense of freedom experienced, because there is a clear connection between actions and personal goals (Gagne & Deci 2005, 334-335).
Integration is the most complete form of internalization of extrinsic motivation. It identifies the importance of behaviors and in addition integrates them with other aspects of the self. When regulations are integrated, people have accepted them and they are in harmony and coherence with other aspects of values and identity. What was external regulation has been fully transformed into self-regulation and the result is self-determined extrinsic motivation. (Deci & Ryan 2000, 236.) However, it must be noted, that intrinsic motivation and integrated external motivation are two different forms of autonomous motivation (Gagne & Deci 2005, 334-335).
Figure 1. The self-determination continuum (Deci & Ryan 2000).
Different forms of motivation in the self-determination continuum (Figure 3.) are based on the level of motivation in connection to self and the level of self-determination.
Autonomous and controlled motivation are opposite to amotivation, that refers to total absence of motivation. All forms of extrinsic motivation, even the most controlled ones, include motivation which is why amotivation is the opposite of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. (Gagne & Deci 2005, 334; Deci & Ryan 2000, 237.) At the other end of the continuum is a person who is intrinsically motivated and self-determined and on the other end the person is not motivated and is not self-determined. In between there are four different forms of extrinsic motivation and in the optimal conditions a person is able to move in the continuum. (Gagne & Deci 2005, 335.)
Target-oriented operations differ, based on the level of autonomy and self-determination, which are in connection to experiences of voluntary and optionally actions. Intrinsic motivation and highly integrated extrinsic motivation form the base of autonomous and self-determined operations. SDT suggests that people naturally try to adopt the norms and regulations of their social surroundings. Supporting autonomy, competence and
relatedness enables the individual to integrate these norms and regulations into self and this way become more self-determined. (Deci & Ryan 2000, 237-239.) Work
environment and leadership that supports autonomy are proven to be in connection to intrinsic motivation, integration of extrinsic motivation and fulfilment of psychological needs and lead to increased well-being, positive attitude and commitment. (Gagne & Deci 2005, 346.)
Intrinsic motivation is based on competence and autonomy. According to SDT it is necessary to fulfill these basic needs, but it is essential to fulfil the third need, which is relatedness because it supports the ability to integrate values. When the social
environment provides the fulfillment of all three basic needs, it helps to maintain the intrinsic motivation and integrate extrinsic motivation. The nature of operations, option to make choices and atmosphere supporting autonomy, lead to higher level of motivation and higher well-being at work. (Gagne & Deci 2005, 336-339; Deci & Ryan 2000, 263.)
2.1.3. Self-leadership
When discussing about self-determination self-leadership is often referred and
understood as a synonym to self-determination or even used as a substitute. However, theory states that self-leadership is a self-affecting process in which an individual achieves the required self-determination and motivation in order to perform (Neck &
Houghton 2006, 271). It can also be determined as self-focusing and affecting learning process, where body, mind and values are guided through self-reflection
(Sydänmaanlakka 2017, 32-33). This being stated, self-leadership is only a part of wider self-determination context, however essential to its development.
In literature, self-leadership is connected to self-management. According to Neck &
Houghton, as a concept, self-leadership is wider. Self-management means that individual tries to achieve targets, that are set from outside and it gives plenty of autonomy to individual to modify procedures to achieve them. However, it does not take meaning and importance of targets to consideration. In self-leadership, the driving forces are higher demands, that include the meanings of set goals. Therefore, self-leadership does not concentrate solely on reaching the goals but also evaluates the meanings and purpose of them in a wider context. (Neck & Houghton 2006, 280-281.)
When moving towards self-determination, individual has more responsibilities
concerning changes and self-development and responsibility about decision-making is shifted more and more to employees. In order to make reasonable choices based on the goals set by an organization, an employee must recognize and internalize work tasks and commit to work itself. Because of the constant change, it is not possible to give specific instructions concerning work and changes are fast and unpredictable. It can be stated that nowadays an employee is the best expert when it comes to his/hers work task.
(Liukkonen et al, 2006, 37-38.)
