Estonian Organizations Research Articles

Estonians on the Vasilyevsky Island Of Saint Petersburg

The subject of the article is the analyzes of the life of Estonians, who came from the Estland and Lifland provinces in the eastern direction to the Vasilyevsky Island of St. Petersburg, the birthplace of the Estonian community of the city. The object of the study is the the life of Estonian immigrants who came to this place in search of a better life for themselves and their descendants. The aim of the study is to reveal Lutheran parishes of the Vasilyevsky Island, attended by the Estonians; describe the founding and work of local Estonian organizations, as well as cultural and educational institutions. The author tells about the events held by the Estonians living on the Vasilyevsky Island; Estonian shops and educational institutions. Practical significance of the paper lies in the fact that the it reveals the specific features of the cultural life and traditions of the local Estonian community of the Vasilyevsky Island of St. Petersburg. The author also tells about the famous Estonians who were born, worked, lived or served on the Vasilyevsky Island, and their contribution to the development of science and culture of St. Petersburg, Russia and Estonia. The main methods used in the study are the generalization, the system approach, the historical-descriptive method, the analysis of the documents, and empirical description. Numerous articles from Estonian newspapers and magazines have been used to reconstruct the features of the life of the Estonians on the Vasilyevsky Island. The author shows how Estonian community of St. Petersburg emerged and developed on the Vasilyevsky Island. It showed Estonian organizations of the island, as well as cultural and academic staff of Estonian origin, whose life was closely connected with the Vasilyevsky Island. Living on the island, the Estonians represented a united and unique community inhabiting the Vasilyevsky Island. At the same time, their community was not isolated and it established a wide network with the Estonians in other districts of St. Petersburg. Due to natural assimilation and migration, the Estonians are represented on the Vasilyevsky Island in a rather poor number at the present time. The Estonians lived on the Vasilyevsky Island made the significant contribution to the development of culture and science of St. Petersburg, as a multinational city, hosting Russians, Ingrian Finns, Tatars and the representatives of other nations since its construction. The phenomenon of the Estonians of the Vasilyevsky Island is unique and interesting for further research.

Workforce Ageing Issue and Its Management in the Baltic States

In this paper, we intended to analyze the consequences of an aging workforce. The main research question was formulated as follows: what results of aging workforce appear in organizations in the Baltic States? The paper considered the following implications of the aging workforce: a demand for age-specific Human Resources (HR) practices, an increase in labor productivity and decrease of innovativeness. The author fielded a representative questionnaire survey of chief executive officers (CEOs) in 102 organizations across the Baltic States and found out that the majority of CEOs do not identify the aging workforce as an essential concern. It was found out that age-specific HR practices are scarce in the Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian organizations. CEOs of organizations operating in the Baltic States tend to think that younger employees are more productive and more innovative than their older co-workers.

Thomas‐Kilmann's Conflict Management Modes and their relationship to Fiedler's Leadership Styles (basing on Estonian organizations)

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between Thomas‐Kilmann's Conflict Management Modes (CMM) and Fiedler's Leadership Style (LS) measures, both in the data, and from the theoretical perspective. Based on the conceptual similarities, the authors first propose the existence of a relationship between Thomas‐Kilmann's CMM and Fiedler's LS measures, then establish the presence of the relationship, based on a dataset of Estonian managers.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use a unique dataset of 343 leaders and specialists from different Estonian organizations, on both Thomas‐Kilmann's CMM and Fiedler's Least Preferred Co‐worker test. The data were analyzed by multivariate methods.FindingsThe results indicate that leaders who are task‐oriented, according to Fiedler's model, tend to use more competing as the dominant CMM, while relationship‐oriented leaders are more accommodating. The authors also analyze the effect of individual characteristics, finding that younger managers are more task‐oriented while older ones are typically relationship‐oriented and conflict avoiding; women are more collaborative and less conflict avoiding, and men tend to use the accommodating mode more than women. Surprisingly, women tend to be more competitive.Originality/valueThis is the first study to establish a relationship between Fiedler's Leadership Style and Thomas‐Kilmann's Conflict Mode Instrument. This relationship can potentially be used for assessing the reliability and validity of measurements. The particular shape of it may be used to analyze the links between conflicts, relationships and assertiveness. Additionally, the paper provides an empirical analysis of conflict management habits and leadership styles of Estonian managers.

