Managing projects TOMORROW. Challenges in international projects. by GRYF Zarządzanie Projektami Międzynarodowymi

Managing projects TOMORROW Challenges in international projects

Issuing body:

Tischner European University

Managing projects TOMORROW Challenges in international projects

The publication was prepared as a part of GRYF project, realised by Tischner European University in Kraków. Publication supported by a grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA and Norway Grants and co-financed by the Polish funds Kraków 2015

Printed by: Tischner European University ul. Westerplatte 11, 31-033 Kraków www.wse.krakow.pl

Translated by: Barbara Kos

Graphic design, proofreading and composition: Pracownia Słowa

ISBN 978-83-60005-47-7 A free publication with Creative Commons license. Attribution (BY) – Non-commercial (NC) – Share Alike (SA) 3.0 Poland

Contents Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Agata Anacik-Kryza The use of social research in executing educational projects, the study of respondents’ needs and evaluation research. A case study of selected European Union projects with research component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Michał Futyra Risks involved in international humanitarian projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Marcin Jackowski

Project management methodology on the examples of PRINCE2 , Agile Project Management and PRINCE2 AgileTM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Katarzyna Kopeć Internet participation in artistic projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Grażyna Urbanik-Papp Neuroleadership – the perspective of neuroscience on studies in the field of leadership . . . . . . . . .

Krzysztof Witkowski Project Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Dear Reader If you have a moment to peregrinate the land of management and project management, you have the right book in your hands. This fruit of the GRYF project consists of six articles covering a broad spectrum of issues ranging from comparison and combination of traditional project management methods (with a view to mitigating a conflict between supporters of both methods … I am joking, of course, as it goes without saying that there is no panacea in project management) to forever interesting motivation-related problems and evaluation in educational projects. I would like to draw you attention to three issues, close to my heart, described in three sequential articles. You can read about risks in humanitarian aid projects, where next to risk analysis you can ponder over relevance or sometimes irrelevance of assistance, in other words, their significance to key stakeholders. An article on the concept of project success stimulating an interesting discussion about different definitions of project success, where technical success is not always the equivalent of the project’s overall success, will constitute supplementary reading not only for those who have a vested interest in the issues of project objectives. A success is, without a doubt, the concept of crowdsourcing projects based on a “distributed production model using collective creativity” (Help! Can anybody find or coin a neat word in Polish? Since Śniadecki succeeded in doing this in chemistry 200 years ago, why couldn’t we?). Given the fascination for artistic crowdsourcing projects as presented here, there may be a concern that implementation of such projects will lead to exploitation of the actual authors and the problems with non-transferable intellectual property rights. I kindly invite you to read this article! I also encourage you to undertake a critical polemic with the authors and the theses they put forward, hoping this will provide the grounds for an interesting new book to come. Przemysław Domański

The use of social research in executing educational projects, the study of respondents’ needs and evaluation research. A case study of selected European Union projects with research component. Agata Anacik-Kryza1 Key words: social science research, indicators, analysis of the needs of target groups, evaluation research

Introduction1

How to plan a social research on educational project? Stages of the research process, conceptualization, quantitative and qualitative methods.

Methodology of conclusions formulating in research projects often refers to a research process: developing measures for project realization, established measures evaluation along with the outcome of the study, respondents’ needs and expectations assessment, etc. Particular methods and research techniques are used in the research process and the advancement of realization of applied studies can be diversified. While determining concept of a project we should remember that the guidelines for conducting the research should be defined clearly and the stages of research process must be methodologically justified. When analyzing project documentation and the outcome of studies it could be easily noticed that the rectitude of the methodological policy is commonly violated. This paper presents selected educational projects with the research component that are the recipients’ needs and expectations assessment and/or results evaluation, in which I was directly involved. The paper illustrates phases of the research process with study conceptualization and describes selected strategies and research methods. It also presents needs and expectations assessments with respect to specific and selected projects in the field of education. An analysis has been made in terms of the social research rectitude and accuracy of conducted studies in the specified European Union educational projects.

The purpose of social research is to describe and explain how people act in a society. The researchers focus on the following issues: people’s attitudes, values and social behavior, preferences and views on crucial social phenomena and current political situation, expectations and life style aspirations and customs, etc. In such research not only individuals, communities, social groups or whole societies are in the spotlight, but also material and intangible cultural creations are taken into consideration.2 According to Babbie, the social research can be classified into three groups: exploratory, descriptive and explanatory. In exploratory research researchers’ aim is to discover new phenomena in order to understand them better and develop methodology for further investigation. Descriptive research search for answers to research questions what? how? when? and where? and their purpose is to characterize object of the study. Explanatory methods aim to recognize the cause of the phenomenon.3 Social research can be also divided on the grounds of the instruments of data collection – responsive and nonresponsive research. The former (also known as primary sources) bases on inducting data by executing fieldwork in a form of declarative study that roots from respondents statements and opinions or as a nonresponsive technique that is based on the respondents’ behavior (e.g. using qualitative observation method). In the latter (also known as secondary sources) researchers analyze available data (desk research), reports and scientific publications. Triangulation techniques introduced by Denzin are often applied in social research. Triangulation could relate to research methods and techniques (combination of quantitative and qualitative strategies) as well as to information – the use of different information sources.4 One of the major research tasks in “Żyj twórczo. Zostań M@T.e-MANIAKIEM” project5 was to conduct indepth needs and expectations’ assessment among project

Agata Anacik-Kryza – PhD in social sciences, a sociologist and anthropologist, social researcher and trainer. She has experience in developing training competences of communication, interaction in a multicultural environment and diversity management. For nearly seven years she has coordinated and implemented research projects at the Tischner European University. Since 2012 she has been Director of Research and Analysis Centre, since 2013 – Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Management. In 2015 she was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Sciences of Cognizance and Social Communication. She specializes in the area of qualitative research methodology issues, ethnic and national minorities, innovation in science, and social and civil dialogue.

Cf., E. Babbie, Badania społeczne w praktyce, PWN, Warsaw, 2003. Ibidem. 4 R. Denzin, The Research Act, 1978. 5 More on the project to be found on https://moodle.matemaniak.pl/ 2 3

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participants – middle school and high school students to whom the further project operations were addressed that involved comprehensive teaching materials for developing competence in mathematics, information technology and enterprising. The methodological objectives, various research goals6 as well as the research process sequentiality required several complementary research methods in accordance with the concept of triangulation method and research techniques mentioned earlier. A combination of: desk research, quantitative and qualitative methods was used in the study. The desk research was relied on gathered literature, reports and documentation of similar studies on the subject, results of comparable studies and statistics. The purpose of desk research was to specify and elaborate the research aims, study conceptualization and operationalization, research instruments preparation (individual in-depth interviewing scripts, focus group interviews and questionnaire templates). Secondly, the research referred to qualitative methods that were followed by quantitative methods. “The quantitative measures of students and teachers preceded the qualitative research, serving in-depth analysis of attitudes, motivations, expectations and limitations in shaping the competencies in mathematics, information technology and entrepreneurship among middle school and high school students (…). The aim was also to support the process of writing questionnaires and to point out the issues to be included in the quantitative research”.7 Because of the lack of information on quantitative research in the literature (the exception was the PISA) it was impossible to relate to similar quantitative instruments. Therefore, the quantitative studies had an exploratory character. They enabled researchers to test the initial theories and objectives from questionnaire as well as to explore those subjects that the researchers were uncertain they should be put in the final version of the quantitative research. Every social research consists of specified and crucial phases: research conception and preparation, data collection, data analysis and reporting and stating the research outcome. The phases of the research design can be looked at in more detailed manner. The research begins with establishing the research purpose and analyzing the questions that need to be answered. Further the research problem is defined and the conceptualization and operationalization are conducted in order to implement research inquiries and crucial hypothesizes in the final phase of conceptual stage. At this stage, a research method along with a study sample is chosen and the data collection techniques are set. After choosing a study sample (selection of entities: people or organizations for the study)

the research instrument is prepared (for measurements, e.g. questionnaire or discussion guide for the individual in-depth interview). It is advised to conduct a pretest and pilot study of the chosen instruments, especially when the study is exploratory. Within the phase of collecting empirical data we encounter actual testing (fieldwork), which could be implemented with the use of one or more research techniques. In this phase also the cutback, analysis and interpretation of obtained data are conducted. Next stage of the project is connected with the presentation of research outcome, its interpretation, explanation of the noted relations in accordance with a specified theory and drawing recommendations for further research.8 The conceptual phase that is defining the research purpose, putting forward key research questions and research conceptualization and operationalization is a significant stage of every social research. “Research process in the course of which we define what we mean by the specific notion is called conceptualization (…). During conceptualization a particular sense agreed in for the research purposes is given to a notion. Defining exact meaning requires description of the indicators that will be used for measuring our notion and its different aspects called dimensions”.9 Planning and executing of social research requires explanation and defining notions in use – “constant notions clarification appears in every social study research method”.10 Despite the fact that conceptualization is a constant process even in the case of qualitative research, where every interview could clarify a specific notion, it should receive suitable attention in the phase of establishing the research concept. It is particularly significant in quantitative research where the conceptualization and later the operationalization outcome takes effect in determining a set of questions for the research instrument.11 Operationalization is a “process of setting specific research proceedings that will enable empirical observations that correspond with those notions in reality”.12 Operationalization renders the defined notions in the process of conceptualization into measurable variables and rates thus enables insight into the research phenomena. In the stage of planning aforementioned project “Żyj twórczo. Zostań M@T.e-MANIAKIEM” – in-depth needs and expectations analysis – the issue of conceptualization of the key notion “competency” arose. Specified research purposes that include “Students motivation toward developing competencies in mathematics, information technology and enterprising”, “Recognizing the limitations in learning competencies just mentioned”, “Identifying students’ expectations towards the said competencies”13 show the difficulty in defining the term “competency” especially in rendering its meaning into students’ experience. Researchers noticed that while teachers, depart-

“The study was carried out to identify the direct need for an innovative product (both in first year middle school and high school students and teachers who provide education in mathematics, informatics and enterprising) within the interest in using an innovative educational solutions. In order to develop a product that was conceptualized in this project for introduction the constrains of more effective use in educating also will be subject of the research”. Żyj twórczo. Zostań M@T.e-MANIAKIEM. Konceptualizacja pogłębionej analizy potrzeb, TEU, Kraków 2010, p. 2. 7 D. Szklarczyk, Żyj twórczo. Zostań M@T.e-MANIAKIEM. Raport z badań ilościowych, TEU, Kraków 2011, p. 8. 6

Cf., E. Babbie, Badania społeczne…, op. cit. Ibidem, p. 144. 10 Ibidem, p. 147. 11 Ibidem, p. 148. 12 E. Babbie, Badania społeczne…, op. cit., p. 153. 13 A. Szklarczyk-Otręba, Postawy, motywacje, oczekiwania i bariery związane z kształceniem kompetencji matematycznej, informatycznej i przedsiębiorczości. Raport z badań jakościowych FGI uczniów, TEU, Kraków 2011, p. 11. 8 9

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ments of education or other authorities that have an influence on education policy are using this concept and they bear in mind its interdisciplinary character and complexity, students consider it as ambiguous, incomprehensive and separated from school practice. The author of the report that based on the qualitative research conducted among students states that: “(…) operationalization of the three competencies was not an easy task. We tried to draw students’ attention to the fact that the skills acquisition in mathematics and information technology takes place not only in these lessons but also during other classes and even outside the school. In spite of this, the students had evident problems with changing their point of view from subject to competency thinking”.14 When asked about the mathematics competency, students associated it with the mathematics subject and lessons of mathematics. They did not realize that this competency is also being built during other lessons (information technology, physical science, geography or chemistry classes). The entrepreneurship competency was even more unclear. Mainly because of the fact that the students could not refer to any specific subject (entrepreneurship was not included in the school programmes until the third grade of high school) this competency could be learnt cross-subject. “For the use of this project the entrepreneurship competency has been (among others based on the biding basic educational curriculum) operationalized into following fields: self-management, social skills, entrepreneurship and ethics. Such aspects of wildly understood entrepreneurship competency were chosen so they are or could be taken into account in the school education and at the same time they could be simply transformed into easily understood questions by students”.15 The choice of research methods and techniques should strictly derive from the conceptual phase of the research – from the specified purpose and research inquiries. The quantitative dimension of the study focuses on numerical description of the phenomena and is executed on large representative control groups. The empirical data obtained in the research could be used for statistics and the outcome generalization for the whole population being studied would be justified. The studies set up in the European Union programmes that are not separate tasks or are not of social character, are rarely quantitative – representative. This is often due to the fact that project conclusions, on which project tasks are based, are predetermined. It is true that the structured interview or indirect interview techniques – researcher-administered survey or CAWI16 – are commonly employed but there is no focus group here. The exception is population-based study17 used in case of evaluating received support for the project (e.g. educational tasks). All the participants of the study are obliged under a contract to exercise this instrument. Even if the study is of population-based character it does not meet necessary criteria to be considered as quantita-

tive. Those are requirements for creating and standardizing measurement instruments. It means that the structured questionnaire or survey form have a closed form and specified language (closed-ended and half – open questions prevail). The order, graphic form and number of the questions is exactly the same for every respondent (with the exception of situations where the diversity is essential, e.g. hypothetical relation between the variables). The quantitative techniques used most commonly in the European Union projects presented in this paper are surveys – researcher-administered surveys or CAWI. In the latter the questionnaires are provided in a website or in a programme generating web interviews18 and the respondents receive an email with a link to a survey. The advantages of this technique are: fast access to large group of respondents, low costs and relatively short proceedings (that is the main reason for the internet-based surveys usually are a population-based study). However, the problem here is the low rate of return. In the projects analyzed for the needs of this paper the low rate of return issue was leveled due to contracts that the participants sign. The terms and conditions oblige them to take part in project evaluation (questionnaires). The researcher-administered survey, on the other hand, is usually used for trainings evaluation. It is distributed among the participants at the end of a training. The advantage of this method is the high rate of return which is caused by the high control of the surveying process. The disadvantage, however, is a sense of lack of anonymity in participants while filling in the questionnaire. The qualitative fieldwork opposed to quantitative research (surveys) generate outcome data that usually cannot be represented in numbers received from applied measurements.19 In the qualitative research the impact is put on discovering and interpreting uncountable processes and their meanings. “Methods used by qualitative researchers show the common faith that they could give a “deeper” insight into the understanding of social phenomena than would be apprehended from only quantity data”.20 The aim of qualitative research is to discover contexts and manners in which people are analyzing social reality and what sense they make out of it. The genesis of qualitative fieldwork derives from ethnographers and cultural anthropologists works. What characterizes ethnographic qualitative research is: 1. emphasis on deep cultural cognition of specific social phenomena; 2. operating with unstructured data that at the time of collection have not been encoded with a specified set of analytic instruments; 3. analyzing only few examples but in contrast in detail; 4. analysis of information that contain spoken interpretations of meanings and functions of human behavior as well as their explanations.21 A webpage which in an easy way enables designing on-line surveys, data collection and executing the outcome. 19 E. Babbie, Badania społeczne…, op. cit. 20 D. Silverman, Prowadzenie badań jakościowych, PWN, Warsaw 2007, p. 59. 21 Ibidem, p. 86. 18

Ibidem, p. 12. 15 Ibidem, p. 32. 16 Computer-Assisted Web Interview. 17 The study of a group of individuals taken from the population (the general population study) without random selection of focus group. 14

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“The field research is especially adequate in terms of recognizing attitudes and behaviors that are most comprehensible in their natural environment in contrast to slightly artificial conditions which experiments and surveys create”.22 As Babbie states, the qualitative fieldworks are very useful for studying social processes in time.23 Qualitative research is executed on a small and purposely chosen (not randomly) samples and are based on unstandardized research techniques (e.g. unstructured individual interviews). The results should not be used for statistical purposes and cannot be generalized onto the studied population due to their characteristics. When analyzing strengths and weaknesses of qualitative fieldwork, its ability of widening the comprehension of studied phenomena should be highlighted. “While other research methods could be seen as being superficial, the same rarely applies to field research”.24 In qualitative data analysis, as Silverman states, researchers have to deal with smaller sets of information that are subjected to multiple analyses, which increases accuracy of data interpretation.25 Babbie also points out flexibility as another asset of qualitative research. The objectives of the studies could be verified and adapted almost at any stage of execution, e.g. by research instrument modification.26 As it has been mentioned so far, the qualitative techniques would not provide statistical description of studied population. Statistical relations between events or phenomena are of no interest here. Therefore Babbie stresses greater accuracy of qualitative research and, at the same time, points to their weakness in reliability. According to Babbie, accuracy relates to “whether we are really researching what we assume or something different” and reliability “is a matter of dependability: would the same results be obtained if the same measurement would be effectuated multiple times?”27 Higher qualitative research accuracy is associated with deep insight and not superficial approach as it is in case of surveying methods. Lesser reliability appears because of the method used to select a sample group and also from the subjectivism in describing the phenomenon as a problem of separating researcher’s opinions and judgements from the phenomenon itself arises. Babbie says that “in-depth measurements in the field research are often very personal”.28 An in-depth interview,29 as opposed to an unstructured interview, has a set of topics to be brought up in the conversation.30 Research instrument – interview schedule – is structured although categorized to the minimum. The schedule depends on the issues subjected to the research. They also include examples of open-ended questions. Questions differ in the level of generality. Starting

with leading questions that relate to general issues and ending with more detailed ones that refer to respondent personal examples and experiences. “Qualitative interview is an interaction between the interviewer and the interviewee. The interviewer has a general plan of the research but a set of questions to be asked using specific words and with affixed order is not predetermined”.31 A qualitative interview is a casual conversation and the interviewer only steers the conversation towards certain topics that are essential for the purpose of the study. Desired situation is when the interviewee speaks often and the interviewer listens with attention and only directs the respondents statements in proper direction. The concept of “active interview” created by Holstein and Gubrium assumes that the research object is somewhat generated on the spot during the interview. This approach indicates that the process of content creation and applying sense to it occur during the conversation. Empirical data result from the interaction between the researcher and respondent and they are actively generated in their presence. This should be taken into consideration both when conducting interviews and the process of analyzing the data. Researchers chose an individual interview technique in at least three cases. First of all, there are conducted when there is a need of widening the scope of information and reaching the nonconscious areas, such as motives and values.32 Secondly, if the interviewer touches controversial and intimate aspects or if a group interview (for example in focus group interview) could cause discomfort in some of the participants. And finally, they are carried out when the respondents are difficult to reach (territorial dispersion) or they are experts in the studied field so they could provide valuable information but at the same time they could be reluctant in sharing the knowledge in front of a group. In the projects the individual in-depth interviews were used both when intimate and difficult for the respondents subjects were mentioned and also when the interviewees were specialists. In-depth individual interviews were used for interviewing students in first year of middle school and high school in mentioned before described project “Żyj twórczo. Zostań M@T.e-MANIAKIEM”. The researchers recruited students with lower performance in mathematics or information technology. The researchers wanted to avoid the situation in which weaker students could feel insecure and distressed about their expectations, motivations and constrains connected with gaining those competencies during a group conversation (FGI). Respondents felt less uncomfortable in the interview. In addition the interviews were conducted in familiar environment for the interviewee – at school. It was necessary to differentiate the sample group on the account of achievements in education to execute in-depth needs and expectations analysis for first year mid school and high school students. In that way not only the opinions from the best and most active students were gathered but the whole spectrum of attitudes and points of view could be observed. In the sec-

E. Babbie, Badania społeczne…, op. cit., p. 310. Ibidem, p. 311. 24 Ibidem, p. 334. 25 Cf., D. Silverman, Interpretacja danych jakościowych, PWN, Warsaw 2009. 26 E. Babbie, Badania społeczne…, op. cit.; cf., D. Silverman, Interpretacja danych…, op. cit. 27 E. Babbie, Badania społeczne…, op. cit., p. 334. 28 Ibidem, p. 336. 29 IDI. 30 E. Babbie, Badania społeczne…, op. cit.; cf., D. Silverman, Interpretacja danych…, op. cit. 22 23

E. Babbie, Badania społeczne…, op. cit., p. 327. D. Maison, Jakościowe metody badań marketingowych. Jak zrozumieć konsumenta, PWN, Warsaw 2015.

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ond part of the qualitative research on students with average and good educational achievements was conducted with the use of focus group interviews. Individual in-depth interviews were also conducted in the research part of the project “B+R. Nauki społeczne dla gospodarki”.33 The research was executed, among others, for educational purposes – twelve case studies were prepared that described cooperation between widely understood economy with the scientist representing social science. Remarkable research material was gathered – forty individual interviews were conducted “with the representatives of organizations (scientific and research institutions, NGO) using social knowledge in their practice (…) that were accepted for the project as cooperating with economy and business entities representatives. Unstructured interviews were conducted and in the first research phase (twenty interviews) the mutual set of subjects for discussion was embraced. The course and choice of topics in the second phase interviews depended on the researchers’ decisions on developing and deepening some of the topics mentioned in the first phase”.34 Interviews were of a specialized character and regarded how the organizations represented by the respondents were commercializing their knowledge or how they were cooperating with the scientific community. Researchers wanted to obtain detailed and in-depth information on how the processes was progressing. They also tried to maintain an individual perspective (respondents’ and organizations’ experiences usually are lost in group interviews and not fall under proper analysis). The choice of this technique was also justified by practical and organizational conditions. It was easier to make an interview appointment with one respondent then to set one date for several people. Because of all the reasons mentioned above the individual in-depth interviews were chosen. Focus group interviews and expert panels are research techniques that are based on the group dynamics effect. Focus group interviews35 are conducted in groups of 6 to 12 people and last for around two hours. The characteristic of focused interviews is that they mostly concentrate on a specific matter to collect the wide range of detailed data. Focused interviews have a flexible, unstructured schedule that contains rather guidelines and notions then specific questions. In focused interviews, also the so called mini focus groups are used. They number 3 to 6 participants and have a form of specialized panels. They are conducted especially when it is difficult to gather all the participants at the same time. It’s worth remembering that this type of interview has lower group dynamics. “Conducting interviews in smaller groups of 3–4 people, will prevent from obtaining superficial information in traditional focuses. This interview gives a bigger chance for deeper insight into singular respondent experience and for better understanding of his motivations (…).

Mini focus groups are also advised to be used when our respondents tend to be difficult and for different reasons the moderator has problems with controlling them. Highly-specialized occupational groups with high self-esteem belong to this category (…). Other group that should have lesser number of members are groups of children (of preschool and early school age) who, because of their peculiar development, need more attention from the interview moderator”.36 As I mentioned before, the undeniable advantage of focused interviews is connected with the group dynamics. “Group dynamics often reveals such aspects of the matter that the researcher couldn’t have predicted and that wouldn’t appear in individual interviews”.37 Panel discussion technique has a similar structure as focus group interview. In panel discussion over a dozen up to twenty participants take part. At the beginning they were organized as specialists meetings. At present this method is used as less structured form of group interviews. It has a form of moderated discussion based on a problematic scenario with outlined matters rather than categorized questions. Its purpose is in-depth information collection on research problem and exposing its etiology, participants motivations as well as needs and expectations along with potential limitations. This research method applies different projective tests and methods that increase creativity in participants of the study, e.g. brainstorming or free association test. Focus group interviews and panel interviews were conducted in qualitative research for teachers in two European Union projects. The first of them “Żyj twórczo. Zostań M@T.e-MANIAKIEM” was earlier described. The second one was “Kształcenie Pełne Wyobraźni”.38 In the former the FGI was applied. Six group interviews were conducted with mathematics, information technology and entrepreneurship competencies teachers. In the latter project the panel discussions were conducted. Two meetings with workshop formula were organized for the teachers that were testing teaching materials for high school educational programmes in History, Civics and Biology prepared especially for the project. Why the researchers decided to apply different techniques? Despite the fact that the testing groups were similar and the subject of both projects concerned educational matters, teaching programmes and materials, the purposes conceptualized for both of the studies were slightly different. In the needs assessment conducted for the project “Żyj twórczo. Zostań M@T.e-MANIAKIEM” the basic research purpose was to establish the necessary conditions, existing problems and limitations in studied competency development. It also determined effective motivation methods to encourage students to develop the researched competencies. Other component of the research purpose was defining the teachers’ demand for applying new teaching solutions and interest in using instruments that the project

More information about project to be found at http://www.TEU. krakow.pl/pl/projekty-dla-otoczenia/uczelnia-dla-gospodarki/nauki-spoleczne-dla-gospodarki/informacje-ogolne 34 Nowe perspektywy. Nauki społeczne dla gospodarki. S. Rudnicki (ed.), TEU, Kraków 2012, p. 25. 35 FGI.

D. Maison, Jakościowe metody badań…, op. cit., p. 95. E. Babbie, Badania społeczne…, op. cit., p. 331. 38 More information on the project to be found on https://kpw.edu.pl/ 37

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offered.39 Looking for more information that brought answers to key research questions was supported by more structuralized research instrument – group interview schedule. As I stated before, qualitative research in this project was conducted as in-depth analyses of needs and expectations potential teaching materials users. It was to give essential guidelines before next project tasks had been planned. In addition the qualitative research was to help in introducing a measurement instrument – questionnaire. The teachers of researched subjects and class teachers were participants of focus group interview. The qualitative study of the second project “Kształcenie Pełne Wyobraźni” had a different course. There were two discussion panels with specialists planned each one for Biology and History with Civics. The discussions lasted three hours, which was more than the focus group interview and had a form of an open forum for idea exchange on the tested teaching materials. Among participants there were both teachers who were testing the materials and others interested in that matter such as headmasters of units taking part in the tests and programme specialists who were responsible for the methodological correctness of provided materials. Also execution of the research was different then in the first of the projects. In the project “Kształcenie Pełne Wyobraźni” discussion panels were organized after testing the teaching materials. The at that time on going change in educational system had a significant meaning as the research tasks reacted to it. In school year of 2013/ 2014 in the upper secondary education (high schools and professional technical schools) Biology (for students in classes with Humanities profile) and History with Civil Education (for students in classes with Science profile) gained a supplementary character. Accordingly to the national curriculum.40 Biology that covers topics from Biology, chemistry, physics and geography is being taught for four semesters during the second and third grade of high school. The described change was welcomed with negative reaction from the teachers engaged in the project for testing the teaching materials as they were supporting traditional education where all the scientific subjects were taught separately. Similar situation was with the supplementary Humanities subjects. “Critical and negative teachers’ attitude (…) towards the change in the national programme for supplementary subjects that was introduced by the Ministry of National Education, by joining several subjects that hitherto were taught separately into one (…). This results in impoverishing and simplifying transmitted knowledge, as well as lowering the quality of education, which in consequence could result in gaps in basic knowledge in all the areas of science among upper

secondary education alumni”.41 Because of that the discussion panels became a chance for opinion exchange and a more detailed discussion on the aforementioned changes in national curriculum.

