Summary
This article presents the concept of development and implementation of the inno-vative solutions in the scope of knowledge management in Polish enterprises that were co-financed by the European Union funds as a part of European Social Fund. In par-ticular, there was the issue presented of the innovative projects having the sharing process and knowledge management parameterized in Polish enterprises. The list of entities that received co-financing from the European Union on development, testing, as well as dissemination among the models of “knowledge management” entrepre-neurs was analysed.
Keywords: European Union, innovation, the European Social Fund, project
1. The introduction to the issues of innovative projects
In the 21st century management is facing new challenges regarding economy considerations
based on a ‘knowledge-based economy’. Nowadays, the view is gaining common acceptance that knowledge management ability is acquiring crucial importance in today’s economy, but enterprises operating under the economy based on the knowledge are forced to seek new management para-digms founded on the diffusion of information and knowledge, improvement of enterprise key com-petencies, development of knowledge and skills of employees, support of organizational learning and the creation of new organizational solutions.
A growing interest in the problems of knowledge management and intellectual capital is mainly a response to the challenges of management practices. Currently, intellectual capital is seen as an important factor in the enterprise’s success, the source of competitive advantage and, as a key ele-ment of the process of creation, the market value of the modern enterprise. Knowledge resources management and intellectual capital creation should be seen as complementary, interdependent and infiltrating processes because intellectual capital is the result of a derivative and skillful use of knowledge in practice.
In conclusion, it can be said that the organizational success acting in the global economy will increasingly depend on effective knowledge management. Therefore, in the Polish economy it is crucial to find new, better and more effective solutions in this field as well as their popularization in the practice of the enterprises.
The purpose of this article is to present the concept of the development and implementation of innovative solutions co-financed by European funds in the scope of knowledge management within Polish enterprises.
2. The nature of the innovative projects co-financed by European Union funds
On the basis of the results of this study it can be concluded that over 50% of the world’s largest corporations manage knowledge or intend to introduce knowledge management elements in their organizations. Unfortunately, Polish entrepreneurs are not aware of the importance of the acquisi-tion, development and storage of knowledge resources, and they do not have the appropriate tools for the effective management of this resource.
In order to meet these challenges, the possibility of looking for effective tools used for meas-urement the business knowledge was created, motivating employees to build knowledge of the en-terprise, the contribution of the workers in order to build the knowledge of the enterprise under the concept of innovative projects implementation co-financed by the European Union funds.
The main aim of the innovative projects is: “searching for new, better and more effective ways of solving problems in the areas of European Social Fund support ”1. In innovative projects, the
process of promoting and including a new product into the mainstream of policy2 is taken into
ac-count apart from the identification of the method of solving problems or development of a new product.
The implementation of innovative projects is carried out within the closed set of subjects or the areas of searching the new and effective solutions. These subjects must be within the sector strategies corresponding to the particular areas of European Social Fund support 3:
1. Employment and social integration 2. Adaptability
3. Education and higher education 4. Good governance
The innovative projects are implemented in two phases following one after the other as shown in Diagram 1.
1Guidelines within the implementation of innovative projects and supranational cooperation in the frame of the “Human Resources Development” Operational Programme, the Ministry of Regional Development, Warsaw, 2009.
2 The comment to the instruction on how to prepare applications for the additional financing of innovative projects and the supranational cooperation in the frame of the “Human Resources Development” Operational Programme, the Ministry of Regional Development, Warsaw 2011; I. WoliĔska, M. Dygoo, A. Siekiera, The handbook of evaluation of innovative projects and the supranational cooperation projects, STOS, Warszawa, 2011.
3Appendix no. 1 to the Guidelines within the implementation of innovative projects and supranational cooperation in the frame of the “Human Resources Development” Operational Programme.