Based on the current psychology, a human being is intrinsically self-regulating. A human is committed to personal goals and visions and evaluates his/her performance. In
addition, they learn from their experiences. However, individuals are more committed to goals, that are meaningful and as consequence are ready to work harder to achieve them.
In order to reach the goals and take responsibility, an individual must have autonomy to decide how to do it. When employees have the freedom to think and find new work procedures, they are innovative and develop and renew processes constantly. (Liukkonen, Jaakkola & Kataja 2006, 45-46.)
An individual is a doing, thinking and feeling creature and constantly seeks meanings and purposes towards life and work. Through self-leadership an individual can become aware of mind, body, feelings and values. Based on these, individuals can guide their actions, thoughts and feelings. This is an on-going learning and interaction process, which leads to better control of life. The goal is comprehensive well-being, and this acquires
traditional, practical, spiritual and emotional intelligence. (Sydänmaanlakka 2016, 29.) In addition to mind, body, feelings and values, work can be included to the core areas of an individual because of its extensive role in life. Work consists of professional
operations. Clear work tasks, goals, adequate competence, feedback and constant development define the work condition of an individual. Together these five core areas form a totality that we should be able to lead to do well. Self-development acquires confidence and confidence enables individuals to challenge themselves, find personal limits and widen the perceived comfort zone. Through self-reflection human beings can evaluate and examine themselves and their relationships and the base of self-leadership are functional visions and goals, that are achieved through actions. (Sydänmaanlakka 2017, 27-34.)
A primary goal in self-leadership is to combine work and leisure successfully. Personal goals, affections and ways to think, and time management and stress control must be considered in order to be successful in self-leadership. The goals should be exiting and motivative, even if failures occur, and feelings should be identified and managed work appropriately, without smothering them. It is also central to self-leadership to evaluate and change procedures if necessary. The goal is learning and realization instead of finding mistakes. (Surakka & Laine 2011, 104-108.)
Stress is constantly present in working life. Positive stress is good but without proper recovery work can become exhausting. It is important to recognize when the level of stress is too high. Effective ways to manage stress are breaks, time management and exercise. There should be an ability to plan beforehand, prioritize and delegate. It is important to identify tasks that should be handled immediately and also the ones that can be postponed or be done by someone else more successfully. (Surakka & Laine 2011, 109-113.)
Self-leadership strategies can be divided into three main categories: behavior-focused strategies, natural reward strategies and constructive strategies. Behavior-focused strategies include self-observation, self-guidance and self-defined targets, rewards and punishments. With these, individual tries to become aware of the actions and through awareness develop behavior to become more effective and exclude ineffective behavior patterns. Natural reward strategies pursue situations, where activity or a feature of an activity is rewarding as itself. This means that more interesting features are included to work or actions or the more interesting features are concentrated on. Constructive strategies include processes like identifying and substituting non-functioning thoughts and beliefs, visualization and positive self-talk. Especially creating visions of success before the actual performance has been stated to improve the level of performance. (Neck
& Houghton 2006, 271-272.)
Job crafting tries to modify work tasks to correspond the individual abilities, strengths, competence and interests. An individual can affect the sensibleness of work with personal attitude towards work or a separate work task. This can have positive effects to autonomy and competence that occur in self-determination theory. (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 81- 82.)
2.2. Self-organization
After discussing about self-determination and individual level it is appropriate to shift focus into wider organizational context to deepen the understanding concerning the research subject. Self-organization refers to self-determination in organizational level.
Self-determination at work can be explained at individual’s ability to work autonomously without guidance or control. Self-determination at employee level is an ability that can be adopted. However, it is always bound to organizational culture and offered resources and guidance. (Collin & Lemmetty 2019, 265.) Self-organization should not be built inside hierarchical organizational structures. The whole organization including the
organizational structure and culture must support self-organization. (Martela & Jarenko 2017, 320.) Nevertheless, self-organization does not mean despotism of individuals because in practice, there are always procedures, structures and instructions inside an organization. Consequently, self-organization is a form of organization, where minimal viable structure is pursued. Minimal viable structure is a form of structure, where freedom of individual is limited as little as possible, but there is still enough support to prevent chaos. (Martela & Jarenko 2017, 13-14.)
