Innovation processes in the social space of the organization

Innovation is not only an economic mechanism, or a technical process. It is primarily a social phenomenon in which the motivation and participation of employees are determinants of success in the process. Hence, many authors emphasise the social dimension of innovation. The paper summarizes the conclusions of the studies conducted among employees from Polish companies on identification of “soft” determinants of innovation processes in the organization, such as human resources, innovative climate and culture conducive to innovation.KEY WORDS: innovation, innovation processes, human resources, organizational development.JEL CODES: M5, O31DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15181/rfds.v14i3.87

THE IMPORTANCE Of ORGANIZATIONAl CUlTURE fOR INNOVATION IN THE COMPANY

Abstract The relationship of organizational culture and innovation has been subject to different research over the last years. The multitude of cultural variables under investigation has led to a fragmented concept of culture for innovation. Further, managerial practice requires an underlying structure in order to decide what culture should be implemented in order to innovate and to assess if a specific culture is an effective and efficient coordination instrument. The purpose of this article is to identify the elements of organizational culture in companies implementing innovation and to attempt to present its model. The paper presents the findings of the research conducted in Polish companies operating in the Province of Silesia

Competences of graduates of higher education business studies in labor market I (results of pilot cross-border research project in Poland and Slovakia)

The analysis of the experiences of cross-border countries shall facilitate the identification of the most helpful and useful tools to improve the process of adaptation of young people into the labor market. The goal of the higher education system, as part of cross-border cooperation, is to develop professionally competent, service-oriented, principled and productive citizens in Poland and Slovakia. There are a lot of factors influencing the possibility of undertaking rewarding jobs by students and graduates that are related to their degree, especially the supply and demand of business related jobs which plays a significant role in the process. The analysis of degree programs, the views of working students, graduates and employers, followed by the preparation of a research report and relevant recommendations may have a beneficial effect on the profile and quality of education and the future of graduates in the countries included in the study, as well as in other countries which are interested in the outcomes of the project. The objective of this article is to present the results of research on how graduates of higher education business studies develop in terms of the skills, knowledge and characteristics which enable them to be employable in Poland and Slovakia. The applied research methodology combines the analysis of subject-related literature with empirical research. The questionnaires for data collection constituted a survey for independent completion. The adopted method allowed a numerical description of trends, attitudes and opinions in a selected group. It also facilitated a comparison of the results of the studies of Polish graduates and Slovakian graduates

Quantification of the process improvement exigency related to Industry 4.0

PURPOSE: The main objective of this paper is to develop the I4 necessity index for quantification of process improvement exigency related to I4.DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: Based on literature review and previous research, we decided to develop a new I4N index. This index is not intended to identify the current state of Industry 4.0 or the company's readiness for this concept, but to assess the need to implement I4. By implementing I4 we mean mostly the deployment of intelligent technologies, informatization and automation of business processes. Our philosophy is to develop a simple design for a minimum number of factors that may give rise to an internal or external need to implement I4. The secondary output of the I4N index is the quantification of the level of process improvement potential related to the selected production and logistic processes.FINDINGS: We emphasize, it as a demand or more specifically, an exigency, rather than a readiness for Industry 4.0. We developed an Industry 4.0 necessity index (I4N index). We assigned weights to individual factors in order to quantify the process improvement exigency related to I4 and we used the list of manufacturing and logistic processes from previous research. We did not apply the list of intelligent technologies, although most indexes of the I4 readiness also take these technologies into account.PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The basic approach of our research was to create a mathematical model that could easily quantify the potential for improving business processes related to Industry 4.0.The paper is funded under the program of the Minister of Science and Higher Education titled “Regional Initiative of Excellence” in 2019–2022, project number 018/RID/2018/19, the amount of funding PLN 10788423,16.peer-reviewe

