Eastern Review 2022, T. 11, Nr 2
https://doi.org/10.18778/1427-9657.11.20

Marek Sempach ^*

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2792-5076

Effective management in modern political parties and campaigns. The application analysis of political management concept in Poland

Istota skutecznego zarządzania nowoczesnymi partiami politycznymi oraz kampaniami wyborczymi w kontekście zastosowania modelu zarządzania politycznego w Polsce

Introduction

Nowadays one of the world’s key researchers considering the issue of political management is Jennifer Lees-Marshment whose 2020 publication Political management. The Dance of Government and Politics has been the key for this field introducing the concept of Core Areas in political organization management. J. Lees-Marshment is an author of many other publications on political marketing with the special consideration on effective party management. Bit earlier in 2012 another significant book was published as Routledge Handbook of Political Management edited by Dennis W. Johnson. This valuable material presented the general overview of the organizing issues in political parties. In 2010 Michael Burton and Daniel Shea published book Campaign craft; the strategies, tactics and art of political campaign management which was comprehensive guide for party leaders and campaigners. In 2003 a significant book was published Winning elections. Political campaign management, strategy and tactics edited by Ronald A. Faucheux. Publication contains wide resource of practice for party managers. It is worth mentioning that first key publication on management in politics was 1985 book by H.T. Wilson titled Political management: Redefining the Public sphere. This work opened scientific discussion on managing the political organizations from the business perspective. Contrary to international experience, polish research on this field is relatively poor and needs to be improved. Most publications concentrate on public management and public servants efficiency. Nevertheless proper party management on political scene is crucial for winning the elections in the high competitive area of political parties and organisations.

The purpose of this article is to describe the elements of political management performed by modern political parties in the process of gaining the competitive advantage on marketplace. In order to reach the goal the hypothesis has been created that campaigning must not be effective nowadays without appropriate political management. For deeper and wider understanding of scientific problem selected four additional problem questions have been established:

• What organisational activities are requisitioned in effective political management?
• Is political management considerably different than performance acknowledged and carried on business environment?
• What areas of the political management are fundamental in gaining the competitive advantage on the marketplace?
• What are the primary features in party management processes in Poland?

The whole analysis will be performed by current literature overview and the informal conversations with practitioners. Text consists of consecutive content. At first the fundamental goals are pointed and explained. Later characteristic features of the management are identified and considered. Than in next step some essential areas of the political management are recognized and discussed. Finally the conclusions are met and explained. For the purposes of polish parties verification two political organisations have been considered: Law and Justice and Civic Platform. The reason why these parties have been chosen for analysis is they have been two the most popular ones among the voters since 2005, they both created government and were in opposition having successful and unsuccessful campaigns in their political portfolio.

One may say that the goal of the text is not to demonstrate the campaign procedures but pointing out how to manage resources and staff for political party well-being. What is significant, article presents the various aspects of political management not solely during the campaigning right before the election but rather demonstrates the wider approach considering political party existence on the marketplace.

The principles of management and organisation theories on political marketplace

The verb manage comes from the Italian word maneggiare what originally derives from the Latin. English word management was in 18^th century influenced by French menagement. (What is meant…, 2018) At first in 18^th century the meaning of verb manage was related with economic background and entrepreneurship’s environment. Later in was incorporated to various fields including public management or political organisations (Raczyńska, Krukowski, 2020: 5).

There are many different concepts of management however the purpose of this article is not their overview but rather their response among political parties. Nevertheless for wider understanding of the origins of management one may distinguish the following evolution of management thought (Das, Mishra, 2019: 20):

• Pre-scientific management period (18^th–19^th century) contributors (Charles Babbage, James Watt Junior, Henry Robinson Towne);
• Classical theories (late 19^th early 20^th century) contributors (Frederick Winslow Taylor – Scientific Management Concept, Henry Fayol – Principles of Management Concept, Max Weber – Bureaucratic model);
• Neo classical theories (first half of the 20^th century) contributors – George Elton Mayo and his Hawthorne Experiment;
• Modern contemporary theories – which consider an organization as an adaptive system which has to adjust to changes in its environment. An organization is now defined as a structured process in which individuals interact for attaining objectives.

It is regarded that classical concept of H. Fayol may be considered as the pattern for modern management thought and practice. He argued that the process of management as an ongoing managerial cycle involving planning, organizing, directing, co-ordination, and controlling. Fayol’s definition has become the helpful background for other researchers and what is significant it may be also incorporated for the requirements of the political party environment.