2.2.1. Division of self-organization
Organizations can be divided based on the level of self-organization in connection to self- determination of employees (Figure 4.). Nowadays, the most common type of
organization is still probably hierarchical organization, that is also called bureaucratic organization and is center managed and employees compliant. In this type of
organization, high-level management organizes and coordinates operations. Information is distributed top-down like a pyramid and employees are doing what they are ordered to do. Operations are predictable and because of high level of control, hierarchical
organization does not offer the employees possibilities to develop themselves or operations. (Martela & Jarenko 2017, 16.)
Self-organized organizations, where employees are compliant can be determined as profit-controlled organizations. Employees can organize as they prefer without middle- management or high level of hierarchy, but the motivation is extrinsic. In most of the profit-controlled organizations, employees are driven by monetary incentives and employee performance is highly monitored. The level of real freedom is limited and operations depressive. (Martela & Jarenko 2017, 17-18.)
Involving organizations are traditionally structured, but the employees self-determined.
Employees can operate independently, and their work voluntary. However, they still have to report to managers, and it must be noted that in this type of organization the role of superiors is not to control but to coach, enable and support. (Martela & Jarenko 2017, 16.)
When an organization is self-organized and employees self-determined, the organization is co-organized. Employees work voluntarily and the role of hierarchy and managers is low. The highest management determines the direction of the organization together with the employees and the role of management is to serve and enable the best possible
conditions for employees to be successful and productive. Work is executed
independently or in small teams and decisions can be made without getting an approval from superiors. Employees can also influence operations and content of their work. There are certain structures to classify operations, thus these structures are remodeled if
necessary. (Martela & Jarenko 2017, 15.)
Figure 2. Division of organizations based on the level of self-determination and self- organization (Martela & Jarenko 2017, 14.)
Both center-managed and autonomous organizations execute work division, but there is a difference in flexibility. In center managed organizations, the division of different roles is made in high management level, whereas in autonomous organization individuals have a possibility to modify work division independently. (Martela 2017, 141.) Coordination in center managed organizations is based on command chains, in which, only the highest
management level understands the operations in whole. Employees only execute the tasks given by the managers without deeper understanding of strategy. In autonomous
organizations the individuals operate the best way possible to enhance the common interests without consulting the management. Based on this, it is crucial that all the members of the organization understand the strategy. Understanding the totality is important to empower the employees into decision making. (Martela 2017, 143.)
Center managed organizations divide resources and budget based on the decisions of the top-level management. This includes recruitment decisions and distribution of monetary resources. In self-organized organizations employees can make acquisitions
independently, keeping in mind the interests of the organization. Decisions concerning recruitment or re-organizing work tasks can be made in team level, without consulting management. Management level must trust the abilities of the employees to make successful decisions. (Martela 2017, 143-144.) In expert organizations, experts must make independent decisions and choices constantly and problem solving is essential part of the work itself. Organizing this kind of expert organizations in a center managed way can suppress the ability of the expert to make independent choices. Center managed organization type does not support creative work tasks, including independent decisions and creative solutions. (Martela 2017, 146.)
2.2.2. Teal Organization
Frederick Laloux (2014) has developed a type of self-organizing organization called Teal-organization. Laloux defines this Teal-organization model as the future of
organizations. Teal-organization is based on self-organizing teams, which can determine their operations autonomously. In addition, the teams are responsible of their results and profitability. There are no superiors or middle management. Specific coaches support the team, but they have no power concerning the decision-making process or responsibility
about the results. Support systems outside the core business, like human resources, legal matters, economy and communications, are cut back to bare minimum. (Laloux 2014, 65- 71.)
Traditional top-down power hierarchy has been diminished from Teal-organization and decisions are made with a specific advice process. However, this does not mean that the team must be necessarily anonymous. An employee can make a decision independently, if all the individuals and specialists in contact to the matter have been consulted. The bigger the matter the wider group of individuals that must be consulted. (Laloux 2014, 99-102.)
