Journal 7

INNOVATIVE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL
PUBLISHED BY: Poznan University College of Business Copyright PWSB Pozna, 2011 EDITORIAL BOARD Editor in Chief: Agnieszka Kaczukowska-Stadnik Poznan University College of Business Katarzyna Czainska Poznan University College of Business Alexis Downs Emporia State University, USA Eva Gallardo University of Barcelona, Spain Sawomir Magala Rotterdam School of Management, Netherlands Vladimir Maslow Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia Peter Odrakiewicz Poznan University College of Business Cliff Oswick School of Management and Business, Queen Mary, University of London, UK Juliana Popova University of Rousse, Bulgaria Tojo Thatchenkery School of Public Policy, George Mason University Arlington, USA Jan Ulijn TU Eindhoven and OU, Netherlands William Strnad - Poznan University College of Business EDITORIAL OFFICE: Poznaska Wysza Szkoa Biznesu Poznan University College of Business 18, Niedziakowskiego Str. 61-579 Poznan, Poland Phone/fax: + 48 61 833 14 33 Email: media.house@pwsb.pl EDITOR CONTACT: dr Agnieszka Kaczukowska-Stadnik a.stadnik@pwsb.pl
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Maja Popiak Flower Power
ISSN 1899-3656
CONTENT
INTRODUCTION Agnieszka Kaczukowska-Stadnik............................................................................................5 PEOPLE The challenges of Human Resources Management Sawomir Magala.......................................................................................................................7 INNOVATIVE TRENDS IN HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT Employee Assessment Methods in a Service Company Zbigniew Seran, Anita Koczorowska....................................... .............................................11 The inuence of communication on the process of innovation adoption B Albronda, Frank De Langen, Bert Huizing........................................................................20 The life insurance agents competencies as a main criterion of life insurance companies effectiveness - the impact of human factor Baej Balewski, Andrzej Janowski.........................................................................................30 Empowerment, engagement and creativity Zbigniew Bentyn......................................................................................................................38 COFFEE CORNER Agnieszka Kaczukowska-Stadnik..........................................................................................42
INTRODUCTION
Human Resources Management is a planned approach to managing people effectively for performance. However, changing trends in the market pose new challenges to human resources management (HRM) and have an inuence on its role in the new economy. All practices connected with HRM will have to adjust to the new situation. The focal point in the business world has moved from physical assets to knowledge and information. It is a new situation for employees and a huge challenge for managers and leaders who have to be able to coordinate work in virtual global teams where people have multicultural backgrounds. In this issue you will nd some of the latest trends in human resources management, as well as some case studies which highlight the implementation of good solutions. Prof. Sawomir Magala describes increasing role of knowledge and its creative applications, the importance of the managing the demographic and psychographic characteristics of an evolving
workforce. He also presents the inuence of technology on the way people work and, moreover, how they live nowadays. Dr Zbigniew Seran and Ms. Anita Koczorowska review the methods of staff assessment concentrating mainly on the 360degree feedback method. They also present the summary of a research questionnaire on the 360degree feedback method implementation conducted among employees of an analyzed service company. Prof. Frank De Langen, prof. B Albronda and Mr. Bert Huizing analyze the process of innovation, concentrating on the factors affecting adoption of innovation. They also study the role of communication in the adoption process referring to the research conducted by the authors in the Research and Development department of a transport company in The Netherlands. Dr Baej Balewski and dr Andrzej Janowski describe the empirical relationship between insurance agents competencies and the efciency
of life insurance companies in the context of market changes and possibilities of future development. This analysis is based on a research survey conducted among agents of the most effective life insurance institutions in Poland and Lithuania.
Dr Zbigniew Bentyn analyzes how deeply an organization must change to get to the level where three important forces like empowerment, engagement and creativity can move an organization into a new direction. He also takes into consideration strategies which elicits freedom-based behavior of the employees.
Editor-in-Chief
Agnieszka Kaczukowska-Stadnik, Phd
PEOPLE
The challenges of Human Resources Management
Prof. Sawomir Magala

