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Research Question (RQ): Are there statistically significant differences in work motivation, satisfaction and engagement among older employees before the COVID-19 pandemic and during the COVID- 19 pandemic? Purpose: The aim of the paper is to examine if there are statistically significant differences in work motivation, satisfaction and engagement among older employees before the COVID-19 pandemic and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the paper is also to identify which factors contribute to increasing work motivation, satisfaction and engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: The differences in work motivation, satisfaction and engagement among older employees before the COVID-19 pandemic and during the COVID- 19 pandemic were tested with the nonparametric test for two related samples. To analyze the differences between individual statements, we used the non-parametric Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Results: The results show that there are statistically significant differences in work motivation, satisfaction and engagement among older employees before the COVID-19 pandemic as compared to the during COVID-19 pandemic. Organisation: The results have a significant impact on a more detailed review of the creation of new working conditions for employees during the Covid-19 pandemic and especially in the period after the Covid-19 pandemic. Society: During the COVID-19 pandemic, companies and society can focus on how to constructively manage the new challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic brings to companies and what they can learn from it. For companies and leaders or HRM in particular, the pandemic can be used as a starting point for positive and future-oriented developments. Originality: With our findings we contribute to the discussion on a constructive and future oriented approach to the COVID-19 pandemic, both for practices around the management of employees as well as for future research. Also, our research highlights which factors increase work motivation, work satisfaction and work engagement during COVID-19 and how to create appropriate working conditions during the COVID-19 and after the COVID-19 pandemic to keep employees motivated, satisfied and engaged. Limitations/further research: Our sample was limited to Slovenian companies and older employees. Also, in our research we limited on work motivation, work satisfaction and work engagement. Therefore, for further research we propose the examination of differences in others constructs before the COVID-19 pandemic and employees during the COVID-19 pandemic in Slovenian companies and also, the examination of differences in constructs between Slovenia and other countries.

Background and Purpose: In Slovenia, few management buyout (MBO) studies have been carried out. The focus was mostly on the motives for acquisition of companies and the success rate of the acquisitions. This paper aims to analyse the indicators which suggest an impending bankruptcy or financial restructuring of companies and explore how these indicators are different for successful and unsuccessful MBOs. Methodology: In the survey, we included 23 selected MBOs in Slovenia between 2005 and 2008, using the following financial and non-financial indicators: profitability, performance, solvency and liquidity, using the analytic hierarchy process method. The key aim of the survey was to use financial and non-financial indicators to study if target companies where bankruptcy or financial restructuring has not yet been initiated prevalently have higher aggregate values compared to those in which bankruptcy or financial restructuring procedures have already begun. Thus, we used the selected indicators to demonstrate one of the possible methods to predict the success of a particular MBO. Results: We found that in most examples of unsuccessful MBOs, target companies have poorer results in terms of performance, solvency and liquidity, when compared to successful MBOs. Based on the selected areas, we divided the results into four quarters. We found that most target companies where MBOs had been unsuccessful are ranked in a lower quarter than most of the target companies where the MBOs had been successful. Conclusion: The papers main contribution is the finding that the selected financial and non-financial indicators differ in cases of successful and unsuccessful MBOs. This knowledge helps us to find ways of avoiding these situations in the future. Ozadje in namen:. Na področju managerskih prevzemov (MBO) je bilo v Sloveniji opravljenih malo raziskav. Ra­ziskave so se osredotočale predvsem na motive prevzemov družb ter stopnjo uspešnosti prevzemov. Namen prispe­vka je analizirati indikatorje, ki napovedujejo stečaj ali finančno prestrukturiranje družb, ter preveriti, kako se le-ti razlikujejo pri uspešnih in neuspešnih družbah. Metodologija: V raziskavo smo vključili 23 MBO v Sloveniji v obdobju od 2005 do 2008, uporabili pa smo sledeče finančne in nefinančne indikatorje: dobičkonosnosti, poslovanja, plačilne sposobnosti in likvidnosti, pri čemer smo uporabili metodo analitičnega hierarhičnega procesa. Glavni cilj raziskave je s pomočjo izbranih finančnih in nefi­nančnih indikatorjev raziskati, ali imajo ciljne družbe, kjer se stečaj ali finančno prestrukturirane nista pričela, v večini primerov višje agregirane vrednosti, kot tiste, nad katerimi se je pričel stečaj ali finančno prestrukturiranje. Tako smo s pomočjo izbranih indikatorjev prikazali enega izmed možnih načinov, kako ugotoviti, da bo posamezen MBO uspešen oz. neuspešen. Rezultati: Ugotovili smo, da se slabši rezultati večinoma pojavljajo pri ciljnih družbah na področjih dobičkonosnosti, poslovanja, plačilne sposobnosti in likvidnosti, kadar gre za neuspešne MBO, kakor pa v primerih uspešnih MBO. Nadalje smo glede na izbrane indikatorje rezultate razdelili v štiri kvartale. Ugotovili smo, da je večina ciljnih družb, kjer so bili MBO neuspešni, uvrščena v slabši kvartal od večine ciljnih družb, kjer so bili MBO uspešni. Zaključek: Glavni prispevek je v ugotovitvi, da se izbrani finančni in nefinančni kazalniki razlikujejo, kadar gre za uspešne in neuspešne MBO. To znanje bo pripomoglo k preprečevanju podobnih dogodkov v prihodnosti.