Additionally, for the general purposes of this article it is worth to mention Harold Koontz who regarded management as the art of getting things done through and with formally organized groups. His vision fits to the selected problem of management in political organisations. Another author worth to be mentioned in this particular area is Peter F. Druckner who argued that managing means multipurpose organ that manages a business and manages managers and manages workers and works (Durga, 2017: 2).

After understanding the general conditioning for management concepts one may provide the characterization of the issue on the field of politics. In accordance to Fayol political management may be defined as planning, organizing, directing, co-ordination, and controlling on political scene. It helps to understand how political staffer, party officials, politicians or consultants utilize management concepts and tools for planning, reviewing, organizing and leading to achieve organizational goals. (Lees-Marshment, 2020: 14). Political management is not the same what public management is. It focuses on how political practitioners should use management. It is simply about getting things done (Lees-Marshment, 2020: 14). In general, as mentioned above political management is very similar to business management. The procedures and actions are quite alike just the political environment is different from the one met in business. The goals of the political parties and business enterprises are diverse. Parties in democracies struggle for getting power in politics through the elections. On the contrary, companies strive for profits and impressive market share.

In order to understand the value of management in politics, it is advisable to explain the issue of political organizations. In accordance to classic definition, an organization may be defined as a group of people cooperating to achieve certain objectives (Michelčič, 2012: 27). Traditionally, according to H. Leavitt organization consists of four elements (Adamik, Matejun, 2012: 44):

• People (values, qualifications, motivation, relations, predisposition).
• Structure (hierarchy, organisational model).
• Tasks (mission, goals).
• Technology (know how used for reaching the objectives).

Above mentioned elements are available in all organisations including political and business. Nevertheless for the purposes of this article it is important to indicate the political organisations engaged in political management (Lees-Marshment, 2020: 15): political parties, campaign teams, politicians, governmental offices, parliament offices. This text focuses on political parties, presenting the management processes in this organizations. Effective management contributes to competitive advantage and available resources usage.

Core Areas Political Management Concept

Some principles of management and organisation theories were presented above. Here as starting point in order to fulfil the text objectives author has decided to adopt the 2020 Jennifer Lees Marshment’s concept of Political Management Core Areas which is the first work on the field of how management should be used for the modern democratic political parties aspirations. Most of previous publications available on the market has been focused on public management and it’s effective use by public servants. Unique Jennifer Lees Marshment’s concept concentrates on political parties and their internal as well as external environment. It identifies five core areas of management in politics which are indispensable for rewarding market existence. Below the components of the concept will be presented and then assigned to the contemporary polish political marketplace features.

1. Political planning:
   • Understand the mission,
   • Set the vision,
   • Set organisational goals,
   • Create organisational strategy,
   • Develop strategic organisational plans,
   • Construct lower lever plans,
   • Implement plans.
2. Political organising:
   • Create and utilise power,
   • Organise and connect people,
   • Identify need for improvements,
   • Enact and manage improvements,
   • Facilitate effective internal communication.
3. Political human resources:
   • Identify staffing needs,
   • Recruit appropriately,
   • Train and develop,
   • Learn how people work,
   • Motivate,
   • Encourage excellence.
4. Political leadership:
   • Develop skills,
   • Be authoritative,
   • Be transformational,
   • Persuade,
   • Collaborate,
   • Delegate,
   • Adapt.
5. Political reviewing:
   • Review organisational progress,
   • Encourage individual self-reflection and adherence to norms,
   • Conduct or respond to accountability mechanisms,
   • Review a specific area,
   • Plan and implement post-review improvements.

Each of the above consist of several different activities which now will be presented in the relation to polish contemporary marketplace.

Re. 1a. Political planning and understanding the mission

This is the first part of the whole process strictly related with long term political ideology. It should be performed among the party leaders and founders at the early stage of party existence. Then they rarely change the key ideology to keep the voters loyalty. The political parties they have the easy way to achieve the mission goal as the matter of the fact that their general ideology is created at the stage of their formation. Their founders must have decided what kind of the political idea would be performed on the market. All key decisions must be taken here considering actual trends and voter expectations (Burton, Shea: 2010: 29). In other words, party mission understanding must be always the combination of declared ideology and voter’s needs recognition. Political party should not be established without deep market research and potential voters identification being convinced of the legitimacy of its mission. In this area one may say that key polish political parties are not different from the concept presented. They started their mission with their ideology selection for example Law and Justice party (conservatism, family values, centralisation of power), Civic Coalition (liberalism, rule of law, decentralisation). They took it when they were founded in 2001 and still keep this as the part of their mission.

