Synergy

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Authors: Anca-Teodora ŞERBAN-OPRESCU

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Authors: Maria Ana OPRESCU

Without intending to be exhaustive, I have drafted here a brief presentation of the brand, of its features and evolution. We have to take into account the fact that today everything is bought and is appreciated according to the importance of its brand on the market. It is used to identify the product, it is a reason of its superiority and a guarantee of its authenticity and quality. Products have names, just like characters. A certain commercial heraldry is reached, given by brands whose names have become international. Nowadays the symbolic power of brands renders companies, the market and us dynamic. They can be neither ignored nor contested.

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Authors: Mihaela Luminiţa LEVARDA

My paper aims to analyse the consequences of an exclusively utilitarian education taught by Mr. Gradgrind in Charles Dickens’s novel Hard Times. At the same time this paper will bring forth Dickens’s solution to ameliorate the effects of utilitarian education: the attempt to unify the “wisdom of the head” with the “wisdom of the heart”, in order to attain a powerful bond between mind and feelings. Therefore, a better future of the education provided in Victorian schools lies in the hope of softening the hearts of the learned ones.

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Authors: Yolanda-Mirela CATELLY

The current economic context expects that engineering graduates should have a wide range of both technical/hard skills and soft ones. It is the role of higher education to equip students with soft skills to support them in successfully accessing jobs (inter)nationally. This study therefore aims to propose an approach focused on developing the learners’ language learning and language using strategic repertoire. A chronological cross section of recent evolutions in the approach to teaching foreign languages in a Romanian technical university is given and a research project is briefly discussed, which should be seen as a proposal open to optimization.

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Authors: Kenneth FRIEDMAN

Numerous arguments have been made in support of literature for language instruction of all types, including English for Academic Purposes (Hirvela, 1990). Extensive reading (Day& Bamford, 1998) is proposed to enhance reading fluency, vocabulary competence, and the enjoyment of reading. Both proposals seem promising for international scholars, increasingly required to communicate in English (Pérez-Llantada, 2012). In this preliminary study, an extensive reading approach involving literary texts was employed in English classes for EAL scholars. Results suggest that literature enhances classroom interactions, and extensive reading, after considerable orientation, did lead to an increase in reading outside of scholars’ specialized fields.

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Authors: Diana SOPON

This article presents the intricate relationship between university and society in the new context of social, cultural and economic changes. It highlights the roles and functions of the universities in the so-called knowledge society, taking into account the academic capitalism philosophy. The article also points out that the functions a university performs in our society are directly related to the adopted type of management and that universities should pay more attention in defining and implementing their mission.

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Authors: Monica CONDRUZ-BĂCESCU

The article deals with the challenges of managerial communication. The first part focuses on its characteristics. The evolution of management determined the occurrence of a specific form of managerial communication. This type of communication has become a real force, occupying a central place in the work of any manager. In the second part, I outlined the purpose and objectives of managerial communication. Also, managerial communication in any organization is subject to specific ethical rules, contained in the organizational culture, in the organizational policy and obviously in the ethics of employees from top management. Afterwards, I presented its functions and the communication inside the company between manager and employees and also inside a team. The last part focuses on strategies of communication at organisation level. The conclusion of the article is that managerial communication style is mostly influenced by the work style of the leaders with subordinates. The adoption of a particular style of communication depends on several factors such as: leadership skills and personality, competence and subordinates’ personality, leadership style practiced by top managers and organizational culture.

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Authors: Adrian SOLOMON

Both love and hate can be manipulated to the advantage of power, even when the citizens are subjected to poverty and famine. True or forced love is what dictators seek from their subjects, but situations differ a lot: although Ceauşescu’s authoritarianism was inspired by communist China and North Korea, specific details pertaining to Romanian reality and himself distinguish him from Asian dictators. Totalitarian states also need to foster hate against real or invented enemies, and are adept at selecting the types of enemies and hatred that serve their purposes.