Problems of Management in the 21st Century

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Authors: Editorial Board

Cover page, Vol. 5, PMC, 2012

4-5

Authors: Vincentas Lamanauskas

Business is neither a new branch of science, nor a recently emerged social or political phenomenon. We are not tend to discuss the history of management as obviously this field like many other activities stimulated by human includes own origin, gained experience and a certain retrospective. A modern world has strongly developed the concept of management thus becoming an integral and manifold idea. Thus, management becomes more up-to-date and faces a crisis that sparks off increased pace at work, different pressure, hardly understandable orders, stress and even suicides at the workplace. Although recently these issues are frequently discussed, still, it is not sufficient. Some of the methods for management are frequently accepted as making a negative impact on the physical and psychological state of the employees despite the fact that they appear to be efficient tools in terms of increased profit. Only discussions cannot solve this problem, which clearly indicates a lack of in-depth and reliable scientific research in the field.

16-30

Authors: Andrea Bencsik, Tímea Juhász

At the beginning of the 21st century it can be seen that social-economic and environmental problems have become so complex that to solve or handle them a more efficient and global knowledge is needed. Due to of this situation - and pressure of social – economic development – in developed societies the unfolding knowledge industry (knowledge business) has become separated and a dynamic growing production – supply sector. Traditional management concentrates on tangible tools, but knowledge management prefers intangible areas, such as learning and knowledge. This shows that to measure and analyze intellectual resources efficiently is not a trivial task. Globalization, decreasing life cycles, the role of knowledge in R&D (research and development) result in continuously changing demands of products, suppliers and processes which all demand to renew application procedures (for example demand of innovation). On the basis of these ideas further questions can be put. How can Hungarian small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) meet the demands of the new economy? How is knowledge creation, sharing, altogether knowledge management, used in everyday life? How can a company help individual and organizational learning? This two - year research has tried to find answers to these questions. In the research qualitative and quantitative techniques were used. In the course of investigations of the possibilities of SMEs breaking free, organizational knowledge was examined from 3 different viewpoints: intellectual capital, knowledge investigation, knowledge strategy. The results were verified from the view of secondary innovation. There are very important roles of SMEs, especially the ones based on knowledge and on human capital. This paper shows a small but stressed segment of the results.

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Authors: Zsolt T. Kosztyán

There are a lot of project planning (like Gantt chart (Gant, 1910)) and network-based scheduling methods (like CPM, PDM, GERT (see i.e. Kelley-Walker, 1959, Pritsker 1966)), they were developed for handling traditional (e.g. construction) projects. While these methods are appropriate for the operation level - logic planning, scheduling, cost and resource allocation - of traditional project managemet, these methods can hardly be used for agile and extreme project management. Network-based methods focus on operation level, while for strategic decisions other methods should be used. Matrix-based methods can be used for planning agile methods (see Kosztyán-Kiss 2010-2013), however these methods also focused on operation level. This paper introduces an improved matrix-based method, the extended Multilevel Project Expert Matrix (xMPEM) method. This method can be used not only for operation, but strategic level of project management, where typical strategic questions arise e.g. which subprojects/tasks should be completed, how to treat priorities of completion in case of defining logic planning, how to support not only traditional but agile project management approaches. In this paper a multilevel genetic algorithm (MLGA) will be specified in order to determine possible project scenarios and possible project structures. The introduced xMPEM and MLGA methods can serve as the connection between operation and the strategic level of the project management.

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Authors: Maria da Conceição da Costa Marques, Vanda Maria Vilarinho Maciel

The nonprofit sector is made up of nonprofit organizations that, by law or custom, do not distribute any profit that may be generated by the Associates. They are institutionally separate from government, are self managed and non-binding. The IPSS, are non-profit institutions, created by private initiative, with the purpose of giving organized expression to the moral duty of solidarity and justice between individuals and they are not administered by the State or a local government body to proceed among others, their goals, through the provision of goods and services. The new accounting system of nonprofit institutions, emerges as an indispensable tool for management, because these organizations are not sufficiently different from business enterprises, public agencies, etc., Management models and practices adopted will be similar. This study deals with the system of accounting standards for non-profit sector entities (ESNL), part of the Accounting Standardisation System (SNC), through which they create their own accounting rules, application-specific entities to continue, under primary, non-profit activities and not distribute to its members or taxpayers any direct financial or economic gain.

