%0 Research article
%T Effectiveness of sermon policy instruments: forest management planning practices applying the activity theory approach
%A Hokajärvi, Raili
%A Hujala, Teppo
%A Leskinen, Leena A.
%A Tikkanen, Jukka
%D 2009
%J Silva Fennica
%V 43
%N 5
%R doi:10.14214/sf.178
%U https://silvafennica.fi/article/178
%X Recent and ongoing societal changes have brought about a need to foster  multiple-use forestry and to strengthen customer orientation in family  forestry outreach. The study assesses how forest management planning in  family forest holdings could be developed to tackle these challenges.  The approach introduces a new way of evaluating the effectiveness of  information- and communication-based policy instruments. Here, the  cultural-historical activity theory is applied in studying the  interwoven practices of present-day planning and the associated advisory  services targeted at landowners. The data, comprising semi-structured  in-depth interviews with 19 professional planners, were qualitatively  examined, and a forest management planning activity model was  constructed with the emphasis placed on the inherent contradictions of  planning work. As the main contradiction, the forest and the forest  owner compete as objects. The aims of making the forest productive and  advising the landowners towards an increased activeness motivate forest  management planning but the planners feel that they lack the opportunity  to respond to the needs of the landowner. A wood-production-emphasizing  interpretation of the benefits to the national economy frustrates the  policy goal of genuinely promoting the goals of multiple-use forestry.  The conclusion drawn is that the actors engaged in forest management  planning can reveal the needs for change by discussing their opinions  and practical innovations. This can be done with the aid of facilitation  by e.g. researchers oriented to developmental work study.