ORGANIZACIJA

Innovations and Lifelong Learning in Sustainable Organization Innovation and knowledge are two of key factors for sustainable development of company or organization. Particularly in the current period of economic crisis it is crucial to promote lifelong learning and creativity to contribute innovative solutions to various problems. Lifelong learning makes a significant contribution to awareness of the importance of innovation and creativity for sustainable development of organization. In this paper we explore if respondents from Slovenian companies think that innovation and lifelong learning is important for sustainable development of company. Presented are the results of a survey conducted in 67 large and medium-sized enterprises in Slovenia where we upon respondents' judgment examine the correlation between the innovativeness level and lifelong learning, investing in innovativeness and competitive advantage and the promotion of lifelong learning and competitive advantage of th...

Pomembno je, da ustvarjamo okoliščine, v katerih nastaja znanje. Z znanjem ne upravljamo, upravljamo z okoliščinami. Element teh okoliščin je tudi človek, ki podpira učenje, ki učečemu pomaga, ki mu odstranjuje ovire, ga motivira in podpira v težavah psihološke narave. Ljudje se učijo in bogatijo v teh okoliščinah. Okoliščine niso nujno fizične. Ustvarimo jih lahko tudi virtualno, kar omogoča dovolj dobra razvitost informacijsko komunikacijske tehnologije. S tem pa okoliščine niso več vezane na fizično bližino mentorirancu. 

Organizacija mora zaposlenim priznati pravico do lastnega oblikovanja kariere. Znotraj organizacije jim lahko omogoči vertikalno napredovanje ali premik na optimalnejše delovno mesto. Cilje delodajalca glede kariere zaposlenega in osebne cilje zaposlenega skušamo čim bolj zbližati, saj so tako delovni rezultati boljši.

Background/Purpose: This work is focused on the variables that influence the outcomes of mergers and acquisitions, by learning from past mistakes, adopt better strategies and make wiser decisions to enhance the outcomes of their mergers and acquisitions. Using a qualitative approach, this research contributes to existing knowledge on mergers and acquisitions performance by exploring the cultural, managerial and organizational factors dimensions through an integrative approach using multiple perspectives. Methodology: Fifteen interviews were conducted with experienced professionals in multiple areas of mergers and acquisitions. Content analysis was used to interpret the results. This enabled to achieve a more complete set of answers and potential solutions while comparing opinions on the same problems from slightly different angles. Results: Results show the existence of managerial hubris, emotional attachment and over-optimism in mergers and acquisitions. There was a relative suppor...

Intercultural Differences in the Purchase and Information Behaviour of Young ConsumersPressures in the contemporary marketing environment are getting bigger and companies and marketers are required to know consumers and their purchase and information behaviour. In this article we studied the behaviour of consumers and the factors of purchase and information behaviour of young consumers when choosing clothes. We found out about the meaning of individual clothing characteristics having impact on the purchase decision making (price, trademark, fitting of clothing, design, quality, etc.). Consumers receive and look for information at different sources (radio commercials, TV commercials and shows, fashion magazines, catalogue sales, social networks, friends and acquaintances, etc.). With the empiric research we wanted to find out to what measure individual sources influence the purchase decision of an individual. We studied young people aged from 15 to 24 in the countries of the EU (Slov...

Background and Purpose: The survey was performed to determine the reasons that lead students to possibly commit plagiarism during their studies. By doing so, we wanted to determine the main reason for the appearance of plagiarism and how, within this main reasons, various indicators of plagiarism are judged and, finally, how demographic data and student motivation for study are associated with the reasons for plagiarism.Design/Methodology/Approach: A paper-and-pencil survey was carried out among 17 faculties of the University of Maribor in Slovenia. A sample of 139 students 85 males and 54 females participated in this study, ages ranged from 19 to 36 years. The questionnaire contained 95 closed questions referring to: (i) general data, (ii) education, (iii) social status, (iv) awareness of plagiarism, and (v) reasons for plagiarism. Parametric and nonparametric statistical tests were performed depending on distributions of the answers.Results: The results reveal that information and...