The study of the needs and expectations of the target groups of the project We employ an analysis or a study of the needs when we want to get to know the needs of the recipients of our product or service, so as to make it maximally adapted and meet their expectations in its final version. A study of needs is implemented in a situation in which we want to increase satisfaction in users’ experience while using the product or service and when we want to know their criteria in selecting a particular product or service – what is essential for them, what needs to be satisfied to make such a choice? On the basis of gathered information we know the priorities that the recipient gives to the utility of the product or service, we know the key areas and those of the second importance. “Marketing research on preferences of buyers is carried out in order to know the system of subjective judgments reflecting motivational tension, needs and tastes, on the basis of which the consumer makes a choice (…). Analysis of preferences should determine the hierarchical structure of the election, and thus show the order in which consumers go for individual products and services”.42 The understanding of a study of the needs dominates especially in marketing research in which researchers want to know recipients’ needs, their priorities in purchasing goods or services and then to help companies commissioning the study in adopting their offers. Studies of needs and expectations are also carried out in social studies. In this respect such studies can identify and prioritize the key unmet needs and expectations of specific target groups of the planned intervention and its influences. A study of needs is broadly defined as “the process of identification and assessment of needs occurring in a particular society or other specific population”.43 Such studies are often associated with research on motivation or also attitudes towards phenomenon under consideration. It is particularly visible in the area of educational studies. A study of the needs in this respect may be associated with teaching particular competencies, subjects, learning styles, teaching methods and techniques, teaching materials, etc. Finally, such information, as well as in marketing research, may serve for decision makers and employers to adjust planned activities to the articulated needs and their order of importance. For instance, needs associated with the enhancement of opportunities for learning outside the classroom in an extramural way may cause that A. Anacik-Kryza, Ocena materiałów dydaktycznych przygotowanych w ramach programów kształcenia „Przyroda” oraz „Historia i społeczeństwo. Raport z paneli dyskusyjnych z nauczycielami testującymi materiały dydaktyczne w projekcie „Kształcenie Pełne Wyobraźni”, TEU, Kraków 2015, p. 4. 42 K. Mazurek-Łopacińska, Badania marketingowe. Teoria i praktyka, PWN, Warsaw 2005, p. 187. 43 A. Szlęk, Analiza potrzeb, Pozaformalna Akademia Jakości Projektu, p. 8. 41

A. Anacik, Kształcenie kompetencji matematycznej, informatycznej i przedsiębiorczości z perspektywy nauczycieli szkół gimnazjalnych i licealnych. Raport z badań jakościowych FGI, TEU, Kraków 2012. 40 M. Wysocka-Kunisz, Lekcja przyrody w liceum – tradycja czy nowoczesność, “Annales Universitatis Paedagogicae Cracoviensis”, Studia Geographica VI, 2014. 39

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planned training will be based, at least in part, on blended learning methodology. Qualitative research on attitudes, needs, and expectations is used in case of the introduction of a new product or service, when the product is still at the conceptual stage and testing it in a quantitative way does not make sense.44 “The aim of such studies it to identify opinions, feelings and associations caused by the product or concept being tested”.45 Research on attitudes is related to the study of motivations, limitations, needs and expectations. Research on motivation focuses on understanding the deep mechanisms of motivation – what motivates people to use certain services, products, what limits their usage, and what are the limitations of the usage. Relying on this type of research on the declaration of the recipient, the potential user of the product, in particular in quantitative technique, may lead researchers to draw erroneous conclusions. Thus, qualitative techniques are used in this type of study in order to enable researchers to make an in-depth analysis of the needs and expectations of users, as well as non-declarative survey, based, among others, on observation of behavior. “Drawing conclusions on consumer phenomenon only on the basis of a declaration and on what the consumer speaks directly proves that erroneous assumption has been adopted that the consumer is aware of his attitudes, motivations and needs and has to it an introspective access”.46 While implementing research on attitudes, motivations, needs, and expectations we need to bear in mind that such studies may have unconscious and unintentional character. “If we ask recipient straightforwardly we do not always get to his real attitudes”,47 hence very often in this type of qualitative study researchers make use of projective techniques that enable them to obtain responses that do not come under the process of rationalization. Projective techniques are used in social studies in order to know what in people’s attitude and motivation is unconscious, about what they do not want or cannot say freely, openly or in front of the group, or about what they are not aware of.48 In qualitative research, projective techniques are used when there is a premise that participants taking part in an interview will be reluctant to make free speech about the topic under consideration or when they may consider particular subject to be too sensitive or intimate. Such techniques are also used when issues associated with research are difficult to verbalize, too abstract or when researchers want to know independent opinions, or when they want to obtain information from every participant taking part in an interview – a test of unfinished sentences or association may serve as an example of this technique. The latter projective technique was used during the focus group interviews with third grade high school students, in a study carried out in the framework of the project “Kształcenie Pełne Wyobraźni”. Students were asked to write on papers first few associations that came to their minds when they

heard “History with Civics”.49 Due to the fact that students who were participants of the interviews have a very low sense of anonymity and confidentiality of their utterances (despite the researcher guaranteed that they would be preserved), this technique was used to obtain the most sincere expression related to the subject taught. Context of the study – the fact that it was implemented in school, students were recruited by teachers and the fact, that participants knew each other well – all affected the meeting, made it less comfortable and also had an impact on freedom of expression. “In this exercise, it was very important to write down what they think of without using self-censorship. At the same time, they could write down as many expressions as they wanted – there were no limitations in this regard. Then, they were asked to read what they wrote – first volunteers, secondly the rest of the participants”.50 In the project “Platforma Kształcenia Społecznościowego – We Learning”51 studies were planned that aimed at identifying needs, motivations, experiences and limitations related to teaching by the means of the distance learning method. Results of the study were taken into consideration when designing community learning platforms, its modules, educational materials and training, motivational system, etc. Qualitative methods were used in the study in which 18 focused interviews were carried out (6 interviews in Cracow, 6 in Rzeszow and 6 in Zamość) and the survey covered both students and graduates of various disciplines, as well as university staff,52 employers and experts.53 In this part of the project researchers carried out a detailed analysis of the recipients’ needs and expectations towards web platform being in the process of implementation, in particular: in the field of preparation of an online educational materials, classroom training or combined methods – the organization, topics, authors of courses; payment for e-training and financing of social networking; ways to motivate participants to learn and to be active on the site; building strong brand image of social media, and portal promotion. In the next stage of the project, this is to say testing the use of educational materials and the operation of a social platform, another study was conducted in terms of needs and expectations. This time the study was directed to the actual users of community learning portal and was comprehensively linked to the evaluation of teaching materials (which will be described in the next section). In case of analysis of the needs and expectations researchers were focused especially on the study of training needs (the scope and the subject matter of training). In this area the following questions were raised by the researchers: what form of education is best suited to the needs of users of a platform, what would increase the motivation of participants to take part in train Or if there were students, who has nature science as a complementary subject, then associations were related to Natural science slogan. 50 A. Anacik-Kryza, Ocena materiałów dydaktycznych…, op. cit., p. 11. 51 Information about the project on: https://welearning.edu.pl/ 52 The study involved three universities: Tischner European University in Cracow, University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszow and University of Management and Administration in Zamość. 53 L. Baran, E. Inglot-Brzęk, B. Przywara, Studenci i absolwenci o e-learningu. Raport z fokusów eksperckich, TEU, Kraków 2012. 49

D. Maison, Jakościowe metody badań…, op. cit. Ibidem, p. 30. 46 Ibidem, p. 35. 47 Ibidem, p. 46. 48 Ibidem. 44 45

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ing courses, which topics are most interesting for project participants. There was also another issue that covered the analysis of the factors and conditions associated with motivations of project participants: what are the reasons for using the social platform and what motivates you to participate in the project. There were also included issues associated with satisfaction from the use of the platform and recommendations of it to others.54 Again, as in the previous study, we used qualitative methods, in particular the focus group technique (a total of 12 completed FGI). In another project, which also included in-depth analysis of the needs and expectations of users in preparation of innovative teaching materials, the researchers decided to combine quantitative and qualitative methods and use different research techniques: in-depth interviews, focus groups, and surveys. As far as triangulation is concerned, its application has been described earlier when discussing its use in the project “Żyj twórczo. Zostań M@T.e-MANIAKIEM”. Beside two stages of the study mentioned above – firstly qualitative research and then, quantitative one, it is worth mentioning that this study was directed to two target groups of the project, namely to students and teachers. This points to the complexity and the complementarity of methodological assumptions. Focus group interviews were conducted in order to achieve goals related to the identification of key factors that influence students’ motivation to develop mathematical, information technology and entrepreneurship competence, the study of major barriers in terms of the process of developing these competences, and an analysis of students’ attitudes toward the acquisition of those competences. When selecting students for the interviews researchers were guided by several criteria, i.e. the size of the school premises; the region in which the school was located; the type of school: public school or private placement, middle school or high school; the profile of the class: class of humanities or sciences. In spite of the fact that the research sample had a purposeful character, researchers took care of the diversity of factors that were taken under consideration in the selection of participants in the interviews. Research instrument – the scenario of focus group interviews – consisted of several subject areas such as: students’ attitudes towards competences being studied, projective questions associated with every competence being studied, description of students’ motivations to acquire these competences, identification of the limitations related to the acquisition of the competences, and identification of students’ expectations in terms of the acquisition of the competences.55 In the qualitative part, weaker students (that has already been discussed) were examined through a technique of individual in-depth interviews. Objectives of the study and selection of students for the study were similar as in the case of the examination by the FGI technique. Similarly, in the case of a research instrument – a schedule to the IDI – has raised almost identical is-

sues as in the scenario of a group interview. In the second phase of the study the needs and expectations of the first grade junior high school and high school students participating in the project were subjected to a study based on a questionnaire. Therefore, quantitative research took the form of population-based study. “Quantitative research on middle school and high school students that was carried out under the scope of the project, was to help in the development and initial assessment of the concept of product (…). The main purpose of this research was to obtain information that would help in the adjustment of tools being the elements of the concept of product to the clients’ needs”.56 Specific objectives of the quantitative study were to determine: the level of aspirations of the students, in particular their interest in education faculties identified as crucial for the economy; the level and the nature of the individual factors affecting learning and determining the possibility of individualized learning (motivation, learning styles, limitations to learning, e.g. science); the attractiveness of innovative teaching tools planned for implementation in the project. Within the framework of the issues related to aspirations, students were asked about the following matters: what achievements in learning are considered by them to be successful, who would they like to be after the completion of education, and what are their interests related to learning key competences in economy. In assessing the attractiveness of the teaching materials and didactic solutions prepared as part of the project, students were asked about the characteristics of ideal, exciting school subjects and were asked to rate the concept of planned activities. In the case of individual factors influencing the process of learning, the students were asked to answer questions concerning: the assessment of the level of difficulty of different subjects related to respondents’ education competence; sources of difficulties in the process of learning these skills; motivating and disincentive factors of learning; learning styles.57 In this study, random researcher-administered survey was used which consisted of app. 30 closed or half-open questions. The structure of the tool was divided into blocks corresponding to the issues described above. The measurement instrument used single- and multiple-choice questions, questions that were measured on attitude scale, semantic differentials, etc. Qualitative research with teachers were carried out in the last type of studies that were implemented in the analysis of the needs and expectations of the target groups of the project “Żyj twórczo. Zostań M@T.e-MANIAKIEM”. “The overall objective of the study was to identify the immediate needs of the users of the innovative product (…) in the range of interest and the demand for using proposed innovative teaching solutions and possibilities of their use in more effective teaching”.58 Teachers in the study performed a double role. On the one hand, they served as experts with knowledge of the needs, barriers and expectations in learning first grade junior high

Raport z badań prowadzonych w ramach projektu „Platforma Kształcenia Społecznościowego – We Learning” wśród jego uczestników i pracowników TEU, TEU, Kraków 2014. 55 A. Szklarczyk-Otręba, Postawy, motywacje, oczekiwania i bariery…, op. cit. 54

D. Szklarczyk, Żyj twórczo. Zostań M@T.e-MANIAKIEM…, op. cit., p. 8. 57 D. Szklarczyk, Żyj twórczo. Zostań M@T.e-MANIAKIEM…, op. cit. 58 A. Anacik, Kształcenie kompetencji matematycznej…, op. cit., p. 12. 56

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school and high school students. On the other hand, they were future users of the developed didactic solutions – it was important to get to know their assessment of the usefulness and functionality of the planned teaching tools. The purposes of a detailed study included: determining necessary conditions and the existing difficulties and obstacles related to the development of competences among the surveyed students; identifying the needs and expectations of teachers in the analysis of skill gaps among students; determining effective ways to motivate students to improve the level of acquired competences; determining teachers’ needs and interests in terms of the use of new solutions planned in the project and indications of the methods of their implementation; and, finally, testing the concepts of innovative materials and teaching tools prepared under the project activities. The latter, in fact, constituted a research on the concept of the product which was presented to participants taking part in the focused interviews (that was understood as an innovative learning model for mathematical, information technology and entrepreneurship competence, together with planned materials and tools for teaching), which they were asked to assess for its efficiency, attractiveness and effectiveness in the teaching process. “The aim of the research on the concept of the product is to know first, spontaneous reaction of potential consumers to the concept of the product that is going to be placed on the market. Most suitable for testing concepts of the product are qualitative methods, as they allow participants to make free utterances, undisturbed by structured questions”.59 Research of this type is carried out at an early stage of product development, when modifications are still possible. At this stage, it is important to specify product concept, so that the interlocutors can refer to specific solutions. “The most desirable in this study are all kinds of aids by which the discussion becomes more concrete, such as a description of the product, its model (…), packaging design, proposals names, stimulating visual materials”.60 Research on concepts can be associated with both products and services.

practically overlap with the stages of the previously described research process (conceptual stage, data collection stage, analysis stage, reporting stage). There are different types of evaluation, including: formative (ex-ante), periodical (mid-term), ex-post (final).63 The first type is realized before the execution of an intervention and aims to assess the accuracy of the planned actions from the point of view of the recipients’ needs. The second type is adopted during the intervention process, allowing for the modification of its next stages. Finally, the last type is employed following the intervention in order to examine to what extent the set objectives and outcomes have been achieved. There also exist the so-called on-going evaluation, if the monitoring process has revealed some deviation from the established values of indicators and outcomes. E. Babbie emphasizes the growing importance of evaluation studies both in the cases of introducing social reforms and analysing the level of performed efficiency and consistency. Importantly, the researcher also points out the problem concerning measuring of the outcomes of interventions, actions, and the provided support. This is of major significance in situations when the subject of assessment is something innovative that goes beyond the followed conventions. What will be an unconventional measurement for the assumed outcome?”64 Crucial, then, is this variable which is responsible for measuring the intervention’s outcome. While assessing outcomes, one should also bear in mind that they can be influenced by other factors, as well as the context in which the intervention is being executed. If we assume that finding a job is an indicator of the efficiency of a training, then we need to consider a wide range of possible factors in play, ranging from the current market situation to the attitude and the level of motivation of the part of the training participants. According to E. Babbie, another problematic element is the very operationalization of a success or a failure. It is very often the case that the scope of this indicator is agreed on – “the individuals responsible for the programme agree on that particular types of outcomes of a given project will be considered as its success”.65 The quantitative perspective prevails in evaluation studies. yet ever more often it is supplemented by pieces of qualitative research making it possible to explain the processes in question in a more in-depth way. Evaluation of the learning programmes of the subjects Biology, History and Civics created as part of the “Kształcenie Pełne Wyobraźni” project was two-fold. In the first part of the study, a quantitative analysis was conducted with the use of the CAWI technique. The questionnaire was filled in by all the persons who were assessing the materials created as a result of the project. “The aim of the evaluation of the educational programmes of humanities subjects (History and Civics) in four high schools (in Wieliczka, Zabrze, Myślenice and Katowice) was to get to know the opinions of classes with extended Biology and Maths programmes on the innovative learning programme and educational materials prepared as

Evaluation study of the research proceedings “Evaluation study (…) consider in a higher grade the purpose of the research than the use of a specific method. The aim is to access the influence of the undertaken social actions (interventions), such as new teaching methods (…). An evaluation study can be based on a number of methods”.61 An evaluation study constitutes a study of the value of a given influence against the previously established criteria. The most frequently adopted assessment criteria include: accuracy of the influence, its efficiency, usability, and durability.62 Based on the results of the conducted evaluation decisions are made concerning the future of the examined intervention, modification of premises or planned activities. Stages of this type of study D. Maison, Jakościowe metody badań marketingowych…, op. cit., p. 24. 60 Ibidem. 61 E. Babbie, Badania społeczne…, op. cit., p. 370. 62 http://media-tor.pl/badania-ewaluacyjne/ 59

Ibidem. E. Babbie, Badania społeczne…, op. cit., p. 371. 65 Ibidem, p. 376. 63

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evaluation of the study programme worked out with-

part of the project”.66 Given the problem with the rate of return in the case of many online questionnaire, the used research tool was designed in such as way as to include only the absolutely necessary questions. The questionnaire included the following: the respondent’s personal information, a question concerning motivation to learn, assessment of six components of the study programme (assignments, exercises and projects, films and audiovisual materials, tests and quizzes, trips, e-learning courses, lesson scenarios), the general level of satisfaction with the educational materials. The measurement tool featured single-choice questions, multiple-choice questions, scaled-response questions, and open-ended questions (used to justify a negative assessment). The measurement tool was highly consistent with the project’s premises, objectives and indicators, especially those related to the level of satisfaction with the use of educational materials and their quality. The following indicators was formulated within the project: the number of students who positively evaluated the innovative study programmes and educational materials. The indicator served as a reference to several questions included in the quantitative research: “Generally speaking, are you satisfied with attending Biology/History/Civics lessons as part of the “Kształcenie Pełne Wyobraźni” project?”, “Would you recommend lessons taught with the use of such innovative teaching methods (discussions, presentations, individual and group projects) to the younger colleagues of lower grades?”, “Which of the used innovative teaching methods have you liked most?”67 The next stage of the evaluation study also regarded the students who had tested the materials mentioned above; the qualitative methodology of focus group interviews was adopted. 8 FGI were carried out: 4 interviews for each of the assessed study programmes, and 2 interviews in each of the testing high schools. The objectives of the study included: getting to know students’ expectations in terms of the study programme and educational materials prepared as part of the project (e.g. creative tasks, exercises and experiments, multimedia presentations, e-learning courses, tests, crosswords, educational games, scenarios of research trips, educational films and other audio recordings); adjusting the abovementioned materials to the needs and expectations on the part of high schools students; assessing the quality and attractiveness of the materials in question. The script of a focus group interview included a few thematic areas: learning-related preferences (expectations related to the process of learning, favourite learning methods, motivation for learning, the ideal lesson); first associations (the use of projection techniques); assessment of the learning model of combining a couple of subjects into one supplementary one;

in the project (the way of using educational materials – lesson plan); modification of educational materials – recommendations for testing.68 As part of the evaluation of the project components two discussion panels with teachers and other representatives of the related expert groups were held that were aimed not only at assessing the study programmes prepared within the project, but also a discussion on the introduced reform (creating supplementary subjects for the high school students of II and III grades). The idea behind the study was to see what teachers think about the tested educational materials (in terms of their quality, the level of difficulty, functionality and adjustment to their needs and expectations), examining the testing process (the context of testing, its form, barriers and difficulties, other factors important from the point of view of testing), generating proposals of changes – modifications in study programmes and used educational materials.69 Another project that featured a detailed and multiphase evaluation was the already mentioned “Platforma Kształcenia Społecznościowego – We Learning” project. As it was the case with the projects “Kształcenie Pełne Wyobraźni” and “Żyj twórczo. Zostań M@T.e-MANIAKIEM” subject to evaluation were, among others, the educational materials prepared as a result of the project. Additionally, assessed here was also the very model of social learning (Polish: kształcenie społecznościowe) based on the Moodle platform. Among the participants in the complex, several-stage evaluation were all the users of the platform. Firstly, a qualitative analysis was conducted in the form of focus group interviews with the platform’s users that concerned six areas: evaluation of educational materials, the usefulness of the platform and the proposed learning model, training needs of the project participants, the idea of introducing micro-fares for using the platform, analysis of factors and conditions for motivation on the part of the platform’s users, and functionality (intuitiveness, transparency of the platform).70 A total of 12 focus group interviews were carried out which were used, among others, to work out quantitative tools for the second stage of the evaluation process. Evaluation based on quantitative methodology was performed with the use of two techniques: an Internet survey (CAWI) and an outdoor survey. All users of the platform took part in the online survey, while the population of the outdoor research included the participants of the weekly trainings and consulting-couching programme. The survey questionnaire consisted of the following thematic blocks: factors and conditions determining the level of motivation of project participants, changes in the scope of knowledge and skills, assessment of the quality of educational materials and the proposed continuous learning model,

R. Skoczylas, Raport z ewaluacji programu nauczania przedmiotów humanistycznych realizowanego w ramach projektu Kształcenie Pełne Wyobraźni – KPW, TEU, Kraków 2014, p. 4–5. 67 Ibidem, p. 38.

A. Anacik-Kryza, Ocena materiałów dydaktycznych…, op. cit. Ibidem. 70 Raport z badań przeprowadzonych w ramach projektu „Platforma Kształcenia Społecznościowego – We Learning”…, op. cit.

68 69

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the possibility of introducing micro-payments for us-

be said that the assumptions related to the completion and accounting of the project are completely different from the standards usually governing the realisasion of a research, according to which, during the planning phase it is only possible to define preliminary premises. A clash between these pursuits determines the final quality of the research, resulting in its unreliability or methodological inaccuracy.

ing the We Learning platform.71 The quantitative study, targeted at all users of the social platform, proved, among others, the employment of the indicators assumed in the project relating to positive assessment of the quality of the designed educational materials and the level of satisfaction with using the We Learning platform. These areas were examined through the following questions featured in the measurement tool: In general terms, “How do you evaluate the quality of the materials available on the We Learning platform?”, “Are you, in general, satisfied with using the We Learning platform?”, “Would you recommend the platform to your friends or relatives?”. Subject to the evaluation in terms of the quality of trainings were the trainings held during the week. The questionnaire of a short survey comprised two parts: the first one featuring closed-ended questions in which the respondents were asked to evaluate, on a 5-grade scale, the way in which the trainings were organised and conducted; and the second one in which the respondents were asked to pint out the weak and strong points of the completed trainings, as well as to provide any other comments important from the point of view of future trainings. The survey questionnaire for the evaluation of the consulting-coaching programme has a similar form. In consisted of several questions (on a grading scale) relating to the level of satisfaction with participating in the programme, willingness to recommend the participation in the programme to other persons, assessment of the substantive content of the particular components of the programme (consulting and coaching), accuracy of the time of completing both parts of the programme in view of the needs and expectations of the programme participants, advantages of participation, modifications and improvements in the programme for the future. The analysed examples of the implementation of social research in educational projects have proved good practices and high substantive standards. Yet it needs to be bore in mind that the logics of research process very rarely goes in line with project premises. Inherent to the realisation of research financed from public resources is also the problem of the necessity of thorough conceptualization of the research, i.e. not only of defining objectives, indicators and results, but also of the volume of the sample, employed methods and research techniques. These requirements cause that at the moment of drafting a project application, its author should have a clear and detailed research concept. The need for defining, at the stage of projecting forthcoming actions, indicators and results creates an improper, from the methodological point of view, situation in which the method and research techniques, along with the sampling volume (the number of surveys or interviews) are strictly established, without the possibility of change, even if an in-depth analysis of the problem reveals the need for a modification. It, thus, can 71

Bibliography Anacik A., Kształcenie kompetencji matematycznej, informatycznej i przedsiębiorczości z perspektywy nauczycieli szkół gimnazjalnych i licealnych. Raport z badań jakościowych FGI, TEU, Kraków 2012. Anacik-Kryza A., Badania ewaluacyjne Platformy We Learning, TEU, Kraków 2014. Anacik-Kryza A., Ocena materiałów dydaktycznych przygotowanych w ramach programów kształcenia „Przyroda” oraz „Historia i społeczeństwo”. Raport z paneli dyskusyjnych z nauczycielami testującymi materiały dydaktyczne w projekcie „Kształcenie Pełne Wyobraźni”, TEU, Kraków 2015. Anacik-Kryza A., Ocena materiałów dydaktycznych przygotowanych w ramach programu kształcenia „Historia i społeczeństwo”. Raport ze zogniskowanych wywiadów grupowych z uczniami testującymi materiały dydaktyczne w projekcie „Kształcenie Pełne Wyobraźni”, TEU, Kraków 2015. Anacik-Kryza A., Ocena materiałów dydaktycznych przygotowanych w ramach programu kształcenia „Przyroda”. Raport ze zogniskowanych wywiadów grupowych z uczniami testującymi materiały dydaktyczne w projekcie „Kształcenie Pełne Wyobraźni”, TEU, Kraków 2015. Babbie E., Badania społeczne w praktyce, PWN, Warsaw 2003. Baran L., Inglot-Brzęk E., Przywara B., Studenci i absolwenci o e-learningu. Raport z fokusów eksperckich, TEU, Kraków 2012. Denzin R., The Research Act, 1978. Konecki K., Studia z metodologii badań jakościowych. Teoria ugruntowana, PWN, Warsaw 2000. Maison D., Jakościowe metody badań marketingowych. Jak zrozumieć konsumenta, PWN, Warsaw 2015. Mazurek-Łopacińska K., Badania marketingowe. Teoria i praktyka, PWN, Warsaw 2005. Nowe perspektywy. Nauki społeczne dla gospodarki, S. Rudnicki (red.), TEU, Kraków 2012. Raport z badań prowadzonych w ramach projektu „Platforma Kształcenia Społecznościowego – We Learning” wśród jego uczestników i pracowników WSE, TEU, Kraków 2014. Silverman D., Interpretacja danych jakościowych, PWN, Warsaw 2007. Silverman D., Prowadzenie badań jakościowych, PWN, Warsaw 2009. Skoczylas R., Raport z ewaluacji programu nauczania przedmiotów humanistycznych realizowanego w ramach projektu „Kształcenie Pełne Wyobraźni” – KPW, TEU, Kraków 2014. Szklarczyk D., Żyj twórczo. Zostań M@T.e-MANIAKIEM. Raport z badań ilościowych, TEU, Kraków 2011. Szklarczyk-Otręba A., Postawy, motywacje, oczekiwania i bariery związane z kształceniem kompetencji matematycznej,

A. Anacik-Kryza, Badania ewaluacyjne Platformy We Learning, TEU, Kraków 2014.

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informatycznej i przedsiębiorczości. Raport z badań jakościowych FGI uczniów, TEU, Kraków 2011. Szlęk A., Analiza potrzeb, Pozaformalna Akademia Jakości Projektu. Wysocka-Kunisz M., Lekcja przyrody w liceum – tradycja czy nowoczesność, „Annales Universitatis Paedagogicae Cracoviensis”, Studia Geographica VI, 2014.

Risks involved in international humanitarian projects Michał Futyra1 Key words: humanitarian aid, forgotten crises, humanitarian risks, management of foreign aid

Introduction1

Humanitarian aid – a definition

Recent international events are one yet proof of that humanitarian aid is nowadays a key tool of bringing help to fellow human beings. One just needs to recall the tragic earthquake in Nepal or the exodus of immigrants from the North Africa to Europe rooted in a set of complex reasons, to realise that the development of humanitarian aid mechanisms ought to be one of the main objectives of the developing countries. Many of the inhabitants of Poland, Germany, the United States or, in more general terms, of the Western world, live with the impression that big, natural disasters and armed conflicts having disastrous consequences on the existence of hundreds of thousands of people all over the world are something remote, occurring in the backroom of the world known to them. Yet the asymmetric war raging in the vicinity of the European Union border, in Western Ukraine, and by no means in the wilderness of the African desert, not only encourages seeking ways of solving this kind of conflicts, but also reconsidering the issue of providing international help and developing aid projects. The more so that over the last years we have witnessed worldwide several dozens of textbook cases of wasting aid funds and, as a consequence, killing the potential of aid projects. A good example of that is the contemporary Afghanistan, a country which, following the American intervention, has been the arena of what the experts, half humorously and half fearfully, call “aid tourism”, this is to say co-financing of absurd aid projects that are completely detached from the reality. In this paper I present only chosen aspects of the topic of the development of humanitarian projects, focusing on defining humanitarian aid and giving an account of the major risks related to such undertakings. The present article by no means pretends to constitute a set of guidelines to follow, its main aim being to provoke the reader to give the topic a thought that could possibly be summarised in the following sentence: “Think twice what, where, and how you want to do in order not to further increase people’s suffering”.

In broad terms, humanitarian aid is a process of delivering temporary (less frequently: structural)2 aid to the victims of natural disasters and tragedies caused by human influence. Providing immediate help means transporting to a given place the amount of products and services that will make it possible for the affected population to survive the effects of the disaster. Thus, humanitarian aid measures save and protect human lives during critical situations and directly after them, as well as during natural disasters resulting in substantial human losses and physical, psychological, social and material suffering. Humanitarian aid also includes the financing of transport and attempts to make it accessible to those in need with the use of the logistic tools available at a given moment. Finally, under this term I also refer to short-term construction works and reconstruction of infrastructure and equipment facilitating the delivery of aid and preventing the crisis from deepening.3 Often observed in the media discourse is the lack of proper distinction between humanitarian aid and the so-called peace support operations, i.e. actions aimed at providing help with the use of stabilisation forces (which, de facto, means army). The fine line between humanitarian aid and humanitarian aid provided as part of military (peace?) operations results from the specificity of the contemporary armed conflicts and respective interests of the governments involved. Instances of misinforming the public opinion by identifying armed conflicts with the delivery of humanitarian aid sometimes stems from particular countries’ will to be associated with positive actions rather than military undertakings. Importantly, what is completely lost as a result of such a deformed vision of the reality is what should matter most, this is to By the term structural aid I understand realisation of projects that are not directly related to actions involved in saving the lives of populations affected by catastrophes. Examples of that include re-construction of public buildings and supporting initiatives aimed at economic reinforcement of regions trying to overcome crises. The line between interim (strictly humanitarian) and structural help is sometimes pretty blurred and not easily defined. And thus, maybe the best criterion in this case is the objective of the delivered assistance. By definition, structural aid is not aimed at saving people’s lives, but rather at improving the conditions of their existence after overcoming immediate consequences of the suffered tragedy. Importantly, structural aid does not have to be synonymous with development aid to be described later in this text. 3 To my mind, the most precise definition of humanitarian aid was suggested in Article 214.1 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union: http://oide.sejm.gov.pl/oide/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14804&Itemid=946 [access: 16.06.2015]. 2

Michał Futyra – head of the Institute for Research on Civilizations in Tischner European University in Krakow. He is university lecturer, expert on European – Asian relations, cross-cultural treiner, business negotiator, a journalist and keen traveller. He is also an author of many workshops about negotiation in business and cultural environtment.

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say human tragedy. And while organising aid following tragic events such as natural disasters (e.g. the tsunami on the Indian Ocean in 2004 and the earthquake on Haiti in 2010) are “classical” examples of extending humanitarian aid, offering people help in face of armed conflicts is never as unambiguous because such actions always pose moral dilemmas. Indeed, humanitarian aid has become for many countries granting financial help a tool for fulfilling political and safety policy objectives. Not only does this attitude violate the idea of humanitarianism, but it also severely affects people all around the world. The United States’ intervention in the Middle East brought about an intensification of politically-motivated humanitarian aid. Since 2002, one third of the whole of development assistance offered to the 48 countries considered by the OECD as “weak states”4 has been directed to three countries: Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. The aid received by Afghanistan and Iraq in the same period equaled two fifth of the increase in the volume of help offered by rich countries worldwide that amounted to USD 178 billion.5 This stems from the USA’s international safety strategy and a broad, informal coalition to “combat terrorism”. Hence, humanitarian aid delivered worldwide usually corresponds with the regions commonly regarded as strategically important from the point of view of the undertaken military actions and interests of the world’s biggest powers. As a result of the concentration of the humanitarian effort in several areas and the over-financing of the humanitarian projects developed in the aforementioned countries, the suffering of the population in other affected regions is even bigger.

the process of delivering required help. This results in instances of spontaneous support for inhabitants of severely affected regions. Indeed, people demonstrate interest in the fate of groups faced with crisis situations as long as these tragic events remain within the interest of the mass media. As a result, a distinction can be drawn between mediagenic events and “forgotten crises”. In the first case, the volume of the delivered help is big and donors particularly generous, while in the second one – funds limited and donors – few. There are many factors determining whether or not a given crisis will become of global interest. Of the biggest chances to spark global interest are the so-called sudden onset crises that impress everyone with the caused scale of damage. Another important factor is the location of the tragedy and whether we can easily identify with the situation of the affected population.6 The tsunami which hit the Southern Asia in 2004 was an excellent example of a disaster that caught the attention of the entire world. In the first place, it was sudden and unfolded in a dramatic way. Secondly, it stroke a region recognized as a tourist destination in a period when it hosted many visitors from Europe. And thirdly, in the aftermath of the tragedy, viewers from all around the world would be presented with a host of amateur photos and videos showing the lethal power of the tsunami and stimulating collective imagination. On the other end of the spectrum lie “forgotten crises”. The outbreaks of these are by no means sudden (for how many of us remember the flood that inundated Pakistan in 2010 and after a few weeks, damaged 20% of the country’s territory, directly affecting nearly 20 million people?). Rather than by nature, such crises are caused by the human factor and often result in lasting armed conflicts and hundreds of forgotten casualties. They do not hit the front pages of international newspapers because they are hard to explain, film in an attractive way and, to make things worse, they are occurring in places that are of little or no interest to an average viewer or reader in the West. And these are just few of many examples of the phenomenon. The most recent “forgotten crisis” is the civil war raging in Syria that has already cost the lives of 220,000 people and caused an exodus of over 2 million inhabitants trying to find help in refugee camps in Turkey or the Iraqi Kurdistan. The latter, prepared to offer support to 30,000 refugees is currently inhabited by over 60,000 refugees, the number regularly increasing. Without any doubt, in this case we are already dealing with a humanitarian crisis, yet it is hardly present in media coverage.7 Another dreary facet of the Syrian war is the tragic situation of the local Christians and the Iraqi Yazidis who, at the very moment, are most probably subjects of a massive genocide, deprived of any chances of survival. Syrian Christians constitute a part of the minority that have lived in this country since the 1st century, when

Humanitarianism, forgotten crises and the public opinion To an analysis of the current state of affairs we should also add another factor further complicating the efficient delivery of humanitarian aid – human memory. Our memory is relatively short-term, just as a sudden burst of spontaneous empathy. A news about an unexpected natural disaster that has consumed the lives of dozens thousands of people in the world’s remote areas is attractive for the mass media. News relating to tragic events, as well as those concerning violence and sex, draw the public opinion’s attention. In the case of humanitarian disasters, the interest on the part of the mass media often triggers a “positive” reaction of the international environment, which, in turns, makes it possible for us to quickly get mobilised to offer help. This phenomenon can take different forms, including collections of products and pressure exerted on governments to become actively involved in The term means countries whose power structures and social infrastructure are gradually falling apart. The authorities are not capable of, or do not want to ensure safety for the citizens and find it difficult to govern the country on a daily basis. Apart from the countries mentioned in the article, other examples of such countries include: Ecuador, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Belarus, Georgia, Laos, Myanmar and east Timor. 5 Oxfam, Kto niesie pomoc? Upolitycznienie pomocy w konfliktach i kryzysach, p. 5, http://www.pah.org.pl/m/3094/pah_czyjapomoc_ pl_2012_druk.pdf [access: 16.06.2015]. 4

J. Ochojska-Okońska, Zapomniane kryzysy humanitarne, “Znak” 2011 vol. 688, http://www.miesiecznik.znak.com.pl/1629/2/zapomniane-kryzysy-humanitarne?_ga=1.229994457.478047686.14328934 84 [access: 24.06.2015]. 7 M. Sadowska, Miasto uchodźców: Jak żyją uciekinierzy z Syrii, Newsweek.pl, http://swiat.newsweek.pl/oboz-dla-uchodzcow-w-syrii-reportaz-newsweeka,artykuly,273815,1.html [access: 26.06.2015]. 6

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Saint Paul and Saint Barnabas.8 Christians are nowadays persecuted by the fighters of the Islamic state, imposed, with the use of force, to convert into Islam, robbed and deprived of basic means of livelihood. Women are raped and men murdered. During one of his meetings with the Polish worshippers, the Chaldean bishop Aleppo Antoine Audo said: “This is not our war, we have no interest in it. We form a minority, but we inhabited these lands from their very beginnings. We sometimes have the impression that we are about to face the end of Christianity in the Middle East”.9 The same is true of the Yazidis, a religious minority living on the border of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Turkey, Armenia and Montenegro. As a result of the war and the actions undertaken by the Islamic state in the region, the followers of this religion were accused, completely unjustly, by Muslim extremists of worshipping satan and, following that, exterminated on a massive scale. The Yazidis’ tragic situation has its roots in the doctrinal complexity of their religion including elements of Nestorian Christianity, Islam and Zaroastrianism. The main assumption of this religion is the existence of God-Creator of the world, who entrusted seven angels with the mission of taking care of the world. One of them, Melek-Taus (Angel – Paw) did not want to bow down and serve the humanity, disobeying the God’s will. Knocked off to the hell, he understood his mistake, destroyed the kingdom of darkness and was apointed the ruler of the world, worshipped by the Yazidis.10 As a consequence, the Muslims treat them as worshippers of satanic powers and have made it the official reason of their persecution. In March 2015 part of the Iraqi Yazidis, the greatest percentage of whom lived in the city of Nineveth, undertook an escape, out of fear of harassment on the part of extremists. Those who stayed in the city were murdered (the confirmed number is of around 500 persons)11 or became slaves of the warriors of the Islamic state. A report compiled by the High Commissioner of Human Rights informed about the humanitarian crisis happening on the territory inhabited by the Yazidis. The collected body of information includes cases of “brutal and targeted” killing of hundreds of men and boys, rapes on girls aged from six years on, kidnapping of women as war loot and separating families with the use of force, especially kidnapping young boys and recruiting them to extremist groups.12 Unfortunately, due to the duration of the conflict, little interest on the part of the mass media, and – importantly – difficulties in an attempt to provide the victims with help, the war in Syria remains one of the contemporary forgotten humanitarian crises. If we wanted to have a look at the issues from the statistical point of view, we would have to point out that for

many years now the list of forgotten humanitarian crises has been topped by wars taking place in African countries. The long-standing conflict in Somalia, the dispute between the Northern and Southern Sudan, or the devastating famine in the Central Africa caused by the ongoing fighting in the region – these are just a few examples of crises continually putting the involved population at the risk of dying of starvation or due to the lack of medical assistance. The most striking example of the “world’s amnesia” related to the African realities is that of the Democratic Republic of Congo. In the period between September 2006 and April 2007, when every month 45,000(!) people died of starvation or illness in this country, the mass media released 1327 pieces of information about it. Meanwhile, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq gave rise to, respectively, 19946, 29987 and 43589 related news.13 This clearly shows how difficult it is to make a call to the collective conscience by spreading information on humanitarian crises occurring in certain regions of the world.