Summary: understanding the mission as the part of the concept is useful and compatible with polish marketplace. No differences were found here.

Re. 1b. Political planning and setting the vision

This is the following activity which may be regarded as the consequence of the foregoing. On the contrary to the mission which should be rather created at the beginning of party existence the vision can be renewed and changed during the crucial transformations within the party. Its purpose is to implement the mission into performance and actions by using the communication tools. Voters should be initially informed on the party’s vision that should be clear and concrete. Obviously in order to avoid possible criticism the vision should be explained and presented how it would be achieved. If the vision becomes popular among the society it might be transferred into election slogan. An excellent example of the proper vision was 1997 UK Labours’s The Third Way which was presented right after Tony Blair was elected as party leader. At first it was pointed by labour leaders, than successfully communicated to electorate. Another smart example of the vision was constructed in USA 2016 by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump Make America Great Again. Considering Poland and this particular issue one may say that it is similarly to the mentioned above. Parties right after the significant transformations declare their new vision related to the future election promises. In 2015 Law and Justice party announced their vision We can make it presenting their potential driving force in the process of ruling the country. Another polish political party Civic Platform in the similar 2015 created the vision of the Billions for local governments which was strictly related with their decentralised model of governing.

Summary: setting the vision as the part of the concept is fully compatible with polish experiences. No differences were found here.

Re. 1c. Political planning and setting organisational goals

Setting the precise goals is very useful for each political organisation, also the parties. In accordance to reasonable goals it is possible to use the party resources efficiently and more successfully. Goals let the party leaders to know where to focus an effort (Hochschild, Walace, 2011: 576). They are regarded as the significant issue in effective party management so in the result of this different levels of the party should have their own achievable goals. They should be pointed as short term goals, midterm goals and long term goals all implemented with completion dates. Long term goals are usually related with future position of the party: winning the next election or keeping the stable support to maintain the parliamentary status. Midterm goals concentrate on three months’ time and are generally related with legislative activities in parliament or election campaign period. Short term goals are the basic ones usually lasting for the ongoing month as market research order, party leadership meeting or communication policy inaugurating. A lot depends on the situation if the party is approaching the campaign or is within normal parliamentary cycle. Goals in these two periods may differ what is fully understandable. They are set by the party leaders who point them for the diverse levels of their organisations. The more democratic the party is the key decisions are taken rather collegially than individually. Goals concept presented by Lees-Marshment seems to be quite adequate to the developments found in Poland. Key political organisations use same performance in their party organisational life. However it is important to underline that in Poland political parties are more commanding where the leader takes most of the decisions. Role of collegial staff is lower comparing to the anglo-american parties. In Law and Justice party the organisation goals are taken by party leader and seven people presidium. They set the objectives for all levels of the party. In Civic Platform the major organisation decisions are taken by the leader and thirty five people management. In general the election type is also a significant issue here: parliamentary, local and EU parliament campaigning activities are quite similar in terms of planning and goals. Thus presidential type requires transfer of attention from the party to the individual what makes the process a bit distinct but not contrasting.

Summary: setting the organisational goals as the part of the concept is compatible with polish experiences. Nevertheless in the process of decision taking the dominate role belongs to party leaders what differ polish developments from the Anglo-American ones.

Re. 1d. Political planning and creating the organisational strategy

Strategy creation stage is naturally the result of the previous party planning activities and its purpose is to achieve the set goals. The key resource required here is market data and party’s internal as well as external environment information. In order to avoid strategic errors data must be taken as the result market intelligence ordered from external suppliers. Specialised institution should perform the nationwide research to collect required data for the party. All information concerning electoral moods, trends, voter’s political preferences and expectations, competitors and their resources must be acquired. Additionally some data on party’s internal and external environment would be convenient – loyalty of co-workers, electoral system expertise, economic situation indicators. SWOT analysis would be very useful here (Johnson, 2012: 75). Benchmark the somebody else’s strengths, repair your weaknesses, use all opportunities and avoid the threats outside your organisation. One may say here, the more we know the easier is to create an efficient organisational strategy. Its formation without prior environmental data collection is pointless and means total resources dissipation. In Poland all key political parties understand the importance of proper organizational strategy. They maintain the team of experts who order the research, analyze it and build the strategy as well as campaign plan when required. Law and Justice party after the defeat in 2011 parliamentary elections decided to use market data and analysis. They sent a team to the US conservative think tanks for training which was successfully used later in 2015 (Dąbrowska, 2015: 22). They still keep this on using data for effective planning and governance. The Civic Platform on the contrary has been less successful in this performance. They lost the election in 2015 due to the inappropriate strategy and campaign plan. Today they still seem to be less research oriented than their major market competitor that spends substantial founds for data collection.

