Project Update

Slow, Steady Progress

I'm now one month into my 6-month fellowship here in Poznań, and it's appropriate to provide an update on our research project progress.  We continue to move forward slowly but deliberately.  Dr. Trębecki, graduate student Martyna Dziubek and I are in contact with a total of seven or eight potential companies where we might conduct our research.  Negotiations continue, and several look particularly promising.  We should have some firm responses later this week or early next week.  Most are companies we had identified and discussed before my arrival here, but two are new contacts that emerged through contacts we've made since my arrival.  Our aim is to conduct research at one company in each of the upcoming months: March, April and May.  I feel confident we will soon have our March research partner.

We have prepared a 1-page summary of our research proposal, in both English and Polish.  We are using this document to acquaint potential company managers with our aims and procedures, outline the benefits of the research for the target company, and allay fears managers may have about intrusion or data exposure.  We have found on initial contact with potential company partners that a key concern is that data from research in their firms might be shared externally.  We are assuring managers that any external reports such as conference papers or journal articles will refer simply to "a manufacturer in Poland" or "a financial services provider in Poland." 

We've also prepared a news release aimed at inviting companies to contact us to be included in the research project.  Dr. Trębecki and Martyna are translating the release into Polish and making adjustments to it that will render it more compliant with Polish news release style.  We hope the release will be issued by the university here to Poznań-area media within a week.  We will also provide the release to business organizations here similar to the Chamber of Commerce in U.S. cities.

I have begun training Martyna in the art of moderating focus groups.  I'm confident she will do an excellent job.  This week or next we will review the focus group protocol to shape it to be compliant with expectations of employees here in Poland.  We will also go through the survey instrument to make certain it is appropriate for the circumstances and environment in which we will be administering it. 

Earlier this week, we received full project approval from UNC Charlotte's (my home university) Institutional Review Board.  This is a board, found at all research universities, that rigorously reviews all research project proposals for compliance with procedural and ethical standards.  Before I left Charlotte in January, I submitted a 36-page proposal and project description to the board.  Receiving approval is no small matter.

Other Notes

An extremely important added note: On Tuesday evening, my wife, Robin, arrived here in Poznań after the long flight from Charlotte.  After four weeks on my own, this marks a wonderful new stage in this extraordinary experience. 

Next week Wednesday, I will have my first opportunity to lead a public relations class here when I serve as guest lecturer in one of Dr. Trębecki's undergraduate courses.  Despite 15 years of teaching public relations, I'm apprehensive about this opportunity because this is a new setting for me.  I was aware before I came of the high quality of the public relations program here at the Poznań University of Economics, and my experience in recent weeks has only reinforced and affirmed for me the sterling reputation this program enjoys.  I hope I can approach the students' expectations!  Dr. Trębecki and I will meet Friday with one of his top students to refine the topic I'll address.  I want to make sure I'm contributing in a meaningful way both to the students' academic experience and the aims of the department here. 

Do widzenia!