FAMA

STUDENT STUDY GROUP “FAMA” BUSINESS LEADERS CLUB

Club supervisor: dr inż. Monika Sipa, dr inż. Iwona Gorzeń-Mitka

Contact details

SKN FaMa Business Leaders Club – e-mail: kolofama@gmail.com

dr inż. Monika Sipa – e-mail: monika.sipa@pcz.pl

dr inż. Iwona Gorzeń-Mitka – e-mail: i.gorzen-mitka@pcz.pl

Main objectives

1.      To develop and animate scientific life among students by stimulating interest in scientific and research work in the area of management sciences

2.      To promote and develop leadership skills and entrepreneurial attitudes through active participation in available national and international programmes and initiatives that develop these skills, with particular emphasis on activities within the “Finance * Banking * Local Government – Online Knowledge” and “Modern Business Management” programmes

3.      To enhance students' knowledge of:

a.         concepts and ideas of modern business management

b.        models and methods of cultivating leadership skills

c.         the culture of substantive discussion on the problems of modern business management

4.      To promote the practical aspects of cultivating leadership skills through contacts with business leaders, e.g. within the framework of the “Finance * Banking * Local Government – Online Knowledge” and “Modern Business Management” programmes and others,

5.      To develop the organisational and interpersonal skills of the club’s members in dealing with the scientific and business community.

Club activities

The student study club “FaMa Business Leaders Club” operating at the Faculty of Management of Czestochowa University of Technology was established in September 2017 following the initiative of students who wanted to broaden their knowledge and develop their scientific interests in the field of broadly understood leadership and entrepreneurship as important competencies of a modern entrepreneur, manager and scientist, following contemporary trends in management sciences. The club supervisors are dr inż. Monika Sipa and dr inż. Iwona Gorzeń-Mitka.

