Digitalisering af ledelsesudvikling i en organisatorisk kontekst

Abstract

Lederes evne til at lykkes i deres jobs er essentiel både for medarbejderes motivation og præstation, den organisatoriske bundlinje samt ledernes egen oplevelse af at være kompetent. Forskning viser dog, at der fremadrettet er behov for mere praksisnær ledelsesudvikling med fokus på transfer af ny viden til ledelsespraksis for at kunne designe effektiv ledelsesudvikling. Specialet undersøger dertil, hvordan der kan designes et konceptuelt læringsdesign for digitalt understøttet ledelsesudvikling i en organisatorisk kontekst vha. et digitalt redskab i form af et Fuse ledelsescommunity på den digitale læringsplatform Fuse, således at det kan fremme praksisnær ledelsesudvikling og transfer. Forskningstilgangen i specialet er inspireret af Design Based Research (DBR) med DBR-innovationsmodellen som fasemodel, og baseres på en kvalitativ, casebaseret og brugercentreret un-dersøgelsestilgang samt en samskabende designproces ved inddragelse af aktører fra samarbejdsorga-nisationen Blendit Learning og ud fra BESTSELLER som caseorganisation. Dertil fokuseres der på en praktisk afgrænsning af undersøgelsesfokusset ud fra onboardingen af nye ledere på ledelsesni-veauet leading others i en dansk kontekst. Specialet bygger videre på min praktikopgave (Palmdahl, 2022) med empiriske indsigter om lederes behov og ønsker ift. læring og udvikling pba. en anden caseorganisation og dertil en prototype version 1 på et design for digitalt understøttet ledelsesudvikling i en organisatorisk kontekst vha. et Fuse ledelsescommunity. Pba. specialets kontekstfase udarbejdes en behovs- og kontekstanalyse med udgangspunkt i caseor-ganisationen BESTSELLER og empiriske indsigter fra egen praktikopgave samt en prototype version 1 (Palmdahl, 2022). LAB-fasen er centreret om den samskabende designproces, hvorfra prototype version 2 af det konceptuelle design på digitalt understøttet læringsdesign udvikles. Fasen afrundes med en brugertest med fem ledere fra BESTSELLER. Interventionsfasen gennemføres ikke i specia-let, hvorfor refleksionsfasen indeholder en formativ evaluering af designets relevans og anvendelighed i praksis pba. fundene fra brugertesten og en teoretisk diskussion af designet, der fører til videreudvik-ling af designprincipperne for designet. Dertil indeholder refleksionsfasen også diskussion over an-vendte metoder samt vurdering af designets generaliseringsmuligheder og implikationer for en videre designproces i hhv. Blendit Learning og BESTSELLER. Specialet konkluderer, at digitalt understøttet ledelsesudvikling i en organisatorisk kontekst, vha. et ledelsescommunity på Fuse som digital læringsplatform, har et stort potentiale til at bidrage til en bed-re og mere effektiv onboardingperiode for nye ledere ift. at give dem ét samlet overblik over tilgænge-lig viden, retningslinjer og guides målrettet deres ledelsesniveau. Ligeledes konkluderes det, at desig-nets relevans og anvendelighed i praksis afhænger af en differentiering af et Fuse ledelsescommunity og indholdet derpå ift. at passe til den organisatoriske kompleksitet i BESTSELLER med forskellige brands spredt over mange lande, hvortil ledere på leading others niveauet har mange forskellige funk-tioner. Ift. designets relevans mhp. at bidrage til at fremme transfer af ny viden til ledelsespraksissen vurderes det, at selve Fuse ledelsescommunitiet i sig selv indeholder et stort potentiale herfor ved at kunne understøtte den formaliserede ledelsestræning i BESTSELLER. Ligeledes ift. gennem nudging og persuasive design at motivere ledere til at anvende den nye viden i praksis gennem strukturer, der fremmer refleksion over ny viden samt ved at give lederne påmindelser ud fra et årshjul ift. hvad de skal forholde sig til snart og levere viden dertil. De andre koncepter i læringsdesignet for digitalt un-derstøttet ledelsesudvikling; buddyordning og faciliterede netværksgrupper, vurderes også at kunne bidrage til at fremme praksisnær ledelsesudvikling og transfer ud fra sparring og vidensdeling med andre praktikere indenfor samme område. Det konkluderes ydermere, at designets anvendelighed i praksis og realiserbarhed er afhængig af allokeringen af ressourcer til at designet bliver faciliteret og drevet af nogle dedikerede personer samt at det vil kræve en både organisatorisk og individuel tilpasning for ledere at begynde at anvende det intenderede design for digitalt understøttet ledelsesudvikling vha. et Fuse ledelsescommunity. Specia-lets perspektivering leder frem til, hvordan specialets fund og undersøgelse vil kunne udvides og kva-lificeres yderligere i fremtidige undersøgelser.

