Managing the Tensions at the Intersection of the Triple Bottom Line: A Paradox Theory Approach to Sustainability Management

Corporate sustainability management encompasses multiple dimensions: environmental, social, and economic. Companies are increasingly evaluated within the public sphere, and within their own organizations, according to the degree to which they are perceived to simultaneously promote this nexus of virtues. This article seeks to explore the tensions frequently faced by organizations that strive to manage these dimensions and the role of public policy in that pursuit. A multiple–case study approach is utilized in which the authors selected case organizations according to whether they were attempting to manage the three dimensions of sustainability. The authors utilize paradox theory and a typology provided by previous research to understand the nature of the tensions that emerge in the selected case study organizations. They extend this previous work by examining the role of public policy in providing the situational conditions to make these paradoxical tensions salient, and they examine organizational responses to these conditions. Directions for firms, policy makers, and future researchers are provided on the basis of this study’s findings

Managing the Tensions at the Intersection of the Triple Bottom Line: A Paradox Theory Approach to Sustainability Management

Corporate sustainability management encompasses multiple dimensions: environmental, social, and economic. Companies are increasingly evaluated within the public sphere, and within their own organizations, according to the degree to which they are perceived to simultaneously promote this nexus of virtues. This article seeks to explore the tensions frequently faced by organizations that strive to manage these dimensions and the role of public policy in that pursuit. A multiple–case study approach is utilized in which the authors selected case organizations according to whether they were attempting to manage the three dimensions of sustainability. The authors utilize paradox theory and a typology provided by previous research to understand the nature of the tensions that emerge in the selected case study organizations. They extend this previous work by examining the role of public policy in providing the situational conditions to make these paradoxical tensions salient, and they examine organizational responses to these conditions. Directions for firms, policy makers, and future researchers are provided on the basis of this study’s findings

Management of Civil Service Professionalisation in the Knowledge-based Society. Legal and Institutional Framework.

The paper approaches a topic of high actuality concerning the professionalisation of public management, process that could lead to setting up a corps of civil servants, substantiated on meritocratic criteria, political equidistance. In the context of knowledge-based society, the paper presents the organisational perspective and integrates New Public Management in the practice of the public organizations. The evolution from Weberian bureaucracy to New Public Management creates the matrix as basis for structuring in service training strategies of the civil servants as well as for the transfer of knowledge specified in those strategies. The context of the knowledge-based society provides the possibility to describe a structure of the training strategies adapted to the needs and ideals of the new society.: professionalisation of civil servants, knowledge-based society, strategies of in service training, New Public Management

Peningkatan Kinerja Layanan Organisasi Publik melalui Penerapan Manajemen Stratejik

Implementation of stratejic management in public organizations will be different from a private company in general due to differences in the characteristics of both organizations. Public sector organizations do not emphasize the goals of the organization in search for income but rather on a quality service. Public services must receive serious attention by local governments, since public services directly or indirectly will affect the quality of public welfare. Local governments with high-performing public service that will allow increased public access to various services provided by local governments. Organization's success in implementing its strategy cannot be separated from the role of subordinates and employees. Understanding and uniting willpower of members of public organization to promote the organization and to improve public service is the basis of a successful capital management strategy of the public organization

Impact of Strategic Planning on Management of Public Organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Modern public organizations should be familiar with the internal and external factors that affect their business. Striking a balance between these factors is the main prerequisite for building a successful business model in the current conditions of rapid change and increased competition. The aim of this study is to determine the impact of strategic planning on management of public organizations. An empirical research was conducted in public organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The results of the research indicate that the use of strategic planning in public organizations enables more rational, efficient and effective management of organizational resources. Strategic planning defines certain aspects of the performance measurement, which reduces the possibility that managers allocate resources on the basis of their subjective preferences or feelings, ambitions or as some kind of response to certain political pressures. This contributes to a transparent, rational, more efficient and effective management of the organization in providing quality public services