Diagram 1: The phases of development and implementation of innovative projects Source: Own study on the basis of “Guidelines in the scope of implementation …”
PHASE I – PREPARATION PHASE:
a)Diagnosis and analysis of the problem –identifying the needs, prob-lems and causes of the probprob-lems;
b) Creation of partnership (if foreseen) – selection of partners in view of the problem area of the innovative project and the common de-velopment of rules and principles for cooperation in partnership; c) Development of the initial version of the product and the strategy of implementation of the innovative project underlying the verifica-tion of the first phase of implementaverifica-tion approved by the Interme-diate Body
PHASE II – IMPLEMENTATION PHASE: a) Product testing;
b) Analysis of the actual effects of the product tested within the external evaluation;
c) Final product development;
d) Promotion and inclusion the project’s results to the policy mainstream.
3. Development and implementation of innovative solutions within knowledge management under the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development guidelines
The Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (PARP)4 as an Intermediate Institution for the
Priority II “Development of Human Resources and adaptive potential of enterprises and the im-provement of health of the workers” involved in the implementation of the innovative projects in the area of- Adaptability.
The Polish Agency for Enterprise Development –(PARP), while announcing the “HR Solutions for Tomorrow competition in 2011, ” enabled the initiators of a project to obtain co-funding for the development and implementation of modern solutions in the scope of knowledge management that are adapted to the specifics of Polish enterprises based in two areas5:
Subject 1: Methods of maintaining professional activity of workers at the age of 50 and older, including, but not limited to:
− Creation of conditions and organizational solutions to submit the knowledge between the workers at the age of 50+ and other workers,
− Improvement of communications between generations in the company regarding people at the age of 50+,
− Adaptation to working conditions to the specific needs of workers at the age of 50+, − Optimization of the use of the workers’ potential for organizational needs;
Subject 2: Use of knowledge management or change management in Polish enterprises, defined as one or more of the following aspects:
− Creation and implementation of tools in order to measure the knowledge of the enterprise, − Contribution of workers in the construction of business knowledge,
− Employee motivation in order to build the knowledge of the enterprise,
− Creation and implementation of tools for carrying out the process of change in the enter-prise.
The following entities were authorized to apply for project financing 6:
− Entrepreneurs;
− Entities acting on behalf of the economic development;
− Entities acting on behalf of the employment, human resources development or the adapta-tion potential of the entrepreneurs;
− Territorial self-governing bodies and their unions; − Entities acting on behalf of innovation;
− Economic and social partners within the meaning of the Act of December 6, 2006 on the principles of development policy;
4 The Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (PARP) is the governmental agency that answers to the Minister of Econ-omy. It was established by virtue of the Act of November 9, 2000. The purpose of the Agency is funds management of the National Budget and the European Union that are used for the support of the enterprise and innovation and the development of the human resources. In the financial perspective for 2007-2013, the Agency is responsible for the implementation of activities in the frame of three operational programmes: Innovative Economy, Human Resources and the development of Eastern Poland.
5 HR Solutions for Tomorrow, Contest guidelines. Closed competition on innovative testing projects, Polish Agency for En-terprise Development, Warsaw, 2011.
− Employers’ organizations and the trade union organizations representative within the meaning of the Act of July 6, 2001 on the Tripartite Commission for Social and Economic Issues and the Provincial Committee for Community Dialogue (Journal of Laws, No. 100, item 1080, as amended);
− Academic units within the meaning of Article 2, item 9 of the Act of October 8, 2000 on the principles of science financing (Journal of Laws, No. 238, item 2390, as amended); − Associations with territorial self-governing bodies.
The minimum value of the project was 100 thousand PLN; one could not exceed the maximum value of 5 million PLN. Project implementation can take up to 36 months and must be carried out in two stages, shown in Diagram 1.
In the first stage, there should be the preliminary concept of a problem solution regarding one of the above-mentioned stages prepared. The purpose of the second stage is to test the solution by the specific entrepreneurs in order to examine their usefulness. As a result of implementation of the project, the tested solution will be disseminated among the entrepreneurs and shall be submitted to the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development at the project’s completion.
The initiator of a project must hold the copyrights for the submitted tool. Regarding the fact that the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development has co-financed all the expenditures of the project, these rights are to be transferred to the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development, where the idea is covered with legal protection. However, the initiator of a project holds the right to a free-of-charge license to use the tool and the rights to its distribution. The initiator of a project will not be able to charge for making the tools available. At the same time, the Polish Agency for Enterprise Develop-ment will be responsible for making its future, free-of-charge access to these entrepreneurs who face similar problems in the scope of knowledge management and will be interested in its use in the future7.