Background and Purpose: The aim of the study is to develop a conceptual key competency model for smart factories in production processes, focused on the automotive industry, as innovation and continuous development in this industry are at the forefront and represent the key to its long-term success. Methodology: For the purpose of the research, we used a semi-structured interview as a method of data collection. Participants were segmented into three homogeneous groups, which are industry experts, university professors and secondary education teachers, and government experts. In order to analyse the qualitative data, we used the method of content analysis. Results: Based on the analysis of the data collected by structured interviews, we identified the key competencies that workers in smart factories in the automotive industry will need. The key competencies are technical skills, ICT skills, innovation and creativity, openness to learning, ability to accept and adapt to change, and va...

U radu se utemeljuje tipologija organizacijske kulture u javnoj upravi.
U konstruiranju tipova polazi se od vrijednosti raširenih kod članova upravnih organizacija, s jedne, te od praktičnih orijentacija službenika, s druge strane. Kombinirajući pravne, političke i ekonomske vrijednosti s profesionalno-proaktivnom i uredsko-reaktivnom orijentacijom službenika, utvrđeni su legalistički i birokratski, particip ativni i autoritarni te poduzetnički i upravljački tip organizacijske kulture. Također, komentira se u literaturi raširena teza o organizacijskoj kulturi kao manje važnoj varijabli u istraživanju organizacijskih pojava.
Ključne riječi: organizacijska kultura, javna uprava

Background and Purpose: In this paper, we aim to propose a guideline for further research towards development of an adaptive strategic IT governance (ITG) model for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The use of IT has the potential to be the major driver for success, as well it provides an opportunity to achieve competitive advantage and support digital transformation. In order to achieve IT benefits, enterprises need an effective and successful ITG model, which follows and adapts to business needs. Available ITG models are too generic and do not differentiate for enterprises of different industry, size, maturity etc. Methodology: In order to review existing ITG mechanisms, their definitions and identify contingency factors, we performed an extensive literature review (LR). For the initial set of databases, we used the list of journals, which are indexed in the Journal Citation Reports. We also used Web of Science to identify articles with the highest number of citations. Re...

Background/Purpose: The effectiveness of a Business School depends on the extra role behaviours or Organ-isational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) of its committed academics. The social exchange theory postulates that employees tend to display OCB when they know how their organisation would treat them. As B-School academics’ inclination towards OCB is less understood, this study examines the interaction between Procedural Justice (PJ), Perceived Organisational Support (POS) and Organisational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) among B-School academics. Methods: A survey was carried out to collect data from B-School academics, 378 responses were collected from B-Schools from the state of Kerala, India. Data validity and reliability analyses, and direct and indirect effects of research variables were tested using Partial Least Square (PLS) path modelling. Results: The results indicate PJ positively influences POS as well as dimensions of the OCB for B-School academics. Contrary to previous OCB s...

Background: Workplace Deviance are among the most common phenomena observed in organizations. This might be attributed to narcissistic style of leadership and the manifestations of organizational aggression. It is further aggravated by increased workplace hostility. The main purpose of this research is to observe the impact of moderated mediation of organizational aggression and workplace hostility upon the relationship between narcissistic leadership and workplace deviance. Methodology: A cross-sectional investigation was conducted using self-survey method. With 673 participants in the study, the author used an electronic questionnaire (Google Forms) to collect data from employees working at five food product companies in Iraq. Mediation model, moderation analysis, and moderated mediation models were evaluated using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) for which AMOS V.23 software was used. Results inferred that organizational aggression partially mediates a positive relationship bet...

Background and purpose: The transformation to Industry 4.0 increases the number of robots installed within industries, which brings great shifts in industrial ecosystems. For this reason, our research goal was to analyze the key performance indicators to investigate the economic and social sustainability of the changes in production. Methodology: The combination of official (World Bank, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) and publicly available (Federal Reserve Economic Data, Industrial Federation of Robotics) data was used for statistical data processing, including comparison, correlation, cross-correlation and vector autoregression analysis, to present the past developments and also to predict future trends within the U.S. manufacturing sector. Results: In contrast to robust industry robotization observed in the 2008–2018 period, the share of manufacturing output and employment declined. Nonetheless, the vector autoregression model forecast shows, that the U.S. manufacturing sector h...