Resistance to change in Indian, Chinese and Estonian organizations

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine how cultural differences influence change management in Indian, Chinese and Estonian organisations. The paper focuses mainly on the resistance to change and contributes to management research and management practices in multinational companies by improving the understanding of cultural influences on organisational change management.Design/methodology/approachThe authors interviewed 177 business consultants and managers in India, China and Estonia who had participated in change management projects. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to analyze the impact of national culture to change management.FindingsThe cause of resistance was found to be mainly fear, in Indian and Estonian organisations, but in Chinese organizations it was the inertia. Increased stress was the most often experienced negative factor during change management projects in all three countries. Stress was caused mainly by leadership problems in India and by increased workload in Estonia. To overcome the resistance, communication was used in India and education together with communication both in Estonia and in China most often. Still, the content of these activities was different.Research limitations/implicationsThe interviewees had different relations to the organisations they described and the size of organizations was different.Practical implicationsThe paper's findings will help managers of multinational companies to understand the causes of resistance to change in different countries and plan the methods to overcome such resistance.Originality/valuePapers such as this, about the effect of culture on change management, are increasingly important due to rapid globalization.

Management Techniques in Estonian Organizations: Learning Organization and Business Process Reengineering

The aim of the current article is to establish the types of management techniques used in Estonian organizations and the connection between the implementation of these techniques and other indicators within organizations. Special attention has been focused on Business Process Reengineering (BPR) and Learning Organization (LO). Results indicate that the most popular management technique in Estonian organizations was BPR, LO was ranked sixth. Although BPR had the strongest impact on other indicators within organizations. As these areas were enhanced by the implementation of LO, the authors suggest that LO be implemented complementary to BPR.

Bullying at Work: Do Industries Differ in the Estonian Case?

The bullying at work has not so far analyzed in Estonia - its dispersal, causes and impact have not studied, while in the countries with long democratic traditions it has been the actual problem of work context for two decades. The current study examines the prevalence of workplace bullying in Estonian organizations and the extent of the problem by industries because bullying may put impact on the employees efficiency. The sample consists of 1941 respondents which covers 59 organizations across Estonia and represents in all over 30 000 employee and the unemployed. The results reveal that bullying poses a serious problem in Estonia. According to Leymann's criteria (1996) at least one negative act per week with a duration of at least 6 months, has been reported by 23,44% of respondents. Although, it came out that bullying is not sector-specific problem in Estonia, several and different industries are vulnerable from bullying.

Industry, Organizational Age, and Size as Predictors of Organizational Values in the Context of a Transition Society: The Case of Estonian Organizations

The objective of the article is to outline the regularities in the formation of organizational values in the context of a transition society. An Organizational Values Questionnaire (Reino 2009), based on the Competing Values Framework (Quinn and Cameron 1983), was used to analyze organizational values. A regression analysis was applied to test the impact of industry, organizational size, and age on organizational values. It was found that industry and organizational size had an important effect on values, but organizational age did not significantly predict organizational values in the context of a transition society.

A snapshot of key information systems (IS) issues in Estonian organizations for the 2000s

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to highlight key information system (IS) issues in Estonian organizations for the mid‐2000s. This research is a follow‐up to an initial effort in the country in 1993, in which a similar theme was investigated. The primary objective of this present study was to compare and contrast the findings in the previous study with the present effort.Design/methodology/approachThe Delphi method was used. Viewpoints of both information technology (IT) professionals and non‐IT professionals (business managers) in the country were sought across two rounds of the Delphi method.FindingsThe findings suggest the following: the past decade has produced salient changes in the ranking of key IS issues for Estonia; it appears that there is a convergence of opinions on key IS issues in both the Estonian public and private sectors; and there are significant differences in key IS issues across professional groupings (IT and non‐IT).Research limitations/implicationsThe ranking of issues as opposed to rating issues was used in the data analysis. Ranking items is more challenging to participants and might be a limiting factor. The sample size of this study is small and perhaps a larger sample would yield better insights.Practical implicationsThose in charge of IT resources in Estonian organizations, as well as policy makers in the country, may benefit from the information provided herein. Such insights may facilitate better understanding of current key IS issues in the country.Originality/valueThis research offers a snapshot of key IS issues in Estonian organizations for the mid‐2000s. More importantly, this work complements a prior study on the same topic that was conducted in the country in the 1990s.

