Theory of Public Administration

E-book

Eva Výrostová (ed.)

Proceedings of the International Scientific Seminar "Public Administration as a Provider of Public Services of a Social State - Utilising Foreign Experience for Reforms in the Slovak Republic" held at the Faculty of Public Administration, UPJŠ, Popradská 66 in Košice on 24 November 2017

Public services represent an increasingly expanding segment of the public sector. This growth can be identified primarily horizontally – from services related to general security and other forms of state functionality, through technical infrastructure, postal and telecommunications services, transportation, and information services, to increasingly emphasized healthcare, cultural, educational, and social services. Simultaneously, the entire structure of public services is expanding vertically, particularly in depth: within each area, the range of provided services is broadening.

In this context, the importance of optimizing the structure of service providers is growing, which is the focus of such reform processes as decentralization, deconcentration, privatization, or other forms of structural transformation. The outcome may vary under different conditions, resulting in diverse provider structures for public services of the social state, where the state and its bodies or organizations continue to hold a significant position.

Consequently, the significance of the public administration model as the primary state provider of these services is increasing: due to these processes, countries develop distinct and sometimes incomparable systems of public service providers, even within state bodies or organizations acting on behalf of the state. However, the varying effectiveness of public service delivery systems by public administration bodies remains a persistent reality.

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E-book

Eliška Župová

The scientific monograph examines the issue of competencies among mayors in municipalities of the Slovak Republic. At its core is interpersonal (social) competence, characterized by a set of competencies (interpersonal skills and abilities) formed by comfort in social (interpersonal) situations that mayors encounter daily in performing their duties.

Social (interpersonal) competence is an essential skill for any manager. A mayor should also act as a manager, operating within a social environment, where the level of mastering interpersonal competencies predicts successful behavior in interpersonal situations. Through their actions in these situations, they influence the internal environment of the municipality, including municipal office employees, members of the municipal council, local residents, and external environments—such as collaborations with other municipalities, higher territorial units, contractual agreements with private organizations, or representatives of the third sector.

The central focus of the scientific monograph is the exploration of interpersonal competencies. A pivotal research question addressed was: What is the level of mastery of interpersonal competencies among mayors in municipalities of the Slovak Republic?

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E-book

Anna Čepelová  - Tomáš Alman (eds.)

A peer-reviewed collection of contributions from the 6th year of the international scientific conference for doctoral students, which took place on March 19, 2021 (online via MS Teams).

Doctoral studies, as the highest level of higher education, prepare students interested in further education to acquire new knowledge and creatively apply it in their future scientific work. Students of doctoral studies actively participate in obtaining new, original scientific results and thus contribute to the development of scientific knowledge in their field.

Doctoral studies play a crucial role in educating top experts. From this perspective, we consider it essential to emphasize creativity and originality in research work, the development of critical thinking, the ability to discuss specific professional problems in broader contexts, and the ability to present achieved results. The Faculty of Public Administration at P.J. Šafárik University in Košice also created space for such professional discussions and presentations of achieved results by organizing the 6th annual scientific conference "Theory and Practice of Public Administration," which took place on March 19, 2021. Public administration is an integral part of every democratic state, influencing each of our lives; therefore, discussing its current issues and familiarizing ourselves with new solutions is necessary. The scientific conference was attended by 33 participants from the Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, and Slovakia. The contributions presented focused on current public administration issues from legal, economic, social, and political perspectives.

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Peter Čisárik - Zuzana Hrabovská 

Marketing bol donedávna spájaný s koncepciou ziskovosti a konkurencieschopnosti. V posledných rokoch sa však uplatňuje aj v organizáciách, ktoré nedosahujú zisk, ako napr. kultúrne a vzdelávacie inštitúcie, politické strany, dobrovoľné alebo charitatívne organizácie, ale aj pri propagovaní ľudí a ich názorov, udalostí a miest. Dôvodom je predovšetkým tlak na efektívnejšie využívanie verejných zdrojov, ako aj narastajúca konkurencia. Koncepcia marketingu územia ovplyvňuje tak názory na miesto pobytu, priemyselné a obchodné zóny, územie, cestovný ruch a územný imidž. Predložený vysokoškolský učebný text, slúži ako študijný materiál ponúkajúci základy marketingu aplikovaného pre oblasť služieb a pre oblasť teritória: je určený predovšetkým pre študentov voliteľných predmetov na Fakulte verejnej správy.