• The club is not large as it consists of 23 male and female students, but it is a creative and dynamic group. During their three years of activity, members of the club have been very active on many levels (37 initiatives in total).
• They have organised and conducted almost 20 educational workshops at the University and beyond. The workshops were aimed at both university students (e.g. specialised workshops in the area of property management or communication) and primary and secondary school students in the region.
• They represented the university at the Academic Championships of Poland in Oxford Debates (AMPDO – the central qualifying round of the AMPDO Third Edition Final Tournament, organised by the Krakow Speakers Association and Jagiellonian University).
• The activities of the members of FaMa Business Leaders Club are also visible in the scientific field, resulting in numerous publications (17 articles) and participation in nationwide scientific conferences.
• They also organise scientific meetings, e.g. they initiated an annual seminar conducted at Czestochowa University of Technology on the winners of the Bank of Sweden's Alfred Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, entitled “On Nobel Prize in Management” (4th edition of this event took place in 2020), and since 2019 they have undertaken the organisation of the INTER_FaMa National Scientific Conference.
• From 1 October 2019 to 30 September 2020, the club’s members were active in terms of promoting cooperation with the local educational environment and in the scientific field.
• FaMa Business Leaders Club recognises the need for cooperation with the environment; therefore, the club board and its supervisors have established cooperation with entities operating in the socioeconomic environment of Czestochowa University of Technology. The result of these activities was, among others, a series of economic workshops (in Polish and English), created and conducted by club members, with substantive and organisational support from the mentors. One such initiative was a workshop held on 6 November 2019 for students from Greece, Italy, Turkey and Romania, who were participants in the Erasmus+ project “Playful Mathematics” at Primary School No. 5 in Myszków.
• In addition, the club developed and conducted an economic game for secondary schools as part of the 4th edition of the project “Curious about the World. Curious about the Future”, which aims to interest young people in issues related to their professional future. The event took place on 13.02.2020 at the Faculty of Management.
• It is also worth noting that, as in the previous year, two members of the club, competed in the National Educational Project “Ferie z ekonomią”(Winter holidays with economy), which is organised by the European Fund for the Development of Polish Villages. The formula of the project is the joint conducting of classes by teachers from schools enrolled in the project, as well as selected students of economics. During the winter holidays, they conducted classes in economics, entrepreneurship and planning personal finances for schoolchildren from Biecz and Słomniki in the Małopolskie voivodeship.
• During the above-mentioned period, FaMa Business Leaders Club also organised scientific events such as a scientific seminar entitled “On Nobel Prize in Management” and the Second Polish National Scientific Conference “Interdisciplinarity in the Management of an Organisation of the 21st Century “INTER_FaMa'2020. Both events are cyclical.
• The third scientific seminar in the series “On Nobel Prize in Management. Michael Kremer, Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo” was held on 11 December 2019. Its main objective was to introduce the profiles and leading scientific achievements of the winners of the Bank of Sweden's Alfred Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. As part of the event, members of FaMa Business Leaders Club presented a historical outline of the Bank of Sweden's Alfred Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences and the laureates’ profiles and scientific achievements. An integral part of the seminar “On Nobel Prize in Management” is a panel discussion on the significance of the laureates' achievements in the field of management sciences. The event was held under the patronage of the Dean of the Faculty of Management, Prof. Dorota Jelonek, the Polish Economic Society of Czestochowa, and the Scientific Society of Organisation and Management TNOiK. The event attracted almost 90 participants.
• The second, very important initiative of the club’s members, is the Second Polish Nationwide Scientific Conference “Interdisciplinarity in Managing an Organisation of the 21st Century “INTER_FaMa'2020” held on 30 June 2020. The partners of the conference were Centrum Prawa Bankowego i Informacji Sp. z o.o. from Warsaw, Towarzystwo Naukowe Organizacji i Kierownictwa TNOiK, Polskie Towarzystwo Ekonomiczne PTE o/Czestochowa, Stowarzyszenie Menedżerów Jakości i Produkcji oraz Centrum Prawa Bankowego i Informacji wraz z inicjatywami: aleBank.pl, TV Student oraz „Nowoczesne Zarządzanie Biznesem” i „Bankowość-Finanse-Samorząd. In 2020, due to epidemiological restrictions, the conference was held in a remote (online) format. The main objective of the “INTER_FaMa'2020” conference was to present the results of research addressing the issue of interdisciplinarity in the management of a 21st century organisation, conducted by students, doctoral students and young academics, especially those active in student study clubs. The conference was attended by more than 70 participants from 15 academic centres (including the Siedlce University of Natural Sciences and Humanities, University of Zielona Góra, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, University of Economics in Katowice, Silesian University of Technology, WSB University in Wrocław, University of Szczecin, University of Silesia in Katowice, Wyższa Szkoła Humanitas). During the conference, 18 papers were presented in three panel sessions. In accordance with the assumptions, the “INTER_FaMa” conference also provides a platform for the exchange of experiences and the establishment of cooperation between student study clubs from many research centres, representing various fields of science. One of the main elements of the conference is the National Meeting of Student Study Clubs, which was attended by representatives of study clubs from Wrocław University of Economics and Business, the University of Łódź, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Czestochowa University of Technology and the University of Gdańsk.
• Particularly noteworthy was the fact that, under the supervision of dr inż. Monika Sipa and dr inż. Iwona Gorzeń-Mitka (project managers), the members of FaMa Business Leaders Club created a prototype of an original board game “Explore the University of Technology”. The project was carried out as part of the competition organised by the Rector of Czestochowa University of Technology for projects of student study clubs. As a result, by the decision of the Rector, the project received funding and was directed for implementation. The project was implemented in the period 01.10.2019-31.12.2019. The aim of the project was to create an original design solution by the members of FaMa Business Leaders Club consisting in developing a prototype of an original board game that introduces Czestochowa University of Technology and student life of the University using the project management methodology. The implementation of the project made it possible to confront theoretical knowledge with practical skills; to strengthen students' teamwork and leadership skills, In addition to working under time pressure in project management in a simulated practical environment under the supervision of academic staff. The idea behind the creation of the game was to bring student life at the University closer to students in the form of an interesting, inclusive board game, using student jargon.
• The project has gained importance both at the level of the Faculty of Management (it became an element of the promotional campaign of the Faculty conducted in June 2020 on social media (Facebook) and regional television (TVP3), as well as at the level of the University (a prototype of the game is currently in the possession of the Promotion Department of Czestochowa University of Technology, where measures have already been taken to include it as an element of the University's promotion). This means that the game, the result of the project, can become an element of social impact (raising awareness among secondary school students of the specifics of the academic environment). As an additional benefit, the members of the project team acquired basic competences in the area of intellectual property protection (submitting the elements of the game to the patent office – industrial design). Conclusions from the project were presented and discussed at the Second National Scientific Conference “Interdisciplinarity in 21st-century management INTER_FaMa'2020” (Faculty of Management, Czestochowa University of Technology 30.06.2020 – online).
• In summary, FaMa Business Leaders Club is an active group of students at Czestochowa University of Technology who are not afraid of challenges and undertake various projects in which they can demonstrate their organisational and leadership skills. Despite its short existence, the Club has made its presence felt in the student community of Czestochowa University of Technology.