Sawomir Magala (b.1950 ), professor of cross-cultural management, chairs department of organizational sciences & HRM. Books - Cross Cultural Competence (2005), The Management of Meaning in Organizations (2009). Editor-in-chief Journal of Organizational Change Management. Interested in cultural contents, academic paradigms and communication commodities in virtual and real networks.
Reporter: Let me start with very general question. What is Human Resource Management for you? How could you dene it? Sawomir Magala: First, it is a highly managerialist code name, revealing the biased point of view. HRM is an ofcial catalogue name for the domain of activities performed by managers in formal professional organizations as seen by the top and middle managers. In business schools, which depend on good will and word of the mouth of managers employing their graduates, this domain is perceived as legitimate and an objectivearea of study. I would dene HRM as an evolving domain of academic research, which recently underwent signicant changes both in admitting qualitative methodologies (for instance narrative studies of storytellingorganizations) and in critical deconstruction of the managerialist bias. Reporter: Manager must lead, motivate, inspire, and encourage people. Is it possible to teach people how to manage human resources?
Sawomir Magala: No, because people are not simply resources as raw materials or electricity. But it is possible to coordinate and inspire human individuals, to manage and lead them provided one sees autonomous and creative individuals, not raw resources in them. We have abolished slavery once, let us do it more often. Reporter: We can observe changing trends in human resource management. Which are the most important in your opinion? Sawomir Magala: The most important change is brought about by the increasing role of knowledge and its creative applications slaves and cogs in a machine are not creative, and so employees must be empowered and set free to contribute to the company performance. North Korea will never have an innovation rate of the United States, nor will underpaid illegal immigrants develop killer apps for social media (though who knows).
SAWOMIR MAGALA
Reporter: How should we adjust study programs to changing situation in the market? Sawomir Magala: Curricular developments take time basically benchmarking (best practices in business schools) and feedbacking (what happens to our graduates when they start their rst, second and third jobs), and accounting for this in our policies. It has been found that benchmarking is good solution because it helps overcome resistance among staff to change by showing them what the others are doing and so, indirectly, encouraging them to come forward with their potentially innovative ideas. This practice provides also a structure for external evaluation so we are able to assess what we have already done in an intersubjective, if not objective way. Moreover some experiences between schools can further be shared in a kind of an ongoing, person-to-person benchmarking process. Feedbacking seems to be also a good solution because we can get information, which might enable us to see if a given study program is adjusted to a new, emergent context and requirements, which slowly become clear to us. Taking into account new trends and recognizing new patterns we are able to modify a program to make it more suitable from the point of view of criteria we hopefully were right to apply. It is the reason why many universities keep in touch with their graduates and develop policies to make them feel connected, attached, committed, etc.. Reporter: We work nowadays very often in virtual global teams. Are we able to teach people how to cope with it? It is managing the demographic and psychographic characteristics of an evolving workforce. It will take a whole new level of education of tolerance. Sawomir Magala: Agree. Tolerance can and should be taught, but also it should be present daily in parliaments and media. Looking at the gender proportions in the Polish parliament or government I am skeptical about our tolerance scores and media are almost too ridiculous to take seriously. Neither media nor public authorities
seem to understand what a talent management is and they wouldnt have recognized talent even if they saw one (for instance father Rydzyk is the greatest Polish talent in media and knows how to win the trust of his audiences and yet he is presented by mainstream media as some kind of a monster. The only recognition he won was from Mr Walter senior, who bitterly regrets that he did not invent Radio Maryja rst). Reporter: There is no doubt that talent management will gain signicance in the near future. We will have to focus on soft skills, leadership development and succession planning. Are we able to rise to a challenge? Sawomir Magala: Nobody is. Natural tendency, either for Welch (longest ruling CEO of GE) or Ghadaf (Libyan power monopolist, one of the longest ruling dictators), is to rule forever. Tusk or Kaczynski are more interested in consolidation of their organizational power base than in the real performance of ministers. The only difference between them is that Kaczynski has a stronger vision and Tusk better spin doctors. But soft skills and a bottom-up approach should make a difference, be it in the longer run. But then, what is the longer run? We invented Solidarity in 1980, the Berlin Wall went down in 1989, and in 2011 the Middle East started getting rid of dictators. Reporter: I would like to concentrate for a moment on the concept of empowerment . It is particularly relevant in the context of human resource development. There is nothing new in the notion that decision-making should be delegated as far down the organization as possible, and that individuals should take responsibility for their own work. Nowadays we have a rather at organizational structure. The result of it is that vertical promotion is possible only for few people. Therefore there can be a problem with motivation. How could we motivate people in such a situation? Sawomir Magala: Intrinsic motivation. Virtue and creativity as their own rewards. Why should all people want to become popes or presidents? Diversication of rewards, I would say.
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THE CHALLENGES OF HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
Flat organizations are giving lower management more responsibilities; they are expected to make more decisions to integral operations. And it is really motivating when we are responsible for some decisions and their effects and feel that it depends on us, on our discretion, if some decisions are made and some actions undertaken. There is however one signicant disadvantage of a at organization. We have to cope with more challenges to our own legitimacy and responsibility tends to become dispersed, uncertain. Reporter: Social media networking is the new way to nd employees, nd jobs and monitor colleagues and friends. That gives new tools for employees to control recruits and employers online. What is your opinion about it? Sawomir Magala: Social media are only one of many developments and inventions, which facilitate individual mobility and increase individual freedom (families or churches or political parties,
or universities suffer, since they still expect blind obedience from individuals who know already that blind obedience does not pay). But social media have to be taken with a pinch of salt. They are not always very social, or sociability tends to be virtual and not real after all, they secure a social connection between isolated individuals looking at their screens. So yes, they will matter, but we do not yet know how and where. Reporter: What about the inuence of technology on the way people work? Teleworking, exible working hours to name just a few. There is no problem to nd some advantages of new technologies. But what about disadvantages? Sawomir Magala: Many. One of them is a relative isolation behind a screen (so the name social media is a cruel misleading label) and another is a facility of spreading vicious nancial derivatives, like the pre-2008 repackaged subprime mortgages.
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SAWOMIR MAGALA
Moreover we are dependent on computers. We are not able to work without them, to communicate without them and even sometimes to think without them. I nd it easier to google things up than to look them up in a dictionary or an encyclopaedia. Reporter: The impact of technology is unlimited. We could risk a statement that technology is going to eliminate most HR jobs as they exist nowadays. How could we groom potential workers to be competitive on the market? And what about the exclusion of workers who are not skilled on computers? Sawomir Magala: Not a real problem. Schools should be teaching letters (alphabets) , numbers (numerocracy) and computocracy. Like analphabetism, can be eliminated. On the other hand information technologies have streamlined the business process and consequently they has also led to the situation when some people lost their jobs because they were no longer needed, for instance we can read our gas meters ourselves and report online to energy providers, or we can reserve an airplane and a hotel thus rendering a tourist agency redundant. This means that a lot of lower and middle level jobs will vanish because some operations can be done quicker and better by machines. Reporter: Online, all the time, and availability via technology. Employees work at home in the evening on collaborative reports and email. There is no boarder between working time and free time. What is your opinion about it? Sawomir Magala: True, we are rewriting the rules and renegotiating the borders between private and public. The fact is that most people need a break from their work. Even the most dedicated
employees need a private life, no matter how much they enjoy the work. I guess space still plays a robust class role in designing a suburbian privilege into our privacy (or condemning us to a lack of it in slums). Reporter: In future minority groups would become an important source of man power on account of easy access to better educational and employment opportunities. Therefore manpower planning of every organization will have to take into consideration the potential availability of talent in these groups. How will it inuence on the methods of human resources management? Sawomir Magala: You mean that the Polish employees will some day look at the Kenyan or Nigerian or Iranian or Pakistani students in a business school as potential holders of talent? Sure. Diversity ber alles. In my opinion workplace diversity is a potential source of competitive advantage for a company and will be even more so in future. People coming from different countries, having various cultural backgrounds are able in many cases to generate better solutions during e.g. brainstorming sessions and to cooperate more effectively in comparison with homogenous groups. This is not yet a common feeling among Polish managers, though in TV24 they had already started asking Latin female speakers to announce weather and who knows, maybe they will replace the Pohankes and the Werners in future. It is already the fact that classes I teach in the best Polish business schools are lled with a growing variety of students from all continents (Iranians, Pakistanis, Chinese, Nigerians, Byelorussians, Ukrainians, Turks, etc.). Reporter: Thank you.
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INNOVATIVE TRENDS IN HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
Employee Assessment Methods in a Service Company
Zbigniew Seran
Dr Zbigniew Seran is a researcher and lecturer at Wysza Szkoa Bezpieczestwa in Poznan. His research interest is focused on the economic aspects of the national security, staff management, microeconomics and macroeconomics.
Anita Koczorowska
Ms Anita Koczorowska has cooperated with Grant Thornton Frckowiak Sp. z o.o., where she conducted research for the purpose of this paper.
ABSTRACT
Contemporary companies attach more and more significance to a kind of management based on profound knowledge about their subordinates and key employees. In this respect, an interesting matter is the knowledge of their predispositions, skills and abilities, interests, development prospects and opportunities, as well as their psychophysical condition. The ethical sphere is also signicant in this respect. The aim of this research was to view the evaluation of the implementation of the described method made by the surveyed employees and the manager of the company. The survey included a questionnaire answered by 35 employees and an interview with the manager. The analysis of the interview indicates that despite the high expenses and a great deal of time involved, the surveyed method can be successfully applied in representative assessment of human resources. In turn, the results of the questionnaire demonstrate that 60% of the
employees surveyed consider the assessment system appropriate (fair). The authors of the article have also pointed out the advantages and disadvantages, as well as the risk of mistakes in the implementation of the feedback method.
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INTRODUCTION
Sta assessment in the management process.
As we can learn from the publications on the subject, rst systematic staff assessment in human resources management was introduced in the United States in the late 1960s. The assessment was then begun to be associated with salaries and became the indication of a programmed development path1 . Special emphasis was placed on skills assessment, which included two essential kinds of skills (desirable by the company)2 :
1
Compare: T. Rostkowski 2004. Nowoczesne metody zarzdzania ludzkimi. Warszawa, Din. M. Juchnowicz, E. Smyk, A. Sajkiewicz 1999. Zasoby ludzkie w rmie. Organizacja, kierowanie, ekonomika. Warszawa, Din, p. 243244.
ZBIGNIEW SERAFIN, ANITA KOCZOROWSKA
horizontal skills: an employee is capable of performing his/her own and other employees duties. In certain cases (s)he is able to substitute for another employee; vertical skills: a selected employee is also capable of substituting for his/her executive. (S)he is also able to be the rst quality inspection unit for goods or services produced. A signicant progress in competence assessment was made in the 1990s. Attention began to be paid to the elements connected with the assessment of responsibility and predictability of employees behaviour in special (critical) situations3 . Economical globalisation has caused, among other things, an inflow of ambitious physical workers from other countries, who also demand development prospects in companies. Companies initially treated them as inowing cheap labour force (fresh blood). As economical structures were growing, it became important to acquire new competent staff. Hence arose the need for objective and complex assessment of an employee pretending for a position in the executive staff. The issue gained special signicance at the time of the inux of employees from other cultural backgrounds and at the time of growing importance of the staff members who work with the companys computer network. In this context, it is worth looking at an employee of a British bank (Barings Bank), Nick Leson, who, being also a stockbroker, made risky transactions while buying shares. He skilfully disguised the loss incurred. But the loss rose so much that the bank eventually went bankrupt. In 2004 in another bank, BDM PKO BP, an employee managed to pass all the security codes. He made two large orders and thus caused a sudden change of the share rate. An investor from the Virgin Islands immediately took advantage of these uctuations and made 2.6 million zotys in a few seconds. According to the Polish Securities Commission, 4 it was a fraud and manipulation .
S. Whiddett, S. Hillyforde 2003. Modele kompetencyjne w zarzdzaniu zasobami ludzkimi. Krakw, Ocyna Ekonomiczna.
3 4 Kiedy okazja nie kusi (authors own article). Manager Magazin, 4/2005
In the 1990s there was a natural emergence of a system of staff assessment. Its main idea was to introduce a mechanism of comparison between work results evaluation and the companys standards. The assessment was made by executives or other authorised people. The results of the assessment could be the grounds for highlighting an employees strengths and weaknesses, as well as directing him/her to certain training, selfimprovement... In the assumptions for staff assessment standards adopted by companies, it is postulated for the system to aspire for two kinds of aims: the assessment of the amount of work performed at a position, further employees development5, taking into account their abilities.
The most widespread methods of staff assessment are among others6 : formulating written assessment, critical event method (behaviour record of the assessed in particular situations), the method of comparison between the employees behaviour and the companys xed standards inspection lists (comparing the assessed employees behaviour with a certain number of his/her behaviour records) assessment scale used to measure the rates of the following factors: expertise, skills, resistance to stress etc., which are considered valuable in terms of the position held, multiple choice tests, composed of 1020 questions with a set of responses to select from, ascribed to each of them, assessment Centre employees doing a set
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M. Juchnowicz, E. Smyk, A. Sajkiewicz 1999. Zasoby ludzkie... Warszawa, Din, op. cit., p. 244.
Compare: H. Krl. A. Ludwiczyski 2007. Zarzdzanie zasobami ludzkimi. Tworzenie kapitau ludzkiego organizacji. Warszawa, PWN; M. Armstrong 2001, Zarzdzanie zasobami ludzkimi.Sprzenie zwrotne 360 stopni. Krakw.
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EMPLOYEE ASSESSMENT METHODS IN A SERVICE COMPANY
of tasks, exercises and tests in conditions similar to those at the real workplace, 360degree feedback method as a versatile and consistent way of collecting and taking advantage of reliable information about the assessed employee.
What is also worth mentioning, the adopted assessment system should be fair, objective, possible to change and open for alterations. These requirements could be fullled by the discussed 360degree feedback method.
Subsequent considerations suggest that staff assessment constitutes an important element of human resources management in a company. An assessment system should realise a selection of basic goals which could be put into two basic categories7 . One of them is the companys objectives, i.e. obtaining information necessary to make executive decisions that concern8: hiring an employee, replacement of an employee inside the company, planning his/her professional career, dismissing an employee, determining training needs, giving bonuses, prizes etc., improving the companys human resources system (staff assessment system) The other category includes psychosocial aims involving employees behavior development by providing them with systematic information on (among others) their abilities and possible directions of selfimprovement (discipline, politeness). These aims are also signicant in establishing the companys mission, strategy, internal culture and cherished ethical values9. In the publications on the subject, it is univocally indicated that effective assessment should be made systematically and be consistent with the management system. As it is widely known, there is common resistance to changes, especially to the innovative ones. This also applies to innovations in staff assessment systems. Their basis is most often so called feedback. Assessment criteria should be known to all employees.
7 Compare: M. Rapacka, J. Mrzygd, T. Rostowski. System ocen okresowych pracownikw., in: T. Rostkowski 2004. Nowoczesne metody zarzdzania ludzkimi. Warszawa, Din, p. 124. 8 9
The gist of assessment in the 360-degree feedback method

In the 360degree method it is possible to obtain relatively versatile assessment of each employee, as well as information on multilevel and multidirectional opinion accordance, since the essence of the 360degree method is the following idea: one person is assessed by a number of assessors, related to the assessed in a variety of manners (not necessarily: executive subordinate).10 The 360degree method involves collecting possibly the most extensive feedback on the assessed employees work, skills and planning development actions. In this respect, it is signicant to confront the employees selfassessment with the assessment made by his/her direct coworkers: his/her executive, peers, subordinates and also internal and external customers. Collecting feedback concerning the designated assessment criteria is conducted from a number of perspectives simultaneously, which is the main advantage of this method in relation to the traditional assessment (Diagram 1. Traditional and 360degree assessment). As diagram 1 suggests, the 360degree feedback method is created on the basis of the employees selfassessment and the assessment made by people directly cooperating with him/ her: his/her executive, peers, subordinates and also internal and external customers. The particular stages of the assessment procedure are schematically illustrated in diagram 2.11 The 360degree assessment model makes it possible to obtain information about the way
10
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Adamiec M., Kousznik B. 2000. Zarzdzanie zasobami ludzkimi. Krakw, pp. 2225.
As above.
Etyka biznesu. Edited by J. Dietl, W. Gasparski 1999. Warszawa, PWN.
V. Garrow 1999. Guide to the Implementation of 360degree Feedback. Horsham, Roffey Park Management Institute, p. 97. Compare also: V. Garrow 1999. Guide to the Implementation of 360degree Feedback. Horsham, Roffey Park Management Institute
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other people view the assessed employee and his/ her professional progress. The assessed receives only synthetic assessment, whereas opinions expressed by particular people are condential. Previously mentioned feedback can be divided 12 into four categories : areas required to be developed strengths assessment discrepancies hidden strengths
procedures, lack of consistency in applying assessment criteria, inconsistent assessment system etc. Assessing another person with the awareness that it could affect his/her future situation is a very difcult and responsible process. Experts in the eld of human resources management agree that skilful planning and implementation of the 360degree feedback method system might result in an increase in the companys effectiveness, its stable and balanced development, especially in difcult and unpredictable 14 economic conditions.
The aim of staff assessment with the use of this method is to obtain possibly the most objective views about the employees, including their acquired competence and effectiveness shown while meeting the requirements posed by their positions.
The implementation of the 360-degree method to the assessment of an employee in a service company
In the following part of the article we are going to present the results of a survey. The subject of analysis was the issue of implementing the discussed method of staff assessment in a company operating in the service sector (tax advising, accounting, controlling nancial statements). The following research methods were applied: analysis (of the questionnaires and the interview) synthesis (of the questionnaires and the interview) feature selection (random representative group of employees for the questionnaire survey) The questionnaire and the interview were used as essential research tools:
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Critical evaluation of the 360-degree method implementation process

While evaluating the implementation process of the discussed method, the elements to be indicated are possible errors and the risk associated with assessing employees who inuence the establishment of a particular strategy or the companys mission. It is important to remember that unskilful assessment can bring more trouble than benet. While implementing the 360degree method, we ought to consider the possibility to make mistakes. These could 13 be divided into two groups: 1. Psychologicallybased errors, e.g. the errors of: subjectivism, labelling, causal attribution, the Pygmalion effect (selffullling prophecy), the rst and last impression, lenience or strictness, radiation (assessment is affected by general impression, e.g. physical appearance), blindness, projection etc. 2. Methodologicallyrelated errors, e.g.: incomplete development of aims, principles, assessment methods, disobedience of the xed
P. Ward 2005. Ocena pracownicza 360 stopni. Metoda sprzenia zwrotnego. Krakw, Ocyna Ekonomiczna, p. 37.
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The analysis of the employee questionnaires and the interview made

