Mediale Bilder von Gewerkschaften des öffentlichen Sektors im post-austeritären Litauen: eine metaphernanalytische Betrachtung

Litauen gilt als einer der Vorzeigestaaten der neoliberalen Wirtschaftspolitik. Im Vorfeld der Finanzkrise hat es zusammen mit den anderen „Baltischen Tigerstaaten“ bemerkenswerte wirtschaftliche Erfolge aufgewiesen, im Zuge der Finanzkrise zeichnete es sich durch eine konsequente Umsetzung von austeritären Maßnahmen aus, die vor allem den öffentlichen Sektor betrafen. Der Status der Gewerkschaften gilt im postsowjetischen Litauen als prekär. Inwiefern ihre Lage durch die Austeritätspolitik in Litauen beeinflusst wurde, ist bislang nur unzureichend untersucht worden. Der Beitrag nähert sich dieser Frage mit Blick auf die mediale Darstellung von Gewerkschaften aus sozial-linguistischer Perspektive. Basierend auf dem Ansatz der konzeptionellen Metapher werden die Ergebnisse einer Metaphernanalyse von Artikeln präsentiert, die zwischen 2013 und 2016 in drei Zeitungen des Landes erschienen sind. Drei konzeptionelle Metaphern für Gewerkschaften werden aus dem analysierten Korpus abgeleitet und diskutiert: Kampf, politisches Instrument und Partnerschaft.Lithuania is one of the flagships of the neoliberal economies. Prior to the financial crisis, together with other "Baltic tiger-states" Lithuania achieved remarkable economic success. In the course of the financial crisis it consistently implemented several austerity measures which had a particular effect on the public sector. In the post-Soviet context the status of Lithuanian trade unions is mainly considered precarious. How the austerity policy of the Lithuanian state has affected trade unions remains underresearched. For this reason, the following paper approaches this issue from a socio-linguistic perspective. Based on the notion of the conceptual metaphor, the paper presents results of a metaphorical analysis of articles published in three Lithuanian daily newspapers between 2013 and 2016. From this three conceptual metaphors depicting trade unions have been derived from the corpus and are considered in the paper. These include militancy, political instrument and partnership

Elektroninis valdymas ar elektroninis dominavimas? Kritiška elektroninio valdymo priemonės vienoje Lietuvos savivaldybėje analizė

Remiantis kritine prieiga prie vadinamojo elektroninio valdymo, empiriškai analizuojama, kiek savivaldybėse įdiegtos internetinio dalyvavimo priemonės padeda piliečiams reikšti savo nuomonę ir dalyvauti priimant politinius sprendimus. Analizei buvo pasirinkta „klausiate – atsakome“ rubrika vienos Lietuvos savivaldybės internetiniame puslapyje. Atlikta piliečių klausimų ir savivaldybės atstovų atsakymų analizė, empiriniai duomenys apėmė iš viso 310 interakcijų (klausimo ir atsakymo porų). Analizės rezultatai rodo, kad piliečių dalyvavimas elektroninio valdymo procese labai susijęs su dalyvavimo trivializavimu, nes piliečiai čia redukuojami į skundų dėl kasdieninių reikalų teikėjus. Piliečių dalyvavimo priimant politinius sprendimus analizuota elektroninė priemonė neįgalina.Drawing on critical considerations of the so called "electronic democracy", the paper empirically explores to what extent the internet tools provided by the local governance institutions in the course of electronic democracy are enabling the expression of the "voices of citizens" as well as participation in decision making. Content analysis of questions and answers stemming from the official webpage of one Lithuanian municipality has been conducted; altogether, the sample entails 310 questions or suggestions of citizens and answers from the municipality. The results show that participation of citizens via internet-based voice opportunities represents a trivialization of participation issues by mainly constructing the citizens as complain-holders about everyday issues. Participation by influencing political decisions could not be obtained

Savivalda Lietuvoje ir piliečių dalyvavimas: tikras, fasadinis ar oligarchinis?

Motivated by the work of Charles Woolfson, who diagnoses a "double failure of voice in contemporary Lithuania - both of orderly institutionalised social dialogue between labour and capital, and of ongoing public protest" (Woolfson, 2011), the paper aims at exploring the possibilities for citizens' participation in the Lithuanian local governance institutions. Drawing on two theoretical concepts, the facade-building and the 'iron low of oligarchy', the study deals with instruments and degrees of participation as well as its challenges in local governance institutions. Based on these conceptual arguments, an explorative empirical study has been undertaken in order to explore participation opportunities offered by local governance in Lithuania. Three data sources have been used here: first, the Lithuanian law of local governance, the secondary results of electoral participation and observations of websites of 60 local governance institutions in Lithuania. The research methods were document analysis and artefact analysis. Empirical results suggest that local governance institutions in Lithuania offer several participation opportunities, especially electoral participation and participation via internet. However, only a limited usage of these participation possibilities can be obtained here. As most participation instruments refer to lower level participation, i.e. the information giving to the citizens or administering of complaints, the conclusion is that participation instruments provided by the Lithuanian local governance institutions serve mainly as façades of participation and do not encourage truly participation in policy-decisions

Ko studentai tikisi iš vadovų? GLOBE tyrimo Lietuvoje rezultatai

Effective leadership has drawn attention of management scholars for almost 100 years. There is a long list of theoretical concepts that describe and explain relevant characteristics and properties of leadership. The fact, that leadership behavior is highly culturally contingent, is accepted by most scholars. One of research projects directly dealing with the relationship between the local culture and the leadership phenomenon is the GLOBE research program. Although in the meantime the GLOBE project involves 62 countries worldwide results from Lithuania are still missing. In this paper, we present the first findings from Lithuania, received using the methodology of the GLOBE project in the sample of 300 students from one university of Lithuania. Here we especially focus on the question what Lithuanian respondents expect from leadership and what conceptions of ideal leaders are. Referring to previous studies addressing leadership perceptions in Lithuania, we discuss the findings of this quantitative study

How do employees cope with mandatory working from home during COVID-19?