Background and Purpose: Organisational politics can have a substantial negative effect on employees' performance , however many organisations still do not pay attention to this organisational behaviour. In our study, we aim to examine the relationship between organisational culture and organisational citizenship behaviour through how employees perceive political behaviour within organisations. Methods: Convenience sampling technique has been employed, quantitative data were collected from 532 employees in the Jordan banking industry via online surveys. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to test the hypotheses of the study. Results: Analyses showed that organisational culture within the banking industry has an effect on how employees perceive political behaviour. A negative perception of political behaviour by employees, in turn, has a negative influence on employees' citizenship behaviour. These findings answer previous calls to investigate the destructive effe...

Background and Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to find the key drivers of Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) in the European Union (EU-28) countries from the aspect of country’s global competitiveness: institutions, macroeconomic environment, infrastructure, higher education, market effectiveness, market size, technological readiness, innovation and business sophistication. Methodology: This paper investigates global competitiveness of the EU-28 countries with the use of GCI in the periods 2014-2015 and 2017-2018. The correlation analysis and regression analysis are applied for testing the set two hypotheses. Results: The empirical results confirmed our hypotheses that GCI is particularly significantly positively correlated with innovation and business sophistication, and universities-industry collaboration in researches, and clusters development. Conclusion: The paper contributes to the literature of global competitiveness, by examining the relationship of sub-indexes of...

Background and Purpose: Though Mobile Wallets have the potential to entirely substitute their physical predecessor, many Mobile Wallets narrow their operations to one particular feature. This might be because of strategic business- model design choices to position themselves strategically as intermediates between users and business partners (third parties) in more delimited markets. Thus, Mobile Wallet Applications (MWAs) often represent platforms in narrow two-sided market structures.Design/Methodology/Approach: The paper focuses on the economics of such platforms by the means of a business model analysis. It examines how business partners are integrated in four MWAs’ strategies: Key Ring, FidMe, Apple Passbook and Qustomer.Results: The paper shows that MWAs strive to incorporate not only a large quantity of partners but also such with a high brand value (quality of partners) in their organization design. These partners shape their service design since none of the platforms offer p...

Background and purpose: In recruitment and selection, job applicants do not only base their justice judgment on the actual experience but also compare what happens and what they expect. This study, therefore, investigates applicants’ reaction to procedural justice in recruitment selection through the lens of psychological contract framework. Psychological contract theory highlights the role of expectations, discrepancies between perception and expectation, and perceived contract breach on individual outcomes. Methodology: Two surveys were conducted with job seekers in Vietnam, one before and one after the selection process. Printed questionnaires were administered to job seekers in the first survey, while the second used online survey. Structural Equation Modeling technique was adopted to analyze the data. Results: Data from a sample of 232 job seekers indicated that previous job experience and source of candidates were significantly related to justice expectations. In addition, per...

In the last time, new technology generations in many industries are presented every 2-3 years. The next technology revolution is expected to be different from the previous ones because technology is present in every aspect of our society. Technology processes have more and more an interdisciplinary character, therefore must be carried out systematically and if possible in a planned form. From integration of technology processes; to customer insights that drive product and brand extensions; to spotting emerging voids that competitors miss; technology-management trends are of tremendous importance for optimum business growth and profit. The main goal of this paper is to examine particular trends related to technology-management, as well as selected business indicators of the most successful technology/ICT companies in the world. The research methodology was based on the extensive study of innovative activities described in the annual and related reports of the most profitable technolo...

Background: Nowadays the emphasis on social components in the general mainstream of innovation activity is one of the strongest grounds for the successful functioning and development of enterprises. In several countries, social innovation activity is becoming a product of business in general, with associated expectations regarding profit. Objectives: The goal of the article is to develop a toolkit for the evaluation of the influence of the macro-environment on the social innovation activity (SIA) of enterprises. Method: The methodology includes elements of theoretical and empirical research with the implementation of methods such as a literature review, all types of analysis, and methods of aggregation and integration. Questionnaires were used as a means of data collection. Results: The general methodological framework of diagnostics of the SIA macro-environment is distinguished. Based on a theoretical analysis of the SIA ecosystem and the experience of operating enterprises, the ma...