The questionnaire included 35 adults. The people had previously been assessed with 360degree method. 33 completed questionW. Chivers, P. Darling 1999. 360degree Feedback and Personel and Development. London
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S. Frances, 360degree Appraisal Textbook, Industrial Society, London 1997

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S. Urban, W. adoski 1997. Jak napisa dobr prac magistersk. Wrocaw, Akademii Ekonomicznej im. Oskara Langa, pp.1829.
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naires were collected, which later underwent an analysis. The questionnaire was composed of 21 questions, 10 of which are quoted below. The survey was conducted as part of a diploma 16 project.
achievements, bad behaviour. It involves motivating to possible improvement. Question 3. Do you think the 360degree feedback system is a very detailed employee assessment and shows his/her qualities or shortcomings? Answer: Apparently 73% of the respondents regard the staff assessment system according to the 360degree method as a detailed assessment of an employee competence, 15% think otherwise, whereas 12% are unable to answer this question. Question 4. In your opinion, how often should staff assessment based on the 360degree method be made in order to bring the anticipated effect? Answer: The results show that 59 % of the people surveyed would prefer the assessment to be made once a year, 31 % of the respondents think it should be made more often, namely every six months, whereas only 10% of the respondents would like to undergo competence assessment every month. Question 5. Do you consider applying this staff assessment method wellfounded? Answer: As it appears from the answers, 20 people (61%) consider applying this staff assessment method wellfounded, 8 people apparently conform to the majority, whereas 2 people consider this system a disadvantageous method of staff assessment. Question 6. Do you have any reservations about the 360degree method assessment system? Answer: The results concerning reservations about the assessment system according to the 360degree method indicate that 79% of the respondents have no critical remarks about the discussed system, whereas there are 21% of the people who express various reservations Question 7. If so, what are these?
Example questions with the respondents answers are listed below.

Question 1. Do you know the 360degree feedback system? Answer: Question 1 is a general one aimed at checking how many people know the 360degree feedback system. The results show that 29 out of 33 respondents know the staff assessment system concerned, whereas 4 people do not. Therefore, a large number of people (88%) know the staff assessment system based on the 360degree method. Question 2. If so, please could you explain what the method is about?
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Answer: Question 2 is an open question; these are the respondents answers: assessment of an employee in various competence areas, assessment made by executives, subordinates, internal customers, business customers and selfassessment, assessment of an employees competence, it is one of the employees competence assessment methods, assessment of employees made by various people, it involves assessment of an employee on the basis of his/her professional competence adjusted to a specic prole, it is a staff assessment system (competence/development prospects), selfassessment, assessment made by peers, executives and subordinates it involves summarising all years work,
A. Koczorowska 2007. Analiza systemu ocen pracowniczych wedug metody 360stopni na przykadzie badanej rmy. Diplomma project written with the assistance of dr Z. Seran. Pozna, PWSBiJO.
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Answer: Question 7 is an open question; these are the respondents answers: too large amount of general competence, questions not always correspond to the position, the choice of options is limited to two contradictory ones, the lack of those in the middle long and complicated questionnaire, questionnaire not corresponding to particular positions, difculty in keeping the assessment anonymous, the assessment may be affected by emotions at a given moment. Question 8. What did you like in the 360degree method assessment system? Answer: Question 8 is an open question: these are the respondents answers: various levels of assessment (executive, subordinate, peer, selfassessment), online access, the ability to view the archive of assessment notes the way of assessing various aspects of knowledge and competence, the inuence of the assessed on his/her assessment note, the ability to identies ones strengths and weaknesses, determining improvement plans for the following year, it allows analysing a given period and think about further development, the ability to conduct the assessment procedure at home, it is a very detailed assessment, feedback from a number of sources, the complexity of the assessment, anonymity of the assessment Question 9. What did you not like in the 360degree method assessment system? Answer: Question 9 is an open question; these are some of the respondents answers: a long time of the assessment process, not full objectivism of the assessment, sometimes vague description of competence,
Question 10. Would you recommend the staff assessment system according to the 360degree method? Answer: The analysis of results suggests positive opinions about the applied staff assessment system according to the 360degree method. 27 people surveyed (82%) are satisfied and would recommend this method of competence measure to others, whereas only 6 people think otherwise.
The interview with the human resource manager

1. Why do you apply the 360degree method to assess the employees of the company? This method gives an opportunity to get to know an employee due to collecting opinions of a number of people. Thus it provides extensive information about an employees behaviour in various situations. It prevents the assessment process from being too narrow. It provides a spectrum of information helpful in human resources decisions (promotion decisions, professional career path development). It helps identify areas which need to be changed or improved etc. 2. What was decisive about the implementation of the 360degree method in your company? The organisation had to mind all the pros and cons (what the expenses and the benets from its implementation are), capabilities (if we were able to conduct it smoothly and reliably) and the assumptions of our organisational culture (what the assessment culture is; if people are ready to undertake such a responsible duty). And nally it had to be evaluated if it is a method which will turn out benecial or only a nuisance. 3. What pros does the 360degree method have in terms of getting to know the employees of your company? It is the fairest method to measure real performance of an employee. It offers more versatile description of an employee. The employees put
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more of their trust in this method. Opinions expressed by a larger group of people pose for the assessed employee a strong motivating factor to improve his/her competence. 4. What are your reservations against the discussed method implemented in your company? It requires a large amount of time and effort put by a lot of people, which makes it costly. There are a large number of assessors. Thus it is a nuisance and requires good managing tools. 5. Did any practical problems appear while implementing the 360degree method? What were they? Main problems: the rm were afraid of risk, if the project would be conducted in an appropriate way at rst the project made the employees uneasy about the way the results are going to be used (e.g. if there would be any dismissals); Once the project was accepted, there were still some issues remaining: who should be assessed by whom, what importance level to ascribe to each assessment note, how to conduct the assessment process with this method smoothly, in what way to describe particular kinds of competence (translate them into the language of behaviour) how to prepare people to make the assessment (including assessing conversations) 6. What happens to an employee who has been assessed positive? (S)He is offered a horizontal or vertical promotion. There is an offer to become the leader of a project requiring the competence (s)he has possessed. 7. What happens to an employee who has been assessed negative? An improvement plan is designed, i.e. competence improvement system (suggestion on
selfimprovement, new training, new tasks, coaching)
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

The staff assessment system based on the 360degree method serves individual career planning, staff development and training. It helps make decisions about promotions, dismissals, payment setting. The assessment results provide the assessed themselves with information on the effects of their work, strengths and weaknesses and the executives expectations. While being assessed, an employee has an opportunity to exchange views and opinions about his/her work. In the presented research project the subsequently assessed employees of the company answered questions concerning the applied assessment method. Our survey suggests that 88% of the respondents know the staff assessment system and up to 73% consider it versatile, whereas 61% regards it as good its application as wellfounded. The majority of the people surveyed think the assessment should be repeated every year. In this way we have illustrated that the employees of a small rm have got acquainted with the method and it has been met with acceptance by the subsequently assessed ones. The survey is enriched with the analysis of an interview with the human resources manager in the company. As it appears, before the assessment the rm were afraid of the risk concerned with the matter if the assessment would be made in an appropriate way. Despite that, the project caused the employees anxiety about how the results were going to be used. The manager also highlighted the fact that the assessment is timeconsuming and costly. This project proves the obtained results to be satisfactory for both the management and the assessed employees. To sum up, the surveyed staff assessment method is to a considerable extent a representative assessment of an employee. We are of the opinion that it provides a precise insight on a number of behaviours, skills, strengths and weaknesses of a particular employee.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY:
1. Adamiec M., Kousznik B. 2000. Zarzdzanie zasobami ludzkimi. Krakw 2. Armstrong M. 2001. Zarzdzanie zasobami ludzkimi. Sprzenie zwrotne 360 stopni. Krakw 3. Chivers W., Darling P. 1999. 360degree Feedback and Personel and Development. London 4. Frances S. 1997. 360degree Appraisal Textbook, Industrial Society. London 5. Etyka biznesu. Edited by Dietl J., Gasparski W. 1999. Warszawa, PWN 6. Garrow V. 1999. Guide to the Implementation of 360degree Feedback. Horsham, Roffey Park Management Institute 7. Juchnowicz M., Smyk E., Sajkiewicz A. 1999. Zasoby ludzkie w rmie. Organizacja, kierowanie, ekonomika. Warszawa, Din 8. Kiedy okazja nie kusi (authors own article). Manager Magazin, 4/2005
9. Krl H., Ludwiczyski A. 2007. Zarzdzanie zasobami ludzkimi. Tworzenie kapitau ludzkiego organizacji. Warszawa, PWN 10. 10.Rapacka M., Mrzygd J., Rostowski T. System ocen okresowych pracownikw., in: Rostkowski T. 2004. Nowoczesne metody zarzdzania ludzkimi. Warszawa, Din 11. Rostkowski T. 2004. Nowoczesne metody zarzdzania ludzkimi. Warszawa, Din. 12. Oleksy T. 2006. Zarzdzanie kompetencjami. Teoria i praktyka. Krakw, Ocyna Ekonomiczna 13. Ward P. 2005. Ocena pracownicza 360 stopni. Metoda sprzenia zwrotnego. Krakw, Ocyna Ekonomiczna 14. Whiddett S., Hillyforde S. 2003. Modele kompetencyjne w zarzdzaniu zasobami ludzkimi. Krakw, Ocyna Ekonomiczna. 15. Zarzdzanie pracownikami. Edited by Lidia ZbiegieMacig 2002. Krakw, AGH.
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The inuence of communication on the process of innovation adoption
B Albronda
Assistant Professor Faculty of Management Science Open University of the Netherlands Research interests: innovations, change management.
Frank De Langen
Associate Professor Faculty of Management Science Open University of the Netherlands Research interests: diffusion of innovations, e-commerce, economics of innovation
Bert Huizing
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Faculty of Economics, Business and Spatial Sciences University of Groningen Information and Collection Specialist
ABSTRACT
Innovating is not only about creating new ideas. The success of an innovation depends largely on the success of the implementation as good ideas or best solutions are not automatically adopted by potential users. In this research investigations had been done to analyze the inuence of communication on the adoption of innovations. Moreover case research was used to test the effects of feedback on the process of the adoption of innovations. Keywords: adoption of innovations; communication process; feedback
INTRODUCTION
Imagine a world without innovation. As human beings we consider it normal that the world around us is changing and that something old is replaced by something new. So innovation seems to be obvious and logical but it is not. Very often, promising innovations had never been used. Several authors mention a fail rate over 30% (Madrid-Guijarro et al, 2009, DEste et al, 2008, Drejer and Vinding, 2006). Several reasons are given why part of the investments in innovations are unsuccessful turned into new processes and products, because of either external (Lhuillery and Pster, 2009, Drejer and Vinding, 2006) or
THE INFLUENCE OF COMMUNICATION ON THE PROCESS OF INNOVATION ADOPTION
Figure 1: Linear model of innovations (after Trott, 2005) internal reasons (Schilling, 2008, Manley and McFallan, 2008). Innovation is dened in different ways (Tidd, Bessant and Pavitt, 2005, Rogers 2003) emphasis the outcome, Schilling (2008) the creativity, Zaltman, Duncan and Holbeck (1984) and Trott (2008) see it as the process from idea towards new product or process). In this article, innovation is dened following Trott (2008) as the linear process of invention towards implementation (see Figure 1). Problems can arise in all stages of the linear model. A typical problem regarding the rst stage is the generation of innovational ideas (Oke, 2009, Munshi, 2008). However, lesser attention had been given to the third stage of use, as shown in literature. Trott (2008) mentiones that there should be a user of the innovation but has not further described this aspect. To achieve the use of an innovation this requires more to come according to Rogers (2003). This aspect is examined and described as the process of diffusion of innovations. DOI theory describes diffusion as a process with the aim to reduce uncertainty among potential users. Innovations create uncertainty, because it is highly unclear whether the innovation will be superior to the old methods or not. Reducing uncertainty means that it will be more likely that potential users proceed to the adoption of innovation. According to Rogers, innovations spread throughout a social system over time. This process of spreading is called diffusion. Innovation can thus be distributed in different social systems. A social system is a set of related units that try to achieve a common goal (Rogers, 2003). Units could be individuals, groups or organizations. When units start to use an innovation in a visible way this is called adoption. Diffusion of innovations cannot occur without the adoption of the innovation by potential users, without adoption will be no diffusion.
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Adoption of innovations
Innovating is not only about creating new ideas, the success of an innovation depends largely on the success of the implementation as good ideas or best solutions are not automatically adopted by potential users (Buijs, 2003, Surf Foundation, 2005, Rogers 2003, Guerin, 2001). Following Trott (2008) and Rogers (2003) the stage of diffusion and moment of adoption of innovations are added to the linear model of innovations (Figure 2).
DIFFUSION OF INNOVATIONS
Everett Rogers is characterized by Trott (2008) as a pioneer of diffusion research as he started research into the spread (diffusion) of agronomic innovations in the fties of the last century. As a result Rogers (2003) formulated his Diffusion of Innovations (DOI) theory. The
Figure 2: Diffusion and Adoption placed in the linear model of innovations (after Trott, 2008 and Rogers, 2003)
B ALBRONDA, FRANK DE LANGEN, BERT HUIZING
Figure 3: Adoption process behaves like a normal distribution (after Rogers, 2003) Rogers (2003) denes the adoption of an innovation as: a decision of a unit that leads to a full use of the innovation. A unit of decision is individuals or organizations. Units that adopt the innovation are mentioned adopters. Different categories of adopters are distinguished. The innovators are the rst category which will adopt an innovation. The next category of adoption is the early adopters. The third category of adopters is that of the early majority. The fourth and fth categories are respectively the late majority and laggards. Rogers (2003) argues that the process of adoption behaves like a normal distribution. This process is shown in Figure 3. Figure 3 suggests that the category of innovators is small. However, this category is of a great importance (Schilling, 2008), because innovators are the individuals who bring innovations into organizations. To be properly executed, this task requires that innovators understand factors which will affect adoption. Behind the adoption of an innovation a complex decision process is hidden, many factors are involved which inuence the process. Soon after the rst publication of Rogers investigations have begun after the factors affecting the adoption of innovations. The next section summarizes the factors found in literature. The factors are divided into six categories (Nutley, Davies and Walter, 2002).
Factors aecting adoption of innovations

