scholarly journals Impact of Cultural Diversity on Western Balkan Countries’ Performance

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eglantina Hysa

In 2005 the relations of EU and Western Balkan countries were passed from “External Relations” to “Enlargement” policy. As WB countries make steps forward in the future membership of the EU, the diversity in society within the WB is expected to further increase. The aim of this paper is to find out the relationship between cultural diversity and ethnic fractionalization from one side and governance, competitiveness and human development from the other side. The paper opted to explore the ethnic diversity within the Western Balkan countries based on the latest data of census for each country and on the Distance Adjusted Ethno-Linguistic Fractionalization Index proposed by Kolo (2012). Furthermore, it compared the economic performance of these countries with the indicators of the ethnic diversity. Even though the literature argues that cultural diversity has negative impact on countries’ performance, the study finds out that highly homogenous societies in WB are no more prone to good governance, global competitiveness and human development than highly heterogeneous societies within the region. In other words, countries with lower fractionalization index (such as Kosovo and Serbia) do not show a significantly higher performance than countries with higher fractionalization index (such as Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina). To sum up, the influence of regional geographic distance seems to be much more significant compared to cultural diversity because the economic capacity and performance of WB countries are found to be positive but still modest. The Western Balkan countries are having a considerable mixture of ethnicities, languages and religions. These varieties can push this group of countries to have a consensus among them in the economic aspects or to increase the gap among each other.

2015 ◽  
Vol 47 (7) ◽  
pp. 386-393
Author(s):  
Steven H. Appelbaum ◽  
Oleksandr Kryvenko ◽  
Mauricio Rodriguez Parada ◽  
Melina Rodica Soochan ◽  
Barbara T. Shapiro

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between multiculturalism and performance, and attempt to reconcile some of the varying points of views, in order to suggest practical implications for managers in the workplace. Design/methodology/approach – A review of the literature regarding both diversity and performance was performed. Next, the focus was on the relationship specifically between racial-ethnic diversity and performance. To show the relevance of the paper, materials dedicated to Canadian population and immigration was included. Findings – It is still somewhat inconclusive whether diversity can have a definite positive or negative impact on organizational performance. The literature reviewed shows that authors have differing opinions. One element appears to be clear: diversity of itself does not necessarily bring benefit. For a diverse group to perform well, it must be well managed. Diversity remains an underused tool that managers have yet to learn to utilize. Research limitations/implications – At the time of writing, there was not a significant amount of published material on the direct relationship between multiculturalism and performance. This paper attempts to gather and make sense of the various views formalized thus far and puts forth a new question of how to turn multiculturalism in the workplace into an asset for organizations. Practical implications – Managers still do not agree on how to take full advantage of diversity. As the Canadian workforce becomes more and more diverse, so increases the importance of addressing and answering this question in practical terms. Especially facing the increased globalization of corporations, taking advantage of the untapped potential that resides in a culturally diverse work team should be at the top of every international company’s goals. Social implications – The importance of studying the relationship between multiculturalism and performance is crucial because in developed countries like Canada organizations are becoming increasingly culturally diverse. Much has been written about the effect of group diversity on conflict and creativity, on the performance of heterogeneous groups vs homogeneous groups, on organizational commitment among ethnic minorities, and on self-fulfilling performance expectations. Originality/value – This paper is a useful source for managers interested in understanding the real value of diversity in the workplace, as well as for researchers studying the relationship between corporate diversity and corporate performance.


2015 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 302-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven H. Appelbaum ◽  
Oleksandr Kryvenko ◽  
Mauricio Rodriguez Parada ◽  
Melina Rodica Soochan ◽  
Barbara T. Shapiro

Purpose – The purpose of this two-part paper is to explore the relationship between multiculturalism and performance, and attempt to reconcile some of the varying points of views, in order to suggest practical implications for managers in the workplace. Design/methodology/approach – A review of the literature regarding both diversity and performance was performed. Next, the focus was on the relationship specifically between racial-ethnic diversity and performance. To show the relevance of the paper, materials dedicated to Canadian population and immigration was included. Findings – It is still somewhat inconclusive whether diversity can have a definite positive or negative impact on organizational performance. The literature reviewed shows that authors have differing opinions. One element appears to be clear: diversity of itself does not necessarily bring benefit. For a diverse group to perform well, it must be well managed. Diversity remains an underused tool that managers have yet to learn to utilize. Research limitations/implications – At the time of writing, there was not a significant amount of published material on the direct relationship between multiculturalism and performance. This paper attempts to gather and make sense of the various views formalized thus far and puts forth a new question of how to turn multiculturalism in the workplace into an asset for organizations. Practical implications – Managers still do not agree on how to take full advantage of diversity. As the Canadian workforce becomes more and more diverse, so increases the importance of addressing and answering this question in practical terms. Especially facing the increased globalization of corporations, taking advantage of the untapped potential that resides in a culturally diverse work team should be at the top of every international company’s goals. Social implications – The importance of studying the relationship between multiculturalism and performance is crucial because in developed countries like Canada organizations are becoming increasingly culturally diverse. Much has been written about the effect of group diversity on conflict and creativity, on the performance of heterogeneous groups vs homogeneous groups, on organizational commitment among ethnic minorities, and on self-fulfilling performance expectations. Originality/value – This paper is a useful source for managers interested in understanding the real value of diversity in the workplace, as well as for researchers studying the relationship between corporate diversity and corporate performance.