Summary: creating the organisational strategy as the part of the concept is fully compatible with polish experiences. No differences were found here. Nevertheless local political parties differ with level of research orientation. Law and Justice is a determined market leader in this area.

Re. 1e. Political planning and developing strategic organisational plans

This particular activity is coherent extension of the previous ones. The general purpose of this is to prepare the application of the plans and tactics processed earlier. The result of this activity should be the final action plan. Such a roadmap created on the current market data information must include the strategy action plan on staffing, communication and events (Jennings, 2013: 6). In polish political marketplace this part of the planning action is also applied by the major parties to construct the roadmap for the actions. As shown above these decisions are taken by the top level party manageress working closely with party leader. Nevertheless in Lees-Marshment’s concept discussed, the action plan should be rather worked out by the external experts hired by the party and later accepted by its leaders. In Poland political parties prefer to build organisational plans on their own instead of hiring external subcontractors what makes the difference. Both major political parties in Poland Law and Justice as well as Civic Platform practice such a performance what naturally differ them from the concept presented.

Summary: developing strategic organisational plans as the part of the concept is compatible with current polish experiences. Key parties practice this. Nevertheless the whole process of action plan creation (contrary to the concept discussed) is performed by the parties itself rather than by external contractors. Party leaders only accept it for further market application. Such a specificity is the result of the general lack of trust between political parties and external contractors.

Re. 1f. Political planning and constructing lower lever plans

Lower level plans are the management activities prepared for all level party staff. Contain the map of actions dedicated for different party members or staff who must be supervised and accounted for their performance. The structure of the party management is relatively simple. All decisions taken at the nationwide level are obligatory for lower local members who are supposed to follow suggestions coming from the party headquarter. Insubordination is definitely disapproved leading to the internal crises and later party’s image losses. Lower level plans creation not only means supervision and guidance but rather building the team spirit and loyalty through motivation. Appreciated party member is effective party staff. In Poland party structure contains three stages what is typical for democracies: central, regional (voivodship), local (county). Lower level plans mean transmission of central decisions to voivodship and county structures.

Summary: constructing lower level plans as the part of the concept is fully compatible with polish experiences. No significant differences were found here at all levels of the party organisation.

Re. 1g. Political planning and their implementation

This activity ends the first stage of political party management. Implementation means final application of the above mentioned procedures with proper timing and supervision. It is not easy and in accordance to the practitioners may be regarded as the highest endeavour in whole political planning stage (Lees-Marshment, 2020: 58). Unfortunately even the best managing and planning may be ruined if something unexpected happens – sudden changes in economy, war or terrorist attacks (Burton, Shea, 2010: 30). In such situations all plans may be out of date what is worth to be considered here. In polish marketplace the two mentioned political parties Law and Justice and Civic Platform are not different than the concept assumptions. They organise the actions, they use the communication in order to implement the proper planning.

Summary: plan’s implementation as the part of the concept is fully compatible with polish experiences. No significant differences were found here.

Re. 2a. Political organising. Creating and utilising power

The following performance inaugurates the second stage of activities related with organising within Lees-Marshment’s political management concept. Political organising is about how to organise, connect people and power (Lees-Marshment, 2020: 70). This point of the concept helps the party managers to understand how to grow their power and use it in practice. In political party power results from the organisation’s statute which precisely determines to position of the party leaders and their makings. However they can still grow it in accordance to internal structure changes (new sections and staff) or additional control activities (bureaucracy and audit) (Bolleyer, 2011: 319). In Poland, the Law and Justice or Civic Platform leaders own a solid position what is guaranteed by party statutes. Their power is rather indisputable and local leaders in voivodships and counties are fully subordinated. It is rather the regional feature where party leaders use their power not through the organisational structure but statute records. One may say that it is in accordance to local standards and generally accepted political patterns of behaviour where leaders use statute as effective tool for maintaining the power.