The “HR solutions for tomorrow” contest is an opportunity to increase the competitiveness of the enterprise and is a chance for HR specialists who are aware of the trends and directions of de-velopment of this management field. The implementation of a publicly funded idea that improves the enterprise’s profit and its market position becomes an opportunity for the enterprise. Among the benefits that can be achieved as a result of a project’s implementation, the following shall be partic-ularly emphasized:8:
− Solution of a business problem that is significant from the entrepreneur’s point of view in the scope of age management, knowledge management or economic change management; − Building the competitive advantage as a leader of the most advanced solutions;
− Building the entrepreneur’s brand as an employer that implements the organizational in-novations in an effective way – employer branding;
− The opportunity to finance other kind of expenditures in the area of HR that were not fi-nanced in the competitions for training projects thus far;
− Risk division of a project failure between the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development and the entrepreneur;
− Increasing the efficiency of employees that correlates with the financial profits in a direct way.
7 HR Solutions for Tomorrow, Contest guidelines … op. cit. 8 Ibidem.
The list of the beneficiaries who have received co-funding for the development of innovative pro-jects is presented in Diagram 2.
4. The concept of innovative project development in the scope of knowledge management The concept of an innovative project preparation may be presented within the logical matrix that is one of the tools used for description, justification and clarification of the expected results of the project and showing the existing logical relations between its elements.
Vertical logic shows the project intention: what we would like to do and how the actions taken may have an impact on the current situation, while horizontal logic is used to measure the project results and used resources by the planned indicators. E. Weiss distinguished the following in the vertical structure of the logic matrix9:
− First column (the logic of the undertaking) consists of the basic elements of the project, illustrating the main cause – effect relations that may be considered at three levels, each of which should logically stem from the lower level of hierarchy;
− Second column consists of objectively verified indicators of the objectives, results and ac-tions;
− Third column is the source of information for the results to be verified;
− Fourth column consists of the assumptions and the risk factors that may have an impact on the correct project implementation and achievement of the specified goals.
In order to present the concept of the development of the innovative solutions in the scope of knowledge management, Diagram 3 presents the logic matrix of the project in accordance with the sample of application for additional financing.
Table 1. The list of the beneficiaries who received the funds on the knowledge management in the scope of the competition:
HR Solutions for Tomorrow
Source: Ranking list of the application for financing the project submitted in the competition POKL/2.1.1/HR “HR Solutions for Tomorrow”.
No. The name of the initiator of the
project The title of the project
Average scoring
1 CompSecur sp. z o.o.
PI - PARP HR e-Skills Manager (Network management system of competencies development ICT personnel SME as a cloud model
(…)
106
2 PL Europa Sp. z o.o. Gamification of the change management process in w SME 100
3 Konica Minolta Business Solutions
Polska Sp.z o.o PI Enterprise release and technicians exposure 99,5
4 InfoAudit Spółka z ograniczon
odpowiedzialnoci PI – Knowledge management in SME sector, intelligent enterprise . 98,5
5 Higher School of Banking in Torun Coordinated COMPANY 95
6 Duka Polska Sp. z o.o. PI – Bestseller 94,5
7 "HRP Czernecka, Jaszczyski" spółka jawna
PI: Generation Dialogue – efficient management of generations in
enterprises 94
8 PM Economic Consulting sp. z o.o. Family Guide in Family Companies 93
9 Polish Telecommunication SA in Warsaw
PI.Knowledge Optical Fiber as a Source of motivation to share
expert’s knowledge 92
10 Development TEB Academy sp z Centre for Higher Schools o. o.
PI. Value codes - the effective succession in Polish Family
Companies 91
11 Modern Company S.A. PI_GAMIFICATION 89
12 Leon Ko miski Academy PI Team Building Platform – Growth of innovative potential of a
company by using Gamification -HR. 78
13 INTERIA.PL Sp. z o.o. Learning Organization 2.0 76
Table: 2 Logic matrix of the innovative project „An Integrated Model of Communication and Diffusion of Knowledge 50+ for MSE” – case study
5. Conclusion
Management in the 21st century is facing new challenges connected with economic
considera-tions based on a knowledge-based economy. Nowadays, the view has met with universal acceptance that the ability to manage knowledge is acquiring growing importance in today’s economy, and companies operating in an economy based on this knowledge are forced to seek new management paradigms based on the diffusion of information and knowledge, improving the key competencies of the enterprise, the development of knowledge and workers’ skills, as well as the support for or-ganizational learning and the creation of new oror-ganizational solutions.
