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Job design is a critical area of Human Resource Management. Job crafting is the process whereby individuals shape their jobs according to their own needs, which enhances their positive work experience. This study extends the job crafting research by examining whether different job crafting practices can be distinguished into profiles, and, if so, whether these profiles differ in terms of organisational commitment. Study participants were drawn from the Hungarian population using a representative survey of 500 respondents. Consequently, four significantly different individual job crafting profiles were identified; these show different relationships with the affective, continuance, and normative components of organisational commitment. The paper also presents the relevant theoretical and practical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to compare agency theory within organizational economics and Human Resource Management (HRM), namely as a system that aids the day-to-day practice of working managers. By identifying the connecting points and recognizing the similarities and differences, we can obtain valuable knowledge for both theory and practice, which can contribute to the development of organizational efficiency. The novelty of the essay is its comparison between the two frameworks and identification of the shared ideas. The authors’ fundamental assumption is: Agency theory and HRM offer the same solutions when examining human relations in the workplace. Studying the problems of human relationships analysed by the two frameworks, they concluded that despite independent starting points, different analytical methodologies and axioms, agency theory and HRM reach identical or similar conclusions in the investigation of human relationships. Their research concentrated on the empirical aspects and not on normative theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has radically reshaped traditional human resource management practices. As a result of the changes, the role of employees’ physical and mental well-being in corporate strategies has increased. The study of employee well-being has a long history at the academic level, but so far only a few studies have been published in the context of labour retention. The practical significance of the topic is unquestionable. In this study, the authors examined the international literature on the topic through a systematic literature review. In their research, they sought answers to the questions of employee well-being on which a company-level workforce retention strategy can be built. The results draw attention to the need for further investigation of the topic, which is supported by the low number of hits closely related to the research question and the lack of a complex approach to the topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 has challenged the economy in a very short time. The current situation requires an unusual approach, a new creative attitude from the HR managers of companies. The goal of this article is to explore the connection between the COVID-19 pandemic and human resource management, the consequences of the pandemic on the labour market, and the links between the 2008–2009 financial crisis and the current pandemic situation, based on the management literature. The most significant part of this publication is the primary questionnaire research, which analyses the effects of the pandemic on HR based on responses from 404 organizations. The situation of the economy and job seekers during the coronavirus epidemic was examined, as well as HR-related reactions by size, sector, and form of ownership. Based on the results, the organizations made primarily reactive operational decisions. The biggest difference occurred in the SME sector and the large enterprise/multi sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study investigates which human resources (HR) practices are applied by Hungarian companies to ensure a workforce of high quality and how they define the quality criteria of the work performed. Therefore, this research analyses the ability of companies to ensure quality HR planning and their relevant HR management practice. From a managerial viewpoint, it is especially important to know in the changing environment whether the company is able to define precisely the personal work success criteria within the organization, how much attention is given to the quality factors of work in its operation, and which HR practice could ensure a workforce required to achieve the strategic goals of the company. Based on this research in the literature the author is of the view that the strategic approach and operative tools of competence management could provide the right answers for the companies in the fight for a quality workforce. In her exploratory research the author analysed how far this practice is applied by companies operating in the Hungarian labour market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the biggest challenges of recent years was labor shortage. The world was severely disrupted by the global pandemic, changing the centres of employment. In this study, the authors examined the dimensions of employee retention before the pandemic, when labor shortages where aggravated by increasing labor turnover. A well-structured employee retention strategy plays a great role in the functionality of companies, while a wrongly managed one can lead to amplified employee turnover. The analysis of employee retaining strategies was selected as the main topic of this study by the authors. In their research, the main goal was to find out which means can lead to increased employee loyalty most effectively, and can serve as the foundation of an effective employee retaining strategy. The results of the research verified that loyalty can't be increases solely by financial means, and the best results could come from improving working conditions, and the attitudes of leaders. To maintain employment, being respected, constructive atmosphere of the workplace, appropriate leadership style, and the stability of employment are the most important factors for workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lean management has become a much-researched topic in operations and service management. Nowadays beyond its technical aspects, the analysis of soft factors (corporate culture, organization, management, human resource management, knowledge transfer practices) have come to the fore. However, there are few sources available to the lean organization to find out what organizational changes are taking place alongside the lean application, and what organizational structures are being developed. In this study, the author is presenting