Knowledge management – innovation – creatvity

Knowledge Management (KM) and Intellectual Capital Management

My interest in KM dates back to 1997 when I launched the first Polish language website dedicated to this topic. My first scientific paper (ever) on KM was presented in 1998. Since 1999 I was an active member of the group of proponents of KM movement in Poland grouped around Instytut Zarządzania Wiedzą w Krakowie sp. z o.o. In 1999, inspired by the research studies on scientific management (F.W. Taylor),  I wrote a research paper on the productivity of intellectual work (A.Fazlagić, Praca twórcza w perspektywie 100 lat Tayloryzmu, Conference Proceedings: Marketing Usług Profesjonalnych, Wydawnictwo AE, Poznań 2000, p. 285-297). Although at the time of writing I was not familiar with the works of P.Drucker who published at the same time on the productivity of knowledge worker, my ideas and concepts overlapped to large extent with those of Peter Drucker. The concept of productivity of knowledge work has been ever since one of my favourite aspects of KM. For example, in 2001, while working on the project  „Go Global! Polish Pharma” I became interested in the productivity of pharmaceutical firms and discovered that there is a negative relationship between the number of employees and the number of patents filed in the pharmaceutical business (the research findings were published in:  J.Fazlagić, Duże innowacje w małych firmach, CIO, 2/2015, p. 34-37). Between 1999-2003, as KM became popular among business practioners and academics, I started to publish extensively on the topic, especially in the following two periodicals: „Problemy Jakości” and „Controlling i Rachunkowość Zarządcza”. In 2001 the first compendium of knowledge on KM was published by „Poradnik Gazety Prawnej” where I introduced the key issues related to KM to lay audience. I was involved in the pioneering project supported by the European Commission: knowledgeboard.com (currently inactive) w within the Thematic Group Central-Eastern Europe. I was also a member of Polish Association of KM (Stowarzyszenie Praktyków Zarządznia Wiedzą). My habilitation book (I obtained the the habilitation degree on 9 October 2010 roku at UEP) was a review of KM practices in the Polsih primary and secondary education. I conducted a Poland-wide survey among 1600 teacherpp. Additionally, I conducted a survey among Polish in-service traing centres for teachers.

I was involved in the development of first Polish postgraduate study on KM (at SGH, supervised by Prof. Irena Hejduk, SGH). I participated in nearly 80 conferences and seminars on KM with papers covering different aspects of KM, both in private and public sector.

In 2006 my second monograph, which was also one of the first books on KM in Polish I described the main founding blocks of KM (Zarządzanie wiedzą. Recepta na sukces w biznesie, Gniezno 2006).Later, in 2008 my third book on KM in education was released (Zarządzanie wiedzą w szkole, Warszawa 2008). KM is still present in my current scientific development. For example, in 2015 I became interested in the issue of Knowledge Mobilisation (KbM) which I discuessed in the following research paper: “Knowledge mobilisation in the Polish education system”.

My research interes in KM was also reflected in my participation in the research project on the productivity of knowledge-wokers aged 65+. The project was conducted in Vistula University (Zarządzanie kompetencjami pracowników wiedzy w wieku 65 plus. Dobre praktyki w obszarze zatrudnienia, NCN, OPUS 5). The research  has proven that the IC  of 65 + workers plays an important role for employerpp. They are perceived as competent and experienced persons. Senior workers can be employed as freelance experts, part –time workers, individually negotiated work agreements (I-deals), flexible employment schemes etc. They can be employed for such assignments as recruitment of staff, as coachers, mentors, service providers to older clientele and on advisory position. For these reasons, the costs of lost opportunities due to discontinuation of employment are high. The research investigated the actual losses  accrued due to  dismissing  65 + worker  which cannot be easily compensated by new hires. The benefit of HR policies focused on 65 workers include: efficient succession planning, increased innovation opportunities due to knowledge retention, increased employee satisfaction through a better quality of life and  inter- generational dialogue increased GDP through better utilization of Human Capital, smaller  money transfers to elderly people from compensation for negative effects of demographic  downturn.

Many of my works were focused on creating theoretical framework for KM and developing a common vocabulary of terms, similar to what is called Project Management Body of Knowledge. I was especially interested in social  aspects of KM, for example in one of my papers I discussed the application of the costly signaling theory to knowledge sharing practices among professionals. Other KM-related topics which were often reflected in my research activities were knowledge codification, knowledge sharing, KM leadership, knowledge work productivity and K-I conversion.