Background and Purpose: The existing frameworks provide a superficial approach to the evaluation of product competitiveness which reveals the linkage between the level of product competitiveness and quantitative as well as qualitative factors that have the most significant impact thereon. Given this fact, the purpose of this paper is to elaborate a model for evaluating the competitiveness of sunflower packaged oil, considering both quantitative and qualitative factors that may alter it. Further, this model is being implemented to examine the most demanded Ukrainian sunflower oil brands in order to reveal possibilities for enhancing competitiveness. Design/Methodology/Approach: The general methodology of the research includes elements of theoretical, empirical, qualitative and quantitative analyses. The theoretical analysis aims to shed light upon a different understanding of “the evaluation of competitiveness”, as well as approaches and tools for analysing it. Empirical analysis foc...

Background and purpose: Despite their clear relevance to human life, microchip implants are still widely viewed as negative, threatening our privacy and raising growing concerns about our health. This paper aims to investigate the important factors influencing people’s perception of microchip implants and their willingness to use them for different purposes. Methodology: The cross-sectional study was conducted in three European countries and the data were analysed using the group Structural Equation Modeling approach. Only complete answers to the online survey questionnaire items were used representing a convenience sample of 804 respondents. Results: The results show that perceived ease of use, usefulness and perceived trust are significant predictors of intention to use microchip implants. Perceived trust is influenced by privacy and technology safety. Concerns about painful procedures and other health concerns reduce the perceived usefulness of microchip implants. Apart from the ...

Positive political, economic, and social implications make the eRegion concept attractive for a wide spectrum of stakeholders and players. We are focusing on eRegions created from EU and non-EU countries. We introduce wider definition of eRegion and assess some benefits and obstacles for implementation. An extension of e-Regions concept from geographically neighboring countries to Virtual eRegions with engaging countries that are not necessary geographically neighboring opens up new views and possibilities. The concept could be ...

Background: Most societies have a negative attitude toward gossip and managers are concerned about the impact of gossips on the communication in an organizational environment. Our study examined the perception of gossip, and the context of gossip at different levels of a hospital, a case of organization with high communicational relation among staff. Also, the differences between the gossip context within the organizational context and within the social environment have been considered. Methodology: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 27 informants, 9 in each of three groups: nurses, supervisors and managers of the Hospital. Recorded interviews were analyzed using content analysis, and results for each group of respondents were compared. Finally, the main gossiping issues for each group were categorized. Results: The study revealed that the topics of gossip in a hospital can be divided into eight main categories, and 34 sub-categories all identifiable by special topics. T...

Background and Purpose: The aim of this paper is to present the influence of Industry 4.0 on the development of the new simulation modelling paradigm, embodied by the Digital Twin concept, and examine the adoption of the new paradigm via a multiple case study involving real-life R&D cases involving academia and industry. Design: We introduce the Industry 4.0 paradigm, presents its background, current state of development and its influence on the development of the simulation modelling paradigm. Further, we present the multiple case study methodology and examine several research and development projects involving automated industrial process modelling, presented in recent scientific publications and conclude with lessons learned. Results: We present the research problems and main results from five individual cases of adoption of the new simulation modelling paradigm. Main lesson learned is that while the new simulation modelling paradigm is being adopted by big companies and SMEs, th...

Background and Purpose: Bringing several opportunities for more effective and efficient IT governance and service exploitation, cloud computing is expected to impact the European and global economies significantly. Market data show that despite many advantages and promised benefits the adoption of cloud computing is not as fast and widespread as foreseen. This situation shows the need for further exploration of the potentials of cloud computing and its implementation on the market. The purpose of this research was to identify individual business model factors with the highest impact on cloud computing adoption. In addition, the aim was to identify the differences in opinion regarding the importance of business model factors on cloud computing adoption according to companies’ previous experiences with cloud computing services. Methodology: Based on literature review, prior research results, and interviews with cloud computing providers and users, a research model was developed. Stati...

Background and Purpose: The standardisation and classification of managed events provide a legislative basis to distinguish events managed for tourism in their characteristics and quality. The systems approach to standardisation and classification of managed events is a unique, holistic view of event management quality and event organization in tourism. It enables a clear overview of a researched topic and provides adequate support to design and decision-making. In this paper, we explain the meaning of standardisation and classification for Slovenian legislation related to event management. We present the importance of a systems approach methodology for event categorization and classification as it relates to the quality of event management organization, the quality of staff, the quality of the event program and the quality of event services.Objectives: Provide an overview of events in tourism, related definitions and information gathered from scientific authors, which serves as cur...