the lean organizational structure, the international examples, and with the help of five Hungarian corporate solutions and the literature of organizational theories synthesizes the lean organizational forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attributes as well as management and functioning of organisations of the ex-socialist countries, including Hungary, in Central Eastern Europe (CEE) have changed drastically since the major societal and economic reforms of three decades ago. This study examines the changes in management of human resources, the practices of its systems and functions and its actors, based on the longitudinal analysis of empirical databases of two research networks (Cranet and CEEIRT), making international comparisons. The authors aim to contribute to the goals of the special edition on the 50th anniversary of Vezetéstudomány (Budapest Business Review) with this, pointing at the changes in approach of comparative international HR, giving a historical overview of Hungary's HR practice, its changing or stabile key elements that match or diverge from the CEE region or global solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main goal of this article is to introduce and process employer brand and employer branding, a relatively young phenomenon at the frontiers of management and marketing. The concept was constituted by Ambler and Barrow in 1990 and first introduced to the theoretical literature by the same authors in 1996. At first the authors mention those social and economic factors which directly or indirectly led to the termination of the traditionally detached functions of marketing and HR and made it possible for the marketing approach to leak into HR management. It is essential that a firm's internal image and brand is inseparable from its external image, and those two are closely related. Therefore building both strong internal and external employer brand is crucial. To understand the role of brands in human relations they show the way of getting from product- and corporate branding to employer brand. After reviewing its theoretical framework, the authors compare the different approaches of employer bran and branding. At the end they give a comprehensive summary of international and Hungarian researches from different aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the research was to analyse discrimination, namely discrimination in a workplace. After a short introduction of the related theoretical background, a corporate case study is used to analyse concrete discrimination cases. This is followed by the description of negative impacts of discrimination on staff behaviour, staff efficiency and corporate performance. The field research is based on qualitative and quantitative surveys which were conducted among all employees and the HR manager of a selected business. The questions aimed to find out how employees perceive cases of discrimination at their workplace and what they do against it if they do so at all. The results of the research are presented in the study below. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the socio-technical view of lean production lean system is built on both technical and human resource practices (subsystems). The concept of organizational logic developed by MacDuffie (1995) describes how lean techniques and high performance working systems practices mutually suppose each other in lean environment. This study reviews four fields of human issues in relation to lean production: (1) the impact of lean system on work organization; (2) the use HPWS practices and (3) their impact on operational performance indicators in lean producers; (4) the impact of lean production on workers. The review of empirical and conceptual studies points out that there are many contradictions regarding the above points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the socio-technical view of lean production lean system is built on both technical and human resource practices (subsystems). The concept of organizational logic developed by MacDuffie (1995) describes how lean techniques and high performance working systems practices mutually suppose each other in lean environment. This study reviews four fields of human issues in relation to lean production: (1) the impact of lean system on work organization; (2) the use HPWS practices and (3) their impact on operational performance indicators in lean producers; (4) the impact of lean production on workers. The review of empirical and conceptual studies points out that there are many contradictions regarding the above points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last two decades, there is a surge of interest and a small explosion in academic publications on business ethics, but only a 'modest growth of interest' can be observed in the field of ethical HRM (Pinnington et al., 2007:2). In this paper the author would like to summarize the reasons, why the ethical aspects of HRM gain importance during the last years, show the possible levels and frameworks of analysis considering ethical HR, and introduce some key studies, which are focused on the subject of etical or unethical HRM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During Professor Máté Kovács' (1906-1972) career and his multifaceted professional activities talent management was given a special emphasis. As a student having been on a scholarship in France, later as a leading professional of culture he could experience the importance of caring for talents (e.g. as a fellow of the Collegium Hungaricum Federation, in his relationship with Professor János Hankiss, when organising the Debrecen Summer University etc.). Having dealt with the theory of talent management he turned his ideas into practice in a realistic and efficient manner, and the relevant results can be detected in almost all spheres of his activity. In the early years when he acted as a secondary school teacher his efforts manifested themselves in the efficient operation of self-education circles, later as state secretary of the relevant ministry - in modernising public education, in formulating unity in librarianship, in reforming education for librarianship, and as a library director - in promoting research work. His activities contributed to the equality of chances, to the cultural rise of socially disadvantaged young people among the political, technical and cultural relations of the forties-sixties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decades scholars have paid a lot of attention to both service operation and supply chain management. There is still limited research on the overlapping field of theses two management areas, on service supply chain specialties. This article gives a structured