In Teal-organizations employees are motivated by self-consciousness, free will and competence. Learning from listening to others and their opinions and building mutual trust through interaction are important in Teal-model. In addition, Teal-model emphasizes the fact that people have a natural need to develop themselves and learn new skills. Based on these aspects, organizations can operate without managers and self-organization can be achieved only through organizational culture that support these features. (Laloux 2014, 43-51.)
2.2.3. Hybrid organization
Even though there are many organizations today with features typical to self-
organization, there are no real organizations, which are systematically self-organizing throughout the organization and its operations. All organizations have their unique way to execute self-organization and there are many differences between the different models concerning for example the power distribution. These types of organizations can be determined as hybrid organizations. Salovaara (2019) states, that all the current self- organizing organizations are in fact hybrids and self-organization is not an individual model. (Salovaara 2019, 111-114.) In hybrid organizations there are structures supporting
self-organization and still existing hierarchical structures (Salovaara 2019, 117).
Organizations can be represented in a continuum from top-down controlled to self- organized (Figure 5.). Hybrid organizations can be placed between these two opposite organization models.
Figure 3.Position of hybrid organizations (Laakkonen 2020)
2.3. Leading Self-determination
Finally, this chapter explains the main theoretical information and findings concerning leadership in connection to self-determination. It addresses leadership based on SDT and basic psychological needs explained more detailed in previous chapters. In general, the difference between traditional management and management supporting self-
determination is that when it comes to traditional management, the employees are not
able to comprehend the organization as a whole, they are not self-imposed, and they need outside guidance and control. They do not participate in decision making process and because of this, are less committed to made decisions. (Nummi 2018, 27.)
2.3.1. Leading competence
When it comes to leading competence it is essential to develop competence and know- how of employees (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 60). The experienced competence is based on perceived abilities, control, learning and productivity. Control is especially important to well-being and coping at work. (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 98.)
Learning new skills and development both arise from the employees’ experienced increase in their abilities and learning. The ability to adopt new skills is especially important when an organization is moving towards self-organization (Otala & Mäki 2017, 271). The needed competences are self-management skills, communication skills, giving feedback, leading meetings, recruiting and resource management (Otala & Mäki 2017, 284-285). It is important to know, how to work with other teams and ability to take responsibility of organization level operations. However, the most important is self- leadership. An individual must be self-determent before an organization or a team can become self-organizing. An organization should train these skills to the employees before changing the operations to self-organizing. (Otala & Mäki 2017, 271.) It needs to be taken in consideration, that some individuals are slower when it comes to adaptation than others. However, all individuals are motivated from learning experiences and work tasks must be designed in a way that they are challenging and create possibilities to develop.
(Martela & Jarenko 2015, 99-100.)
Managers and leaders need to adopt new skills in order to work in self-organizing organization (Otala & Mäki 2017, 284-285). The need of skills varies according to self- organization level. The deeper the level of self-organization, the lesser the need for work
management. When the level self-organization arises, leadership increases and becomes shared (Martela & Jarenko 2017, 314). The leader as a role becomes different from leadership as a function. A person can be a leader without leadership and a person can be a leader without a title. (Salovaara 2017, 49.) Self-organization demands high level of leadership, but the number of leaders is low. A leader is a role, whereas through leadership the organization takes course. Management on the other hand refers to organizational structures. (Salovaara 2017, 50-53.)
The level of experienced profitability can increase through feedback. Results should be concrete and separate waypoints and measures make progress more visible and enhance the feeling of control (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 99). Leading competence acquires erasing unnecessary distractions and when the maximum level of competence is obtained it can be described as a state of flow. In order to reach this state, the set goals must be clear, and feedback must be constant. In addition, the work must be challenging to avoid boredom. (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 59-60.) A leader should evaluate the level of restraint and amount of changes to preserve employees’ feeling of control. Communication plays a key role, because when individuals are well informed and aware of the changes the change feels more manageable. (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 98.)