A virtual organization is a community of people who interact together socially on a technical platform. These kinds of communities are built on a common interest, a common problem or a common task of its members that is pursued on the basis of implicit and explicit codes of behavior. The six dimensions that are normally used to analyze virtual organizations are the use of technologies, sense of belonging, success factors, level of trust from members, virtual community management, and contents of the virtual community. The virtual organizations defined in the literature are not defined separately for non-profit research virtual organization. Here we present analysis of non-profit research virtual organization, European Working Group on Operational Research for Development (EGW ORD). This paper provides a summary of achievements and challenges faced in building a virtual organization. This kind of analysis plays a vital role in establishing new non-profit virtual organizations to serv...

The aim of this paper is to analyse mobbing in a large, non-profit, state-owned organization in order to find out to what extent mobbing is present and in what way it takes place. In addition, the purpose of the research is to analyse whether the extent of mobbing is connected to employee’s age, gender and position.In this quantitative research, a total of 355 opinions were collected using a random selection procedure within the selected large size, state-owned organization (between 1000 and 2000 employees). The results of the employees’ experiences of mobbing were statistically analysed and tested.Similar to other researches, a third of all respondents stated they have been affected by mobbing in the last three years. Additionally, we found out that younger employees are not affected more than older. Interestingly, there are also no gender differences as both genders seem to be affected similarly. Also, a management position does not mean a person is less exposed to mobbing. Finall...

Background and Purpose: While the world population is aging, the aim of this study is to bring new knowledge into age management research by investigating the most important factors that encourage older employees to remain in the labour market longer, also after meeting the official retirement age, based on an in-depth qualitative case study of the high-end luxury fashion designer with more than 50 years of working experience. Design/Methodology/Approach: We conducted an inductive case study in fashion industry. Specifically, our case study is build based on the content analysis of secondary data as well as an in-depth interview with the general manager in the fashion and high-end luxury industry in Slovenia. Results: The proposed conceptual model shows key facets, as assigned overarching categories, namely-vitality, intrinsic motivation, adapting, lifelong learning, and positive emotions and therefore contributes to the age management phenomena. Within the presented case study, we ...

Volume and sophistication of scientific research related to different aspects of entrepreneurship have significantly increased in recent years. Many authors point out the positive influence that development of micro, small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurship has on economic growth and job creation. According to various researchers, youth entrepreneurship and women entrepreneurship are two very important elements of this global phenomenon. The purpose of this paper is to provide the analysis of strategic framework for the support to the development of youth and women entrepreneurship in Serbia.Situational analysis of youth and women employment and examination of official Government strategic documents related to strategic framework for the support to the development of youth and women entrepreneurship in Serbia will be conducted.Concrete activities have to be performed by different stakeholders, mostly non-government organizations. The activity stakeholders are on the bottom ...

In the recent period, scholarly interest for family entrepreneurship and succession has been increasing while the question of innovative capability of family SMEs and of innovativeness of founders and successors is relatively unexplored. Little is known about the factors, which are positively correlated, or affect innovativeness of successors in family SMEs. This research explores the relationship between entrepreneurial competences of the founders in family SMEs and innovativeness of their successors.The target group were family SMEs of the first and the second generation – their founders and successors in Slovenia. As our research includes two independent samples with mostly ordinal data, we used univariate (analysis of means, variance, reliability index Cronbach alpha, t-test) and multivariate (simultaneous analysis of more variables, correlation) statistical methods to study the two constructs - entrepreneurial competences of the founders and innovativeness of successors, to tes...

We describe a Gis-based real-time system for emergency response and management of air pollution accidents in an urban area. the system architecture emphasises the integration of meteorological, chemical and Gis data, dispersion modeling, decision-making and geo-spatial visualization. the threat zones, unsafe areas and safe traffic routes are obtained using an improved Gaussian plume model with a decision-making module and then exported to the Google earth browser via “kml” file format. several simulation scenarios ...