Research objectives and questions, hypotheses, terminology

This part of the work describes the results of the original empirical re-search. The main objective of the research was to identify key competencies of management staff in the knowledge-based economy based on opinions of representatives of Lower Silesian enterprises.

There were also other specific objectives of the empirical research, in-cluding:

▪ Specific objective no. 1: Identification of correlations between competencies of management staff in Lower Silesia with the out-put of enterprises in the knowledge-based economy.

▪ Specific objective no. 2: Determination of the competencies gap in the studied management staff in Lower Silesia concerning those competencies which are crucial in management in the knowledge-based economy.

▪ Specific objective no. 3: Development of a model of competencies of management staff which are crucial in the knowledge-based economy and their correlation to corporate output.

Those objectives were also related to the practical goal of the empiri-cal research, which involved development of recommendations concerning potential modification and improvement of the studied management staff’s competencies in order to enable elimination of the existing gap concerning those competencies which are crucial for management in the knowledge-based economy.

The empirical study conducted was aimed at answering the below re-search questions by providing an explanation that can be regarded as probable:

Research question no. 1: Which competencies of management staff are crucial in the knowledge-based economy?

Research question no. 2: What, if any, correlations are there between competencies of management staff and corporate results in the knowledge-based economy?

Research question no. 3: Is there a gap in management staff’s compe-tencies which are crucial in management in the knowledge-based economy?

In the preparation phase the following operational hypotheses have been applied:

Hypothesis no. 1 (H1): In the knowledge-based economy some compe-tencies of management staff have become crucial.

Hypothesis no. 2 (H2): There are correlations between competencies of management staff and corporate results in the knowledge-based economy.

Hypothesis no. 3 (H3): There is a competencies gap in management staff concerning competencies which are crucial in the knowledge-based economy.

Two criteria were considered in selection of the sample: sex and level of management.

It seems necessary to describe the terminology applied in the dis-cussed research. For the basic terms, those were defined in sections 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3, but it is valuable to come back to them and expand the explanations by defining their components. It was assumed that crucial competencies of management staff in the knowledge-based economy are psychological features, knowledge and skills which are important or very important in management in the knowledge-based economy. Psychologi-cal features are defined as predispositions for certain behaviours of cer-tain beyond-situation stability. Due to this stability, the person’s behaviour in different conditions is similar, as a relatively permanent, recognisable and individual-specific, typical behavioural pattern [Listwan 2005, p. 20;

Eyre, Smallman 1998; Zimbardo, Ruch 1994]. They include personality, temperament and intelligence [Chełpa 2003; Listwan 2005, p. 20]. For de-scribing personality features a five-factor personality model and five-factor personality theory (“Big Five” model) are applied [cf. McCrae, Costa 2005;

2008; Siuta 2006; 2009; Oleś 2000, p. 406-410] including such traits as:

extraversion vs. introversion, agreeableness vs disagreeableness, conscien-tiousness vs. carelessness, emotional stability vs. neuroticism and openness to experience vs. cautiousness. Chełpa’s stand is accepted that temperament

is a psychological trait which is responsible for style and dynamism of be-haviour. It consists of reactivity, activity, mobility, time of reaction, speed and permanence. Reactivity is sensitivity to stimulation and need for stimu-lation on one hand and on the other – resistance to strong, long-lasting or re-curring stimuli. Activity defines intensity and frequency of taken actions, while mobility concerns transfer from one activity to another. Time of reac-tion relates to reacreac-tion to external stimuli, speed is frequency of occurrence of uniform activities in a given period of time, while permanence concerns persistence of a reaction after expiry of the stimulus [Listwan 2005, p. 162].

Intelligence is responsible for the conceptual and logical aspects of the individual’s behaviour (“understanding what you do”). It consists of flu-id intelligence (so-called intellectual potential), independent of the knowledge held, related to “pure” intellectual processes, conditioning their rate and reli-ability (e.g. rate of recognition, associations, thinking flexibility and capacity, originality of thinking) and crystallised intelligence, including terminology schemes, deduction rules and strategic thinking patterns fixed in individual experience (e.g. understanding and defining terms, knowledge, interpretation of equivocal situations, creation of metaphors, perception of analogy, reduc-tion of informareduc-tion (Listwan 2005, p. 53-54]. Intelligence and intellect are not the same, although their meaning is similar. In the work they are treated as synonyms, because, as evidenced by pilot study, management staff often uses them as equivalent. Finally, in the research phase, intelligence/intellect was defined as agility of information processing, efficiency of learning, cog-nitive strategies, adaptation to the changing environment, rate of recogni-tion, associations, flexibility and capacity of thinking, fast rate of intensive and flawless intellectual work, defining terms, understanding correlations, perception of analogies and strategic thinking. A manager’s knowledge is as-sumed to include knowledge of technology and production issues, organisa-tion, economic and social issues, as well as problems and conditions of op-erations of the managed entity (including its close and distant environment) [Chełpa 2003, p. 51]. Psychological traits and knowledge are defined to be reflected in management staff’s professional behaviour – skills [Chełpa 2003, p. 51]. In the research, the knowledge-based economy is defined as an

econo-my in which knowledge is created, learned, shared and used more effectively by those enterprises which rely on knowledge as their competitive advantage.

Management staff is defined according to T. Listwan’s definition as a population of employees of a formal organisations (enterprises) who manage specific cells or organisation units. These are persons who lead or-ganisation units (teams), ensuring achievement of assigned tasks employing their subordinates to this objective [Listwan 2005, p.56]. Corporate output is defined as the result shown in financial statements according to the bid-ing accountancy act and to provisions of part 5 of this act (Journal of Laws of 1994 no. 121, item 591, later amended) and art. 3 sections 12 20, 30, 31, introducing the definition of basic economic terms to be included in finan-cial statements.