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Authors: Jana Plchová

The approach expressed by its author A. Kopčaj as a Spiral management is based on the philosophy according to which the firm is perceived as a living organism. Living organisms are guided by the principle of reducing their entropy in order to ensure the inevitable energy as well as their long-term survival. The contribution is analysing one of the potential applications of the above-indicated approach to the firm in which the measurement of the so-called internal entropy gives the possibility to determine in a very precise way whether the new managerial approach can be or cannot be implemented in the firm in the current state or whether it is possible to define the strategies for cultivation of the firm´s social capital. The paper proceeds from the data acquired during practical applications of the Spiral management in the environment of the Czech and Slovak companies.

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Authors: Editorial Board

Cover page, PMC, Vol. 4, 2012

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Authors: Vincentas Lamanauskas

Education monitoring is quite a fresh field of the science of education, especially in Lithuania. This field is closely interrelated with methodology of educational research, education politics, education management, education economics, etc. The term “monitoring” has recently been introduced. It was first used by naturalists. This term was used in 1972 at a United Nations conference on environmental issues (in Stockholm). The connection between educational diagnostics and education monitoring is evident. Before we carry out monitoring at a certain level of the system of education we must have relevant instruments for collecting, processing information and the like. Monitoring results are influenced by such substantial factors as quality of instruments, mastery of specialists, social peculiarities of the groups under investigation, lapses in the stream of information, divergent motivation of monitoring participants, statistical regression and many others. All these factors can show themselves jointly, in different combinations, compensate one another etc. Some of them are controlled and in most cases depend on the qualifications of monitoring specialists, for example, quality of instruments, mastery etc. Awareness and evaluation of these factors reduce the risk of obtaining overweighted results. The essence of monitoring is consistent diagnostics of in-system processes, when different necessary measurements are carried out in order to get information about development (succession of condition) of the system under investigation (Lamanauskas, 2004). Timely corrections in the progress of educational changes help to avoid gross mistakes and undesirable subsequences.

21-29

Authors: Jolanta Bieńkowska

The article aims to present issues connected with a commitment in relation to the current transformations of working conditions. Presently people work for many employers during their working lives; hence insecurity of employment became a determinant of the work situation. On the other hand, the employees are guided by the need for personal fulfillment and intellectual development in the professional field. This raises the question of whether organizational commitment, understood as a commitment to the workplace, is still a research problem, or whether another kind of commitment is developing- commitment to the occupation. This dilemma is the result of analysis of the behavior of employees. The observations indicate that some people do their work at a high level regardless of place of employment, identifying themselves with the profession performed. They are guided by the need for professionalism, not by the need for staying in the organization. The article aims to present two positions on commitment, by providing arguments in favor of importance of both aspects according to the different needs of employees. Moreover, this paper outlines the proposed directions of empirical research, undertaking of which would allow for broadening knowledge about changes in attitudes of people towards work.

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Authors: Stephen N. M. Nzuve, Edith A. Omolo

The objective of the study was to investigate the extent of the practice of the learning organization within the Kenyan commercial banks and determine the relationship between the aforementioned practice with organizational performance. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. It was a census survey comprising all the 43 banks licensed to operate in Kenya under the banking Act. The sample frame included all the commercial banks listed in the Central Bank of Kenya website. The 43 banks were further divided into 3 tiers based on profitability for the year 2008 as indicated in the Banking Survey 2009. Primary data was collected using a structured questionnaire while secondary data regarding organizational performance was obtained from the banking survey 2009. The data collected was analysed using descriptive statistics in terms of frequency and percentage tabulations, cross tabulations and Pearson’s correlation coefficient to determine the relationship between the practice of the learning organization and organizational performance. The study established that most Kenyan commercial banks had to a large extent adopted the following practices adopted by most organizations: development of information systems designed to inform and empower, formative accounting control, learning approach to strategy development, participative policy making, reward flexibility and supportive leadership. The practices least adopted were the ones involved in enabling structures, creating a learning climate and boundary workers as environmental scanners. Findings indicate that there is an inverse relationship between the practice of the learning organization and organizational performance. This would suggest that there are other factors that have to be taken into account to determine and explain this discrepancy, hence the need for further study. In conclusion, the study established that two thirds of the Kenyan banks had adopted the practices of the learning institution. The study also indicates that there is a tendency for Kenyan commercial banks to focus on certain aspects of the learning organization instead of seeing the whole picture and focusing on the organization as a dynamic entity. Interest in the learning organization has been stimulated by the need to attain sustainable competitive advantage The researcher recommends that the Kenyan commercial banks should embrace more systematic, definite and concrete steps towards adopting a learning culture, in order to survive the onslaught of competitive forces in the global market. The study suggests further investigation into whether the practices were adopted as part of a systematic strategy to develop the banks as learning organizations or whether they were simply adopted on an ad hoc basis for purposes of expediency and organizational survival.

