bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Participation of Persons Belonging to National Minorities – Cases of Samtskhe-Javakheti and Gali
Authors: Frichova Magdalena
Published: January 2017

This article explores inter-ethnic and minority participation issues in conflict prevention and ongoing conflict settings. Its focus is on two cases: Georgia's Armenian-inhabited Samtskhe-Javakheti and the Georgian-inhabited Gali district under Abkhaz control. Conflict prevention and resolution contexts have been deeply intertwined in Georgia. Tbilisi's approach to Armenian and Azeri minorities has been affected by ongoing conflict in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and it has in turn had an impact on Abkhaz and Ossetian perceptions of Georgian conflict resolution policies. Some progress with integration of Azeri and Armenian minorities has been achieved, but much is yet to be accomplished: among others, a genuinely open dialogue and a change in the spirit of majority-minority relations are needed. Gali Georgians are trapped between Tbilisi and Sukhumi in increasingly precarious conditions after the 2008 war. Their community has a great potential for conflict transformation activity; the parties to the conflict and the international community should support them to apply it.
When the Lund Recommendations are Ignored. Effective Participation of National Minorities through Territorial Autonomy
Authors: Palermo Francesco
Published: January 2017

While providing useful guidance on territorial autonomy as a means to enhance minority participation in public life, the Lund Recommendations have had very limited impact in this regard. Virtually nothing has changed as to territorial autonomy in the OSCE region over the last decade. The article investigates the reasons why this has been the case and argues that territorial autonomy is handled with excessive caution, by both domestic and international actors. A non-emotional, de-politicised approach to territorial autonomy is suggested, one that pays attention to good governance and not only to self-governance. Territorial autonomy can better support minority participation the more it is used as an instrument for integration of a territory as a whole rather than of self-isolation of a minority group. In dealing with territorial autonomy, the focus has to be on the territorial rather than on the personal dimension. This also reflects the very nature and the 'original intent' of territorial autonomy regimes.
The Lund Recommendations and Non-Territorial Arrangements: Progressive De-territorialization of Minority Politics
Authors: Malloy Tove H.
Published: January 2017

Non-territorial arrangements (NTA) are overlooked both as conflict prevention tools and as a minority participation concept. As a conflict prevention tool, governments are provided with limited NTA options for consideration. This means that the aim of NTA as a means to de-territorialize minority politics is overlooked. As a concept, the academic literature provides a narrow scope of NTA, thus limiting the reach of the concept. This is problematic because a progressive conceptualization of NTA could not only broaden the scope of participation but also the scope of protection of minorities. The infrequent use of NTA as a minority accommodation model in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) member states over the first ten years of the Lund Recommendations underpins these arguments. This article provides an overview of NTA codification in the OSCE member states after 1999 as a backdrop to a short discussion of the shortcomings in the Lund Recommendations in regard to NT A. In addition to providing some suggestions as to how a progressive view of NTA would look, the article also offers three recommendations to the High Commissioner· on National Minorities office as to an improved application of the Lund Recommendations in the area of NTA.
“Government in India and Japan is different from government in Europe”: Asian Jesuits on Infrastructure, Administrative Space, and the Possibilities for a Global Management of Power
Authors: Friedrich Markus
Published: January 2017

This paper investigates the influence of geographical distance on the practices and concepts of Jesuit administration in the early modern period. It discusses in particular select letters by Alessandro Valignano from East Asia, to demonstrate how loyal Jesuits in the Far East asked for administrative adjustments in order to overcome the enormous infrastructural difficulties involved in upholding constant epistolary communication with Rome. Valignano over and again stressed both the difference and the distance between Asia and Europe and thought that both factors necessitated an accommodation of the order’s organizational framework. This case study thus helps address the broader questions of how the members of the Society of Jesus conceived of global space. It becomes clear that, while they hoped for institutional unity and insisted frequently on procedural uniformity, they also openly acknowledged that due to distance and cultural differences there never could exist an entirely homogeneous, single global Jesuit space.
“Apostles and men of learning”: Miguel Venegas, Andrés Marcos Burriel, and the Jesuit Vocation for Natural History
Authors: Green Bryan
Published: January 2017