Air force NCOs competency profile in the future operational environment

PURPOSE: The article aims to identify a profile of NCOs competencies ensuring the functioning of the Polish Air Force in the context of anticipated changes in the operational environment.DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: The analysis of quantitative empirical material (303 questionnaires performed among NCOs) concerning the structure of competencies required in the future operational environment.FINDINGS: Based on a set of diagnostic variables (potential indicators of competencies, here - 53 characteristics), a new set of 9 variables was created to express the relationships between the observed variables.PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: A developed competency profile may be used to design a study program and thus will improve the educational system, will be helpful to evaluate the NCO. The model may help in implementing changes to use the employees' competencies effectively.ORIGINALITY/VALUE: It is complete research for determining the structure of NCO competencies suitable for the future operational environment.The article is funded under the program of the Minister of Science and Higher Education titled “Regional Initiative of Excellence” in 2019-2022, project number 018/RID/2018/19, the amount of funding PLN 10 788 423,16.peer-reviewe

Assessment of economic convergence among countries in the European Union

CC BY 4.0The debate on the presence of economic benefits in the European Union (EU) is not over. The study responds unequivocally to this question, with the intensity of economic development in the countries that joined the European Union in 2004 and beyond twice as high as that of the countries that joined it this year, i.e. the EU’s old ones compared to the new ones; smoothness – 1.1 times and dynamics – 1.6 times. Another important trend for further development is that, as the level of economic development increases, its smoothness is diminishing. In respect of the context of the EP of all EU Members, it turned out that the higher intensity of enlargement was characterised by higher economic levels, with similar homogeneity and almost identical values for the dynamic indicator. The introduction to the article presents the context of the studies, i.e. two groups of EU Community countries are formed according to their level of economic development and the year of their accession to the Community, as well as a survey scheme. The literature review reveals the methods used to analyse the convergence of economic development in these countries, as members of the Community. The research methodology introduces the indicator of economic development of countries and provides a methodology for assessing its dynamics. The empirical part assesses the dynamics of economic development of both groups of countries and identifies trends in terms of convergence. The discussion section summarises the consolidation and destabilising factors in the EU and the importance of the study carried out in this context. The conclusions present the main results of the studies and outline their further directions. The results of the study can be used both in the EU and for the purpose-oriented decisions of its members on further economic development

The role of globalization, economic growth and natural resources on the ecological footprint in Thailand: evidence from nonlinear causal estimations

The environmental issue has become a global problem that needs to be examined frequently, motivating researchers to investigate it. Thus, the present study has investigated the asymmetric impact of globalization, economic growth and natural resources on the ecological footprint in the presence of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) in Thailand. The study has used annual time series data from 1970 to 2018. The study applied a novel method of nonlinear autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL). In particular, the current study has investigated the effect of positive and negative shocks on the independent variable on the dependent variable. The findings have confirmed that the effect of globalization and natural resources are significant and nonlinear. However, the effect of negative shocks of globalization and natural resources is more dominant on the ecological footprint in Thailand than the positive shocks of both variables. Moreover, the present study has also tested the presence of EKC in Thailand, and the findings confirm the presence of an inverted U-shape curve in the Thailand economy

Strategy, Corporate Culture, Structure and Operational Processes as the Context for the Innovativeness of an Organization

The paper refers to relationships between the innovativeness of an organization and its selected determinants such as strategy, corporate culture, structure and operational processes. Research was conducted among 200 managers at the top, middle and operational levels of management (200 companies operating in Poland implementing innovations - innovative companies). Conditions leading to innovations are described as the combination of processes, which result from the internal and external dynamics of a given entity. The analysis assumed that the assessment of company innovativeness would be based on an assessment of whether the company is a leader in the industry in terms of new products (the higher the rating, the more innovative the company is considered to be). The relationship between the dimensions of the company's functioning and the degree of its innovativeness was rated on the basis of two measures: the Spearman's rank correlation coefficient and the chi-square coefficient. It was assumed that the most innovative companies have structures similar to organic ones, with a weak influence of the elements of mechanistic structures. This assumption was proven in relation to features of organizations considered important for innovativeness