Heikki Manninen, Hanna Lehtimäki, Riitta Kilpeläinen, Eila Lautanen, Kalle Kärhä. (2024). The qualifications and competence in supervisory and management skills among recently graduated Finnish forestry professionals. Silva Fennica vol. 58 no. 4 article id 24007. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.24007

Keywords: competence gap; forestry organizations; generic skills; higher forestry education; working life orientation; work requirements

Highlights: A remarkably large share of forestry professionals has supervisory or managerial duties soon after their graduation; Supervisory skills were considered important for all forestry professionals regardless of their position; The respondents recognized notable gaps in their competence in supervisory and management skills relative to work requirements, which higher forestry education must react to.

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In the past decade, research and several surveys have indicated that the competence of higher forestry education graduates does not meet the requirements of working life regarding supervisory and management skills. The aim of this study was to discover what kind of supervisory and management competence is required in the daily tasks of early-career forestry professionals, and to what extent the teaching of these skills would be advisable to include in higher forestry education. The study was implemented through a Webropol survey of the Master’s of Forestry graduates and forestry engineers graduated between 2018–2021, which mapped their supervisory and managerial duties and skills. The study population was 1046 people, of which 30.4% responded to the survey. The principal finding was of an apparent extensive need for the abovementioned skills, as supervisory duties are typical in the work of forestry professionals soon after their graduation. In this study, approximately one fifth of the employed respondents worked in a supervisory position, one third had supervisory or managerial duties, and half had an indirect network of subordinates. Supervisory skills were seen important for all forestry professionals regardless of their position. Moreover, self-management, team management, and well-being and occupational health management were regarded as important skills. However, there appeared to be notable gaps in all these skills. The study results contribute to improving working life orientation in higher forestry education. Based on these findings, we recommend that teaching of these subjects should be implemented by integrating the topics into field-specific courses.

Manninen, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland; South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences, P.O. Box 68, FI-50101 Mikkeli, Finland https://orcid.org/0009-0001-4234-7649 E-mail: heikki.manninen@xamk.fi
Lehtimäki, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 1627, FI-70211 Kuopio, Finland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9061-8984 E-mail: hanna.lehtimaki@uef.fi
Kilpeläinen, TTS Työtehoseura, P.O. Box 5, FI-05201 Rajamäki, Finland E-mail: riitta.kilpelainen@tts.fi
Lautanen, TTS Työtehoseura, P.O. Box 5, FI-05201 Rajamäki, Finland E-mail: eila.lautanen@tts.fi
Kärhä, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8455-2974 E-mail: kalle.karha@uef.fi

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