The transformation of the Empressas apostólicas (1739), a manuscript history of the Jesuits’ missions in Lower California written by the novo-Hispanic Jesuit Miguel Venegas, into the Noticia de la California (1757), a thoroughly revised version of Venegas’s original prepared by the Spanish Jesuit Andrés Marcos Burriel, provides a case study in how the enactment of the Jesuit ascetic ideal exercised on the Spanish-American mission frontier was closely linked to Enlightenment natural history and ethnography. Through an analysis of both works, as well as Burriel’s correspondence with his Jesuit confrères in New Spain, this article aims to demonstrate the underlying tension in eighteenth-century Jesuit writing between traditional, providential narratives and the skeptical, scientific discourse of secular natural histories. Burriel’s work, which was widely translated and disseminated throughout Europe, aimed to bridge these two discourses by employing the Society’s apostolic-ascetic vocation and global missionary network in the service of natural histories that would appeal to a secular reading public and inform Spanish colonial administration.
“The Pilgrim Predestined and His Brother Reprobate”: Jesuit Formative Paths in the Seventeenth Century
Authors: Massimi Marina
Published: January 2017

The article analyzes the allegorical Brazilian novel História do Predestinado peregrino e de seu irmão Precito (The story of the pilgrim Predestined and his brother Reprobate) (1682) in the light of the history of psychological knowledge. The novel’s author, Alexandre de Gusmão (1695–1753), was an important member of the Society of Jesus in Brazil who became the director of Jesuit schools in the region. The article shows that the novel proposes a link between the psychological and spiritual dimensions, a link necessary for health and decisive in the healing of mental disorders. The role of psychological dynamism depends on the choice of an appropriate target or, in other words, on appetites being directed toward an appropriate object.
Generating descriptive model for student dropout: a review of clustering approach
Authors: Iam-On Natthakan , Boongoen Tossapon
Published: January 2017

The implementation of data mining is widely considered as a powerful instrument for acquiring new knowledge from a pile of historical data, which is normally left unstudied. This data driven methodology has proven effective to improve the quality of decision-making in several domains such as business, medical and complex engineering problems. Recently, educational data mining (EDM) has obtained a great deal of attention among educational researchers and computer scientists. In general, publications in the field of EDM focus on understanding student types and targeted marketing, using both descriptive and predictive models to maximize student retention. Inspired by previous attempts, this paper aims to establish the clustering approach as a practical guideline to explore student categories and characteristics, with the working example on a real dataset to illustrate analytical procedures and results.
MRI detection of endothelial cell inflammation using targeted superparamagnetic particles of iron oxide (SPIO)
Authors: Chan Joyce M. S. , Cheung Maggie S. H. , Gibbs Richard G. J. , Bhakoo Kishore K.
Published: January 2017

Background

There is currently no clinical imaging technique available to assess the degree of inflammation associated with atherosclerotic plaques. This study aims to develop targeted superparamagnetic particles of iron oxide (SPIO) as a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) probe for detecting inflamed endothelial cells.

Methods

The in vitro study consists of the characterisation and detection of inflammatory markers on activated endothelial cells by immunocytochemistry and MRI using biotinylated anti‐P‐selectin and anti‐VCAM‐1 (vascular cell adhesion molecule 1) antibody and streptavidin conjugated SPIO.

Results

Established an in vitro cellular model of endothelial inflammation induced with TNF‐α (tumor necrosis factor alpha). Inflammation of endothelial cells was confirmed with both immunocytochemistry and MRI. These results revealed both a temporal and dose dependent expression of the inflammatory markers, P‐selectin and VCAM‐1, on exposure to TNF‐α.

Conclusion

This study has demonstrated the development of an in vitro model to characterise and detect inflamed endothelial cells by immunocytochemistry and MRI. This will allow the future development of contrast agents and protocols for imaging vascular inflammation in atherosclerosis. This work may form the basis for a translational study to provide clinicians with a novel tool for the in vivo assessment of atherosclerosis.
Gadolinium tracers for enhancement of Sigma-log contrast measurements
Authors: van der Hoeven Christopher , Montgomery Matthew , Sablan Gregory , Schneider Erich , Torres-Verdín Carlos
Published: January 2017

Borehole neutron measurements are routinely used for in situ rock assessment in hydrocarbon reservoirs. We have used gadolinium oxide nanoparticles for enhancing the sensitivity of macroscopic thermal neutron absorption cross-section (Sigma) measurements of rocks. The gadolinium-based doping agent is used due to its exceptionally high neutron absorption cross section, low cost, and availability; it is also shown to preserve or enhance the differentiation between pore fluids. Injected from a pilot well, the doping agent could thus substantially improve the precision of Sigma-derived saturation measurements. Computational modeling verifies that modest gadolinium concentrations in the rock’s pore volume give rise to significant enhancement of reported Sigma: A concentration of 1750 weight ppm is shown to offer superior contrast enhancement across a wide range of rock solid and fluid compositions. Preliminary experimental work confirms the reported effects obtained with computational modeling of gadolinium doping in simulated porous rocks.
Microtubules in 3D cell motility
Authors: Bouchet Benjamin P. , Akhmanova Anna
Published: January 2017