Summary: creating and utilising power as the part of the concept is mostly compatible with polish experiences. Leader’s position and power are guaranteed by party statute rather than structure.

Re. 2b. Political organising. Organising and connecting people

This activity strictly results from the previous and in fact might be treated as the part of this procedure. It touches the issue of people working for the party or within the party. Leader should gain professional people for effective and efficient organization’s performance (Bolleyer, 2011: 316). This people might not be the members of the party, they can be hired on the market as the external staff. It is important for the party leaders to create the relation between the party leadership and consultants. The mutual integration is expected here. In Poland two presented political parties (law and Justice and Civic Platform) build their staff mostly on their party members what is the result of the limited number of professional consultants available on the market and specific trust deficiency between the political marketplace and professionals.

Summary: organising and connecting people as the part of the concept is mostly compatible with polish experiences. However in its organising local parties mainly rely on their party members rather than external consultants.

Re. 2c. Political organising. Identifying need for improvements

Competent party leader must incessantly think on how to improve the organisation. This process requires continuous market observation and ability to further adjustments. In order to achieve this the market intelligence is required. Some data acquired then should be used for implementation of the improvements which might be applied in accordance to the market requirements. Ability for quick adjustment to current market trends is a sign of efficient management and may provide the competitive advantage for organisation. Such performance is much more adequate to business enterprises rather than political ones, however it should be implemented among political parties for increase of manage efficiency. Polish parties presented here (Law and Justice, Civic Platform) try to follow this values but their ability differs. Law and Justice adjusts quicker and relies on market data. Civic Platform is less active it this area. It might the result of the Law and Justice party higher access to the founds required for improving performance (from 2015 party is in government with majority in parliament). Another explanation might be the know-how, deeper data orientation and its use in party management.

Summary: identifying need for improvements as the part of the concept is compatible with polish experiences. Parties differ in the ability to apply this as the result of different market experiences and founds accessibility.

Re. 2d. Political organising. Enacting and managing improvements

Proper enacting and managing belongs to the party’s leadership responsibilities. After collection of the potential improvements it is the leader’s duty to launch it within the organisation. It may be performed through the formal decisions or leadership recommendations. In order to avoid misunderstandings all information should be transferred to subordinates at the same time with concurrent mapping of selected improvements. The clearer and simple it is it will be better received by subordinate people. Additionally party staff must be properly motivated for the renewed actions. The best idea for motivation is to reward the people after the successful improvement application. Parties have the tendency to introduce the changes before the election campaign or right after the lost elections where party members require the real modification. In Poland the two parties which are considered here do not differ in this particular field.

Summary: enacting and managing improvements as the part of the concept is compatible with polish experiences. Parties do it and generally apply the improvements with the same timing as presented in the concept.

Re. 2e. Political organising. Facilitating effective internal communication

This performance ends the second stage of party management model focused on the organising. Internal party communication makes the staff informed about the current situation within the organisation. All information should be clear and transparent. May be implemented by different forms: emails, newsletters, social media, face to face meetings, phone calls, documents (Jakubiec, 2019: 51). Due to the size of the organisation, the most common form are emails and party newsletters which may be prepared daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly. They are also special issues provided usually prepared for exceptional occasions. Efficient internal communication motivate subordinate for action and allows to forward values. Polish Law and Justice as well as Civic Platform recognize internal communication as the significant part of efficient management. Both parties communicate with their staff mainly through emails and text messages. Law and Justice additionally realises daily messages to party members just to create their certain way of actual events interpretation.

Summary: facilitating effective internal communication as the part of the concept is compatible with polish experiences. Local parties practice it in the similar way as presented in the management concept.