Help as a means of achieving political aims Mechanical distribution of humanitarian aid deforms the very idea of providing those who need it with help. This attitude is represented by state agendas granting development assistance. Yet an important distinction must be made at this point. The main aim of development aid is not so much offering immediate help following disasters, but undertaking actions with an objective to increase the development and well-being of weak countries and the ones that need help in the faced transformation processes. Contrary to humanitarian aid, development aid may imply indirect or direct political aims (e.g. promoting the attitude of civic responsibility, removing social inequalities, but also creating a positive image of the donator and emphasizing democratic values). This is why development assistance is often perceived as an extension of a given country’s foreign policy. Importantly, an alarming trend has been observed over the last years in institutions granting aid funds. In the EU member states, for example, subsidies are treated as just another, along with actions in the area of public diplomacy (broadly understood soft power) tool of designing foreign policy. Governments tend to offer subsidized help to: the neighbouring countries, countries which, for some specific reasons, are particularly engaged (e.g. former colonies, a substantial diaspora, safety issues), to countries in which they want to become more, politically and economically, influential. The question, then, remains: is achieving political objectives while providing other countries with development assistance by definition bad? Does it always have negative effects? It is not easy to answer this question but I would say: it depends on what are the key objectives of this assistance, as well as on where and how these demands are being satisfied.

M. Flaga, Historia i stan obecny chrześcijańskich miejsc pielgrzymkowych Syrii, Jordanii i Libanu, “Peregrinus Cracoviensis” 2012, vol. 23, http://www.pc.geo.uj.edu.pl/documen ts/5021692/23340180/2012_23_161-182.pdf [access: 24.06.2015]. 9 See: http://episkopat.pl/informacje_kep/6269.1,Bp_Audo_z_Syrii_ Boli_nas_exodus_chrzescijan.html [access: 24.06.2015]. 10 More on this topic at: http://www.religie.424.pl/krotka-opowiesc-o-jazydach,1690,article.html [access: 24.06.2015]. 11 http://www.polskieradio.pl/5/3/Artykul/1199110,Irak-dzihadysci-zabili-pol-tysiaca-jazydow [access: 24.06.2015]. 12 Based on: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-31962755 [access: 24.06.2015]. 8

Based on: http://www.worldandmedia.com/crisis/forgotten-emergencies.html [access: 24.06.2015].

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Instances of delivering development assistance in a mechanical way have also influenced the very idea of humanitarianism. The phenomenon of associating armed conflicts with offering help became embodied in the American strategy of “winning hearts and minds” during this country’s military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.14 In a nutshell, this strategy involves winning support of the local population while undertaking a military operation in a given region. Such a support has two dimensions: the emotional and the one related to the civilians’ approval gained as a result of satisfying their needs and interests. American strategists have noted that no overseas conflict can be brought to a successful end if violence is the only adopted measure. Indeed, people’s approval in many cases turns out to be a key factor, legitimising the actions of the invading army. To win civilians’ approval, the American (but also the Polish, among others) army took a series of steps aimed at paying court to the Afghan and Iraqi people. Constructing temporary field hospitals open to the local population, distributing food, building wells and schools, demining terrains surrounding villages, repairing roads – these are just a few examples of actions often undertaken by military units as part of the delivered humanitarian and development aid. Yet the intentions on the part of this help’s organisers were of temporary nature and did not consider exclusively the interests of the local population. The repaired infrastructure was used mostly by troops for quick and efficient transport, which increased their military value. Public utilities, on the other hand, in many cases, paradoxically, deteriorated the conditions of civilians. And so, for example, an information about a newly-constructed well in a village would be interpreted by guerrilla units as a manifestation of collaborating with the enemy, bringing about an even more severe harassment of the civilians. The lack of access to drinking water was secondary, the Talibans’ main priority being to co-operate with the enemy. The spending of huge sums of money for political reasons also has other consequences. It decreases the probability of financing really important projects and, at the same time, increases the level of corruption (the more money there is to distribute, the more chances of potential frauds).15 This is best illustrated with the example of Afghanistan, where even aid organisations turned out to be dishonest in terms of offering humanitarian help. In 2002 a big-scale project was launched, with a budget of 150 million dollars. The collected money were initially passed on to a charity organisation in Geneva, which took 20% of the sum, accounting it for its own costs, and, finally, sent the rest to Washington. The American institution

did just the same, saving part of the money for itself and handing the project over. Finally, the last of the involved institutions used the remaining money to buy wooden logs for the construction of houses in Iran. The wood was transported to Afghanistan for a sum five times higher than the standard one. And when the logs eventually reached the destination, it turned out that they were too heavy to be used for the construction of clay houses and so, they were instead used for fuel. Fuel worth of 150 million dollars.16 Another recent case of a politically-motivated humanitarian aid was the last huge earthquake that stroke Nepal. It could seem that the situation was absolutely clear given the nature of the tragedy that unfolded in this mountainous, Asian country. The April earthquake of a magnitude of almost 8 on the 9-point Richter scale gave a toll of around 9,000 dead and 200,000 wounded. The tremors turned the historic centre of Katmandu, the country’s capital, included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, into ashes. The alarmed international community demonstrated the will to help. Among the countries involved in the humanitarian action, two sought to play a special role. In less than four hours from the tragedy Hindu helicopters appeared at the site. The reaction on the part of the Chinese was a bit slower, but after fifteen hours rescuers from Beijing’s Rapid Response Centre arrived at the place of the disaster with tones of first-aid products. And this is how a certain “aid race” started. For the next couple of days both China’s and India’s TV channels kept the viewers up-to-date with the numbers of the rescued victims. The Chinese CCTV channel even hold a ranking (sic!) of the achieved results. And before the chart was taken off the air, the Chinese rescuers were winning with the Hindu ones 36 to 21.17 The attempts made by both countries to help the affected Nepalese population at certain point started to assume grotesque forms. Some of the Hindu helicopters could not get to the site because in the thin mountain air it was impossible for the machines to reach the required height. And when a group of Chinese rescuers searching through the ruins of the city of Pokhara got lost, a troop of the Nepalese army were send to help them, although they could have been used to bring help to the compatriots at the time. Finally, groups of Chinese and Hindu journalists blocked the runway next to the city, making it impossible for planes with provisions to land. The Nepal’s tragedy quickly became an arena of the Chinese-Indian competition, two rivaling countries which used the earthquake to demonstrate their potential and create a positive image.18 Another reason for their eagerness to help was Nepal’s strategic location and the unique natural resource owned by this country: water. Indeed,

More on this topic at: P. Fishstein, A. Wilder, Winning Hearts and Minds? Examining the Relationship beetwen Aid and Security in Afghanistan, Feinstein International Publishing Group Ltd., http:// fic.tufts.edu/assets/WinningHearts-Final.pdf [access: 30.06.2015]; E. Dickinson, A Bright Shining Slogan. How “hearts and minds” came to be, “Foreign Policy” 2009, http://foreignpolicy.com/2009/08/22/abright-shining-slogan/ [access: 26.06.2015]. 15 H. Schreiber, Zdobywanie serc i umysłów ludności cywilnej Afganistanu jako element działań przeciwpartyzanckich, p. 177–184, http://www.pl.ism.uw.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Schreiber-Zdobywanie-serc-i-umyslow-w-Afganistanie.pdf [access: 26.06.2015]. 14

Based on: M. Punpur, Karawana kryzysu czyli wszystko co chciałbyś wiedzieć o pomocy humanitarnej, Racjonalista.pl, http://www.racjonalista.pl/kk.php/s,7740 [access: 26.06.2015]. 17 Ł. Wójcik, Ofiary pomocy, “Polityka” May 2015, http://www.polityka. pl/tygodnikpolityka/swiat/1618085,1,chiny-i-indie-tocza-wojne-nagruzach-nepalu.read [access: 26.06.2015]. 18 In the field of international relations there exists a term “disaster diplomacy” which refers to the acts of turning humanitarian crises into political or economic successes. More on this topic at: http://www. disasterdiplomacy.org/publications.html [access: 26.06.2015]. 16

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it is in Nepal where the region’s biggest rivers start their courses. The strategy adopted by Nepal’s powerful neighbours was based on the idea of winning the “hearts and minds” of the local people. The effect turned out to be opposite to the intended one. There are also cases of reverse situations. Humanitarian aid offered in an utterly selfless way is sometimes mercilessly used by the receiving countries. In 2008 the coast of Myanmar (Burma) was hit by one of the most sudden cyclones ever recorded in the area of the Bay of Bengal. Nargis, for this is how the cyclone was named, stroke the coastline with the speed of 190–250 km/h, killing 130,000 people. Since Burma had remained for many years an isolated country, subject to economic sanctions because of the rule of a military junta, the rest of the world received only fragmented information about the disaster’s scale. And it was only a few days later, when some of the victims’ bodies appeared at the shore of the neighbouring Thailand, that the international community for the first time called for Myanmar to open the borders or, at least, receive the offered humanitarian aid. The military rule would tightly control anything that crossed Burma’s frontier and, as a result, part of the transported food, medicines and clothes were kept in… military storehouses.19 Today we still do not know for sure how many people lost their lives because of the cyclone and how many were the victims of the starvation and illnesses that hit the area afterwards. Humanitarian aid, or rather, the urge to receive it, can also give rise to other pathologies, many of which can be observed in Africa. The civil war in Sierra Leone in 1991–2002 was extremely bloody and gave a toll of over 200,000 victims. The Revolutionary United Front established by the rebels in an attempt to overthrow the country’s president, openly pursued a regular extermination of the civilians. What is more, the guerrilla members injured their victims on a mass scale, cutting their limbs off with the use of machetes and mutilating their faces and bodies. The proofs of their bestiality eventually reached the Western world, drawing the attention of the mass media and, consequently, of aid organisations. Many years after that a Dutch journalist, who managed to contact the rebels’ leader, recorded his words: “Everything has been destroyed and you [humanitarian organisations] were not here to offer us help in the reconstruction of the country. You were only interested in the white men’s war in Yugoslavia and the camps in Goma [a camp for refugees from Rwanda inhabited by 2 million people]. You let us fight. (…) And only when the amputees appeared, did you notice us”.20 In this and many other cases humanitarian aid became part of the “economy of war” as understood by people capable even of merciless crimes just for the source of help to reach them.21

Different understandings of humanitarian aid Regardless of individual worldview, we will probably all agree on that each human beings have unalienable rights included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The right to life appears to be something obvious, not requiring additional explanation. Humanitarian aid is, then, a manifestation of respecting this fundamental right in all the situations in which human life is in danger of a natural disaster or an armed conflict. Indeed, it is hard to imagine a better way of protecting life than by offering help to those who most need it. A problem arises when we start to consider other rights in the context of humanitarian and development aid measures and their “additional objectives”. Let’s use give the example of one of the basic positive rights – the right to education – and of the indirect (political) objective of establishing the foundations of a civic society. According to the idea: through education to active participation in the social life, from the perspective of the Western reader, actions supporting this type of development aid projects are purely altruistic. In Pakistan or Afghanistan the girls’ right to receive education is highly limited, and in many cases they are actually completely deprived of the possibility to acquire even the basic education. This stems from the combination of the fundamentalist version of Islam, tribe traditions and, the truth be told, the population’s low level of education. The construction of schools for children by aid organisations in many cases resulted in terrorist attacks on these facilities, death of pupils and suffering of families, already living in very harsh conditions. Worth mentioning at this point is Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani activist for women’s rights and the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Born in 1997, in 2009 she started to write a blog under the pseudonym Gul Makai in which she shared with the readers her experience of living in a city continually terrorised by religious fanatics, the challenges of every-day life and the risk involved in attending classes. On 9 October 2012 a group of masked men stopped the bus on which she was going to school. According to information provided later on by kids who witnessed the scene, the attackers were searching for Malala. And when they saw the girl among other passengers, they opened fire on the vehicle, wounding Malala’s head and neck. Thanks to a prompt rescue action and a lot of luck, she survived the attack to later on become an icon of the struggle for women’s rights in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The right to education, in the reader’s mind most probably existing as equal to the right to life, is not enjoyed by the members of the world’s exotic (from our point of view) regions. An incompetent formation of the fundaments of a civic society by simply identifying it with nothing more than constructing schools by others can be perceived by people as a dangerous provocation rather than an act of charity. The issues related to the delicate topic of humanitarian aid presented above clearly show that the motivations of help-providers, as well as the ways and forms of delivering aid, are often far from unambiguous. There is also risk involved in offering this type of help. I do not only refer here to the risk related to the health and life of

Based on: E. Larkin, Spustoszenie. Nieopowiedziana historia o katastrofie i dyktaturze wojskowej w Birmie, CZARNE Publishing House, Wołowiec 2013. 20 [In]: M. Punpur, Karawana kryzysu czyli wszystko co chciałbyś wiedzieć o pomocy humanitarnej, Racjonalista.pl, http://www.racjonalista.pl/kk.php/s,7740 [access: 26.06.2015]. 21 More on the “economy of war” in Africa in: A. Zwoliński, Biedy Afryki, Petrus Publishing House, Kraków 2009, p. 225–232. 19

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the employees of humanitarian organisations, but also to project risks forming part of the implementation of aid programmes. Following I provide an overview of the major forms of risk faced in humanitarianism and the ways of reducing them.

providers are alarming. In 2013 alone 155 of them died, 171 were seriously injured, and 134 kidnapped.25 Without any doubt, the major risk involved in delivering humanitarian aid is that of ensuring one’s safety. There is no one universal rule for that and the only thing one can actually do is to minimise this risk. Indeed, no matter how grandiloquently it sounds, each humanitarian aid worker is well aware of that their profession implies risking health, or even life, on a daily basis. So they try to reduce these threats by broadening their knowledge of particular regions, including their political and social realities, as well as demonstrating high cultural competence and caution in taking any decisions. The former one can be gained and the latter ones – trained.

Managing humanitarian risk The end of the Cold War brought about the decomposition of a bi-polar world. The conflicts until then forming part of the “block” competition of the USSR and the USA assumed the form of small-scale, regional or local wars. The specificity of humanitarian aid work changed as well, and with this change, the risk involved in providing this type of help increased. Representatives of aid organisations started to reach the most remote and isolated corners of the world, often collecting information about humanitarian crises on the spot, while helping affected people. They had no access to Internet or mobile phones, while satellite communication was used sporadically due to its high cost. At the beginning of the 1990s cases of attacks on representatives of humanitarian organisations were rare. In 1993 Somalia saw murders of Sean Devreaux, a Briton working for the UNICEF22 and Valerie Place – a 23-yearl-old nurse who was going in a humanitarian convoy from Mogadishu to Baidoa.23 During that year two more workers of aid organisations lost their lives on duty, both in Bosnia. One died reached by a bullet fired by a sniper in Sarajevo and the other during an attack on an aid convoy. Such events are tragic but at that time happened relatively rarely given the number of crisis centres on today’s world map. However, this does not mean that the involved risk was low. Yet a clearly negative change occurred at the beginning of the 20th century, although its symptoms were visible before and were observed by journalists arriving at the then most dangerous places on the Earth. Rumours circulated about intended attacks on reporters. In 2003, at the beginning of the war in the Persian Gulf, statistics confirmed speculations. Iraqi soldiers and warriors would search for journalists and brutally kill them. During one year 42 media men died, including 7 camera men and technicians. One year later the number rose to 61 and has maintained at a high level until today.24 Murders on reporters tend to draw the public opinion’s attention. Terrorists, guerrilla fighters and soldiers operating within regions facing humanitarian crises started to use this strategy to publicise their “own” conflicts. The number of humanitarian organisations’ workers among victims raised as well. On 20 August 2003 a bomb attack on an ONU’s agency took place during which 22 employees of the organisation died and 100 were wounded. Statistics regarding the number of casualties among aid

Knowledge and its lack To be able to efficiently deliver help to affected groups of population, one needs to possess knowledge at different levels, one of the biggest mistakes committed by humanitarian aid organisations being that of employing incompetent persons. During conversations with representatives of such organisations in Cambodia and Laos I heard an opinion that in many cases people arriving at affected places to offer support do not have sufficient knowledge of a given country, its population, and even the reasons why they have been sent there. Individuals coordinating humanitarian actions, who serve as mediators between the head office and local people, sometimes entrusted with logistically very complex undertakings, are not always ready to confront such a big challenge. Increasing difficulties, communication-related challenges, time pressure, and the lack of organisational “craftiness” can be overwhelming. Indeed, extreme work conditions immediately verify people’s characters and competences. A humanitarian worker is a person whose task is to deliver to people (and put into life) help and work. The majority of public opinion consider these people, in a fairly stereotypical way, as working physically risk-takers, incurable idealists, or thrill-seeking travellers. Yet this is far from the truth because these are usually very well-educated people who have a specific objective to fulfill. A humanitarian aid worker needs to have a range of skills. In the first place, he/she needs to be competent in managing projects and people. And secondly, they must possess psychological skills and highly developed practical cultural competence.26 And all of that is crucial given that their work has a direct influence of other people’s fate. The lack of knowledge can also manifest itself in different ways. The biggest amounts of money devoted to the financing of humanitarian aid are possessed by ONU’s big agendas which, on the other hand, do not have a complete awareness of what is happening in affected areas. Strict rules governing the granting of financial support to

K. Maier, Unicef quits town after British aid man killed, Independent. co.uk, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/unicef-quitstown-after-british-aid-man-killed-1476428.html [access: 29.06.2015]. 23 F. Mdlongwa, Somali gunmen murder Irish nurse, Independent.co.uk, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/somali-gunmen-murder-irish-nurse-1474693.html [access: 29.06.2015]. 24 Numbers published by: Committee to Protect Journalists, https://cpj. org/killed/2003/ [access: 29.06.2015]. 22

M. Kokot, Islamscy radykałowie biorą na cel organizacje humanitarne. Giną ludzie, którzy niosą pomoc, gazeta.pl, http://wyborcza. pl/1,75477,16500444,Islamscy_radykalowie_biora_na_cel_organizacje_humanitarne_.html [access: 29.06.2015]. 26 Based on: Zawód: pracownik humanitarny, Polskie Radio, http:// www.polskieradio.pl/130/2351/Artykul/912697,Zawod-pracownik-humanitarny [access: 29.06.2015]. 25

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aid organisations operating on the regional scale, along with specifically defined aims of such assistance, make efficient work in this regard difficult. In this case the lack of knowledge results in a clash between the real needs of the people facing a disaster and strict rules imposed by bureaucracy and institutionalism.27 Professional organisations first identify a given population’s needs and only then, organise help. Never the other way round.28 The food crisis that has been occurring in Somalia for many years now has become a fact commonly recognised by aid organisations, the majority of funds directed to this country being devoted to the purchase of food. But when one of the employees of an European humanitarian organisation decided to check on his own what were the current needs of the local population, it turned out that they suffered mostly from the shortage of fresh water. In Putland (an autonomous region in Somalia) 4 million people had to their disposal 45 walls. And so it became obvious that the actual reason for the starvation crisis was a draught that had been affecting the region for fifty years. Hence, the provision of food was a temporary, rather than a truly problem-solving measure.29 Another possible manifestation of the lack of knowledge is a badly understood sense of responsibility. This can result in, among others, sending to Africa electric blankets, slimming pills, medicines with foreign-language leaflets or, most controversially, outdated food.30 Instances of this type of “assistance” prove the opinion of some of experts in the field who argue that the very idea of delivering help in such ways is mistaken. An important voice in this debate was given by Abdouyale Wade, the former president of Senegal, who said: “I have never come across a country that has developed itself thanks to the external help or credits. Countries that have seen economic progress, in Europe, America, Japan, and Asia (including Taiwan, Korea and Singapore) all believed in free market. Following the colonial era, Africa chose a wrong path”.31 As we can see, the identification of affected people’s needs and, above all, the way of delivering help, should be well thought-through. And it is impossible to do that without extensive knowledge.

lack of effective cultural communication if the reason behind the majority of misunderstanding between local people receiving assistance and help-providers. The main difficulty in applying cultural competence in practice is that this competence has to be consistent with a given person’s sensibility and traits of character. A perfect combination of these three elements gives rise to an approach referred to by experts as cultural relativism. This approach is characterised by abstaining from formulating judgments about the actions of another person from the point of view of one’s cultural experience and an attempt (based on knowledge) to understand the motivations on the part of this person. In the case of humanitarian aid there is also one factor further complicating the issues. In face of extreme situations, such as a natural disaster or an immediate life threat, people tend to behave in an illogical, hysterical way. Such behaviours, along with the existing cultural differences, make communication truly challenging. By travelling to remote, exotic regions, a humanitarian aid workers enters worlds whose inhabitants sometimes have completely different mindsets and mental attitudes towards the reality than their own. They interact with people who think according to different patterns, perceive the world in different ways, use different cognitive categories and, finally, express their thoughts in different ways. Humanitarian actions are undertaken within areas belonging to different civilisations’ traditions and characterized by different cultural influences. This requires anyone wishing to provide help to have at least basic knowledge of the history of a given country, its religion, customs, as well as political situation and social relations. The deeper one’s knowledge, the higher the chances of a successful cultural adaptation and undertaking effective actions. A comparison of a map of the world’s biggest civilsations and a map of the regions receiving the highest amount of humanitarian aid, allows a certain cultural specification facilitating the process of providing assistance and demonstrating the importance of cultural competence in this area. A great majority of humanitarian actions are performed within the influence of four big traditions: Islam, African, South-African, and Eastern.32 Each of these arose from specific civilisation foundations that allowed its development. In Islam human life is governed by rules formulated by the religion, faith dictating the daily rhythm. Representatives of this civilisation exist in a reality in which the sacred and the profane overlap. Whether or not humanitarian workers will realise that may determine the success or failure of their actions. Indeed, one of the characteristics of the Western tradition is the separation of these two spheres. If a man wants to worship God, he/she enters a temple, the “sacred” space, and for the time of performing sacred activities assumes an appropriate attitude. Upon leaving the God’s house, a Westerner re-enters the profane sphere, with the attitude and set of behaviours typical of it, the sacred remaining in the walls of the temple. In the world of Islam the

Cultural differences Cultural differences and their consequences constitute the biggest – sometimes insurmountable – barrier during any humanitarian aid project. The first thing we need to realise in order to understand this fact is that the More on this topic in: L. Polman, Karawana kryzysu. Za kulisami przemysłu pomocy humanitarnej, Czarne Publishing House, Wołowiec 2011. 28 Based on: J. Nikodemska, Humanitarny skandal, Focus.pl, http:// www.focus.pl/czlowiek/humanitarny-skandal-8692?strona=1 [access: 26.06.2015]. 29 Ibidem. 30 More on unsuccessful campaigns and mistaken ideas of humanitarian aid in: Stupart R., 7 worst international aid ideas, Matador Network, http://matadornetwork.com/change/7-worst-international-aid-ideas/ [access: 29.06.2015]. 31 D. Rosiak, Jak nie pomagać Afryce, “Rzeczpospolita”, http://www. rp.pl/artykul/61991,787498-Jak-nie-pomagac-Afryce.html [access: 30.06.2015]. 27

The division into the world’s civilisation used in this article comes from the book: S. P. Huntington, Zderzenie cywilizacji, Muza Publishing House, Warsaw 2008.

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sacred is present all the time, which means that any action undertaken by a man is influenced by the religion. Male-female relations, every-day decisions, and even sexual life, are ultimately defined and governed by the religious code. Of great importance for this civilisation tradition are “sacred men”, mullahs – leaders of religious communities and interpreters of Koran, Islam’s sacred book. And how does that relate to humanitarian aid? To answer this question, let’s refer once again to the example of schools established in Afghanistan. Following the first wave of failures connected with the destruction of educational facilities talks were initiated with the leaders of local religious communities during which the importance of constructing schools was emphasized and the plan to engage them in this mission presented. Additionally, in accordance to the rules suggested by the spiritual leaders, girls were allowed to attend classes. In all the places where undertaken actions were in line with the religious code, attacks on schools would stop. Indeed, the religion is the most fundamental pillar of Muslims’ life and so, any act against the religion sparks very negative reactions on their part. In 2012 around one hundred editions of Koran and other religious texts were burnt in the American military base Bagram. The charred sacred books found by Afghan workers stirred the whole nation, leading to the death of 20 persons. Similar were people’s reactions to the acts of desecrating the corpses of killed Talibans. The video made available on the Web in which three soldiers of the United States Marine Corps urinate on the corpses of killed warriors fueled anger and hatred of the local population.33 Incidents of this type all have a very negative influence on the image of foreign residents in Muslim countries, increasing the risk of revenge actions, also targeted at humanitarian aid workers. The main culture-related challenges involved in humanitarian activity include: contextuality of cultures – the way in which messages are defined. While communicating, representatives of low-context cultures prefer honest and clear utterances, of highest priority being to deliver the message in a quick, intended and unambiguous manner. On the other end of the spectrum lie high-context cultures (e.g. Arab or Asian countries) characterised by a focus on context-dependent elements. A great role in these cultures is also played by body language, the social status of the interlocutor, sex, the tone of speech, word choice, attitude, this is to say anything that goes beyond words. Representatives of completely different cultures very often find it highly difficult to efficiently communicate with each other. time orientation – the contemporary cultures can be divided into two big groups: polychronic and monochronic ones. The first one encompasses a great majority of the world’s population, who are able to handle several tasks at the same time. They perceive time in a circular way, as a cycle of repetitive events (e.g.

seasons, births, deaths, etc.). All action plans, deadlines and schedules are treated here as suggestions rather than fixed points. Time is not a measurable or convertible value. On the contrary, individuals living in monochronic time value meticulously planned activities and show the tendency to perform actions in the established order. Time is linear and moves from point a to point b. In monochronic time orientation time is measurable and managable. In humanitarian activity different understandings of time make difficult all long-term projects and long-range planning. Subcontractors living within polychronic cultures very often miss the set deadlines. Examples of such a perceptions of time include African and the majority of Asian cultures. cultural ceremonialism – ceremonial cultures put a great emphasis on hierarchy. They are characterised by big differences between particular social strata and, as a result, in the scope of possessed power. Of high significance for representatives of these cultures are always being respectful and following the traditional order of things, with inequality existing between men and women is regarded as a manifestation of order. Non-ceremonial cultures, on the other hand, are characterised by egalitarianism, their members demonstrating free, unconstrained behaviours and seeking to maintain gender equality. Any attempt to complete a humanitarian aid project among a ceremonial society needs to be preceded by a close analysis of who is the society’s leader, what type of moral rules are accepted there, and which of them should never be violated. We should also mention here the issue of corruption. Members of extremely ceremonial cultures are regularly involved in corruption-inducing activities, as a consequence of which organisers of humanitarian actions undertaken in such cultures ought to take into consideration the connections existing within a given society.34 All of these cultural aspects must be borne in mind during the realisation of any humanitarian aid activity for neglecting them may easily increase project-related risks.

Additional risks It is impossible to give an exhaustive account of all the possible risks that can appear as part of humanitarian aid undertakings. Indeed, many of them are highly unpredictable, sometimes occurring only during the project implementation process. A potential risk of this kind, which does not depend on the project team, are health issues. Obviously, preventive care in the area of vaccines and sanitary trainings before any travel to exotic countries reduce this threat, but can never completely eliminate it. The best example of that is the outbreak of the Ebola hemmorhag More on this topic in: P. Boski, Kulturowe ramy zachowań społecznych, PWN Publishing House, Warsaw 2010; R. Gesteland, Różnice kulturowe a zachowania w biznesie, PWN Publishing House, Warsaw 1999; E. T. Hall, Poza kulturą, PWN Publishing House, Warsaw 2001; G. Hofstede, Kultury i organizacje. Zaprogramowanie umysłu, Polish Economic Publishing House, Warsaw 2007.

Amerykańscy żołnierze ukarani za palenie Koranu i bezczeszczenie zwłok, PAP, http://www.rmf24.pl/raport-wojnawafganistanie/raportwojnawafganistanie2/news-amerykanscy-zolnierze-ukarani-za-palenie-koranu-i-bezczeszcz,nId,631156 [access: 30.06.2015].