Three-dimensional (3D) cell motility underlies essential processes, such as embryonic development, tissue repair and immune surveillance, and is involved in cancer progression. Although the cytoskeleton is a well-studied regulator of cell migration, most of what we know about its functions originates from studies conducted in two-dimensional (2D) cultures. This research established that the microtubule network mediates polarized trafficking and signaling that are crucial for cell shape and movement in 2D. In parallel, developments in light microscopy and 3D cell culture systems progressively allowed to investigate cytoskeletal functions in more physiologically relevant settings. Interestingly, several studies have demonstrated that microtubule involvement in cell morphogenesis and motility can differ in 2D and 3D environments. In this Commentary, we discuss these differences and their relevance for the understanding the role of microtubules in cell migration in vivo. We also provide an overview of microtubule functions that were shown to control cell shape and motility in 3D matrices and discuss how they can be investigated further by using physiologically relevant models.
Tissue mechanics regulate brain development, homeostasis and disease
Authors: Barnes J. Matthew , Przybyla Laralynne , Weaver Valerie M.
Published: January 2017

All cells sense and integrate mechanical and biochemical cues from their environment to orchestrate organismal development and maintain tissue homeostasis. Mechanotransduction is the evolutionarily conserved process whereby mechanical force is translated into biochemical signals that can influence cell differentiation, survival, proliferation and migration to change tissue behavior. Not surprisingly, disease develops if these mechanical cues are abnormal or are misinterpreted by the cells – for example, when interstitial pressure or compression force aberrantly increases, or the extracellular matrix (ECM) abnormally stiffens. Disease might also develop if the ability of cells to regulate their contractility becomes corrupted. Consistently, disease states, such as cardiovascular disease, fibrosis and cancer, are characterized by dramatic changes in cell and tissue mechanics, and dysregulation of forces at the cell and tissue level can activate mechanosignaling to compromise tissue integrity and function, and promote disease progression. In this Commentary, we discuss the impact of cell and tissue mechanics on tissue homeostasis and disease, focusing on their role in brain development, homeostasis and neural degeneration, as well as in brain cancer.
Impact of a modified HP filter on countercyclical behavior of the Swiss fiscal rule
Authors: Pigoń Adam , Ramsza Michał
Published: January 2017

Fiscal rules are an idea that has been getting more attention lately due to the recent economic crisis. Fiscal rules has been tested for many properties, including countercyclical behavior. The present paper focuses on the Swiss fiscal rule and investigates the impact of a modified HP filter, used in the rule, on countercyclical behavior of the rule. The paper uses real GDP time series for over a hundred countries and applies the rule to each time series in two variants, with a standard HP filter and a modified HP filter. For each result procyclicality indices are calculated. It is found that the modification of HP filter, used in the Swiss fiscal rule, increases countercyclical behavior of the rule.
Fiscal councils as an element of the concept of fiscal governance in the European Union member states
Authors: Dziemianowicz Ryta , Kargol-Wasiluk Aneta , Budlewska Renata
Published: January 2017

Fiscal governance is defined as a combination of institutions, rules and norms that structure good governance in the area of fiscal policy. It can be named as the specific mechanism of coordination by using of tools such as: budgetary procedures (legislative fiscal rules), fiscal rules (numerical) and independent fiscal institutions/ fiscal councils. Fiscal governance focuses on how the fiscal policy is planned, approved, conducted and monitored, including the involvement of not only public bodies, but the business sector and civil society too. In this study, particular attention was paid to capturing the essence of the relationship between the qualitative elements of fiscal councils activity and its impact on stabilizing the public finances in the view of fiscal governance concept. During the last world crisis in the EU countries, an interest in establishing fiscal councils has increased. Before 2008 there were only seven institutions in the EU, while in 2014 there are already 19. The question is - are these institutions efficient in stabilizing public finances? Therefore, the main objective of the article is the assessment of the role of the fiscal councils in the coordination of the fiscal policy in the EU Member States. The conducted analysis verifies this role on the basis of theoretical deliberation of the current state of the art. The empirical research verifies fiscal councils’ dependence on fiscal balance of EU countries. Research was conducted on the basis of the European Commission, Eurostat and International Monetary Fund data sets.
Allocating tax revenue to sub-central government levels: lessons from Germany and Poland
Authors: Hybka Małgorzata Magdalena
Published: January 2017