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Authors: Viara Slavianska

When employees leave the organization, whether at their own will or not, the consequences could be extremely serious. High turnover costs much, because it involves direct financial expenses for recruitment and selection, appointment, training and adaptation of the newcomers; at the same time, the indirect (hidden) costs, because of lost productivity and missed opportunities, constitute about 70–85% of all. This research was conducted in a large Bulgarian business organization with the aim to determine the impact of HRM practices on the personnel turnover, measured by the inclination to leave. There were formulated conclusions about the ability of the HRM system to retain the employees and respectively recommendations to the management of the organization. The methods of data collection included in-depth semi structured interviews with the manager of the HRM department and anonymous inquiry among 140 employees and workers. The results were subsequently processed with SPSS.

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Authors: Gregory Olevsky

New quality of the modern market is shown in expansion of scales of cooperation of corporations and the small enterprises. Deciding condition of the successful formation of the competitive advantages is the level of the competence of the personnel of the enterprise. Competence becomes critical for the enterprise in case its management achieves organic composure of techno–technological, financial–marketing and organizational–managerial resources during the process of realization of business idea. The concentration of resources of the enterprise on directions of the core сompetencies makes necessary to search for rational ways of realization non–сore сompetencies. The small enterprises are capable to represent themselves as performers non–сore сompetencies of the enterprises–customers first of all in those cases they have unique resources for realization of technological component of their own сore competence. The modern microenterprises successfully cooperating with the big size enterprises of the including corporations, do it, as a rule, in the form of outsourcing. Outsourcing can be considered not only as one of the forms of cooperation, but also as the means of strengthening the market positions of the enterprise. Thus it is necessary to recognize that the effect from the use of outsourcing is reached by the company–the customer as a result of reorganization of its organizational structure and qualitative changes in work of management.

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Authors: Editorial Board

PMC, Vol. 3, 2012, Cover page

5-7

Authors: Dana Egerová

Another issue of the magazine Problems of Management in 21st century has found its way into your hands. We often hear people saying that human resources are the most important and most valuable source in an organization. Is it really true or is it just another buzzword? Our magazine deals with the issues of human resources in the context of various possible views and approaches. As a result of the growing internationalism and globalization of the labour market but also as a result of dynamic changes in the society in general the concept of diversity management is ever more important. The basis of the concept of diversity management is the nature of diversity itself and this phenomenon has always existed in the human society, be it age, gender, race, ethnicity, mental and physical abilities, sex orientation or any other qualities (Hubbard, 2004, Eger, 2009). It is necessary to realize that the topics connected with diversity exist today and will exist in the future and if any organization strives to survive in the highly competitive surroundings, it has to deal with issues like that. Applying the concept of diversity management, recognizing and using diverse ideas, knowledge and perspectives of the members of organizations, those are all factors that contribute to the wealth of any organization significantly and create a real competitive advantage, which, in its final form, can be considered a highly positive and constructive tool for solving the current all-society phenomena in the context of the development of the civic society. Let me express my belief that our magazine will, both in this issue and in the issues to come, contribute to clarifying and solving the concept of diversity management in the broadest sense of the word.

20-25

Authors: Tamila Arnania-Kepuladze

The labour price or the compensation for work as a fundamental basis of any working activity influences the labour market actors’ behaviour. The level and structure of pay along with labour costs are significant macro-economic indicators, which are widely used by different political, social and economic institutions to assess situation on the labour market and define labour market macroeconomic policy. A managerial theory and managerial practices considers the compensation for work as significant factor of job motivation. Today, when women play vital role in employment sphere the gender gap in the work reward still exists. The article considers the direct correlation between the gender pay disproportion and gender-gap-reasons-based disparity in the employment sphere. For the calculation and analysis of the pay gender disproportion the author introduces two indexes: the Index of Pay Gender Differentiation (PGD) and the Index of Pay Gender Gap (PGG). The Index of Pay Gender Differentiation (PGD) expresses not only the existing relation between men’s and women’s pay but defines the dynamics for their closing on. The using of the Pgd promotes to define the direction for attain of gender equality on the employment sphere and a priori assumes to overcome the source of gender inequality in the labour market. The Index of Pay Gender Gap (PGG) shows pay deviation from ideal gender pay equilibration.