overview on the latest research results on this topic. Doing so the paper would like to draw attention of the Hungarian researchers to this field and facilitate these empirical researches. As described in the paper traditional service specialties (intangibility, perishability, inseparability, heterogeneity and the importance of human capital) create special management problems concerning (i) the structure of these supply chains, (ii) their relationship management and (iii) the management of supply chain processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors present the first results of the Career Changers in Hungary research project in their study in two volumes. The aim of the research project is to analyze those people life stories, who had one or more remarkable career change in their life: they changed for example social sphere, speciality or status in the labour market. In the recent phase of the research process they focus on the content analysis of the life and carrier stories: direction of career change, process, direct and indirect influential factors and transfer of competencies. In the first part of this paper the authors provide a complex review about the research plan and the methodology. In the second part they present the certain pattern of career changers defined through the analysis, and they draw lessons for potential career changers, researchers and HR professionals as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Differences may be observed between the levels of development in the HR practices of different Eastern European countries. In these countries; the characteristics of modern HR within the framework of their previous systems were only present in traces. Typically; approaches similar to the school of scientific management were predominant. In the transition states of Eastern Europe; HR - similarly to other management fields - has either been transformed already or is in the process of transformation. Head-count reduction is considered as one of the first critical HR related assignment. Due to different sources, local HR professionals have used more human approaches than their Western counter partners. Multinational companies have redrawn the labor market maps of the former socialist countries. As a result of the changes that have taken place; various flexible employment solutions have appeared, and new, different, forms of communication with employees have been developed. This article will familiarize the reader with unique features of HR development in 10 different Eastern European countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beside describing the three archetypes of HR organizations - functional, dedicated and shared services - there is a strong emphasis on the alignment of the characteristics with business needs. Building on the excellent work of Ulrich-Brockbank (2005) this paper discusses the ways of transforming HR organizations into valuecreating entities. Setting the overall direction of the HR reorganization by adopting the authors' two-part typology of HR work makes it easier to see what to do with different HR practices. With transaction work, the goal is efficiency through standardization, automation, service centers and outsourcing, whereas transformation work needs flexibility to meet and exceed all stakeholders' - investors, customers, line managers and employees - expectations. The currently fashionable concept - the Shared Services - and its roles are described by a "three-pillar" model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study performs the results of a Hungarian research team joined to an international research having been conducted for several years. The research examines the similarities and differences of corporate-level applications of human resource management. The study focuses on the characteristics of HRM in Hungary and six other Central-Eastern-European countries. Results concluded can be subjects for scientific debates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article summarises a survey conducted in autumn 2005 in Hungarian city libraries. The survey analysed if the techniques, that have evolved in other fields long ago, were in use in Hungarian libraries for developing organisational culture. The questionnaires were sent to a total of 160 institutions, i.e. 53% of municipal and county libraries. The return rate was 21%, the respondents represented only 14% of city librades. The core of the questionnaire (with 32 items) inquired about human resource management (HRM) issues, such as manpower planning, analysis and assessment; job descriptions; recruitment, selection and training of manpower, qualification, performance assessment, staff development, incentives, motivation, compensation etc. The open questions asked about problem areas and those needing change regarding HRM areas, The findings have confirmed the hypothesis that HRM in city libraries is handled at the level of personnel administration. The responding directors have already taken certain steps in every area analysed, and felt the need for a better HRM To the most problematic issues that are ripe for development and change belong performance measurement and the system of performance assessment, as well as motivation and incentives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the automation of work processes and services worldwide, the importance of highly skilled human resource has increased in every professional area, including the area of information services. This situation lead to a change of paradigm in librarianship, especially concerning the skills and attitudes required in the library environment. The recent library legislation in Hungary established the new system of libraries and library services and laid down the structures of professional training and continuous training of librarians. Making the image of librarianship more attractive became one of the strategic goals of the Hungarian Library Strategy for the period 2003–2007. The implementation of the strategic plans has become an issue of great interest among all library professionals. There are a number of issues that need to be re-considered in the system of training, including the components and proportions of the knowledge areas that need to be studied and the content and structures of professional training and continuous training. The investment in human resource at libraries pays dividends in the multiple tasks and services provided by librarians for the benefit of citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts on organizational topics including a paradigm of work organization and aspects of human resource management, socialization in organizations, and empowerment as an approach to flow experience.