Tax sharing arrangements provide considerable financial resources to sub-central government levels. This statement is true both for unitary and federal states although tax revenue sharing mechanisms differ significantly across countries. The basic aim of this article is to compare the mechanisms adopted in Germany and in Poland. It assesses the degree of tax autonomy granted to sub-central government levels in the countries analysed, overviews the principles of apportionment of joint (shared) taxes and presents statistics on tax revenue composition of sub-central government levels.
Systems of general grants for local governments in selected EU countries against the background of the general theory of fiscal policy
Authors: Sekuła Alicja , Śmiechowicz Joanna
Published: January 2017

Fiscal policy, including its expenditure aspect, is often discussed and analysed from a variety of angles in the literature on public finances, undoubtedly due to the major importance of this topic. However, not all areas of the expenditure part of fiscal policy have been subjected to in-depth analysis. One of the less discussed tools of fiscal policy consists of general purpose transfers, which are a certain type of expenditure passed from the central budget to local governments. This study focuses on presenting the systems for subsidising sub-national governments in selected European countries and evaluating, based on a synthetic measure, the fiscal policies of France, Italy, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Poland and Finland implemented by means of general transfers, with the aim of identifying the best fiscal policy with respect to subsidising and the characteristic features determining its success. The method of unitisation of statistical feature values was employed in this study to enable comparative analysis. As suggested by the results of the analysis, spanning the years 2003–2012, the highest-ranked fiscal policy implemented via general-purpose transfers has been developed in the Netherlands.
Dispersion of inflation expectations in the European Union during the global financial crisis
Authors: Acedański Jan , Włodarczyk Julia
Published: January 2017

Inflation expectations, both their median and dispersion, are of great importance to the effectiveness of monetary policy. The goal of this paper is to examine the impact of the global financial crisis on dispersion of inflation expectations in the European Union. Using European Commission’s survey data, we find that in the early phase of the crisis the dispersion dropped rapidly but then, after Lehman Brothers’ collapse, the trend reversed and these fluctuations cannot be explained by movements of inflation rates and other commonly used factors. We also observe that, in the new European Union member states, the initial drop of the dispersion was weaker whereas the subsequent rise was stronger as compared to the old member states.
Transmission mechanism of the Federal Reserve System’s monetary policy in the conditions of zero bound on nominal interest rates
Authors: Brózda Dominika
Published: January 2017

The experience of Japan from the 90s of the twentieth century and the recent global financial crisis has shown that the zero lower bound problem has ceased to be a theoretical curiosity and became the subject of intense scientific discussion. This issue is closely linked with John Maynard Keynes’s liquidity trap. The phenomenon of the zero lower bound is very controversial. Not all economists agree that it may restrict the effectiveness of the central bank’s actions. The aim of the article is to present the views of economists on this transmission mechanism of monetary policy under the zero lower bound. The paper also attempts to evaluate the effectiveness of the Federal Reserve System’s monetary policy at zero nominal interest rates.
Statistical analysis of business cycle fluctuations in Poland before and after the crisis
Authors: Lenart Łukasz , Mazur Błażej , Pipień Mateusz
Published: January 2017

The main objective of the paper is to investigate properties of business cycles in the Polish economy before and after the recent crisis. The essential issue addressed here is whether there is statistical evidence that the recent crisis has affected the properties of the business cycle fluctuations. In order to improve robustness of the results, we do not confine ourselves to any single inference method, but instead use different groups of statistical tools, including non-parametric methods based on subsampling and parametric Bayesian methods. We examine monthly series of industrial production (from January 1995 till December 2014), considering the properties of cycles in growth rates and in deviations from long-run trend. Empirical analysis is based on the sequence of expanding-window samples, with the shortest sample ending in December 2006. The main finding is that the two frequencies driving business cycle fluctuations in Poland correspond to cycles with periods of 2 and 3.5 years, and (perhaps surprisingly) the result holds both before and after the crisis. We, therefore, find no support for the claim that features (in particular frequencies) that characterize Polish business cycle fluctuations have changed after the recent crisis. The conclusion is unanimously supported by various statistical methods that are used in the paper, however, it is based on relatively short series of the data currently available.
Business cycle synchronization in European Union: regional perspective
Authors: Beck Krzysztof
Published: January 2017