Social entrepreneurship is an idea that has awakened much interest in recent decades, because it is based on different approaches of classical economic understanding. Initiatives of social entrepreneurship are always associated with humane ideas, aiming at the general social well-being, as opposed to traditional entrepreneurship, in which the profit is the primary goal and the main measure of success. Human Development Report: Social Inclusion in Bosnia and Herzegovina showed that over 50% of the population was socially excluded, on various grounds. Among the most vulnerable were the persons with disabilities and young people. Bearing in mind these facts, the main goal of our research was to explore and to present possibilities for overcoming social exclusion through highlighting the influence of the development of small and medium enterprises on the increase of social inclusion. The research included a survey among 20 institutions related to the field of social entrepreneurship, 100 non-governmental organizations and 100 small and medium enterprises. By using simple logarithmic regression, we partially confirmed that development of small and medium enterprises significantly influences the increase of social inclusion in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The paper attempts to integrate indicators of economic growth based on innovation, technology research, and knowledge with the indicators of quality of life. The research collected data at the macro-economic level from the Republic of Slovenia between 1990 and 2011 and empirically verified individual variables based on the quality of life and economic growth. The main purpose of the research was to conceptualize and empirically verify individual variables based on the quality of life and company success, using a sample of 288 economic companies at the micro-economic level. Their innovation-government mechanisms and innovation-innovative process show a strong correlation, while technology research, innovation, knowledge, and company´s success show a medium-strong correlation with the quality of life at the micro-economic level. Technology research, knowledge, and economic growth also show a strong correlation with the quality of life at the macro-economic level in the Republic of Slovenia. Company´s success and economic growth in the Republic of Slovenia have a positive effect on the quality of life. The scientific contribution is based on the application of the new QL-TRIK model that investigates how economic growth fuels quality of life through technology research, innovation, and knowledge.

