Conflict SME
Transcript of Conflict SME
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tthhee SSMMEE sseeccttoorr.. CCoommppaarraattiivvee
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Rzeszow, July 2010
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CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................3
1. THE ESSENCE, CAUSES, TYPOLOGIES AND SOLUTIONS FOR CONFLICTS ............................ 5
2. SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES' SITUATION WITHIN PARTNERING COUNTRIES ...... 11
3. DEMOGRAPHIC CONDITIONING OF CONFLICTS IN PARTNERING COUNTRIES ................. 18
3.1. WOMEN'S SITUATION IN PARTNERSHIP COUNTRIES .................................................. 23
4. LABOUR MARKET SITUATION AS A DETERMINANT OF SME SECTOR'S CONFLICTS ......... 26
5.WORKING CONDITIONS AS A DETERMINANT OF CONFLICTS...........................................32
6. FINANCIAL SECURITY AS A DETERMINANT OF EMPLOYEES' SITUATION...........................33
SUMMARY ...................................................................................................................... 35
BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................ 37
APPENDIX ....................................................................................................................... 38
TABLE INDEX ................................................................................................................... 38
CHART INDEX .................................................................................................................. 39
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be heldresponsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein."
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INTRODUCTION
The consequence of dynamic and advanced globalisation and integration processes is a
number of changes touching different spheres of live, both in terms of economic, social and
cultural ones. For every business affected it stands for a change of operation conditions and
the necessity to seek solutions addressing newly found problems, being the consequence of the
undergoing changes. Sometimes however, new conditions do not only create additional
obstacles, but also force to alter the perspective, enabling spotting issues which up to now have
been unnoticeable or have been simply not considered important enough.
Such complex links can be observed regarding approach to conflicts in organization. On
one hand, firm belief of negative role of conflicts within company becomes obsolete, on the
other one however, the ever-growing variety of organizations brings new potential reasons for
future crisis situations. Taking into consideration the main aims of Beyond Diversity project, for
which the hereby analysis was created, it was assumed that conflict is a social situation beingthe meeting pint f tw cntradictry interests, attitudes and individuals r grups systems
of values , that occur within the area of one organization, the effect of which are certain
behaviours1. An attempt was made to perceive conflicts from the most complex point of view,
i.e the one that covers all kinds of disputes, contradictions and dilemmas. Such contradiction
may be derived from a variety of reasons which not always possess rational character and are
caused by objective conflict of pursuits and aims or limited resources. It is often the case, that
conflicts stand for effect of beliefs, stereotypical thinking, biases and lack of understanding
regarding otherness.
Hence, it is the culture that plays here a crucial role, both in terms of organizationalaspect, as well as that cncerning nrms and values cherished within nes cmpany, as well as
social culture, within which the given organization operates. Workers originating from various
environments not only hold different beliefs and obey different standards, but they can also
may have problems with understanding of certain attitudes and acts of non-verbal
communication. Thus, such a situation might create a background for mutual aversions and
misunderstandings. This is especially true when it comes to companies where workers derive
from different cultures and as a consequence they might possess completely opposite attitudes
towards such basic issues as obeying law, usage and organization of working time, as well as
savoir-vivre.This range of problems is particularly crucial for entities representing sector of small and
medium enterprises. On the one hand they represent a much-needed propelling force for any
economic (generating national gross product and creating vacancies), on the other one activity
on the local level enables avoiding problems connected with cultural differences. However,
rapid globalisation processes will soon confront the managers of this companies with situations
where even though they operate on a local level but due to migration processes enabling flux of
human capital, will have to cope with problems that they are not fully capable of dealing with
1A. Pocztowski, Management of Human Resources. Outline of issues and methods, Antykwa, Cracow 1998, p. 281
Outline of Problematic and Methods, Antykwa, Cracow 1998, p. 281
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yet Participating in training that addresses such issues is a good occasion to gain or develop
new skills which will further facilitate dealing with any potential challenges caused by
organizational conditions
The aim of this research is conducting a comparative analysis of the factors belonging to
the partnership countries implementing this project (i.e. Spain, Poland and Great Britain) whichdirectly or indirectly tie in with conflicts, creating an atmosphere which might become (or not)
a fertile ground for new conflicts. At the same time this analysis stands for a follow-up of those
already written that characterize in details the specific situation of each of the partners. That is
why, based on statistical data, the source of which was predominantly EUROSTAT, as well as
taking advantage of other synthetic reports of various subject matters and in some aspects
connected with the researched topic, a cross-section analysis was conducted within possibility
of creation of potential conflicts. The analysis was started by reviewing the theory behind
conflicts. In this part of the study a review of conflict types was made, their consequences, as
well as their causes and at the same time presenting classification of conflict sources which ishelpful during the latter part of the project's development, i.e. research by means of survey's
questionnaire. In this part of the study types of approaches to conflict and possible methods of
their solving were presented.