Leaders' ability to succeed in their jobs is essential both for employee motivation and performance, the organizational bottom line, and the leaders' own sense of competence. However, research indicates that there is a growing need for more practice-oriented leadership development focused on the transfer of new knowledge to leadership practice in order to design effective leadership development pro-grams. Therefore, this thesis investigates how a conceptual learning design for digitally supported leadership development can be designed within an organizational context using a digital tool in the form of a Fuse leadership community on the digital learning platform Fuse, thereby promoting prac-tice-oriented leadership development and knowledge transfer. The research approach in this thesis is inspired by Design-Based Research (DBR) with the DBR in-novation model as a phase model, and is based on a qualitative, case-based, and user-centered re-search approach, as well as a co-creative design process involving stakeholders from the collaborative organization Blendit Learning and using BESTSELLER as the case organization. Additionally, the focus is on a practical delimitation of the research focus based on the onboarding of new leaders at the leading others leadership level in a Danish context. The thesis builds on my internship project (Palmdahl, 2022) with empirical insights into leaders' needs and desires regarding learning and devel-opment based on another case organization, as well as a prototype version 1 of a design for digitally supported leadership development within an organizational context using a Fuse leadership communi-ty. Based on the thesis's context phase, a needs and context analysis is conducted using the case organi-zation BESTSELLER and empirical insights from my own internship project, as well as prototype version 1 (Palmdahl, 2022). The LAB phase is centered around the co-creative design process, from which prototype version 2 of the conceptual design for digitally supported learning design is devel-oped. The phase ends with a user test involving five leaders from BESTSELLER. The intervention phase is not carried out in this thesis, which is why the reflection phase includes a formative evalua-tion of the design's relevance and applicability in practice based on the findings from the user test and a theoretical discussion of the design, leading to further development of the design principles. Addi-tionally, the reflection phase includes a discussion of the methods used and an assessment of the design's generalizability and implications for further design processes in both Blendit Learning and BESTSELLER. The thesis concludes that digitally supported leadership development within an organizational context, using a leadership community on Fuse as a digital learning platform, has great potential to contribute to a better and more effective onboarding period for new leaders by providing them with a compre-hensive overview of available knowledge, guidelines, and guides tailored to their leadership level. It is also concluded that the design's relevance and applicability in practice depend on the differentiation of a Fuse leadership community and its content to match the organizational complexity of BESTSELL-ER, which has various brands spread across many countries, where leaders at the leading others level have many different functions. Regarding the design's relevance in contributing to the promotion of the transfer of new knowledge to leadership practice, it is assessed that the Fuse leadership community itself holds significant potential to support BESTSELLER's formalized leadership training. Addition-ally, through nudging and persuasive design, the design can motivate leaders to apply the new knowledge in practice through structures that encourage reflection on new knowledge and by provid-ing leaders with reminders based on a yearly calendar about what they need to address soon and de-liver knowledge accordingly. Other concepts in the learning design for digitally supported leadership development - such as buddy systems and facilitated network groups - are also assessed to contribute to promoting practice-oriented leadership development and knowledge transfer through sparring and knowledge sharing with other practitioners in the same field. Furthermore, it is concluded that the design's applicability in practice and feasibility depend on the allocation of resources to have the design facilitated and managed by dedicated individuals, as well as requiring both organizational and individual adjustments for leaders to begin using the intended design for digitally supported leadership development using a Fuse leadership community. The thesis's per-spective leads to how its findings and research can be expanded and further qualified in future studies.

A master thesis from Aalborg University

Digitalisering af ledelsesudvikling i en organisatorisk kontekst

[Digitalization of leadership development in an organizational context]