Students hope for transparency, a culture of appreciation, and commitment to improvement of teaching

These wishes emerged from the responses of the students in a survey that asked the community for solutions to develop ethical principles for the University of Oulu. According to the employees, the operating culture would approach perfection when our operations would be clear, and cooperation would work well. We would be polite, support each other, and information would flow smoothly. Decision-making would be transparent and inclusive, we would also be able to face problems.

We invited our entire community to co-create ethical guidelines and principles, code of conduct, for the University of Oulu. In the first phase between 9 and 19 October 2023, we collected proposals from the whole community to develop our operating culture. In the second phase, students and staff were able to see and weigh the ideas produced by others. Based on the evaluations of the second phase, three solutions stood out for all three questions. The questions were:

1. Thought Experiment: Overnight, a miracle has occurred, and the University of Oulu's operational culture is approaching perfection. What concrete changes do you observe during the week?
2. What needs to be fixed in our current operating culture? What could be better from your point of view? (values, operating models, behavior)
3. In what concrete ways can we promote a communal and appreciative operating culture?

"Thank you to everyone involved in the co-creation. We received more than 1 300 responses to the first phase and now more than 1 600 votes in the second phase. The answers provide a good picture of our community's wishes and a basis for developing common ethical principles," says Human Resources Director Jarmo Okkonen, who leads the Code of Conduct project.

In addition to Okkonen, the project team, consisting of the project manager and representatives from the faculties, the Student Union of the University of Oulu, service units, separate units and infrastructure units. The project group already met in the workshop on 3 November 2023 freshly to hear the results of the surveys.

“The material we receive from the Innoduel survey is very useful and things are slowly starting to take shape. In last week's workshop, the theme was "Bright view" and we were able to clarify common guidelines for our work based on feedback from students and staff. The project team continues with enthusiasm to the next workshops and towards a ready-made Code of Conduct”, tells project manager Tero Vedenjuoksu.

During November–January, the project team will meet in three workshops, where the results of the survey will be utilised and code of conduct will be defined for the University of Oulu. The first draft will be ready in January 2024 and the Board of Directors decide on the Code of Conduct in the spring 2024.

A lot of concrete solutions

The report distinguishes between the top three results of respondents in Finnish and English. So few students responded to the English survey that it is not possible to report the students' English results. The Innoduel tool was used in co-creation, and the survey was carried out for the university by Eezy Flow. All solution suggestions are written by respondents and have not been edited or translated.

Thought Experiment: Overnight, a miracle has occurred, and the University of Oulu's operational culture is approaching perfection. What concrete changes do you observe during the week?

Staff/English:

1. Transparent decision-making processes are in place, providing opportunities for input from all members of the university community
2. Everyone faces problems to solve them, instead of avoiding confrontation
3. All the decisions are communicated transparently, and people can have access to meetings' records to know where and how decisions were taken
   

Staff/FInnish:

1. Toiminta on selkeää ja yhteistyö toimii hyvin. Työntekijöillä on hyvä olla, on esim. katsottu työkuorma ja tehtävät, kehitysmahdollisuudet
2. Kommunikaatio on kohteliasta, tietoa jaetaan ja kaikkia tuetaan; ei keskinäistä kilpailua. Ei juoruta/ puhuta pahaa toisista selän takana.
3. Tieto kulkee ja saavuttaa kaikki olennaiset henkilöt ongelmitta. Päällekkäiset toiminnot on karsittu ja synergiaetua saadaan eri toimista.
   

Students/Finnish

1. Ilmapiiri, jossa kysymistä tai mokaamista ei tarvitse hävetä. Huomioidaan, että bilekulttuuri ei kiinnosta (läheskään) kaikkia.
2. Erilaiset järjestelmät toimivat laadukkaasti, tieto on avointa ja helposti saatavissa. Pöhinä on loppunut, keskitytään asiaan.
3. Opintojaksoilla annettu palaute vaikuttaa asioihin.

What needs to be fixed in our current operating culture? What could be better from your point of view? (values, operating models, behavior)

Staff/English:

1. Clear document with the alignment of the University. Multiculturality is a reality and everyone should follow the same code of conduct.
2. Don't send out surveys–some of them rigged–pretend to care about the responses, and then carry on what you were planning to do anyway.
3. By accepting that foreigners can contribute significantly if they are trusted and include them in decision making
   

Staff/Finnish:

1. Sen sijaan, että täytetään kyselyjä huvin vuoksi, yliopiston johdon pitäisi aidosti kuunnella henkilökuntaa. Kuuroille korville on mennyt.
2. Tulee taata riittävät resurssit kaiken tarvittavan työn tekemiseen. Jos jollekin asialle ei ole resursseja, ei sitä voi yksilöltä vaatia.
3. Keskustelujen tukeminen: kahvitilaisuudet, esihenkilöiden vierailut yksiköissä, ryhmissä, tiimeissä.
   

Students/Finnish:

1. Arvostamalla kaikkia tasapuolisesti sekä aloittamalla henkilöstökoulutuksella uusi näkökulma työhön sitoutumiseen
2. Tervehditään ja kannustetaan kaikkia.
3. Voisiko luennoitsijat oikeasti vaatia hiljaisuutta. Häiritsee, kun itse on raahautunut paikalle, mutta ei kuule mitään, kun toiset pölisee.

In what concrete ways can we promote a communal and appreciative operating culture?

Staff/English:

1. Transparency: Decisions affecting everyone taken in closed-door meetings in Finnish can be considered as slight corruption by foreigners.
2. Establish transparent decision-making processes that are inclusive and provide opportunities for input from all university community members
3. We need better channels for voices of university community to be actively listened to by the management.
   

Staff/Finnish:

1. Kunkin työssä tulee olla enemmän aikaa ajatella ja pohtia uusia näkökulmia työkavereiden ja opiskelijoiden kanssa. Se vie tiedettä eteenpäin
2. Hallinnon tulee aidosti osallistaa henkilöstö mukaan tärkeisiin muutoksiin, kuunnella oikeasti eri näkemyksiä ja huomioida ne päätettäessä.
3. Raskaat prosessit, tiedon kulku heikkoa johtajilta suorittavalle tasolle. Järjestelmät tukemaan tosiaan, sama tieto syötetään eri järjestel*
   

Students/Finnish:

1. Norsunluutornista johtaminen saisi loppua. Yhteisöllä pitää olla oikeasti mahdollisuus olla osallisena.
2. Tuntuu, että opetuksen laatua ei tarkkailla tällä hetkellä ollenkaan, ja se näkyy. Useat kurssien pitäjät eivät tee työtään laatu edellä.
3. Yhteisöllisyys myös aikuisopiskelijoiden näkökulmasta

Information about the Code of Conduct project is available in the personnel intranet Patio. Students can also log in to the service using the university's credentials.

More information: tero.vedenjuoksu@oulu.fi