HOW FUTURE MANAGERS VIEW SOCIETAL CULTURE: A CROSS-COUNTRY COMPARISON

Our study aims at enriching the existing literature about the prospective managers view of an ideal societal value system and the existing cultural practices in their society. The findings about the students' perception on cultural practices and their expectations about societal culture are helpful in imagining the societal culture in its dynamics. The research sample consists of 727 students in business and engineering on undergraduate and graduate levels from Romania and Slovenia. The reason we have chosen to compare Romanian sample with the cultural profile of the "average" future manager from Slovenia is the scientific curiosity of finding out if there are signs of cultural convergence of Romania with a previous communist country, and an older member of European Union. In doing so, our study will hopefully broaden the body of knowledge about the cultural convergence (or divergence?) between the former socialist countries joining European Union. The theoretical and methodological foundation is rooted in GLOBE international research project. Our findings revealed that at practices level,Romanians perceive significant higher Power Distance and significant lower mean value for Uncertainty Avoidance. At the expectations level, the Romanians and Slovenians are very similar in the desire concerning their societies orientation toward In group/Family Collectivism, Assertiveness and Performance Orientation, and record significant differenced in all the other societal values. The fact that for all the cultural expectations the future managers assign different mean values than for the correspondent practices make us expect that they will act to change their cultural environments. Still, the cultural orientation of Romanian future middle managers will differ in many regards from the Slovenian sample averages.societal culture, cultural practice, cultural value, Romania, Slovenia

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY VALUES: A CROSS COUNTRY COMPARISON

This empirical study aims at finding out how similar and/or different are the future Romanian and Slovenian managers in assessing the importance of organization's social responsibility values. The assumption of the research is that most of most of students in engineering and business will hold middle management position in the near future. The sample consists of 727 undergraduate and graduate students' levels from Romania and Slovenia, two former socialist countries. The data has been collected between 2008 and 2009 in the framework of GLOBE student project , using a section of GLOBE III questionnaire, about the importance of CSR related values in critical decisions. The findings concern the similarities and significant differences between: 1) whole Romanian and Slovenian samples; 2) Romanian and Slovenian students in engineering; 3) Romanian and Slovenian students in business. Our findings revealed a trend toward convergence in the importance given to decision's effect on contribution to the economic welfare of the nation and local community, as well as on employees' professional growth and development and on environment. The biggest difference between the groups concerns the decisions' effect on firm profitability (the Romanians considering this value as more important in critical decisions than the Slovenians). The students in engineering proved to be a more homogeneous group, showing convergence in assessing the importance of eight out of fifteen social responsibility values. The biggest difference concerns the decisions' effect on firm profitability (Romanians consider it as having higher importance in critical decisions than the Slovenians). Comparison of students in business revealed convergence in assessing the importance of employees' professional growth and development and decision's effect on environment. The biggest positive difference concerns the same value of decisions' effect on firm profitability. The Romanians are well behind Slovenians in realizing the importance of decisions' effect on relationships with important partners of the organization, ethical considerations and decision's effect on long term competitive ability of the organization.Social responsibility, Romania, Slovenia, students

ENSURING THE COMPETITIVENESS ORGANIZATIONS USING SERVICES BASED ON KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENTITLE

Using knowledge-based management is a very modern approach to specific activities of service organizations, with direct effects on work processes to ensure competitiveness. The complex system of multidisciplinary actions refers to the particularities of services for tertiary sector in relation to material goods production, which involves the transfer to practice of the original methodologies of decision making in conditions of risk and uncertainty.competitiveness, knowledge, competition, awareness, certification, computerization.

Argument, Determing Factor in Trade Negotiations

The paper presents pragmatic guidance on current trends, the argument is a set of techniques that highlight the benefits they offer is a negotiator for the needs of others. The study focuses on rational arguments, by evidence and demonstration and practice of negotiations develop, characterized by a constant interaction of the elements which contribute to the possibilities offered to both partners. It stresses that the success of negotiations is determined by the negotiator's ability to define the steps, strategies, plan and ways of reasoning argument. Given that negotiations can occur during many different points of view, the paper presents techniques of counter-arguments and factors that may influence the success during the argument. The study highlights the fact that a negotiator can control the power dynamics of a negotiation of power through the use of traditional elements such as control of resources, time or information.trade negotiations, control resources.

Marketing environment of public service organizations

Public service organizations operate in an environment in which there exist the features of marketing, materialized through interdisciplinary nature, unity in diversity and high degree of complexity. To study the market, the specialists of public organizations use general methods of marketing and service techniques. The most important techniques aiming task organization, regulation and market positioning of public services that are the main components of strategic marketing.marketing of services, market of services, public services

Aspects of flexural behavior of high strength concrete elements with or without steel fibers

Steel fiber reinforced high strength concrete (SFRHSC) is concrete made of hydraulic cements containing fine or fine and coarse aggregate and discontinuous discrete steel fibers. In tension, SFRHSC fails only after the steel fiber breaks or is pulled out of the cement matrix. A more general and current approach to the mechanics of fiber reinforcing assumes a crack arrest mechanism based on fracture mechanics. In this model, the energy to extend a crack and debond the fibers in the matrix relates to the properties of the composite. The designers may best view SFRHSC as a concrete with increased strain capacity, impact resistance, energy absorption, fatigue endurance and tensile strength

Qualitative factors in the healthcare services

It is known that the efficiency of medical services is a broad social and economic concept, influenced by both numerical-quantitative and non-numerical-qualitative factors. The dynamic nature of technical progress and the accelerated pace of scientific discoveries in the field of health, enhances the size and complexity of economic issues related to assessing the efficiency of these social activities.evaluation, efficiency, healthcare services.