THE INTERDEPENDENCE BETWEEN CHARACTERISTICS AND LEADERSHIP STYLE OF MANAGERS IN THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY IN DUBROVNIK-NERETVA COUNTY: EMPIRICAL RESEARCH

This paper analyzes the dominant leadership style in the hospitality industry in Dubrovnik-Neretva County and demonstrates the interdependence between the characteristics and leadership style of managers in the hospitality industry in Dubrovnik-Neretva County. Previous empirical studies of leadership styles in the Republic of Croatia, have pertained to industrial enterprises, while empirical research of leadership styles in the hospitality industry has not been methodically conducted yet. Previous research shows that the dominant leadership style in industrial enterprises in the Republic of Croatia is autocratic, with parts of paternalistic and, in some segments of management, consultative leadership styles. This paper demonstrates that the leadership style in hospitality enterprises is considerably different of the leadership style in industrial enterprises

WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA

Entrepreneurship is crucial for the development of any country. Starting a business is always challenging for people that want to become entrepreneurs, especially for women. It is necessary to encourage the development of entrepreneurship as a way of solving the unemployment rate of groups in the society that have a problem with the employment. Women are one of those special groups and that is also one of the reasons why women entrepreneurship is becoming a very important topic all around the world. The aim of the paper is to show the main characteristics of women entrepreneurship and to show the main problems that women are facing every day in a business world. Different recommendations for the improvement of women entrepreneurship in Croatia are presented in the paper

RAZVIJANJE TVRDNJI ZA EMPIRIJSKO ISTRAŽIVANJE ŠKOLA STRATEŠKOG MENADŽMENTA; PREDLOŽAK I NAPOMENE

Authors in this paper draw attention to four different relations in Strategic Management research. Firstly, it is about the differences of the philosophical approach between realism and constructivism as the two most employed approaches in the development of Strategic Management. Apart from the development of topics, there was a very moderate research of the development of the field itself and the foundations for its development. There had been just several discussions of the philosophical foundations of strategy. Secondly, it is about the extensive historical overview of the research on the process of strategic management. The authors have developed a pattern of existing schools of strategic management in the three groupings. Thirdly, it scales down the level of research from the macro level down to the individual level- the top manager. Fourthly, it suggests the bridge between the theoretical concepts of schools of strategic management and the empirical testing in order to prove its relevance and practical use for top manager in everyday lives. The paper proposes a new classification of the schools of strategic management. The further research should be directed toward elaborating propositions into hypothesis and following the suggestions and remarks when performing empirical testing on four suggested schools of strategic management.Ovaj je rad usmjeren na četiri različita aspekta istraživanja strateškog menadžmenta. Prvi aspekt odnosi se na filozofski pristup između realizma i konstruktivizma, kao dva najčešće korištena pogleda u razvoju strateškog menadžmenta. Osim što se disciplina razvijala u pogledu dijapazona tema, postoje vrlo skromna istraživanja o razvitku discipline kao takve i njegovim izvorima za daljnji razvoj. Postoje samo nekoliko diskusija o filozofskim izvorištima strategije. Drugi aspekt je ekstenzivan povijesni razvitak istraživanja o procesu strateškog menadžmenta. Autori članka razvili su pregled postojećih škola strateškog menadžmenta u tri grupacije. Treći aspekt je onaj u kojem se nastoji spustiti razina istraživanja s makro razine na nižu razinu individualca - najvišeg poslovodstva. Četvrti aspekt sugerira most koji povezuje teoretske koncepte škola strateškog menadžmenta i empirijsko istraživanje kako bi se dokazala relevantnost škola i njihova praktična uporaba za svakodnevni rad najvišeg poslovodstva. Rad predlaže novu podjelu škola strateškog menadžmenta. Daljnja istraživanja trebala bi biti usmjerena na razvijanje predloženih tvrdnji u hipoteze i provođenje empirijskog istraživanja prema napomenama na četiri predložene škole strateškog menadžmenta

Business students’ attitudes towards business ethics: Evidence from Croatian universities

The aim of this paper is to determine the differences in students’ ethical attitudes depending on their gender, level of study as well as university. This study examines the attitude of sample of 670 business students, studying at five (out of seven existing) state-owned universities in the Republic of Croatia, as to predict their attitude towards business ethics. Results of the study show that there are significant differences between demographic and personal characteristics in relation to the attitude of business students towards ethics in the Republic of Croatia. It is believed that this study, based on the analysis of business students’ attitudes towards business ethics, could contribute to understanding their future behaviour in the process of ethical decision-making