Re. 3a. Political human resources. Identifying staffing needs

This point begins the third part of the political management concept. It considers the value of the human resources in party organisation which requires people with different competences from volunteers, through specialists, party members, campaign leaders and party managers. Volunteers are usually the party beginners who have just started their relation with political party (McNamara, 2012: 36). They can be the party members or people who are just interested in politics looking for experience. They are not paid however they do this as the second job with promise that after future party successes they get benefits (Maisel, Stone, 2014: 434). On contrary the specialists are getting paid and their responsibility is to prepare party’s policies in certain fields, for example education or public health. They also order the research and then analyse it for party’s strategy purposes. They role is a key for effective party performance. Party members or candidates may also provide action and support for the organisation. In Poland their role is significant as they often replace the specialists who are not many on the market. Campaign leaders are only hired for campaign period. They should have extraordinary experience in politics, management, marketing and their position is crucial as they take full responsibility for all actions and activities (Walcott, Warshaw, Wayne, 2001: 472). In Poland they are usually the active party members instead of external hired consultants which is the local feature. Party managers are not met in Poland where their role is performed by top level party staff close to party leader. Hiring of the external experts for this position is not practiced.

Summary: identifying staffing needs as the part of the concept is partially compatible with polish experiences. Polish parties (Law and Justice and Civic Platform) are more eager to use party members instead external people. They mostly need volunteers and own party members who serve as specialists.

Re. 3b. Political resources. Recruit appropriately

Recruitment process for the party purposes takes a different perspective (Webb, Mockus, 2003: 527). It is more related with political organisation within the government staff rather than inside the party. Professional staff is relevant in party management process as well as gaining the market competitive advantage. People to be employed in political party should have the dual background: political and business. These competences may be useful in the field of politics as it covers political, economic, business and social environmental factors. Some say that political staff need to have more loyalty over skills to be trustful for their leaders (Fawcett, Oonagh, 2010: 37). In Poland the process of recruitment for the party organisation is relatively rare. As argued above the local parties use the party members or outsourcing mainly in research and communication areas. Traditional recruitment process found in business environment does not happen here.

Summary: recruiting as the part of the concept is generally inconsistent with polish experiences. Polish parties (Law and Justice and Civic Platform) mostly work with their members. External subcontractors are not emerged through recruitment but rather the call for tenders.

Re. 3c. Political human resources. Training and development

Political parties should train their staff to become more competitive on the political environment. The skills must be incessantly improved as the new communication, research methods and technology are under development. Party as the employer should create the relation with its people and offer professional training. In Poland two parties presented here make this performances towards their members, candidates as well as volunteers. Members and candidates are trained mostly in the area of political campaigning and effective communication, volunteers task oriented mainly.

Summary: training and development as the part of the concept is partly compatible with polish experiences. Two major parties train their people but occasionally not systematically as suggested in the concept.

Re. 3d. Political human resources. Learning how people work

This activity basically relies on verification of the staff’s work quality. The performance of the people must be learned and analysed. The conclusions should be taken immediately and problem solved carefully. The greatest threat are the conflict inside the working teams which devaluate the whole actions. Working conditions, roles and potential benefits are also crucial here (Lees-Marshment, 2020: 135). In Poland this particular issue is not perceived as huge challenge. Political parties (Law and Justice and Civic Platform) have the tendency to treat the people much more task oriented and if they are not successful they are changed. Long term cooperation rarely happens.

Summary: learning how people work is partly compatible with polish experiences. Party leaders expect the spectacular results however they don’t really care on people, external ones especially. Party members only are trusted while the others rather not.

Re. 3e. Political human resources. Motivating

Motivation processes are regarded as the most significant part human resources, not only in politics but in all management. Parties usually motivate their people by convincing them being a part of significant work. In case polish of Law and Justice and Civic Platform their party members are motivated by the promotion within the party structure mostly with presence on election lists. Money profits and personal development are not as important here as on business environment.

Summary: motivating is partly compatible with polish experiences. Two parties verified here do not borrow the motivation patterns from business environment. They motivate people by convincing them being the part of the important work or being the future candidates at the same time.

Re. 3f. Political human resources. Encouraging the excellence

This point is strictly related with the motivation as the matter of the fact that only the well-motivated people may be excellent and working efficiently for their organisation. In accordance to this the summary may not be taken here. Nevertheless one may say that human resource’s issues are not properly appreciated among polish political parties as Lees-Marshment’s concept assumes.

Re. 4. Political leadership

Leadership begins another crucial factor of efficient management in politics. Party leadership is the significant part of successful party existence on the marketplace. The personality of the leader matters the party’s political image, market results and management processes naturally. This point presents the expected characteristics of the features which are supposed to be related with leadership. Lees-Marshment’s concept recognises here seven areas that should be fulfilled by the party leaders to act properly.

