Table 1. Subjects of multiple and open-ended questions in the questionnaire mapping supervisory and managerial duties and skills of recently graduated Finnish forestry professionals. The division into groups represents grouping of respondents for the analyses in the study based on their answers.
Subject of question Division into groups
1 Age
2 Gender
3 HEI from which graduated Master’s graduates / Forestry engineers
4 Year of graduation
5 Type of execution of studies Original / Multiform
6 Employment situation Forestry / Non-forestry / Not employed
7 Employer (* if in the field of forestry)
8 Employer’s field (* if in the non-forestry field)
9 Work experience before/after graduation
10 Work experience in supervisory position etc. before/after graduation Experienced / Non-experienced
11 Supervisory or managerial duties in current position Included / Not included
12 Number of subordinates 0 / >0
13 Number of indirect subordinates in networks etc. 0 / >0
14 Importance of and own competence in supervisory skills
15 Importance of and own competence in management skills  
16 Contributors of supervisory and managements skills
17 Open question about skill contribution
18 Post-graduation education activities
19 Name of education (* if attended in Q18)
20 Justification for post-graduation education (* if attended in Q18)
21 ”Free words”
Table 2. Descriptive examples of the terms presented beside the questions 14 and 15 in the survey to recently graduated Finnish forestry professionals about their supervisory and managerial duties and skills.
Skills evaluated Descriptive example of the meaning
Supervisory skills  
Communication skills Openness, clarity, timeliness, non-verbal communication
Feedback skills Positive and constructive feedback, listening, intervening in problems
Human relations skills Building trust, emotional intelligence, utilization of human diversity
Interaction and co-operative skills Listening, influencing, showing appreciation
Labor law competency Duties and rights, settlement of terms and conditions of employment
Motivation skills Encouragement, improving the working atmosphere, generating collective targets
Negotiation skills Preparing, defining of goals, problem-solving
Organizational skills Orderliness, prioritization, delegation, detection of overall view
Recruitment and instructional skills Evaluation of suitability, interview skills, orientation planning
Management skills  
Customer relationship and service management Management of purchasing and sales business, productization of services
Change management Reorganization of duties, handling of change resistance
Financial management Business monitoring, utilization of business ratio, budgeting
Management by coaching Recognition of qualifications, evaluation and development of competencies and capabilities, and encouragement of them
Network and subcontracting management Contracting of terms and practises of co-operation, coordination
Project management Planning, organizing, and involvement in periodic development projects
Remote management Supporting and guiding remote or multi-seat workers
Self-management Self-knowledge, self-development, time management, sense of work stamina
Strategic management Visioning, formulation, implementation and monitoring strategy
Team management Distribution and entrust of duties, resource allocation, directing activities
Well-being and occupational safety management Caring about work resources and safety
Table 3. Graduates and survey respondents by higher education institute (HEI) of forestry collected in the survey to recently graduated Finnish forestry professionals about their supervisory and managerial duties and skills.
HEI of forestry Number of graduates (N) % of all graduates Number of respondents (n) % of graduates of HEI % of all respondents
University of Eastern Finland 103 9.8 43 41.7 13.5
University of Helsinki 172 16.4 49 28.5 15.4
Häme UAS 122 11.7 27 22.1 8.5
Karelia UAS 135 12.9 31 23.0 9.7
Lapland UAS 141 13.5 37 26.2 11.6
Novia UAS 22 2.1 2 9.1 0.6
South-Eastern Finland UAS 178 17.0 84 47.2 26.4
Tampere UAS 173 16.5 45 26.0 14.2
In total 1046 100 318 30.4 100
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Fig. 1. Pre-graduation work experience of respondents (n = 318) in the survey to recently graduated Finnish forestry professionals about their supervisory and managerial duties and skills, in years.

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Fig. 2. Employment status of respondents in the survey to recently graduated Finnish forestry professionals about their supervisory and managerial duties and skills at the time of the survey (n = 318). View larger in new window/tab.

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Fig. 3. Distribution of respondents in supervisory positions in forestry organizations discovered in the survey to recently graduated Finnish forestry professionals about their supervisory and managerial duties and skills. The total number encompasses all employed respondents in the field of forestry.

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Fig. 4. The averages of the respondents’ (n = 318) experienced importance of supervisory skills and calculated gap between this and their experienced own competence (from extremely slight (1) to extremely high (5)) in these skills discovered in the survey to recently graduated Finnish forestry professionals about their supervisory and managerial duties and skills. Bars indicate average values and lines standard deviations.

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Fig. 5. The averages of the respondents’ (n = 318) experienced importance of management skills and calculated gap between this and their experienced own competence (from extremely slight (1) to extremely high (5)) in these skills discovered in the survey to recently graduated Finnish forestry professionals about their supervisory and managerial duties and skills. Bars indicate average values and lines standard deviations.

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Fig. 6. The averages of the respondents’ evaluations about the significance of the contributing factors for their supervisory and management skills (from not at all (1) to extremely high (5)) discovered in the survey to recently graduated Finnish forestry professionals about their supervisory and managerial duties and skills. Bars indicate average values and lines standard deviations.