The recent turmoil in the euro area once more forces the EU authorities to reconsider the future of further monetary integration. One of the most commonly used criteria for successful monetary integration in contemporary research is business cycle synchronization (BCS). Though BCS has been vastly described at country level, not as much attention has been paid to the degree of BSC at regional level. The topic is important for two main reasons. Firstly, determining the degree of BCS at the regional level can help in the assessment of monetary policy effectiveness on the country level, as well as give a point of reference for evaluation of prospective costs of participation in a monetary union. Secondly, there is a theoretical dispute within the optimum currency areas literature between the ‘European Commission’ and the ‘Krugman’ view that can be resolved to a large extent trough regional analysis. In order to assess BCS in the EU, Hodrick-Prescott, as well as Christiano and Fitzgerald filter to time series of real GDP for 24 countries, 82 NUTS 1, 242 NUTS 2 and 1264 NUTS 3 regions over the period between 1998 and 2010. The data was later used to create bilateral measures of BSC, which gave 276 observations on the country level, 3321 on NUTS 1, 29161 on NUTS 2 and 798216 on NUTS 3 level. The results of the analysis support the ‘European Commission’ view and show a very high degree of BSC within EU countries. The country level analysis also reveals that within the EU there is a group of countries that could form an effectively working monetary union based on the BCS criterion.
Determinants of human capital development in Africa: a panel data analysis
Authors: Shuaibu Mohammed , Oladayo Popoola Timothy
Published: January 2017

Africa is regarded as the least developed continent in terms of overall development and specifically in terms of human capital development (HCD) efforts. Research on the determinants of HCD in Africa is scanty, as the literature is dominated by country-specific studies as well as group of country studies that primarily focus on the effect of human capital on growth and other economic development parameters. Therefore, this paper investigates the determinants of human capital development in 33 African countries over a 14-year period from 2000 to 2013. The empirical analysis is predicated on Sen’s capability approach that was modified following Binder and Georgiadis (2011) in order to explicitly account for the role of health, infrastructure and institutions as potential drivers of HCD. This is a departure from previous studies that focused primarily on the role of education. In addition to preliminary tests such as line plot, descriptive statistics and correlation analysis carried out, the data is analysed using panel unit root, co-integration and causality techniques. Findings show that all the variables are integrated of order one while HCD and its determinants have a stable long-run equilibrium relationship. Specifically, all the variables significantly influence HCD in the long run, whereas the contemporaneous models suggest that only institutions matter. Utilizing alternative estimators as well as estimation of subsamples, robustness tests reinforce our findings. Therefore, African governments may consider supporting HCD through sustained investment in the education and health sectors. At the same time, short-term gains may be attained through enhanced institutional quality and infrastructure development.
Differences and similarities in the indebtedness of EU member states after last financial crisis
Authors: Lajtkepová Eva
Published: January 2017

Indebtedness is undoubtedly one of the most significant economic problems in the countries of the EU. Despite the fact that the EU-28 have adopted criteria and measures that should regulate indebtedness, the majority of member states are not keeping up to these previously agreed rules. For many countries indebtedness has become a barrier to further development. The article’s aim is to provide an overview of the indebtedness of EU member states and to explore whether this indebtedness is linked to or even dependent on selected economic characteristics (GDP, unemployment rate and social benefits paid as a share of GDP). Data from the EU-28 countries, the Eurozone and the countries outside the Eurozone will be studied separately on the assumption that there will be differences between the countries in the Eurozone and those outside it. In the investigation of the issue only secondary data from the official statistics can be used. All the data are taken from Eurostat and then processed using the standard methods of descriptive statistics and correlation analysis. The analysis carried out showed that the average indebtedness of the EU-28 countries is higher than set by the EU criteria, and at the same time confirmed that there is a difference in debt levels between countries within and outside the Eurozone. The Eurozone countries show indebtedness that is overall higher than in countries outside the Eurozone, while at the same time they show a moderately strong linear dependence both between indebtedness and unemployment rates and between indebtedness and payments of social benefits. In the countries outside the Eurozone it was shown that while the relationship between indebtedness and the unemployment rate was weak that between indebtedness and the payment of social benefits was relatively strong.
An analysis of Ramadan effect by GJR-GARCH model: case of Borsa Istanbul
Authors: Akbalik Murat , Tunay K. Batu
Published: January 2017

Although there are a lot of studies testing the calendar effect in BIST, there are limited numbers of studies testing the Ramadan effect. In this study, the period of 05 August 1997–24 October 2014 is tested by the GJR-GARCH(1,1) model on the basis of BIST 30, 100, all, second national, sectors and sub-sectors. In some of the models, the dummy variable of Ramadan did not have significant coefficients. In the models that provide significant value of the dummy variable of Ramadan, coefficients of this variable are negative. This shows that, in the Ramadan, return rates of the second national index, chemistry, and manifacturing, textile, trust companies sectors are affected negatively. Any significant result could not be found whether Ramadan has effect upon other sector indices. Findings are in the direction that even if the month of Ramadan generally doesn’t increase the average return, it makes a positive impact on the market by reducing the volatility of returns.
Controversies about agency theory as theoretical basis for corporate governance
Authors: Kultys Jan
Published: January 2017