Autori

E-book

Drahomíra Ondrová - Veronika Džatková(eds.)

Perspektívy komunálnej politiky na Slovensku po voľbách v roku 2014

Peer-reviewed collection of works from the scientific conference with international participation held on May 28, 2015, in Košice

On May 28, 2015, the Department of Public Policy and Public Administration, in cooperation with the organizing and scientific committee, organized a scientific conference with international participation titled "Current Challenges and Problems of Public Administration II. – Perspectives of Municipal Policy in Slovakia after the 2014 Elections."

The conference content followed up on the conference "Current Problems and Challenges of Public Administration I.," which was held on November 21, 2012, and laid the foundation for a series of conferences dedicated to the important issue of public administration. The conference focused on a broad range of problems related to public administration from the perspective of its understanding as an academic discipline in connection with political science, law, ethical aspects, economics, digitalization, and public administration management, with a focus on the perspectives of municipal policy.

The authors in their contributions did not remain only at the theoretical and generally descriptive level but sought to address existing problems by formulating proposals and possible ways to solve them in the application to public administration practice. The authors and editors believe that this collection of papers will have a positive contribution not only for theorists and students of the Faculty of Public Administration but also for representatives and professionals from practice who are daily confronted with issues of public administration.

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Eva Mihaliková - Zuzana Hrabovská

Nestálosť trhového prostredia môže ovplyvniť finančnú situáciu v podniku. Preto je základom jeho úspešnej adaptácie vykonávanie objektívnych finančných analýz a hodnotení vlastných finančných možností. Na základe toho je nevyhnutné poznať systém kvalitatívnych finančných ukazovateľov, prostredníctvom ktorých dokážeme posúdiť finančnú situáciu a výkonnosť. Učebné texty poukazujú aj na výpočet konkrétnych ukazovateľov, identifikáciu vzájomných vzťahov medzi ukazovateľmi a ich dynamiku, vyjadrujúcu tendencie vo vývoji finančnej situácie v časovom horizonte.

Autorky

E-book

Silvia Ručinská - Josef Bernhart - Franziska Cecon - George Cornel Dumitrescu (eds.)

The publication is designed as an interdisciplinary knowledge base encompassing foundations, common themes, and challenges relevant to local governance, digitalization at the municipal level, and green transformation topics. The primary target groups for this publication are teachers and researchers, university students in public administration, political science, and related fields, as well as professionals already working in local government bodies. Experts from various universities and research institutions contribute to enriching scientific discussions through this publication, addressing urgent and relevant issues concerning digital and green transformation with a focus on municipal governance.

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E-book

Stanislav Konečný (ed.)

Public Administration as a Provider of Public Welfare State Services – Utilizing Foreign Experience for Reforms in the Slovak Republic

The vast majority of these publication outputs are relatively easily accessible to domestic readers, whether in print or electronic form. However, since several key published outputs are less accessible to Slovak readers for various reasons, we decided to reprint at least some of them in their Slovak-language versions in this collection. As all the texts reprinted here underwent proper peer review during their original publication, it was no longer necessary to review their Slovak-language versions again. For each published study, we therefore provide bibliographic details of its original publication, including the names of reviewers, scientific editors, and others.

Compiler

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E-book

Eva Mihaliková (ed.)

The non-conference collection of scientific works "Quality of Life of Citizens - Challenges, Determinants and Solutions III" presents the current state and possible trends in the field of improving the quality of life of citizens in the post-covid period. The published outputs focus on various aspects of life that affect the quality of life of citizens. The authors, in their articles, explore approaches to measuring the quality of life of citizens, analyze selected indicators of the quality of life, examine the determinants affecting the quality of life, highlight the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on selected aspects of the quality of life, and they explore the implementation of the Initiative to Support Youth Employment and the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development.