Clear goals are also important from the profitability point of view. Goal oriented thinking can be learned, and it has a significant effect to perceived meaning of work. It helps to prioritize and increase control (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 106). As stated before, it is a responsibility of a leader to determine the direction and meaning. Actions should be organized in a way that increases the power of employees. Voluntariness, intrinsic motivation and self-determination diminish, if the employees do not have authority towards their role and operations (Martela 2017, 167).
Leadership is influence with interaction and interaction happens always by participating into communication. Therefore, communication skills are vital to leaders. (Kilpi 2017, 120). Successful leadership deepens and enriches the interaction and it is crucial to have an understanding towards the daily operations and interface actions. This understanding can be obtained by listening as many people inside the organization as possible.
(Wilenius & Kurki 2017, 212.) Transparency in decision making and effective
communication channels are vital and it is up to the management to develop information channels in a way that they support interaction and coordination between employees (Martela 2017, 168). Transparency enables the division of decision making because information is accessible to everyone. It builds trust and ensures that everyone is informed about the organizational goals. (Wilenius & Kurki 2017, 205-206.) Decision- making is in connection to influence possibilities and involvement and clarity of decision-making process supports the feeling of security (Mäki 2019, 140).
Everyone should be promoted to lead in self-organizing organizations. Leadership involves prioritizing, leading direction, taking responsibility, making choices and understanding entities. (Wilenius & Kurki 2017, 216.) Leaders should encourage
employees to lead and this demands ability not to concentrate power. Leaders must learn not to give direct answers and their own opinion and consciously avoid giving
instructions. This means that leaders should diminish their status and separate themselves from hierarchical way of thinking. However, also self-determined employees need guidance and support and it is up to the leader to identify when they are needed. The measurement of successful leadership can be the decreasing need of direct management among the employees. (Martela 2017, 163-164; Savaspuro 2019, 14.)
Self-organization demands changes and the biggest change must occur in attitudes and in the way the employees understand the new freedom and responsibilities and how leaders trust their teams. The purpose of leading is to create structures that support the new
actions and establish new organizational culture. (Otala & Mäki 2017, 285.) When a team wants to develop mutual learning, it is natural to have training attitude towards other team members. This can also be referred as sparring culture, where people give feedback to other employees and in addition to managers and this develops learning. (Martela &
Jarenko 2015, 108-109.) Feedback can develop organizational competence and enhance a culture of success (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 112.)
On the other hand, organizations which have adopted a constant culture of learning can be called learning organizations. Learning organization is learning by itself but also needs structures and systematic operation to support its existence. It is important to think how the silent information can be transformed to visible information and individual
competence can be changed to organizational competence. Failures should be seen as a learning experiences and should not be feared. This enables the formation of new ideas and innovations. (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 110-112.)
2.3.2. Leading relatedness
When leading relatedness, it is important to encounter employees as human beings and treat them with honor and care. Solidarity and mutual respect in organization are important. (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 61.) Relatedness is based on three key elements, which are trustworthy and fair actions and caring and respecting management (Martela &
Jarenko 2015, 119.) To ensure fairness employees must be treated equally and promises must be kept to increase trust and enhance interaction. Low trust on management and unfair treatment have negative effects on motivation. In terms of well-being, work
environment is a key factor and it can be encouraging and increase the feeling of security.
A secure atmosphere can also work as a source of inspiration because employees do not have to fear failures. (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 121.) Conflicts and problem situations should be openly discussed and management have to be able to handle criticism.
Mistakes and failures need be approved because fear of failure makes employees passive.
(Savaspuro 2019, 48.)
