Our plans for 2025

The year 2025 is approaching, and as the Interdisciplinary Center for Personnel Development, we already have plans for next year. First of all, our goal will be to further develop key competencies of research staff and administrative support staff of the science and higher education sector in Poland, which can contribute to strengthening the position of domestic universities on the international stage. We are conducting research on topics related to the competencies of university employees, the automation of managers and teams, the impact of artificial intelligence on the work of research teams, and the reduction of managerial influence and its

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What is an assessment center in testing the competencies of candidates or employees? Part 3

HR consultants emphasize that Assessment Centre participants usually have to compete among themselves for a single vacancy. On the one hand, this generates motivation to perform to the best of their ability, while on the other hand it can have a stressful effect on those who are less active and open-minded. There is also time pressure during the session, as all the goals set for the participants must be achieved as quickly as possible. Participants’ form can also be impaired by the need to adapt quickly to new conditions and situations, as well as the awareness of being observed and

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What is an assessment center in testing the competencies of candidates or employees? Part 2

Assessment Centre participants are evaluated by several assessors during specially prepared tasks and simulation tests. This team of experts usually includes a psychologist or sociologist, a specialist in the industry in which the company operates and the direct superior of the future employee. The assessors observe the behavior of the candidates as they perform the tasks of each session, and then work together to develop a combined assessment of each participant’s competence. For both the employer and the employee, an assessment conducted by several people and, in addition, after completing a complete series of tasks, can be regarded as very

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What is an assessment center in testing the competencies of candidates or employees? Part 1

We often get questions about how to test the competencies of candidates or employees in other ways besides tests. In consulting and business activities, the assessment center method is often used, which we will describe in the following posts. The job search is not limited to finding matching job offers, preparing a resume, cover letter and a simple interview. Often the next step on the road to convince an employer to us is an assessment center. This form of meeting with candidates is used especially by large companies that have developed their own standards for acquiring employees in the past.

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Olaf Flak, Ph.D., led a workshop at the Fundacion Universidad Europea del Atlantico

We are establishing scientific contacts with universities from Europe. Olaf Flak, Ph.D., led a workshop for students at the Fundacion Universidad Europea del Atlantico in Santander, Spain, from 02.11.2024-06.11.2024. The workshop was on management techniques and tools used in small teams to coordinate teamwork: The workshop was attended by 90 students from various fields of study. The workshop was conducted in English. At the same time, we have established cooperation in providing classes for students of Fundacion Universidad Europea del Atlantico in Santander within the framework of Erasmus Plus and other European projects.

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Olaf Flak, PhD, spoke at the XII International Conference in the series “Contemporary Challenges of Project and Process Management”

The past 20 years have seen an explosion in the development of information technology, robotics and the replacement of human labor with machines or algorithms. It is widely believed that artificial intelligence (AI) can enhance human capabilities in teamwork, but it is still unclear how to implement management based on such solutions. Research on AI shows that it can enhance human teams in important ways, improving team coordination, increasing knowledge sharing and learning, supporting decision-making, and evaluating team performance. Therefore, the purpose of the paper that Olaf Flak, PhD, presented at the XII International Conference in the series “Contemporary Challenges

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What are the competence gaps of a diverse research team?

In our research that we conducted at research universities in Poland between 2020 and 2022, we also looked for new trends and phenomena in the work of research teams. We noticed that research teams are increasingly dispersed and diverse. Therefore, we examined the competence gaps in just such a team, coming from one of the research universities. The analyzed research team consisted of 13 employees working in research or research and teaching positions at a certain university, which is an established research university. We deliberately chose this particular team for the description, as it was also the most numerous research

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What are the competencies of research staff at research universities?

In 2022, we completed the Dialog project, in which we surveyed the competencies of research staff and support staff at Polish research universities. We surveyed 10 research universities in Poland, and more than 260 research staff from them. We described the results of the research and our conclusions in our book, still available at the bookstore of the University of Silesia in Katowice: https://wydawnictwo.us.edu.pl/node/27063 Today we will show you some of the conclusions of the study of the competencies of science workers. You can find more in our book mentioned above. In Figure 1, we show the average results of

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How do competency gaps affect research staff effectiveness?

The next survey results among academics employed at research universities concern the effectiveness of research staff and the competency gaps that affect this effectiveness. We obtained the results of our research in the Dialog Project 2022. The research focused on the competencies of research staff and support staff at Polish research universities. Our book is still available at the bookstore of the University of Silesia in Katowice: https://wydawnictwo.us.edu.pl/node/27063 On the topic of competency gaps, we identified two groups of findings. In the case of the assistant’s position, competencies such as analytical thinking, conscientiousness and cooperation were most important in achieving

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What are the social competencies of the research staff and support staff of Polish research universities?

In today’s blog post, we will present another portion of the results of the research we obtained in the Dialog 2022 project. The research focused on the competencies of the research and support staff of Polish research universities. Our book is still available at the bookstore of the University of Silesia in Katowice: https://wydawnictwo.us.edu.pl/node/27063 This time we will present an excerpt from the results of the research on the social competencies of research and support staff. Their composition is shown in the title graphic of this post, included above. It should be noted that in the theoretical model – prepared

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