The first seminar of the planned series, devoted to the role of psychology in management, took place April 7th, at the New Connect Room of the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Altkom Akademia and the Polish Confederation of Private Employers Lewiatan invited Prof. Phillip Zimbardo – a celebrated American psychologist, known for the so-called Stanford prison experiment - as their guest.

Prof. Grażyna Wieczorkowska (professor of psychology, University
of Warsaw and Warsaw School of Social Sciences and Humanities), who was in charge of the seminar, together with the invited guest, considered the extent to which the situations we find ourselves in limit our freedom, including the freedom to make decisions, or force us to make decisions that result in fatal consequences.

During his legendary "prison" experiment Prof. Zimbardo proved that the situation we find ourselves in by accident influences our behaviour and force us to behave in ways we could never expect. The symbolic “prison” can stand for any situation that limits our freedom. A guard is a person that uses their power to limit the freedom of others. A prisoner is a person that has to submit to another person against their will. This type of relations can be found between a manager and his subordinate, a husband and wife
or a parent and a child.

Participants discussed the actions that can be taken, so that the role of a guard or a prisoner, imposed on us by real life circumstances, allows us to retain our dignity and does not deform our personality. It is a very up-to-date issue, especially now, when the unstable economic environment forces some people to “turn evil”, e.g. by giving employees a sack or cutting costs.
After the formal part of the seminar Prof. Zimbardo talked with the participants. The interested persons had the opportunity to ask Prof. Zimbardo to sign a copy of his latest book “The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil” and write a personal inscription in it. We want to thank all the participants for coming and participating in the seminar. We were honoured to have you as our guests. We hope that you find the next seminars as inspiring as the first one.

A series of seminars planned by Altkom Akademia S.A. was designed to present the key issues related to management in a unique and exclusive form. This goal shall be achieved, among others, by inviting special guests, whose approach towards management can be of great importance for top-level decision makers.