After that, an analysis of SME sector was conducted in compared countries, presenting
in the first place currently binding classification of EU companies, as well as basic economic
indicators that synthetically describe economic situation in individual countries.
The next part of the study characterizes selected issues connected with demographics
that constitute "background" of company's conflicts. Here, a comparison of population's size
was made, together with indicators illustrating the problem of migration and education in
individual countries. Due to the fact that discrimination is a sign of conflict, the next part of the
study compared the situation of women in individual countries, employing synthetic indicators
of gender gap index, used for disproportion assessment of treatment of men and women. The
next part of the study is focused on comparison of conditions concerning EU's labour market.
The next part of the study deals with comparison of the selected aspects in terms of work
organization and the final one concerns financial situation of workers in reference to salary
guarantees (minimal salary) and salary level (average salary level).
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1. THE ESSENCE, CAUSES, TYPOLOGIES AND SOLUTIONS FOR CONFLICTS
A conflict is a natural phenomenon that is inseparably connected with every venue
where people live and function. Every human activity inevitably leads to creation of conflict,
which does not necessarily mean that conflict itself ought to be perceived as something
negative or unwelcome. On the contrary - if all activity went unhindered, without any trace of
obstacles on its path and clash of different factions, would it be even possible to talk about
development?
The term conflict derives from Latin notion of "confliktus", which means "collision". It is
also interpreted as: an incompatibility, a clash of interests and opinions, an argument,
a quarrel. A conflict stands for all sorts of misunderstandings, disagreements and discrepancy of
interests. Commonly, this notion possesses mostly pejorative connotation as people are afraidof conflicts. it is frequently associated with struggle, aggression, unpleasant situations,
dissatisfaction and in general - negative emotions. Despite their undeniably destructive
character, they may also have positive and constructive functions, supporting decision-making
and possessing positive effect on organization's functioning. A Conflict Situations stands for2:
a state of human relationships, which may in any given moment transform into a clashwith all characteristic consequences,
an overall of factual and legal circumstances accompanying an escalation of conflict'sparticipants' behaviour, which in practice means the lack of possibility of preventing
the conflict, as the "critical mass" has already been reached, causing furtherconsequences.
A conflict is a multi contextual notion, defined in a variety of ways within subject's
literature. It is caused by a variety of reasons, where those worth mentioning are, for example,
the way of perceiving the conflict by all participating parties, its type and course and many
more. A review of definitions of conflicts has been included in chart 1.
2Z. Uniszewski, Conflict and Negotiations, Wyd. Prszyoski i S-ka, Warsaw 2000, p. 122.
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Table 1 Conflicts' definitions.
Definition's
authorDefinition's content
S. P. Robbins A conflict is a process, where party A undertakes conscious efforts in
order to stop the effects of actions conducted by party B, by means ofblocking their pursued goals or blocking any actions that would facilitate
achieving it.
R. Dahrendorf A conflict stands for all manifestations of competition, litigations or
tensions between two or more social forces.
L. Coser A conflict is a struggle of people that represent different values or
struggle for acquiring an access to status, power or limited goods, where
the aim of interested parties is not only achieving their own goals, but
also neutralising, destroying or eliminating their opponent.