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ic fever in 2014, which spread from Guinea, through Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mali, Nigeria, and Senegal, eventually reaching Europe through the infected humanitarian workers evacuated from Africa. The combat against the deadly virus undertaken by humanitarian organisations was recognised by the international public opinion, which was best evidenced by the fact that the prestigious daily Time rewarded all the individuals involved in the fight against the epidemic with a collective title of the Man of the Year.35 Other, equally unpredictable threat, is political instability of countries where aid is delivered. Given that these are usually weak and unstable nations, the risk of humanitarian workers becoming subjects of criminal attacks is always present and forms part of their every-day work. Murders, kidnapping for ransom, and violent attacks, these threats are very real for them. Each form of aggression has different roots and, as such, should be analysed individually. Kilian Kleinschmidt,, chief of the camp for Syrian refugees in Zaatari, Jordan, once spoke about the risks involved in his work: “One of the gang [operating at the camp] members told me that they saw me walking at night and were wondering whether or not to kidnap me. Finally, they decided not to do so because they thought that, if I had the courage to scroll through a place that some would be afraid to even during the day, I must be an honest man. But it is not only about honesty. I deal with a society whose members are most impressed by power and prestige. And so, I had to show them that I was in charge, that I was not afraid of them. Only then, thanks to night walks, conversations and my strong decisions, did they started to respect me and follow my orders”.36

this type is to be provided in response to real needs rather than political interests. Leadership, assessment, project monitoring, coordinating aid mechanisms, transparent financing, taking care of aid workers’ safety and, finally, eagerness to promptly react to emerging humanitarian crises – these are the major objectives established by the UN. But the question arises: is any reform of aid mechanisms possible at all? There are reasons to doubt it. Yet if only these changes are to reduce or eliminate the effects of at least one humanitarian crisis, then it is definitely worth trying.

Bibliography Amerykańscy żołnierze ukarani za palenie Koranu i bezczeszczenie zwłok, PAP, http://www.rmf24.pl/raport-wojnawafganistanie/raportwojnawafganistanie2/news-amerykanscy-zolnierze-ukarani-za-palenie-koranu-i-bezczeszcz,nId,631156 [access: 30.06.2015]. Boski P., Kulturowe ramy zachowań społecznych, PWN Publishing House, Warsaw 2010. Dickinson E., A Bright Shining Slogan. How “hearts and minds” came to be, “Foreign Policy” 2009, http://foreignpolicy.com/2009/08/22/a-bright-shining-slogan/ [access: 26.06.2015]. Długowski Ł., Szef obozu dla syryjskich uchodźców w Jordanii: Wymyślamy pomoc humanitarną na nowo, gazeta.pl: http:// weekend.gazeta.pl/weekend/1,138262,16698102,Szef_ obozu_dla_syryjskich_uchodzcow_w_Jordanii__Wymyslamy.html [access: 30.06.2015]. Fishstein P., Wilder A., Winning Hearts and Minds? Examining the Relationship between Aid and Security in Afghanistan, Feinstein International Publishing Group Ltd.: http:// fic.tufts.edu/assets/WinningHearts-Final.pdf [access: 30.06.2015]. Flaga M., Historia i stan obecny chrześcijańskich miejsc pielgrzymkowych Syrii, Jordanii i Libanu, “Peregrinus Cracoviensis” 2012, vol. 23, http://www.pc.geo.uj.edu.pl/documents/5021692/23340180/2012_23_161-182.pdf [access: 24.06.2015]. Gesteland R., Różnice kulturowe a zachowania w biznesie, PWN Publishing House, Warsaw 1999. Gibbs N., The Choice, “Time” 22–29 December 2014. Hall E. T., Poza kulturą, PWN Publishing House, Warsaw 2001. Hofstede G., Kultury i organizacje. Zaprogramowanie umysłu, Polskie Wydawnictwo Ekonomiczne, Warsaw 2007. http://episkopat.pl/informacje_kep/6269.1,Bp_Audo_z_Syrii_ Boli_nas_exodus_chrzescijan.html [access: 24.06.2015]. http://oide.sejm.gov.pl/oide/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14804&Itemid=946 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-31962755 [access: 24.06.2015]. http://www.disasterdiplomacy.org/publications.html [access: 26.06.2015]. http://www.polskieradio.pl/5/3/Artykul/1199110,Irak-dzihadysci-zabili-pol-tysiaca-jazydow [access: 24.06.2015]. http://www.religie.424.pl/krotka-opowiesc-o-jazydach,1690,article.html [access: 24.06.2015]. http://www.worldandmedia.com/crisis/forgotten-emergencies. html [access: 24.06.2015].

Summary The continual risk of natural disasters and wars affecting big numbers of civilians causes that humanitarian aid is extremely important and people who deliver it have to always adapt to specific conditions. By its very nature, offering help to groups of population facing crises poses many challenges. Bad management, taking advantage of given assistance to achieve objectives that have nothing to do with humanitarianism, external threats, working in highly unfavourable conditions, risks abound virtually at each stage of an aid project realisation. Fortunately, a majority of this type of initiatives are motivated by a real will to help others and save human lives. In an attempt to improve the quality of aid projects and address the related risks, in 2014 the United Nations’ Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs suggested a strategic action plan for years 2014–2017.37 Focus in this document was put on more efficient, and based on neutral criteria, rules for granting and delivering humanitarian aid. Assistance of N. Gibbs, The Choice, “Time” 22–29 December 2014, p. 30–31. Ł. Długowski, Szef obozu dla syryjskich uchodźców w Jordanii: Wymyślamy pomoc humanitarną na nowo, gazeta.pl, http://weekend.gazeta.pl/weekend/1,138262,16698102,Szef_obozu_dla_syryjskich_uchodzcow_w_Jordanii__Wymyslamy.html [access: 30.06.2015]. 37 OCHA strategic plan 2014–2017, OCHA, https://docs.unocha.org/ sites/dms/Documents/OCHA%20SF%202014-2017%20Strategic%20 Plan.pdf [access: 30.06.2015]. 35 36

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Oxfam, Kto niesie pomoc? Upolitycznienie pomocy w konfliktach i kryzysach, http://www.pah.org.pl/m/3094/pah_czyjapomoc_pl_2012_druk.pdf [access: 16.06.2015]. Punpur M., Karawana kryzysu, czyli wszystko co chciałbyś wiedzieć o pomocy humanitarnej, Racjonalista.pl, http://www. racjonalista.pl/kk.php/s,7740 [access: 26.06.2015]. Rosiak D., Jak nie pomagać Afryce, Rzeczpospolita, http://www. rp.pl/artykul/61991,787498-Jak-nie-pomagac-Afryce.html [access: 30.06.2015]. Sadowska M., Miasto uchodźców: Jak żyją uciekinierzy z Syrii, Newsweek.pl: http://swiat.newsweek.pl/oboz-dla-uchodzcow-w-syrii-reportaz-newsweeka,artykuly,273815,1.html [access: 26.06.2015]. Schreiber H., “Zdobywanie serc i umysłów” ludności cywilnej Afganistanu jako element działań przeciwpartyzanckich, http://www.pl.ism.uw.edu.pl/wp-content/ uploads/2013/02/Schreiber-Zdobywanie-serc-i-umyslow-w-Afganistanie.pdf [access: 26.06.2015]. Stupart R., 7 worst international aid ideas, Matador Network: http://matadornetwork.com/change/7-worst-international-aid-ideas/ [access: 29.06.2015]. Wójcik Ł., Ofiary pomocy, “Polityka” May 2015, http://www.polityka.pl/tygodnikpolityka/swiat/1618085,1,chiny-i-indietocza-wojne-na-gruzach-nepalu.read [access: 26.06.2015]. Zawód: pracownik humanitarny, Polskie Radio, http://www.polskieradio.pl/130/2351/Artykul/912697,Zawod-pracownik-humanitarny [access: 29.06.2015]. Zwoliński A., Biedy Afryki, Petrus Publishing House, Kraków 2009.

https://cpj.org/killed/2003/ [access: 29.06.2015]. Huntington S. P., Zderzenie cywilizacji, Muza Publishing House, Warsaw 2008. Kokot M., Islamscy radykałowie biorą na cel organizacje humanitarne. Giną ludzie, którzy niosą pomoc, gazeta.pl, http:// wyborcza.pl/1,75477,16500444,Islamscy_radykalowie_biora_na_cel_organizacje_humanitarne_.html [access: 29.06.2015]. Larkin E., Spustoszenie. Nieopowiedziana historia o katastrofie i dyktaturze wojskowej w Birmie, Czarne Publishing House, Wołowiec 2013. Maier K., Unicef quits town after British aid man killed, Independent.co.uk, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/ unicef-quits-town-after-british-aid-man-killed-1476428. html [access: 29.06.2015]. Mdlongwa F., Somali gunmen murder Irish nurse, Independent. co.uk, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/somali-gunmen-murder-irish-nurse-1474693.html [access: 29.06.2015]. Nikodemska J., Humanitarny skandal, Focus.pl, http://www. focus.pl/czlowiek/humanitarny-skandal-8692?strona=1 [access: 26.06.2015]. OCHA strategic plan 2014–2017, OCHA: https://docs.unocha.org/sites/dms/Documents/OCHA%20SF%2020142017%20Strategic%20Plan.pdf [access: 30.06.2015]. Ochojska-Okońska J., Zapomniane kryzysy humanitarne, “Znak” 2011, vol. 688, http://www.miesiecznik.znak.com. pl/1629/2/zapomniane-kryzysy-humanitarne?_ga=1.2299 94457.478047686.1432893484 [access: 24.06.2015].

Project management methodology on the examples of PRINCE2®, Agile Project Management® and PRINCE2 AgileTM Marcin Jackowski1 Key words: PRINCE2, PRINCE2 Agile, AgilePM, Project management, Agile management methodology, change management

quality level, specified risk level, and the benefits to be brought about by the project. Some believe that the first instances of managing undertakings (projects) can be traced back to the ancient Egypt (pyramids construction), while others, when asked about the biggest breakthrough in this field, point out the invention of Henry Gantt’s bar chart. We will not move back in time so much, but for the purpose of this article, it’s enough to go back to the late 1980s, when PRINCE, and then, a couple years later, AgilePM, were born. Obviously, this doesn’t mean that projects can be managed only according to one of these two methodologies. Since 1970s experts from the Project Management Institute have been working on a project management standard. It’s known as PMI, or, PMBoK, and is still being developed, enjoying great popularity. What is a project? According to the definition suggested by the Project Management Institute, a project is “a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result.” Within the PRINCE 2 methodology, a project is defined as “a temporary organisation that is created for the purpose of delivering one or more business products according to an agreed business case.” While in the definition underlying the AgilePM method we read: “…focus on business value/result, and not only on the project plan/final outcome… focus on delivering value instead of a rigid definition of a product…” What comes as the common denominator of all these approaches is an attempt to satisfy the receivers’ and clients’ needs. Given that cultural differences and particular project environments are context-specific, we can choose from among a couple of methods. In the following part I will characterise the PRINCE2 and AgilePM methodologies and suggest which one to choose in particular project phases. PRINCE2 methodology – general characteristic PRINCE2 is “a world-wide renowned and used management standard based on extensive and long experience in this field.” Managing value for various target groups is performed either as part of the so-called usual business activity or by establishing a temporary project organisation responsible for delivering one or more business products. PRINCE2 (PRojects IN Controlled Environments) is a method enabling efficient project management in a controlled environment.

Introduction1 The activity of any organisation operating within the public or commercial sector, as well as of all non-governmental institutions, can be described with the use of the “doing business – changing business” model. Doing business means carrying out every-day processes and procedures allowing for achieving the organisation’s goals (usually measured by the Key Performance Indicators). And what does changing business entail? In very simple terms: introducing changes through programmes and projects. By completing project actions we transform a given organisation’s operation methods, contributing to the fulfillment of the set organisational objectives. A project brings about a change whose outcomes are used in the organisation’s daily operational activity. A new environment, on the other hand, results in an increase in business profits. A great majority of organisations, organisational bodies and employees undertake projects. Regardless of whether we consider a particular projects to be complex, big-scale endeavors or relatively small ones, a project always means the fulfillment of an established objective within a strictly defined time and budget framework. For example, if we change the way people work, plan and transform a factory’s IT management system, or launch a new product, we manage projects. Project outcomes include new products, processes and organisations. We can, then, say that projects are time-limited (temporary); change-inducing; carried out under unique conditions; multi-functional (engaging parties having different roles and expectations, such a contractor – client and supplier – executor); involving higher risk levels than ordinary operational actions. Additionally, in each project we can distinguish six efficiency aspects that define it and are managed during the project implementation phase. These include: the project time frame, budget, scope, defined Marcin Jackowski – accredited trainer in the following methodologies: PRINCE2 (Approved PRINCE2 Trainer), P3O (P3O Approved Trainer), MSP (MSP Approved Trainer), MoP (MoP Approved Trainer), MoV (MoV Approved Trainer), a leading trainer PRINCE2, MoP, MSP, P3O, MoV (PRINCE2, MoP, MSP, P3O, MoV Lead Trainer). Registered Consultant with long experience in business and training. Graduated in economics with specializations in business management and accounting. Designs and conducts trainings and workshops on project management, programs, portfolios, value and risk management in organization. His particular area of interest lies in the methodology included in the P3RM (project, program, portfolio and risk management), PRINCE2, MSP, MoP, M_o_R, P3O and MoV.

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Manage by exception A project consistent with PRINCE2 has defined tolerances for all project objectives to establish limits of delegated authority. The tolerances define the scope of the freedom of the PM’s actions. As long as the effects of the manager’s actions fall within this scope, he/she can further perform them. If there is any risk of breaching the tolerance limit, one’s superior should be immediately notified about it. Focus on products A PRINCE2 project is focused on defining and delivering products fulfilling the previously set quality requirements. Delivering products agreed on by the business body and user in question is crucial for the success of the whole of the project. Tailor to suit the project environment Tailoring to the size, complexity, importance and risk of a given project. In other words: adjusting the existing methodology to a specific project’s “here and now”, this is to say to its implementation environment. PRINCE2 Themes:4 Business case – creating assessment mechanisms for evaluating whether a project is needed and worth undertaking. Will the project pay off? Is it beneficial for the organisation and does it contribute to the achievement of its strategic objectives? Organisation – defining the scopes of individual tasks and responsibilities of particular team members. Identifying and specifying all the stakeholders’ information needs. Making decisions concerning the ways in which the team will communicate with the stakeholders. Quality – working out mechanisms allowing for effective planning, delivery and quality control. How products will gain the established quality level. Plans – defining the way of delivering products in the project. Where? How? For how much? For when? Who will do the work? Risk – identifying, assessing and monitoring uncertainties (risks) in order to increase the chances of the project completion. The lack of proper project management is a frequent cause of the failures of entire enterprises. Change – identifying, assessing and acting on changes within the project. Progress – assessing the achievements against the plans. Predicting how the project situation can develop and undertaking corrective actions to keep the project/ phase within the tolerance limits. PRINCE2 Processes5 are as follows: Starting up a Project – a pre-project stage aimed at determining whether or not a given project is worth investing in. Initiating a Project – creating solid foundations for directing the project in all the aspects. Preparing a Project Plan, the project strategy, Business Justification, and mechanisms of executing project authority. Initiating a Stage – continuous operational project management performed by the PM. Delegating tasks to Teams, managing risks and themes, reporting to the Steering Committee, directing the project on a daily basis.

The official website: http://www.prince-officialsite. com/ Advantages and disadvantages2 of using the PRINCE2 methodology: PRINCE2 allows for controlling resources and effective management of business and project risks; PRINCE2 includes established and proven project management good practices. It is widely popular and understood, which provides a common language for all project members; PRINCE2 encourages assuming formal responsibility in a project, concentrating on what the project is meant to deliver, why, when, where and for whom. The method involves four integrated components: 1. Principles – seven main rules (a project carried out in conformity with PRINCE2 adheres to all of the rules) 2. Themes – seven areas of project management 3. Processes – seven categories of actions illustrating what should be done in particular project life cycle phases 4. Project environment – adjusting the method to the specificity of a given project. Principles are guiding rules meant to be applied to any project, with no adjustments (one should not choose just some of them). For a project to be genuinely managed using PRINCE2, it needs to adhere to all of the seven principles. The principles3 are: universal – can be applied to any project, self-confirming – have been proven in practice, inspiring – make the users of the methodology more self-confident. PRINCE2 principles include: Continued business justification A project managed with the use of PRINCE2 has a Business Justification that is valid throughout its life cycle, this is to say is beneficial for the financing organisation. Learn from experience Project teams following PRINCE2 draw on previous experience (searching, documenting and using) in all the phases of the project implementation. Defined roles and responsibilities A project carried out in keeping with PRINCE2 is characterised by defined roles and responsibilities, with the interests of the business, the user and the supplier being taken into account during the defining process. All project members are perfectly aware of the scope of their tasks and decision-making power, as well as of how they should communicate information and problems to their superiors. Manage by stages A PRINCE2 project is planned, monitored and controlled on a stage-by-stage basis. A general vision of the project is created which, with each stage, becomes more and more detailed (towards the end of a given stage we set a detailed operational plan for the next stage!). A. Murray, PRINCE2 – Skuteczne zarządzanie projektami, TSO, p. 7. Ibidem, p. 11.

Ibidem, p. 18. Ibidem, p. 121.

P roj ec t m a n a g em en t met h o d o lo g y o n t h e exa m ple s o f P R I N C E 2 ® ...

Managing Product Delivery – a process constituting a framework for the work of a Team Leader and making possible the realisation of particular Task Groups. Managing Stage Boundaries – reporting the achievements of a given stage and, most importantly, working out a detailed plan of the next stage. Also, updating the project documentation. Closing the Project – evaluating the completed project, summing-up the achievements and experience gained by the organisation. Strategic Project Management – a stage during which the Steering Committee make decisions crucial for the entire project.

The exam lasts 60 minutes and can be taken either in Polish or in English. During the exam, candidates may only use the official PRINCE2 manual. The PRINCE2 Practitioner Certificate is issued by PeopleCert for 5 years. Only PRINCE2 Practitioner holders can take the PRINCE2 Re-registered Practitioner exam.

PRINCE2 Certification Table 1 presents a synthetic comparison of PRINCE2 requirements and examinations. Below are descriptions of particular examinations. PRINCE2 Foundation Examination6 consists of 75 multiple-choice test questions (70 of them are marked) and lasts 60 minutes. To pass the exam, candidates are required to obtain at least 35 correct answers. This is a closed book exam. The exam can be taken in Polish or in English. The certificate issued by PeopleCert or any other Examination Institute collaborating with AXELOS does not expire. PRINCE2 Practitioner Examination7 is a multiple-choice test consisting of 8 areas of questions relating to a scenario situation. To pass the exam, candidates must obtain at least 44 points (put of 80). The exam lasts 150 minutes and can be taken either in Polish or in English. During the exam, candidates may only use the official PRINCE2 manual. The PRINCE2 Practitioner Certificate is issued by PeopleCert (or as above) for 5 years. Only PRINCE2 Foundation holders can take the PRINCE2 Practitioner exam. PRINCE2 Re-registered Practitioner Examination8 is an exam taken to renew the PRINCE2 Practitioner Certificate. It is a multiple-choice test consisting of 3 areas of questions relating to a scenario situation. To pass the exam, candidates must obtain at least 17 points (out of 30).

Agile Project Management – a brief description “…agile and efficient project management based on 20 years of experience…” AgilePM (Agile Project Management) is a type of agile project management methodology. AgilePM is based on DSDM9 (Dynamic Systems Development Method) with over 20 years of experience in agile project management. The underlying ideas behind AgilePM include flexibility, openness to changes, and offering adjustment actions to achieve what customers really want (which is, sometimes, inconsistent with what was originally commissioned by them). AgilePM promotes a specific attitude to project management in which the project Sponsor, by delegating a person from the business sector, not only maintains a day-to-day communication with the work team, but also actively collaborates with them, as part of the team. This allows for faster decision-making, as well as promotes the continuous process of solving project issues together and detailed specification of requirements (in relation to both

Source: www.inprogress.pl Ibidem. 8 Ibidem. 6 7

Agile Project Management Handbook, version 1.2, p. 9 and 18.

Table 1. PRINCE2 certification path PRINCE2 Foundation

••multiple-choice test ••one correct answer ••75 questions (including 5 not evaluated) ••max 70 points ••50% to pass (35 points) ••60 minutes ••language: PL or EN ••validity: for life ••no educational aids allowed

PRINCE2 Practitioner

••test with a scenario situation ••8 areas of questions ••max 80 points ••55% to pass (44 points) ••150 minutes ••language: PL or EN ••validity: 5 years ••during the exam candidates can use the official PRINCE2 manual

PRINCE2 Re-registred Practitioner

••test with a scenario situation ••3 areas of questions ••max 30 points ••57% to pass (17 points) ••60 minutes ••language: PL or EN ••validity: 5 years ••during the exam candidates can use the official PRINCE2 manual

Source: own work based on the information provided by the methodology’s owner – https://www.axelos.com/qualifications/prince2-qualifications.

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characteristics and functions of products), which, in turn, prevents BDUF (Big Design Up Front) situations. Advantages and disadvantages of using AgilePM methodology:10 A better and deeper understanding of customers’ needs. Delivering what the customer really needs, and not only what they initially commissioned. Let’s become familiar with the CLIENT’S value and work together to establish requirements. Let’s not be focused only on customers’ expectations because these can be different from their actual needs. Let’s agree on that products’ functions are superior to their characteristics and acceptance criteria. Continuous, every-day co-operation of the business and project teams (short, daily meetings attended by the members of a particular development teams and the business representative). Adopting visual communication in the form of prototypes, mock-ups and model to visualise the vision of the final product for business. (Show me and I will see, test, think it through and evaluate. If I don’t give it a try, I will never get to know whether or not this is what I seek and need). Delivering key requirements incrementally in feasible, short time periods making it possible to always deliver products on time (A shorter time perspective, an easier objective. An easier objective, a lesser risk and, as a result, a higher safety of the project and the investment). Multi-task development teams gathering persons with technical and business background (Let’s join our forces and accelerate communication. Let’s collaborate [leadership], and not delegate [management]). Increased efficiency of development teams (less bureaucracy, more creativity). Transparent co-operation between business entities and development teams (not only mere monitoring through reporting and progress measuring). Trainings are organised at two levels and prepare, respectively, for the AgilePM Foundation Examination and the AgilePM Practitioner Examination. To understand the AgilePM approach,11 one should definitely go back to its roots, this is to say to the assumptions of the DSDM Atern approach – a philosophy of changing “the way we act”. This approach is underpinned by eight principles describing a specific way of working. These principles are supported by a defined Process (a life cycle, also known as “Cheese and Pizza” diagram), People (roles and responsibilities – who does what), products (what and when we create), and practices (e.g. MoSCoW priorities, repeatability of work, setting time framework, facilitating workshops and modelling). AgilePM, as well as any other agile approach, remains in conformity with the Agile manifesto,12 according to which:

“We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value: •• individuals and interactions over processes and tools •• working software over comprehensive documentation •• customer collaboration over contract negotiation •• responding to change over following a plan. That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more”. Some Agile methods, such as XP (Extreme programming) put much more emphasis on the items on the left (extreme flexibility, or, even, no specified foundations at all), while others, such as DSDM Atern, are considered as a “middle way”. Following into the footsteps of the Agile manifesto, the Atern philosophy emphasizes the following aspects: Projects must be aligned to clearly defined strategic goals of the organisaton within which they are undertaken. Focus upon early delivery of real benefits to the business. Achieving a success requires the fulfillment of several elements: business goals are understood by key stakeholders, ensure proper empowerments, cooperation toward the delivery of an adequate solution, deliver timely, in line with business priorities, stakeholders ready to deliver a solution suitable for the established objective, accepting that change is inevitable. AgilePM includes eight principles that back up this philosophy. The application of these principles fosters the team’s positive attitude and determination. Violating any of the rules poses a risks to the philosophy and creates a risk (threats). Adhering to all the principles, on the other hand, ensures obtaining a full success. Summing up, the principles make it possible for organisations to deliver highest-standard solutions. AgilePM principles include:13 Focus on the business need Project decisions depend on its goals. All the funds and efforts are focused on delivering what the company needs at the time when it needs it. Deliver on time Following this rules means establishing the project timescale, focusing on set business priorities and always hitting deadlines. Collaborate Of crucial importance here is engaging proper stakeholders at proper time during all the project stages and ensuring that team members possess competences entitling them to take decisions on behalf of the persons they represent. Crucial are also the involvement of business representatives and developing a one-team culture.

Ł. Bera, M. Jackowski, Starcie gigantów, PMDays SGH, Warsaw; Agile Project Management Handbook, version 1.2, p. 11. 11 Agile Project…, op. cit., p. 18. 12 Based on: http://agilemanifesto.org/iso/pl/ 10

Agile Project…, op. cit., from page 20 on.

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Never compromise quality The quality level agreed on at the beginning of the project implementation needs to be maintained, ensuring the fulfillment of the expected business needs. For quality to be achieved, it must be first planned, with documents being prepared and adequate tests carried out. Conduct tests at early stages and in a continuous way. Never leave them for the end. Build incrementally from firm foundations Plan the work in such a way as to quickly (if possible) gain first business benefits. Seek to demonstrate all the time that the developed solution is adequate (fulfills set business expectations). Analyse priorities and feasibility of the project upon completing all project stages. Develop iteratively Nothing was created perfect at the first attempt. First prepare a satisfactory project (EDUF) that will lay firm foundations. Plan the development/delivery applying the iterative attitude. Take into account feedback from customers at each iteration. Remember that the majority of details tend to be provided at early, rather than late stages. Communicate continuously and clearly Many books have already been written on communication. Focus on concise and clear documentation, organise daily morning meetings, use the technique of facilitated workshops. Demonstrate control The team (especially the Project Manager and the Team Leader) need to ensure an adequate level of formal monitoring, control and accounting of the project. This involves the possibility of inspecting the project plans and work progress.

in the certificate. The AgilePM Foundation Certificate is valid for life. AgilePM Practitioner Examination15 is a choice test covering 4 areas based on a scenario. The passing score is 50%, i.e. at least 30 (out of 60) points. The exam takes 120 minutes and, for the time being, is offered in English only (the methodology has not been officially translated to Polish). During the exam, candidates may only used the Agile Project Management Handbook. The AgilePM Practitioner Certificate is issued by APMG for 5 years. Only Foundation Certificate holders are eligible for the Practitioner Certificate.

PRINCE2 and AgilePM – comparison The history of both methodologies started many years ago, with their previous versions having influenced the methodologies’ current shapes. PRINCE2 methodology16 has its roots in the previous methodologies: PRINCE and PROMPT. In the mid 1970s Simpact Systems Limited put forward an approach to managing enterprises – PROMPT (Project Resource Organisation Management Planning Technique). The main focus in this approach is on managing resources used for project implementation. Then, the British government acquired the PROMPT methodology license. In 1983 the PROMPT II methodology was introduced as a binding project management standard in British government units. In 1989 the British Central Computer

AgilePM Certification Table 2 presents a synthetic comparison of AgilePM requirements and examinations. Below are descriptions of particular exams. AgilePM Foundation Examination14 is an ABCD single-choice test of 60 questions. The passing score is 50%, i.e. 30 (out of 60) points. Each correct answer scores 1 point. The exam lasts 60 minutes and, for the time being, is offered in English only (the methodology has not been officially translated to Polish). No penalty points are given for wrong answers and the scoring is nor entered

Ibidem. K. Bradley, Podstawy metodyki PRINCE2, 2002.

15 14

Source: www.inprogress.pl

Table 2. AgilePM certification path AgilePM Foundation

AgilePM Practitioner

••ABCD test ••one correct answer ••60 questions ••max 60 points ••50% to pass (30 points) ••60 minutes ••language: EN ••validity: for life ••no educational aids allowed

••test based on a scenario ••4 areas of questions ••max 60 points ••50% to pass (30 points) ••120 minutes ••language: EN ••validity: 5 years ••during the exam, candidates may use the AgilePM handbook

Source: own work based on the information provided by the owner of the methodology – http://www.apmg-international.com/pl/kwalifikacje/agilepm/agile-pmpl.aspx.

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and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) published the PRINCE standard. In 1996 CCTA, in cooperation with the SPOCE training company, for the first time published the PRINCE2 methodology. Following years saw the popularisation of this standard which, thanks to the growing interest of users, resulted in standard updates in 2005 and 2009. The PRINCE2 version from 2009 is still a binding approach. The next methodology owner (AXELOS) has not decided so far to launch a new PRINCE2 version, but has published guidelines on how to use and combine the PRINCE2 methodology with agile approaches. The premiere of a new standard, named PRINCE2 Agile, took place in the end of June 2015.17 The beginnings of agile approaches go back to the mid 1990s and it could be said that PRINCE2 and AgilePM are peer standards. The AgilePM method is based on a methodology created by the DSDM Atern company and has clear references to the DSDM (Dynamic Systems Development Method) approach believed to be the oldest systematised agile method. Agile approaches were growing in popularity, especially among groups of software developers, and developed in many directions. In 2001 key representatives of different Agile “schools” met in the USA and formulated the manifesto of a newly-established Agile Alliance organisation. The meeting was attended by:18 Ken Schwaber; Mike Beedle; Jeff Sutherland – Scrum; Alistair Cockburn – Crystal; Jim Highsmith – ASD (Adaptive Software Development); Brian Marick; Andy Hunt; Dave Thomas – not related to any specific method; Steve Mellor and John Kern – modelling tools; Arie van Bennekim – DSDM; Kent Beck; Ron Jeffries; Ward Cunningham; Bob Martin; Martin Fowler; James Grenning – XP. This is when the DSDM Consortium was established, which operates as an collective, non-profit organisation. The Consortium own the DSDM methodology19 subsequently developed into the DSDM Atern methodology. The Consortium’s actions are focused on the development of project management in the IT sector and the popularisation of these methodologies. In 2010, in cooperation with APMG-International, the Consortium published the first version of Agile PM (version 1.0). In view of great dynamics of the IT market, as well as of changing requirements and expectations, also towards agile project management methodologies, the 1.2 version of the methodology was published as early as in 2013. In 2015 we have witnessed a premiere of a deeply refreshed Agile PM methodology, in the 2.0 version. The transformation from DSDM methodologies to AgilePM entails moving form an approach of complex management of a software development project (including managing the team of programmers responsible for the software code) to a uni-

versal methodology of managing projects based on “agile” principles, regardless of a given project specific topic. AgilePM is a methodology that can be applied any time when we deal with a flexible delivery on time within a closed budget and the optimisation of the customer’s satisfaction is more important than delivering a clearly defined product within a previously established time and budget framework. Focus in the agile approach is on the highest possible customer satisfaction achieved by a flexible attitude towards the project’s scope and requirements. Illustration 1 presents milestones in the history of PRINCE2, while Illustration 2 features key dates in the development of the AgilePM approach. 70s PROMPT

1989 PRINCE

1983 PROMPT II

2005 PRINCE2

1996 PRINCE2

2009 PRINCE2

Illustration 1. The history of PRINCE2 Source: own work. 1995 DZDM v1

2010 AgilePM v1.0

2001 Agile Manifesto

2013 Agile PM v1.2

Illustration 2. The history of AgilePM Source: own work.

While comparing the features of both methodologies we can notice that:20 both approaches define the role of Project management, AgilePM defines the role of a specialised team, while PRINCE2 does not, both approaches relate to the client (contractor) – supplier (executor) environment, In PRINCE2 scope is defined through product, while in AgilePM through requirements. Illustration 3 presents the comparison of traditional approaches (PRINCE2) and “agile” approaches (AgilePM). In the example to follow we will use four variables specifying each project: time, scope, cost and quality. In traditional approaches scope is fixed (what exactly we have to do, e.g. project products), quality is negotiable, while time and cost are changeable (within the limits of respective tolerances and change mechanisms). An agile approach constitutes a certain reversion of this model and so, time, cost and quality are fixed, while scope is changeable (“agile”). Within the frozen time and cost (as part of the so-called “timebox” and increment – increase), we deliver negotiable quality. The scope, or what precisely has to be done, features set priorities. The changeability of the scope means that elements – functionalities – of the highest priority need to be delivered, while those of the lowest priority do not have to be completed at all.

https://www.axelos.com/best-practice-solutions/prince2/prince2-agile 18 http://agilemanifesto.org, http://www.agilealliance.org 19 www.dsdm.org 17

Ł. Bera, M. Jackowski, Starcie gigantów…, op. cit.