In summary, it can be said that the organizational success acting in the global economy will increasingly depend on effective knowledge management. Therefore, the initiating process and im-plementation of innovative solutions are crucial for Polish enterprises.
The purpose of this study was to present the initiating process and implementation of new innovative solutions in the scope of knowledge management to the Polish enterprises co- financed by the European Union and within the scope of the European Social Fund.
The opportunity to develop, test and implement modern solutions in the scope of knowledge management in Polish enterprises with the use of European Union funds improves the competitive-ness of Polish enterprises. However, it takes a few years to see the results regarding the tools, watch-ing the beneficiaries who received the financwatch-ing in the “HR Solutions for Tomorrow” competition (Diagram 1).
Successful implementation of the project will bring great benefits to the enterprises. Thanks to outside financing, it will be possible to implement new solutions within HR that have not been previously possible. The actions in the field of HR are often seen as the expense and only slightly as the benefit. In this case, the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development bears the expenses and the advantage of the implemented solution is at the entrepreneur’s place. Within the implementation of modern and effective HR tools, the leader’s position will be helpful in achieving the competitive advantage by the priority in using the new solution, building the entrepreneur’s brand as an employer branding (CSR) as well as increasing the efficiency of workers, which directly correlates with the financial profits of the companies.
Bibliography
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business leaders, Toru, 2005.
[3] Commentary to the instruction of preparing the applications for financing the innovative projects and supranational cooperation as a part of Operational Programme- Human Re-sources Development, Ministry of Regional Development, Warsaw, 2011.
[4] McCampbell A.S., Moorhead Clark L., and Gitters S.H., Knowledge management: the new challenge for the 21st century, Journal of Knowledge Management, 3/1997.
[5] HR Solutions for Tomorrow, Competitive instructions. Closed competition on testing inno-vative projects, Polish Agency for Enterprise Development, Warsaw, 2011.
[6] Weiss E., Acquiring union funds by the innovative enterprises. Process approach, C. H. Beck Publishing, Warsaw, 2011.
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PROJEKTY INNOWACYJNE – KONCEPCJA INICJOWANIA I WDRAĩANIA INNOWACYJNYCH ROZWIĄZAē Z ZAKRESU ZARZĄDZANIA WIEDZĄ DO
PRAKTYKI POLSKICH PRZEDSIĉBIORSTW
Streszczenie
W artykule przedstawiono koncepcjĊ wypracowania i wdraĪania innowacyjnych rozwiązaĔ w zakresie zarządzania wiedzą w polskich przedsiĊbiorstwach współfinan-sowanych ze Ğrodków Unii Europejskiej w ramach Europejskiego Funduszu Społecz-nego. W szczególnoĞci przedstawiono problematykĊ projektów innowacyjnych mają-cych sparametryzowaü proces dzielenia i zarządzania wiedzą w polskich przedsiĊbior-stwach. Poddana została analizie lista podmiotów, które otrzymały dofinansowanie ze Ğrodków Unii Europejskiej na opracowanie, przetestowane oraz upowszechniane wĞród przedsiĊbiorców modeli “zarządzania wiedzą”.
Słowa kluczowe: Unia Europejska, innowacja, Europejski Fundusz Społeczny, projekt
Monika Klemke-Pitek
Katedra Zarzdzania i Finansów Przedsibiorstwa Wydział Zarzdzania
Uniwersytet Techniczno-Rolniczy w Bydgoszczy ul. Ks. Kordeckiego 20, 85-225 Bydgoszcz e-mail: monika.kp@utp.edu.pl