Rogers (2003) states the characteristics of the innovation as important and here as the rst category. Characteristics of innovations are the relative advantage the innovation, visibility of innovation, and compatibility of the innovation. An adoption of the innovation is more likely when an innovation has these characteristics. Secondly there are individual factors. Rogers (2003) found that individuals show a degree of innovativeness : the intention to adopt innovations. If this intention is low, it is unlikely that the innovation is adopted. Kabbar and Crump (2006) found other individual factors like sex, age and education. Their study shows that women, elderly and low-educated are less likely to adopt innovations. This latter aspect is consistent with Rogers (2003) who showed that individual knowledge and skills are related to the likelihood of adoption. In the absence of knowledge and skills it is less likely that the innovation is adopted. The inuence of individual knowledge is also reected in the results of the examinations of Hartmann, Reymen and Oosterom (2008). Knowledge was found here to be of great inuence in the reduction of uncertainties about the innovation. Hartmann, Reymen and Oosterom (2008) added also social norms and social responsibility as inuence factors in a third category: environmental inuences. This is supported by Talukder (2008) who found social factors like the
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Figure 4: Communication process (after Blundel, 2004)
inuence of peers and the social network. Peers inuence the adoption by encouraging to use the innovation or not. Also Kabbar and Crump (2006) mention cultural and religious standards: for example, women were less inclined to use the Internet for cultural reasons. The research of Talukder (2008) identied organizational factors as a fourth category. It appears that training and support of managements motivation increases adoption of innovation. The research of Nutley, Davies and Walter (2002) adds a fth catagory: characteristics of the person that promotes innovation. This promoter is here also known as innovator. Features of interest are the credibility of the innovator in the eyes of potential users, and a regular frequency of contact. Guerin (2001) points out that innovators must have the ability to communicate. Without this skill they will hardly succeed to attend potential users at the innovation. Communication is reected in the sixth and nal category. Rogers (2003) suggests that the diffusion of innovations is a process in which communication channels (media) are used to disseminate information on innovation. Rogers distinguishes two channels: mass media and interpersonal channels. The rst category are used by mass media like radio and television. Interpersonal channels are used by people in a face-to-face situation. According to Rogers (2003) adoption begins with sharing information to potential users. This
is not possible without communication, because communication is the means of transport of information. So for innovators is important to communicate effectively about their innovations. Effectively means here that the likelihood of adoption (hence: the success of the innovation) will increase. But here two questions arise: what is communication? And what is effective communication?
COMMUNICATION
Communication takes place between people, and consists of sharing information. Communication is a concept in which a wide range of views exist (Blundel, 2004). The process view (Blundel, 2004) has been chosen by authors. It is shown schematically in Figure 4. As shown in Figure 4 the communication process consists of ve components: 1. Sender; 2. Message; 3. Medium; 4. Receiver; 5. Feedback. The sender formulates the message. To send the formulated message to the receiver the sender must select the channel hence the type of medium, for example face-to-face, phone or email are media. Another name for the media, also communication channel is used (Rogers, 25
2003). The receiver of the message interprets it, and the receiver can decide to give feedback. Feedback is the reaction of the receiver to the sender about the message send.
Eective Communication
Communication has been widely investigated. However when effective communication is involved an important question to be answered is, which components of communication are important for the effectiveness. The Media Richness Theory (MRT) of Lengel and Daft (1988) suggests a connection between the richness of a media type and its effectiveness. The richer the media type, the more effective communication should be. The degree of richness depends on three characteristics: 1. Possibility of non-verbal communication (physical presence); 2. Possibility of immediate feedback (interactive); 3. Personal relationship. Figure 5: Hierarchy of effectiveness of media (after Lengel and Daft, 1988)
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Nonverbal communication is done without the use of words and often called body language. This is only possible in the physical presence of sender and receiver. The immediate feedback means that the reaction of the receiver cannot be delayed. This aspect is also characterized as interactive. A personal relationship means that the sender and receiver appreciate each other positively. What does this mean for the different media when reviewing the degrees of richness? Face-to-face meets all three characteristics and is a rich medium. Nonverbal communication, immediate feedback and personal relationship are found very often. When the telephone is used, direct feedback (interactive) is possible, but non-verbal communication is less possible due to the lack of physical presence. In Figure 5, MRT is schematically depicted. The hierarchy shows that media with physical presence (face-to-face) should be the most effective means of communication, according to the theory of Lengel and Daft (1988).
According to Whittington et al (2005), communication is not effective without the component of feedback: whithout feedback the sender cannot check whether his message was interpreted correctly by the receiver or not. Blundel (2004) states that senders must be active in gathering feedback. Balogun and Hope Hailey also (2004) recommended strongly an active stance in this regard. This is particularly important because it appears that recipients often do not provide feedback on own initiative. Knowing this, feedback must be explicitly asked by the sender. As a conclusion about the effectiveness of communication we have seen that richer media should be more effective than media which are less richer. So, it is expected that successful innovators use richer media like face-to-face. Successful means here that the innovations are adopted. Secondly feedback proved to be an important factor and should always be present in communication. Here a difference exists between the effectiveness of feedback given (by the receiver)
and feedback asked (by the sender). As a result feedback must be asked by the innovator because receivers are tending not to give feedback automatically. So, it is expected that successful innovators ask feedback.
HYPOTHESES
On the basis of the literature studies, three hypotheses were formulated: 1. In the case of adoption of an innovation innovators used richer media in the communication with potential adopters. 2. In the case of adoption of an innovation innovators received feedback from potential users. 3. Innovators who are asking for feedback are more successful with adoption than innovators who do not.
project documentation. For every project closed a le had been compiled and archived. Each le contains information in documentary form of the course of the project. Between 2004 and 2008, 104 projects were carried out and the project les archieved. The years 2004 - 2008 were chosen, because project les were completely available here. Files before 2004 were missing or not complete. 2009 was not included because the research was carried out during this year. Project les contain information of a nancial and administrative nature. Information is led on the progress of the project process and communicative aspects: for example a log of phone calls done or e-mail conversations. The 104 project les were investigated by looking for communication patterns which indicated the use of media and feedback given or asked. The result was 30 projects which showed these kinds of patterns. As the second step ve project managers were asked to determine the nature of the 104 projects. The managers were chosen randomly from a total population of 60. The question to be answered by the managers: which projects could be identied as innovational projects? The managers received the 104 projects list and were requested to identify individually the projects as: innovative OR non-innovative. Projects identied by all managers as innovations was considered here as reaching a consensus about the nature of the project. The result of this consensus were 19 projects, now to be considered as innovations. As the last (and third) step the results from the previous ones were crossed, which results in ten projects. These projects are innovative and show use of media and feedback given or asked in communicative patterns. These projects had been chosen and further investigated as cases.
RESEARCH DOMAIN & METHODOLOGY

