ETHOS – Exploiting the organisational conflicts in business environment Erasmus Project

Project Title

ETHOS – Exploiting the organisational conflicts in business environment

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2014

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Enterprise, industry and SMEs (incl. entrepreneurship); Key Competences (incl. mathematics and literacy) – basic skills; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

The ETHOS proposal has been aimed at promoting and improving new approaches and tools to manage and exploiting – as resources for change – interpersonal, social and organisational conflicts in business environment in order to support quality and innovation in vocational education by fostering the integration of learning with working life, promoting more conducive learning environments at the workplace and work-placed training as a basis for development of vocational skills relevant to the labour market needs.
In fact, the project was relateed to specific needs of enterprises – and in particular SMEs – which experienced a hard time because of the economic situation: the acquisition of skills for dealing with organisational conflicts by entrepreneurs and managers could be a means of repositioning and/or getting through the crisis for enterprises, as suggested by various European documents. For this reason, it has been necessary to set up analytical and training tools, methodologies, approaches which could promote and encourage the introduction of specific soft skills within corporate training plans. This can contribute to create in enterprises an environment and a climate favorable to development and innovation.

The ETHOS project intended to contribute to the development of actions and strategies aimed at:
– elaborating approaches, methodologies and tools for improving quality and innovation in vocational education;
– elaborating approaches, methodologies and tools for fostering the integration of learning with working life, promoting more learning conducive environments at the workplace, work-placed training as a basis for the development of vocational skills relevant to the labour market needs;
– developing soft skills related to conflicts exploitation among entrepreneurs and managers to improve new innovation-driven role models and management approaches;
– creating within enterprises an environment and a climate which lead to social cohesion, development and innovation;
– contributing to facilitate processes of repositioning and/or overcoming the crisis for enterprises;
– promoting networking between enterprises and VET providers.

The partnership of the project has been composed of 8 different representatives of key actors in the fields of social cohesion and vocational education: organisations which deal with vocational learning, adult learning and advisory activities for enterprises; public institutions which play an active role in the definition of policies and keeps strong relations with institutional bodies and social partner organisations; organisations which work for the development of soft skills aimed at enhancing social cohesion.
The majority of the ETHOS partners have been involved and worked together in a previous LLP GRUNDTVIG project in the field of adult education, CONTEST – COmmunity experimeNts Through the Exploitation of Social Conflicts.

The project realised three key actions:
CONFLICTS MAPPING IN BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT – setting up and testing of a mapping system of cultural, social and organisational conflicts in business environment in the reference areas of the project, in order to define the role models and the contextual factors leading the conflicts. The mapping has been realised thorugh a documental and a field analysis in all project countries a transnational report about the setting up and the testing of the mapping system will be realised.
TRAINING FOR CONFLICT EXPLOITATION IN BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT – realisation and experimentation, through the realisation of 6 national pilot training programmes, of a new specific curriculum which defines competences and skills necessary for SMEs’ entrepreneurs and managers to identify, develop and enhance workers’ competences and skills for dealing with conflicts in workplace and change them in a resource for improvement and growth with reference to business enviroment. Each programme lasted 36 hours and has been articulated in a study plan including specific didactic modules. The pilot training programmes involved each average 15 participants.
ETHOS BUSINESS LABS – planning and implementation in each country participating in the project of specific workshops for SMEs’ workers aimed at facilitating the expression, the management and the exploitation of conflict in their own business environment, by learning how to “argue well”. In each country 3 business labs has been realised and involved average 40 participants.

The ETHOS project allowed the acquisition by SMEs workers of skills and competences to facilitate the expression, the management and the exploitation of conflicts in workplace, through different methodological approaches; contributed in setting up a European network between enterprises and VET/training providers to promote and develop new approaches and tools to manage conflicts in workplace; encouraged the introduction of soft skills in corporate training plans through a consultation process among project key stakeholders.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 216644 Eur

Project Coordinator

INSTITUT ZA RAZVOJNE IN STRATESKE ANALIZE & Country: SI

Project Partners

• TIBER UMBRIA COMETT EDUCATION PROGRAMME
• Centro Psicopedagogico per la pace e la gestione dei conflitti
• Geneseg
• WYZSZA SZKOLA BIZNESU I NAUK O ZDROWIU
• INSTITUT ZA PODGOTOVKA NA SLUJITELIV MEJDUNARODNI ORGANIZACII ZDRUZHENIE
• ASOCIACION CULTURAL EUROACCION MURCIA
• Provincia di Perugia