 

 

While working on my M.A. thesis in 1994 I was intrigued by the scarcity of non-financial information in balance sheets and other financial documents of enterepreneurship. I was analysing the financial standing of the manufacturing company METALPLAST Oborniki Wlkp. In proposed a measurement approach for the intangible assets of a firm which included human capital, relationships with employers and suppliers, Brand value etc. I was unaware of the work by Norton and Kaplan who developed a similar tool shortly after and published it as the Balanced Scorecard. In 1997 I applied for the full-time PhD course but was turned down and offered a position of a part-time PhD student which I accepted. In 1998 my scientific supervisor Prof. W. K. Rogoziński  showed to me a copy of an article by Thomas A.Stewart “Brain Power. How Intellectual Capital is Becoming America’s Most Valuable Asset” published in Fortune Magazine. Since then I became an ardent follower of ICM, as well as KM movement and pursued my academic career (in 1999 I was offered the full-time position as an assistant professor at UEP at the Department of Services). The Department of Services’ main research speciality was relationship marketing, which, as it turned out was also No of pagesgly related with the intellectual capital body of knowledge. For example, prof. Leif Edvinsson drew heavily from the “Nordic school of marketing” with Prof. Evert Gummesson as its main proponent. My further  scientific development was possible owing to the submission for a Marie-Curie Fellowship (5FP) in the Centre For Social Innovation, Vienna, Austria (2002-2003), where I was involved in a scientific network of scholars working on IC reports for HEIpp. Shortly after the completion of my Marie Curie Fellowship in Vienna,
I started working on the first IC report of a HEI in Poland. The results were published in 2007. I also presented the main findings of my IC report at a conference in OECD Headquarters in Paris in 2005. My IC reporting endeavors at UEP were supported by the then Deputy Rector for Science and Research, Prof. Marian Gorynia. The summary of my OECD presentation from 2005 are still available at the OECD website and frequently quoted in research papers on IC reporting in HE worldwide. Based on my accumulated experience I submitted a research proposal “Intellectual Capital of a non-public HEI” which was accepted. The research results were published in the book: „Aktywa intelektualne niepublicznych szkół wyższych w Polsce” (Vistula University, Warszawa 2012). In 2014 I organized an international conference: „Intellectual Capital&Education 2014” in Vistula University. Other of my IC-related activities include a research project on Intranet and its role in IC- creation in a company (project manager: Prof. Marcin Sikorski, Gdańsk University of Technology). Additionally,

Creativity and Innovation

My interest in KM started in 1997. Shortly after the publication of the Report “Learning Society in the Knowledge Economy” by OECD in 2000, I became a member of the team of translators who translated the report into Polish. Cooperated with the Ministry of Economy in preparation of the KBA agenda for Poland (2000-2002)

I participated as a member of the steering committee in the creation of the new law on higher education in Poland (Ustawa 2.0). Conducted a research project “Intellectual Capital of Polish Counties” (Commissioned by The National Science Centre (NCN), 2013-2017 (http://www.kapitalpowiatow.ue.poznan.pl/index.php/polish-counties-statistics-and-comments/). I am a professor in management at the Poznan University of Economics in Poznan Poland. I was Deputy Rector for R&D at The Vistula University (2011-2016).

In the EU project DigiPay4Growth – I conducted two workshops on local currencies during thematic meetings in Vienna in 2016 (A) and in Chlewiska (PL). It consisted of a simulation of a circulation of local currency. The participants could then visualize the flow of money in the economy by means of banknotes. The purpose of the game was to illustrate that at the end of the cycle the total amount of money in the economy increases.