The research had been executed at the Research and Development (R & D) department of a transport company in The Netherlands. This department designs and develops innovations for the mother organization, also mentioned here as corporate. As a result the research domain was restricted to the R & D department and corporate organization.
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Case selection
As method for the investigation ten innovations had been selected and deeply studied as cases. Case study was selected as method because of the complicated process of the adoption of innovations (Rogers, 2003). All cases were developed at the R & D department and offered to the corporate organization. Cases were selected from a list of projects executed in the years 2004 - 2008. The procedure of case selection is now described in three steps. As the rst step a list of past projects was compiled through an investigation of existing
Data collection
As method for the data collection the interview method was selected. This method was specially chosen because of the complicated
(Blundel, 2004) nature of communication. For every case an interview was planned with the project manager. Every interview had been recorded and transcripted. The transcript was send to the respondent for feedback and approval. The data were put in an template and analyzed. The template contains appearances of rich and poor media. Further a division between given or asked feedback had been made. Finally the aspects adopted or non adopted were added to the template. As a result templates for adopted and nonadopted cases had been compiled. With the comparison of the templates the three hypotheses had been tested. The results are described in the next section.
The tables show that innovators prefer a mix of richer and poorer media in all the cases. Rich media are represented here more than poor media. Face-to-face is lesser used than would be expected according to MRT. A medium preference of the innovators is the group meeting. This medium is perceived by the innovators as effective because more people are reached. Innovators experienced a meeting as more interactive than face-to-face and was considered also as a good place to collect feedback. With these results, Hypothesis 1 [In the case of adoption of an innovation innovators used richer media in the communication with potential adopters.] is not supported. The innovators used also richer media in the cases of innovations that were not adopted. In all cases, feedback was received by the innovator. This means that Hypothesis 2 [In the case of adoption of an innovation innovators received feedback from potential users] is not supported.
RESULTS
Ten innovative projects had been selected as cases and investigated with the method of interviewing. The results are organized in templates for adopted (Table 1) and non-adopted innovations (Table 2)
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Table 1: Template for adopted cases
Rich Media Poor Media Feedback Case Face-to-face Telephone Groupmeetings Videoconferences E-mail Documents Fax Mass Media Given Asked 1 X X X X X X 3 X X X X 5 X X X X X X 7 X X X X 10 X X X X X X
Table 2: Template for non-adopted cases
Adopted Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Rich Media Poor Media Feedback Case Face-to-face Telephone Groupmeetings Videoconferences E-mail Documents Fax Mass Media Given Asked 2 X X X X X X 4 X X X X 6 X X X 8 X X 9 X X X
Adopted No No No No No
Innovators who asked for feedback were rewarded with the adoption of the innovations. The Hypothesis 3 [Innovators who are asking for feedback are more succesful with adoption than innovators who do not.] is supported. Conclusion is that the hypotheses 1 and 2 are not supported by the interview data. Hypothesis 3 is supported.
DISCUSSION
The results of this study have implications for theories that have been used: the Media Richness Theory (MRT) and the Diffusion of Innovations (DOI) theory. Firstly, MRT is not supported by the results of this research. MRT suggests a relationship between the use of rich media and adoption of innovations. This was however - not the case in the research done. This is consistent with the ndings of previous studies in which the MRT theory was also not supported. More research to the hiearchy of richness of media, and the validity of the MRT is therefore strongly recommended. Media are a component of the communication process. DOI emphasizes the use of media as a stimulating factor for adoption. Use of media proved, however, as not relevant for adoption in this study. DOI thus ignores the inuence of other components of the communication process, for example: feedback. As a result DOI should extend the theory including all components of communication. As a result research after these components in relation to DOI is strongly recommended.
innovator towards the potential adopter seems here to matter, specially in asking for and collecting feedback.The group meeting appeared as an effective means of informing and interaction. The research reveals uncertainties about the theories used. Firstly the main proposition of MRT using rich media should be more effective - was not supported in this study. Secondly the DOI emphasizes strongly on the use of media which should support adoption. It seems DOI overlooks other critical components of communication which also inuence the process of adoption.
REFLECTION
Starting and concluding a MSc project is an endeavour and rst step towards practicing science. Therefore an important goal of every MSc project should be learning. Proper learning takes place with the use of different methods, in which reection should be chosen to examine an action done, hence, the MSc project. In this section methodology, interview technique, and the applicability of the results are subjects of reection. In this study case research has been used as research method. The selection of cases is critical and had been done very carefully, and can be considered as a good part of the research done. A problem was probably caused by the interview technique used. The so-called recall problem was met here: are the respondents able to recall their cases accurately? In this study, this problem was avoided by selecting cases that were not older than ve years. After the research done the applicability of the results became more and more insecure. A rst reason could be not including the receivers of the communication in the interview sample. This was done because of time constrictions during research, but it was realized that an important part of the communication process had not been not investigated. The general conclusion is that the research was too limited in scope. This is mainly caused by the limited sample size. Generalizing the results to 29
CONCLUSIONS
The adoption of innovations proved to be an unruly phenomenon in the research done. An innovator spends lots of energy in creation and development of an innovation but this is not enough to reach the goal of adoption of the innovation. An energetic and active role of the
another organization is therefore hardly possible. The degree of reliability is thus reduced. However, this study has two valuable results. Firstly more insight was reached into all-day communication in relation to the adoption of innovations. Secondly the value of seeking feedback and thus an active role of the innovator was revealed.
http://inform.nu/Articles/Vol9/v9p111-121Kabbar76.pdf 10. Lengel, R.H. and Daft, R.L., The Selection of Communication Media as an Executive Skill, The Academy of Management Executive, vol.. 2, no. 3 (1988) pp. 225-232 11. Lhuillery, S. Pster, E., R & D cooperation and failures in innovation projects: Empirical evidence from French CIS data, Research Policy, vol. 38 (2008) pp. 4557 12. Madrid-Guijarro, A., Garcia, D. and Van Auken, H. Barriers to Innovation among Spanish, Journal of Small Business Management, vol. 47, no. 4 (2009) pp.465488 13. Manley, Karen and McFallan, Stephen (2008) Business strategies supporting effective implementation of innovation by project-based rms. In: Academy of Management 2008 Annual Meeting, 8-13 August 2008, Anaheim, U.S.A. 14. Meer, van der H., The Dutch Treat: Challenges in Thinking in Business Models, Creativity and Innovation Management, vol. 16, no. 2 (2007) pp. 192 202 15. Munshi, N., Oke, A., Stafylarakis, M., Puranam, P., Toweils, S., Mslein, K., Neely, A., Leading for innovation, AIM Research, 2008 16. Nutley, S., Davies, H. and Walter, I., Conceptual Synthesis 1 : Learning from the Diffusion of Innovations, University of St Andrews, 2002 17. Oke, A., Munshi, N., Walumbwa, F, The inuence of leadership on Innovation Processes and activities, Organizational Dynamics, vol. 38 no. 1 (2009) pp., 64-72 18. Rogers, E.M., Diffusion of innovations, Free Press, 2003 19. Schilling, M.A., Strategic management of Technological Innovation, McGraw-Hill, 2008 20. Stichting Surf (2005) Determinants for Failure and Success of Innovation Projects:
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Aller, B.M., Mallak, L.A. and Lyth, D.M., Talk it up (and Down and Across), Industrial Engineer, vol. 37, no. 8 (2005) p. 27-31 2. Balogun, B. and Hope Hailey, V., Exploring strategic change, Prentice Hall, 2005 3. Buijs, J.A. Modelling Product Innovation Processes, from Linear Logic to Circular Chaos. Creativity and Innovation Management, vol. 12, no. 2, (2003) pp. 76-93 4. Blundel, R., Effective organizational communication, Prentice Hall, 2004 5. DEste, P., S. Lammario, M. Savona, N. von Tunzelmann (2008) What hampers innovation, Evidence from the UK CIS4, paper no. 168, SPRU Electronic Working Paper Series 6. Drejer, I. and Vinding, A. L., Organization, anchoring of knowledge, and innovative activity in construction. Construction Management and Economics, vol. 24 (2006) pp. 921-931 7. Guerin, T.F., Why sustainable innovations are not always adopted, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, no. 34 (2001) pp. 1-18 8. Hartmann, A.A., Reymen, I.M.M.J. and Oosterom, G. van. Factors constituting the innovation adoption environment of public clients, Building Research and Information, vol. 36, no. 5 (2008), pp. 436-449 9. Kabbar, E.F. and Krump, B.J. The Factors that Inuence Adoption of ICTs by Recent Refugee Immigrants to New Zealand, Informing Science Journal, vol. 9 (2006) URL:
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The Road to Sustainable Educational Innovation URL: http://www.surffoundation.nl/ download/Determinants_for_failure_and_ success_2005.pdf 21. Talukder, M., Organizational innovation adoption: the determinants of the adoption of an innovation by individuals in an organization, University of South Australia, 2008 URL: http://arrow.unisa.edu.au:8080/vital/ access/services/Download/unisa:31151/ ATTACHMENT01?view=true 22. Trott, P., Innovation Management and New Product Development, Prentice Hall, 2008
23. Tidd, J., Bessant, J. and Pavitt, K., Managing innovation : Integrating Technological, Market and Organizational Change, 2005 24. Whittington, R., Molloy, E., Mayer, M., Smith, A., Fenton, E., Look whos talking, People Management, April (2005) p. 38-40 25. Zaltman, G., Duncan, R. and Holbeck, J., Innovations and Organizations, Krieger, 1984
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The life insurance agents competencies as a main criterion of life insurance companies effectiveness -the impact of human factor
Baej Balewski
Baej Balewski, Ph.D., is the Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Management of Kadr Menederskich University Collge [Wysza Szkoa Kadr Menederskich] in Konin, Poland, and an academic teacher at the Pozna University College of Business. His scientic interests include: human resource management and talent management.
Andrzej Janowski
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Andrzej Janowski, Ph.D., is a lecturer of Kadr Menederskich University College [Wysza Szkoa Kadr Menederskich] in Konin and an insurance broker in Nord Partner Ltd.; a graduate of Master of Business Administration of Georgia State University, nished numerous courses on Human Resources Management (including Life Insurance Marketing Research Association in Amsterdam). His scientic and professional interests include: the eectiveness of the service sector organizations.
ABSTRACT
The aim of this article is to show the empirical relationship between the insurance agents competencies, the efciency of life insurance companies in the context of market changes and possibilities of future development, based on a research survey with 846 insurance agents and 265 life insurance managers in Poland and Lithuania. Key words: competency, effectiveness, human resources, insurance agent, management
INTRODUCTION
Life insurance reects one of the best parts of human beings; caring for others. One buys life insurance because he or she loves their spouse and children. There are benets while living but the real reason is to make sure others are nancially taken care of. One of the rst records of life insurance was in Rome. There, groups came together called Fratres (burial clubs). These were set up by the poor to pay for the funerals of the members and
THE LIFE INSURANCE AGENTS COMPETENCIES AS A MAIN CRITERION OF LIFE INSURANCE COMPANIES EFFECTIVENESS ...
to help the surviving family members nancially. The middle ages had guilds for various types of highly skilled labor. Accounts show that these guilds helped their members with various types of insurance including life insurance and disability insurance. Life insurance came into its own in England in the late1600s and became popular from that time on. During this time period Lloyds of London was growing. Lloyds, whose name came from Lloyds Coffee House, is where insurance was transacted by ship owners with the underwriters (backers) who met to put together insurance contracts and other shipping and merchant related business1. Fraternal life insurance companies, which are similar to the mutual life insurance companies, were started by the various fraternal orders to assist their members. Today the insurance business has evolved into a multi-faceted business with various programs and numerous distribution methods. The Internet and the insurance industry is in its infancy with most insurance companies having a web site and with the ability to provide life insurance quotes online such as www.lifeinsure.com. Some sites also provide educational pages where a customer can learn about the different types of life insurance such as whole life insurance, term life insurance, return of premium life insurance and survivorship life insurance (also known as joint and survivor life insurance or second to die life insurance). There are choices today that differ greatly from the choices available even a few years ago. The internet has made information on life insurance as accessible as any other subject. But the
1
appropriate knowledge is the main factor during the purchase of a life insurance contract. That may come from a qualied insurance agent2.
Law conditions for the operational activity in insurance in Poland

