photo by Małgorzata Dymowska
Prof. Barbara Kożusznik, Professor of Work and Organisational Psychology, University of Silesia in Katowice, director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Staff Development (ICSD), University of Silesia. She published over two hundred scientific articles, chapters and books. Her main interests focus on teamwork research and development, social influence in organization and research on employee competences.
Prof. BARBARA KOŻUSZNIK
Competence management
In the post-pandemic reality, while continuing their work, researchers try to meet the requirements of international mobility, the revolution of the communication model, the need to adapt to changes in the form of, for example, hybrid working conditions, etc.
International scientific cooperation has also changed, with this change particularly affecting the humanities and social sciences. This is due to the weakening of boundaries between science centres. The boundaries have been weakened, but not completely eliminated. There are still so-called leading research centres, both in Europe and internationally. There is still competition between universities and a “win-win” attitude, which is achieved, among other things, as a result of a “brain drain”, understood as the migration of the greatest scientific potential from the poorer countries to the most developed ones. Focusing on measurable achievements (points, rank, etc.) and competing for the most outstanding minds still seem to be the norm. Few universities win this kind of fight relatively rarely, and it is not an easy win, and key factors such as the reputation of universities are often independent of the actions taken by universities themselves.
There are academic centres which, due to the difficulty of taking part in the “brain drain” and in the face of strong competition between universities, are adopting other strategies in the fight for scientific excellence. By focusing on creating key competencies, they provide optimal conditions for the development of young research talent.
This approach is at the heart of the activities of the ICSD whose collaborators believe that unilateral building of scientific excellence based on the strong fight, competition and the desire to win at all costs not only does not build, but actually destroys many important phenomena such as, for example cooperation in research teams.
An interesting alternative is to build and develop a research career, with the ultimate goal of retaining talented young researchers at their home universities. The concept, developed at the University of Silesia in Katowice, is being developed, among others within the “Transfer for European Research and Innovation” project (funded by Horizon 2020). There are two goals. The first one is to develop the existing human resources potential. The second is to increase the attractiveness of the university to outstanding scientists.
The university is on the verge of making important decisions. With the new career and assessment model, we would like to restore the confidence of our professors in the university, rather than over-measure and control their performance. We want those who perform well to be promoted and that with a minimum of formal procedures.
At ICSD, we believe that the predominantly quantitative and performance-based academic assessment process should give way to nurturing talent, prioritising the development of vision and strategy, both at a personal and team level.
This approach to the improvement and assessment process requires specific competencies related not only to the process of research, publishing or lecturing, but also to strategic thinking, collaboration and teamwork. A very strong emphasis will be placed on interpersonal and leadership competencies. In this way, the new career model for professorial staff will benefit every group of employees.
This requires the creation of a positive, stimulating working environment at the university. Such an environment should be characterised by talent management, which is a new proposal for dealing with the increasing pressure on existing academics and support staff.