In 2013, the municipality of Frederikshavn decided to meet national policy objectives by creating a new type of welfare organization responsible for handling all initiatives made for citizens aged between 18 and 30 years. So the Center for Unge (Center for Youth (CU)) unit was formed and was the first of its kind in Denmark.  

CU has a broad range of disciplines with wide and varied specialized knowledge. This ensures it can offer holistic support services to the core target group.

The aim of this master’s thesis is to examine how the employees at CU are involved in an innovative process where interdisciplinary cooperation should be developed. For that reason, the development design is the focal point of this master’s thesis, to be able to build a bridge between the positive past and the desired future at CU.  

The qualitative research is based on action research. This is participatory in scope and deals with developing practical knowledge in human relations while the change occurs. Participation has taken place in a period of four months in CU where interviews also were part of the primary collection of empirical data.

The focal point of the theoretical framework in this master’s thesis is to involve employees in the processes of change and innovation as they are the ones who will feel the value of change and would be part of the implementation and establishment of development strategies. The master’s thesis has its theoretical inspiration in systemic thinking (Bateson, 2005) and in epistemological theory (Gergens, 2005) about social worlds’ symbolic constructed character.  Furthermore, Cooperrider (2011) is included who has, by placing the constructivist theoretical framework in a positive context, created the concept; Appreciative Inquiry.  

The study in the master’s thesis has identified the positive elements at the core of the CU. The intention was to strengthen the positive core and challenge the status quo by letting employees formulate desirable scenarios for their future. The employees expressed a desire to create a network where employees would be equals in the decision-making processes and where the core competencies of employees would be developed and used efficiently. The ideal solution is an organizational chart with a specific focus on the opportunity to develop competencies and cooperation between professionals. In the future the employees will be placed in mono-professional teams, but they will have meetings in interdisciplinary networks with specialized knowledge related to specific work tasks.

The development design is rethinking the fundamental infrastructure where employees from all levels in the organization are involved and organized into autonomous groups in every phase of implementation. As a result this means a broad number of participants who engage can contribute to a desirable outcome and future.