Origins of insurance law As the origin of insurance law, one should understand the form in which it manifests the range of matters of relating insurances. Only a formal context are considered and represented sources of individual branches of law, including one complex branch - the economic insurance law. The economic root of insurance law, contrary to the majority of basic branches, has yet to be written, its sources are found in numerous government les3. Among them is the insurance activity law4, which takes a special place, and the civil code of 1964. Moreover, the insurance mediation law5 denes the principles of executing a range of personal and property insurances, as well as insurance mediation. The insurance mediation The insurance mediation depends on execution by a mediator for reward of actual actions, the legal connected form including actions or realizing the contracts of insurance. Insurance mediation can be realized by insurance agents exclusively or insurance brokers understood
2 The part of society at an unproductive age, can not rely on desirable nancial protection from the government, that is why they purchase insurance policies. First of all, life and pension ones, therefore insurance business become unusually important social device, enabling solution for many problems of the aging societies. There is high probability, according to existing demographic prognosis, that the situation mentioned above, in the coming years relates to Poland as well as the other European countries. In references to the necessity of executing the operating activity by insurance companies driving through the mediators, from which clients on Polish insurance market, require higher and higher qualications, and competencies. That causes many problems to overcome the men co-operation with desirable competencies. 3 4
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The rst life insurance company in the United States started in 1735. This company was started for the benet of Presbyterian ministers families. Some people think of insurance as gambling. It really isnt gambling even though it has the similarities of probability and odds. Insurance serves a public good of sharing the nancial risks of existence and life and death among many to serve those who have experienced a loss. Life insurance was originally dominated by the mutual life insurance companies. These are life insurance companies that are owned by the policyholders and thus those policy owners receive their pro-rata share of the companys prots. There are also stock life insurance companies where the prots are made for the benet of the stockholders.
First of all in laws, the decrees and the instructions
Ustawa z dnia 22 maja 2003 r., Dz. U. Nr 124, poz. 1151, rdz. 2, art. 6 pkt. 3.
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Ustawa z dnia 22 maja 2003 r. o dziaalnoci ubezpieczeniowej, Dz. U. 2003 Nr 124, poz. 1151
BAEJ BALEWSKI, ANDRZEJ JANOWSKI
Table 1. The service distribution channels of insurance companies, in 1998-2006 [in %]

Specication Direct sales Agent sales Brokerage Others 1998 50.73 38.78 10.48 1999 44.54 50.81 4.65 2000 42.37 53.09 4.49 2001 40.33 55.67 3.94 0.06 2002 41.61 55.47 2.91 0.01 2004 50.26 46.3 1.51 1.93 2005 52.46 43.73 1.78 2.03 2006 28,2 59,42 3,45 8,93
- 0.05
Source: Committees of Supervision Insurances and Pension Funds, Agenci Ubezpieczeniowi, Sprawozdanie za lata 1996-2006, Departament porednictwa i akwizycji, Warszawa 2008
34
as economic activity in the articles of law6. An insurance mediator realizes the action on behalf of an insurance company known as agency actions. These actions include logging the customers, doing the preparatory aiming to the contracts for insurance actions, managing and realizing the contracts of insurance in matters about damages, and organizing the supervision of the agency actions. the action on behalf of the customer looking for the insurance protection, called the brokers actions, including: containing or bringing to inclusion of insurance contracts, doing the preparatory actions to inclusion of insurance contracts, as well as the participation in management and the realizing the contracts of insurance also in matters about damages. The executive, on basis of the included contract agency, is the insurance agent written to the insurance agents register. Agency actions can be realized by the natural person exclusively, who fulls conditions dened legally7. Distribution channels using by life insurance companies The insurance companies must sell their services through the following channels of distribution: direct sales8, agency sales9, or brokerage10.
6
The direct sale by workers of insurance companies, although it characterizes a considerable quantitative volume, does not reect the efciency of sales that actions of mediation are realized by, except the people working for insurance companies such as bank employees, travel agents, and even the postmen. However, that channel of distribution will stay the least expensive source of increasing the sale of insurances11, the insurance agents part of the whole distribution of life insurance products is very high12.
Life insurance policy as a service product - relationship marketing implications for organizational development
The style of management and the organizational culture are essential and decisive for market position of the company. In the case of service rms with a high level of customer contact13, the most important factor to determining the efcacy
11
The agent should be paid commission, even 90% of the rst year premium
12
Ustawa z dnia 22 maja 2003 r. o porednictwie ubezpieczeniowym, Dz. U. 2003 Nr 124, poz. 1154
Ustawa z dnia 19 listopada 1999r. Prawo dziaalnoci gospodarczej, Dz. U. 1999 Nr 101, poz. 1178 Provided by fulltime workers Sales by insurance agents The sales provided by insurance brokers
8 9 10
Economization is important when running an insurance business, particularly when it is life insurance. According to statutory provisions, insurance companies, in order to distribute products, are obliged to use the services of insurance brokers. So it is the quality of the agents work, stemming from their competences, that constitutes the chief effectiveness factor for life insurance companies, seen both in economic and social terms. Therefore the factors conditioning the effectiveness of actions conducted as part of operational activity of life insurance companies may be factors which are a set of elements constituting economys potential and its organizational efciency, as well as psychosocial factors. For example, the life insurance companies
13
of sales processes are the positive relationships as a derivative of the inuence of an insurance agents competency. This contact, or in other words, the Carlzons moment of truth (Carlzon, 1987), decides the possibility to build solid relations between service provider and consumer. In the case of services, especially the high contact variety, the customers will remember the parts played by the rst contact personnel most of all (Rogoziski, 1993, pp. 14).14 Writing about the special role of employees in services, R. Norman, uses the metaphor of a toreador facing a bull in the ring, identifying the toreador with the worker and the customer with the bull. The service organization can affect his course to small degree in track of the customers contact with the providers representative. The author does not distinguish the service activity, the intensive utility of capital, or the intensive utility of personnel, but only the intensity of commitment from the workers testifying the service personalities (Norman, 1984,pp. 9-10). The Authors of a well-known services marketing book, V. A. Zeithaml, M. J. Bitner, focus on the key role of personnel in the service process and emphasize the preference of dening this worker groups as (Zeithaml, Bitner, 1996, pp. 304): those which are services those which are organization in the customers eyes those which are marketers.
Contact employees are the personnel whose work requires emotional commitment emotional labour this concerns workers who express desirable emotions in the service processes indicated (Lovelock, Vandermerve, Lewis, 1999, pp. 546). This emotional commitment is particularly important in the case of medical personnel, teachers, and insurance agents. When examining the contact employees approach it is noticed that he appears in the report both with representatives from inside the company as well as external customers. Analysing in detail, it is possible to nd the linear workers internal relationships with different contact workers, the representatives of subsidiaries and management. Relationships among rst line employees often accept this form of competition. The formulation shows clear differences among the workforce of productive enterprises and the ones of service organizations. In the second case an employees task is, in support of customer contact mutual commitment, to shape the achieved bundle of advantage by the customer. In productive enterprises the main function of productive worker activity is to concentrate on the process of production and care for the peaceful and normal realization of the product. K. Irons writes that the role the manager of a service rm is similar to the manager of a soccer team: he has the possibility of working only until the game begins. For instance the manager can make a change of competitors, training, or tests before the the game, however, when the game starts the majority of events are out his control (Irons, 1997, pp. 2, 45). Customer service at service organizations is without a doubt the most important function, making the contact personnel responsible for service the most important group of workers. That nds its reection in afrming (Rogoziski, 2000) that contact employees dealing with customer interactions create the top of the organizational hierarchy (Schneider, Bowen, 1996, pp. 305). The results of investigations over the quality of services and the perception of product quality from the customers perspective show a mutual correlation with em-
35
In many cases the contact employee is the service and there is nothing else. In most personal services the contact employee provides the entire service single-handedly. The offering is the employee. Thus, investing in the employee in order to improve the service parallels is like making a direct investment in the improvement of a product. It is also important to show the emotional character of the service process.
The notion of service is understood as the work undertaken on order service to aim enrichment the personal values or the volume of usable ones, what customer has at his disposal
14
Table 2. Operating activity efciency of life insurance companies in 2005

Coefcient Life insurance company CU Market share1 [%] Premium per one insurance agent [PLN] Average premium of individual insurance contract [PLN] Number of active agents2 Total premium [mln PLN] 15.43 632137.50 3511.87 2398 15.17 AIG 8.67 787366.27 4374.26 1201 0.95 NN 7.78 408486.89 3404.06 2011 0.82 PZU 4.7 66932.27 929.62 8785 0.59
Source: Committees of Supervision Insurances and Pension Funds - www.knuife.gov.pl
ployees resources and internal processes. That correlation demonstrates that in organization in which workers highly value their work environment the customers also highly rate the quality of the testied services. B. Schneider and D. Bowen have conrmed this statement proving that the climate for service and climate for employee well-being, are strongly correlated to the general opinion of the quality of services from a customers perspective (ibidem).
acterized by relating, indirectly or directly, the volume of premium referring to the sale of life insurances17: Market shares of life insurances - understood as relation of volume gathered insurance premium of company to note of premium with totality Premium per one insurance agent - the value of average premium of insurance contracts inclusion, divided by the insurance agents number18 Average premium of single life insurance contract Unity cost of sale coefcient Level of administrative costs coefcient
36
Signicance of insurance agents competencies for life insurance companies effectiveness According to T. Kotarbiskis opinion the only the most effective organizations can develop. (Kotarbiski, 1982, pp. 111-112). Leading operating activity enterprises analyze efciency using a considerable number of coefcients (e.g. ROE, ROA, ROCE, EPS, EBIT, EBITD15). The plurality and the variety of applying, in practice, individual indicators is determined with the legal recipient of reporting16. The following indicators of an insurance companys efciency can additionally be char-
The market of life insurances in Poland was dominated by 4 competitors: Commercial Union, AIG Amplico Life, Nationale Netherlanden as well as PZU Life. The coefcient of concentration for insurance companies mentioned above, carries out 78,9 % - the rest of the shares of the life insurance market is divided by 34 different institutions.
17 In support of the mentioned indicators, the nancial standing of life insurance companies is evaluated-were got from materials of own Committees of Supervision Insurances and Pension Funds -www.knuife.gov.pl.The construction of coefcients (showed in schedule 2) is from praxeology theory by Kotarbiski (ibidem) and relationship approach by Rogoziski (ibidem) 18
15
ROE- return on equity; ROA- return on assets; ROCEreturn on capital invested; EPS earnings per share; EBIT earnings before income taxes; more: (Samuelson, 1998); (Brigham, 2000); (Drury, 2000) Reporting for banks, the treasury ofce as well as the stockholders representing the efficiency of activity of enterprises they make up the object of considerations of nancial accountancy as well as the CEOs
16
The qualitative coefcient
Table 3. Human resource management and competency management