L. Kriesberg A conflict is a situation, where two or more parties firmly believe, that
their individual goals are impossible to combine.
J. Galtung A conflict is a resultant of attitudes, behaviours and contradictions. It is a
three-element construct (triad). It can be above all identified by human
behaviours, but main sources of conflict are attitudes and believes.
A. Pocztowski A Conflict is a social situation, in which a clash of opposing interests,
attitudes and individuals' values and (or) groups functioning within a
given organization takes place, the consequences of which are specific
behaviours.
A. Potocki A conflict is a struggle, the aim of which is striving or counteracting
towards acquiring power or access to valuable resources. It is acontradictory status of aims between groups, where some of them
achieve their goals, while others are not able to do so. It takes a form of
competition, litigations, tensions or evident social clashes.
U. Gros A conflict is a misunderstanding concerning goals and means of their
achieving, or when emotional antagonisms are sources of conflict
between people or groups.
Source: Own research based on: S. P. Robbins, Behaviours in Organization, PWE, Warsaw 2004, p. 308;
Pocztowski A., Human Resources Management, Strategies, Structures, Processes, PWE, Warsaw 2003, p. 434;
Organizational Behaviours. Selected Issues edited by A. Potocki, Difin, Warsaw 2005, p. 103, 205; A. Adamus
Matuszynska, Contemporary Social Conflict Theories, Published by AE in Katowice, Katowice 1998, p. 13,
37.
According to J. Galtung, one has to differentiate between situations called3:
1. brushes - a brush is a situation between two people that pursue the same aim, which leads tohurting one of them,
2. dilemmas - a dilemma is one person's problem, where that person strives to pursue twocontradicting aims; such a situation may lead to personal conflictand even to self-destruction;
3A. Adamus Matuszynska, Contemporary Social Conflict Theories, op. cit.,p. 37
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3. contradictions - contradictions are situations, where selected aim is not possible to be achieved ina given social system.
Conflicts can be perceived in two ways. The first view claims that in general, conflicts are
negative and dysfunctional, as well as that they have a destructive character and that said, they
are to be suppressed and not allowed to be fully developed. A different approach towards thisproblem emphasizes that although in general conflicts are unavoidable, they may also possess a
positive (functional, constructive) character and may be used for the good of the entire
organization. Positive and negative aspects of conflicts were presented in chart 2.
Table 2 Positive and negative aspects of conflicts.
Positive aspects Negative aspects
increases the quality of decisionsmade,
stimulates creativity and innovation,frees group members' curiosity and
interests,
facilitates development of newconcepts,
binds group, increases work motivation,reveals "flashpoints" that need fixing,enables releasing of tensions and
frustrations,
begins significant changes, improves communication channels,creates positive competition, improves atmosphere at work,
deteriorates group relationships,
can lead to group's destruction,smaller group's integrity,can lead to interference in
communication processes,
causes chaos, disorganizes group'swork,
lowers group member's morale,causes hostility and suspicion in
contacts with other people,
Source: Own study.
Causes of conflicts are different contradictions that take place between people and have various
character. They are not unambiguous. Their causes, which possess both subjective and objective
character, are various and strongly connected with each other. Examples of definitions of conflicts has
been included in chart 3.
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Table 3 Subjective and objective sources of conflicts.
Subjective sources of conflicts. Objective sources of conflicts.
individual's features of characterspeople's attitudesways of behaviourexpressed opinionsexpectations and predictions resulting
from work in a given enterprise
people's features of personality
contradictions between needs andpossibilities of their satiating
contradictions between interests of agiven worker and interests of entire
company
incorrect communicationcultural differencesfulfilling social roles insatiable needs
Source: K. Zjawiona, Managing Conflict as a Determinant of Work Group's Efficiency "In Search for
Strategic Competitive Advantages", edited by J. L. Czarnoty, K. Moszkowicz, Published by Czestochowa
University of Technology Faculty of Management, Czestochowa 2003, p. 244
Creation of conflicts and types of individual's behaviour depend on cultural conditioning.