THE DETERMINATION OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF TOP MANAGERS, LEADERSHIP STYLES AND BUSINESS PERFORMANCE IN LARGE CROATIAN ENTERPRISES - EMPIRICAL RESEARCH

Posljednjih tridesetak godina 20. stoljeća karakteristične su po brojnim promjenama u načinu vođenja, kako u razvijenim zemljama tako i u zemljama obuhvaćenim procesom tranzicije. Promjene su brze, stalne i neočekivane, pa je današnji poslovni svijet sve više nalik na „organizirani kaos“. Vođenje je u takvim uvjetima postalo sve složenije, prvenstveno zbog kontinuiranog restrukturiranja koje mnoga poduzeća učestalo primjenjuju kako bi poboljšala svoje poslovanje, potom zbog rastuće globalne konkurencije, demografskih promjena zaposlenika i ubrzanog razvitka tehnologije. Zbog toga su se u okviru teorije menadžmenta, vođenja i mjerenja organizacijskog uspjeha poduzeća, u posljednjih dvadesetak godina razvili brojni koncepti i modeli koji obećavaju postizanje dostatne razine fleksibilnosti potrebne velikim poduzećima za preživljavanje u novom poslovnom okruženju. U radu su stoga u fokusu istraživanja tri istraživačke varijable: demografska obilježja vrhovnih menadžera, stilovi vođenja i pokazatelji organizacijskog uspjeha poduzeća. U radu je primijenjena metoda anketiranja vrhovnih menadžera velikih hrvatskih poduzeća, provedena od ožujka do rujna 2008. Pri izradi anketnog upitnika koristilo se Likertovom analitičkom metodom za analizu organizacije i identificiranje dominantnog stila vođenja. Rezultati istraživanja povezanosti demografskih obilježja vrhovnih menadžera, stilova vođenja i uspješnosti poslovanja velikih hrvatskih poduzeća prikazani su u ovome radu.Last thirty years of 20th century have been characterised with numerous changes in leadership in developed such as in transition countries. Changes are rapid, constant and unexpected which implicates that today’s business world is more like „organised chaos“. In these circumstances leadership has become more complicated because of continuous restructuring, growing global competitiveness, demographic changes of employees and rapid technology development. In last twenty years numerous concepts and models have been developed in theory of management, leadership and organizational performance. In the focus of empirical research are three research variables: demographic characteristics of top managers, leadership styles and measures of organizational performance. Survey method has been used on a sample of top managers in large Croatian enterprises from March till September 2008. Likert’s analytical method for analysis of organization and identification of dominant leadership style is used in the survey. Research results of relationship among demographic characteristics of top managers, leadership styles and organizational performance have been presented in this paper

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND ITS IMPLEMENTATION IN THE PRACTICE OF ENTERPRISES IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Management tasks are focused both on good current business results (operations management task) and good operating results in the future, (strategic management task). Survival, growth and development at the market imply competitiveness. Enterprises can be competitive in designing, adopting and implementing appropriate strategies based on good and a reasonable mission and well-planned strategic vision that will enable the achievement of planned and desirable business objectives, financial (for liquid – operations management) and strategic, for successful business in the future. Economy in Bosnia and Herzegovina is relatively undeveloped, economic system is not equal to the economies of developed countries because private enterprises and entrepreneurship do not have a dominant role. The aim of this paper is to describe strategic management theories and their implementation in the practice of enterprises in Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to the results of empirical research, top management is focused exclusively to the achievement of good results, current operations, and almost do not think about the future (they are focused on the strategy of survival). Top and middle level managers have a low level of education; they cannot understand the meaning of strategic intention: vision, mission, goals, strategies and strategic planning. Management in non-privatized enterprises take formal rather than real responsibility for the overall business success, and the authorities do almost nothing to continue the privatization process

MANAGERIAL STRESS – EFFECTS AND CONSEQUENCES

Modern managers operate in terms of globalization which presents them with larger and more difficult challenges that sometimes are not in accordance with capabilities of an individual, causing stress. Some amounts of stress can be effective in the work performance of an individual, but problem arises when the amount of stress exceeds a certain critical point and leads to the burnout syndrome, whose victims are mostly managers. The roles of managers, their skills, functions and modern management trends are determinants of every manager\u27s job from which various stressors arises, i.e. sources of stress at work. Depending on their intensity and frequency, in rare cases stressors motivate the manager, while in most cases, they result in managerial stress. The biggest consequence of continuous exposure to this type of stress is popularly called the burnout syndrome