What Factors Predict the Values of an Organization and How?

The objective of the present paper is to outline the regularities in the formation of organizational values. New organizational values measurement tool – Organizational Values Questionnaire was developed by author of the paper. A study of organizational values in Estonian organizations took place in the period 2004–2008. Values were analyzed in terms of the Competing Values Framework, according to which organizational values could be qualified into four broad categories (Open System, Rational Goal, Internal Processes and Human Relations). A binary logit regression analysis was applied in order to test the impact of industry, organizational size and age on organizational values. The findings of the study demonstrate that both contextual and organizational determinants are significant predictors of organizational values; however, different factors do not have equal power in explaining organizational values. It became evident that the impact that industry had on organizational values was the greatest, but size of organization is also a significant predictor of values. Although arguments about organizational age as a determinant of organizational values have been given in the literature, our study showed that organizational age does not predict organizational values in Estonia. This finding may be explained by the path dependency of the country because the processes that have taken place in a society certainly have an influence on organizations. The findings of the present study reveal some regularities about the influence of contextual and organizational factors on organizational values, but they also encourage organizations to discover the potential for shaping their values in order to ensure the survival of the organization in complicated times and its development in that particular environment.

The crisis management in Chinese and Estonian organizations

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to discover and compare the implementation of crisis management in Chinese and Estonian companies and the strategies the managers have used to prevent or manage crises.Design/methodology/approachAn empirical study was conducted in two economies in transition: China and Estonia, in 2008. Interview data were collected from 102 Chinese companies and 67 Estonian companies. The data were analyzed applying content analysis.FindingsThe results indicate that the managers of Chinese and Estonian organizations have identified different crises reflecting the politico‐socio‐economic situation of the countries. The most common type of crises in Chinese organizations is those related to economy, while in Estonian organizations, they are related to human resources. Estonian companies are better prepared for handling crises beforehand than Chinese companies. However, the majority of companies in both countries started reacting after a crisis had already come true. A triangular model of crisis management is presented.Research limitations/implicationsThe empirical study is tentative focusing on major differences and similarities in crisis management between two countries in transition. The differences are interpreted from societal‐level development. More in‐depth research in needed based on the results of this study.Originality/valueThe transfer of market‐economy practices often fails due to institutional and cultural tensions and conflict. The study of crisis management in Chinese and Estonian companies tries to increase understanding of the different routes of transition economies and its impact on management and, specifically, on crisis management. The crisis management model based on the study illustrates the interconnection between different elements of crisis management.

Differences in implementing management and organization development directions between domestic and foreign companies in Estonia

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to find out which contemporary management ideas have been implemented in Estonian business organizations and what are the differences between domestic and foreign companies in the field of management innovation.Design/methodology/approachExperts selected among management development approaches that were most frequently reflected in Harvard Business Review, Fortune Magazine and in the ProQuest database 8 direction that are most relevant for the survey in the transition economy context. The survey format is a qualitative questionnaire submitted to top managers in 141 Estonian enterprises.FindingsThe most frequently followed management development directions are balanced scorecard/management by objectives, supply chain management, learning organization, and total quality management. General differences between contemporary management directions in the domestic‐ and foreign‐owned companies researched are not significant. The initial hypothesis that contemporary management directions implemented in Estonian enterprises are mainly based on knowledge transfer by foreign enterprises or investors is not affirmed.Research limitations/implicationsBy using only a selection of management directions, it is not possible to draw final conclusions about the development process of management practice. The nature of the sample does not allow the authors to draw conclusions about all business sectors in Estonia.Practical implicationsThe results provide insight into the value of contemporary management directions for Estonian enterprises and enable the authors to make some forecasts about future management trends in Estonia depending on domestic and foreign ownership of enterprises that can be taken into consideration in management training programmes.Originality/valueThe paper provides an overview of innovations in management practice in a transition economy that has not been researched earlier by using a tool that operationalizes contemporary management directions.