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Authors: Izabela Kapera

The subject of this article research are issues concerning the management of tourism in Poland, with particular emphasis on planning. The main purpose was to analyze the issues related to the planning of tourism and recreation in Poland and in this context to show the importance of planning for the proper development of tourism. The research procedure which was applied was mainly the analysis of source materials. With regards to tourism there can be distinguished plans from the sphere of socio-economic (created at the central, regional and local level and for businesses operating in the field of tourism), and spatial plans (implemented in the whole country, provinces and municipalities and separately selected for particular areas). Creation of ones and the others is justified. In connection with the fact that tourism plays an important role in the economy of many countries, appropriate management of its development becomes important, and the planning which underlies management often helps to avoid in this regard, the method of trial and errors. It should be stressed that tourism is also a field that uses widely the space, but this space is affected mostly negative by it. Planning, which is the basis for setting targets and ways of their implementation, provides, among others, the possibility to reduce the negative consequences associated with its development.

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Authors: Katarína Lehutová, Štefan Cisko

The individuals and companies purchasing goods and services for some other than personal consumption, e.g. for the family member, family usage or as a present for another person, are called organizational consumers. They operate on the organizational consumer market. These markets usually have fewer buyers but purchase is done in much greater amounts than typical consumer markets and to distinguish them from typical consumer markets they are also geographically concentrated. There are four main components of this market: industrial, reseller, government and foreign market. For the purpose of this paper, the organizational customer is understood the organization which sells products for another customers. In general, every consumer tries to apply their rights, fight for them. The interest of traders is usually hidden somewhere in the background. The main aim of this paper is to summarize how important the organizations are, highlight the role they play in the society, their development in time, the authenticity, which distinguished it from the individual consumer and to describe their importance and impact on the social life and economics in the Slovak Republic. Research conducted in European countries showed that the recession had a significant impact on all types of consumers. The paper analyses the results of those researches and finally depicts if the situation is the same in the Slovak Republic using the statistic data analysis, description and comparison.

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Authors: Elizabeta Mitreva

The education of the employees in each instance of a company comes along with a purpose to gain competence and experience in order to realize every business process according to the demands of the products/services, the legal obligation as well as the criteria of competitiveness. Furthermore, it is directly conjoined with the very act of foundation setting of the employees’ requests with a unique intention - to achieve quality, stressing the vital need to affiliate everyone in their own field. This analysis presents the research inputs which are being given in order to get a clear picture whether the Macedonian companies are eager to learn and stimulate both the individual and the collective learning in order to improve the results in general. According to the given results in the research, it is stated that the Macedonian companies do not pay much attention to quality. They are insufficiently concerned with the continuous education, which is evident in the small investments they make in regard to the innovations. Hence, the quality system has been built in a very small number of companies. The following model presented in this elaborate has been suggested for a more successful designing and implementation of the educational system as a subsystem of the house of quality. This methodology is integral and has a universal notion which is applicable to all types of companies and institutions as well. Without a conducted training about TQM (Total Quality Management) philosophy and a continued education provided firstly for the managers and further on for all of the employees, the TQM strategy could not be implemented in a satisfactory manner. Also, the benefits that come along with the quality system could not be visible as a result.

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Authors: Evans Sokro

This research aimed at investigating the relationship that exists between organizational culture, employee motivation and performance. The domains of organizational culture (organizational values, individual beliefs, working environment, and employee relationships) and employee motivation and performance were investigated. In order to find the culture and motivation link, mixed method approach for data collection and analysis has been used. By using Pearson’s and Spearman’s Correlation methods, a positive correlation has been found between the two variables. The study revealed that organizational culture has a direct impact on employee motivation and indirectly on organizational performance as well. The better the organizational culture, the higher the motivational level of employees. It was observed that if organizations develop a strong culture of rewarding and acknowledging employees’ effort, it leads to increase motivation and their performance would be significantly enhanced.

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Authors: Monika Zatrochová, Rudolf Stejskal

As worded in the title, the contribution submitted deals with the currently important field of the financial market, which has influence on the development in EU and also in the whole world. This market follows the respective principles and aspects which have an effect on it alongside with economic and legal questions being valid only for the particular country or for all parties concerned. The theoretical knowledge and experience acquired in this field are confirmed in the contribution with results and conclusions drawn from concrete cases in the financial market in Slovakia and viewed from the aspect of the present economic period. The contribution brings conclusions and, at the same time, points out to principles which should be respected from the viewpoint of economic and legal rules during dealings and, in general, during all actions developed in the financial market.