Think India ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-23
Author(s):  
Hitesh Shukla ◽  
Nailesh Limbasiya

Growth, progress, and prosperity of any country depend highly on the corporate governance mechanism of that country. Good governance of a country helps it to sustainable growth and consistency in progress. The good governance should contribute towards the improvement in transparency, ethics, morality, and disclosure. The principles of good governance stand on honesty, trust, integrity, openness, and performance orientation. Our honorable Prime Minister Narendra bhai Modi had given the three E for good governance during his speech on Independence Day i.e. Effective Governance, Electronic Governance, and Ethical Governance. The fundamental concern of corporate governance mechanism is to ensure the protection of minority shareholders/owners of specific firms. Mechanism of a corporate governance specifies the relations among the shareholders, board of directors, and managers. The present paper is an attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of the board by calculating the corporate governance score. The mandatory and non-mandatory guidelines have been considered while assigning points to specific parameters of the corporate governance.


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 7-8
Author(s):  
Lusy Tunik Muharlisiani

Formation to build character in the digital era in the world of education through the development of ethical values and performance support to form the foundation of individual characters expected. Developments in the digital era influence individual lifestyles and patterns of relationships so as to form a new paradigm for helping human needs in carrying out the duties and expectations. The purpose of building character besides having benefits also have a negative impact can be described in the attitudes and behavior of individuals, which occurs demoralisasasi. The method used in building individual character that balance the mind / creativity, feeling / sense of, and willingness / intention in executing their daily duties. The result is an imbalance in the event over them in carrying out daily activities using irrational thoughts, dishonest, irresponsible, did not have a good work ethic. How to cope with the character education should play an active role in shaping the students to have a good character, capable of being honest, responsible, disciplined, passionate, creative and communication skills to achieve success both socially and career aligned with technology development is very fast and sophisticated. The characters develop their conclusion to follow up the results of studies showing that the majority of a person in carrying out daily activities always use excessive feelings so that there is an imbalance between thought, feeling and will


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6003
Author(s):  
Manuel Carlos Nogueira ◽  
Mara Madaleno

Every year, news about the publication of rankings and scores of important international indexes are highlighted, with some of the most prestigious being the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), the Human Development Index (HDI), the Ease of Doing Business (EDB), the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) and the Global Entrepreneurship (GEI). A country’s progression in these indices is associated with economic growth, especially since several empirical studies have found evidence to reinforce these beliefs, the indices having been built based on the scientific literature on economic growth. Building a database on these indices for European Union countries between 2007 and 2017 and using panel data methodologies and then 2SLS (Two-Stage Least Squares) to solve the problem of endogeneity, we verify empirically through panel data estimates, what is the relationship between the mentioned indices and the European Union countries’ economic growth for the period. However, as the European Union is made up of diverse countries with different economic and social realities, we divided the countries into six clusters and made an individual interpretation for each one. We found that human development and competitiveness play an important role in economic growth, and entrepreneurship also impacts this growth. Regarding income distribution, applying the Gini index, we found that only human development mitigates inequalities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Morel-Journel ◽  
E. Vergu ◽  
J.-B. Mercier ◽  
N. Bareille ◽  
P. Ezanno

AbstractThe transport of weaned calves from cow–calf producers to fatteners is a general concern for the young bull industry due to its documented negative impact on the welfare, health and performance of the animals. These transfers are often managed by intermediaries who transport weaned calves to sorting centres, where they are grouped into batches before being sent to fattening units. In this study, we present an algorithm to limiting these transfer distances by appropriately selecting the sorting centre through which they must go. We tested the effectiveness of this algorithm on historical data from a French beef producer organization managing 136,892 transfers using 13 sorting centres. The results show a decrease in the transfer distances compared to the historical record, especially for the calves travelling over long distances (− 76 km, i.e. 18% on average for the 33% longest transfers). Moreover, the distribution of calves between the sorting centres proposed by the algorithm reveals differences in their efficiency in minimizing transfer distances. In addition to its usefulness as a management tool for the daily transport of cattle, this algorithm provides prospects for improving the management of the sorting centres themselves.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2909
Author(s):  
Esther Pagán-Castaño ◽  
Javier Sánchez-García ◽  
Fernando J. Garrigos-Simon ◽  
María Guijarro-García

Teaching is one of the professions with the highest levels of stress and disquiet at work, having a negative impact on teachers’ well-being and performance. Thus, well-being is one of the priorities in human resource management (HRM) in schools. In this regard, this paper studies the relationship between HRM, well-being and performance, observing the incidence of leadership and innovation in these relationships. The objective is to measure the extent to which it is necessary to encourage sustainable environments that promote the well-being of teachers and, by extension, students. The study used the methodology of structural equations and a sample of 315 secondary school teachers. The work validates the influence of leadership by example and information management on HRM and performance. In addition, we confirm the significant effect of human resource management on educational performance. The relationship is observed both directly and through the mediating effect on the improvement of well-being. On the other hand, the positive influence of innovation on performance, both in schools and in the classrooms, is reaffirmed. These results suggest the need to zero in on the human resources policies in schools linked to the improvement of teacher well-being and educational performance. They also highlight the role of school and classroom innovation as a key element in maintaining educational quality.


2005 ◽  
Vol 99 (4) ◽  
pp. 567-581 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHN GERRING ◽  
STROM C. THACKER ◽  
CAROLA MORENO

Why are some democratic governments more successful than others? What impact do various political institutions have on the quality of governance? This paper develops and tests a new theory of democratic governance. This theory, which we label centripetalism, stands in contrast to the dominant paradigm of decentralism. The centripetal theory of governance argues that democratic institutions work best when they are able to reconcile the twin goals of centralized authority and broad inclusion. At the constitutional level, our theory argues that unitary, parliamentary, and list-PR systems (as opposed to decentralized federal, presidential, and nonproportional ones) help promote both authority and inclusion, and therefore better governance outcomes. We test the theory by examining the impact of centripetalism on eight indicators of governance that range across the areas of state capacity, economic policy and performance, and human development. Results are consistent with the theory and robust to a variety of specifications.


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