Research Article: 2019 Vol: 22 Issue: 1S
Tat’yana Avdeeva, State Humanitarian-Technological University
Olena Hrabylnikova, Oles Honchar Dnipro National University
Olga Prykhodko, Oles Honchar Dnipro National University
Igor Prykhodko, Dnipro State Agratina Economic University
Kyrylo Ohdanskiy, Dnipropetrovs'k Regional Institute of Public Administration, National Academy of Public Administration
The external and internal factors influencing the entrepreneurship education of the personnel in the TNCs of Poland were revealed. The national peculiarities of the economic behaviour of Polish personnel in companies, in particular, the intensive development of all competencies and rapid entrance to the international arena were revealed. A comparative analysis of entrepreneurship education of personnel in TNCs in Germany and Poland has been carried out according to three criteria: the system of training and regulatory support; the system of corporate education of TNCs, scientific and methodological support of this system.
Entrepreneurship Education, Corporate Training Centre, Dual System of Professional Development, Transnational Corporations, Cultural Distance, Global Business.
I2, F6
Globalization, informatization and integration of modern society, as well as the dynamics of changes in the economy and business caused by the rapid pace of scientific and technological progress, constant updating of information led to rapid obsolescence of knowledge and deactivation of competencies. In general, this has led to changes in educational concepts: from the “education for the rest of life” concept to the “education during life” concept. Under such conditions, the development of human resources, as the most valuable capital, which the organization owns, comes to the fore. In this context, the problem of continuous professional development of the personnel, covering formal and informal education including basic and additional training, retraining and advanced training, internal training as well as self-education and self-development.
The problem of professional development of personnel in transnational corporations becomes acute due to the rapid changes of external factors of the functioning of enterprises, organizations, firms, companies, corporations (international integration, scientific and technological advance, globalization processes in the economy, educational policy of states, changes in legislation, increased competition, rapid obsolescence of knowledge) and internal ones (structural and organizational and technological changes, strategic planning, emergence of new professions, growth of requirements to qualification and competence levels of specialists), which lead to the need for continuous training and professional development of personnel.
As a result of the analysis of foreign scientific sources, we can single out several models that demonstrate the essence of an organization that learns independently, in particular: the American model in the interpretation of a well-known researcher of this problem, the professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, director of the Centre for Organizational Learning P. Senge (Getz & Page, 2016); model of R. Candolla and J. Fullerton (Van der Wagen & White, 2018); European model of M. Pedler and his colleagues D. Burgoyne and T. Boydell (Grady, 2016); pragmatic model of D. Garvin (Isatayeva et al., 2019).
Taking into account that in our research methodological basis is the system approach to the analysis of professional development of personnel, this allows to consider this process as an independent system that also has elements of any pedagogical system (purpose, content of training, means, methods of training, forms of organization of educational and cognitive activity, teachers, students, conditions and educational outcomes).
At the same time, the formation of knowledge and skills in the process of professional development can be a separate system, to act as a whole consisting of a certain number of interrelated elements (Tetiana et al., 2018:2018a; Subaciene et al., 2019). The notion of the whole is one of the central in the theory of systems. But this contains a paradox: on the one hand, we need to understand the whole from the point of view of its parts, and parts–from the point of view of the whole.
And, finally, the development of personnel is a system whose elements are aimed at the formation of knowledge and skills within an integrative education. As part of our study, systematic analysis, as a method, is possible because the process of personnel development is an integral part of corporate education. The system approach allows us to consider this process not separately but in the overall system of organizational development, in our case–transnational corporations which in itself are already complex branched organizational systems.
Methodological Basis for the Study Were
• The philosophical ideas of humanization of education, the leading principles of the theory of knowledge, the theory of human, social and intellectual capital, the theory of human resource management, conceptual ideas of pedagogical comparativistics.
• The conceptual provisions of continuing professional education; the provisions on the formation and development of personality, the formation of a professional.
• The position on the relationship and the interconnectedness of the laws and phenomena of social reality, the methodology of systematic and personally oriented approaches to the study of pedagogical phenomena, tendencies in socio-economic and cultural development.
• Principles of democratization, humanization, individualization of education; continuity, consistency, integrity, social conditionality of phenomena; consistency, complexity, relevance, efficiency, advanced development, self-development, and the principle of objectivity, which provides for a comprehensive account of external and internal factors, as well as the general philosophical positions of the common and private unity, theory and practice.
At different stages of scientific study such methods were used as: systemic and synergistic approaches that allow to consider the process of professional development of managers in the general system of organizational development of a transnational corporation; personality-oriented approach with a complex of directly related to its cultural, acmeological, axiological, and indirectly related subject-subject and sociological and managerial; competence-based approach, the essence of which is to support and develop a set of those core competencies of a manager, determining his competitiveness in the labor market, and a key parameter is the ability to use theoretical knowledge and practical skills in professional activities; process approach, according to which management of personnel development is considered as a series of directly interrelated actions-management functions (planning, organization, motivation, control and regulation); situational approach, which is based on the position that the company is an open system and its success is determined not only by internal resources, but also the ability to organically fit into the environment and adapt to it.