The issue of corporate governance is being taken up by different branches of science. Particular views on the nature and goals of a firm, as well as on corporate law, determine various approaches to the issue. The ongoing debate on corporate governance is being stimulated by notorious scandals and economic crises. The agency theory (prevailing today), which assumes egoism and pursuit of one’s own interests, forms the basis for shareholder primacy model, while team production theory forms the basis for director primacy model. Stewardship theory, which assumes convergence of management’s and stakeholders’ interests, may be competing or complementary towards the agency theory, depending on situation. According to management theory, efficient management requires law regulation of managers’ status. This paper is aimed at presenting controversies about traditional agency theory as theoretical basis for corporate governance, as well as at discussing other perspectives on the issue, which are extensions of the traditional theory or are based on substantially different premises. The analysis shows that going beyond agency theory allows for better understanding of the whole range of models of corporate governance as well as of the changes that are being proposed in the area. The method utilized in this paper is descriptive and comparative in character.
Network organizations and corporate social responsibility
Authors: Kowalska Katarzyna
Published: January 2017

Network organizations largely determine the competitive advantage today. Collaboration between companies and their success is based primarily on the image and trust. The network relations management is included in the supply chain, and the more complicated the chain, the more " fuzzy " the responsibility for the external effects of the business. In practice, network relationships result in numerous abuses, mostly in relations with competitors, customers and clients. However, it can be assumed that increasing competition, also on the Polish market, will force companies to apply socially responsible practices, also in the context of cooperating with local enterprises. The concept of corporate responsibility (CSR – Corporate Social Responsibility) is, in Polish conditions, a relatively unpopular concept, and the rare practice, especially among domestic enterprises. The situation is different on the Western Europe markets or in the USA. Companies operating in these markets are obliged to adapt the business standards to expectations of various stakeholders, and also contractors. The aim of the article is an attempt to justify the socially responsible practices by companies in today's and future market conditions. In addition, the article aims to describe network connections, different types of these relations, but also various methods and tools of improving existing network relations. In the context of socially responsible business, it seemed important to also analyze the relationships between organizational culture and actual practices taken by companies.
Maturity of strategic management in organizations
Authors: Witek-Crabb Anna
Published: January 2017

There is some ambivalence with regard to how to improve strategic management of organizations. On the one hand, the example of big companies emphasizes the need for formalization and good organization of strategic management process. On the other hand, the example of small companies draws attention to such qualities as entrepreneurship, flexibility and adaptability. The concept of strategic management maturity embraces both of these priorities. In this paper, a framework for strategic management maturity has been designed. Strategic management maturity was defined as a resultant of: strategic management process maturity and leadership maturity. Theoretical framework was tested on a sample of 150 Polish enterprises.
Vinotherapy as an innovation – impact on health attitudes
Authors: Rutkowska-Podołowska Małgorzata , Szczygieł Nina , Podołowski Grzegorz
Published: January 2017

Evidence from research has not only excluded negative consequence of moderate wine consumption, but associated consumption of grapes and their components with a protective impact on health. Wine demonstrates anti-cancer, antioxidant and defensive results for the cardiovascular system. Not surprisingly, there is an interest in exploring a growing consumption of wine and turning it into innovative solutions with different approaches, making use of areas that have undergone significant transformations over last decades as a results of a global dynamical change which offer new consumption patterns seen now as driving forces for stagnating economies of the XXI century. This article builds on this perspective aiming to shed some light on wine consumption patterns, health attitudes and the perception and awareness of positive effect of a moderate consumption of wine on human health. The study was carried out between March and May 2013 as a self-administered questionnaire to visitors of liquor stores, wineries, wineries of the Lower Silesia region, Poland. Results demonstrate an interest in consumption of wine with opposite tendencies in opinions about the recommended about the recommended wine quantity of consumption. Some consciousness of health-related benefits and applications of wine show an increasing awareness in this matter.
Personality Attitudes Affecting Employee Learning and Development: Prerequisites of Behaviour Leading to Learning and Development
Authors: Vnoučková Lucie
Published: January 2017