Stimulated with the firm belief that environmental management helps enterprises to achive business success, expressed by a majority of managers in the sample enterprises, we present the results of an empirical study in the Slovene processing industry. The purpose of our research work is to identify, analyse and present the importance of the environment in business decision-making, the role of environmental management in strategic decision-making and its distribution across the business functions environmental performance in business processes the use of the methods for environmentally oriented business decision-making and the developmental tendencies of environmental management in Slovene enterprises of the processing industry. We define the key drivers of environmental management and their effect on the environmental behaviour of these enterprises. We present and interpret data indicating that environmental management is caused not only by compliance and regulation, but also by competition and enterprises own initiative. Na temelju čvrstog uvjerenja da upravljanje utjecajem na okoliš pomaže poduzećima u postizanju poslovnog uspjeha, koje je iskazala većina anketiranih managera, u ovom se radu prezentiraju rezultati empirijskog istraživanja slovenske prerađivačke industrije. Cilj je ovog istraživanja identificiranje, analiza i prezentacija značaja upravljanja utjecajem na okoliš u strateškom odlučivanju. Međutim, jednaka se pažnja posvećuje i ulozi upravljanja utjecaja na okoliš u poslovnim funkcijama, utjecaju poslovnih procesa na okoliš, korištenju metoda orijentiranih prema ekološki odgovornom poslovnom odlučivanju i razvojnim tendencijama upravljanja utjecajem na okoliš u slovenskim prerađivačkim poduzećima. Osim toga, u radu se identificiraju i ključni pokretači upravljanja utjecajem na okoliš i njegovog efekta na ponašanje istraživanih poduzeća. Pritom se može reći da postoje indikacije kako upravljanje utjecajem na okoliš nije isključivo posljedica poštovanja zakona i državne regulacije, već da proizlazi i iz efekata tržišne konkurencije, ali i vlastite inicijative poduzeća.

Background and Purpose: People spend a significant part of their lifespan working, but the role of age in job design and implementation of work have largely been ignored. The consequences can be evident in stress and burnout in different symptoms. Thus, age-diverse employees are faced with different symptoms of burnout and stress when carrying out their work. The main aim of this paper is to present burnout of older employees compared to younger employees in Slovenian companies. Design/Methodology/Approach: The paper is based on research including a survey between two age groups of employees, namely the younger employees that were classified in the group of under 50 years of age and the older employees that were classified in the group of above 50 years of age. Since the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro- Wilk test showed that the data was not normally distributed, the noan-parametric Mann-Whitney U test was used to verify differences in the physical symptoms of burnout, emotional symptoms of burnout, and behavioral symptoms of burnout in the workplace between two groups. Results: The results show that there are significant differences in the great majority of the variables describing the physical symptoms of burnout, emotional symptoms of burnout, and behavioral symptoms of burnout in the workplace between younger and older employees. Conclusion: Well-being in the workplace of age-diverse employees is a key for long-term effectiveness of organizations. Managers and employers should apply appropriate measures to reduce burnout as well as to contribute to employees well-being and better workplace performance. Ozadje in namen: Ljudje preživijo velik del svojega življenja na delovnem mestu, vendar je vloga starosti pri oblik­ovanju delovnih mest in izvajanju dela v veliki meri prezrta. Posledice se lahko odražajo v stresu in različnih simptomih izgorelosti. Tako se starostni raznoliki zaposleni soočajo z različnimi simptomi izgorelosti in stresom pri opravljanju njihovega dela. Glavni cilj prispevka je predstaviti izgorevanje starejših zaposlenih v primerjavi z mlajšimi zaposlenimi v slovenskih podjetjih. Zasnova / metodologija / pristop: Prispevek temelji na raziskavi med dvema starostnima skupinama, in sicer mla­jših zaposlenih, ki so bili razvrščeni v skupino pod 50 let in starejših zaposlenih, ki so bili razvrščeni v skupino nad 50 let. Kolmogorov-Smirnov in Shapiro-Wilk test je pokazal, da podatki niso normalno porazdeljeni, zato smo uporabili ne-parametrični Mann-Whitney U test za preverjanje razlik v telesnih, čustvenih in vedenjskih simptomih izgorelosti na delovnem mestu med obema skupinama. Rezultati: Rezultati kažejo, da obstajajo statistično značilne razlike v veliki večini spremenljivk, ki opisujejo fizične, čustvene in vedenjske simptome izgorelosti na delovnem mestu med mlajšimi in starejšimi zaposlenimi v slovenskih podjetjih. Zaključek: Dobro počutje na delovnem mestu starostno različnih zaposlenih je ključnega pomena za dolgoročno us­pešnost organizacije. Managerji in delodajalci morajo izvajati ustrezne ukrepe za zmanjšanje izgorevanja, kot tudi, da prispevajo k dobremu počutju zaposlenih in boljše delovanje na delovnem mestu.