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Magdaléna Hovanová - Dušan Šlosár

The monograph deals with the issue of social protection of the family, where the basis is a view of the family as a natural part of human and social life. The starting point is provided by the institutes that create and structure it, influence its value orientation, the development of social relations within the family, but also relations to the social environment.

In broader contexts, the monographic treatment of social protection provides the results of transdisciplinary knowledge. It deals with the work of helping professionals with functional and non-functional families and families with special needs. It offers problem solving through tailored methods, techniques, procedures and measures used by various helping professions in the field of social protection and social guardianship.

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Helena Harausová

Communication is a significant and integral part of human existence. It also plays an important role in individual organizations, whether of a production or non-production nature. Without communication, it would not be possible to manage these organizations and achieve the set goals.

The aim of the scripts was to address the issue of communication and apply it to public administration organizations. The scripts begin by elaborating on the topic of information, which is an essential component of every communication process. The content of subsequent chapters focuses on the objectives and tasks of communication within an organization, various types of communication, barriers that may arise in communication, strategies for improving communication effectiveness in an organization, and specific communication strategies regularly encountered in different organizations.

Emphasis is also placed on the communication skills of managers, without which they would not be able to effectively manage the organization and lead their subordinates toward achieving organizational goals.

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Slávka Sedláková 

Autorka

E-book

Ondrej Mitaľ - Eliška Župová a kol.

The University Textbook is the first one of two publications prepared for the newly created study subject "Competencies of Capacities in Public Institutions ", implemented within the activity "Cooperation of Public Institutions in Youth's Education" of the project "Future of Public Administration" (FoPA), which is implemented in the Good Governance and Cross-Border Cooperation program, co-financed by the EEA Financial Mechanism and the State Budget of the Slovak Republic. However, the consistent implementation of the concept of Good Governance requires an in-depth understanding of the aspects that are associated in practice with the application of individual principles of Good Governance. The presented university textbook "Good Governance manual for Future Experts in Public Institutions" has ambition in fulfilling the 12 principles of Good Governance.

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Michal Jesenko - Rastislav Král (eds.)

Peer-reviewed proceedings of contributions from the 7th year of the international scientific conference for doctoral students, February 11, 2022 The work titled "Theory and Practice of Public Administration. Peer-reviewed proceedings of contributions from the 7th year of the international scientific conference for doctoral students held on February 11, 2022" is a comprehensive output of 29 contributions presented at the international scientific conference, which took place online on February 11, 2022. The conference is a traditional activity that is annually organized by the Faculty of Public Administration, P.J. Šafárik University in Košice. It is primarily intended for doctoral students and young researchers to facilitate open discussion, exchange of views, and mutual confrontation of the results of creative scientific activities.

This includes not only colleagues from Slovakia but also participants from abroad. The peer-reviewed articles provide, on one hand, a multidisciplinary perspective on the theoretical definition of public administration in the context of a functioning legal state. On the other hand, they also highlight practical aspects of public administration in everyday societal life. The contributions analyze the issues from the perspective of legal, economic, sociological, and political sciences.

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E-book

Lenka Pčolinská

The university textbook "Social Economics and Social Entrepreneurship" presents the issue of the social economy from a complex point of view and it is the first university textbook focused on the topic of social economy in Slovakia. Its aim is to contribute to the understanding of the concept of social economy, its development, basic conceptual apparatus, legislative anchoring and practical realities of social economics and social enterprises in Slovakia. The textbook discusses the basic legislative principles that need to be known when establishing a social enterprise.

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E-book

Stanislav Konečný

The monograph is a synthetic interdisciplinary authorial work that presents a perspective on educational policy from the viewpoint of all relevant scientific disciplines.

It does not aim to be a conceptual material for educational reforms, although we do not exclude the possibility that it may serve as an inspiration for institutions responsible for educational policy.

Despite its often polemical focus (and indeed precisely because of it), the monograph is intended for a broad professional audience engaged with education in various contexts of their theoretical and practical interests.

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