How do employees who are coerced to work from home during COVID-19 cope with this unprecedented situation? Drawing upon the job-demands-resources (JD-R) model and upon the literature on coping, we analyse empirical qualitative material which stems from two-stage interviews with and online diaries prepared by 15 white-collar employees in Romania. We identify four initial coping types in relation to mandatory working from home: 'explorers', 'statics', 'chaotics' and 'irremediables'. In the follow-up stage of the field work, the 'chaotic' type of coping disappears. These findings in relation to the unique pandemic situation represent a significant contribution to the literature on working from home as well as on coping with stress

Whether and how does the Crisis-Induced Situation Change e-Leadership in the Public Sector? Evidence from Lithuanian Public Administration

In the course of the pandemic, the remote working and e-leading (leading through information and communication technologies) have also become the usual mode in public administrations, yet research on their consequences for employees in the public sector remains scarce. The aim of this article is to reveal what challenges and tensions emerge in relation to e-leadership in Lithuanian municipal administrations and how the pandemic influences e-leadership and its effects on municipal employees. A qualitative exploratory empirical study based on semi-structured interviews was conducted in a Lithuanian municipal administration before and during the pandemic caused by the COVID-19. It was found that, before the pandemic, e-leadership was mostly initiated by individual supervisors in municipal administrations who encouraged employees to use various e-tools for communication and daily performance of tasks; however, it was poorly supplemented by teleworking. The crisis-induced situation made e-leadership mandatory because of implemented teleworking. It has led to a massive agglomeration of e-leading tasks by supervisors who play the crucial role in instructing employees to use e-tools, gathering and sharing the information, monitoring and reviewing the division of functions and tasks. We also discuss the critical effects on employees, such as multitasking and total availability, resulting from e-leadership and teleworking.</p

Electronic leadership at local self-government: conceptual analysis and literature review

CC BYE-government refers to the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to improve functions and processes of the government and it is one of the most frequently researched topics. In current research, the use of ICT at the local self-government level is mostly associated with processes that take place between the organization and the citizens, i. e. e-services. Internal processes of public administration organizations, like administering and leading employees using ICT, have been insufficiently taken into account. However, it has so far received less attention, especially in the context of local self-government. Although first studies on this topic already exist in Lithuania, the systematic analysis of e-leadership concept and practice in municipal administrations is still lacking both in Lithuania and abroad. This study examines how e-leadership refers to e-government and what are features of e-leadership at local self-government that should be taken into account when considering leadership issues in the context of digitization at local self-government. The study has revealed that previous e-government dimensions are usually directed outwards, i. e. to the relations with citizens by providing them with e-services or general information, by participating them into the processes of public administration organizations. In difference to that, e-leadership represents a dimension of e-government that focuses on internal processes, i. e. human resource management in the public sector when digitalisation is taking place. During the COVID-19 pandemic period e- leadership has become an integral part of public sector institutions, including local self-government. E-leadership at local self-government has already required and still requires new skills from municipal leaders and managers to ensure organizational processes, to move quickly and efficiently to new channels and platforms of communication, to adapt to new political, social and technological environments, to learn how to allocate more autonomy, responsibility and freedom to employees, and to manage the emotional and psychological difficulties of employees. The peculiarities of e- leadership at local self-government result from the national legal framework, the institutional structure (based on the political-administrative duality), the purpose of public administration to promptly respond to local citizens’ expectations, and the pursuit of efficiency using limited organizational resources

Digitalisation and e-leadership in local government before COVID-19: results of an exploratory study

The digitalisation of the public sector was already an emerging trend prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools in municipal administrative settings was gaining traction in limited fields, with the digital preparedness of employees yet to be fully established. As already argued within academic debates, digitalisation leads to the emergence of e-leadership. As such, in order to evaluate the dynamics in operation, this study focuses on local municipalities in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Germany, analysing the pre-pandemic practices. Moreover, it examines the challenges to public servants brought about by the adoption of ICT tools. As a pilot study, proposing further avenues for future research to explore, it expands the theoretical understanding of how digitalisation fosters e-leadership in local administration. The qualitative analysis relies upon interviews with managers and employees within local municipalities. The results suggest that even in the pre-pandemic period, an overall positive attitude towards digitalisation and e-leadership had already been established. However, the findings demonstrate that there are emerging challenges stemming from the process. More often than not, they are associated with the need for suitable training, difficulties in establishing an appropriate work-life balance, and disparities between the traditional organisational culture and digitalisation. Keywords: digitalisation, e-leadership, public sector, local government, municipality