zbornik radova (.pdf 11,5 MB) - Hrvatsko društvo inženjera sigurnosti

Reviewing management literature reveals that the literature is focused on most commonly usedmanagement tools, like strategic planning, total quality management, and customer segmentation [8,10, 22, 31, 34]. A comprehensive empirical study about management tools use and satisfaction withuse has been done for two decades by [23, 24]. This survey does include selected European countries –e.g. EU 15, while European catching economies – Central and East Europe (CEE) countries areseldom considered. The main characteristic of management tools consideration in literature is thattools are in most instances considered individually as a single tool with focus on theoretical orconceptual viewpoint. On the other hand the view point of management tools use in business practiceis not in the forefront of authors’ interest. Thus, only few authors [6, 9] focus on practical use ofmanagement tools in business practice.From the viewpoint of catching up economy in Central Europe, i.e., example of Slovenia, there is noclear picture about current use of management tools in organizations and consequently no signs aboutfuture directions of management tools use. Such suggestions could importantly contribute to thebusiness optimization in catching up economies. In first step we identify current use of managementtools in Slovenia, based on empirical examination of employees in Slovenian organizations. Next wecompare average use in Slovenian organizations with high developed western economies. Last wepresent some guidelines for future utilization of management tools in Central Europe counties.Categorization of management toolsDespite plethora of discussions about management tools in management literature [5, 9, 15, 30] thereis no definitive and prevalent content related categorization of management tools in the literature.First, we emphasize the categorization proposed by [33] that classifies management tools regarding tothe primary level in organization and functional areas where tools are used.According to [33] management tools can be classified according to the level of management wheretheir use is most appropriate. Strategic tools are used for analyzing and planning strategy oforganization and are helpful in answering different questions in process of strategic planning. Tacticaltools are aimed to organize organizational processes, resources and people. Those tools helpemployees to address important question when executing strategy, analyzing and designing excellentorganizations. Operational tools are aimed to support changes in organizations and implementation ofbest practices, and consequently help to optimize the effectiveness of processes in organization andactivities.In terms of framing management tools in main management levels, tools are further classifiedaccording to main functional areas in organizations [5, 7, 33]: strategy and organization – tools thathelp in formulation of organizational strategy and structures; finance and governance – tools fordesigning governance mechanisms and related performance metric; marketing and sales – tools aimingto formulate marketing policies and establishing or enhancing customer relations; operations, supplychain management and procurement – tools that are used for creation of operations, supply chain andprocurement policies and optimizing and implementation of best practices in those processes;innovation and technology management – are tools that support implementation and execution ofinnovative thinking and behavior in organizations; and human resource, leadership and change tools –tools that are used to design, implement and execute those human resource management, leadershipand change management in organizations.Another classification of management tools, proposed by [23, 24, 25, 26] classifies tools based on thetools’ usage and satisfaction change over the time. On the basis of the considered extent of its use andsatisfaction of users with them, the authors defined four groups of management tools: (1) rudimentarytools – are low in usage and low in users’ satisfaction; (2) blunt tools – are high in usage but low insatisfaction; (3) specialty tools are low in usage but high in users’ satisfaction; and (4) power tools –are high in usage and high in users’ satisfaction.Thus, in terms of this classification in each survey, tools are classified according to the average useand average users’ satisfaction. In that framework, most new tools are in rudimentary group, since, useand satisfaction is below average. In next observations, tools could evolve in other thee groups, whileis also possible that remain in initial group.96M&S 8(2013)