Teamwork acquires information sharing and open and secure environment makes this possible. People are naturally group oriented and a need to belong is endogenous. People need to feel that they are respected and honored as themselves. Respect from superiors and management is important. (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 119-121.) Leading relatedness is done by setting an example by showing what kind of behavior is acceptable and showing genuine respect and being present is equally important. (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 136.) To achieve workable teams, the focus should be top teams instead of top individuals. For a team to function, emotional intelligence and democratic communication is more
important than competence and expertise. Emotional intelligence means an ability to sense emotions and modify actions and communication accordingly. Democratic communication is achieved if all the members of the group have equal possibilities to participate into discussions and interaction. (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 122-123.) To achieve equal organization, hierarchy based on status must be removed from the organizational structure. Equality is the base of intrinsic motivation. However, self- organization also acquires structures that support decision making. Functional hierarchy points out the responsibilities of employees in order to organize operations. Nevertheless, all the hierarchical structures need to be arguable and based on equal treatment. (Martela
& Jarenko 2015, 128-130.) It can be challenging to abandon the old attitudes when transforming the organization toward more self-organizing work methods and structures.
Especially for the management, it can be difficult to give away the gained status and power. These difficulties should be addressed with open discussion. The best tool when it comes to change is dialogue. (Martela & Jarenko 2017, 314.)
2.3.3. Leading autonomy
Self-organization acquires shared understanding concerning the direction of the organization. (Mäki 2019, 138). The responsibility of the manager is to clarify the pursued meaning and direction. However, the manager does not dictate the direction and meaning, rather to make sure that they are being defined. (Martela & Jarenko 2017, 315;
Wilenius & Kurki 2017, 214-215.) The best way to avoid the challenges of self-
organization is to set clear targets for the organization (Savaspuro 2019, 48). The focus of leadership is to guide operations in a way that the pursued targets and assignments are formed together (Kilpi 2017, 117).
To achieve this level of understanding throughout the organization, dialogue and
communication become vital (Martela & Jarenko 2017, 315). Communication should be complex and based on dialogue. The meaning is to clarify why the operations are being made. Sharing information between different departments ensures the shared
coordination. (Martela 2017, 168.) Operations are interaction between codependent individuals in a certain context, which is why the attention must be targeted to the quantity and quality of the communication (Kilpi 2017,119-121).
There are three types of autonomy. Autonomy of targets, autonomy of actions and the motivation towards actions. Autonomy of goals means that the individual feels that the targets are set in a way that he/she can commit him/herself to them and is willing to promote them. From leadership point of view this means that the leader must commit the employee to pursue the set targets. It is important to identify targets, which are important to both, individual and organization. If this is not achieved and the employee works only because of obligation, the operations are based solely on extrinsic motivation. (Martela &
Jarenko 2015, 68-69.)
Autonomy of actions is willingness to decide how the set targets are being pursued. Strict rules and high level of guidance concerning the actions can cause frustration among the
employees and micro-managing even the smallest details can reduce the level of intrinsic motivation. If there is a justified need to give directions from the management level, it should be conducted in a way that respects the autonomy of the individual. It is crucial that the employee can understand why the changes must be made. Without clear justification, commands reduce motivation. (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 70-71.) Motivation towards actions means that the work is so inspiring, that it is rewarding intrinsically. For the management, it is important to identify the operations that inspire individuals and give them the opportunity to focus their work towards this kind of assignments to increase the level of intrinsic motivation. (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 72.) When creating an organization model that supports autonomy, the requirement is to recruit the correct individuals. The hired employees should be genuinely interested about the work and the work has to support their personal strengths. Successful recruiting process is a vital part of management, when setting up an autonomous organization supporting intrinsic motivation. The level of competence needs to be high enough for the employee to make independent decisions and work independently. New employees should also be skilled when it comes to teamwork. (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 73-81.) In autonomous organizations the employees have autonomy, when it comes to their actions and operations because they have a clear vision about the organizational targets (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 78-79). Job crafting, which means modifying the work tasks based on the perception and motivation of individual employee, can be used to enhance autonomy. Job crafting can increase the level of well-being at work, excitement and dedication, which together improve productivity. More detailed changes to job description to correspond employee’s competence and interests is called task crafting.
Relational crafting means changes to interaction and relations between employees.
Cognitive crafting modifies the perception towards work and enables the better utilization
of individual strengths. (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 81-82.) Leading autonomy demands ability to trust employees and loosen the control. The leader must be able to give space to employees without unnecessary stalking and observation for the employees to reach the set targets the way they see appropriate (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 58).
