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In 2021, Lithuania faced the challenge of managing the crisis of new type of migration across the Belarusian border, which threatened the security of the country and its citizens. A broad set of inter-institutional collaboration strategies and methods were used among the public institutions to address this crisis. Such inter-institutional collaboration has been a multifaceted and complex process, involving both known and new good practices. The aim of this article is to provide insights into good collaborative practices between the Lithuanian national defence and internal affairs systems in managing the migrant crisis. Following the expert interview results, the study identified three good practices of inter-institutional collaboration: (i) the creation of a single dissemination channel for the crisis response services, which ensured that all actors were in the same information field; (ii) the delegation of representatives of the institutions to teams at strategic, operational and tactical levels; and (iii) inter-institutional information sharing ensured good situational awareness at an early stage of emergency management. Lessons learned from the collaboration between the institutions of the national defence and internal affairs systems can be applied to improve inter-institutional collaboration in other areas. The research results can be used to enhance the process of such collaboration in addressing current emergency management issues and serve as a basis for effective and smooth emergency preparedness and response where interinstitutional synergy is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim was to examine hair cortisol levels and self-reported stress amongst conscripts during their basic military training, and how they are related to four types of theory-derived determinants. The following prediction was made: lower levels of perceived stress and hair cortisol will be associated with: (1) higher levels of emotional stability (the individual nonmilitary aspect); (2) a lower degree of private life problems (the contextual nonmilitary aspect); (3) more positive attitudes toward the military, higher engagement in military service, and higher adaptability to military conditions (the individual-military aspect); and (4) stronger group cohesion and better leadership (the contextual-military aspect). The sample consisted of a total of 107 male Lithuanian conscripts. Assessments were made at the beginning of their basic military training, in the middle, and at the end. Established instruments were used on all self-reported scales. Hair cortisol levels were established through analyses of hair samples. Low to moderate levels of stress were found throughout the basic training period regarding perceived stress levels. Hair cortisol levels were mainly unrelated to the self-rating scales. Regarding perceived stress, the prediction was fully confirmed. The future value of the theoretical model is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the following article “Smart Technologies and Social Media in Business” is examined how rapid growth of everyday technologies during 21st century has changed user experiences, how business was forced to react and how would we could describe relationship of business and user nowadays. Theoretical and historical information is expanded with quantitative research with the purpose to look how previously mentioned changes influenced business. In these researches are used TOPSIS and EDAS method of evaluation, which showed that not only good financial indicators, but user engagement creates a successful environment for business. The results show that it is often assumed incorectly that the company with the highest turnover is well known and most effecient in creating corporate awareness. While assesing four multinational corporations we found that social media, rather than sales or advertising spend, was a decisive factor in corporate awareness. These results can be used as a basis for planning business investment in technology and marketing campaigns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing number of research papers present systematic investigations of creative behaviour in complex social systems rather than emphasise individual creativity; however, surprisingly little has been done to investigate communication at the workplace in which such creativity is revealed. It should also be noted that communication that takes place in rigid organizational structures and simultaneously activates creativity is phenomenon that has not yet been analysed. This article discusses organizational communication and its impact on creativity by analysing corporate, team and leadership communication levels, taking military as a research context. Thus, this research addresses the following two questions: (i) how is organizational communication related to creativity? and (ii) how communication on different levels contribute to organizational creativity in rigid structures? To answer these questions a theoretical multi-factor model was created and empirically tested using AMOS Software. On the basis of empirical findings, a three-level model of organizational communication for creativity in rigid organizational structures was proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article brings into focus the theoretical analysis of the issues contained in two modern and current concepts of the practice and, equally, of scientific research, with their complex societal effects, medium and long term. Using milestones specific to the fundamental research, points of convergence and directions on how to improve the quality of the two approaches are highlighted, which have as finality one of the integrating dimensions of security, the human one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the process of organizational leadership in Central and East Europe (CEE). It is challenging to perform such investigation, as the leadership as a phenomena is traditionally analysed using the anglo-saxon approach. This approach determines the criterion that describes the efficiency of leadership, which is based on objective performances, whereas social and cultural context of leadership is latent. Traditionally, the presentation of leaderships is measured by the managers' trait, organizational values, relationship with stakeholders and other indicators that depict business efficiency. It should be noted that studies involving the use of these indicators reveals highly negative performances of leadership in CEE. When considering the cost-effectiveness of the management, these indicators are uniquely valuable and usable for performance measurement. However, leadership effectiveness is not identical to the economic performance; it is not an element of efficiency, but rather the expression of perceptions. Leadership is a process in which the leader gets the trust and becomes recognized. Accordingly, this article critically reviews the studies on organizational leadership in CEE and evaluates the main trends of leadership development during last two decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although educational administration has experienced impressive development in putting schools first in the education process, there is no consensus on the definition of non-financial support to schools and there is no common administrative practice for such support. Each European country provides its unique approach towards the administration of school support and shapes its sole best practice. The main challenge weface in education administration is relatedto the adaptation ofbestpractice from different administration systems andfrom diverse socio-cultural contexts among European countries. This article acknowledges the needfor comparative educational administration and argues that the development of conceptual models is imperative in building a comparative dimension. Four conceptual models in educational administration were developed and illustrated with the practical examples form different European countries. The development of the models was based on document content analysis. Thefirst model represents the idea of educational decentralization, the second - the consultation framework in educational administration, the third model reflects the institutional support ofschool inspectorates, and the fourth - the centralization of support for learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is little evidence of leadership practice in Lithuanian public administration as the scale for transformation leadership research is not developed and validated. The main aim of the study was to create such a scale on the base of widely used transformational leadership questionnaires and on the evidence of the specific practice in Lithuanian public administration. Through the use of qualitative research method, two types of leadership characteristics that are incomprehensible for Lithuanian public servants were found. One type of these characteristics was related to the discussion on the values in the decision making process, while another was linked to the treating subordinators appropriately. Both of these characteristics were replaced with more culturally acceptable feature. Scale internal validity was tested via qualitative research of 162 civil servants. The data was collected from six different institutions using the 360 degree feedback instrument. The results demonstrated that most scales were reasonably well reproduced and showed high internal consistency. It was concluded that the proposed scale for measuring transformational leadership in Lithuanian public administration has acceptable psychometric content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to analyze the effect of conceptual changes in the leadership theory and environmental transformation on the requirement for public servants and their leadership competencies. The paper discusses the concept of individualism and collectivism in the leadership of public administration. Firstly, it groups the models of leadership according the methodology that the models were grounded in. The methodology of reductionism analyzes the leader as an individual in a changing environment. The early models of the leadership focus on personalized leaders in hierarchical organizations and a stable environment. The contemporary concept of the leadership in public administration focuses on the leader as a team member. Accordingly, a leader's competencies such as strength, courage, and integrity are going to be less important as the abilities to instruct, support or teach. The holistic models of the leadership that emerges from humanities and sociology focus on silent leadership. The development of this approach displays new challenges in leadership theory development and in the practice of human resource management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]