Purpose: This study aims to reveal current approach and reactions of employees towards learning and development in organisations and to specify variants of behaviour as factors affecting employee development. Methodology/Approach: The study is based on evaluation of quantitative research. The data were collected via electronic questionnaires. The sample contains 211 employees from organisations across sectors. Bivariate and multivariate statistical methods and analyses were used to lower the number of possible single approaches and practices. Analyses formed valid factors, which influence and determine employee development.Findings: Results identified and verified different ways of reactions of respondents on organisational learning and development. Main searched areas of employee behaviour variability are motivation, affect and performance. Factors described in the presented article show the main ways which are used by employees in order to pass the learning and development process. Variability of employees’ reactions on learning and development process and its impact on performance is described using quantitative data.Research Limitation/implication: The results may be used in praxis in organisations to manage employee behaviour in order to grow constantly and use their own potential talents and leaders. Besides this study there are several promising avenues for further research. It would be useful to know the impact on life-long development and there should be an investigation of the longer term impacts of learning in organisations.Originality/Value of paper: Employee learning and development are truly crucial for organisational and economy development. But the process of learning and development is not constant. Variability of employee behaviour during organisational education and development is currently discussed theme, however there is a lack of studies and researches focused on this area. Therefore this paper identyfies and describes variability of emoployee behaviour during the learning and development process. Employees react in five different directions (positive, negative or neutral as resignation) and the impact on organisation is either positive or none.Category: Case study
Adequacy, Suitability, Effectiveness and Efficiency of Quality Management Systems: How to perceive and assess them?
Authors: Nenadál Jaroslav
Published: January 2017

Purpose: The paper brings set of original information related to the ISO 9001:2015 standard´s requirements focused on assessment and review of quality management systems adequacy, suitability and effectiveness.Methodology/Approach: Brainstorming, field research, seminars, comparative literature analysis, interviews and design review were used.Findings: According to the ISO 9001:2015 the quality management systems adequacy, suitability and effectiveness must be assessed and reviewed, in spite of the terms adequacy and suitability are not defined at the ISO 9000:2015 standardat all. Also literature review has discovered serious absentation in this area of interest. Additionally: the most of organizations managers (including quality professionals) do not understand these features of the modern quality management systems.Research Limitation/implication: Special research activities focused on perception and practical using the quality management systems adequacy, suitability and effectiveness assessment and review was performed on sample of 172 Czech organizations (with 30 % response rate). A hypotheses described by Fig. 1 below cannot be confirmed as relevant data are unobtainable from Czechorganizations at present.Originality/Value of paper: The paper brings original set of information, regarding to definitions of terms as well as development of the quality management systems adequacy, suitability and effectiveness assessment and review at different types of organizations.
Measuring Appreciative Inquiry, Lean and Perceived Co-worker Health
Authors: Bäckström Ingela , Ingelsson Pernilla
Published: January 2017

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a developed questionnaire which measure Appreciative Inquiry, Lean values and co-workers health. The purpose is also to explore if and how Appreciative Inquiry correlates with Lean values and co-workers’ perceived health in an organisation working with Lean.Methodology/Approach: To investigate the relationship between Lean, Appreciative Inquiry and perceived co-worker health, a questionnaire was developed based on two previously tested questionnaires. The new questionnaire was answered by 841 co-workers at a Swedish municipality and was then analysed to explore in what way Appreciative Inquiry correlates with a numberof Lean values as well as perceived co-worker health.Findings: All variables were found to be significantly correlated with the variable ‘Appreciative Inquiry’. The variable ‘Continuous improvements’ relates most to ‘Appreciative Inquiry’ followed by ‘Eliminating Waste’ as those variables can be considered to have a large positive relationship. ‘Supportive Leadership’ and ‘System view’ have a medium positive relation to ‘Appreciative Inquiry’ and the variables ‘Health’ and ‘Customt.er focus’ have a small relation to Appreciative Inquiry in this contex.
A Matrix of the Functions and Organizations that Ensure Continued Healthcare Services in a Disaster
Authors: Kajihara Chisato , Munechika Masahiko , Kaneko Masaaki , Sano Masataka , Jin Haizhe
Published: January 2017

Purpose: Japan is one of the most natural disaster-prone countries in the world. In the case of a natural disaster or mass casualty incident, a large number of injured people are likely to go to hospitals, which need to provide more services at such times. Thus, it is necessary for various bodies – such as hospitals, municipalities, medical associations, pharmaceutical associations, and trade associations – to collaborate. For example, coordination among multiple hospitals is important when transporting patients to another hospital if they cannot be examined at the first one. There is a pressing need to establish an Area Disaster Resilience Management System for Healthcare (ADRMS-H) to increase medical resilience. In order to develop an ADRMS-H and ensure that continuous healthcare is provided during calamities, it is necessary to clarify the functions (which we have already explained) and coordination that organizations must perform. Since medical care needs change by the hour during disasters, so do the functions that guarantee ongoing healthcare. This study aims to create a matrix of functions ensuring continued healthcare services in a disaster and relevant organizations to understand each one’s role and how they relate to each other.Methodology/Approach: We used the case of Kawaguchi city in Saitama Prefecture, Japan as an example to illustrate related organizations needed to fulfill the functions for ensuring continued healthcare services. Next, we created a matrix of the functions and organizations.Findings: This study identified related organizations such as municipalities, hospitals, medical associations, and trade associations in Kawaguchi city. Since functions for ensuring ongoing healthcare change by the hour, so do the organizations, whose transformations we analyzed by the hour.Originality/Value of paper: The results of this paper can help people understand how related organizations work together during disasters; in light of this, it will be possible to develop a model for an ADRMS-H in terms of coordination among organizations.
Continuous Quality Improvement as a Central Tenet of TQM: History and Current Status
Authors: Lahidji Behrooz , Tucker Walter
Published: January 2017

