DIMENSIONS OF CHANGE DURING DEVELOPMENT FROM A PREINDUSTRIAL TO A MODERN SOCIETY

Less developed areas of the world, such as former socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe, need to catch-up with the more advanced countries, such as the West. It mighl be helpful to understand more holistically what has been going on in the development of the more advanced ones from their stage of a preindustrial society to a modern one. This is an attempt to compile changing stages in terms of a set of different dimensions in order to help envision the current actual situation of the latecomers and their potential future. It is supposed to provoke rather than prescribe.     

INFORMAL SYSTEMS THINKING OR SYSTEMS THEORY

Systems thinking is the practice of holistic thinking, which can be informal or based on systems theory. Success has always depended on holistic rather than one-sided thinking. Empirical findings about the innovative society can exemplify this statement, though there seems to be no universal agreement as to what the basic attributes of systems thinking are, and we offer a summary of them. To test them, we investigated an industrial latecomer country and found that the understanding of both the innovative society and the systemic thinking are rare: one-sidedness prevails. What do we do to come closer to holistic thinking? Neither the General Systems Theory nor most other systems theories (except the Dialectical Systems Theory) provide a methodology supportive of holism; however, the case of the visionary companies proves that informal systems thinking can be very powerful. Hence, systems theories should work more on informal systems thinking.     

BEYOND PRIVATE OWNERSHIP IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

Abstract

The countries emerging from the former Soviet Union and Bloc and former Yugoslavia are trying to accelerate Iheir development by imitating the West. In law and economics, the common denominator of their efforts is private ownership. But, because of their lack of systemic instead of superficial and one-sided thinking and acting they may fail, which would be critical for the entire world, including the West. This article tries to make this clear by a brief analysis of the development economics viewpoints of the market, democracy, private ownership, and regional typology. Holistic consideration of innovation is found much more neglected in the countries under consideration than in the West. Hence, the prevailing culture may cause the process of making private ownership in Central and Eastern Europe less fruitful than it has been in the West.     

THREE YEARS OF SUPPORT FOR A THEORY: TWO-GENERATION CYCLES IN THE TRANSITION FROM A PREINDUSTRIAL TO A MODERN SOCIETY

Historical data show that the countries that made their transition from a preindustrial life and economy to modern ones first (i.e., the West,) have experienced 70–year or two–generation cycles in the process. The latecomers (e.g., Yugoslavia and the Soviet Bloc countries) passed through the same stages later on. In such a perspective the period from the 1920s to the 1990s can be viewed as a two–generation cycle with essentially the role of enlightened absolutism, under the name of communism, in Central and Eastern Europe. The feudal style of living and ruling was replaced by it, and preconditions for the transition to a modern market economy were created. One can conclude that the falling apart of communism and its empires was primarily an organic economic development process, not an incidental nationalistic issue. Our predictions from 1987 and 1989 have been confirmed over the past few years by the real events in Yugoslavia and the Soviet Bloc.     

A REQUISITELY HOLISTIC VIEW OF HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN INNOVATIVE ENTERPRISES

ABSTRACT

This paper first briefly presents the environment and challenges that companies will encounter in the current decade, enhancing innovative society and business style. On this basis, the authors investigate the challenges that will impact the implementation of human resources management in companies as a cybernetic system. Because there exists a two-way link between the companies and the environment, this contribution also illustrates the link in the other direction and shows how a company can gain competitive advantage by effective human resources management. The point is that companies are moving from being knowledge-based to being creativity-based to be sustainable and innovative businesses. They need requisite holism in their conception and cybernetics in their action to succeed in this complex move. We suggest a cybernetic model aimed at meeting this need.     

TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT,REENGINEERING, OR SOMETHING ELSE: A BASIC TOOL OF CYBERNETICS OF THE SOCIOECONOMIC SYSTEMS AND COUNTRY DEVELOPMENT IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

There are serious deficiencies in economic business and management theories concerning the cybernetics of socioeconomic systems and countries when these theories are to be implemented to accelerate change from a routinized society and economy to an innovative one such as is needed for example in todays transitional economies of Central and Eastern Europe CEE The Japanese experience with the total quality TQ concept of 1951 suggests that total quality is a potentially usable tool But the current practice of total quality management TQM reengineering and other contemporary management approaches demonstrates some deficiencies which demand that the concepts be refined Some ideas on how to make TQ M a more systemic and hence useful concept are suggested     

REQUISITELY HOLISTIC ISO 9000 AUDIT LEADS TO CONTINUOUS INNOVATION/IMPROVEMENT

Research has shown that quality assurance with the formal fulfillment of ISO 9001 standard requirements tends not to help companies to achieve greater competitiveness and business success. Conformity of the quality system with the standard requirements confirms that the company has achieved a maturity level indicating its capability of defining its processes and performing them according to the definitions (not necessarily efficiently!). This paper suggests a more holistic approach: synergy of conformity and management produce value-added auditing, with emphases on ISO 9000 value-added auditing. With this novelty an ISO 9001:2000 audit tends to have a long-term economic added value because it helps its users create improvements (inventions and innovations) by requisite holism.