The pace of change in the labour market in recent years, especially after the accession of Poland to the European Union, really surprises many researchers, above all, by its speed. Due to the globalization processes in business and the increased presence of foreign capital in Poland, a large number of Polish personnel open the way to an international career. There are new opportunities, new chances at the level of global business.
Researchers of cultural differences emphasize the fact that the hallmark of governance in Poland is the avoidance of extremes. Neither the German hierarchy, nor the American reduction of the distance, nor the Scandinavian egalitarianism (the opposite of elitism) does not come to life. The Poles appreciate the partnership, but not to such an extent that “the president was preparing coffee for a secretary”. They are looking for a golden mean, focusing on the voice of reason. Intuition and feelings mean to them more than the theory of a textbook that distinguishes the culture of Polish management, for example, from Anglo-Saxon. Someone can criticize this style without the coherence, uniqueness. However, this method of management follows a certain technique.
National peculiarities and their typical behaviour or attitude to work lead to the fact that the same Polish in the United States can be perceived as loser or dissatisfied, in Spain and other Mediterranean countries can make the impression of a cold-hearted person oriented on rules and not on relationships, and in Germany, on the contrary, a frenzied improviser guided by emotions and relies on intuition (Hilorme et al., 2018; Nakashydze & Gil'orme, 2015).
To do this, it is necessary to bear in mind that the role itself and the cultural distance associated with it are important. Although Poles can maintain very close relationships in private, instead, in a professional relationship “subordinate-leader” they are far removed. Perhaps they are more resolute and confident, but also more authoritarian.
Thus, after analyzing the external and internal factors that influence the organization of the professional development of Polish personnel, we can finally highlight the current tendencies that are characteristic of this country. They can be divided into 2 groups. To the first group, we will attribute the tendencies that were formed under the influence of external factors, to the second–the internal ones.
Thus, the first group of tendencies is driven by the dynamic changes in the economy and business taking place in the world in general and in Europe, in particular, covers the following 3 areas:
• National and political position of Poland and its geographical position (membership in the EU is a guarantee of political, economic and legal stability and predictability, and close proximity to the highly developed countries of Europe, territory and population of Poland are of interest to investors).
• Economic and social status of Poland at the present stage (intensive economic development and its rapid rise to the international level, growth of the number of transnational corporations and its divisions, respectively, investment growth, including in the transport sector: Poland, as the host country, is one of the largest transport pools in Europe; increasing TNCs' popularity among the Poles as the most desirable employer).
• Human resources (cheap labour, employment opportunities and prospects for professional development, increased demand for highly skilled personnel as heads of units of transnational corporations).
In our opinion, the second group of tendencies should be considered at two levels: at the organizational level (in particular, TNCs) and at the personnel level. At the organizational level, we can distinguish the following:
• Change of approaches to human resource management (employer's market is transformed into a worker's market; TNC envisages personnel training as an “engine of progress”, a tool for raising the value of the company, and, accordingly, management education becomes a strategic and important condition for the organization's prosperity in a dynamic business environment; investments in training and personnel development are increasing; attracting top management to the process of training and development of personnel).
• Coordination of the personnel development system with the general corporate strategy and long-term business goals of the company (that is, the system of personnel development becomes a strategic function of the company).
• Distinction between classroom training curricula and personnel development management programs (the most talented personnel are offered long-term individual development programs that are implemented in cooperation with universities and companies in Poland and abroad, culminating in expert examination and certification of participants).
• Creation of a talent management system for the development of talented personnel (the main element of effective talent management is the planning of a personnel reserve for high-level positions).
• Growth of the share of internal training (training outside the workplace is decreasing, on the contrary, the popularity of competence models increases; as a result–there is a growing demand for competence assessment, for consulting and support in the implementation of informal training methods by providers).
• Application of new forms, models and teaching methods (informal and innovative teaching methods take up an increasing amount of mixed training which is considered the only effective concept of corporate training).
At the personnel level, there are the following tendencies:
• Possibility of rapid career growth (the first wave of foreign investment has opened the way for Polish personnel to develop an international career, but at the local level: Poles in TNCs were mainly responsible for Poland and the countries of the region. The second wave of investment allowed taking key positions in global structures of foreign corporations of Europe and the world).
• Increase in the credibility of Polish personnel at the international level (the persistent work of Polish personnel led to a new thought about them as highly qualified and experienced specialists; distinguishing features of Polish personnel are their focus on the result, professional ambition, desire to be better; at the international level, their ingenuity, diligence, commitment to the company in which they work, the ease of adapting to a new culture and adapting the style of work to a typical one for a particular country are appreciated. The biggest asset of them is the ability to work in unpredictable conditions and ability to cope in crisis situations).
• Polish managers are becoming more and more mature leaders (this is evidenced by the fact that the expatriates in the Polish subsidiaries of international corporations, which were very numerous 10 years ago, are less common).
