Doctoral dissertation: The examination of ethical challenges of managers through care ethics challenges prevailing notions of leadership and the role of the researcher
In her doctoral dissertation on management, M.Sc. (Econ.) Ida Okkonen examined the ethical challenges faced by reception centre managers in their work through the ethics of care. The challenges were mainly related to the humane treatment of asylum seekers in a bureaucratic and rule-oriented environment.
Managers navigate between professionalism and micro-activism
When examining the experiences of vulnerability and caring practices of managers, the study showed that managers balanced between professionalism and the occasional so-called temporal disconformity. Caring practiced by managers took different forms depending on how the vulnerability was perceived, how the experiences of vulnerability were managed and what kind of effects caring was believed to have.
“Relying on professionalism meant controlling one’s own experiences of vulnerability and emotions to protect oneself from emotional stress, but also to empower others,” says Okkonen.
Conversely, managers practiced micro-activism situationally, that is, showed concern for asylum seekers within the limits of bureaucratic professionalism and sometimes beyond it.
“Caring for others gave the work meaning in a limited operating environment,” explains Okkonen. “It has been suggested that recognising and accepting your own vulnerabilities contribute to openness towards others and their vulnerabilities. Vulnerability should therefore be seen as a strength rather than a weakness, as an indication of openness, which enables us to connect with others and opens up possibilities for human agency. Thus, in this study, the openness of managers to their own experiences of vulnerability was interpreted to increase the agency of managers in a bureaucratic context, that is, in this case, care and concern for others.”
The study highlights, however, that the binary thinking concerning vulnerability and care – vulnerable/invulnerable or caring/non-caring – is unstainable because the caring related work of managers should mostly be seen as processual and fluid rather fixed on either-or choices. Taking care of yourself and protecting yourself from emotional stress should be considered as important as relational care towards others. The care shown by managers was situational and fluctuating, with managers balancing between caring for themselves and others.
Relational research approach helped to understand the ethical challenges of managers
Okkonen’s study looked at also the relationship between the researcher and the participant through the ethics of care. Caring research, that is, when a researcher cares for the participant, helped to understand the ethically challenging situations faced by managers and the care they practice in their work.
“The relational research approach enabled the researcher to be sensitive to the needs and concerns of the participant, so to speak,” says Okkonen. “When the researcher recognised and acknowledged their own vulnerabilities, it also opened up space for mutual care and compassion, and thus for deeper mutual understanding. This can be seen to contribute to well-being in general.”
Traditionally, organisational research has given little importance to the care between the researcher and the participant. Okkonen’s research, however, challenges the notion that the critical distance between the researcher and participant is essential for the reliability and validity of the study, demonstrating that the researcher has a moral responsibility to care when doing organisational research.
Her doctoral dissertation provides insights into the ethical challenges experienced by managers and managerial work in the context of immigration, and also more generally in a bureaucratic environment. The study shows that, contrary to traditional belief, the experiences of vulnerability open up possibilities of agency and relational understanding in both management and organisational research.
M.Sc. (Econ.) Ida Okkonen will defend her doctoral dissertation "Ethical challenges, vulnerability and caring responsibilities in the context of immigration management in Finland" on Friday 4 April 2025 at 12 noon in the Seminarium assembly hall (S212) at the Ģֱ. Her opponent is Professor Anu Valtonen (University of Lapland) and the custos is Associate Professor Marjo Siltaoja (Ģֱ). The public defense will be held in Finnish.
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