Reflections about Contemporary Management

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Preface

The conference titled Between Cognition and Method – Dilemmas of Reflective Management, the outcome of which is this volume, was organized in Cracow on 8 and 9 May 2014 by the Institute of Public Affairs of the Jagiellonian University. This meeting of the representatives of management science had been preceded directly by a solemn meeting of the Senate of the Jagiellonian University, summoned on 10 May 2014 on the 650th Jubilee of the University. During the ceremony, on the initiative of the Faculty of Management and Social Communication of the Jagiellonian University, the highest academic distinction, the title of Honoris Causa, was conferred upon Professor Witold Kieżun. It is also to him whom both the Conference in May 2014 and this post-conference volume are dedicated.

The simultaneous celebration of the 650th Jubilee of the Jagiellonian University and awarding the honorary degree of Doctor Honoris Causa to Professor Witold Kieżun was not a coincidence. The motto of the jubilee speech of the Rector of the Jagiellonian University, Professor Wojciech Nowak, was: “Proud of our tradition, we think about the past and look to the future.” Furthermore, His Magnificence underlined the importance of the ideas of wisdom and freedom for the functioning of the University throughout the centuries, and the role the University has played in the history of Poland. It is not difficult to find a link between the cultivated tradition of the pursuit of truth and a concern for the common good, recurring frequently on the occasion of the 650th Jubilee of the University founded by King Casimir the Great. This relation has also marked the attitude and work of Professor Witold Kieżun during his whole fascinating life.

The heroic participation of Professor Witold Kieżun in the Warsaw Uprising and his sturdy attitude against the Soviet totalitarianism in post-war years, proves his patriotism, which gained its beautiful uncompromising nature and firm opinions through the tradition of Polish Romanticism. His exceptional prowess on the battlefield – honoured with the Cross of Valour and the War Order of Virtuti Militari – gives a special meaning to the Professor’s words about current Polish reality. Looking to the future was strikingly reflected in the engagement of Professor Witold Kieżun in the science of organization and management. First of all, it is characterized by linking theory and practice, as shown by his expert achievements in Poland, Burkina Faso, Canada and the USA, as well as by his way of managing a UN project of public administration reform in some Central African countries (Burundi, Rwanda). Secondly, the Professor’s academic contribution is marked by a very original line of research activity. All those who know ← 7 | 8 → the works of Professor Witold Kieżun pay attention to his approach of linking his interest in public management and public-social partnership to the praxeological management school developed by his masters – Professor Tadeusz Kotarbiński and Professor Janusz Zieleniewski.

In this context, Professor Witold Kieżun can be regarded as an uncompromising critic of the Polish transitions in the last decades. However, his criticism does not concern the quantitative but the qualitative aspect and stems from the previously mentioned spirit of praxeology which Tadeusz Kotarbiński defined as the science of doing things the right way or – as he put it in the title of his famous treatise – the science of a good job.

The insight and clarity of Professor Kieżun’s judgement was already visible in his excellent habilitation dissertation, Autonomization of Organizational Units. From The Pathology of Organization (1971), which brought him international recognition. The work presents, in an uncompromising manner, the pathology of bureaucracy for which punishment is the aim of control, and control itself – the basic purpose of the existence of an organization, as tersely encapsulated by Professor Bogdan Nogalski in his review of the works of Professor Witold Kieżun, prepared in relation to the procedure of granting the honorary degree of Doctor Honoris Causa of the Jagiellonian University. Furthermore, the diagnosed process of autonomization, occurring in organizations and consisting in an imbalance between basic functions and the regulatory and auxiliary ones, leads to the diffusion of an organization, the essence of which is a change of purpose – it is a means of action which becomes its principal objective. Bearing the weaknesses of organizational though – concerning not only the reality of the Polish People’s Republic or the Polish Third Republic but also the commonly recognized organizational thought – stems from the very same praxeological attitude and building the general theory of efficient management which would impact social practice and the common good.

It also has to be realized that although the thoughts of Professor Kieżun are sometimes used in public (if not political) discourse, their constant source is still the Citizen’s care for the condition of his Homeland. For this reason, in our attempt to pay respect to the attitude and achievements of Professor Witold Kieżun, we hereby present the results of our conference.

Jacek Ostaszewski

Dean of the Faculty of Management and Social Communication

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Introduction

The interest in organizations and management that has existed for over a hundred years is not shrinking at all, but its character is changing. Despite the substantial number of publications devoted to the management of enterprises, as well as public and non-governmental organizations, there is still a need to provide general knowledge and interpretation of more complex questions to different groups of people. The processes of adjusting oneself to contemporary conditions require improvement of institutional, functional and instrumental aspects of management.

By its nature, management science serves its application. Practitioners appreciate especially the part of this dynamically developing field which directly serves the development of their organization. For this reason, they are eager to learn about the secrets of the art of management, adapting the solutions proposed by the authors to the needs of their organization. They search for advice on how to develop unequivocally defined and routinized problems characteristic of the contemporary organization management.

However, ensuring real development of management science while creating conditions so that the created works are applied in management practice requires a certain level of thoughtfulness. This will bring a definite result, that is, the skill of solving multidimensional and unique management problems.

An increased mindfulness in the life of the man of the 21st century, postulated in social sciences, cannot be omitted in management processes. The role of mindfulness in management is not only to solve problems but also, and above all, to lead to conscious examination of the nature and substance of phenomena, deepening considerations on the conditions and consequences of the preached ideas, the opinions expressed, and the actions taken. These issues are among those poorly recognized in the world literature.

The presented collective monograph constitutes to some extent an attempt to fill this recognized gap. It consists of three parts.

The first part starts with a text on relations between praxeology and organization and management science, that is, remarks on the fringes of the ceremony of granting Professor Kieżun the title of Doctor Honoris Causa of the Jagiellonian University on 10 May 2014, presented at the conference Between Cognition and Method – Dilemmas of Reflective Management. The next chapter, devoted to Jan Zieleniewski, the most important forerunner of management science in Poland, and also the promoter and mentor of Professor Witold Kieżun, includes a reference to this part. ← 9 | 10 →

The second part is devoted to selected aspects of reflective exploration of the contemporary approach to management, and an attempt to answer the question of what contemporary organizational humanism is. The fourth chapter includes deliberations on the modelling of the key areas of the Positive Organizational Potential as a symptom of operationalization of the positive management paradigm. A similar concept applies to deliberations on the business model of a public organization, and in particular its contextual conditioning, as well as analysis of the possibility of applying an idiographic and nomothetic approach in the practice of evaluating the higher education units in Poland.