P roj ec t m a n a g em en t met h o d o lo g y o n t h e exa m ple s o f P R I N C E 2 ® ... Traditional approach scope

fixed

“Agile” approaches time

Example 2

cost

A business changes their mind. Let’s analyse a project undertaken in a dynamically changing environment (e.g. the large-surface advertising market characterised by a very strong and active competition, which makes us expect many changes to the project, changes that we will have to react to). Dear reader, please take a while to decide which methodology you would recommend to manage this project. What is your choice? Yes, the AgilePM approach will be more useful here. Why? Elements typical of PRINCE2 that do not fit the described situation: a formal process of controlling and directing changes – we expect to deal with a dynamic environment, in a PRINCE2 project changes are possible but, by definition, “agile” projects are easier to manage in this respect, the lack of the specification of the way in which the team developing the product will work makes introducing changes more difficult/longer. Elements typical of AgilePM that fit the described situation: prioritising requirements – to manage change in a quick and “agile” way, priorities need to be established that need to be met, managing work, for example through dividing it into timeboxes – even time periods – and delivering work in small “portions”, which encourages early testing, introducing changes and fulfilling the business needs, properly defined roles within a project team, daily decisions are taken by an autonomous team (including the business – the contractor and the user).

quality? quality? time

cost

changeable

scope

Illustration 3. A traditional versus “agile” approach21

Let’s now come back to the thesis formulated in the introduction: “independently of which methodology we decide to follow, each completed project will be successful.” It is going to be proved with the use of several examples of projects (some of them related to consulting services) that the author has taken part in.22

Example 1 A business is incapable of clearly specifying requirements (at least at the beginning of the project). A contractor needs an IT system for customer service. At the beginning of the project realisation they have a general vision of what type of modules the system is to comprise, but they are not able yet to give any specific information. Dear reader, which methodology would you recommend for managing this project: PRINCE2 or AgilePM? What is your choice? Yes, the AgilePM approach will be more useful here. Why? Elements typical of PRINCE2 that do not fit the described situation: focus on products – this means that we should have a broader knowledge of the scope, going beyond a general specification of IT system modules needed for customer service, it suggests a formal change management process – in the case an almost continuous change is expected resulting from constant specification of the scope and expectations, does not take into consideration specialised work. Elements typical of AgilePM that fit the described situation: is focused more on the business need and results than on products – this can be understood as an advantage in this situation, allows to plan a project and commence work without a detailed specification and to further define requirements throughout the project implementation (to specify the scope and requirements after the project had been launched); thanks to frequent supplies of small pieces of software, it will be possible for the Contractor to specify his needs (and have an ever clearer opinion on the product) for with each part he will become ever more experienced in using the software.

Example 3 Full specification is required. Let’s assume that the specificity of the sector, legal conditions or safety requirements cause that a formal acceptance of a detailed specification is needed of the product to be delivered as a result of the project. This example applies, for instance, to a motorway construction in which, without a full documentation of the planned road part, we will not be able to commence works. Dear reader, please take a while to decide which methodology you would recommend to manage this project. What is your choice? Yes, the PRINCE2 approach will be more useful here. Why? Elements typical of PRINCE2 that fit the described situation: the project initiation stage allows a detailed specification, its formal confirmation and, then, using it as a basis for planning the project. focus on products encourages a detailed specification of the scope and requirements.

Agile Project Management Handbook, version 1.2, p. 15. These examples have also been described in: Ł. Bera, M. Jackowski, Starcie gigantów…, op. cit.

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Elements typical of PRINCE2 that fit the described situation: each stage needs to end with the delivery of clearly described products, yet in business terms, the latter do not have to be useful. Elements typical of AgilePM that do not fit the described situation: the principle “Build incrementally from firm foundations” – you cannot deliver “half ” of a bridge, quick payback of the investment – “half ” of the bridge will not bring about half of the benefits but ZERO, prompt verification of a business concept – it is impossible to verify the rightness of a business concept when works are ingoing, it can be done only after the project has been completed.

Elements typical of AgilePM that do not fit the described situation: specification becomes more detailed along with the development of the project and delivering particular elements of the solution – in this case the advantage in question becomes a disadvantage because it is impossible to initiate road construction works with just a vague idea of how the motorway is supposed to look like; all engineering structures need to be planned and contracted.

Example 4 Limited availability of business representatives. In this case a client, after considering the availability of his stuff (given other operational activities), hopes that his involvement in the project will be limited to the verification of monthly reports compiled by the project manager. Dear reader, please take a while to decide which methodology you would recommend to manage this project. What is your choice? Yes, the PRINCE2 approach will be more useful here. Why? Elements typical of PRINCE2 that fit the described situation: the involvement in the project on the part of the business is limited – the business defines products, provides quality controllers, does not have to be engaged in every-day issues, thanks to proper planning and management mechanisms the daily involvement of the business (the steering committee) is not necessary; obviously, the steering committee is ready to take decisions when these go beyond the PM’s competences (when the tolerance limit is exceeded). Elements typical of AgilePM do not that fit the described situation: the business representative’s (ambassador’s) daily involvement in the team’s work is necessary to ensure sharp focus on the business objective – otherwise, the team finds it difficult to “agree on” what they are supposed to do.

Example 6 Time limit. This time the contractor expects that the online selling of a telephone rate will be offered 8 weeks before Christmas to fully exploit the holiday sales increase. Obviously, acquiring the new rate 4, or even 2, weeks before Christmas also pays off, though the expected sales volumes in these periods are several times lower. Dear reader, please take a while to decide which methodology you would recommend to manage this project. What is your choice? Yes, the AgilePM approach will be more useful here. Why? Elements typical of PRINCE2 that do not fit the described situation: time is one of the project variables, time tolerance can be higher than 0 (zero). Elements typical of AgilePM that fit the described situation: the “Deliver on time” principle is a fixed value rather than a project variable and so, we need to be ready with the new rate 8 weeks before Christmas, work will be executed in established, closed time periods (“timeboxes”), time is not considered here as a variable; scope, instead, is a variable, which can be explained like that: we have a product in the basic scope (key functionalities) and several further extensions (non-critical functionalities) can be delivered at the end of the project implementation; yet what we have allows selling and gaining benefits, no time tolerance.

Example 5 Incremental delivery is impossible. The next real-life business story starts as follows: the project aims to reconstruct a bridge destroyed by a flood. Since it is impossible to build “half ” of a bridge, to receive a working product, it is necessary to complete the whole of the scope. In other words, crossing the river will only be possible when the entire product have been completed and delivered. Dear reader, please take a while to decide which methodology you would recommend to manage this project. What is your choice? Yes, the PRINCE2 approach will be more useful here. Why?

Example 7 Unknown result and project benefits. Let’s imagine that at the moment the business is incapable of specifying what the organisation will look like after the project completion and what benefits and savings will the project bring about. Dear reader, please take a while to decide which methodology you would recommend to manage this project.

P roj ec t m a n a g em en t met h o d o lo g y o n t h e exa m ple s o f P R I N C E 2 ® ...

What is your choice? It’s hard to tell, nothing quite fits. There is no methodology that would increase the chances of success when project assumptions are unspecific. Why? Elements typical of PRINCE2 that do not fit the described situation: The principle of continued business justification – the lack of the specification of project benefits makes it impossible to determine whether or not a given project will be beneficial for the organisation and whether they should invest in it. Elements typical of AgilePM that do not fit the described situation: The principle of the focus on the business need – needs to fulfill are unknown.

tunately, often misinterpreted) regarding PRINCE2 Agile:23 PRINCE2 methodology in the version from 2009 is enabled to co-operate with agile approaches and its principles are still valid, PRINCE2 Agile is for any project, not just for IT projects, IT environment is often mentioned in examples and use cases, but it is by no means the only environment where these approaches can be applied, Agile is not just Scrum, Scrum and Kanban are the most popular approaches in Agile, PRINCE2 Agile sees “agile” as a family of behaviours, frameworks, concepts and techniques. The creators of PRINCE2 Agile24 do not question the validity and assumptions of PRINCE2 methodology, actually calling it the founding one and still binding. What is, then, PRINCE2 Agile? If it is not a brand new methodology, it can be regarded as a way to adapt the PRINCE2 approach to the rules gathering Agile. While analysing the areas in which both approaches are the strongest, we can easily notice that PRINCE2 is primarily about project management and strategic project direction, with the level of project delivery being just curtly mentioned. Agile approaches, on the other hand, put the greatest emphasis on product delivery and in practical terms, hardly ever reach the level of strategic project direction. As a result, PRINCE2, in an almost unaltered form, fills the management component at the strategic level (Steering Committee), while the product delivery component is taken care of by Agile. In this way, the two approaches start to intertwine. The hierarchical approach typical of PRINCE2 reaches the level where Agile is being applied and the “agile” philosophy finally gets to the “Steering Committee” level. A certain fusion takes place of two project management philosophies. Common for all Agile approaches are non-negotiable time and costs. These parameters are fix and don’t flex.25 This means that in all project management phases, starting from sprints to releases, time is fixed and has zero tolerance. Costs is also a parameter with zero tolerance. Quality and scope are much more flexible in that they are said to be fix and flexible at the same time. This apparent paradox of a fix and flexible feature has been resolved in the following way: the scope is fixed for products that are crucial for the project and it features a tolerance for the products that are desired but not indispensable (the scope does not always have to be fully realised). As for quality, there is also a non-negotiable area (of zero tolerance) that encompasses quality expectations, quality criteria and acceptances that are critical for the project. For criteria that are desired but not necessary, tolerances are defined (not all criteria have to be always fulfilled). Benefits feature zero tolerance for the minimum viability level, toler-

Summary As has been demonstrated, the thesis “independently of which methodology we decide to follow, each completed project will be successful” is false. Not all methodologies fit all projects and it happens that one approach is clearly better than another one. This is why good knowledge of all available methodologies and approaches is crucial not to limit oneself only to PRINCE2 or AgilePM.

Next step. PRINCE2 AgileTM Can PRINCE2 and Agile be brought together to form one project management practice? Definitely YES. Many attempts were made in the past to combine a waterfall approach (PRINCE2 undoubtedly belongs to this category) and Agile methodologies. For example, one can learn about the possibilities and rules of bringing PRINCE2 and DSDM Atern together from a very interesting manual “Agile project management: running PRINCE2 projects with DSDM Atern” by Keith Richards. The author shows how to exploit the potential of both approaches and take advantage of their complementarity. Drawing on his own experience, he proves that making PRINCE2 more agile makes it possible to preserve the methodology’s universal character so that it will still fit any project environment. Keith Richards points out key issues to consider while combining various approaches, for example: how to manage a PRINCE2 project in an agile way how to take advantage of the strong points of both methodologies, in which areas they overlap, and which ones will require some adjustments, how to integrate both approaches respecting their processes, roles and documents. On 24 June 2015 AXELOS published PRINCE2 Agile methodology formulated mainly by Keith Richards himself. The event was preceded by a series of conferences and webinars (materials from these can be found on Keith Richards’ website: https://agilekrc.com/resources). To better understand the new approach to project management, let’s present here basic information (unfor-

Based on Keith Richards’ presentation and other conference materials, https://agilekrc.com/resource/94/prince2-agile-ampg-international-showcase-masterclass-2015 24 PRINCE2 AgileTM, 2015, TSO, p. 17. 25 Ibidem, p. 39–40. 23

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ances being used for levels above the minimum viability. We enjoy the greatest freedom in shaping tolerance for risk, a determined tolerance level depending on the needs and abilities of the Steering Committee and the Project Manager. The approach described above remains in conformity with the PRINCE2 principle of managing with the use of tolerances, although, as a solution adjusted to the Agile philosophy, it constitutes a certain exception. Additionally, this agile approach also draws attention to five issues facilitating a better understanding of any agile approach:26 Always deliver on time – this translates, among others, into: an increase in the predictability of plans; the possibility to quickly enjoy benefits; increasing chances of preparing an offer when a market niche appears; improving co-operation and trust within a team; Protect quality level – ensure the protection of the established quality level and treat it as an issue vital for the project; this will allow a more effective and less costly maintenance of the delivered product (decreased total maintenance costs in the exploitation phase); Be open to changes – as a result, project products will naturally evolve as users will become ever more aware; changes are introduced at each management level; certain changes may be implemented by the team responsible for delivery – the Project Manager enjoys e previously set authorisation level to introduce changes; Maintaining an unchanged team line-up – we do not hire extra persons to accelerate the work pace; adding new team members during Sprint and taking time to train them will, most probably, be counter-productive; Accept the fact that the customer does not need everything – the customer will not need all the elements that have been defined in the initiation phase; it is very often the case that the customer does not quite yet know what they will need; be flexible and follow customers’ needs. PRINCE2 Agile does not question the methodology’s seven core principles, but rather suggests possible inter-

pretations and ways of applying the principles in an agile environment.27 Additionally, enumerated in the methodology are 5 Agile behaviours:28 transparency, collaboration, rich communication, self-organization, exploration. PRINCE2 Agile was created to develop and integrate the existing waterfall and agile approaches. Just as it is the case with the PRINCE2 methodology, PRINCE2 Agile can be adjusted to any type of project in any of economy’s sector. It is a universal methodology characterized by high flexibility in adopting itself to various environments in which business changes are introduced. Upon deciding which approach best fits a given project, it is worth following the pieces of advice included in chapter 6 of the official “PRINCE2 AgileTM” handbook made available on 24 June 2015. From that moment on, it has also been possible to take the PRINCE2 Agile accredited examination. The certification path includes one exam (a choice test based on a scenario) and candidates are required to be holders of the PRINCE2 Practitioner Certificate.29

Bibliography Agile Project Management Handbook, Headley Brothers Limited, Kent 2013. Jenner S., Management of Portfolios, TSO, London 2011. Keith R., PRINCE2 Agile, TSO, London 2015. Murray A., PRINCE2 – skuteczne zarządzanie projektami, TSO, London 2010. Murray-Webster R., Management of Risk: Guidance for Practitioners, TSO, London 2010. Roden E., Vowler S., Portfolio, Programme and Project Offices, TSO, London 2013. Venning C., Skuteczne zarządzanie programami, TSO, London 2014.

Ibidem, p. 50. Ibidem, p. 51. 29 Based on: https://www.axelos.com/qualifications/prince2-qualifications/prince2-agile 27

Ibidem, p. 41.

Internet participation in artistic projects Katarzyna Kopeć1 Key words: crowdsourcing, amateur, professional, artist, participation

pation in blogs and Internet forums. This need, in turn, stems from the strong individualisation of societies. On the other hand, the online network encourages peoples’ involvement in virtual, open, interdisciplinary projects, a need rooted in the specificity of global communication, related to the attempt to stand out and take part in unusual ventures. New technology tools make it possible to undertake projects based on online communication and, as such, unlimited in terms of geographic scope, language or culture. Indeed, the Internet opens the doors to digital participation in artistic projects and the shared experience of the creation process previously reserved only for artists. A number of analyses available in the literature of the subject have been devoted to different Internet participation dimensions and processes (e.g. motivation,4 innovation co-created by users, the so-called user-innovation,5 and the participation process management6). Importantly, much less of focus has been put on the key subject of all these processes, this is to say on the Internet users. This poses a serious dilemma in the area of artistic projects for if we assume that an Internet user is a fully-fledged co-author (“co-artist”) of the project given credit for their engagement, is there still any space left for the work of professional artists? These issues lie in the heart of this article aimed, above all, at outlining the changes in the dichotomous perception of the role of the audience and creators/ artists of online projects. The present texts offers a closer analysis of the phenomenon of Internet participation in artistic projects on the example of Internet users getting involved in the creation of specific online content. This phenomenon will be analysed here in the broader context of the management of online artistic projects. In its first part the article gives an account of the conditions for the consumer participation in online projects and introduces

Introduction1 When Ridley Scott and Kevin Macdonald asked the Internet users to send in short videos documenting one day in their lives, the response was highly enthusiastic – 80,000 YouTube videos whose total length was 4,500 hours. The videos’ aim was to present one day (24 July 2010) in the lives of their authors, among whom there were representatives of 197 countries and 45 languages.2 What came as an outcome of this international project was a full-length movie titled “Life in a Day” whose premiere cinema screening took place during the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. The movie is now available free of charge in the YouTube service.3 The main mechanism behind it was crowdsourcing, i.e. a distributed production model drawing on collective creativity.

The internetisation of participation Social changes resulting from the 21st-century technological revolution are especially visible in the contemporary perception of broadly understood roles of the producer and the consumer. In this article these will be presented in narrower terms, as an audience that is a collective addressee of the artist’s actions and the very artist seeking for new forms of artistic expression. In the classical socio-economic model there exists a division into the function of production (and within the area of art specifically: creation) and the function of consumption (and within the area of art specifically: experiencing and viewing). The lines between them are becoming increasingly blurred as a result of the digitization of various aspects of human life. The Internet is a very powerful tool allowing for self-expression through, among others, the partici Katarzyna Kopeć – works as a researcher and management teacher at the Tischner European University in Krakow, Poland. She earned her doctoral degree in humanistic management from the Jagiellonian University (2013). She is the author of the book in Polish examining the schemes of private funding of culture within corporate social responsibility (“Finansowanie kultury w ramach społecznej odpowiedzialności biznesu”, Libron, 2014). She took part in the US State Department’s “International Visitor Leadership Program” (2007) and in the research programme exploring crowdsourcing in cultural heritage at the Oxford Internet Institute (University of Oxford, 2015). In her research she focuses upon management in creative sector, cultural prosumption, crowdsourcing model for culture, and corporate social responsibility critical studies. 2 P. Felis, Dzień z życia świata według YouTube, http://wyborcza. pl/1,75475,9008715,Dzien_z_zycia_swiata_wedlug_YouTube.html [access: 26.06.2015]. 3 Life in a Day, https://www.youtube.com/user/lifeinaday [access: 26.06.2015]. 1

D. Brabham, Moving the Crowd at Threadless. Motivations For Participation in a Crowdsourcing Application, “Information, Communication & Society” 2010, 13(8), p. 1122–1145; J. Füller, Why Consumers Engage in Virtual New Product Developments Initiated by Producers, “Advances in Consumer Research” 2006, 33(1), p. 639–646; H. Hall, D. Graham, Creation and Recreation. Motivating Collaboration to Generate Knowledge Capital in Online Communities, “International Journal of Information Management” 2004, 24(3), p. 235–246. 5 N. Franke, User-driven Innovation, [in:] The Oxford Handbook of Innovation Management, M. Dodgson, D. Gann, N. Phillips (eds.), Oxford University Press, Oxford 2014, p. 83–101. 6 D. Geiger, T. Schulze, M. Schader, S. Seedorf, R. Nickerson, Managing the Crowd: Towards a Taxonomy of Crowdsourcing Processes, “AMCIS 2011 Proceedings – All Submissions” 2011, Paper 430, http:// aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2011_submissions/430 [access: 26.06.2015]; A. S. Huff, K. Möslein, R. Reichwald (eds.), Leading Open Innovation, The MIT Press, Cambrigde, Massachusetts/London 2013. 4

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the term of distributed participation based on collective creativity (crowdsourcing). This is followed by examples of artistic projects completed within the crowdsourcing framework. Finally, the author examines the perception of the differences between amateurs and professionals undertaking artistic projects in the Internet network.

The popularisation of the Internet has sparked a great interest in prosumption models of co-creation and communication between big groups of Internet users who use this tool to jointly undertake a task or project. The term prosumption, in spite of its appeal, visionary character and a broad terminology scope, is not used globally. The hindering factor may be the fact that it is deeply rooted in Toffler’s individualistic approach. There undoubtedly exists a certain niche resulting from the lack of accurate description of this phenomena. A rapid increase has been observed in the number of similar terms centered in the idea of co-creation, especially following the publication of Jeff Howe’s article on crowdsourcing in the American Wired magazine12 in 2006. The practice of drawing a clear distinction between particular phenomena occurring in the field of modern technologies has brought about new terminology that has been received well by the public opinion in spite of its semantic vagueness. This gradual development of new terminology has already revealed its potential, which is best illustrated by the analyses of the following phenomena: user-innovation,13 open innovation,14 co-creation15), movement for open source, commons-based peer production,16 and crowdsourcing.17 All these terms have a lot in common, underlying the significance of openness and undertaking joint ventures with an end to achieve specific objectives.

The influence of prosumption on the shape of participation in Internet projects The popularisation of the Internet makes it possible to establish cooperation as part of a model based on distributed participation. This “distribution” should be understood here in a two-fold way: first, as the lack of geographical limits and second, as unspecified (varied, blurred, not ascribed to any concrete party) functions fulfilled by the Internet users resulting from the obliteration of the line separating a consumer and a producer (or, in the case of art: an audience and an artist/creator). The term used in the literature of the subject to refer to the deconsolidation or amalgamation of the traditional forms of production and consumption is prosumption, a word coined by Alvin Toffler.7 He drew the public attention to the growing importance of individuals who produce goods, services or experience for their own use or satisfaction rather than for sale or exchange.8 After several decades of not being particularly discussed or followed, Toffler’s thesis of the intertwining roles of consumers and producers became popular with the dynamic development of the Internet. His prosumption concept was adapted to explain the phenomenon of the creation of content by Internet users.9 However, nowadays prosumption is associated not as much with individuals, but with communities. This phenomenon is, thus, understood as a collective enterprise10 evolving into the global process of co-creating and sharing information gradually replacing the traditional model of business activity.11

Crowdsourcing or organised distributed participation One of the forms of online prosumption is crowdsourcing implying democratization in the area of creating broadly understood online resources (such as content, ideas, knowledge) and the use of them. The way in which artistic crowdsourcing-related projects are created (carried out), made available (distributed) and consumed constitutes an interesting example of the process of artistic creation. Crowdsourcing is a neologism attributed to Jeff Howe,18 created as a blending of two English words: crowd and outsourcing (delegating). The word doesn’t have a Polish equivalent and the word-to-word translation – “delegating tasks to crowd” – carries the risk of not full an understanding of the term. The only general phrases used in the Polish literature to refer to what we mean here as the

A. Toffler, Trzecia fala, Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, Warsaw 1986. 8 A. Toffler, H. Toffler, Revolutionary Wealth, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, New York 2006, p. 153. The concept of prosumption is often explained in general terms as “do it yourself ”, this is to say with the use of a term referring to the common activities undertaken in one’s free time and including, among others, small reparations at home such as painting, basic works in the field of electricity, taking care of the garden, repairing the car, etc.) See: P. Webb, M. Suggitt, Gadgets and Necessities: An Encyclopedia of Household Innovations, California 2000, p. 85–87, http://www.markboulder.com/CONTENT/media/ebooks/page04/Encyclopedia.of.Household.Innovations.pdf#page=191 [access: 26.06.2015]; Ch. Xie, Trying to Prosume: Toward a Perspective on Prosumption, a dissertation, Department of Strategy and Management, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration 2005, p. 1–3, http://brage.bibsys.no/xmlui/ bitstream/handle/11250/164410/Xie_2005.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y [access: 26.06.2015]; Blättel-Mink B., Hellmann K.-U. (eds.), Prosumer Revisited. Zur Aktualität einer Debatte, VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2010, p. 22. 9 G. J. Ritzer, N. Jurgenson, Production, Consumption, Prosumption: The Nature of Capitalism in the Age of the Digital “Prosumer”, “Journal of Consumer Culture” 2010, 10(1), p. 13–36; D. Tapscott, A. D. Williams, Wikinomics. How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, Penguin, New York 2006. 10 Dunkel W., Kleeman F. (eds.), Customers at Work. New Perspectives on Interactive Service Work, Palgrave Macmillan, London 2013, p. 227. 11 D. Tapscott, A. D. Williams, Wikinomics…, op. cit., p. 20. 7

J. Howe, The Rise of Crowdsourcing, “Wired”, 14.06.2006, www.wired. com/wired/archive/14.06/crowds.html [access: 26.06.2015]. 13 E. Hippel, The Sources of Innovation, Oxford University Press, New York/Oxford 1988, http://web.mit.edu/evhippel/www/sources.htm [access: 26.06.2015]. 14 H. Chesbrough, Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology, Harvard Business School Press, Boston 2003. 15 C. K. Prahalad, V. Ramaswamy, Co-Creation Experiences: The Next Practice In Value Creation, “Journal of Interactive Marketing” 2004, 18(3), p. 5–14. 16 Y. Benkler, H. Nissenbaum, Commons-based Peer Production and Virtue, “The Journal of Political Philosophy” 2006, 14(4), p. 394–419, http://www.nyu.edu/projects/nissenbaum/papers/jopp_235.pdf [access: 26.06.2015]. 17 J. Howe, The Rise of Crowdsourcing…, op. cit.; D. C. Brabham, Crowdsourcing, MIT Press Essential Knowledge, Cambridge 2013. 18 J. Howe, The Rise of Crowdsourcing…, op. cit. 12

I n tern et p ar t ic ipa t io n in a r t is t ic proje c t s

organised model of distributed participation are “mądrość tłumów” (the wisdom of crowds) and “mądrość zbiorowa” (collective wisdom).19 Yet these are not adequate terms because they put an emphasis on just one aspect (construction) of the Internet community’s work, always understood as an anonymous collaboration of a big number of individuals. This is why the original English term has been used throughout this article. Crowdsourcing is “an online, distributed problem solving and production model whereby an organization leverages the collective intelligence of an online community for a specific purpose. It is a blend of traditional, topdown, hierarchical program management and bottom-up open innovation process.”20 Production is understood very broadly as creation of knowledge, content, as well as audio and video elements. As part of the crowdsourcing process an organisation (public, private or non-governmental) formulates a task, announcing it in an open way on the Web. Internet users voluntarily participate in the fulfillment of such a task for the good of the organisation or for the public good. Good examples of that are SeeClickFix,21 an American platform allowing the notification of problems (ones not requiring an immediate intervention) within the public space, such as illegal graffiti or road flaws, and Threadless.com,22 a Chicago-based company selling t-shirts featuring printed designs chosen in the course of a competition for the most extraordinary designs in which Internet users participate in a two-fold role, as designers and the ones voting for chosen models. Central to crowdsourcing is the mecha-

nism of “delegating” a task (which can be completed, or so far has been completed, by a full-time employee) to the open space in the form of an open call, so that it can be undertaken by various Internet users.23 The payment that crowdworkers, who engage in the completion of delegated tasks, usually receive for their work is either financial or non-financial (e.g. recognition in a given sector, the sense of self-esteem).24 Crucial in this context is the Internet environment allowing for the completion of a given work, cooperation with a chosen organisation, and mutual benefits for both the organisation and Internet users.25 Therefore, crowdsourcing entails a combination of the roles of a producer and a consumer through generating content at the community level with the use of Internet as an exchange medium. The only element that clearly distinguishes crowdsourcing from other forms of prosumption drawing on the idea of commons-based peer production is the existence of a party coordinating all the involved actions. And this is why Daren Brabham strongly postulated the exclusion of open source software, such as Linux and Wikipedia, from the area of crowdsourcing.26 Many scholars promote broad definitions of crowdsourcing, which causes the lack of terminological clarity and the blurring of clearly distinct (though obviously, related) phenomena. Brabham has suggested a narrow definition of crowdsourcing, outlining its four predominant forms. These forms are closely correlated with various categories of problems that big organisations strive to solve resorting to crowdsourcing. J. Howe, The Rise of Crowdsourcing…, op. cit. See: D. Brabham, Crowdsourcing as a Model for Problem Solving. An Introduction and Cases, “Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies” 2008, 14(1), p. 75–90; D. Brabham, Moving the Crowd at Threadless…, op. cit., p. 1122– 1145; D. Brabham, Crowdsourcing…, op. cit.; K. Lakhani (et al.), The Value of Openness in Scientific Problem Solving, “Harvard Business School Working Paper” 2007, 07–050, http://www.hbs.edu/research/ pdf/07-050.pdf [access: 04.09.2014]; O. Acar, J. Ende, Motivation, Reward Size and Contribution in Idea Crowdsourcing. Referat zaprezentowany podczas Dime-Druid Academy Winter Conference 2011, Comwell Rebild Bakker, Aalborg; R. Reichwald, F. Piller, Interaktive Wertschöpfung: Open Innovation, Individualisierung und neue Formen der Arbeitsteilung, Gabler Verlag, Wiesbaden 2006. 25 D. Brabham, Crowdsourcing…, op. cit., p. 3. 26 Ibidem, p. xxi. 23

See, e.g., M. Grela, Rynki predykacyjne jako przykład crowdsourcingu, “Acta Universitatis Nicolai Copernici: Ekonomia” 2014, XLV, 2, p. 205–217; Ł. Gajewski, Wykorzystanie koncepcji mądrości tłumu do przyspieszenia tempa rozwoju technologicznego, “E-mentor” 2010, 5(37), http://www.e-mentor.edu.pl/mobi/artykul/index/numer/37/ id/796 [access: 26.06.2015]. 20 „It is an online, distributed problem solving and production model whereby an organization leverages the collective intelligence of an online community for a specific purpose. It is a blend of traditional, top-down, hierarchical program management and bottom-up open innovation process”, D. Brabham, Myth of Amateur Crowds, “Information, Communication and Society” 2011, 15(3), p. 395. 21 SeeClickFix.com, http://seeclickfix.com/ [access: 26.06.2015]. 22 Threadless.com, https://www.threadless.com/designs [access: 26.06.2015]. 19

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Chart 1. Types of crowdsourcing within Daren Brabham’s narrow approach Type

Description

Example

Knowledge discovery and management

An organisation makes an open online announcement in which it tasks crowd with finding information (knowledge) to be collected in a previously specified format and location. This is the most frequent type of crowdsourcing used by organisations in the field of culture. In this case the organisation manages the process of searching for information (knowledge), verifying, among others, what kind of information is needed, what is the aim of information, etc.

1. Wir Waren So Frei. Moments in Time 1989/1990: a project completed by the Deutsche Kinemathek and the Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung). The project’s main aim was an open online collection of private films, photographs and memoirs related to the fall of the Berlin Wall. The total of 7,000 of pieces have been collected online 2. Otwarte Zabytki (Open Monuments): a venture undertaken by Centrum Cyfrowe: Projekt Polska (the Digital Centre: Project Poland) with an aim to create a citizens’ online catalogue of monuments based on the data offered by the state register of monuments.

Searching for a solution to a problem (broadcast search)

An organisation tasks crowd with solving empirical problems.

1. InnoCentive: a company seeking innovativeness in the fields of business, technology, industry and science in open competitions for solutions to a given problem.

Peer-vetted creative production

An organisation tasks Internet users with creating creative ideas on a given topic.

1. Click! A Crowd-Curated Exhibition: a project realised by the Brooklyn Museum in which artists were asked to send photographs corresponding with the exhibition’s title “The Changing Faces of Brooklyn.” All of the photographs were assessed by the online community and the ones that scored the highest were, then, included in the exhibition.

Distributed human intelligence tasking

An organisation delegates to crowds microtasks whose completion requires human intelligence. A typical example of that is the Amazon Mechanical Turk platform mediating between commissioners and contractors of tasks that cannot be completed by computers (e.g. tagging pictures, filling in questionnaires, rewriting texts, transcription of audio recordings, etc.)

