Subsidiarity in management & business activity: the two sides of the phenomenon

This study is devoted to the analysis of the concept of subsidiarity, which allowed the formulation of the subsidiarity principle, acting in various spheres of collective human activity. Systematization of the literary sources and approaches to the management of business activities proved that the ethical principle of subsidiarity aims to develop the well-being of collective human life, but it also has its limitations. On the one hand, numerous positive examples of mutual support, cooperation, help, mentoring, and employee development are known in business activity, as well as in management theory and practice. On the other hand, there have always been conflicts, rivalry, and competition at certain times. Besides that, not all businessmen and managers have always behaved following generally accepted principles. The main purpose of this article is to analyze the features of the application of the principle of subsidiarity in management and business in general and in specific examples. The methodological tools of the research are methods of critical analysis of literature and praxeological analysis of human actions. The article presents the results of the analysis of the function and features of the application of the concept of subsidiarity, including functional attributes specific to the principle of subsidiarity and the attributes that contradict it. The examples for the use of the concept of subsidiarity in management and business offered in this paper are not exhaustive. The Motivator-Hygiene theory and job enrichment, workers participation in organization or participation in decision making, corporate social responsibility and microfinance, initiated by M. Yunus as microcredit, Grameen Bank and Grameen Movement, were used as tools for the illustration of attributes characteristic of the principle of subsidiarity. The analysis of functional attributes opposed to the principle of subsidiarity or simulating it was carried out on the example of the theory of bureaucracy dysfunctions, discrimination, corruption, mobbing/bullying, paternalism, Taylorism, or the Scientific Management. The article presents the results of the analysis, which proved that the application of the subsidiarity principle is a specific case of the Aristotelian principle of the golden mean, the pursuit of balance, harmony, equilibrium, i.e., individual, and collective human development and practice of virtues, distributive justice. In this case, however, there is no external criterion that could be used to establish this balance or equilibrium. The research empirically confirms and theoretically proves the existence of an intersubjective and historical evaluation (criterion) subject to manipulation. This situation creates a practical problem for the effectiveness of this principle because people with insufficient knowledge, weak in spirit (weak character), or bad intentions can use this principle for their purposes, explaining their behaviors by ignorance, good intentions, etc

Effect of vitamin E level and dietary zinc source on performance and intestinal health parameters in male broilers exposed to a temperature challenge in the finisher period

The objective of this study was to evaluate the interaction of zinc source (ZnSO4 vs. zinc amino acid complex) and vitamin E level (50 IU vs. 100 IU) on performance and intestinal health of broilers exposed to a temperature challenge in the finisher period. A total of 1224 day old male Ross 308 broilers were randomly distributed among 4 dietary treatments (9 replicates per treatment). Dietary treatments were organized in a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement: two sources of zinc, 60 mg/kg of Zn as ZnSO4.7H(2)O or 60 mg/kg of Zn as zinc amino acid complexes (ZnAA) combined with two levels of vitamin E (50 or 100 IU/kg). Zinc and vitamin E were added to a wheat/rye-based diet that was designed to create a mild nutritional challenge. From day 28 until day 36 (finisher period), all birds were subjected to chronic cyclic high temperatures (32 degrees C +/- 2 degrees C and RH 55-65% for 6 h daily). The combination of ZnAA and 50 IU/kg of vitamin E improved weight gain in the starter (day 0-10), finisher (day 28-36) and overall period (day 0-36) and feed conversion ratio in the starter (day 0-10) and finisher phase (day 28-36). Providing Zn as ZnAA significantly improved villus length and villus/crypt ratio in the starter, grower and finisher period and decreased infiltration of T-lymphocytes and ovotransferrin leakage in the finisher period. In conclusion, providing broilers with a diet supplemented with ZnAA and a vitamin E level of 50 IU/kg, resulted in better growth performance as compared to all other dietary treatments. Interestingly, under the conditions of this study, positive effects of ZnAA on performance did not occur when vitamin E was supplemented at 100 IU/kg in feed. Moreover, providing zinc as zinc amino acid complex improved intestinal health