Starting from the beginning of XX century one of psychological concepts of conflict (e.g. G.
Trade, G. Le Bon, K. Horney) established that sources of individual and social conflicts ought to
be traced in contradictions within social-cultural systems of modern societies) Also
functionalism (as well as neopsychoanalytical theories) establishes that the main reasons of
conflicts are discords between culturally determined norms and individual's aims and socially
structuralized capabilities of group members concerning obeying those values and norms. If
there is a compatibility between individual's pursuits already formed by the culture and
institutionalised in social structure means of realizing these pursuits, then one may talk aboutsocial balance. All shifting of that balance leads to phenomena of social deviation, manifested
by non-conforming and pathological behaviours. All of them are considered to be conflict-
facilitating factors4..
Representatives of different cultures are characterized by different attitudes towards
conflict, as well as means of coping with it. For instance, in countries that may be described by a
high level of quality expectancy towards life (such as Scandinavian countries) the most frequent
situation is either avoiding or giving in as a means of solving a given conflict situation, with
compromise or competition being less common. On the other hand, open and more direct
cultures (e.g. Americans) are more favourable towards competition and cooperation instead of
avoidance or concession. In Japan or Greece - i.e. countries characterized by a high ratio of
avoiding uncertainty, people are encouraged to cooperate (guarantee of employment and
obeying formal rules facilitate minimization of conflicts)5.
4Starting from the beginning of XX century one of psychological concepts of conflict (.e.g G. Trade, G. Le Bon, K.
Horney) established that sources of individual and social conflicts ought to be traced in contradictions within
social-cultural systems of modern societies) A. Adamus Matuszynska, Contemporary Social Conflict Theories,op. cit.,p. 13
5S. P. Robbins, Behaviours in Organization, op. cit., p.317
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Taking into consideration an undeniable influence of culture on both creation, as well as
a way of conflict solving, the project takes advantage of S.P. Robbins's and D. De Dencoz's
classification, grouping the reasons of all conflicts into three categories:
1. communication differences - these are misunderstandings that derive from semanticdifficulties, mutual misunderstandings and communication channels' interferences; whichin conditions of cultural varietynot only means problems connected with lack of language skills
but also cultural context of given phrases and spoken utterances'
2. structural differences - they cause integration issues which often lead to conflicts; individuals donot agree in terms of common aims, potential decisions, effectiveness criteria or resources
share. In such cases conflicts are not caused by insufficient communication or personal hostility -
rather than that, they are simply more rooted in the organizational structure and cultural
differences might further strengthen these problems due to lack of both knowledge, as well as
acceptance of employed management method;
3. personal differences - a conflict might be caused by a personal bias and systems of values;a mutual dislike between people hinders their cooperation; factors like: origin, education,
gender, race, religion and experience constitute a unique human personality with a very specific
collection of cherished values. In organizational conditions and during close personal contact
these might cause a problem.
The knowledge concerning conflicts and ways of their solving can be found useful to
every manager, no matter the level of his management because "... organizations are social
systems, which means that they are formed by people with a variety of personalities, opinions,
believes, aspirations and career pursuits. Apart from that, they hold different places in
organizational hierarchy and perform different functions, as well as engage themselves on
different levels into institution's functioning and take different amounts of responsibility in the
enterprise..."6. All of these might cause tensions and already mentioned conflicts. It is up to
manager to not let the situation get out of hand, paralysing functioning of the organization.
There is a number conflict solving methods - presented in chart 4.
6Organizational Behaviours Selected Issues, op. cit., p. 100
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Table 4 Means of conflict solving.
Strategy Most effective when:
Avoidance
The conflict is small with some strong emotions present which will
be remedied by time necessary to calm down, or when potentially
destructive effects of active behaviour prevail over benefits
coming from conflict solving.
Giving inThe issue being the subject of the dispute does not hold any
importance for all parties or they intend to acquire arguments for
the future.
Imposing The need for quick solution requires unpopular actions or when
engaging others in conflict and its solving is not crucial.
CompromiseParties have more or less comparable power and it is why it is
advisable to postpone the issue, or when the time is the leading
factor.