Complete compatibility to competency management Solid correlations with competency management X X X Weak or no correlations with competency management
HRM function The creation of personnel strategy and policy Distribution of work, creation of organizational structure, outsourcing Classication, onomastics and requirements of competencies for the job positions Employment and work costs planning Recruitment Team creation and development Social/occupational adaptation Identication with organization and its aims Motivating and gratifying Job and employee evaluation Occupational development of employees Management developing Successions, allocations of employees Improving the work effectiveness Interpersonal communications Creation of ethics and organizational culture Analysis, statistics, and internal land external reporting related to HRM Employment administrating Social service for employees, healthcare, stress and job burnout counteraction Cooperation with worker unions and corporate negotiations Cooperation with external partners and public relations
Source: (Oleksyn, 2006, pp. 188)
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
37
X X
As the result of conducted research of the insurance agents competencies19, there is afrmed existence of a positive correlation of insurance agent competencies prole and its efciency. The difference of assimilating the individual competencies between agents reaches 46%20. Moreover, agents estimated the weight of their competencies in realization of organizational strategy at 49%, in the managers opinion (45,5%). Additionally 18% of agents population ignores the basic principles formulated by managers and 68% accept the company strategy acknowledgements only in part favourably correlated with their individual aims21. Processing competency management, that is signicant to nd the optimal relation between costs and effects, applying praxiology theory principles and interests both the internal22 and external23 clients. The competency management can be perceived as an essential part of human resources management (Oleksyn, 2006, pp. 187). According T. Oleksyn opinion, it is authorized to say that the competency management is the principal determinant of life insurance companies development.
The future perspectives of life insurance companies development - conclusions This was the legal interdiction for operating activity through foreign life insurance companies in Poland up to the year 1990 that is probably the reason for the superiority of PZU ycie S.A.. The data analysis from 1991-2004, as well as the results of conducted research, imply the conclusion that the loss of 85% of shares in the life insurances market in considered period by PZU ycie S. A. on behalf of Nationale Netherlanden, Commercial Union and AmplicoLife, seems to be the derivative of lack of competencies by both the institution and the agents and disadvantageous foresight (Oko-Horodyska, 2006) for its future development. On the territory of Lithuania, where the operating activity of PZU ycie S. A. is not the subject of the government protection, CU gained 17% of life insurances market shares for ve years and the dependent company from PZU ycie S.A. - 4%.
REFERENCES:
1. Bartkowiak G., (1999), Psychologia zarzdzania, AE Pozna 2. Brigham E.F., (2000), Zarzdzanie Finansami, PWE, Warszawa 3. Carlzon J., (1987), Moments of Truth, Ballinger Books 4. Drury C., (2000), Rachunek kosztw, PWE, Warszawa 2000 5. Irons K., (1997), The World of Superservice. Creating prot through a passion for customer service, Addison-Wesley 6. Kotarbiski T., (1982), Traktat o dobrej robocie, Ossolineum, Wrocaw 7. Lovelock Ch., Vendermerve S., Lewis B., (1999), Services Marketing, a European Perspective, Financial Times, Prentice Hall 8. Norman R., (1984), Service Management, Strategy and leadership in service business, John Wiley and Sons 9. Masyk-Musia E., (2006), Nowe paradygmaty zarzdzania rozwojem umoliwiajce
38
19
The notion of competency is understood as combined knowledge, skills, abilities and attitude that allows an individual to be effective at work (Rakowska, 2000, pp. 17). There are other competency approaches, for example: sociological one (Sztomka, 2004, pp. 415); psychological one (Bartkowiak, 1999, pp. 181); pedagogical one (Oko, 2004, pp. 184); legal one [Civil Code, art. 96-109]
20 Between agents working for the most effective insurance company and non effective ones
Led in frames of dissertation: The insurance agents competencies and the efciency of life insurance companies; sample: 864 agents of the most effective life insurance institutions in Poland and Lithuania; 265 sales managers. The competencies were grouped in three structures: professional ones (expectation of clients needs, monitoring and having the use of opportunities in competitive environment, marketing knowledge, the acquaintance of ofce technique and administration procedures, data accumulating and analysis, IT, regularity); social ones (communicativeness, stress handling, effective negotiations, inuencing clients, assertiveness, change attitude, self motivation); referring to organization ones (acquaintance of business characteristics of organization and its products, creating the positive image of organization, taking care about the good relationship with clients, sales level management)
21 22 23
Share holders and employees of insurance companies Individuals who purchased life insurance policies
sprawne wdraanie zmian, in A. Barcik, R. Barcik (eds.), Rozwj lokalny i regionalny po wejciu Polski do Unii Europejskiej, Wydawnictwo ATH Bielsko-Biaa 10. Oko W., (2004), Nowy sownik pedagogiczny, ak, Warszawa 11. Oko-Hordyska E., (2006), Foresight w rozwoju regionalnym, In: A. Barcik, R. Barcik (eds.), Rozwj lokalny i regionalny po wejciu do Unii Europejskiej, Wydawnictwo ATH Bielsko-Biaa 12. Oleksyn T., (2006), Zarzdzanie kompetencjami. Teoria i praktyka, Ocyna Ekonomiczna, Krakw 13. Rakowska A., Sitko-Lutek A., (2000), Doskonalenie kompetencji menederskich, PWN, Warszawa 14. Rogoziski K., (1993), Usugi Rynkowe, Wydawnictwo AE Pozna
15. Rogoziski K., (2000), Nowy marketing usug, Wyd. Akademii Ekonomicznej Pozna 16. Sangowski T., (2000), Vademecum ubezpiecze gospodarczych, Pozna, Saga Printing 17. S a m u e l s o n W. , ( 1 9 9 8 ) , E k o n o m i a Menederska, PWE, Warszawa 18. Schneider B., Bowen D., (1996), Organizational Dynamics, in: Zeithaml V.A., Bitner M.J., Service Marketing, The McGrow Hill Companies, INC 19. Sztomka P., (2004), Socjologia. Analiza spoeczestwa, Znak, Warszawa 20. Zeithaml V., Bitner M., (1996), Service Marketing, The McGrow Hill Companies, INC
39
Empowerment, engagement and creativity
Zbigniew Bentyn
Zbigniew Bentyn, Ph.D., is a lecturer of the Poznan University College of Business. His research interests include: marketing management, marketing research and marketing communication.
ABSTRACT
40
Empowerment, engagement and creativity three ideas combined in one strategy can change the image of an enterprise. The article shows how deeply an organization must change to get to the level where those three forces can actually move it in a new direction. How to loosen the bonds of control in a way which will secure a certain level of safety? Who can empower employees to the point where they really feel the responsibility for the organization yet still can be creative. Under what conditions will employees step on a higher level of engagement where they will nd a different point of view on their role in the precise managerial mechanism of the company? It is certain that most answers offered to these questions are too general to nd a solution. To nd a strategy which elicits a freedom-based behaviour of the employees is sometimes the task of a leader who is capable of appreciating the real value of human resources. Keywords: Human resources, empowerment, engagement, creativity
INTRODUCTION
Empowerment, as dened by Thomas and Velthouse (1990), is a combination of four cognitions. It points to the position and state of mind of an employee. His sense of meaning establishes a base for every action which he undertakes.1 A sense of purpose in the company is crucial to evoke the power dormant within an employee. Meaningless acting in an even large company cannot create an active attitude toward the workplace. Empowerment starts here. The power derives from the belief that something must be done and an action of a certain person can start a change leading to a better shape of an organization. Thomas, K. W. and Velthouse, B. A. Cognitive Elements of Empowerment: An Interpretive Model of Intrinsic Task Motivation
1
Thomas, K. W. and Velthouse, B. A. Cognitive Elements of Empowerment: An Interpretive Model of Intrinsic Task Motivation. Academy of Management Review,1990, Vol 15
EMPOWERMENT, ENGAGEMENT AND CREATIVITY
Fig.1 Empowerment as a combination of four cognitions
Empowerment Sense of meaning Competence Self-determination Impact
the organization because it is deeply integrated with it3. Self-determination pushed to the level of the impact will increase identication of the employees with the company. However, to reach this state of the personnel the action is needed. Dynamic changes of the organization is a eld where individuals can take control over certain parts or the entire organisational process. Empowerment leads to engagement and elicit creativity Engagement is seen in management literature as a very desirable state. Macey & Schneider describe it as a very useful state of employees. They associate the term with involvement, commitment, passion, enthusiasm.4 Such a behaviour of the workforce improves operational effectiveness of the organization. Energy is focused on organisational goals and therefore performance of the employees, and, consequently, that of the company at large, is higher. To get the engagement state of employees the work environment is crucial. As a starting point it inuences the behaviour of the workforce. Environmental attractiveness and ergonomics become a potential driver of engagement, as well as perceived compatibility between persons skills and job requirements.5 A positive outcome of such comparison leads to the state of engagement. In this condition people employ and express themselves physically, cognitively and emotionally during role performances6, as Kahn said. A few signicant factors prove that this state has been achieved. One of them is a higher level of energy during performing employees task. Absorption
The awareness of a purpose which allows an employee to change in order to achieve a goal, must meet a certain level of competence. This is a necessary condition to realize an empowerment. Workforce needs skills and abilities. Some of them are already present others must be complete. This is a task for management. Human Resources department needs to know which skills are crucial and how, in the most efcient way, to persuade employees to master them. The process of recruitment is also an opportunity to formulate a set of skills and abilities which is essential to future empowered workforce. Autonomy and control are two factors which provoke self-determination. They depend on the personal control of a particular employee but also on the condition of workplace. A set of rules describing the behaviour of human resources can increase the need for self-determination or decrease it. Individuals who can see themselves as the origin of their action will rather take control over the workplace and, therefore, are prepared for the impact. The last part of the empowerment is called impact. The impact is a moment when an employee realises that his action can in fact change the organization in an administrative or strategic way. This moment proves that a person takes control over the company and from now on is responsible for the outcome of an enterprise. To empower the employees means to get to this point. The prots of this state are clear. Unlocking human potential is what an organisations needs to do to evolve.2 To nd an answer to future changes will require an involved personal attention to the problems ahead. An empowered workforce will defend
Hillsdale, N J: Erlbaum Choice and perceived control, John Willey and Sons, 2001
2
41
Spreitzer, G. M.. Psychological empowerment in the workplace: Dimensions, measurement, and validation. Academy of Management Journal, 38,1995
4 Macey, W., & Schneider, B. The Meaning of Employee Engagement. Ind ustrial and Organizational Psychology, 1(1), 2008, 5 Fleck S. Inceoglu I., A comprehensive framework for understanding and predicting engagement, Handbook of Employee Engagement, Simon L. Albrecht, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010
Kahn W.A., Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work, Academy of Management Journal, Vol.33, No 4.,Boston University 1990,
6
ZBIGNIEW BENTYN
Fig.2 Model of engagement
42
means that they lose themselves in their work but not without pleasure. Alignment describes a general agreement between employees and the leader of the organization about the direction in which the organization is being taken. This helps to envisage a brighter future for the workforce. Fleck S. Inceoglu I., A comprehensive framework for understanding and predicting engagement, Handbook of Employee Engagement, Simon L. Albrecht, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010 These three factors form an emotional bond between an employee and the organization. This is the moment where organizational identication begins. The above mentioned factors are in fact a managerial achieving. However, the list of the benets reaped from the state of engagements is longer. Employees are ready to put in extra effort.
Sometimes they can even double their duty and work additionally. Doing this they will also defend organization as a place where they can realise their goals. Identication with the organization protects a company and its employees. The effects of such a state of engagement are both personal and organisational. The organisational outcomes are simple to predict. An engaged workforce means more satised customers. This, in turn, leads to higher prots which are fairly used to increase bounds or employment and company. The personal benets include satisfaction and a possible career progression. This is a reward for an involvement, energy and additional effort. From that point it is not far to enthusiasm and in this way a path to creativity stands open.
Fig.3 Forms of management creativity
43
Pradip N. Khandwalla, Corporate creativity, Tata McGraw-Hill, 2003
Changes in business environment require changes of an enterprise. Those who can invent new forms to transform their company are company saviors. Constant changes necessitate revising strategies, products and means of work. Unlocking employees potential for creativity is essentials to facilitate the evolution of company Creativity is a process by which novel but situationally appropriate outcomes are brought about. This denition applies to the enterprise very well. It points out that not every idea is appropriate enough to be realized. Khandwalla named a few elds where creativity is strictly combined with management.
The true essence of creativity lies in the invention of products or technologies. These phenomena have built our civilization. Without progressive and innovative products and tools entire generations would have wasted plenty of energy to achieve their goals. In the company there is always a place to look for potential products. Departments of research and development are just a formalization of the process of creativity taking place in company.7 Elaborative creativity means participation. Participative management structures, training programmes
7
Pradip N. Khandwalla, Corporate creativity, Tata McGraw-Hill, 2003
ZBIGNIEW BENTYN
lead to increasing the chances for innovative ideas to get across the structure to the managing board. Making a right choice between centralization and decentralization, between control and autonomy, supports the innovative potential of the employees. The next eld is expressive creativity. This stresses a quality of communication in the company and outside of it. Creative ways of communication are a necessary tool to promote an idea or a product. Market success is strongly dependant on a successful communication. In todays world it is difcult to attract the attention of potential customers. In order to achieve that marketing staff must be creative. Inside company there is also a potential to improve communications between certain levels of management. The goal is worth the effort. This is the easiest way to increase efciency and achieve other organisational tasks. Modern it tolls open new possibilities and make all participants more available.8 Employing internet novelties, like facebook or twitter, are already a signicant part of a communication strategy of many companies.
ticularly signicant for companys chances of surviving on the market. Such innovative ideas are particularly valuable for the company under difcult conditions since they allow it to change and to nd an new ways to produce a value for the market. Empowerment is a way for a company to let the motivated employees to take control over their workplace. The wisdom of organization is based on the innovative potential of their internal stakeholders.10 Understanding that their self-actualization can bring a positive output for the company is the main argument in favour of empowering them. Allowing the workforce to take decisions while they prove their sense of meaning, competence and self determination is in fact allowing them to get to the nal stage, which is the impact. The moment they realize their inuence is the moment where they gain the power. This path begins with the internal strategy of the company. From careful recruitment until giving the autonomy there is a long path of growth. This advancement requires an effort from both sides, both an employee and an organization. Without such devotion the organization will suffer many management problems as: High staff turnover High absenteeism High stress levels Difculty to take decisions Lack of effective communication Political in-ghting Badly communicated company values
44
Existential creativity means that a company should take a greater care for its internal stakeholders in terms of their growth and self actualization. It must be futile to expect creativity from depressed employees. Their well-being is a signicant part of building a creativity potential of the company. In requires a long term strategy which will discover a synergy between personal growth and organizational growth. Becoming a unique human being is an important goal for an employee, which, in fact, can also affect the company in a positive way. Entrepreneurial creativity is a condition of the company development. It is understood as creative ways to produce a business strategy in the long run. Strategical thinking requires creativity.9 A new way to solve a certain problem is par-
8 Cook S., The Essential Guide to Employee Engagement, Kogan Page Publishers, 2008 9 Schumpeter, Down with the fun, The Economist, Sep 16 th 2010
Lack of an identication is a sign that the strategy of combined growth of organization and employees does not working. Difculties in communications path leads to an inaccurate managing of the company. The gap between possibilities and reality starts to inuence the imagination of the workforce. In such conditions it is difcult to initiate an organizational change
10
Schumpeter, The art of management, The Economist, Feb 17th 2011
quickly. This by itself is a considerable threat in a competitive environment where changes are a common practice. Being a victim of an organization is a role which, from the viewpoint of companys welfare, is completely useless. The inertia of the behaviour of the workforce can hardly be seen an a strategy advance. The company must be strong by the strength of its employees. There exist positive examples of a strategy or activities, which have helped to engage and empower the staff and to genuinely stimulate its creativity.
REFERENCES
1. Cook S., The Essential Guide to Employee Engagement, Kogan Page Publishers, 2008 2. Fleck S. Inceoglu I., A comprehensive framework for understanding and predicting engagement, 3. Handbook of Employee Engagement, Simon L. Albrecht, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010 4. Hillsdale, N J: Erlbaum Choice and perceived control, John Willey and Sons, 2001 5. Kahn W.A., Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work, Academy of Management Journal, Vol.33, No 4.,Boston University 1990, 6. Macey, W., & Schneider, B. The Meaning of Employee Engagement. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 1(1), 2008, 7. Pradip N. Khandwalla, Corporate creativity, Tata McGraw-Hill, 2003 8. Schumpeter, Down with the fun, The Economist, Sep 16 th 2010, 9. Schumpeter, The art of management, The Economist, Feb 17th 2011, 10. Spreitzer, G. M.. Psychological empowerment in the workplace: Dimensions, measurement, and validation. Academy of Management Journal, 38,1995 11. Thomas, K. W. and Velthouse, B. A. Cognitive Elements of Empowerment: An Interpretive Model of Intrinsic Task Motivation. Academy of Management Review,1990, Vol 15
CONCLUSION
Walt Disney Company management for example found a relation between engaged employees and engaged customers. Their philosophy towards employees is: Make them feel special Treat them as individuals Respect them Make them knowledgeable
Those targets inuence the whole human resources strategy. If we compare them to the list of the stages of empowerment it is easy to nd connections between them. In fact this is a strategy leading to increase empowerment and release engagement. The feelings of the workforce are now the targets of a new human reasource strategy. The Walt Disney Company claims to be the happiest place on earth. The company engages workers in regular acts of kindness. Managers hope that changing perceiving image of the company can stimulate creativity and therefore help the company to engage costumers. Changing the organization is a task for managers. However, it is not an easy one. The new generations of employees demand a different, more human approach to the problems of management of human resources. It is also a sign for business schools which are seen as devoting to much energy to teaching people how to produce and position their products rather then to infuse them with meaning.
45
COFFEE CORNER
The Challenges of Educating People to Lead in a Challenging World M. K. McCuddy, Wm. B. Martz, A. V. Matveev, K. O. Morse, M. K. McCuddy, and H. van den Bosch; eds., Springer, 2007.
46
The twenty-rst century is a challenging time for people working in education, and in business education as well. This book is worth reading as it enables you to answer many nagging questions concerning education. Do you know what competencies, capacities, attitudes, and perspectives learners need to develop so they can be contributing, productive members of organizations and society? How to increase the efcacy of teaching? How to encourage people to lifelong learning? What kind of innovations can be applied to higher education? What can be done to develop critical thinking skills among students? How to help young people to behave ethically in the business world? What kind of technological solutions can be used to facilitate teaching and learning? In this book you will nd out how to become a more innovative and effective teacher, aware of
existing challenges in a business world and able to help students to face them. There is, however, another side of the coin, namely what learners can and should do to derive maximum benet from their studies. The book will afford you an opportunity to explore these issues from different perspectives from authors who have multicultural backgrounds and diverse experiences. This book represents the nal publication in the series Educational Innovation in Economics and Business. It is valuable to anyone engaged directly in business education, dened broadly to embrace management, nance, marketing, economics, informational studies, and ethics, or who has responsibility for fostering the professional development of business educators.
dr Agnieszka Kaczukowska-Stadnik