First of them is to develop the skills. As presented before not only the lower party staff is supposed to develop while this is also the case of top party leaders. They should continuously train and develop to see the changing environment and to apply the proper solutions. Many party leaders do not fulfil this because they believe in their intuition and experience. It is worth of mentioning they do not have time for such activities as they lead the organisation with thousands of members being in government at the same time. In Poland the actual leaders of Law and Justice and Civic Platform are having different personalities. Law and Justice leader Jaroslav Kaczynski is not eager to train the leadership skills but he does under the influence of his staff. His opponent from Civic Platform Donald Tusk does it either as the result of the fact that he strongly believes in self-development being a bit closer to the concept presented. It is possibly the result of difference in age and stronger position of Jaroslav Kaczynski on actual political marketplace in Poland.

Another political leadership factor is being authoritative. Determined and strong personality is highly expected in politics (Linde, 2003: 314). Leader’s posture should be the result of previous successes not the nomination. Political leaders who were deprived of such a factors were seen as the weak ones. In Poland actually the two leaders keep their strong position in their parties. Both Kaczynski and Tusk rule with iron fist having substantial support of their subordinates. One may say that here in this point they are close to the concept presented and fulfil it.

Next factor expected from the leaders in Lees-Marshment’s concept is being transformational with the ability to apply a change and improvements. In Poland Kaczynski and Tusk both have such skills. Kaczynski after several election defeat was able to apply the required change and win the 2015 election. Tusk did the same in 2007 and tries to implement it now for the 2023 parliamentary election purposes.

The following factor of effective leadership is being persuasive. Politicians and party leaders particularly must keep this ability to run and be followed by other people. The leaders of Law and Justice and Civic Platform naturally own this feature and personally win in accordance to this.

Another leadership factor is being collaborative with internal and external environment. This is extremely important for the party leader as it allows to build coalitions and run the government. Lack of this feature makes the leader weak and impossible to lead the party in the long term. Both Kaczynski and Tusk own this feature however collaboration in politics means concessions which are always kind pf problem for ambitious politicians

Sixth factor is to be delegate, having the ability to transfer power to the others. Party leader should work on big things and less important issues ought to be properly delegated. Reasonable people selection is regarded as the key issue here. Polish party leaders as they run the huge organizations must use it. Nevertheless both of them have the tendencies to take decisions in personal way what is quite common among the top level politicians.

Last factor of effective political management is to be adaptive towards the environment – other people, current situation or voters. Lack of this feature makes the party stiff and unfit to the marketplace. Kaczynski and Tusk own this feature as they were in the opposition and government knowing and understanding both perspectives.

Summary: political leadership features are mostly compatible with polish experiences. Besides the first factor of skills development, both leaders of the two polish parties may be found close to the concept.

Re. 5a. Political reviewing. Review organisational progress

This activity is related with controlling and self-monitoring procedures. It is the last component of the Lees-Marshment’s political management concept. Reviewing must be continuously performed in every organisation to see the ongoing progress. It should always end with guidance and suggestions what might be done better. In accordance to concept discussed, reviewing or self-monitoring consists of five elements. First of them organisational progress review ought to be performed regularly after implementing certain key activities within the party. The best solution to make it done is the survey performed among the party members involved in the action (Lees-Marshment, 2020: 195). Polish two parties presented here have not been doing yet such performance what differs them from the solutions found in concept.

Summary: reviewing or self-monitoring actions are generally not compatible with local polish experiences. It does not mean that polish parties avoid reviewing, they do it diversely by random checking the effectiveness of actions performed.

Re. 5b. Political reviewing. Encouraging individual self-reflection and adherence to norms

This activity comes to political organisations from the business environment. In the assumption it relies on creating the self-reflection among the party members and all staffers (Johnson, 2012: 29). This process is possible but requires the above average engagement and loyalty from the subordinates. In Law and Justice and Civic Platform case such performance is not generally practiced. Parties ask their people for ideas and thoughts but staff is not offering this when not questioned.

Summary: encouraging individual self-reflection and adherence to norms is rather not compatible with local polish experiences. Two parties verified collect data from their staff but it is not the self-reflection procedure.

Re. 5c. Political reviewing. Conducting or responding to formal accountability

In this particular factor quite a lot depends on the legal system and local specific institutions created for party supervision. In Poland these are State Election Commission and 1997 Political Parties Act.

Summary: conducting or responding to formal accountability is compatible with local polish experiences.