CooperationTime pressure is minimal and all parties are serious aboutachieving winner-winner solution, when the issue is to serious to
risk any compromise.
Source: S. P. Robbins, D. A. DeCenzo, Basics of Management, PWE, Warsaw 2002, p. 539.
If the conflict is positively solved it automatically increases the trust level between the
workers, it integrates the group and introduces the feeling of better understanding. Finding
constructive solution brings employees closer to each other which in turn should
facilitate future struggles of this type.
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2. SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES' SITUATION WITHIN PARTNERING
COUNTRIES
Small and medium enterprises are pillars of economic development of all member UE
countries and their functioning stands for a healthy competition, as well as reflection ofscietys entrepreneurship. Several last years have in a significant way changed the global
economy. Due to advancing integration and globalisation processes, as well as creation and
popularisation of new technology usage there was a radical change in functioning conditions of
all enterprises, no matter their size. Still, it is small and medium enterprises that suffered the
most due to environmental change, as once safe market niches are no more along with
diminishing of local markets and increase in competition, as well as uncertainty concerning
conditions reinforced by world economic crisis forces them to seek out new areas of operation
and new possibilities. Current changes observed in many aspects of SME functioning are, first of
all, internationalisation of their activity, growth of IT and communication technologies (ITC), aswell as growing innovativeness and creation of various network connections. New functioning
conditions of SME create, on the one hand, a chance for development and expansion, on the
other one however, they are a clear threat to existence of many small companies. Economic
integration and advancing globalisation advances SME's internationalisation. It is worth to
emphasize, that motives of internationalisation within SME are very varied. These motives are
above all a desire to improve the company's competitiveness, its development, access to
technology and know-how or high production cost on domestic market. Thus, the decision
concerning internationalisation is depends on company's different strategic aims. Moreover,
access to new market being the motive behind internationalisation is mostly corresponding to
one of two factors - the so called push factor, where domestic market is limited or so called pull
factor, where the company notices its chance on foreign markets. Enterprises based on
advanced technologies and innovative ones internationalise quicker, very often being
international starting from their "birth"7.
Creation of Single European Market (SEM) altered not only conditions of enterprises'
functioning, but above all imposed and it is still imposing changes concerning way of thinking
about enterprise management. Elimination of economic barriers between countries it the most
spectacular example of influence of changes of environment on enterprises' activity. Nowhere
else in the world the economic integration is so advanced. The companies operating on SEM
cease to do so on international one - instead, on may say that they are present on enlarged
domestic market. Boundaries between currently understood domestic market and SEM is
getting more and more blurry. It is safe to assume, that there will be a similar change in
understanding of SEM by the entrepreneurs. More and more significant number of SME is
starting to perceive SEM as a domestic market (internal).
In terminological sense, and to determine enterprises' criteria of classification, in order
to describe which enterprises qualify to SME sector, it is necessary to add that it has an
7N. Daszkiewicz, Small and Medium Enterprises - Chances and Dangers of their Growth, Published by CeDeWu,
Warsaw 2007, p. 9-10
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evolutionary character and thus constitutes a certain process. In 1996 the Commission agreed
upon recommendation concerning setting of the first definition of SME8. This definition has
been widely used in the entire European Union. On 6th may 2003, the Commission accepted
new recommendation9
in order to provide for tendency in economic growth after 1996. It
became legally binding after January 1st 2005 and found application in all policies, programsand actions which the Commission implements regarding SME. Currently, the most up-to-date
document regulating issues concerning definition and classification of enterprises is the
Commission's regulation no. 800/2008 from August 6th 2008. For member countries usage of
definition is not compulsory, however the Commission, European Investment Bank (EIB) and
European Investment Fund (EIF) prompt member countries to use it the widest way possible.