Purpose: The great promise of continual quality improvement advocated by early quality gurus like Deming and Juran has not been fully realized. This paper explores the reasons for the limited success of implementation and institutionalization of continuous quality improvement.Approach: About 100 quality professionals from diverse organizations answered questions related to this study. Additionally, the authors executed a wide-ranging literature search including the use of Google Scholar.Findings: Nearly all quality professionals queried in this study agree that compliance to an external quality standard such as ISO is mandatory for their organizations. However, there is disagreement as to whether or not compliance with the continuous improvement proviso in most quality standards is actually implemented and functioning.Research limitations/implications: The sample size is small and there is a need for a larger universe of quality professionals, registration/standards organizations, and academic researchers.Practical implications: Many organizations from a broad array of economic sectors both public and private must comply with external quality standards. Most external quality standards contain a requirement for evidence of continuous improvement. However, the potential for improvement associated with compliance is frequently not realized.Originality/value: Continuous quality improvement is central to many quality standards including ISO 9001. Unfortunately, many ISO compliant organizations are unable to operationalize and sustain the process of continual improvement. This paper provides a novel examination of this problem and suggests ways that organizations can leverage the potential for improvement via their existing quality systems.
Logistics Simulation Game Proposal – a Tool for Employees’ Induction
Authors: Olexová Cecília , Gajdoš Jozef
Published: January 2017

Purpose: The main purpose of this paper is to propose the development of a simulation game and to explain the use of the proposed logistics simulation game in the induction programme of new employees in real company settings.Methodology/Approach: The proposed logistics simulation game is based on a conceptual modelling framework – mostly a specification of the parameters and variables, and the relationships between them, as well as the adjustment of the game to the real conditions and company’s requirements. Findings: The purpose of the proposed simulation game is to verify that the worker understands his or her duties, to clarify the activities that s/he should do and which s/he is responsible for in the logistics department of a selected company. The aim of the game is to manage internal transportation in a way that would achieve the lowest level of connected logistics costs together with the maximum use of production lines capacity per single shift. The worker makes decisions during the simulation game in which s/he proposes the values of the variables in the logistics activities to achieve the aim of the game. The game evaluation is based on a comparison of the results obtained by the worker with the optimal task solution and with his or her previous results.Research Limitation/Implication: The logic of creating a simulation game is universal. An applicable simulation game has to be tailored to a particular company and the requirements of an induction programme to a specific job. The proposed simulation game was tested in a specific company; its application in different types of companies would be needed in future.Originality/Value of Paper: The induction programme has rarely been the subject of theory and research, in comparison to other functions of human resource management. Thus, the paper contributes to theory and practice by presenting the partial results of research focused on an innovative approach in the induction training of new employees in a logistics department.
Interactions between Ideas and Behaviour in Organizations
Authors: Marmgren Magnus , Alänge Sverker , Book Stefan
Published: January 2017

Purpose: To develop and test a framework which can be used to facilitate the understanding of how ideas interact with behaviour in organisations, in ways that have practical relevance in organisational development and improvement.Design/methodology/approach: The framework proposed in this paper is the product of an abductive research process. This process involved testing and reflecting in action, and on action when writing. The emerging framework was also challenged by theoretical input from continual literature studies and has (atdifferent stages of its development) been part of the theoretical framework for a PhD dissertation, research articles and master’s theses.Findings: The framework graphically highlights the relationship between explicit (i.e., spoken or documented) and tacit ideas, and that the latter is what largely controls action. It also implies that for new explicit ideas or theories to become effective, they have to become part of the tacit guiding ideas. This is often difficult to achieve. The framework gives a perspective on why this is thecase and how it can be counteracted, including by: addressing the coherence between its parts; supporting sense-making; and seeing development as iterative and contextual.Practical implications: The framework has been tested with practitioners and has rapidly assisted professionals in making explicit, and developing, tacit knowledge. It has also been successfully used in analyses in several papers, including studies of sustainability and process management.Originality/value: The implications of the framework are in line with existing research, yet we believe that the graphical model adds both scientific and practical dimensions. This is partly due to the framework making it easier to differentiate between complex concepts that are often confused.