Business Excellence and Management

5-21

Authors: Mohammed Meri

The world of work and the status of the human being is constantly changing by the influence of new technologies and the contributions of scientists and practitioners of HRM; therefore, the human being is currently considered as a wealth and its value is maximized. Economists have called it (human capital), accountants (human assets), while contemporary managers have called it (knowledge capital). This change has occurred in the perception of HR due to the transformations that affected the work process began with the TIC revolution of the 21st century, which is concentrated on creativity, innovation based on Competencies to achieve total quality and well-being. But globalization, by for-profit companies, has prioritized profit and the values added to the detriment of which weakened the existence of medical organizations and their personnel as revealed by the Covid-19. Currently, political leaders in the democratic world are turning their eyes and considering human strategies that protect human and open the doors of health protection. Strategic and innovative leadership move on to the development of preventive management which concentrates its priority investments on the KM. New HRM trends, knowledge management (KM) and transformational organizations have become a “strategic” investment as an option in institution building and in health organizations. This new approach adopts the method of KM, competency management in HRM in order to achieve a high-level performance of merit characteristics, efficiency and effectiveness, which combine (motivation, constant incentive, qualities of excellence, clear self-orientation, indepth and up-to-date knowledge and competencies, ...). This paper presents the subject of new trends in HRM and KM in the health sector as well as the principles of these trends, European, Canadian and American application models, it offers a practical model aimed at improving the health system after Covid-19, in close relation with the improvement of HRM

33-45

Authors: Tsitsi Chirombe, Sharon Benza, Epiphania Munetsi, Herbert Zirima

In response to the outbreak of COVID 19 cases in Zimbabwe, the government declared a twenty-one-day lockdown beginning the 30th of March 2020. This study sought to analyse the coping mechanisms that people adopted to survive the lockdown. Specifically, the study explored the social, psychological, religious and physical coping mechanisms adopted by Zimbabweans. A qualitative approach was taken in doing this study, specifically making use of the document analysis design. Data was then collected from a social media platform which is WhatsApp. Forty WhatsApp messages and status updates were analyzed in this research. The lockdown presented challenges and opportunities; some people were struggling to cope yet some saw this as an opportunity to do things that they had no time for. The study revealed that people resorted to WhatsApp groups to connect with workmates, friends, schoolmates and relatives. Most Zimbabweans resorted to indoor games with their family members, exercise, listening to music and gardening. With the restricted movement imposed as a result of lockdown, people had to engage in prayer and other religious activities in their homes. Students found the lockdown as a good opportunity to engage in research and also made use of platforms such as the Google Classroom to continue learning. The study recommends that Zimbabweans should follow government regulations in order to curb the spread of COVID 19 and similar pandemics in the future.

60-66

Authors: Alexandru Trifu

In this study we are dealing with a new aspect of the problem in discussion that is the pursuing of Happiness, supported by institutions and regulations in the domain, but in moments of disturbances, in moments of crisis. We need to have goals, actions to be accomplished, in order to achieve the desired state of satisfaction or Happiness that anyone can have. We are in the presence of a double determination: the first one is represented by the material, especially money background, influencing the life and activities of households and entities and, the second one is represented by the reverse action that is of Happiness affecting the management and the activities of individuals, households and firms/organizations. The survey of the literature in the field, data from the World Health Organization, from the national authorities, analyses of the specialists in healthcare and economics, reports of the people in difficult health and economic situations are used in order to be able to synthesize the situation at this moment and possible forecasts regarding medical healing and economic recovery of the countries. Nothing is hard to manage, if you have knowledge, required abilities/skills to anticipate challenges or to make fast and right decisions, altogether at Micro and Macro-levels, in the benefit of all parts involved in. The huge interest is to reestablish the economies, mental health of people, i.e. the elements of a functional economic infrastructure.

88-97

Authors: Ana-Madalina Potcovaru

This article shows the impact of organizational stress on the human resources from the health system. The research wants to highlight the main stressors factors among the medical staff, physicians, and assistants from Târgoviște Emergency Hospital from Dâmbovița County and to determine if the organizational stress affects the personal life of the employees. Understanding the sources of stress and reducing them has a great impact on job satisfaction and on the relationship patient-physician. Also, the article presents the impact of the COVID-19 on the health care workers from a psychological point of view. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) affected global mental health.

112-126

Authors: Iuliana Coman

Art has been present in our life since the beginning of the humanity, participating to the evolution of society and at the same time reflecting the different stages of human evolution. The aim of this paper is to offer a short analysis regarding the art consumption during the Covid-19 crisis presenting several convictions, perceptions and influences which are manifesting in the art consumers behavior. The research analyzed the influences of art upon the feeling of life fulfilment and upon convictions regarding the capacity of art to influence the life of society. The analysis is performed using data obtained from an experimental survey on a sample of 200 persons with higher education in the south of Romania. Data were analyzed using SPSS and Microsoft Excel and contain descriptive tables. The analysis took into consideration the comparisons of the results obtained using different statistical methods. Following the analysis, it was concluded that the consumption of art continued during Covid-19 crisis, the frequency of art consume were rather high due to the availability of various Internet platforms: 75% of respondents consume at least weekly movies on Internet platforms like Netflix or HboGo; 34% of respondents consume weekly theater on Internet platforms (online TV stations, plays broadcast online, others); 73% of respondents consume at least weekly music on Internet platforms (online TV stations, music broadcast online, others). Another conclusion of the research is that the presence of art manifests influences upon the sentiment of life fulfilment and upon the convictions regarding the capacity of art to participate to the consolidation of society.