The paper highlights the capacity of the mutual use of selected creative problem solving methods, system dynamics and multi-criteria decision-making methods when dealing with complex problems. It has already been shown that creative approaches are not limited to merely problem definitions and problem structuring, since they can also be used in typically analytical steps in the framework procedure of multicriteria decision making. The goal of this paper is to explore the possibilities how to employ creative problem solving methods in system dynamics, and how to complete system dynamics with multi-criteria decision making. This paper shows that the creative problem solving methods based on questions can be used in structuring complex system dynamic problems with the selected mapping methods. It can be concluded that system dynamic models can help decision makers in enhancing understanding of system behavior over time ; however, the evaluation of the consequences of different strategies showed by these models can be supported by multi-criteria decision making. The mutual assistance of creative, systems dynamic and multi-criteria decision methods is illustrated by contemporary interdisciplinary examples

Background and Purpose: People spend a significant part of their lifespan working, but the role of age in job design and implementation of work have largely been ignored. The consequences can be evident in stress and burnout in different symptoms. Thus, age-diverse employees are faced with different symptoms of burnout and stress when carrying out their work. The main aim of this paper is to present burnout of older employees compared to younger employees in Slovenian companies. Design/Methodology/Approach: The paper is based on research including a survey between two age groups of employees, namely the younger employees that were classified in the group of under 50 years of age and the older employees that were classified in the group of above 50 years of age. Since the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro- Wilk test showed that the data was not normally distributed, the noan-parametric Mann- Whitney U test was used to verify differences in the physical symptoms of burnout, emotional symptoms of burnout, and behavioral symptoms of burnout in the workplace between two groups. Results: The results show that there are significant differences in the great majority of the variables describing the physical symptoms of burnout, emotional symptoms of burnout, and behavioral symptoms of burnout in the workplace between younger and older employees. Conclusion: Well-being in the workplace of age- diverse employees is a key for long-term effectiveness of organizations. Managers and employers should apply appropriate measures to reduce burnout as well as to contribute to employees well-being and better workplace performance.

The assessment of social responsibility (SR) in organizations requires a hierarchy of requisitely holistic factors and indicators. This paper introduces the development of measuring instrument for this multidimensional problem. Differently from using factor analysis based on principal component analysis extraction method, it presents the use of exploratory factor analysis(EFA) to develop the multiple criteria model for the assessment of SR.It also discusses several approaches for the weights determination: because considering factor loadings of the indicators obtained via EFA does not tend to differentiate between the levels of importance, the SMARTER method based on ordinal scale was used in criteria weighting. It proposes the solutions for measuring local alternativesʼ values with respect to indicators by using value functions. Application possibilities of the results of the multiple criteria assessment of SR are illustrated and discussed via a real-life case of organizations in Slovenia.

This paper aims to offer a review of existing theoretical bases of the measurement and assessment of environmental creditworthiness, particularly on the level of enterprises. Its objective is also to examine the possibilities of the multi-criteria assessment of environmental creditworthiness by enterprises themselves ("internal rating"). Following the prescriptive approach, it delineates the particularities of a frame procedure for the multi-criteria assessment of environmental creditworthiness. The credibility of eco-ratings depends not only on the quality of information sources and the choice of sensible environmental indicators, but also on the transformation of data into local and aggregate values that are understandable to decision makers. V prispevku podajamo pregled teoretičnih osnov merjenja in presojanja okoljske bonitete, in sicer predvsem na ravni podjetij. Cilj prispevka je proučiti možnosti večkriterijskega presojanja okoljske bonitete v podjetjih samih (t. i. interni rating). Upoštevajoč preskriptivni pristop, razčlenjujemo posebnosti okvirnega postopka za večkriterijsko presojanje okoljske bonitete. Ugotavljamo, da je kredibilnost ekoratingov odvisna ne le od kakovosti informacijskih virov in izbire okoljskih indikatorjev, ampak tudi od transformacije podatkov v odločevalcem razumljive lokalne in agregirane vrednosti.