1. TheSheepMarket.com: a project by the multimedia artist Aron Koblin as a result of which on the Amazon Mechanical Turk platform he collected 10,000 drawings of sheep made by Internet users.

Source: Own work based on: Brabham D., Crowdsourcing, MIT Press Essential Knowledge, Cambridge 2013, p. 44–50; Wir waren so frei…, https://www.wir-waren-so-frei.de/index.php/Splash/Index/lang/de_DE/lang/en_US; Otwarte Zabytki, http://otwartezabytki.pl/, Innocentive, http://www.innocentive.com/; Brooklyn Museum. Click! A Crowd-Curated Exhibition, https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/click/; TheSheepMarket, http://www.thesheepmarket.com/; Amazon Mechanical Turk, https://www.mturk.com/mturk/welcome [access: 26.06.2015].

The term “crowd” used in the context of crowdsourcing makes understanding this phenomenon problematic, particularly because of the emphasis on simultaneous activity of huge amounts of Internet users. However, the truth is that crowdsourcing projects hardly ever involve mass production, which can be illustrated by the Polish project “Otwarte Zabytki” (Open Monuments) or the British “What’s the Score at the Bodleian?” project.27

ternet users engaged in their realisation. This kind of wide involvement may be a particularly interesting and intentional factor in artistic projects in which the elements of surprise and uncertainty as to the expected outcome are of particular importance. Besides, such a wide-scale participation of an anonymous audience in an artistic project directly determines the way people perceive the authorship of a piece of work created in this way, as well as understand the concepts of creativity (collective creativity?) and self expression.28 Therefore, an audience, which may have the form of readers, listeners, or viewers of a given piece of art (artistic production) becomes an important element of any artistic project, contributing to its fuller interpretation. The idea of including members of an audience (recipients of a work of art) in the realisation of an artistic project is by

Crowdsourcing in artistic projects Crowdsourcing creates the framework for global project participation, with unevenly defined groups of In27

Otwarte Zabytki, http://otwartezabytki.pl/ [access: 26.06.2015]; What’s the Score at the Bodleian?, http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/ bodley/finding-resources/special/projects/whats-the-score [access: 26.06.2015]. Obviously, popular are also the so-called citizen science projects (people-powered-research), especially those included in the portfolio of the Zooniverse platform. See: Zooniverse.org, https:// www.zooniverse.org [access: 26.06.2015].

I. Literat, The Work of Art in the Age of Mediated Participation: Crowdsourced Art and Collective Creativity, “International Journal of Communication” 2012, 6, p. 2963.

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no means a novelty. Indeed, contemporary crowdsourcing, based on the participation of the audience members in the virtual reality, goes back to the concept of mass participation (e.g. mass improvisation in futurism at the beginning of the 20th century) or engaged art (e.g. happenings) from the 1960s and 1970s that encouraged the public to take part in the creation process.29 The idea of the abovementioned movie “A Life in a Day” was also inspired by the artistic movement for mass observation originated in the 1930s in Great Britain on initiative of the director Humphrey Jennings, poet Charles Madge and anthropologist Tom Harrisson. Mass Observation was an attempt to substantiate the beauty of everyday life by collecting answers (just as in crowdsourcing!) to the officially asked questions such as what kind of graffiti has a given person seen on a given day? What was he/she wearing?, etc.30 The global availability of Web 2.0 allows for this type of participation to be joined by potential Internet users. What differentiates the traditional participation from the Internet one is the possibility to adopt creation and distribution tools throughout an audience’s engagement in the creation process.31 The Internet offers conditions favourable for the creation of art, which is best proved by the term “online crowdsourced art” suggested by Iona Literat.32 Behind this “online crowdsourced art” created by Internet users is the idea of using the Internet as a participation platform to get audiences involved in the process of creating visual, musical, literary, or dramatic art. This process is meant to demonstrate the relations between collective imagination and individual artistic sensitivity of a given project’s members.33 Artistic participation is possible here thanks to the access to the network of a big number of Internet users who make a collective contribution to the project, which actually distinguishes this form of participation from other forms of online art, such as art created in the Internet individually (net art).

Examples of the application of crowdsourcing in artistic projects include: 1. The Sheep Market. In his project Aaron Koblin, a visual artist specialising in multimedia art, adopted the model of Internet users’ distributed participation in the creation process. On the crowdsourcing platform Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (www.mturk.com) he placed a task in which he asked the service’s users (employees) to draw a sheep looking to the left. Anyone who sent a drawing was given 0,02 USD for each sheep image. The result was the total of 10,000 drawn by users.34 The innovative element in this case was placing the task on the highly controversial AMT platform which constitutes a type of job exchange service.35

Illustration 1. The sheep number 6 425 in Aaron Koblin’s project Source: TheSheepMarket, 26.06.2015].

http://www.thesheepmarket.com/

[access:

2. The Johnny Cash Project is a project in which Internet users are asked to make drawings to form part of a collective tribute for Johnny Cash’s work. A special drawing tool was made available for users on the project’s website and all drawings of a given user make up one animation accompanied by Cash’s last studio recording “Ain’t No Grave.” The interactive website makes it possible to preview both the final outcome and individual drawings.36

C. Bishop, Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship, Verso, London/New York 2012. It is worth mentioning in this context the concept of participatory design (cooperative design) born in the 1960s and 19070s in the Scandinavian countries. As part of this process users fulfilled the role of co-designers working on the use of a given technology in the professional area. J. Buur, B. Matthews, Participatory innovation, “International Journal of Innovation Management” 2008, 12(3), p. 257. 30 P. Felis, Dzień z życia według YouTube, http://wyborcza. pl/1,75475,9008715,Dzien_z_zycia_swiata_wedlug_YouTube.html; Life in a Day: About the Production, http://movies.nationalgeographic.com/movies/life-in-a-day/about-the-production, The Mass Observation Archive, http://www.thekeep.info/collections/mass-observation-archive/ [access: 26.06.2015]. 31 A. Bruns, News Produsage in a Pro-Am Mediasphere: Why Citizen Journalism Matters, http://snurb.info/files/2010/News%20 Produsage%20in%20a%20Pro-Am%20Mediasphere.pdf [access: 26.06.2015], p. 2. 32 In the article Literat develops a typology of online crowdsourced art. See: I. Literat, The Work of Art…, op. cit., p. 2970. 33 “Online crowdsourced art is the practice of using the Internet as a participatory platform to directly engage the public in the creation of visual, musical, literary, or dramatic artwork, with the goal of showcasing the relationship between the collective imagination and the individual artistic sensibilities of its participants”. See: I. Literat, The Work of Art…, op. cit., p. 2962–2984. 29

TheSheepMarket, www.thesheepmarket.com [access: 26.06.2015]. T. Scholz (ed.), Digital Labor. The Internet as Playground and Factory, Routledge, New York 2013. 36 The Johnny Cash Project, http://www.thejohnnycashproject.com [access: 26.06.2015]. 34 35

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term of derision. Professionalism was a mark of seriousness and high standards.”38 The authors of the “The ProAm Revolution” publication noted that over the last two decades a new form of an amateur, one who completely fulfills all the professional standards, has come into being. These amateurs-professionals are well-educated and show a high level of online engagement (are highly “networked”) thanks to being skilled in the use of modern technologies. They also set foundations for new distribution organisation models that view relations between producers and consumers in brand new ways.39 From the very beginning crowdsourcing was associated with the term “amateur” (even in the title of the blog “The Rise of the Amateur”40), having caused the image of an amateur to become a symbol of crowdsourcing. Initially, “an amateur” was not defined by. It was only in his later book Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd Is Driving the Future of Business41 that he pointed out that crowdsourcing participants (and so, amateurs) are in great part well-educated in the area of liberal arts (artes liberales), possessing many talents and creative interests. He believed that they demonstrate these talents precisely by taking part in various online projects because their everyday jobs don’t fulfill their creative ambitions.42 As suggested by Daren Brabham,43 the term “amateur” is the most often used one to refer to the persons responsible for crowdsourcing. Yet he also adds that this fact doesn’t really demonstrate the complexity of the phenomenon. Professionalism tends to be identified with power, superiority and perfection. If a given person is believed to be beyond the reach of a given profession (e.g. because of the lack of professional requirements for performing a given job), they will be perceived as being unable to wield this power. George Ritzer used to describe profession as a monopoly for fulfilling particular professional duties (job).44 The debate on amateurship in crowdsourcing misrepresents amateurs as having lower competences, though it is often the case that they demonstrate skills and level of engagement in the realisation of a given project analogical to those shown by professionals. Indeed, according to this approach, amateurs’ activity is viewed as an external, detrimental power bringing about decreases in market prices. Additionally, the opinion is continually repeated that Internet users are willing to undertake lowpaid or non-paid jobs. The authors of such opinions are pretty uncritical in thinking that amateurs’ low-paid work

Illustration 2. Graphic number 559 by Joel David forming part of the animation accompanied by Johnny Cash’s recording Source: The Johnny Cash Project, http://www.thejohnnycashproject.com [access: 26.06.2015].

3. Virtual Choir is the name of a complex project realised by the contemporary composer Eric Whiteacre, who transformed a musical experiment carried out in social networking media in 2009 into a global concert event. Virtual Choir draws on individual renditions of particular compositions sent by Internet users which are, then, replayed synchronically as one piece of music or as an entire catalogue. Live concerts featuring virtually reproduced voices take place during TED conferences, as well as official ceremonies organised for the UNICEF and the UN. 2014 saw an edition featuring 2,292 young artists from the Virtual Youth Choir representing 80 countries from all around the world. In his project Whiteacre uses individual recordings shared by Internet users to organise global concerts.37

Illustration 3. A rendition by members of the Virtual Choir Source: Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir, www.ericwhitacre.com/the-virtual-choir [access: 26.06.2015].

Who is who in crowdsourcing, or an amateur and a professional as artists

See: Ch. Leadbeater, P. Miller, The Pro-Am Revolution. How enthusiasts are changing our economy and society, Demos 2004, http://www. demos.co.uk/files/proamrevolutionfinal.pdf [access: 26.06.2015], p. 12. 39 Ibidem. 40 Rise of the Amateur, http://www.crowdsourcing.com/cs/2008/02/ chapter-two-ris.html [access: 26.06.2015]. 41 J. Howe, Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd Is Driving the Future of Business?, Crown Publishing Group, Nowy Jork 2008. 42 Ibidem. 43 D. Brabham, Myth of Amateur Crowds…, op. cit. 44 G. Ritzer, Professionalization, Bureaucratization and Rationalization: the views of Max Weber, “Social Forces” 1975, 53(4), p. 630, based on: D. Brabham, Myth of Amateur Crowds…, op. cit., p. 402. 38

According to a report of the British think-tank Demos, the 20th century brought a significant increase in the importance of professionals in the majority of aspects of our lives, which is best illustrated by big hierarchic organisations headed by experts in particular fields. The former amateurish approach to many areas became subject to regulation and codification. “Amateurism came to be a 37

Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir, www.ericwhitacre.com/the-virtual-choir [access: 26.06.2015].

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is beneficial for business because it allows higher profits (e.g. by lower expenses on the work of researchers and other professionals in an organisation). Another advantage of using crowdsourcing by organisations (or bodies initiating this type of projects) is the somewhat fictional nature of placing responsibility on Internet users for the completion of specific tasks. Thanks to that the parties delegating online tasks can avoid liability for low-quality crowdsourced content, which results from users’ engagement and an attempt to meet their expectations. In the debate on the work of a “crowd” opinions are also voiced that crowdsourcing is a means of exploiting an anonymous mass of Internet users for specific purposes.45 And since this is an unprofessional crowd (an organisation entrusts a group of amateurs/hobbyists with the completion of a given action/task), the group have no possibility of getting organised in case of potential exploitation at work in a way in which it would be done by a group of professionals (no trade associations are established, no professional ethics code are formulated, no professional associations are created to set standards in particular fields, and no formal guidelines exist that would serve as a point of reference in talks concerning salaries or consequences in relation to the intellectual property right to ideas). Yet if unsatisfied with a crowdsourcing-based organisation, a “crowd” can just resign, stop participating in a given project or, in extreme cases, officially protest against its development (crowdslapping46). Such a withdrawal on the part of Internet users may cause a crowdsourcing project to fail or become unfinished in face of the lack of participants (e.g. What’s the Score at the Bodleian? – a project undertaken by the Bodleian Library in Oxford – was unofficially suspended because of the lack of interested Internet users47).

and artistic projects. Yet if we treat participants of crowdsourcing as an anonymous crowd of amateurs, will we not neglect the skills of these people as valuable, fully-fledged participants of public life or the creation sphere? Howe emphasizes that among members of a “crowd” are not only amateurs, but also professionals seeking a way to earn extra money, express themselves, or develop professional portfolios to be evaluated by future employers.49 The major changes in the attitude toward the participation in online artistic projects consist in emphasizing the role of participants as co-authors. As pointed out by Yochai Benkler, the Internet is becoming an uncontrolled environment used for both free time and job purposes, which encourages the development in the virtual reality of new creative activities (both individual and collective ones), such as running blogs, creating encyclopedic entries for Wikipedia, co-creating works of art and multimedia installations, and developing computer programmes).50

Bibliography Acar O., Ende J., Motivation, Reward Size and Contribution in Idea Crowdsourcing. A lecture presented during the 2011 Dime-Druid Academy Winter Conference, Comwell Rebild Bakker, Aalborg, Denmark. Anderson Ch., In the Next Industrial Revolution, Atoms are the New Bits, “Wired” 25.01.2010, http://www.wired. com/2010/01/ff_newrevolution/ [access: 26.06.2015]. Benkler Y., Nissenbaum H., Commons-based Peer Production and Virtue, “The Journal of Political Philosophy” 2006, 14(4), http://www.nyu.edu/projects/nissenbaum/papers/ jopp_235.pdf [access: 26.06.2015]. Bishop C., Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship, Verso, London/New York 2012. Blättel-Mink B., Hellmann K.-U. (eds.), Prosumer Revisited. Zur Aktualität einer Debatte, VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2010. Brabham D.C., Crowdsourcing, MIT Press Essential Knowledge, Cambridge 2013. Brabham D., Crowdsourcing as a Model for Problem Solving. An Introduction and Cases, “Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies” 2008, 14(1). Brabham D., Moving the Crowd at Threadless. Motivations For Participation in a Crowdsourcing Application, “Information, Communication & Society” 2010, 13(8). Brabham D., Myth of Amateur Crowds, “Information, Communication and Society” 2011, 15(3). Bruns A., News Produsage in a Pro-Am Mediasphere: Why Citizen Journalism Matters, http://snurb.info/files/2010/ News%20Produsage%20in%20a%20Pro-Am%20Mediasphere.pdf [access: 26.06.2015]. Buur J., Matthews B., Participatory innovation, “International Journal of Innovation Management” 2008, 12(3).

Summary The Internet has dominated the area of communication, broadening the scope of participation with a whole of ventures undertaken in the virtual world.48 Of great significance here is the ecosystem encouraging the creation of niches by Internet users (virtual communities) sharing with each other the possessed resources (e.g. knowledge, creativity and free time). Crowdsourcing has been promoted not only as a business model, but also as a potentially powerful tool for encouraging people to take part in political, social T. Scholz (ed.), Digital Labor…, op. cit. J. Howe, Crowdsourcing: Why the Power…, op. cit. Organisations can counteract crowdslappingu through proper choices in terms of websites’ design (e.g. the lack of a discussion forum). 47 Based on an interview with David Tomkins, the project manager in the Bodleian Library, 4 March 2015; What’s the score at the Bodleian?, http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/bodley/finding-resources/special/projects/whats-the-score [access: 26.06.2015]. 48 Chris Anderson wrote: “The Internet democratized publishing, broadcasting, and communications, and the consequence was a massive increase in the range of both participation and participants in everything digital – the long tail of bits.” See: Ch. Anderson, In the Next Industrial Revolution, Atoms are the New Bits, “Wired”, 25.01.2010, http://www.wired.com/2010/01/ff_newrevolution/ [access: 26.06.2015]. 45 46

Y. Benkler, H. Nissenbaum, Commons-Based Peer Production…, op. cit., p. 406. 50 Ibidem. 49

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Life in a Day, https://www.youtube.com/user/lifeinaday [access: 26.06.2015]. Literat I., The Work of Art in the Age of Mediated Participation: Crowdsourced Art and Collective Creativity, “International Journal of Communication” 2012, 6. Otwarte Zabytki, http://otwartezabytki.pl/ [access: 26.06.2015]. Prahalad C.K., Ramaswamy V., Co-Creation Experiences: The Next Practice In Value Creation, “Journal of Interactive Marketing” 2004, 18(3). Reichwald R., Piller F., Interaktive Wertschöpfung: Open Innovation, Individualisierung und neue Formen der Arbeitsteilung, Gabler Verlag, Wiesbaden 2006. Rise of the Amateur, http://www.crowdsourcing.com/ cs/2008/02/chapter-two-ris.html [access: 26.06.2015]. Ritzer G.J., Jurgenson N., Production, Consumption, Prosumption: The Nature of Capitalism in the Age of the Digital «Prosumer», “Journal of Consumer Culture” 2010, 10(1). Ritzer G., Professionalization, bureaucratization and rationalization: the views of Max Weber, “Social Forces” 1975, 53(4). Scholz T. (ed.), Digital Labor. The Internet as Playground and Factory, Routledge, New York 2013. SeeClickFix.com, http://seeclickfix.com/ [access: 26.06.2015]. Tapscott D., Williams A.D., Wikinomics. How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, Penguin, New York 2006. The Johnny Cash Project, http://www.thejohnnycashproject.com [access: 26.06.2015]. The Mass Observation Archive, http://www.thekeep.info/collections/mass-observation-archive/ [access: 26.06.2015]. TheSheepMarket, www.thesheepmarket.com [access: 26.06.2015]. Threadless.com, https://www.threadless.com/designs [access: 26.06.2015]. Toffler A., Trzecia fala, Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, Warsaw 1986. Toffler A., Toffler H., Revolutionary Wealth, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, New York 2006. Webb P., Suggitt M., Gadgets and Necessities: An Encyclopedia of Household Innovations, California 2000, http://www. markboulder.com/CONTENT/media/ebooks/page04/Encyclopedia.of.Household.Innovations.pdf#page=191 [access: 26.06.2015]. What’s the score at the Bodleian?, http://www.bodleian.ox.ac. uk/bodley/finding-resources/special/projects/whats-thescore [access: 26.06.2015]. Xie Ch., Trying to Prosume: Toward a Perspective on Prosumption, a dissertation, the Department of Strategy and Management, the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, 2005, http://brage.bibsys.no/ xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/164410/Xie_2005.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y [access: 26.06.2015]. Zooniverse.org, https://www.zooniverse.org [access: 26.06.2015]

Chesbrough H., Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology, Harvard Business School Press, Boston 2003. Dunkel W., Kleeman F. (eds.), Customers at Work. New Perspectives on Interactive Service Work, Palgrave Macmillan, London 2013. Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir, www.ericwhitacre.com/the-virtual-choir [access: 26.06.2015]. Felis P., Dzień z życia świata według YouTube, http://wyborcza. pl/1,75475,9008715,Dzien_z_zycia_swiata_wedlug_YouTube.html [access: 26.06.2015]. Franke N., User-driven Innovation, [in:] Dodgson M., Gann D., Phillips N. (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Innovation Management, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2014. Füller J., Why Consumers Engage in Virtual New Product Developments Initiated by Producers, “Advances in Consumer Research” 2006, 33(1). Gajewski Ł., Wykorzystanie koncepcji mądrości tłumu do przyspieszenia tempa rozwoju technologicznego, “E-mentor”, 5(37) 2010, http://www.e-mentor.edu.pl/mobi/artykul/index/numer/37/id/796 [access: 26.06.2015]. Geiger D., Schulze T., Schader M., Seedorf S., Nickerson R., Managing the Crowd: Towards a Taxonomy of Crowdsourcing Processes, “AMCIS 2011 Proceedings – All Submissions”, Paper 430, 2011, http://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2011_ submissions/430 [access: 26.06.2015]. Grela M., Rynki predykacyjne jako przykład crowdsourcingu, “Acta Universitatis Nicolai Copernici: Ekonomia” 2014, XLV, 2. Hall H., Graham D., Creation and Recreation. Motivating Collaboration to Generate Knowledge Capital in Online Communities, “International Journal of Information Management” 2004, 24(3). Hippel E., The Sources of Innovation, Oxford University Press, New York/Oxford 1988, http://web.mit.edu/evhippel/ www/sources.htm [access: 26.06.2015]. Howe J., Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd Is Driving the Future of Business?, Crown Publishing Group, New York 2008. Howe J., The Rise of Crowdsourcing, “Wired” 14 June 2006, www. wired.com/wired/archive/14.06/crowds.html [access: 26.06.2015]. Huff A.S., Möslein K., Reichwald R. (eds.), Leading Open Innovation, The MIT Press, Cambrigde, Massachusetts/London, England, 2013. Lakhani K et al., The Value of Openness in Scientific Problem Solving, “Harvard Business School Working Paper” 2007, 07-050, http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/07-050.pdf [access: 04.09.2014]. Leadbeater Ch., Miller P., The Pro-Am Revolution. How enthusiasts are changing our economy and society, Demos 2004, http://www.demos.co.uk/files/proamrevolutionfinal.pdf [access: 26.06.2015].

Neuroleadership – the perspective of neuroscience on studies in the field of leadership Grażyna Urbanik-Papp1 Key words: neuroleadership, neuroscience, leadership, motivation, engagement, reward system, punishment system, SCARF model

now say about leadership much more than before, assuming a completely new perspective on the topic. And this is precisely the subject of the discipline of Neuroleadership. The main aim of the present work is to present neuroleadership as a field of study offering an entirely different view on the topic of leadership because it: 1. offers a new body of knowledge, 2. provides concrete guidelines for organisations and leaders that have practical application 3. uses experimental data for conducting research and formulating theories. Due to the fact that the scope of the new discipline is very broad, focus in the present article has been put on the issue of motivating and the related SCARF model. I have chosen this aspect because it is up-to-date and significant for a great majority of today’s leaders and organisations. The article includes an introduction, three chapters and a summary. The first chapter offers a definition of neuroleadership and an analysis of its main characteristics. The terminology belonging to the field of neuroscience has not been widely adopted by practitioners in the field of management yet and thus, a subsection has been included presenting key terms related to the inner workings of human brain. Then, in the second chapter, the reader is provided with the main concepts of neuroleadership linked to motivation, this is to say the reward and punishment system and the SCARF model. Finally, the third section features pieces of practical advice for leaders and organisations.

Introduction1 Humans have always needed leaders and questions relating to leadership have always lain at the very heart of interest of both individuals and whole societies. What is leadership? What does it take to be a good leader? How to develop one’s leadership skills? How to inspire people and influence their behaviours? Each period offers different answers to these questions, drawing on knowledge and experience of psychologists, management specialists, sociologists and even philosophers. What will be our generation’s contribution to the understanding of leadership? What pieces of experience on the part of societies and organisations and what experiments and bodies of academic research will form part of the human kind’s knowledge of leadership? We are facing a memorable, historic moment. On the one hand, we are aware of that leadership is growingly important. This also brings to mind certain painful experiences, such as the financial crisis that erupted in 2008, which can be considered in terms of a leadership crisis. It has resulted from the management of huge organisations that destabilized the property market, causing massive wave of bankruptcies. There are numerous examples of highly inspiring initiatives undertaken by individuals who changed the course of many people’s lives. Muhammad Yunus,2 winner of Nobel Peace Prize, created a system of microcredits allowing for the reduction of poverty and economic marginalisation of Bangladesh’s rural population. From among Polish social activists, it is worth mentioning Jerzy Owsiak, who, since 1993, has successfully encouraged thousands of Poles to provide annual financial support for hospitals, helping to save many lives and increase the quality of others. Such positive and negative examples make it possible for the current generation to realise how important leadership is. On the other hand, the moment we are witnessing is pivotal in that thanks to the development of brain imaging techniques, we can

Neuroleadership as a discipline of neuroscience In simple terms, neuroleadership is an interdisciplinary field of study using the findings of neuroscience to explain the meaning of leadership and suggest efficient ways of its development, drawing on data relating to the inner workings of human brain. Of crucial significance is this field’s relation to the dynamically developing neuroscience and, as a consequence, its interdisciplinarity. As shown by the short history of this discipline, it has always been intertwined with practical aspects of management. Indeed, given that biology-based terminology is not, at the moment, universally used by leaders, included in the present chapter is a short brain model constituting a short introduction to the study on this organ.

Grażyna Urbanik-Papp – trainer, consultant, coach. Engaged in training for 13 years. She holds an International Certificate in TRAINING_LEARNING and Development from Thames Valley University. She has trained companies and institutions including Bank Zachodni WBK, GlaxoSmithKline, Gegenbauer Polska and Supreme Chamber of Control. She is a graduate of the Art and Science of Coaching. She has published in “Personnel” and “Human Resource Management”. She is a Vice-dean of Management and a programme coordinator for professional studies of Coach and Trainer at Tischner European University. 2 M. Yunus, Przedsiębiorstwo społeczne: Kapitalizm dla ludzi, ConCorda, Warsaw 2011. 1

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field of brain imaging explains the huge development of neuroscience, people’s wide interest in this topic, and the creation of neuro-disciplines which draw on information about the inner working of the human brain to verify and develop research theories and hypotheses. This is how a group of disciplines related to management and economy were established, such as neuroeconomy,9 neuromarketing, and neurofinance.

Interdisciplinarity of neuroleadership What needs to be particularly emphasized is the interdisciplinarity of neuroleadership. On the one hand, it forms part of what is known as management social sciences, and on the other one, it draws on neuroscience. Let us start with the classic definition of leadership presented by Stephen P. Robbins3 presented in his manual on the foundations of the field of organisational behaviours: “leadership is the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of goals.” It is worth stopping at this point for a moment and having a look at neuroscience, one of the fastest developing fields of study currently of interest to over 30,000 researchers all over the world. In broad terms, it is dedicated to the examination of different aspects of the functioning of the neural system, hence its relations to numerous disciplines. Among the disciplines forming part of neuroscience Ghardini and co-authors4 mention: neurology, neurobiology, neurochemistry, neurophysiology, neuropsychology, neuropsychotherapy, and cognitive neuroscience. According to Ringleb and Rock5 the sub-disciplines of neuroscience of greatest significance for neuroleadership include: social cognitive neuroscience, affective neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, integrative neuroscience and neurobiology. They estimate that over 60 laboratories in the United States are working now on social and affective neuroscience. The development of neuroscience was possible thanks to the considerable advances in the area of cerebral study techniques over the last 20 years. What came as particularly breakthrough was the employment in research of the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) that allows the examination of the functions of particular brain areas and the ways in which they are stimulated by different stimuli. The transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), on the other hand, makes it possible for stimulating the brain and, as a result, obtaining maps of activities typical of respective brain areas. All of this constitutes a radical development when compared to the times when information about human brain was achieved primarily through craniotomy and observing individuals with different types of brain damages. It needs to be emphasized that the scope of available brain examination methods is wider and they are not mentioned here due to the limited volume of this work. A more exhaustive list of them can be found in works by Kosslyn and Rosenberg,6 Jaśkowski7 and Urbanik-Papp.8 The advances in the

Popularisation of neuroscience Experts in the field are not the only ones fascinated by the influence of the brain’s activity on various aspects of our lives. As a consequence, available is a growing body of literature disseminating this knowledge, which is popular also among people who are not professionally related to neuroscience. The bestseller list has been hit, for example, by Blink by Malcolm Gladwell,10 a journalist dedicated to popularising science. The main subject of the book is intuitive decision-making. More and more publications of this type can be found on the market. One of the many examples is Jason Zweig’s Your Money and Your Brain11 showing the fight between the reason and emotions in the process of investing based on a series of experiments conducted in leading neurobiology laboratories. reported by an experienced journalist specialising in finances. Importantly, what came as one of the first publications in this areas were Oliver Sacks’ notes12 from his work with patients suffering brain damage compiled in the publication The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat. Yet, at the same time, the popularisation of knowledge in the field of neuroscience can pose certain threats. Waytz and Mason13 describe an event that occurred just after the release of iPhone, when Apple fans worldwide were applauding the effect of work of Steve Job’s team. The author of an article published then in “New York Times” claimed that he had scanned the brains of 16 users of the new product while they were listening to a recorded ring tone or watching a movie with a vibrating device. As argued by the author, this unpublished study revealed, the activation of the insular cortex, also responsible for the feeling of love. The author was then faced with a protest on the part of several dozen experts on neuroscience who, in a letter sent to “New York Times”, pointed out the activation of insular cortex is observed in one third of all studies in the area of brain scanning, for example as an effect of sensing changes in temperatures or, even, breathing. And this is by far the only case in which a popular neuroscience-related publication has triggered a protest of the discipline’s representatives.

S. Robbins, Zasady zachowania w organizacji, Zysk i S-ka Publishing House, Poznań 2001. 4 A. Ghadiri, A. Habermacher, T. Peters, Neuroleadership: A Journey Through the Brain for Business Leaders, Springer – Verlag, Berlin– Heilderberg 2012. 5 A. H. Ringleb, D. Rock, The Emerging Field of Neuroleadership, [in:] Handbook of Neuroleadership, D. Rock, A. Ringleb (eds.), Neuroleadership Insitute, 2013, p. 3–29. 6 S. M. Kosslyn, R. S. Rosenberg, Psychologia: Mózg. człowiek. świat, Znak Publishing House, Kraków 2006, p. 133–138. 7 P. Jaśkowski, Neuronauka poznawcza: Jak mózg tworzy umysł, Vizja Press&It, Warsaw 2009, p. 42–77. 8 G. Urbanik-Papp, Neuroekonomia jako interdyscyplinarne podejście do badania decyzji ekonomicznych, “Kultura i Polityka” 2014, 15, p. 158–172. 3

P. W. Glimcher, Decision, Uncertainty, and the Brain: The Science of Neuroeconomics, MIT Press, Cambridge, 2003; G. Urbanik-Papp, Neuroekonomia jako interdyscyplinarne podejście…, op. cit., p. 158– 172; T. Zaleśkiewicz, Psychologia ekonomiczna, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warsaw 2013, p. 415–448. 10 M. Gladwell, Błysk, Znak Publishing House, Kraków 2007. 11 J. Zweig, Twój mózg, twoje pieniądze, MTBiznes, Warsaw 2008. 12 O. Sack, O mężczyźnie, który pomylił swoją żonę z kapeluszem, Zysk i S-ka, Poznań 2009. 13 A. Waytz, M. Mason, Jak działa nasz mózg, “Harvard Business Review Polska” April 2014, p. 119–129. 9

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already highlighted before by leadership experts Bennis and O’Tole18 in an article published in “Harvard Business Review” on the limitations of the traditional MBA programmes in the formation of leadership attitudes. One year after the release of the aforementioned article by Rock and Schwartz, in which a new discipline was formally established, the first NeuroLeadership Summit was held in Asolo, Italy, as a result of the collaboration of a consortium of business schools and the sponsoring offered by a company specialising in executive coaching. In 2008, the first issue of the “NeuroLeadership Journal” came out, while in Sydney and New York two expert conferences on neuroleadership were organised which attracted the attention of both scholars and representatives of the world of business. If we were to assume that the number of results after entering the word “neuroleadership” to a browser, then in 2004 we would have received less than 10, in 2013 – around 8,700, while in 2015 – over 168,000. Results include references to both academic papers and popular science texts because from its very beginning the discipline has enjoyed popularity not only among scholars, but also practitioners in different fields. Ringled and Rock19 proposed to divide all the knowledge accumulated as part of this field of study into 4 sub-categories: 1. Decision-making and problem-solving. 2. Emotion regulation. 3. Cooperation with others. 4. Facilitating changes. The criteria assumed for the purpose of creating this classification were the following:20 1. Significance for neuroleadership. 2. Chances of the development of this area and identifying relations between neuroscience and practice. 3. Influence on the research carried out in the field of social sciences. 4. Interest on the part of practitioners. Motivating is most strongly related to the third area, implying cooperation with others, but it is also of significance in the case of the other ones.