Innovation and creativity gradually evolved from my core research area which is KM. Innovation and creativity are related to KM as one of the key processes of knowledge production and may be considered as part of one overarching concept within the general theory of KM. As far as innovation is concerned I am interested both in micro- and macroeconomic perspectives. In the macroeconomic perspective innovation is the key part of a KBA. Within the microeconomic perspective I am interested in the processes of creation of knowledge (creativity), the human and social aspects of creativity, the psychology of the creative process, e.g. the hypotheses explaining the productivity of creative work such as the overjustification hypothesis, the Perkin’s paradox, the Flynn’s Effect etc. In my recent book on IC in Polish counties I also devoted a substantial part of my research to innovation and creativity at local level. In the book “Creatives in Business” (Kreatywni w biznesie, Poltext 2015) I made an attempt to synthetise the theoretical knowledge on creativity and to (re)interpret the concept of creative organization. In my book published in 2012 “Is your Firm Creative? How to search for innovations in the service sector?” (Czy Twoja firma jest innowacyjna? Jak poszukiwać innowacji w sektorze usług? Podpowiedzi, PARP 2012). I made a comprehensive review of the concpet of innovation in the service sector. Another of my achievements in the filed of innovation was my participation in the identification and definition of smart specialisations for the Wielkopolska Region in 2013 (Badanie branż dominujących w gospodarce regionu w ramach identyfikacji specjalizacji gospodarczej Wielkopolski, Urząd Marszałkowski Województwa Wielkopolskiego, June 2013).

I conducted a research project supported by the Polish Centre for Science (NCN) (kapitalpowiatow.ue.poznan.pl) and conducted one of the first comprehensive studies on innovation and creative capital at county level. According to Paul Romer, the famous US researcher on innovation: “Villages are to small, countries are too big”. My research was therefore focused on the future of development in 21c., i.e. cities (NTS-4 level). The results will be published in form of a book in October 2017. I organized an international conference Intellectual Capital and Education and edited a book published by Cambridge Scholars Publishers in the UK in 2016. I started my research on KBA as early as in 1997. I translated into Polish the OECD report for the Polish Ministry of Economy the report” Knowledge Management in the Learning Society”.

  • Prepared an expert opinion for the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education on the measurement of industry-university relations, including regional development (2017)
  • Prepared an expert opinion for the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education on the selected systems of teacher training in EU countries (2017) (Fazlagić, J. (2019). Measurement methodology of science-business relations in the reality of Polish higher education. Education of Economists and Managers. Problems. Innovations. Projects, 54(4), 63-79. Retrieved from https://econjournals.sgh.waw.pl/EEiM/article/view/1838)
  • Prepared an expert opinion for the Foundation for the Development of the Education System (frse.org.pl) on the measurement of industry-university relations, including  regional development (2017)
  • Prepared an expert opinion for the Polish Ministry of Development on how to make Polish system of primary and secondary education (K12) more efficient in developing innovation skills („School for Innovators”) (2017).
  • Prepared a white paper for the Polish Central Examination Board (https://cke.gov.pl/) (CKE) on how to intoruce creativity testing into vocational schools proessional exams (2019).

In each project in which I participate, I publish the results in the popular press and/or research papers. I meet with policy makers both from the regional and central governments to disseminate the results. All conferences which I organized were supported by public institutions which helped to disseminate the results and achieve wider impact. I frequently use on-line surveys, post-it-notes and Skype to communicate with projects participant on one-to-one and one-to-group bases. I am involved in the MeshGuides project. Here is a with my YT video presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjwMypqFXFU&feature=youtu.be

MESHGuides: Supporting teacher professional judgement with evidence from the science of learning is an experiment in ways of supporting lifelong learning for all teachers and evidence-informed practice.  MESHGuides are updatable research summaries developed by teachers and researchers working together to support evidence-informed teaching.  I am actively involved in the development of this international project supported also by UNESCO.

I produced thematic inputs to several projects including:

  • E-green Jobs: current situation and training needs, Final Report, VISTULA UNIVERSITY, March 2015, 67,000 characters (in Polish and in English)
  • Preparation of materials for the DigiPay4Growth project in Polish, English and Russian, including an assessment tool for benchmarking local currencies across Europe.

I am the author of the first Intellectual Capital Report of a University in CCE region (published by OECD: https://www.oecd.org/edu/imhe/35322785.pdf )

I am co-author of: A Strategic Approach for Intellectual Capital Management in European Universities. Guidelines for Implementation, Praca zbiorowa pod red. Jan Fazlagić i in., UEFISCDI, Bucarest 2014. ISBN 978-973-711-499-0.

This is the front page of the book which includes the research findings from our project „School for Innovators”. Currently, the Polish Ministry of Education runs the pilot in 20 Polish schools testing the concepts highlighted in the book.