136-146

Authors: Irina-Miruna RADU

The current social context, where we are facing problems like COVID-19 and climate changes, has created an environment where humans have to be innovative and find new ways to continue their lives showing respect for the rules, for the other people’s lives and for the planet Earth. This paper seeks to advance the understanding of designing a virtual conference through identifying advantages and challenges and to provide a draft plan for organizing a conference, a plan using tools available on the market. The researched problem was approached via a two-step selection process of the most relevant studies in achieving the objectives. As a result, the paper highlights the strengths that can be used to plan a successful virtual conference, only if the challenges are overcome. It also offers a schema for a virtual conference. As a conclusion, this article takes steps in identifying and preparing a universal plan to support the community in keeping events like conferences in the actual context with technologies available on the market.

155-167

Authors: Emmanuel Maziti, Agnes Mujuru

Pandemics have been experienced since the existence of the known world. Their nature of operation has robbed many people the eye to see the bright future ahead. This study focused on how the recently experienced world epidemic namely covid-19 which started in China’s Wuhan province in 2019, affected the levels of hopelessness in the general population in Zimbabwe. The study adopted a quantitative approach using the quasi-experimental design. 103 participants, above 18 years, both males and females were selected using an online Beck Hopelessness scale. Descriptive statistics, Pearson chi-square and ANOVA were computed, and analysis was aided using Microsoft excel and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.0. Results revealed that the sample had a moderate level of hopelessness, with no significant differences in different age groups as well as no significant difference in levels of hopelessness between males and females. The study concluded that pandemics are associated with some levels of hopelessness and recommended that as the nations are disseminating Covid-19 facts, statistics and prognosis, it must be accompanied by hopeful messages to kindle hope in the general population.

177-193

Authors: Andreea BARBU

The year 2020 represents a year of balance for both the economic and the social environment. Since March 2020, when the World Health Organization declared a state of pandemic for COVID-19, everything has changed for people's personal or professional lives. Information about the new virus is spread globally, through the authorities, television, specialized websites, or even social networks. Given that social networks were heavily used even before the COVID-19 pandemic, it is interesting to investigate how they were used during the pandemic by users. The goal of this paper is to determine how young people used social networks during this period. In this sense, quantitative research has been developed based on a questionnaire that was addressed to the 4th year students specializing in Engineering and Business Management at the Polytechnic University of Bucharest. The pilot study presented in this paper investigates a sample of young people from Bucharest, Romania, analyzing the reasons why young people use social networks when it comes to the situation of the new virus, but also the reasons why they now use social networks, following their new behavior on these platforms during this period. Also, the paper analyses the time spent by respondents on social networks before the pandemic and after it started. According to this study, Twitter, Skype, and Facebook are the most used social networks during the quarantine days. Young people use the most of social networks for relaxation, while when they use Instagram, they often end up buying things that they see posted there.

214-232

Authors: Layal HAMADE

Face-to-face learning has always been the primary way of education in Middle East. However, some countries such as Jordan, Saudi Arabia, UAE and others decided to adopt some learning management platforms to provide dual programs online. On the other hand, Lebanon is still in its early stages as it was adopted by Ministry of Education in mid-2020 due to the spread Covid-19. In addition, utilizing online learning platforms suffer from many challenges such as accreditation, culture, cost, etc. To study students' satisfaction regarding technology use, level of interaction, types of questions, training, and online sessions and recorded voice-over slides, a survey was distributed to 609 Lebanese students attending different universities. It showed that institutions mainly used Moodle, Google Classroom, and Zoom. There was a comparable rate of satisfaction between Google and Moodle platforms; however, a lower rate with Zoom.

243-255

Authors: Sorina Ioana MIȘU

The present paper aims to investigate the complex issue of work engagement during a time of constant change and confusion for the Romanian pre university teachers. Additionally, the research intends to show the way in which this category of employers coped with the teaching methods change during March-June 2020 (i.e. the period of time in which all pre university educational institutions of Romania deployed solely online classes). It is assumed that the feeling of engagement that belonged to a specific set for the professional activities, e.g. meeting physically the students in a classroom, was influenced by the change of the teaching environment and the challenges brought by it. In order to gain a better understanding for the previously mentioned issues, data was gathered through an online questionnaire answered by schoolteachers and later on analyzed according to quantitative research methods. The results of this study could be of importance for any of the educational field’s stakeholders as the challenges brought by the Covid-19 pandemic are still not over and a coherent human resources strategy should continue to be developed. Hence, this paper also aims to discuss the implications of engaged and disengaged teachers during these changing times and to offer human resources management suggestions.