However, increased autonomy does not always correlate with well-being at work. If the level of autonomy is too high the work becomes oppressive. This is possible if the employees feel that they are left alone and the work becomes limitless. (Savaspuro 2019, 46.) The far side of autonomy is responsibility and the level of responsibility changes when a person is let to make decisions individually. An individual should be able to carry out the responsibility of their actions and understand the consequences of their actions in connection to the organizational level of operations. This demands proactive
development of problem solving and decision-making skills among employees. (Martela
& Jarenko 2015, 72.) The goals need to be clear, concrete, stated and easy to evaluate. To increase the autonomy and support self-determination, regular evaluation of goals is important. There is a need for clear rules that are loose enough for the employees to operate individually. Rules are necessary when it comes to decision making, defining roles and setting up the boundaries and they should be made in consensus. (Mäki 2019, 139-140.)
There are two different demands when it comes to work. Hindrance demands are
straining and include work tasks with high demand of governmental bureaucracy. All the tasks that take away from the actual job itself (core assignment) can be defined as
hindrance demands, for example permission forms and keeping track of work hours manually. Challenge demands increase motivation, work engagement, commitment and perceived autonomy but on the other hand can increase the level of exhaustion.
(Savaspuro 2019, 47.) It is important to diminish all the unnecessary hurdles and
concentrate employee focus on relevant tasks. If there is an atmosphere of trust inside an
organization, control is unnecessary, and employees can fulfil the set requirements the way they see most suitable. (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 87-89.)
2.3.4. Leading benevolence
Motivation, excitement and unity among employees is formed when they feel that their work is meaningful and creates positive value to their surroundings. People have become more aware of organizational values and cultures. (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 139-141.) The experience of benevolence inside an organization is based on mission, supporting co- workers and impact on the overall positive effect that has been created. Mission
summarizes the meaning of an organization and work as a source of motivation. The impact describes the meaning of work. Shared knowledge and helping colleagues increase the positive effects of work inside the organization. (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 142-143.)
As stated, mission is a central part of motivation and both the mission and values have to arise from the organization itself. Creating a strong mission is central to leading
benevolence. In addition, managers should believe the mission to set a strong example to the employees. (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 153.) Employees want to feel that their work has a real positive effect to society, and it is important for the management to make this effect concrete and visible. This can be done by increasing the level of understanding when it comes to entirety and point out individual roles in connection to it. Pointing out the effects of individual work tasks can be a strong source of motivation inside an organization. (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 147-150.) To increase the level of perceived benevolence a manager can enhance a culture of gratitude among employees and bring together people who benefit the most from the expertise of each other (Martela & Jarenko 2015, 152-154).
3. METHODOLOGY, RESEARCH DATA AND ANALYSIS METHODS
3.1 Research context 3.1.1 Financial sector
In addition to our work environment, external and global forces together with local sector specific pressures towards change have continued to reform work, working methods and meanings. Preserving competitiveness and profitability pressure, challenge the strengths and abilities of employees, which elevates the meaning of work well-being and support in organizations into growingly important status. Financial sector has received its part of these changes and they affect to the future of the whole business sector. Human capital has become a central part of competitiveness, which has brought ongoing development, competence and knowledge a vital part of work today. Networking has enabled a change from centralized operations and organizations to decentralized decision making and assignment setting, and organizations have become more flexible without losing their performance abilities. Development of information technology has led to wider division of operations, which because of its evident advantages, challenges hierarchical
organization models typical to financial sector. (Asikainen 2016, 3-4; Castells 2000, 694- 695.)
Banks have a central role in business operations as a finance broker in financial markets and public economy. Banks grant loans and accept deposits and take care of investments and offer financial management services. Effective payment intermediation is an
important part of bank operations and a requirement to market economy. There are more than 200 banks currently operating in Finland, including domestic deposit banks,
branches and subsidiaries of foreign credit banks and investment banks. In banking