Advantages of interdisciplinarity Ringleb and Rock14 suggest the following definition of neuroleadership: “an interdisciplinary field of study examining the neural bases of leadership and management practices, bringing together the tools of social-cognitive and affective neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, integrative neuroscience, neurobiology and other field of neuroscience on the one hand, and questions and theories belonging to the spheres of leadership, social science and management, on the other. Its main aim is to increase the efficiency of leadership in institutions and organisations by broadening knowledge of leadership and its development in relation to the physiology of brain and mind.” Interdisciplinarity emphasized in the definition creates a common ground for inquiries into both natural sciences, which are by nature more verifiable, and social sciences considered as “softer”, which means that theories and hypotheses are more difficult to verify in an unambiguous ways. This combination brings about 2 major benefits: 1. The existing theories and hypotheses on leadership can be seen from the perspective of brain functioning, which makes it possible to verify them and analyse them in a new context; 2. Neuroscience provides social sciences with tools allowing for posing completely new questions and obtaining answers to them. It should be noted that the development of a new field of study inspires questions about the legitimacy of this process. Apart from many followers, the discipline also has a number of opponents and observers, who ask the 4 fundamental questions presented in the article written by Rock and Ringleb:15 1. Will not the new discipline be merely a “new package” for the existing knowledge? 2. Will it contribute to the creation of new knowledge? 3. Will knowledge be applicable only to laboratory conditions, or also to real life? 4. Will a sufficient amount of empirical data be available to ensure the progress of the discipline? These questions correspond with the hypotheses formulated in the present work and, thus, the parts to follow will refer to them.

Paul MacLean’s brain model Presenting the findings of neuroleadership to experts in management is challenging just because the discipline’s interdisciplinarity, which otherwise is a big advantage. The mentioned experiments and topics are directly related to the functioning of the brain’s particular areas which is why one of the existing brain models will be briefly described in this section to constitute a basis for an analysis of the concept of neuroleadership. For the purpose of this works an assumption has also been made to use specialised terminology typical of neuroscience only in the scope necessary for the comprehension of the content. The readers willing to have a deeper insight into the topic are

History and areas of interest The English term neuroleadership was suggested in 2006 by Rock and Schwartz16 in their article published in the “Strategy+Business” journal. The work, titled The Neuroscience of Leadership was one of the most downloaded texts in the history of the online edition of the journal. As pointed out by Ringleb and Rock17 the necessity of taking advantage of cognitive sciences and neuroscience was A. H. Ringleb, D. Rock, The Emerging Field…, op. cit., p. 3–29. D. Rock, A. Ringleb, Defining Neuroleadership as a Field, [in:] Handbook of Neuroleadership…, op. cit., p. 31–40. 16 D. Rock, J. M. Schwartz, The Neuroscience of Leadership, “Strategy+Business” 2006, 43, p. 14–31. 17 A. H. Ringleb, D. Rock, The Emerging Field…, op. cit., p. 3–29. 14

W. Bennis, J. O’Tole, How Business Schools Lost Their Way, “Harvard Business Review” 2005, 83 (5), p. 96–104. 19 A. H. Ringleb, D. Rock, The Emerging Field…, op. cit., p. 3–29. 20 Ibidem, p. 6. 18

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invited to consult the quoted bibliography and positions belonging to the field of neurobiology.21 Brain, the principal subject of the study of neuroscience, is a very complex organ. It consists of over 100 billion cells and the number of possible neural connections is comparable to the number of atoms existing in the entire Universe. To illustrate the most important parts of the brain’s elements, scientific models have been created. One of them was worked out by Paul MacLean,22 a renowned expert on this organ, describes the brain as “triune”, emphasizing its division into 3 overlapping parts reflecting the main stages of this organ’s development. The oldest and deepest-located part – brain stem, this is to say the so-called “primitive brain” (archipalium) – evolved around 100 million years ago, its main function being to ensure the organism’s survival. It is a set of regulators programmed to guarantee the efficiency of bodily functions, such as breathing and metabolism of other organs, as well as control typical reactions such as escape and fight in situations of threat and, finally, behaviours aimed at procreation and finding food. The next part of the brain – the limbic system, also known as “intermediate brain” or paloepalium, is responsible for emotional responses. The limbic system consists of thalamus, hypothalamus, olfactory bulbs, nucleus amygdalae, hippocampus, neural connections, fornix, corpus callosum and glands: pituitary gland and pineal gland. The name of this part of the brain originates in that the limbic system, as a ring, surrounds the brain stem, and “limbus” is the Latin equivalent of “ring”. Its functions include: emotions, more complex instincts, the process of learning, and communication between individuals, which shows its relation to survival as part of a group. Mammals have significantly increased their chances of surviving in unfavourable conditions by developing learning and memorising mechanisms. Emotional reactions to various experiences, such as the smell of rotten food or an object suitable for a sexual intercourse, are remembered and used during the next encounter with a given type of object. This mechanism has made it possible for mammals to go beyond the fixed set of automatic reactions and better adopt to the environment. In very broad terms, the main rule underlying this mechanism is: if something is pleasant, it is good and so, you should try to experience it as often as possible, and if something is unpleasant, it means that it is bad and so, you should avoid it. Primitive emotion structures evolved from the rhinencephalon responsible for the analysis of olfactory signals for this sense played the greatest role in the process of recognising the environment by mammals. The rhinencephalon gave rise to a new cortex, neocortex, this is to say to the “brain of Primates”, neopalium. Neocortex, highly developed in mammals, consists of: grey matter (neuronal cell bodies), which form six layers of cells. It is responsible for

conscience, humans’ intellectual capabilities, as well as the ability of strategic thinking and long-term planning. It evolved 2 million years ago and, notably, the rational brain developed from the emotional one. This fact determines their mutual relations, which, in anatomic terms, are represented by the big number of neural connections between the limbic part and the brain. This means that the parts influence each other in the following ways: emotional stimuli, which can now be realised, shape our thoughts and behaviours, while rationally chosen ways of thinking and behaviours can determine emotional reactions. The number of neural connections running from the limbic system upwards is bigger, which is why emotions are sometimes the main driving force of our actions. Paul MacLean’s model makes us see the vital role of emotions in the functioning of brain and the interrelations between the core structures of rational thinking, planning and assessment on the one hand and the limbic system responsible for emotions on the other. The role of the latter proves that Descartes was wrong saying “Cogito ergo sum” (I think, therefore I am) for treating the rationale as an autonomous structure does not go in line with what we know about the inner workings of human brain. More on this issue can be found in the book Descartes’ Error by Professor Antonio Damasio.23

A. Longstaff, Neurobiologia, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warsaw 2005; G. G. Matthews, Neurobiologia. Od cząsteczek i komórek do układów, PZWL, Warsaw 2000. 22 J. D. Newman, J. C. Harris, The Scientific contributions of Paul D. MacLean (1913–2007), “Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease” 2009, 1, p. 3–5.

Motivation from the perspective of neuroscience Motivating people is one of the main tasks of a leader. One’s engagement in work, often considered to be representative of the level of their motivation, is of crucial significance to organisations. Ulrich and Smalwood24 estimated that involvement allows for a twice, up to four times, higher productivity. And in the case of much more complex types of work, the value of this rate may be much higher. Pfeffer and Sutton25 based their study on the work of programmers. Indeed, engaged ones turned out to be up to 12 times more productive. According to the numbers provided by the Gallup Institute, while dealing with non-engaged employees, an organisation has to pay USD 3,400 for each USD 10,000 of salary. From the point of view of neuroleadership, the reward and punishment system and the related SCARF model are crucial for understanding the nature of the process of motivating.

The reward and punishment system What light can neuroscience shed on motivating? What is the best way of influencing employees’ engagement at the workplace? In order to find answers to these questions, let’s first have a look at how the brain motivates itself. Responsible for the process is a well-researched reward system playing a crucial role in encouraging the A. R. Damasio, Błąd Kartezjusza, Rebis, Poznań 1999. D. Ulrich, N. Smallwood, Capitalizing on capabilities, “Harvard Business Review” June 2004, p. 119–127. 25 J. Pfeffer, R. Sutton, Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense: Profiting from Evidence-Based Management, Harvard Business School Press, Cambridge 2006.

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body to take actions that will, as a result, increase the possibility of survival and protect individuals from what is dangerous to them. This system was discovered in the 1950s and soon after that Olds and Milner26 carried out an experiment during which they electrically stimulated rats’ brains to identify areas stimulation of which triggered pleasure (content, happiness, elation) and aversion ones related to the sense of fear, threat, contempt and loneliness. In real-life conditions these centres are stimulated through neurotransmitters. The system is very simple: if the body experiences a situation allowing survival, such as finding food or shelter, the reward centre is activated, with the experienced positive emotions aimed at encouraging the individual to do so in the future. While, on the other hand, a person deals with food that causes a sickness, an attack of a predator or other life-threatening situation, the punishment centre is activated with negative emotions transmitting information: avoid that, do not risk that again. As a result, a motivation system was developed as part of the evolution process whose aim is to ensure the best possible adaptation27 to the environment and situation faced by an individual and, consequently, increase their chances of survival. This is how Evian Gordon,28 the author of one of the most exhaustive meta-analyses of brain study, summarises the mechanism underlying the functioning of this organ: “minimize threats and maximize rewards”. The reward system is linked to the centres such as ventral tegmental area, one of the limbic nucleuses of midbrain (located in the depth of the brain), and basal ganglia located under the cerebral cortex. These structures are activated by dopamine, the “happiness hormone” for the states of content, satisfaction and euphoria that is generates encourage one to explore and get closer. At the level of organisation this hormone is responsible for employees’ willingness to work, the related mechanisms triggering the feeling of satisfaction and other involvement-encouraging positive emotions. For the body to be motivated to avoid certain stimuli, on the other hand, a different system is activated in which the key role is played by the hormone of serotonin. Both the reward and punishment system is linked to the limbic system, the part of the brain determining, among others, emotions, memory and the process of learning. Of key significance here is that the memorized emotions accompanying “rewarding” and “punishing” situations make it possible for humans to immediately establish whether they are dealing with a potential sexual partner or a deadly enemy, whether the found food will provide them with the feeling of pleasant fulfillment or cause a sickness. The recognition of the type of stimulus takes place very quickly, even before the information is transmitted to the centres responsible for conscious decisions. Indeed, in the case of our ancestors, who had to

every day fight for survival, the promptness of reaction was absolutely crucial.

Stimulating the punishment system in view of experiments And how does it look like nowadays? Although, at the present stage of the civilisational development, we do not face threats that need to be immediately recognized, our brains works in the very same way. They trigger a wave or positive or negative emotions based on the emotionally-recognized information. Along with co-workers, Naccache29 conducted an interesting experiment illustrating this mechanism. The participants of the experiments, aimed at examining their subliminal reactions, were presented with randomly arranged threat-related words. As shown by the results, they were all perceived by the amygdala, a part of the brain, as a danger. There is one more important issue connected with the functioning of the punishment system in situations in which a given object inspires fear. In such cases human organism prepares for dealing with a given threat and, through a series of inter-related reactions triggered by the stimulation of the amygdala (part of the brain), increases the level of cortisol, the “stress hormone”, in blood. A stress reaction begins aimed at coping with the existing danger. The body redistributes energy resources, the heart and muscles receive a big blood supply, while the organs of “lesser significance” for the body’s defence, such as the immunological and digestive systems, are, at such situations, provided with less blood and nutritional substances. What is more, a chronic stimulation of the amygdala has a negative influence on the functioning of the prefrontal cortex responsible, among others, for short-term memory and rational thinking, this is to say cognitive abilities crucial for dealing with complex tasks. In a publication on neuroleadership dedicated to practitioners, Ghadiri and his team30 describe this phenomenon in plain terms: “To cut the long story short, fear makes fools of us.”31 One of the experiments carried out by the psychologists Friedman and Foster32 involved the participants completing the “paper and pencil” type exercise. Their task was to help the drawn mouse go out from the maze and, as a result, be rewarded with the object presented on the drawing. One group received a maze featuring a drawing of cheese, while the other – a maze with a figure of an owl, a predator, instead. Following the task, both groups were asked to do a test on creativity, in which the first group members did much better. This and other similar

L. Naccache, R. Gaillard, C. Adam, D. Hasboun, S. Clémenceau, M. Baulac, S. Dehaene, A. Cohen, Direct Intracranial Record Of Emotions Evoked By Subliminal Words, “Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA” 2005, 102(21), p. 7713–7717. 30 A. Ghadiri, A. Habermacher, T. Peters, Neuroleadership…, op. cit. 31 Ibidem, p. 43. 32 R. S. Friedman, J. Forster, The Effects of Promotion and Prevention Cues on Creativity, “Journal of Personality and Social Psychology” 2001, 81(6), p. 1001–1013. 29

J. Olds, P. Milner, Positive Reinforcement Produced by Electrical Stimulation of the Septal Area and other Regions of Rat Brain. “Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology”1954, 47, p. 419–427. 27 P. W. Glimcher, Decision, Uncertainty, and the Brain…, op. cit.; E. Gordon, Integrative Neuroscience: Bringing Together Biological, Psychological and Clinical Models of the Human Brain, Harwood Academic Publishers, Singapore 2000. 28 E. Gordon, Integrative Neuroscience…, op. cit. 26

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experiments33 prove that even the most subtle stimulation of the reward system influences the efficiency of completing tasks requiring the use of cognitive abilities.

given problem depends not so much on the levels of intelligence of its members, but on the social sensitivity of the group and the amount of time given to each person to express their opinion. The aforementioned studies all reveal the vital importance of the social context for the functioning of a human being whose life is strongly marked by the need to belong. This means that an individual’s relation to a group has a highly motivating power. Indeed, individuals strive to be part of groups and avoid social exclusion.

The social context of motivating So far we have concentrated on the description of rewards and punishments connected with satisfying our basic, also known as primeval, needs, such as eating, drinking, having sex and shelter. But there also exists a separate category of derivative punishments. These are not indispensable for the maintenance of life, but increase its likelihood, and examples include: information, status, recognition, gratefulness, altruism, trust, physical contact. Lieberman and Eisenberger,34 representatives of the social-cognitive neuroscience, highlight that people’s social needs are driven by the same reward and punishment mechanism. The lack of fulfillment results in the experience of negative emotions that are sometimes referred to as “social pain”, while the fulfillment of such needs brings about pleasure. As proved by Eisenberger,35 the exclusion from a group of mates playing a game activates in the brain the same areas as physical pain, such as the one that we fell upon touching something burning hot. The experiment conducted by Masten and co-workers36 showed that not only does social exclusion activate the punishment system, but also the same effect is brought about by witnessing someone’s exclusion from a group. DeWall and his team37 gave the acetaminophen painkiller to the experiment participants. And although this medicine was designed to relieve physical pain, the examination with the use of the magnetic resonance revealed a lower activity in the areas of brain responsible for the sensation of social exclusion when compared to the group who received placebo. What is more, it turns out that the social context has an influence on the way we perceive rewards and punishments. As showed by the experiment carried out by Bault’s team,38 winning a lottery with a group of friends is more rewarding than winning alone. Woolley and co-researchers39 proved that the way in which a groups faces a

The SCARF model Having analysed a range of experiments, Rock40 formulated the SCARF model based on five types of experience most intensely activating the reward and punishment system in the social context. These are: Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, and Fairness, all backed up by academic research. For example, Marmot41 describes status as a determinant of human longevity, even if it is reflected exclusively by the achieved level of education and income. Hedden and Gabrieli42 have shown that even the slightest decrease in certainty during the completion of a given task generates the “error” effect in the orbital frontal cortex (OFC), which cause that one’s attention is immediately diverted from the work on obtaining the goal to the error. Similar consequences can be brought about by ambiguous communication, for instance with a person who does not tell us the whole truth. Trust is the foundation of the process of establishing safe relationships. A study realised by Kosfeld and his co-workers43 have proved that responsible for trust-related behaviours is the neurotransmitter oxytocin. Members of the group who were given doses of this hormone by injecting them to their noses proved to be much more keen on team work than the control group. As far as fairness is concerned, an interesting experiment was conducted by Zaki and Mitchell.44 Its participants were told to divide between themselves small amounts of money. It turned out that the activation of the reward system was stringer in cases of generous and fair divisions, while the lack of fairness was demotivating event for those for whom a given division was, technically speaking, beneficial. And these are just some of the many experiments proving the relevance of the five elements of the SCARF model. There is no space here for quoting a bigger number of studies, but interested readers

E. Crowe, E. T. Higgins, Regulatory focus and strategic inclinations: Promotion and prevention in decision making, “Organizational Behaviour and Human Decision Process” 1997, 69, p. 117–132, E. T. Higgins, Beyond pleasure and pain, “American Psychologist” 1997, 52, p. 1280–1300. 34 M. Lieberman, N. Eisenberger, The Pains and Pleasures of Social Life, “Neuroleadership Journal” 2008, 1, p. 38–43. 35 N. Eisenberger, The Pain of Social Disconnection: Examining the Shared Neural Underpinnings of Physical and Social Pain, “Nature Reviews Neuroscience” 2012, 1, p. 421–434. 36 C. L. Masten, N. I. Eisenberger, J. H. Pfeifer, M. Dapretto, Witnessing peer rejection during adolescence: Neural correlates of empathy for experiences of social exclusion, “Social Neuroscience” 2010, 2, p. 1–12. 37 C. N. DeWall, G. MacDonald, G. D. Webster, C. Masten, R. F. Baumeister, C. Powell, D. Combs, D. R. Schurtz, T. F. Stillman, D. M. Tice, N. I. Eisenberger, Acetaminophen reduces social pain: Behavioral and neural evidence. „Psychological Science” 2010, 21, p. 931–937. 38 N. Bault, M. Joffily, A. Rustichini, G. Coricelli, Medial prefrontal cortex and striatum mediate the influence of social comparison on the decision process. “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA” 2011, 108(38), p. 16044–9. 39 A. W. Woolley, C. F. Chabris, A. Pentland, N. Hashmi, T. W. Malone, Evidence for a Collective Intelligence Factor in the Performance of Human Groups, “Science” 2010, 330(6004), p. 686–688. 33

D. Rock, SCARF: a Brain – Based Model for Collaborating with and Influencing others, [in:] Handbook of Neuroleadership…, op. cit., p. 311–327. 41 M. Marmot, The Status Syndrome: How Social Standing Affects Our Health and Longevity, Time Books, New York 2004. 42 T. Hedden, J. D. Gabrieli, The Ebb and Flow of Attention in the Human Brain, “Nature Neuroscience” 2006, 9, p. 863–865. 43 M. Kosfeld, M. Heinrichs, P. J. Zak, U. Fischbacher, E. Fehr, Oxitocin Increases Trust in Humans, “Nature” 2005, p. 673–676. 44 J. Zaki, J. P. Mitchell, Equitable Decision Making is Associated with Neural Markers of Intrinsic Value, “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA” 2011, 49(108), p. 19761–19766. 40

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may broaden their knowledge of the topic by consulting the source literature.45 From that it follows that a leader who is most efficient in activating individuals’ reward system strives to ensure a high status of each group member by appreciating him/ her and ensuring conditions of transparent rules. Thanks to that the workplace and the leader’s reactions become highly predictable and all the messages on his part unambiguous and coherent.

estingly enough, his pyramid, though not based on any empirical data, gained huge popularity and is frequently quoted. Contrary to Maslow, Frederick Hertzberg49 conducted studies on groups of engineers and accountants which revealed that there were two different categories of factors influencing workers: motivating ones and demotivating ones. From the perspective of neuroscience, such results can be interpret in the following way: motivators activate the reward system and the so-called hygiene factors (i.e. demotivators) – the punishment one. Reiss50 carried out a big-scale survey study, but he focused on individual differences, trying to find out the differences between people in terms of their particular needs. Some of the factors mentioned by Reiss correspond directly with the elements of the SCARF model, including status, social contacts (relatedness) and independence (autonomy). The aforementioned experiment conducted by Hedden and Gabrieli,51 in which attention was distracted as a result of a decrease in the level of felt certainty, causing changes in the activity observed in the orbital frontal cortex, brings to mind the research by Csikszentmihalyi52 on the so-called optimal experience, also known as the flow state. These terms refer to the state of “effortless concentration” resulting in deep satisfaction with the undertaken tasks and, at the same time, the achievement of above-average results. The aforementioned examples of motivation-related theories, i.e. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Hertzberg’s motivators and demotivators, Reiss’ needs differentiating people, and the optimal experience by Csikszentmihalyi all prove that neuroleadership can examine neural mechanisms underlying theories and, as a result, verify them. This is important in the case of models based on research (experiments, questionnaires) and even more so for those without any empirical foundation.

Individual and cultural differences Obviously, while analysing the model, we also need to take into account individual differences. There are persons who prioritise autonomy or status, while for others relatedness and fairness are of greater importance. It can be assumed that each individual is characterized by a specific combination of levels of sensitivity to particular elements. As part of the informal study realised during the workshop held by the Neuroleadership Group46 profiles of 6,300 persons at different ages were collected. The biggest group (46%) pointed out certainty as the most important aspect, while members of the second biggest group (27%) chose relatedness. The existence of individual differences can also suggest the existence of differences resulting from national cultures and ethnic background. Rockstuhl with the team47 specialising in cultural neuroscience suggest the role of genetic mechanisms in this process. For example, one gene determines the uptake of oxytocin in the brain, which results in a higher sensitivity to both social exclusion and inclusion. Its presence or absence in certain societies can cause higher levels of, respectively, collectivism and individualism. Without any doubt, the issue of genetically-bound differences requires further research, but it is evident that many organisations are characterized by a specific SCARF profile. In start-ups of greatest importance are autonomy, relatedness and fairness, while office employees tend to rank certainty highly and autonomy much lower.

Practical application and conclusions for leaders The principle of activation of the reward and punishment systems and the related SCARF model have a number of practical implications. The SCARF model has proved to be especially useful for leaders in terms of the development of leadership skills, understanding their own behaviours and increasing sensitivity to the needs of others. This is particularly important for introducing changes and creating learning environment during trainings, coaching and education.

Neuroleadership and other models What appears to be very interesting is relating the findings in the field of neuroleadership with the already existing models explaining the nature of motivation. Status, autonomy, relatedness and fairness all bring to mind Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.48 He was the first one to define as needs safety (security), belonging (relatedness), esteem (status), and autonomy (self-fulfillment?). Inter-

The reward/punishment system and leadership practice In what ways can mechanisms described in neurobiological terms be used by leaders? From the logics of

D. Rock, SCARF: a Brain – Based Model for Collaborating with and Influencing others, [in:] Handbook of Neuroleadership…, op. cit., p. 311–327; D. Rock, C. Cox, SCARF in 2012: Updating the Social Neuroscience of Collaborating with Others, [in:] Handbook of Neuroleadership…, op. cit., p. 329–350. 46 D. Rock, C. Cox, SCARF in 2012…, op. cit., [in:] Handbook of Neuroleadership…, op. cit., p. 329–350. 47 T. Rockstuhl, Y. -Y. Hong, K. Yee Ng, S. Ang, C. -Y. Chiu, The Culturally Intelligent Brain: from Detecting to Bridging Cultural Differences, “Neuroleadership Journal” 2010, 3, p. 22–36. 48 S. Robbins, Zasady zachowania w organizacji…, op. cit. 45

Ibidem. S. Reiss, S. M. Havercamp, Toward a Comprehensive Assessment of Fundamental Motivation. Factor Structure of the Reiss Profile, “Psychological Assessment” 1998, 1097(06). 51 T. Hedden, J. D. Gabrieli, The Ebb and Flow…, op. cit., p. 863–865. 52 M. Csikszentmihalyi, Przepływ: psychologia optymalnego doświadczenia, Studio Emka, Warsaw 1996. 49 50

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the functioning of the reward and punishment system it follows clearly that activating the reward system by using positive stimuli is highly beneficial. Fear, on the other hand, though may trigger an action, negatively influences the condition of a given person, including their cognitive functioning. This stems from the universal principle of the brain’s work, but we also need to take into account that different persons may react differently to the same set of emotions. A possible direction of study in this field is the “anti-stress” gene regulating the production of hormones responsible for the stress reaction.53 One of leaders’ main principles is that of limiting the activation of the punishment system and activating the reward one. Neuroscience, then, sheds light on aspects of leadership that are intuitively addressed by leaders, for example by motivating through values. Let’s begin with recalling Martin Luther King’s famous “I have a dream…” speech,54 in which he presented a positive vision of a world governed by equity, referring to shared values and positive emotions. An example from Poland can be the history of establishing and the first years of the operation of the mBank in which Sławomir Lachowski introduced a system of managing through values. This guideline for leaders perfectly reflects the word of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect the wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”

out by the Gallup Institute. It turns out that the survey included specific questions referring to the SCARF model, which proves the logics behind relating engagement to this model. In needs to be said that the proposal to measure the level of engagement in organisations in such a way and, as a result, evaluate the efficiency of programmes aimed at increasing employees’ involvement is revolutionary. Putting it into practice will require collaboration with representatives on neuroscience and verification in practice. Yet what appears to be its greatest advantage is the possibility to measure phenomena that until recently have been considered as indefinable with the use of concrete measures. Given the rapid pace of the development of neuroimaging techniques, proposals such as the one formulated by Rock and Tang57 can be seen as first signs of the inevitable process – taking advantage of the findings of neuroscience for studies realised in organisations.

The development of leadership skills The SCARF model constitutes a tool thanks to which a leader can motivate both himself/herself and the team. It helps one to understand the influence of their behaviour on others and increases social sensitivity, showing how seemingly insignificant actions can activate the punishment system in workers. In this way, it explains the syndrome: “How is it so difficult to motivate them?”. And on the other hand, it sheds light on the phenomenon of highly motivated teams by revealing the importance of activating the reward system for the sensation of satisfaction, fulfillment and deep content. Being aware of brain-related rules of motivating individuals helps to search for and find new preventive measures. For example, Lieberman and her co-workers58 that the simple act of labeling appearing emotions can successfully decrease the level of anxiety that would otherwise have a negative influence of the quality of task completion. Ochsner and Gross59 observed that similar effect can be obtained to another cognitive tool called reappraisal.

Motivation and engagement If motivation depends on the activation of the reward system and – as has been shown above – engagement is a measure, then, how to create a neutral measure that would be of practical application in organisations? Rock and Tang55 asked themselves this very question. They defined three differing states: deep engagement, neutral engagement, neutral engagement, and the lack of engagement. For each of them they defined typical activity of particular brain centres, revealing which parts of the brain are activated when an employee’s attitude toward works is highly engaged, neutral and non-engaged. Considering engagement as a condition of the organism, the authors suggest to use the biological markers of states that can be measured through neuroimaging (e.g. with the use of the functional magnetic resonance imaging) and examinations of the physical state (e.g. measuring the level of cortisol in blood, renal function tests). Rock and Tang56 assumed that rewards and punishments in the work environment have their source in factors described in the SCARF model. Apart from the article, the authors have analysed the most famous study on engagement carried

Changes in organisations Then, how can the SCARF model be used in practice? Let’s consider broadly understood concept of intervention in an organisation in the form of, for example, information about the planned changes, remuneration for the completed work, implementing a new procedure, etc. According to Rock60 in such cases references to the SCARF model can be made in at least three moments, including: 1. before commencing any actions to check in what ways they will activate the reward and punishment

L. Amir-Zilberstein, J. Blechman, Y. Sztainberg, W. H. Norton, A. Reuveny, N. Borodovsky, M. Tahor, J. L. Bonkowsky, L. Bally-Cuif, A. Chen, G. Levkowitz, Homeodomain Protein Otp and Activity-Dependent Splicing Modulate Neuronal Adaptation to Stress, “Neuron” 2012, 73(2), p. 279–291. 54 M. L. King, Marzę, że pewnego dnia…, [in:] Mowy, które zmieniły świat, Wydawnictwo Dolnośląskie, Wrocław 2007, p. 148–155. 55 D. Rock, Y.-Y. Tang, Neuroscience of Engagement, [in:] Handbook of Neuroleadership…, op. cit., p. 351–365. 56 Ibidem. 53

Ibidem. M. D. Lieberman, N. I. Eisenberger, M. J. Crockett, S. M. Tom, J. H. Pfeifer, B. M. Way, Putting Feelings into Words: Affect Labeling Disrupts Amygdala Activity in Response to Affective Stimuli, “Psychological Science” 2007, 18(5), p. 421–428. 59 K. N. Ochsner, J. J. Gross, The Cognitive Control of Emotions, “Trends in Cognitive Sciences” 2005, 9(5), p. 242–249. 60 Ibidem, p. 332. 57

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system and whether or not this influence will be positive; 2. during undertaking activities in order to, depending on a specific situation, choose measures most strongly inhibiting the activity of the punishment system and stimulating the reward one; 3. following the intervention, to explain the occurrence of strong emotions and plan preventive measures to be used in the future in analogical situations. This procedure has been called by Rock the PRE model (Prediction, Regulatory, Explanatory). The SCARF model helps to understand why changes are sometimes difficult to implement , especially due to the activation of the punishment system resulting from the loss of certainty. If adopted improperly, changes may negatively influence the model’s all five elements, this is to say pose s threat in relation to status, autonomy, relatedness and fairness. On the other hand, the SCARF is a toll that may be of use for leaders willing to introduce changes. Crucial in this respect is a balanced activation of the punishment system through increasing the activity of the reward system in situations in which it is possible. For example, what is beneficial in the case of an organisation’s transformation is ensuring employees with autonomy and the possibility to decide about the chosen part of this process.61 What is more, this model defines key elements for designing organisational systems relating to the processes of motivating, communication and information flow and money.62 According to the SCARF model, there exist reward systems based not only on financial stimuli, but also on increasing employees’ autonomy, for example but introducing flexible working hours and increasing their status (through education, titles and the possibility to take part in prestigious projects). Communication system established within an organisation is crucial for the element of certainty, the organisational reality being far more predictable for well-informed employees. Yet there are also reasons to believe that it also influences one’s status (“I’m important and so, it’s worth informing me”), the sense of autonomy (“I receive all information and I can take it into account while making my own decisions”), relatedness (“the boss told me that directly”, “I can trust the organisation because I know that all crucial information will be given to me”), fairness (“everyone in the company receives pieces of important information, there are no persons who are better informed for unclear reasons”).

ment system reduces the use of cognitive skills and negatively influences memory. Let’s imagine a situation in which learners feel respected (status), informed about how the training will look like (certainty), engaged in the process of taking decisions concerning the proposed activities (autonomy), in good relation with the trainer and other participants (relatedness), and treated justly (fairness). These elements are crucial for activating the reward system. The SCARF model has a similar meaning for coaching. The standards set by the International Coach Federation, the oldest international organisation gathering coaches from all around the world, are in conformity with the model’s principles in terms of creating a space for learning and change for the coached person. The strength of coaching lies in influencing through a safe relationship with the coach (status, certainty, relatedness, fairness) and ensuring autonomy. This is the client who decides what aims he/she wants to achieve and the role of the coach is to support this person and facilitate this process. The model is also of great importance for education,63 which is crucial for the shaping of future leaders. Creating an environment activating the reward system is vital for, as suggested by many studies, pupils’ engagement at school is directly correlated with their achievements,64 independently of their social and economic status.65