• Gender features of professional development and career advancement of Polish personnel are also relevant.
Generalizing table of common and distinctive features of training systems and regulatory provision for personnel professional development in Germany and Poland is given below.
In summary, we can conclude that in Germany there is a system of regulatory provision of personnel professional development in general. In Poland, it is being formed, updated, focusing on the labour market and the requirements and recommendations of the European Union's educational policy, in particular within the framework of the Europe 2020 strategy, where education during life and development of skills are considered key elements to overcome the challenges facing Europe in conditions of economic and demographic crises. One of the examples of effective training and professional development of professionals is transnational corporations with their own powerful training centres.
The system of corporate education is implemented through consistent and phased internal training based on the integrity of goals, tasks, functions, training technologies, structure of the content of the training material which add flexibility and viability to the entire training process with a proactive reflection of reality.
Summing up the carried-out analysis, comparative table of common and distinctive features of the activity of corporate training centres in providing personnel professional development in Germany and Poland (Table 1) is given below.
| Table 1 Comparative Table Of Common And Distinctive Features Of The Activity Of Corporate Training Centres In Provision Of Personnel Professional Development In Germany And Poland |
|
| Germany | Poland |
| Common | |
| Availability of corporate training centres. | |
| Main purpose of its activity is to carry out strategic training of personnel in order to implement the long-term strategy of TNCs. | |
| Coordination of work and educational activities plans of corporate training centres with the strategic objectives of TNCs in keeping with the common ideology that follows from the basic development strategy. | |
| Coordination of work and educational activities plans of corporate training centres with the strategic objectives of TNCs in keeping with the common ideology that follows from the basic development strategy. | |
| Distinctive | |
| Creation of independent corporate training centres. | Creation of divisions of corporate training centres for maternal TNCs. |
| International level of corporate training centres activity. | Regional level of corporate training centres activity. |
| Investments in improving the material and technical support of existing corporate training centres. | Investing in the creation and development of new corporate training centres. |
| Continuing personnel training in the dual system. | Adjustment of personnel training dual system. |
| Low female employment rate. | High female employment rate. |
In summary, personnel training and professional development is not merely an element of organizational practice or a kind of activity of individual employees of the organization, but a full part of the organization's development strategy and the whole operating organizational system.
The results of our study complements the existing study. Content analysis of the above models makes it possible to distinguish two main provisions on which the self-educational organization is based:
• companies are constantly experiencing both external and internal changes, so they must always be inclined to continuous training which is a prerequisite for efficiency, and, consequently, for success and competitiveness (Pieters, 2017; Muradl & Ahmadov, 2019).
• Each company is able to study and must study; not only training courses, but constant continuous self-improvement, as each employee, and the whole organization as a single organism (Park & Park, 2017; Parent, 2017; Sagiyeva et al., 2018) is understood as training.
Summing up the carried-out analysis, we will notice that the fundamental idea of a self-educational organization is the following statement: if the organization wants to survive in severe conditions of the market, continuous training has to become a necessary and essential component of strategy of its development.
The external and internal factors influencing personnel professional development in the TNCs of Poland are revealed, among them: national-political position and EU membership; intensive development of the economy and its rapid entrance to the international arena; growth in demand for highly skilled personnel as head of the units of transnational corporations; employment opportunities and prospects for professional development; changing approaches to human resource management; coordination of the personnel development system with the general corporate strategy and long-term business goals of the company; formal education (classical training) and informal (internal personnel development programs); creation of talent management system for the development of talented personnel; increase in the proportion of internal training; application of new training technologies, models and methods; increasing the credibility of Polish personnel at the international level. The leading feature of modern Polish personnel is its intensive development and rapid entrance to the international arena.
A comparative analysis of personnel professional development systems in TNCs in Germany and Poland was carried out according to 3 criteria: a system of training and regulatory support; the system of corporate education of TNCs, scientific and methodological support of this system. Thus, according to the second criterion, the common ground for both countries is the availability of corporate training centres, the main purpose of which is to carry out strategic training of personnel. This study does not exhaust the problems of personnel professional development in transnational corporations. The activists will take care of the support of cultural and educational work of personnel in the system of corporate consecration, and accountability (coach, instruction, coaching, teacher), for effective work in national centres. The problem of formation of ethical behaviour of personnel in the totality of actions, social responsibility of management at the international level deserves a separate respect.
Based on the results of our research, we recommend such actions in relation to the business model of corporate personnel education in a transnational corporation. In order to achieve this goal, the work and educational activities plans of corporate training centres are consistent with the strategic objectives of TNCs in keeping with the common ideology that follows from the basic strategy of its development, and cooperation with external providers of educational services is being established. Among the differences we can highlight, first, the creation of independent corporate training centres in Germany, in Poland–its subdivisions, secondly, international level of activity of German corporate training centres and the regional level of activity of Poland, and thirdly, in Germany it is invested in improving and increasing the level of material and technical support of existing corporate training centres, in Poland–in creation and development of new corporate training centres.