Search results

The purpose of the chapter is to develop and substantiate the principles of implementation of the innovational model of well-balanced information economy.

The methodology of the research consists of the method of analysis of causal connections, which is used for determining the need for proclaiming various principles of implementation of the innovational model of well-balanced information economy, evaluation and comparison of the possible methods of their observation, and studying possible consequences. This allows determining the optimal set of principles that allow – with the highest precision – implementing in practice the offered innovational model of well-balanced information economy.

The author offers eight main principles of implementation of the innovational model of well-balanced information economy: principle of balance, principle of simultaneousness, principle of balance of state and entrepreneurial initiative, principle of innovational activity of personnel, principle of cyclicity, principle of feedback, principle of effectiveness, and principle of protection. They focus on peculiarities and key advantages of the innovational model of well-balanced information economy and guarantee its formation as a result of practical measures that are aimed at informatization of the economic system. These principles must be a guide for action for modern economic systems, and their strict observation will allow implementation of the offered optimal model, not just formation of information economy, thus guaranteeing its balance.

The developed principles are recommended to scientific and practical application.

The purpose of the chapter is to develop and substantiate the necessity for delegating authorities in the process of decision making in modern business systems, as well as conditions, principles, and criteria of successful delegation in view of the applied approach. The methodology of the chapter is based on the method of analysis of causal connections, which is used for determining the necessity and essence of delegation, evaluating and comparison of the possible concepts and means of its implementation in the process of decision making, and studying the managers' opinions for determining the problems of delegation. This allows determining the conditions and criteria of successful delegation and developing an optimal set of principles that allow for effective implementation of the process of delegating authorities. As a result, the authors determine conditions and limitations that determine the possibility of delegating authorities in the process of decision making and offer criteria of successfulness of the process: preliminary task setting, interest and readiness of employees, briefing, written form of delegating authorities for complex and responsible tasks, accessibility of any necessary information, support from manager, and controllability of the process and result. The concepts of delegation are studied, and priority of its new model is established. Based on this, 11 principles of successful delegation were formulated: determination of goal, certainty, parity of rights and responsibility, adequate support, motivation of effective solutions, participation, “finite character,” structural limitations, complex nature of tasks, succession, and vision of perspective.

Complexities of the process of delegation in the process of decision making in business systems are described – their knowledge helps developing own styles of delegation and improving it.

This chapter studies the importance of implementation of innovational projects of technological growth through public–private partnership (PPP). The authors determine the probability of implementing a project of PPP depending on distribution of risks between its participants. Usage of the mechanism of PPP allows optimizing possible risks during implementation of innovational activities, attracting large business for creation and implementation of new technologies, and forming sustainable ties between R&D departments and business structures. The types of risks in the projects of PPP are given, as well as tendencies of their emergence depending on the stage of implementation of the innovational project, including the following: formation of policy on development of PPP; preparatory, implementary, commercialization of the results of joint activities; and monitoring and control over execution of the project. The algorithm of the system of risk management in innovational projects of technological growth on the platform of PPP is presented. The methods of overcoming the risks that appear during implementation of an innovational project of technological growth within PPP are given. A special attention should be paid to the fourth (distribution of risks) and fifth (reduction of risks) stages. During implementation of innovational projects with application of a business model of PPP, the risks are dealt with by the participant who can manage them better. Reduction of risks is achieved better if several strategies are used – for decreasing the influence of the risk on the innovational project (strategies of risk evasion, acceptance of the risk situation, compensation, transfer, and reduction).

Purpose – This chapter examines how the kollektiv, a form of workplace organization established in the Soviet Union, continues to shape cultural expectations of work in post-Soviet Russia.

Methodology/Approach – This chapter describes a workplace ethnography conducted in a college department in Novosibirsk, Russia in 1999–2000 and 2002, with follow-up trips in 2005–2006. Participant observation is combined with interviews of teachers and students in the department.

Findings – The kollektiv established in the Soviet Union has persisted in modified form in post-Soviet Russia. Instead of a means of Party control, the kollektiv became popularly associated with the group cohesion that arises from frequent social interaction. This sense of cohesion, accompanied by attendant habits of sharing holidays with work colleagues, has persisted to varying degrees among adults in Russia today. Furthermore, the structure of the kollektiv has been maintained for students in schools and colleges, so that new generations of Russian youth are raised to expect to work in cohesive small groups. Their behaviors and expectations contribute to the persistence of the kollektiv in Russian society in the present and near future.

Originality/Value of the paper – This chapter makes two unique contributions: (1) it adds a focus on white-collar work to the predominantly blue-collar and service occupations studied in Russia to date and (2) it presents workplace ethnography of academics, a group rarely studied ethnographically.

Sustainability is a catch term for the different way of life required to counter the ills of the modern era. It encompasses new social and economic as well as ecological relationships. Sustainability theory is, by its nature, hopeful in envisioning an alternative corrective course of action. This volume deals with “the negative legacy problem” that confounds this optimism because we have so profoundly contaminated and altered the earth in lasting ways. Any effort to create a sustainable future will have to deal with this legacy. It is a huge and profound burden faced unevenly by people and non-humans today and that we have left for future generations (see Edelstein, 2006).

The chapter identifies and analyzes scholarly discourses that framed understanding of change and directed further reforms in post-socialist education over the past two decades. It discusses the origins of these discourses, their theoretical underpinnings, evolution, and cultural biases. The analysis of scholarly texts published on post-socialist education draws on methods of discourse analysis and utilizes the concept of sensemaking and the lens of translation to deconstruct how educational change is framed. Most of the identified discourses – restoration, importation, revolution and evolution, transformation and innovation, crisis and survival, glocalization, educational borrowing, system convergence, education for social transformation – originated outside either education or the post-socialist region itself in transitology studies, dependency theory, world system theory, and social reproduction theory. The resultant discourses carried over or challenged the underlying theoretical assumptions, exposed cultural sensitivity, or otherized the post-socialist region. The chapter identifies emerging scholarship that deconstructs framing of the same post-socialist educational phenomena. These emerging approaches reflect local and national searches for identity rather than global agendas. Contrary to the earlier prediction that with the end of the cold war, economic, political, and social institutions would converge into one monolithic world order, the chapter argues that the contemporary world today has come to display diversity, particularism, multiple voices, and the beginning of new histories. This study identifies emerging lines of research that look into the construction of meanings and expose cultural biases, while offering original conceptualization of two decades of scholarship on post-socialist educational change.