Re. 5d. Political reviewing. Reviewing a specific area

This performance should be practiced in order to get additional information on selected area. Usually applied after crucial events where party is engaged for example elections, important legal acts, coalitions, political and image crises. Major tool to achieve this is focused review in accordance with the party is able to objectively review certain matter which is the subject. Due to this activity the organisation may reduce the number of potential errors in future performances (McNamara, 2012: 21). Focused review is applied among the people involved in certain incident however it may not be the instrument to grade or discipline the subordinates. It is rather the activity to get the information on how the things might be improved within the party or other organisation (Hunter, 2003: 191). In Poland Law and Justice party has been using this method of reviewing since 2011 parliamentary campaign, Civic Platform applied this in 2015 after the nationwide election defeat.

Summary: self-reflecting by using focused reviews is fully compatible with current polish experiences.

Re. 5e. Political reviewing. Planning and implementing the post review improvements

Planning and implementing the improvements end the whole cycle of countless actions collected in the Lees-Marshment’s concept of political management. This final activity means transition of the review data possessed into action in party’s environment. Two polish parties which were presented here have been using this improvements however with different effectivity. Law and Justice after the parliamentary election defeat in 2011 applied the improvements mostly related with research, strategy and communication. One may say that in accordance to this they managed to change and win in 2015. Civic Platform was not that successful in this particular case. After the defeat in 2015 they applied serious improvements (leadership, strategy and communication) nevertheless they lost again in 2019.

Summary: planning and implementing the post review improvements is compatible with current polish experiences.

Conclusion

As the result of above mentioned considerations author has formulated the following pictures:

• Contemporary parties are huge organisations which as the business enterprises should be managed in similar way. In accordance to this they become more competitive hiring better staff, building efficient structure, creating precise goals and using the latest technology. In that way they are able to operate efficiently and struggle for market competitive advantage.
• Above mentioned actions clearly confirm the hypothesis assuming that campaigning must not be effective nowadays without appropriate political management. Lack of proper management leads to the party’s organisational dysfunctions which result improper campaign tools application and poor available resources usage. As presented, appropriate planning, organising, staffing, leadership and reviewing may lead the party to competitive advantage which is highly demanded among political organisations.
• In order to answer the first research question author decided to explore Lees-Marshment’s concept. It indicates five areas – planning, organising, staffing, leadership and reviewing which adequate usage determine effective political management.
• Regarding question two, one may say that management in politics particularly inside the political party is certainly close to solutions found in business. All key areas as planning, organising, staffing, leadership and reviewing might be implemented in both fields. Of course they are some specific areas as HR and volunteers who are rather not met in business in such a scale as in politics where some people are ready to work without financial profits. Additionally the issue of leadership differs where in politics leaders must consider the value of political image and performance which is much more transparent.
• Answering the question three author assumes that following areas are crucial for political management and competitive advantage. These are organising, human resources and leadership. Lack of appropriate organising within the party makes efficient management not possible. Improper staffing in all levels negatively determines all actions performed by organisation. Poor leadership leads to the strategic errors and inaccuracy as well as depreciates the image of whole organisation. When it comes to political party the image of the leader is directly proportional to its image. Indigent leadership means not only the management errors but also serious image losses what in politics is extremely harmful.
• Regarding question four one may say that two polish parties taken here under consideration are mostly managed in relation to the Lees-Marshment’s concept. They plan their political actions and try to organise efficiently having some issues naturally. Human resources might be regarded as the kind of problem as polish parties due to lack of confidence mostly rely on their own party members. Nevertheless external subordinates are mostly employed for research and communication purposes. When it comes to leadership they are pretty close to each other putting aside the skills development issue by Law and Justice in particular. This feature is rather not related with the party organisation but leader’s personality. Finally the reviewing issue which is basically similar to the concept presented. Concluding, most differences are concentrated with political organising and political human resources.
• Lees-Marshment’s concept is precise tool for effective political management. Its five core areas may be related with most of the contemporary political parties however on democratic marketplaces only. Concept implementation on undemocratic political organisations would not be appropriate as they reject value of equality and pure market competition.
• Management and organisation theories coming from the business environment have properly found themselves on political marketplace and might be applied among polish parties. As presented here, democratic political organisations should definitely use them for better and effective market performance.

Received: 4.09.2022. Verified: 30.01.2023. Accepted: 14.03.2023.
© by the author, licensee University of Lodz – Lodz University Press, Lodz, Poland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)