Issue #1 (Volume 2 2018)

The present article originates from the effort to answer the following question: is it possible for an organizational structure to steer between organizational routines and Black Swans? (Taleb, 2007). Unexpected, unique and low-frequency events are “unknown variable” that, despite the planning and precautions deployed, catch an organization off-guard, and might have catastrophic consequences. Unexpected events impact organizations, undermining the knowledge and redefining the list of competences that an organization needs in order to be competitive. The main goal of the present article is to shed light on the role and the challenges that firms undertake in their defining moments of adaptation of their organizational assets – the structure –. The rational pattern of adaptation is exemplified by the use of ambidextrous organizational structures, which focus on activities that can be defined as exploration and exploitation. Within the analysis of “the science of complexity”, parallels, paradoxes and metaphors representing a synthesis of a largely shared doctrine will be investigated: firms need to utilize known variables, or sometimes unknown ones, that are inevitably complex, in order to find the right fit, react swiftly to change, successfully compete, and obtain results.

The training of law specialists in the context of the European integration processes should be based on educational standards and requirements both of the national legislation and international acts. In present conditions of dynamic development of social relations and, accordingly, the development and improvement of legislation, the scientific knowledge of legal phenomena becomes increasingly important both in practical activities (law-making and law enforcement) and in the process of training of specialists in the field of law. The knowledge of legal phenomena, categories, concepts and terms is a complex process of understanding the essence, content and structure of these phenomena in the process of scientific activity aimed at identifying the true characteristics of the surrounding social and legal environment in order to obtain the knowledge about these phenomena, their objective relationships and principles for their further use in practical legal activity (law-making and law enforcement).The application of scientific principles in legal education does not cause any doubt, however methodological approaches and the issues of employment of certain methodological techniques to ensure the unity of science and practice remain controversial. The article presents the author’s vision of solving complex issues relating to the understanding of the essence of legal phenomena by unifying the terminology, improving the conceptual apparatus and applying the relevant classification, etc. The presented authors’ reflections will help find the optimal model for developing a training process for specialists in the field of law. Such a model should take into account not only the labor market demand but also the practical skills and knowledge of law and legal practice. Therefore it is extremely important to use scientific principles in the educational process, the formation of scientific thinking of students and acquisition by them of scientific approaches and the methodology of scientific research.

The purpose of this study is to explore and identify the challenges and Critical Success Factors (CSFs) of Knowledge Integration (KI) in terms of capturing, sharing and transferring knowledge within construction projects based on the Traditional Procurement System (TPS). On the basis of available studies on KI and TPS within the industry investigated, multiple case studies were developed to reach the aforementioned objective, involving two case studies to reflect the building sector within construction industry. Furthermore, an Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) approach was used to summarize and identify the relationships between the identified challenges. ‘Culture of Organization, ‘Contractual Boundaries’ and ‘Knowledge Management System’ (policies and strategies of organization) are identified as the main challenges. Having an ‘open environment’ and ‘clear liability of project members for sharing knowledge at different phases of project’ are two of identified CSFs, which will assist project managers to enhance the KI process within construction projects undertaken through the TPS.

The article is devoted to learner-centered learning program development for adult learners, which are experienced professionals – chief executives. The high speed of learning and precise learning outcomes are seen as the main need of an executive in a learner role. A learner-centered learning program satisfies the need.
The article suggests the use of a professional role model of a learner – after learning program completion – as a main tool for the development of an appropriate learner-centered learning program. The details of the professional role model, as well as an algorithm of learner-centered learning program development, are discussed.
One of the key problems in learning program development is that the skills, competencies and capabilities developed during learning programs often can’t be applied outside the learning program – in “real life” contexts. To enable a learner to be successful in real contexts, it is suggested to use a role concept in different contexts. The learning program in this case should develop not only the ability to play a role, but also play it in different contexts; not just to acquire new roles, but to be able to reduce roles for simpler ones, as well as to compose new roles.

Implementation of the Concept of Reforming (Development) of the Penitentiary System of Ukraine and the goals and strategies of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine has determined the necessity to provide the penitentiary system with managers who possess the required professional competencies. The purpose of the article is to reveal a method of future penitentiary manager’s professional competence formation. Surveys were carried out involving 164 Master students who got higher education in the field of knowledge “Law” and were divided in half into control and experimental groups while studying the discipline “Human Resources Management”. Basic forms of study during the analysis are: lecture-discussion, seminar – “brainstorming”, practical classes; independent work; control measures. Basic methods are: interactive methods (solution of situational tasks, situational role-playing games, trainings); exercises; research activity (abstracts preparing, performance of individual tasks, writing the theses for conference speeches and scientific articles); forms of educational work are: collective, group, pair, individual. The peculiarity of the method is the interaction between the teacher and the students at the “subject-subject level”, common definition of the optimal methods of human resources and development and planning processes management, evaluation and certification of penitentiary personnel; development of the features necessary for building and maintaining high-quality relationships. The analysis of the results of the educational experiment using the Pearson criterion χ2 (chi-squared) proved the effectiveness of penitentiary managers’ professional competence formation.

The purpose of this paper is to provide theoretical explanation of business process reengineering performance using emerging themes of adaptability and knowledge management in the context of developing economies. The study used a narrative cross-sectional survey conducted using qualitative data collection technique, specifically the appreciative inquiry. The study used operations managers and senior executive managers to gather qualitative data from Uganda’s reengineered microfinance institutions to provide indepth explanation of business process reengineering performance. The authors find that adaptability, knowledge creation and knowledge sharing explain business process reengineering performance. The results suggest that business process reengineering be made mandatory to ensure sustainable competitiveness of the financial sector. The study provides novel insights of business process reengineering performance using a theory of change and a complexity theory. Methodological, theoretical, managerial and policy implications herein play pivotal role in bridging the knowledge gap that exists in Microfinance institutions of developing economies.

In order to reform and modernize the system of higher education, an important step is to assess the constituent parts of the institutional autonomy of higher education institutions (HEI), which allows, on the basis of a combination of the level of autonomy of higher education systems of countries and their universities, and indicators of the quality of scientific and educational activities of the HEI, to ensure a unified approach to information and analytical assessment of university autonomy in general. This fact proves the necessity of developing a methodological approach to the assessment and management of institutional autonomy of the HEI. The authors carried out a comparative analysis of the models of university autonomy, international and national approaches to the assessment of the components of institutional autonomy such as organizational, personnel, academic and financial. The methodical approach to the evalution of the institutional autonomy of the HEI is developed. The proposed methodological approach is aimed at the formation of an information space for simultaneous comparison and assessment of the level of institutional autonomy of HEI and indicators that affect it. This approach combines the results of grouping the autonomy of higher education systems of the countries and their HEI according to homogeneous groups and the results of calculating the integral indicator of the quality of scientific and educational activity within each component of institutional autonomy, which allows to determine the position of a specific HEI on the level of autonomy in the proposed matrix of recognition of the situation.