This article deals with the consequences of systemic change in one of the transition countries of Central and Eastern Europe: Poland. Analysis is focused on two interrelated areas: management practice and management education. Unique characteristics of Polish economy, society and management are addressed. Business environment characterized by deep and prolonged institutional, economic and social change leads to “generalized uncertainty”. Four distinctively different phases of managerial response to this environment are analyzed: survival, functional restructuring, process restructuring and continuous improvement. Each one of them calls for different kind of managerial competences. Cultural change is indicated as a key factor conditioning the process of buildup of managerial competence and managerial identity transfer. Management education is perceived as the most important facilitator of this process, which developed under the strong influence of Western practice. Two phases of this development are identified: early imitation and mature imitation. Because of strong economic pressures triggered by transition environment, highly competitive market of educational services in the field of management emerged in Poland.
This article proposes the metaphor of four theatres for the analysis of ethical discourses in management. The authors adopt a social constructivist and pragmatist perspective and explore the performative definitions of morality that people active within Polish business have. The preliminary results of a study carried out among Polish managers are presented. The managers were asked to respond to a list of highly controversial statements. Their responses have been analysed from the point of view of the theatrical metaphors. We present case studies of companies that illustrate the various theatrical modes that we have found in our material. Finally, some implications for change are analysed.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.