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INNOVATIVE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL

Maja Popiak Flower Power

Agnieszka Kaczukowska-Stadnik, Phd

The challenges of Human Resources Management

Prof. Sawomir Magala

THE CHALLENGES OF HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

INNOVATIVE TRENDS IN HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

Employee Assessment Methods in a Service Company

ZBIGNIEW SERAFIN, ANITA KOCZOROWSKA

EMPLOYEE ASSESSMENT METHODS IN A SERVICE COMPANY

The gist of assessment in the 360-degree feedback method

Etyka biznesu. Edited by J. Dietl, W. Gasparski 1999. Warszawa, PWN.

ZBIGNIEW SERAFIN, ANITA KOCZOROWSKA

EMPLOYEE ASSESSMENT METHODS IN A SERVICE COMPANY

Critical evaluation of the 360-degree method implementation process

The analysis of the employee questionnaires and the interview made

S. Frances, 360degree Appraisal Textbook, Industrial Society, London 1997

ZBIGNIEW SERAFIN, ANITA KOCZOROWSKA

Example questions with the respondents answers are listed below.

EMPLOYEE ASSESSMENT METHODS IN A SERVICE COMPANY

The interview with the human resource manager

ZBIGNIEW SERAFIN, ANITA KOCZOROWSKA

selfimprovement, new training, new tasks, coaching)

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

EMPLOYEE ASSESSMENT METHODS IN A SERVICE COMPANY

INNOVATIVE TRENDS IN HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

The inuence of communication on the process of innovation adoption

THE INFLUENCE OF COMMUNICATION ON THE PROCESS OF INNOVATION ADOPTION

B ALBRONDA, FRANK DE LANGEN, BERT HUIZING

Factors aecting adoption of innovations

THE INFLUENCE OF COMMUNICATION ON THE PROCESS OF INNOVATION ADOPTION

Figure 4: Communication process (after Blundel, 2004)

B ALBRONDA, FRANK DE LANGEN, BERT HUIZING

THE INFLUENCE OF COMMUNICATION ON THE PROCESS OF INNOVATION ADOPTION

RESEARCH DOMAIN & METHODOLOGY

B ALBRONDA, FRANK DE LANGEN, BERT HUIZING

Table 1: Template for adopted cases

Adopted Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

THE INFLUENCE OF COMMUNICATION ON THE PROCESS OF INNOVATION ADOPTION

B ALBRONDA, FRANK DE LANGEN, BERT HUIZING

THE INFLUENCE OF COMMUNICATION ON THE PROCESS OF INNOVATION ADOPTION

INNOVATIVE TRENDS IN HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

Law conditions for the operational activity in insurance in Poland

First of all in laws, the decrees and the instructions

BAEJ BALEWSKI, ANDRZEJ JANOWSKI

Table 1. The service distribution channels of insurance companies, in 1998-2006 [in %]

BAEJ BALEWSKI, ANDRZEJ JANOWSKI

Table 2. Operating activity efciency of life insurance companies in 2005

Source: Committees of Supervision Insurances and Pension Funds - www.knuife.gov.pl

The qualitative coefcient

Table 3. Human resource management and competency management

BAEJ BALEWSKI, ANDRZEJ JANOWSKI

INNOVATIVE TRENDS IN HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

Empowerment, engagement and creativity

EMPOWERMENT, ENGAGEMENT AND CREATIVITY

Fig.1 Empowerment as a combination of four cognitions

Empowerment Sense of meaning Competence Self-determination Impact

Fig.2 Model of engagement

EMPOWERMENT, ENGAGEMENT AND CREATIVITY

Fig.3 Forms of management creativity

Pradip N. Khandwalla, Corporate creativity, Tata McGraw-Hill, 2003

Pradip N. Khandwalla, Corporate creativity, Tata McGraw-Hill, 2003

Schumpeter, The art of management, The Economist, Feb 17th 2011