Summary In the context of the presented SCARF model, there are many proofs for that neuroscience is a discipline which fulfills 3 conditions: 1. contributes to the creation of new knowledge, 2. provides organisations and leaders with specific guidelines that can be used in practice, 3. uses sufficient body of experimental data for undertaking research and formulating theories. Neuroleadership undoubtedly offers new knowledge in the field of motivating. The functioning of the reward and punishment system, and the SCARF model resulting from it, shed a new light on the existing theories of human behaviours. On the one hand, they allow referring back to common opinions in this field based on, for example, Abraham Maslow’s pyramid and Steven Reiss’ questionnaire study66 on human needs, and to consider them from a new perspective. On the other hand, they make it possible to answer questions that have not even been posed so far, such as: What processes occurring in brain are responsible for high and low motivation levels at work? How to activate the reward system? How to minimise, or,

Training, coaching and education The SCARF model serves as a, intuitively used by trainers, guideline for creating learning space. Acquiring knowledge and skills is a process of “getting closer” and so, it will be effective if it strongly activates the reward system. On the contrary, the stimulation of the punish-

G. O. Martin-Kniep, Neuroscience of Engagement and SCARF: Why They Matter to Schools, [in:] Handbook of Neuroleadership…, op. cit., p. 507–524. 64 J. Guthrie, W. D. Schafer, C. Huang, Benefits of Opportunity to Read and Balanced Instructions on the NAEP, “Journal of Educational Research” 2001, 94(3), p. 145–162. 65 A. Klem, J. Connell, Relationship Matter: Linking Teacher Support to Student Engagement and Achievement, “Journal of School Health” 2004, 74(7), p. 262–273. 66 S. Reiss, S. M. Havercamp, Toward a Comprehensive Assessment…, op. cit. 63

D. Rock, P. Dixon, K. Ochsner, Turn the 360 Around: Why Feedback Doesn’t Work and How to do it Better, “Neuroleadership Journal” 2010, 3, p. 78–86. 62 D. Rock, SCARF: a Brain – Based Model…, op. cit., [in:] Handbook of Neuroleadership…, op. cit., p. 311–327. 61

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if complete reduction is impossible, balance the activation of the punishment system? How to build in a team social relations triggering the reward system? How to create a neural engagement measure? Which engagement measure to use at the stage of school education to ensure the optimal conditions for the development of future leaders? In the context of the SCARF model, one of neuroscience’s advantages is high applicability and the practical aspect of the conducted studies. Leaders can, then, use it to draw concrete conclusions on raising self-awareness, developing leadership skills, build motivation and engagement of the team members, introduce changes to an organisation and ensure proper conditions for trainings, coaching and education. What also needs to be emphasized is that theories and models are formulated based on the results of experimental studies carried out in varied ways. Several studies use the newest brain imaging technologies, such as the functional magnetic resonance, to observe the activation of particular areas of this organ. And yet, neuroleadership also draws on experiments carried out in more classical ways, such as the famous experiment in which the reward and punishment systems were stimulated in rats with the use of electricity. It needs to be underlined once again that, in line with the article’s preliminary assumptions, conclusions have been drawn here on the basis of just one topic forming part of the neuroleadership discipline. It would be beneficial to undertake similar analyses for other aspects, such as decision-making, problem-solving and introducing changes in organisations. Only then will it be possible to refer to the area of neuroleadership in its entirety. It also needs to be remembered that neuroscience is a developing field of study, which implies the necessity of undertaking studies verifying the adopted assumptions. The SCARF’s model author67 is aware of that and suggests to first find answers to the following questions: which of the model’s elements have the strongest reward/punishment effect, what are the best ways of activating the reward system and reducing the punishment? Finally, to the list of possible directions of further research I would add the examination of neural mechanisms of activation in persons who seem to be susceptible to stimulation of the punishment system… Indeed, the term psychological immunity is used to refer to persons who achieve very good results in environments that others would describe as unfavourable. Definitely, there also should be a more detailed research into Csikszentmihalyi’s theory of optimal experience and other mentioned theories relating to the motivation model created as part of the neuroleadership discipline. What appears to be particularly needed is explaining the neurological bases of the results achieved by Reiss. At the beginning of this work the following question has been posed: what has been the contemporary’s generation contribution to the development of leadership, a discipline crucial for the social and economic development? In view of the SCARF model, neuroleadership can 67

undoubtedly be regarded as a significant contribution to the development of today’s leadership. Of greatest important here is assuming neuroscience’s perspective and an interdisciplinary approach, as well as the fact that neuroleadership offers new knowledge and practical applications, all based on the growing body of experimental data.

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Project Success Krzysztof Witkowski1 Key words: project, management, success, stakeholders, participation, methodology, objectives

the fifth dimension – VALUES – breaching of which can significantly decrease the possibility of growth in all the areas pointed out by Kaplan and Norton.3

Introduction1 Until the beginning of the past century the financial indicators played the major role in measuring the level of efficiency of enterprises’ performance and, thus, of business success. Incomes, net income, EBITDA and EPS are just a few examples. Glorification of Presidents of Management Boards maximising these indicators would often translate into subsequent frustration at their sudden decrease following the conclusion of the managerial contract. The term “value” of an enterprise was narrowed down to the financial evaluation, without taking into consideration a number of elements contributing to a company’s competitive advantage, such as employees’ qualifications and loyalty. Since these are difficult to express in an unambiguous way, few tried to measure them and, as a result, leading development strategies drew readers’ attention exclusively to the financial dimension. A breakthrough came with Robert Kaplan and David Norton who in Harvard Business Review published their article “The Balanced Scorecard: Measures That Drive Performance”.2 Based on a body of research, the article proved that strategic goals ought to be defined not only in financial terms, but also from the perspective of customers, development and internal processes. Each project undertaken by an enterprise should be consistent with the adopted development strategy and, as a consequence, the notion of project’s success should go beyond financial indicators, in the same way in which the strategy is not based exclusively on them. In face of the recent events related to Volkswagen scandal that broke on the front pages all over the world, it appears that the Balanced Scorecard model is imperfect. Next to a series of indicators, it should also include

Project The term “project” has recently become included in almost all spheres of our lives. The meaning proper for the engineering domain, this is to say a document describing the features and the technical construction of a given product – is just one of the word’s many meanings. Actually, the whole group of disciplines related to project management touches upon just some of the aspects of constructing, or developing, technical projects. One could even argue that each organisation gathering experts (with theoretical and practical background) in the field of project management has their own definition of a “project”. The oldest one – International Project Management Association suggested the following definition: Project (enterprise) is a time and cost constrained operation to realize a set of defined deliverables (the scope to fulfill the project’s objectives), up to quality standards and requirements.4 This definition clearly highlights the features of a project that distinguish it from the purely process-oriented approach. Indeed, uniqueness, coordinating a set of actions, time and cost constraint and, above all, goal orientation, constitute the core of any project. A slightly different perspective on projects is presented by the Project Management Institute, according to which a project is: a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result.5 And although this organisation’s rank and contribution to the study of project management remains unquestionable, it is hard to completely agree with the definition suggested by them. Uniqueness, without any doubt, forms part of the core of any project, but its source is in the specificity of the conditions in which it is being undertaken rather than in the uniqueness of products. Delivering an identical (from the technical point of view) product created by another team in other market conditions and in other time will

Krzysztof Witkowski – eng. electrician. Graduated in the Kiev Institute of Civil Aviation Engineers and postgraduate in studies Cracow University of Economics (Marketing and Banking) and the University of Warsaw (Money and Banking). Chairman of the Board Universe-IBS sp. z o.o. specializing in implementations operating in the practice project management systems and support project teams for the preparation and implementation of projects. Cooperated among others for LW Bogdanka SA, Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne SA, PGNiG SA, Grupa Nowy Styl SA, Teamtechnik PT sp. z o.o. and many other businesses and local governments. Trainer and author of training programs in various aspects of project management. Since 2005 Head of the Substantive Project Management postgraduate studies at the Tischner European University Ks. Tischner European University in Krakow. Assessor in the global competition IPMA Project Excellence Award. Certificates IPMA lev. D, Prince2Practitioner. Authorized trainer IPMA Poland. 2 R. S. Kaplan, D. P. Norton, Strategiczna Karta Wyników, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warsaw 2002, p. 18. 1

Due to the use of software detecting tests cars manufactured by the VW Group emitted much higher amounts of nitric oxide than during tests, during which the software would limit the car’s performance. 4 NCB Polskie Wytyczne Kompetencji IPMA version 3.0. Project Management Polska Association, Warsaw 2009, p. 15. 5 Project Management Institute. A Guide to the PROJECT MANAGEMENT BODY OF KONOWLEDGE (PMBOK GUIDE) Fifth edition Wydanie polskie. Management Training&Development Center, Warsaw 2013, p. 3. 3

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require the adoption of a completely different approach to work organisation and coordination, project preparation, risk management or broadly understood project management. Thus, these are changing conditions of the environment that make the project realisation unique, even if the final product is identical to the ones delivered as a result of other projects. According to the PRINCE2TM methodology, a project is a temporary organisation that is created for the purpose of delivering one or more business products according to an agreed Business Case.6 Similarly to the PMI’s definition, this one underlines the temporary character of a project. A project only exists within its limited lifecycle. Contrary to batch production, in which, for example, Purchase Department can exist regardless of whether or not production is taking place at a given moment, if a project is not being currently undertaken, then there cannot exist a team appointed just for the purpose of its implementation. Following the completion of a project, a project team is dissolved. Of great importance in the definition forming part of the PRINCE2TM methodology is the requirement for a business product being consistent with a business case. Logically, this does not limit the use of this methodology just to the business world. It is also applicable to the area of public administration (it is, for example, an obligatory methodology for the whole of project management performed in the British public administration), culture and community organisations. According to the PRINCE2TM methodology, a business case is a document compiled before launching a project in order to take a decision concerning its realisation. Included in a business case are pieces of information making it possible to assess whether a project is (and will remain during its implementation) beneficial, feasible and necessary, this is to say whether or not it is worth investing resources (human, financial and material ones) in its realisation. One of the parts of any business case is the presentation of the reasons for undertaking the project and, as a result, of the problem the project outcome is to address. From the many years of the author’s experience in the field of consulting it is clear that very often project managers, because of the lack of a proper business case in the organisation undertaking a project, do not focus enough on the benefits to be brought about by a project, concentrating almost exclusively on the efficient completion of the defined tasks. This may result in an absurd situation in which a project manager accounts for (and is being held accountable for) the realisation of the subsequent tasks, but nobody notices that, as a result of a change in the market environment or social processes, the original problem because of which the project was initiated no longer exists. A good example of that are language courses for nurses. Obviously, any attempt to increase employees’ skills is praiseworthy, but courses of this type originated from the lack of nurses on the job market. Consequently, a good command of English or German would significantly increase women’s chances of getting a job outside of Poland, which was especially true of those who completed their studies

in the field of nursing and so, had their professional skills official recognized also in other EU countries. After a several years of Poland’s presence in the European Union a growing deficit of professional nurses started to be observed, which was accompanied by a simultaneous trend of a rapid growth of the average age of employees working in this sector, this is to say a growing threat of the “competence gap” phenomenon among nurses. One could, then, conclude that there existed no problems that could have triggered projects aimed at increasing language competences of nurses. Nevertheless, such courses were still offered, in many cases with the help of the EU’s and the Polish public funds (from governments and local governments) used to increase the attractiveness and availability of the courses. The PRINCE2TM methodology suggests that in such a case the validity of a business case has to be checked and upon diagnosing the lack of problems, or actually a growing threat of other type posed by the undertaken projects, the realisation of such projects must be stopped or at least their financing significantly limited. It is hard to talk about the success of projects if at the end we all feel like saying: We tried hard, but it came out as always. There are many examples showing what the consequences of not concentrating enough on business cases might be. Motorways constructed to increase the fluidity of traffic and relieve local roads from heavy vehicle traffic have been “enriched” in toll booth systems in such a way as to efficiently block traffic in periods of increased traffic, while more less at the same time Hungary introduced e-vignettes which, together with a system of security cameras on motorways, are efficient in terms of collecting fees and yet do not deprive motorway users of the basic benefit of using them, i.e. shortening the travel time. Introducing the Viatoll toll passage system only on main national roads characterized by a higher carrying capacity, without adopting it also on local roads, resulted, quite naturally, in that some of the lorries were re-directed on provincial, district and communal roads, which are generally (especially the communal ones) not adapted to the instances of increased exploitation. Such a solution must have brought about an injection of money from motorway fees to the central budget, but, at the same time, there have been no official analyses made of the forced repair costs of municipal roads and buildings located in direct proximity of the roads in question. Can we, then say, that the problem has been truly solved by ensuring additional resources for repairing roads? Or maybe the implementation of the project has actually deepened the problem, merely shifting it from the central budget to the budgets of particular municipalities and the owners of the real estates? To fully understand and explain this case, one would have to carry out an in-depth analysis of all the involved key aspects. For now the author only wants to emphasize that the business case of a given project ought to never be limited just to the technical or economic issues, but should rather provide a holistic vision of the undertaking. Indeed, one can hardly call a success the project of the development of an airport in Ciudad Real located 130 kilometers off Madrid, completed for over one billion EUR. The airport was constructed in such a way as to welcome even the biggest

Office of Government Commerce. Prince2TM – Skuteczne zarządzanie projektami, Crown Copyright, London 2010, p. 3.

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Airbuses A380, allowing for offering service to more than several million passengers a year. Yet after one year and a half the airport, suffering a lack of visitors, was closed, put to sale and eventually sold for 100 million EUR.7 Explaining the whole situation with an investment bubble means reducing the problem to just one dimension and shifting the responsibility from irresponsible decision-makers to the unseen market hand. What, then, does the success of a project mean?

success. Yet precisely such a narrow understanding of project success is promoted by the PMI: “success of the project should be measured in terms of completing the project within the constraints of scope, time, cost, quality, resources, and risk as approved by the project managers and senior management.”11 Only the guidelines formulated by the IPMA draw a distinction between the success of a project and successful project management. Successful project management means recognition of the effects of project management by proper stakeholders.12 This is by no means synonymous with the success of a project. Indeed, we can deal with a perfectly managed project (well planned and completed within the time and budget limits) which after being put to use turns out not to be particularly useful. This can be illustrated by the case of the bridge on the Łęg river in the Orliska town belonging to the Gorzyce municipality. The bridge, whose design took two years and a half, was constructed for 3.66 million PLN and looks impressive.

The success of a project Mały Słownik Języka Polskiego (The Little Dictionary of the Polish Language) defines success as a fortunate effect of an enterprise.8 This can definitely be also applied to an endeavor in the form of a project. When can we say that a given endeavor has been successful? Wikipedia offers a slightly different understanding of this term: “Success – acting at the highest level of an individual’s abilities towards fulfilling his/her dreams and urges, with all the aspects of his/her life remaining in balance. In other words, success is an indented state of affairs, achieved over a certain period of time. To define a success, values are specified that are used as its indicators. Each human being may have a different understanding of success. Of great importance here are the systems of values and experience of particular persons. Success can be measured by: accomplished plans, happiness, health, material property, etc. A man achieves a success when all his/her expectations become fulfilled”.9 It needs to be emphasized that according to this definition, success is not a coincidence, but rather an intended state. What is more, it is characterized by specific values, its indicators. Thus, in view of this definition, we could say that a successful completion of a project may be regarded either as a success of an individual or a success of the entire team. But how is project success defined by the leading project management handbooks? The answer to this question will not be found in the PRINCE2TM methodology. And this is because this methodology focuses on proper planning and project organisation processes, division of roles and necessary documents. The ISO 21500 does not directly address the issue either.10 And although the word “success” is mentioned 8 times in the standard, in all cases it refers to the factors determining the success or failure of a project, but, unfortunately, there is no mention of what actually the success of a project means. The briefest analysis of the abovementioned examples is enough to show that even the highest technical perfection of a project, or its consistency with the original plans, are not quite enough to guarantee the project’s overall

Illustration 1. The bridge on the Łęg river Source: http://www.echodnia.eu/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121028/POWIAT0304/121028894.

Unfortunately, some call it a construction crime. Indeed, a 5–10% increase of the project budget would have been enough to prevent the bridge sometimes looking like on the picture below.

Illustration 2. The bridge on the Łęg river Source: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=476416&page=25.

http://podroze.onet.pl/ciekawe/nieczynne-lotnisko-w-ciudad-real-w-hiszpanii-na-sprzedaz-za-100-milionow-euro/qneb6 [access: 29.10.2015]. 8 S. Skorupka, H. Anderska, Z. Łempicka (eds.), Mały Słownik Języka Polskiego, PWN, Warsaw 1968, p. 787. 9 https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukces_(stan) [access: 30.10.2015]. 10 In section 3.11 ISO 21500 it is said that achieving a consensus among the project’s key stakeholders can form solid foundations for the project’s success, yet it is hard to consider it as a definition of success. 7

The systematically flooded access road between the flood bank and bridge was built in conformity with the Project Management Institute, A Guide to the PROJECT MANAGEMENT…, op. cit., p. 34. 12 NCB Polskie Wytyczne Kompetencji…, op. cit., p. 42. 11

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technical documentation, the bridge was returned at the scheduled time, the project budget was not exceeded, and the inhabitants, instead of enjoying the bridge for which they had waited 30 years, are complaining all the time. This is how the Municipality Office explains the implemented architectural solution, not really reasonable from the economical points of view: “This is why the local authorities wish to emphasize that in view of the municipality’s financial abilities and the maximum financing that could have been received for this investment, even short breaks in the access to the bridge resulting from high levels of the river and taken into account in the present analysis cannot undermine the sense of the investment and its optimal nature, i.e. the relation between the investment’s costs and effects”.13 One only needs to slightly reformulate the question and ask: how much time would have been needed for an additional sum of 200,000 (or even a much lower one) PLN to pay back, if the change had been introduced during the project planning phase? And, if this had been done, how many persons would now question the effects of the project? This example clearly shows that successful project management does not equal the success of the project itself. It could be argued that the project in question ended with a success, this is to say with “the project’s stakeholders’ satisfaction”14 for this is how the IPMA defines project success. Such a vision of project success poses a much more difficult task to a given project decision-makers, starting from the organisation’s board, through the steering committee, project manager, task coordinators, to project team members. Indeed, if we assume this approach, it will turn out that in the case of many undertakings which in mass media have been referred to as successful, the only success we can talk about is the success of project management, while, from the perspective of the IPMA’s definition, they were far from achieving the project success.

ect organisation” the authors also recommend that the project’s stakeholders should be specified in the most detailed possible way, so as to ensure the project’s success.16 But the documentation does not actually offer any definition of project stakeholders, although various categories of them have been enumerated in the. However, the list does not seem to be exhaustive. According to the IPMA, stakeholders are persons or groups interested in a success or failure of a project, or individuals/bodies subject to the constraints caused by the project.17 One of the proofs of how important it is to always perform a close analysis of stakeholders is the last (fifth) edition of the PMBOK Guide, the leading project management handbook by the Project Management Institute published in 2013, which differs from the previous versions in that, among others, that the issue of stakeholders’ management processes, previously only briefly mentioned, has been now moved to a separate Chapter 13. For example, in the 2000 and 2004 PMBOK editions section 2.2. “Project Stakeholders” was 3-page long, and there was no Chapter 13 at all, while in the 2013 edition section 2.2 has 5 pages and Chapter 13 (21 pages) is entirely dedicated to stakeholders. Such an increase in volume, along with a qualitative development of the ways in which the issue of stakeholders has been recently presented in PMBOK , is a clear sign of that the approach promoted by the IMPA (an organisation competing with the PMI) in the version 3.0 of their guidelines formulated in 2006 is a right one. No wonder, then, that in studies on the factors influencing the success of projects stakeholders are also widely discussed. Since 1994 The Standish Group have been conducteing in the USA regular research on the factors determining the success of IT projects. Respondents of these studies have also expressed an opinion that for a project to be successful it is not enough to complete it within the set time, budget and scope limits. In the respondents’ view, a successful project also means one that brings about benefits and people’s satisfaction.

Factors involved in a project success For anyone professionally dedicated to project management the issue of factors determining the success of a given project is absolutely crucial. Since projects are unique, there is no one-size-fits-all solution always guaranteeing a success. Yet we can still define certain areas having a greater influence than the others ones on the project success. In section 3.5 ISO 21500 highlights how important it is that a project team take into account elements of the project environment, both within the organisation, such as social, economical conditions, geographic, political, legal, technological and ecological conditions, and those related to the organisation’s inner life, including: strategy, technology, the organisation’s project maturity, the availability of resources, the culture and structure of the organisation.15 In section 3.8 “Stakeholders and proj-

Triangle of objectives All of the following Rewarding Valuable According to the objectives Scope limits Budget Set time 0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Illustration 3. Definition of success Source: own work based on The Standish Group, CHAOS Manifesto 2014.

http://www.echodnia.eu/podkarpackie/wiadomosci/tarnobrzeg/ art/8706133,budowa-kontrowersyjnego-mostu-na-legu-zwroci-sie-po-osmiu-latach,id,t.html [access: 30.10.2015]. 14 NCB Polskie Wytyczne Kompetencji…, op. cit., p. 18. 15 International Standard Office. Internationa Standard ISO 21500. ISO, Geneva 2012, p. 5. 13

Ibidem, p. 6. NCB Polskie Wytyczne Kompetencji…, op. cit., p. 44.

16 17

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conducted by the already quoted Standish Group as well as in German research in the field. Defining the project’s objective is believed to be one of the two main factors determining its potential success, communication being the other one. The author’s vast experience in the consulting sector, co-operating with many project teams, provides many proofs of how crucial effective communication is. Following the initial stage during which a project is defined and planned and upon getting down to the realisation of particular tasks, of great importance for the project is the exchange of information among its members, as well as between the project delivery team and the stakeholders. The authors of many studies carried out in Germany have also emphasized the great role of efficient planning. The more complex a project, the more detailed the plan of its implementations must be. This statement is approved of, among others, by Marcin Polak, Contract Vice Director in the Strabag company responsible for the repair of the runway of the Wrocław airport: “During repairs runways are normally closed, but in the case of the Wrocław airport we need to fit all the works in 5-hour intervals. This is a logistically very complex, big-scale operation. The works need to be perfectly planned, there is no room for experiments”.19 The author’s experience of collaborating with the project team responsible for the project of the construction of the Fabryka Mebli Grupy Nowy Styl (furniture factory) in Jasło has shown that preparing a detailed realisation plan is crucial for the effective synchronisation of the work of many executors. This project won the 2015 IPMA Polish Project Excellence Award, which is the best proof of that it was a real success.

Control instruments

The project manager know how

Participation

Motivation of the project team

Controlling

Project authorisations

Top management

Planning

Definition of the objective

20% 18% 16% 14% 12% 10% 8% 6% 4% 2% 0%

Communication

And what type of values should be promoted by projects? Obviously, ones that strengthen the company’s position, contribute to the implementation of its strategy, etc. Drawing on more than 10 years of my professional experience in the area of consulting, I distinguish three major categories of values that companies should follow while initiating projects: Money – profit, etc. Relations – obtaining a customer’s references, strengthening the company’s position on the market, positive image, etc. Knowledge/experience/new possibilities – mastering a new technology, improving the work methods used so far, adopting innovative solutions, etc. Ideally, projects should be realised with respect to all these three types of values, the expected effect, then, being: a profitable and prestigious project undertaken for an important customer with the use of innovative technologies, fostering the company’s positive image. But in practice it is really hard to achieve sustainable development, which, as suggested by Professor Gorzelak, constitutes an anomaly and, as such, lack of balance.18 This is why a project team need to share a clear set of values that will be then used to assess the project’s success or failure. Thus, it is crucial to establish, before initiating any project, clear, measurable and feasible objectives, not only in terms of the golden triangle of objectives (quality, time and costs), but also with relation to values such as the customer’s loyalty, strengthening the company’s market position, increasing trust in the company/organisation, gaining experience, implementing technologies, decreasing staff turnover, fostering loyalty of customers and employees, and others.

Illustration 5. The winning project team, the project’s sponsors and the jury that assessed the project as part of the 2015 IPMA Project Excellence Award 2015 during the Final Gala on 22 October 2015 (fot. Filip Błażejowski)

Illustration 4. Project success factors Source: from a lecture by Stanisław Sroka – Head of the IPMA Polska – given in Tischner European University in Kraków on 14 October 2007.

Another factor of project success often mentioned in German studies (the Karlsruhe University) is providing support to top management. In some organisations the Board’s role is believed to be that of taking decisions concerning all aspects of the organisation’s economic life. Yet the growing dynamics of the changes taking place in

Clear specification of the project’s objectives is also enumerated as one of project success factors in studies During many of his speeches, referring to the issue of competitiveness and sustainable development of regions, Professor Grzegorz Gorzelak criticised the concept of sustainable development. He would also highlight the most crucial, in his opinion, feature of development – there always exists a leader and so, it is impossible to talk about sustainable development.

http://www.gazetawroclawska.pl/artykul/8012811,nocny-remont-pasa-startowego-na-wroclawskim-lotnisku-film-i-zdjecia,id,t. html?cookie=1 [access: 30.10.2015].

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the contemporary world bring to mind a completely different role of Boards. Limiting their role to integrators and decision-makers in key issues goes hand in hand with the common description of the role of a Sponsor in projects. By delegating authority not only does he increase the sense of responsibility in the project team, but he also fosters the accuracy of a decision (made by persons possessing the broadest knowledge of the issues in question) and significantly accelerates the decision-making process. This illustrates the next factor of project success included in the results of the research carried out by the Karlsruhe University – project authorisations. The Sponsor’s role in model projects can be described as one of the project’s father. He gives his subordinates a free hand in solving lesser issues, but offers help when they face difficulties overcoming of which goes beyond their competences, assuming the responsibility for resolving the problem without undermining the authority of the project manager. The included photography only gives a basic idea of how high was motivation of the project team, who considered the project to be not only a task to complete, but also a challenge they wanted to handle. Well aware of the importance of the project for the enterprise, the project team were determined and motivated by the Board to achieve a success, not only in terms of the triangle of objectives, but also in terms of great satisfaction of a wide groups of stakeholders. The involvement in the project of stakeholders such as Jasło’s Mayor, NSG technologists, constructors, architects, production line workers, and suppliers proves that the project was realised in a model way, not only at the national level. A broad understanding of project success has been confirmed in the process of assessing the project as part of the 2015 PPEA. In the cited research results, stakeholders’ participation in the project is also presented as one of the factors influencing the potential success of the project. These studies also mention controlling. Importantly, controlling within a project is not limited to the monitoring of the current state of affairs, but also refers to the project plans and predictions of the current situation’s influence on the project’s final outcome. And so, if we properly plan the control process, the effect will be an “early warning” system allowing for undertaking corrective, remedial and emergency actions in situations when there are still chances of these actions bringing about the desired effects and contributing to the project’s overall success in spite of difficulties faced during the realisation process. For controlling to be effective, not only there has to exist a control system, but also a real point of reference in the form of an updated project realisation plan. The Standish Group lists a bit different set of factors determining the success of a project. Interestingly enough, one of their analyses consisted in correlating the results of two year-long research projects, one of which was conducted 20 years after another. Despite this huge time distance, over which the IT sector (where the studies were carried out) has undergone a dramatic transformation comparable with the 19th-century industrial revolution, the scholars claim that the set of factors influencing project success has remained almost unchanged. What

Hard-Working, Focused Staff

Clear Vision & Objectives

Competency

Competent Staff

Smaller Project Milestones

Realistic Expectations

Proper Planning

Clear statement of requirements

Executive Management Support

20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0

User Involvement

has slightly changed are the weighs of particular factors, but project coordinates and project team members all agree on that the major factor in the success of a project is the involvement on the part of stakeholders (users) and support for top management. After twenty years, the third place is still occupied by clear expectations and requirements, which have evolved into more broadly understood business objectives. In the contemporary times offering access to programmes and systems not existing in the past, it is impossible to plan in the greatest detail the process of the project realisation due to the lack of any model and previous experience. This is why the place of detailed planning has been taken in the ranking by emotional maturity of the project team, i.e. their ability to both achieve success and solve problems instead of trying to identify the ones guilty of failures.

Illustration 6. Factors determining the success of projects CHAOS Report 1994 Source: own work based on The Standish Group, CHAOS Manifesto 2014, p. 11. 25 20 15 10

Tools and Infrastructure

Consistency in business activity

Qualified resources

Knowledge of project management

AGILE process

Optimised scope of the project

Emotional maturity

Clear business objectives

User Involvement

Executive Management Support

Illustration 7. Factors determining the success of projects CHAOS Report 2014 Source: own work based on The Standish Group, CHAOS Manifesto 2014, p. 11.

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Since many projects are implemented with the use of waterfall methodologies, one more factor that was valid in 1994 is not applicable anymore – little milestones. Interestingly, listed as the fifth indicator back in the 1990s were realistic expectations towards an IT project. These have been replaced by an optimised scope of the project, this is to say a scope of the stakeholders’ expectations worked out in cooperation with them. And the establishing of this scope, as part of the AGILE process, that turns out to be the driving force of the success of many projects in which only a general vision of the final product is known, with details being impossible to predict. Among project success indicators American scholars also list knowledge of project management, qualified resources and consistency in business activity. All these three elements are undoubtedly closely related to a project team. Similarly, the author’s experience is that even a small, but determined and motivated, group of qualified project team members can succeed in completing the most complex (in organisation terms) projects whose success will be measured not only with the gained million dollars, but also with the satisfaction of a wide range of stakeholders. Hence, a team project can be understood not as a group of disposable people, but as a small team of commandos undertaking the most ambitious, and yet, thanks to their professional background, realistic projects.

the Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum at the foot of the world’s highest building: “The word IMPOSSIBLE is not in leaders’ dictionaries. No matter how big the challenges, strong faith, determination and resolve will overcome them”. To be successful in a project, the most important thing one has to do is to put together a small team of competent individuals who will strongly believe in success and enjoy the client’s trust. Achieving a success will, then, be just a matter of time.

Bibliography International Standard Office. International Standard ISO 21500, SO, Geneva 2012. Lock D., Podstawy zarządzania projektami, Polskie Wydawnictwo Ekonomiczne, Warsaw 2009. Michał Trocki (ed.), Nowoczesne zarządzanie projektami, Polskie Wydawnictwo Ekonomiczne, Warsaw 2013. NCB Polskie Wytyczne Kompetencji IPMA wersja 3.0, Stowarzyszenie Project Management Polska, Warsaw 2009. Office of Government Commerce, Prince2TM – Skuteczne zarządzanie projektami, Crown Copyright, London 2010. Project Management Institute, A Guide to the PROJECT MANAGEMENT BODY OF KONOWLEDGE (PMBOK GUIDE) Fifth edition Wydanie polskie, Management Training & Development Center, Warsaw 2013. Schulz M., Mikulaschek W., Project Management, Private publishing venture, Herzogenaurach 2013. SPMP, Zarządzanie projektami Podręcznik, pm2pm sp. z o.o., Krakow 2009. The Standish Group, CHAOS Manifesto, 2014.

Summary The essence of all the indicators determining the success of a project can be illustrated with the words of