An Investigation of Environmental Paradigms and Organizational Classifications

The extent of environmental management in organizations is largely determined by what paradigms are espoused with respect to maintaining both natural resources and raw materials. Environmental management paradigms possibly stem from whether an organization is private or public, producing a product or providing a service. However, no established methods exist for comparing organizations with regard to environmental management approaches and perspectives. The purpose of this thesis is to determine whether particular organizational classifications are linked to specific environmental management paradigms. This study incorporates several environmental management concepts to develop an analytical instrument for observing organizations. Environmental management paradigms provide a common spectrum of comparing organizations to one another. Environmental management systems provide a common basis on which to evaluate organizations. Environmental corporate responses identify environmental perspectives. The combination of paradigms, systems, and corporate responses results in the creation of a tool for analyzing organizations. After analyzing ten of each type of organization, it is found that private with product organizations appear to have the highest overall degree of environmental management, followed by the private with service arena and finally the public with service sector. Theoretical reasons for the results include: financial benefits, production control, long term planning, and managerial cohesion

Cost and Management Accounting in Budget-Funded Organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina

This article aims to provide information on the level of application of cost and management accounting practices in the budget-funded organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter B&H) and the usefulness of these practices in the performance measurement in the B&H public sector. Namely, the current budget accounting system in B&H does not provide measurement and reporting on efficiency, effectiveness, and economy of the public administration, which results in a decrease in transparency and the creation of a favourable ground for corruption. Therefore, the study was conducted among 208 budget-funded organizations by using a survey questionnaire to evaluate the current level of theoretical and practical knowledge in the field of cost and management accounting and the possibilities for their application in the budget-funded organizations in B&H to improve current budget accounting system. Research results have shown that, even though respondents are less familiar with cost and management accounting practices, they believe that the introduction of new forms of accounting (cost and management accounting) into budget accounting system in B&H would improve the quality of accounting information as a basis for decision-making of the public management. This would enable performance measurement in the B&H public sector and therefore improve transparency and accountability of the public management

OBJECTIVES, PERFORMANCES, RESULTS – VIEWS ON THEIR USE IN THE PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS FROM ROMANIA

The pre sent paper focuses on the management associated with relatively common concepts: objective, result and performance (ORP). The study is important because in the Romania of the year 2011, a “state reform” is being planned, which will substantiate into the reorganization of public institutions, as the improvement of their activity is set forth by utilizing the set of tools associated with the aforementioned concepts. The study represents an analysis related to the use of the set of management tools associated with the aforementioned concepts within the Romanian public organizations. The study is concerned with a qualitative estimation involving the translation of the existing theory into the practice of the present moment. The review of the specialized literature is aimed at selecting the most common theoretical milestones, in order to increase the probability to retrieve them from the practice of the organizations. The works of Drucker represent the first theoretical system of reference. The way the ORP concepts have been utilized within the American organizations generate the guiding elements of the present study. The research presents a longitudinal segmentation, the frontier between the two parts being the present moment. The current state of facts is studied by means of an inductive approach. The hypothesis related to the ORP management in the near future is actually built on the grounds provided by the estimation of this state of facts. Its deductive approach starts from evaluating the pragmatic premises, involving the support of the process that will utilize the ORP in the near future, according to the theoretical percepts. The analysis is qualitative in nature. The identification of the cases that represented “the exception” was taken into account. The analysis focused on public institutions considered a priori as more transparent: the university, the hospital and the town hall. Even if in the case of the university there are regulations that facilitate the strategic planning, the utilization of objectives according to the MBO precepts is absent. The same situation is to be found in the case of hospitals and town halls. The use of primary and secondary information sources prove that the ORP has not been utilized. It was ascertained that the premises for utilizing the ORP are the same for the near future, a fact that implies the same results. The main implication is associated with the “myth or reality?” question. The result has a demystifying impact, showing that a reliable estimation on the ORP basis related to the activities of or people working in these organizations cannot be developed nowadays - in 2011. The present study aims at a realistic analysis related to the discrepancy between words and facts within the management of the Romanian public organizations. The fact that the aforementioned organizations represent the object of the “management of shallow labels content” is signaled and demonstrated.objectives, MBO, results, performance, public organization