Tom 10 (2018): Zeszyt 4 (December 2018)

Objective: The theoretical purpose of this article is to present social, technological, economic and cultural trends that determine the global labor market, new needs on the labor market and create new competences and professions. The goal of empirical research was to diagnose the most challenging trends for HR specialists and to identify key competencies on the global workforce market.

Methodology: The paper, apart from desk-research and literature review, presents the results of exploratory pilot research. Purposive sampling was applied and the questionnaire was addressed to 44 managers and HR specialists (“key informants”, Myers, 2009) who are participants of postgraduate studies in HR Business Partner, Human Resource Management. The conducted research was idiographic, which means that its conclusions concern only the studied population. But resignation from a broad generalization of results does not necessarily reduce their cognitive value (Chełpa, 2003).

Findings: The biggest challenges for HR were: retention of employees and building their loyalty, shortage of employees on the labor market, management of employees of different generations. It can be said that these challenges are inherent with global trends and problems faced by employers. Respondents pointed to the most desirable competences nowadays and in the near future: IT competencies, intercultural skills, creative and cognitive thinking, ability to work in virtual and multicultural teams. To the key personnel activities which in the next 5 years will gain in importance belonged: mobile working, hiring experts (freelancers), crowd working, portfolio work.

Value Added: This theoretical-empirical study organizes the current results of foresight research on HR trends, in order to develop an aggregated list of the most desirable competencies on the global labor market. Knowledge about the missing, niche competencies of employees pointed out by employers will allow targeting education systems and equipping employees equipped with the most demanded skills and knowledge.

Recommendations: The challenges of the global labor market presented in this article will contribute to disappearance of many previous professions, changes in the nature of work and the emergence of its new forms. In the coming years, many HRM practices will require the revision and implementation of new personnel solutions for recruitment, motivation and career path creation. A flexible career understood as a “portfolio of projects and experiences” of an employee will develop in any direction. Communication model in companies will also be transformed, as mobile devices will become an office, a training room and a personal assistant.

Objective: To identify the lodging preferences of users (to define the comfort level preferences of tourists/consumers) of southern Sonora, considering their perceptions, which allows to improve strategies to satisfy the user’s needs in the future.

Methodology: The research was descriptive and quantitative. The participants were between 18 and 60 years old, of every socioeconomic level, gender, occupation, and level of education. The sample comprised 300 from the region of Sonora in Mexico.

Findings: Regarding the methodological contribution, this research presents an instrument to collect the opinions of the accommodation users, which is expected to be replicated in other studies on a larger population scale. This research is empirical and collects the opinion of a group of people, showing their preferences regarding the factors and characteristics they consider when choosing a type of accommodation. In addition, companies operating in this field could define their competitive advantages considering the results of this research.

Value Added: The article points to a practical solution of the knowledge of preferences of users of different accommodation modalities and identifies which were most frequently selected by the respondents.

Recommendations: Research shows the existence of significant differences between family and other companies. Therefore, it is advisable to look for the specifics and, as a consequence, potential sources of competitiveness in specific markets, of which the tourist market is important.

Objective: Performance measurement and reporting leading to greater transparency and accountability of universities have become a challenging issue. Increasingly, universities have been required to provide performance indicators—empirical evidence of their value creation — to the different group of stakeholders. One of the approaches that may be applied by universities is the Balanced Scorecard (BSC). The objective of this paper is to indicate the BSC as a useful tool for the evaluation of the universities’ performance.

Methodology: This study is based on the following research methods: descriptive, deductive, and the literature review. It refers also to case studies that are quoted in the context of their practical BSC application experience and it presents the pioneer approach of California University in BSC adoption. The rationale of this paper follows the principal-agent theory that is a foundation of the accountability concept. It refers also to the new managerialism, new public management, and entrepreneurial university.

Findings: Based on the literature review concerning the analysis of the examples of universities implementing BSC, this paper argues that BSC provides a framework for the performance measurement that allows for the increased transparency and accountability of these institutions.

Value added: The pioneer BSC framework presented in this paper can be used as the basis for the development of general performance measurement in universities.

Recommendations: It is recommended that the universities that want to boost their transparency and be accountable for their outcomes apply and develop the BSC framework to which we refer to in this paper.

Objective: This research examined the relationship of perceived supervisor empowerment behaviors with important work and well-being outcomes in a sample of Egyptian managers and professionals. Relatively little research has been undertaken on human resource management in Egyptian organizations and even less during and following the Arab spring.

Methodology: Data were collected from 121 managerial and professional employees using anonymously completed questionnaires. Respondents were relatively young, had university educations, had short job and organizational tenures, and held lower level -management jobs. All measures used here had been used and validated previously by other researchers.

Findings: Work outcomes included job satisfaction, organizational commitment, work engagement, exhibiting voice behaviors, workplace learning opportunities, psychological well-being and intent to quit. Employee perceptions of supervisory empowering behaviors predicted their levels of psychological empowerment. And both perceived levels of supervisory/leader empowerment behaviors and self-reported feelings of empowerment had significant relationships with the majority of work and well-being outcomes

Value Added: Relatively little research has been undertaken on human resource management in Egyptian organizations and even less during and following the Arab spring. This will add to the body of knowledge about Egyptian managers and other Arab regions.

Recommendations: Practical implications of these findings along with future research directions are offered. Practical applications include training supervisors on empowerment behaviors, and training all employees on the benefits of personal empowerment and efficacy and ways to increase them.

Objective: This article illustrates how, on the subsidiary level, the mixture of management practices in Japanese manufacturing subsidiaries operating in Poland changes over time.

Methodology: Study represents the first, rigorous, longitudinal replication of Japanese Multinational Enterprise Study Group hybridization studies conducted using the original methodology. Researchers visited eight original research sites and measured changes after fourteen years in six of them.

Findings: The results indicate significant change in terms of manufacturing practices as well as in the localization of management. On the other hand, there has been practically no change in terms of equipment, organizational culture, and procurement methods.

Value Added: Article contributes to the existing literature in two ways. First it confirms dynamic nature of hybridization trough a longitudinal exploration of changes that took place in management practices. Secondly, it combines JMNESG methodology with the most recent developments in research methods, increasing its clarity and replicability thus paving a way for future longitudinal studies of hybridization.

Recommendations: Based on this research future studies could replicate JMNESG studies in various locations and contexts thus providing further insights into the nature of change in the hybrid factories operating around the world and the nature of Japanese management over the last 20 years.