Browsing: 2014, Vol. 19, Issue 1, May

Introduction. Top management which directs and controls the overall activity of the organization, in general, is responsible for planning and interpreting of the purpose of the organization for determining, its business strategy and its main policies.

Aim of the study. This paper aims to highlight that one of the main problems facing commercial establishments offering commercial services is to find a way to differentiate the offer keeping in mind deal that these units dealing with services and whose main characteristic is intangibility. One of the ways standing out the offer is to make ensure that there are good quality services. This can not be obtained without the services of a highly motivated staff who understands the importance of their work in the smooth running of the enterprise.
Keywords: Top management, nominal scale, Likert’s scale, semantics scale, styles of leadership: authoritarian, participatory, autonomous, and indefinite.
JEL Classification: D23, M12, M51.

Introduction. The analysis of the social-economic systems prove us that the whole is distinct from the sum of the parts. The concurrence of the components forming a system produces cumulated effects whose value exceeds the sum of effects of the components considered individually. Interactions at the level of parts help us understand the causes that sometimes generate spectacular outcomes of the system composing them. As a matter of fact, organizations exist because they mean more than the sum of the parts. Synergy facilitates precisely this pulling together of the members of an organization around a joint vision. From this perspective, we can connect organizational dynamics to the components of organizational culture.

Aim of the study. In this article, we aim at making a summary analysis of how synergy has intensifying effects by cooperation among the departments of CSOL-UB, but also between the latter and other entities: TEAM WORK, AERS, CARO, CAEN, SPHERAA SCHOOL, etc. Synergy analysis at the level of CSOL-UB leads us to the conclusion that cooperation among its departments generates benefits to the partners as well.
Keywords: synergy, network, intensifying, analogy efficacy, systems
JEL Classification: M00, M19

Introduction. In an international landscape characterized by continuous structural changes and a growing competitive pressure, the role of SMEs is becoming increasingly important, in their capacity as providers of employment opportunities and key-players in the prosperity of local and regional communities.

Aim of the study. The paper highlights evolutionary benchmarks of the EU SMEs, with special reference to three indicators, namely the number of firms, number of employees and gross value added. The main EU documents relating to SMEs are briefly presented, specifically the “European Charter for Small Enterprises” and “Small Business Act” for Europe. In the final part of the paper we have analyzed the “skills and innovation” principle, which is of major importance in the context of the “A Union of Innovation” Initiative, included in the Europe 2020 Strategy.
Keywords: European Union, SMEs, Small Business Act, skills and innovation.
JEL Classification: L25, L26, M10, M21, O10.

Introduction. In a world subject to a continuous process of globalisation, the concept of cross-cultural is frequently encountered in all fields of activity and at all levels. This is the reason why I undertook to approach such issue, not in its generic meaning, but customised for the leadership pattern.

Aim of the study. The present paper is meant to outline the positive effects that diversity may have on any organisation, subject to the condition that the said diversity be appropriately managed. As the leader is a person who, by power of example, makes other people adopting a similar attitude, the actions of the same oriented towards the fructification of the advantages of a cross-cultural environment, which are depicted in this study, are not only directly, but also indirectly, by synergy, impacting, in a positive way, on the organisation. Innovation, performance, competitive advantage and reputation are just some of the outcomes of finding unity in diversity.
Keywords: leadership, cross-cultural approach, globalisation, unity in diversity, competitive advantage
JEL Classification: M12, M14, M54

Introduction. An appreciated manager coordinates efficiently the team and both his abilities to be a leader and assume his decisions is crucial for the success of the project. In the empirical study “O nouă abordare asupra învățării practice” several conclusions show that some leadership problems were related to the prioritization of the objectives, an efficient coordination of the members by the leaders, fear in assuming the leadership, not defending the leadership position and tension within the group when facing competition. As a leader, a certain state of mind is required to solve a long-term goal, to have a consistent behavior and adapt a certain leadership style to motivate in a specific situation the members of a team. In an emotional intelligence approach, controlling the afflictions of the mind means reducing the barriers towards being “able to” manifest a leadership style.

Aim of the study. The aim of this article is to argue that the quest of developing leadership skills can become useless when the leader fells into an inappropriate state of mind.
Keywords: emotional intelligence, leadership, afflictions of mind, leadership styles, creativity.
JEL Classification: J50, M12, M54

Introduction. Much of the empirical research has defined creativity as an outcome, focusing on the production of new and useful ideas concerning products, services, processes and procedures. Using this definition, research has examined creative solutions to business problems, creative business strategies and creative changes in job processes.

Aim of the study. This paper provides a review of old and new research examining contextual factors that can foster or hinder creativity at the individual and organizational level. In particular, we examine the role of leadership and the use of different human resource practices for developing a work context that is supportive of creativity. In the end, we discuss practical implications for managers and highlight some directions and areas for future research.
Keywords: creativity, intrinsic motivation, risk taking, organizational climate
JEL Classification: O31, O39, M12

Introduction. The paper Japanese miracle versus thirty-six years of excellence in American searching groping presents the way in which a country which can ensure the necessary from own resources only to the limestone and sulfur, having a hardworking population, highly disciplined, proud and persevering has managed to install in the consciousness of the world an undeniable phenomenon called Japanese miracle.

Aim of the study. In this paper the authors tried to decipher some of the mechanisms that have made the great achievements of Japanese. The authors believe that being forced to start from scratch, the availability and openness that they had in order to learn from others, especially from the best managers of the moment, but also from their mistakes enhanced by the consistency and perseverance of not doing sacrificing quality, represented the main factors of success.

Introduction. Education is one of the determinants of the economic growth in any state, education funding representing thus a very important aspect in public policies.

Aim of the study. In this article we present the general principles of funding higher education in Romania and how it evolved over the last decade, stressing that the public higher education has been consistently underfunded. We also present an overview of the evolution of the main statistical indicators that characterize higher education in Romania, the number of universities and faculties, the number of students, number of teachers, revealing discrepancies between their evolution and the evolution of funding. We compared the funding of higher education in Romania and EU countries highlighting the fact that Romania should pay a special attention to higher education to achieve the performance of other EU member countries.
Keywords: higher education, education statistics, education funding
JEL Classification: I21, I22, I23

The capital of relationships at the level of an organisation

Leading high performance organisations is the attribute of those leaders capable of using, as motivating argument, the distribution of power at the level of the organisation members or, as attitudinal argument, the efficiency. In fact, it is about the positioning of the organisation manager in relation to people or to particular tasks. The individual power temptation can isolate the leader if this is inadequately distributed, being non-compliant with the people’s merits. We should consider the large range of power components, relating to: position, authority, expertise, resource owner, in general, information owner, in particular etc. In order to allow an equitable distribution of power, it is essential for the monitoring, control and assessment process to be impeccably achieved. We can refer to the double side of processes: quantitative and qualitative.

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