NAVIGATING THE SHARK TANK – COMPETENCE IN ACADEMIA

Are you navigating the ‚shark tank‘, just trying to survive, do you feel like a ‚shark‘, or are you actually placed in a peaceful ‚goldfish pond‘?
In Germany and elsewhere researchers are embedded in specific hierarchical constellations. Regardless of their position at the top, middle or lower levels of their organization, sometimes they meet irritating and even incomprehensible behavior and outcomes: formal regulations may be bypassed, expertise and institutionally defined responsibility may turn out to be unimportant when decisions are taken, rival camps may impede reasonable cooperation, etc.
Some processes involving power games are perceived as unproductive, frustrating or even annoying. However, experience also tells us that difficult situations can be mastered by analyzing the dynamics of key situations and of the players‘ interests involved, by skillful communication and, generally, by a power-conscious approach.