Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
their main competitor to these benefits. This was the leading designer, as the leading
creator of the product.
The gentlest approach involved promotion out of engineering and design, con-
sequently removing the designer from the project, as in the case of Leading
Designers 1 and 2. This was rarely used, as it required the PoPs to give up some
power to the leading designer. A more common approach, as in the case of
Leading Designer 3, was harassment, with the aim of forcing the resignation of
the leading designer.
In theory, the PoPs in charge of a project could dismiss the leading designer. In
practice, they avoided doing this and instead used harassment to force their resigna-
tions, as the leading designers of large-scale systems were popular and the PoPs
needed to maintain at least the appearance of fairness and justice in order to not risk
a reduction in popularity and influence.
The lack of good equipment and technical information meant that successful
leading designers of large-scale projects were generally used to having to fight for
resources and the other battles of the WPR system and did not give in easily.
However, the very strong position of PoPs in the WPR system meant that the lead-
ing designers had little chance of winning. The PoPs generally took revenge on
them for their resistance and their resulting loss of influence by preventing the lead-
ing designers from leading any other significant projects. The one exception is the
Leading Designer 4.
4.3
Ethical Aspects of PoP Actions
The WPR system and PoPs claimed in public that they acted for the benefit of the
people. However, in practice, their motivation was self-interest. In addition to the
negative impacts on the leading designers, their actions disadvantaged both Elwro
or the other firms the leading designers worked for and the whole country, due to the
importance of ICT and automation projects at that time. The removal of leading
designers generally meant that they needed to be replaced with designers with less
experience. Equally important, their expertise was no longer available for training
the next generation. ICT and automation pioneers of the time considered that a good
designer required about a dozen years of technical experience before they could
successfully lead a large-scale project and not all experienced designers were able
to do this. Therefore, the actions of PoPs resulted in the loss of a very important
human resource and may have had a significant negative impact on development
and prosperity in Poland.
Many PoPs used the idea that there are no irreplaceable people to support getting
rid of experienced leading designers, though they would probably not have appreci-
ated this concept being applied to them. Although every individual is unique and in
that sense irreplaceable, individuals can be replaced in well-resourced systems
where it is always possible to find other people with similar experience and exper-
tise. However, in poorly resourced countries, such as Poland before 1989, it can be
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