Problems of Management in the 21st Century

59

Authors: Editorial Board

Contents, Vol. 10, No. 2, 2015, PMC

62–76

Authors: Rafał Drewniak

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is becoming an increasingly popular area of activity of companies which are interested in not only the managers or owners, but also customers, suppliers, NGOs, administrative and other stakeholders groups. The analysis aim is to present CSR initiatives as part of deliberate strategy of the company, which is one of the key sources of competitive advantage in the market. The findings concern the scope of cooperation between companies and NGOs in the field of socially responsible activities. The analysis indicates that the expected form of cooperation of NGOs with small businesses is to provide financial assistance to social organizations. However, in the case of medium-sized enterprises, these expectations also apply to material support. Moreover, in the case of medium-sized enterprises a key determinant of cooperation with social organization is realization of the social objective, while small businesses are more guided by "goodness of the heart". Considerations based on the identification of scope of CSR, are pointing to the key aspects of this activity to the company, the environment and customers. Discussions were extended to the characteristics of the benefits, barriers and forms of the cooperation, as well as, there were presented the results of research in the field of forms and determinants of such cooperation. Considerations are based on secondary sources, from national and international journals, books, magazines and specialist reports.

88–99

Authors: Stephen N. M Nzuve, Mwangi Pauline Njambi

Performance is associated with quantity of output, quality of output, timeliness of output, presence or attendance on the job, efficiency of the work completed and effectiveness of work completed (Mathis et al., 2009). In an organization, committed employees are regarded as being willing to build and maintain long-lasting relationships with their employer (Argyris, 1998). Effective management teams need to recognize that positive employee attitudes are often vital to achieving organizational goals and this will be achieved when the employees are satisfied. The objective of the study was to determine the factors perceived to influence employees’ performance at Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission. The research design adopted was descriptive research design. The population of the study comprised of all the 175 employees in the commission head office. The study used primary data that was collected through self-administered questionnaires. The data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software and presented using tables and figures. The study found out that the employees of the commission perceived their performance to be influenced by rewards, job design and training and development opportunity. Management style was found to have hindered performance of employees. The employees were satisfied with wages and salaries paid, retirement benefit scheme, job security, performance appraisals were satisfactory hence encouraging the employees to work in the commission and improve their performance.

110–120

Authors: Christopher R. Schmidt

The types of whistleblowing claims made against institutions of higher education are not well understood nor are the various mechanisms used to solicit, investigate, and learn from such claims at the institutional and state levels. This research obtained and analyzed whistleblower claims made against institutions of higher education and explores and facilitates a discussion around the value of learning opportunities that come from whistleblowing claims. Aggregate claims data and detail workpapers for claims made against the 45 publicly funded colleges and universities in the state of Ohio, in the midwestern United States was analyzed to identify patterns and areas of focus which could improve institutional processes and internal controls. Four areas resulted from the analysis: hiring and pay practices, prevention of the theft of institutional assets, prevention of the theft of student funds, and an institutional accreditation issue. All claims that were reported reflected real concerns on topics of strategic importance to institutions and their management practices, although not all were substantiated or corroborated. One quarter of the claims resulted in proven cases for recovery and prosecution. At the state level, completeness of investigation and administrative learning were sometimes not pursued due to the code enforcement nature of the governing bodies whose mandate was limited to the identification and prosecution of crimes, although improvement opportunities clearly existed. The case of Ohio demonstrates that open government and public information request processes can provide sufficient information to allow insight into the nature of the claims and to identify improvement opportunities for both the institution and state level administration.