Special issue call for papers from Baltic Journal of Management
National Identities in Europe
Guest edited by Richard Brunet-Thornton, University of Economics, Prague, The Czech Republic and Ilona Bučiūnienė, ISM University of Management and Economics, Lithuania, focussing on the push to create national identitites in the countries of Warsaw Pact Europe.
What is the Special Issue about?
The transition from state-planned and controlled economies for many countries of the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union demanded enormous changes not only in managerial styles but even more so in the practice of management itself. This arose as some management functions, such as Human Resource Management, did not existed. In some cases, the purpose and realisation was different when compared with their Western counterparts. Transformations have affected all management areas, as five decades of the State Socialism left an indelible imprint on individual minds, attitudes and behaviours as well as organisations, collective identities and practices and whole societies. The evolution over the past twenty-five years with both its successes and failures forms the central intent of this special edition.
Topics of interest
Manuscripts therefore should focus on management themes on:
- The state of management education in post-Communism with an emphasis on the growth of this discipline within educational, particularly state-sponsored, institutions;
- Collectivism versus individualism, public versus private – the transformation in decision-making and strategy formulation in which approaches, methods, tools and techniques have evolved over this period;
- The challenges and outcomes presented by generational gaps in management wherein members of an organisation comprise both employees with State Socialism imprint and those espousing the newly emerging free-market logics;
- The influence of the former State Socialist regimes on individuals and organisations operating in a radically different institutional settings (dominant neo-liberal arrangements after the decades of State Socialism);
- The transformation of management functions and their subsequent impact on performance;
- Managerial styles and practice: ‘the west is best’, ‘homemade’, or a ‘mix of both’? The challenges of reaching a workable consensus to the benefit of all is central to this discussion;
- Lessons learnt. A review of the various plans and strategies that encompassed the transition and in turn substantiate the accomplishments and document the reasons why some programmes failed;
- The role and importance of cross-cultural management in a global business and working environment – the challenges and encounters over the years and their subsequent impact on national management praxis.
Proposed Schedule
- Manuscript submission: February 15, 2016, submissions after this date won't be considered
- Abstracts: please send an abstract to the editors prior to submission to ensure your paper is relevant and to receive preliminary feedback in good time before the submission deadline.
- Anticipated publication date of the special issue is 2017
- To nominate a reviewer, volunteer to review, or obtain additional information, please contact the editors of the special issue.
Submissions Guidance
- Authors should submit their manuscripts through the ScholarOne Portal
- Manuscripts should be prepared following the Author Guidelines
- All articles will be blind peer reviewed by at least two anonymous referees
- For more information about the submission process please contact us on [email protected]
More information about the topic of the Special Issue
During the period 1989–1992, the world and particularly the West, as it was comprised at that time, witnessed the unexpected fall of the Socialist and Communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe. Despite the jubilation, few recognised the enormous effort required to transition from the previous quasi-managerial mind-set to one in which to succeed in the latter part of the 1990s and to meet the free-market challenges of the twenty-first century.
Despite the influx of management experts from Western Europe, Canada, and the United States, many practitioners opted to confront new business challenges using methods and techniques proven successful in the past. Others deployed strategies that encompassed both the old and those borrowed from the established free-market economies. A quarter-century in the annals of history is insignificant; however, the impact on management in both theory and praxis in the emerging liberal democracies is of central interest to this special edition of the Baltic Journal of Management.