A measurement tool for the evaluation of organizational leadership capability

PurposeCollective concepts of leadership open up some essential aspects of organizational leadership that could be defined as the collective ability of leadership to detect and cope with changes in the external environment by maintaining the primary goals of the organization. The purpose of this paper is to design a tool to evaluate organizational leadership capability.Design/methodology/approachA total of 445 respondents from six Estonian organizations participated by completing a questionnaire about organizational leadership. Next, a quantitative analysis is performed and sets of factors obtained from a partial least squares regression and Cronbach alpha test. Finally, the pattern of individual items (statements) within each of the factors is identified and the results, which indicate organizational leadership capability, are plotted.FindingsDuring the last two decades, leadership on the collective level has come under greater focus. This has arisen from the necessity to transfer leadership capabilities to the strategic assets of organizations that allow them to achieve performance on a daily basis with long‐term success. That means organizational leadership capabilities that are based on the leadership skills and knowledge of organizational members on the one hand, and the extent to which these skills and knowledge are embedded in the structure of an organization on the other. Therefore, the measurement of organizational leadership capability is an important issue for improving organizational performance in the long term.Originality/valueFrom the practical point of view, the measurement tool has many advantages: it is easier to collect answers from a large sample of respondents; it is simple to calculate and analyse the collected answers; it is also possible to measure organizations as a whole or by separate areas or management levels. Also, the measures in the measurement tool provide support to help managers increase the quality and efficiency of management in every day practice.

Lessons for Strategic Communication from Transitional Changes in Estonian Organizations

This study contributes to understanding how strategic communication can influence the successful of implementation of organizational changes. This empirical study of 2,761 employees points to relationships between strategic communication, organizational culture, and employee attitudes toward organizational changes. Satisfaction with information about changes in an organization could be predicted by task-orientation and relationship-orientation of organizational culture. Results indicate the study might have implications for managers of post-Soviet organizations.

The Impact of Work-Related Values on the Readiness to Change in Estonian Organizations

This study contributes to our understanding of how work-related values, including ethics, are connected with the readiness to change in Estonian organizations. Research in Estonian companies involved 747 respondents. The author examined the influence of work-related values on attitude towards change and organizational learning. Empirical research in Estonian organizations indicates that work-related values predict attitude towards change and organizational learning. This study indicates the need for ethical conduct to achieve a competitive advantage in Estonia. Guidelines for managers and a model of value-based change management are subsequently developed.

VARIOUS TYPES OF ESTONIAN TOP‐MANAGERS

Although there is no substantial change on this side, that leaders achieve results through the others work, there are still differences in the way, how leader achieves this. Based on empirical data from Cross Cultural CEO project this paper aims to classify leaders of Estonian organizations. The empirical study involved interviews with CEOs of 63 companies and questionnaires completed by the CEOs and their subordinates. Two types of top managers were received: directive type and team player. Self‐organizing theory has been applied for interpreting results. Implications are developed for leadership development in countries in transition.

Changes in Estonian organizations from institutional perspective

Abstract During last decade Estonia has passed through its transition from the authoritarian, centralized, totalitarianism of state socialism, to the democratic country with a free market economy, with different attitudes and values. Estonian companies have been in continuous change process and remarcable part of these changes are deepest by scope ‐ transformational changes. Author proposes that the social phenomena such as organizational change can only be understood in relations to the wider contextual influences that surround them. Changes in Estonian companies could be explained by using institutional and historical context. Research in Estonian companies indicates, that during stable institutions developmental or transitional changes take place in organizations, during societal transience transformational changes occur in organizations.

Economic Reforms in the People's Republic of China

The emphasis in this paper is primarily on rural economic reforms. Industrial reforms are treated quite briefly. The primary reason for this allocation is that the agricultural reforms have been much more sweeping than the industrial reforms and have had more striking consequences. Another reason, of course, is that China remains a primarily rural country, with 80% of the population living in rural areas. A final reason is that there has been much trial and error in urban and indus-