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Towards the municipality of the future: Enhancing employability within the municipality of Maastricht

Koning ter Heege, Roy (2012) Towards the municipality of the future: Enhancing employability within the municipality of Maastricht.

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Abstract:Research purpose The municipality of Maastricht is an organisation that is situated in the south of the Netherlands. The organisation is in the middle of a development process, directed towards profiling Maastricht as an international city of knowledge. The municipality is focused on its customers: the inhabitants of the city. One cornerstone of the development process is to enhance the employability of the workforce. In order to enhance employability this research focuses on the development of functional and generic competences. Consequently, a number of individual and organisational preconditions should be present to ensure competence development, and subsequently, employability. The insights of this study are used to determine the best way to develop competences within the municipality of Maastricht. Methodology Our research is of an exploratory nature and we use a qualitative research method in the form of semi-structured interviews. A total of fifteen interviews has been conducted. The respondents consisted of six team and sector managers and nine employees. Findings Overall, we found that in the current situation employability is not enhanced, and the individual and organisational preconditions for competence development are only partially present within the organisation. In order to enhance the employability of the workforce a combination of formal and informal learning activities is needed to develop functional and generic competences. To ensure these learning activities, and subsequently competence development, it is essential that individual preconditions (motivation to learn and ability to learn) and organisational preconditions (supervisor support, learning climate and networks) are present within the organisation. Limitations/Future research The methodology to gather the data shows a few weaknesses. There are a relatively small number of respondents, and the sample mainly consists of employees who are willing to learn. In order to get a representative image of the municipality, it is recommended to conduct a quantitative study with a large sample to represent the entire organisation. Furthermore, the interview questions are based on existing research, mainly in the form of questionnaires. Consequently, respondents misinterpreted some questions. Future research should be oriented at the creation of a set of questions that are applicable in qualitative employability research.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Clients:
Gemeente Maastricht
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:85 business administration, organizational science
Programme:Business Administration MSc (60644)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/61468
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