Enterprises classification according to their sizes takes into consideration the following
categories:
1) Medium enterprise medium enterprise is an enterprise, which employs less than 250
workers and which annual turnover does not exceed 50 millions euro or total annualbalance does not exceed 43 million euro;
2) Small enterprise is an enterprise which employs less than 50 workers and which
annual turnover does not exceed 10 millions euro or total annual balance does not
exceed 10 million euro;
3) Small enterprise is an enterprise which employs less than 10 workers and which
annual turnover does not exceed 2 millions euro or total annual balance does not
exceed 2 million euro;
4) Microenterprise - is an enterprise which employs less than 10 workers and which annual
turnover does not exceed 2 millions euro or total annual does not exceed 2 million euro.
Among factors shaping conditions of enterprises' businesses it is worth pointing
economic conditions. Comparison of selected economic parameters in partnership countries in
relation to average in EU countries presented in chart 5.
8 Commission's recommendation 96/280/WE from April 3th 1996 concerning small and medium enterprises,
Journal of Law 107 from 30.04.1996, p. 4-99 Commission's recommendation 2003/361/WE from April 36h 2003 concerning small and medium enterprises,
Journal of Law 124 from 20.05.2003, p. 36-41
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Table 5 Selected economic indicators of partnership countries in 2008 (in %).
Spain PolandGreat
Britain
EU
countries
(27)
inflation 4.1 4.2 3.6 3.7
unemployment 14.3 7.0 6.4 7.6
investments in relation
to GDP29.4 22 16.7 21.1
budget deficit in
relation to GDP-3.8 -3.9 -5.5 -2.3
budget debt in relation
to GDP39.5 47.1 52.0 61.5
GDP per capita 103 56 116 100
Source: basing on SME Sector in Poland in 2007-2008, Warsaw, PARP 2009, p. 22
Indicators presented in chart 5 illustrate in a synthetic way discrepancies in economic
condition of compared countries. The smallest inflation level is in Great Britain and it is slightly
lower than European average, while in both Spain and Poland it is very close (4,1 and 4,2%
respectively). It is possible to notice discrepancies in GDP per inhabitant. Poland has the worst
situation and its GDP per inhabitant makes for only 56% of value reached in EU countries.
In comparison of economic situation of individual countries, it is worth to take notice of
enterprises' expenditure structure (chart 1).
Chart 1 Business economy overview operating expenditure, non-financial business economy, 2006 [%].
83,9
84,4
89,8
81,2
16,1
15,6
10,2
18,8
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
EU
Spain
Poland
UK
Purchases of goods &services Personnel costs
Source: Eurostat (SBS).
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From partnership countries, the highest work cost level in 2006 can be found in Great
Britain (18,8%), while the lowest one in Poland (10,2%) It means, that in comparison with other
countries Poland spends the smallest amount of money connected with working costs.
Employment rate, as well as value added due to enterprises' size for 27 EU countries is
presented in chart 2.
Chart 2 Employment and value added by enterprise size class, non-financial business economy, EU-27,
2005 [%].
29,6
20,6
16,8
32,9
20,9
18,9
17,8
42,4
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Micro
Small
Medium-sized
Large
employment value added
Source: Eurostat (SBS).
As it can be observed, in scale of the entire EU the biggest companies employ the largest
numbers of workers and work out the most significant added value. The second economic force
that generates income and creating work places in UE are the smallest companies: micro
enterprises.
Number of enterprises from SME sector in compared countries is presented in chart 3.
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Chart 3 Number of enterprises economy by size-class, 2006 [% share of total].
99,8
91,8
6,9
1,1
99,9
92,2
6,8
0,8
99,8
95,9
2,9
1
99,6
87,5
10,5
1,7
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
SMSs
Micro
Small
Med.
EU Spain Poland UK Source: On the basis of Eurostat (SBS).
In all analysed countries SME sector is a significant economy force - more than 99% of all
enterprises are companies from that sector. The most numerous are micro enterprises, yet in
Poland these are the biggest part of active companies than in other countries. On the other
hand, the number of small companies is the lowest in Poland, where in Great Britain it is the
biggest.
Chart 4 presents structure of added value in.
Chart 4 Value added by size-class, 2006 [% share of total].
