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The purpose of this paper is to investigate opportunities and challenges for multi-professional paramedic-firefighter units in small municipalities in Finland.

The data were collected by means of four focus group interviews conducted with managers (N =12) and a questionnaire comprising open-ended questions for the personnel working in the units (n =73). Data from both sources were analyzed using inductive content analysis.

The empirical results suggest that the use of multi-professional units (MPUs) may be one means of providing a better standard of service in rural areas. However, the working practices and different professional backgrounds in MPUs are considered challenging by the personnel. Managers had a broader perspective; during the interviews they raised matters such as citizen characteristics, legal issues like varying working hours, and economic aspects. Both the personnel and the managers agreed on the strengths and weaknesses of the MPU model in principle.

The results of this study may clarify the opportunities and challenges posed by MPUs in rural areas from the perspectives of personnel and managers.

The study provides novel information on MPUs comprising paramedics and firefighters, who function at the interface of emergency medical services and rescue services and who have new tasks in rural areas, including home healthcare support and accident prevention.

This study aims to increase the understanding of the starting points and presuppositions of organizational learning (OL) processes in a hospital’s surgical department based on the existing theory of OL and to make visible the practical possibilities of the theory in this context.

The study was conducted as a case study. The data were collected from personnel of the hospital’s surgical department and consisted of 26 thematic interviews. The data were analyzed using qualitative theory-driven content analysis.

This study found different starting points for both employee-oriented and organization-oriented learning processes that could potentially progress to different levels of the organization: from individuals to a wider group or from a large group to an individual. The starting point of employee-oriented learning processes was depicted as everyday life problems or situations or was based on the person’s interest. The starting points of organization-oriented learning processes were described as achieving or maintaining the organization’s expected skill levels, pursuing continuous development or pursuing the organization’s specific development needs. Different kinds of presuppositions were also located within the OL processes.

This study produced new practice-based knowledge about the starting points of OL processes and their presuppositions. In health-care organizations, learning is especially important due to intensive and complex changes, and this study provides empirical evidence on how to enhance learning.

This study aims to explore student craft teachers’ conceptions of sustainable craft. This is an important issue because the Finnish National Curriculum of Basic Education emphasises sustainability, especially in craft education, and teachers play a vital role in preparing pupils to meet the future challenges. Because the concept of sustainable craft is open-ended, there is a need to rethink pedagogy in craft education and higher education.

The data were collected in the form of essays from future craft teachers (N41) studying craft science in the Finnish higher education system. The essays concerned both general conceptions of sustainable craft and reflections on the student teachers’ craft practices. The data were analysed using grounded theory to gain a deep understanding of how student craft teachers conceptualise sustainable craft. The data were quantified and statistically assessed for dependencies between variables and transferability of results.

The study revealed that sustainable craft is conceptualised as a system and that student teachers approach sustainability from different orientations: practice, product, immaterial and holistic.

The emerging theory offers a new concrete tool for understanding the abstract concept of sustainability in higher education and suggests that sustainability can be addressed through tangible methods of craft. This theory proposes craft as a tool to conceptualise of sustainability for broader use in education for sustainability (ESD) and as a concrete tool for developing pedagogy for ESD.

This study investigates the effect of total quality management (TQM) on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) ' profitability by examining whether the new TQM dimensions of risk management, digitalization, stakeholder management and system deployment, facilitate the impact of traditional TQM dimensions on profitability.

A structured survey of 271 Finnish SMEs divided into industry companies and service companies was used.

Risk management facilitates the relation between continuous improvement and company profitability. Digitalization does not facilitate the relation between TQM dimensions and company profitability. Stakeholder management facilitates the relation between management/leadership and company profitability, customer focus and company profitability and continuous improvement and company profitability. System deployment does not facilitate the relation between TQM dimensions and company profitability.

Most prior studies are based on the traditional TQM classification. The TQM dimensions of this study are more comprehensive than previous studies and take into account the latest trends in business development. The findings of this study differ from most previous studies and provide a source of reflection for SME management on how TQM should be implemented so that it affects the company's profitability.

This study examines whether certification improves the dimensions of total quality management (TQM) and whether the impact of certification is similar across companies of different sizes and industries. The benefits of certification for companies have been widely discussed in recent years. The general debate has been partly marked by the dispute about whether companies will benefit more from certification or the implementation of TQM. This debate has led to numerous studies on the benefits of certification; however, few studies simultaneously have examined traditional TQM issues and the requirements of the new quality standard, ISO 9001: 2015, as well as the updated European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) criteria.

This study was conducted via a survey of Finnish SMEs and covered both industrial and service companies. The study comprehensively compared industrial companies with service companies and small companies with medium-sized companies.

In industrial and small enterprises, certification clearly has a positive effect on the dimensions of TQM, but a similar effect was not observed in medium-sized enterprises or in the service sector.

This is one of the first studies to examine the effect of certification on TQM in different types of SMEs while simultaneously considering EFQM and ISO 9001:2015 in Finland. The significant originality of this research lies in the formation of a comprehensive research framework for the dimensions of TQM.