57,7
21
18,9
17,8
67,9
26,5
24,1
17,3
48,4
16,8
11,5
20,1
50,7
18,5
15,5
16,6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
SMSs
Micro
Small
Med.
EU Spain Poland UK
Source: On the basis of Eurostat (SBS).
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Microenterprises and small companies generate the biggest part of added value in Spain and
the smallest in Poland.
The scale of employment in enterprises from SME sector is presented in chart 5.
Chart 5Number of enterprises economy by size-class, 2006 [% share of total].
67,4
29,7
20,7
17
78,0
37,7
25,5
14,8
69,8
39,2
12
18,7
54,8
21,5
17,9
15,4
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
SMSs
Micro
Small
Med.
EU Spain Poland UK
Source: On the basis of Eurostat (SBS).
In all analysed countries, the biggest number of people is employed in microenterprises,
yet in Great Britain it the significantly smaller percent (21,5%) than in Poland (39,2%) or Spain
(37,7%).
Number of created employment positions by SME sector in individual countries
is presented in chart 6.
Chart 6 Ratio of average employment in SME sector to total employment in 2005 [%].
67,1
78,7
69,8
54,0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
EU
Spain
Poland
UK
Source: Own study based on: SME Sector in Poland in 2007-2008, Warsaw, PARP 2009
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The biggest part of all workers is employed in SME sector in Spain (78,7%) and then
in Poland (69,8%). It turns out that the smallest share of working places created by this sector is
in Great Britain.
Scope of employment in SME sector's enterprises is huge: starting from self-employment up to 249 people. Chart 7 presents average level of employment in SME sector's
enterprises in individual countries.
Chart 7Average level of employment in SME sector's in 2005.
6,8
6,1
5,7
7,9
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
EU27 Spain Poland UK
Source: Observatory of European SMEs Analytical Report, The Gallup Organization, 2007, p. 13.
On average, in 27 EU countries SME sector enterprise employs 6,8 people full time. The
smallest enterprises are in Poland (employing 5,7 people full time) which seems to be
understandable due to the biggest number of microenterprises.
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3. DEMOGRAPHIC CONDITIONING OF CONFLICTS IN PARTNERING
COUNTRIES
Chart 8Share of EU-27 population of partnership countries [%].
8,6 8,7 8,8 8,99,0
7,9 7,8 7,8 7,7 7,7
12,2 12,2 12,2 12,3 12,3
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Spain
Poland
United Kindom
Source: On the basis of Eurostat (SBS).
Chart 9 Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment per 1 000 persons.
14,914,3
14,8
13,7
15,6
9,2
1,3
-0,4 -0,2 -0,3-0,9
-0,5 -0,4
0,0
3,0
3,8 3,8
3,0 2,93,3
2,9
4,2 4,03,6
3,23,8
2,9
1,7
-3
-1
1
3
5
7
9
11
13
15
17
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Spain
Poland
United Kindom
EU (27 countries)
Source: On the basis of Eurostat (SBS).
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Chart 10Asylum applications [persons].
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
70000
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Spain
Poland
United Kindom
Source: On the basis of Eurostat (SBS).
These figures refer to all persons who apply on an individual basis for asylum or similar
protection, irrespective of whether they lodge their application on arrival at the border, or from
inside the country, and irrespective of whether they entered the country legally or illegally. Due
to different methods of collecting the information, data from different countries may not be
entirely comparable.
Table 6 Acquisition of citizenship in the EU27, 2008 [number].
2007 2008per 1000
inhabitants
Spain 71,940 84,170 1.8
Poland 1,540 1800 0.0
United Kingdom 164,540 129260 2.1
EU (27
countries) 707,110 695,880 1.4
Source: On the basis of Eurostat (SBS).
One of the most important features characterizing a development level of a given
society is a level of education. At the same time it is also a measuring tool utilized for human
capital category assessment which comprises of knowledge, experience, skills, motivation, as
well as morale of a given population. Even though it is known that no contemporary
educational system can ensure a life-lasting education, still it is still capable of better
preparation for requirements that are set by potential employers. School education, even on
the highest level possible should only serve as a beginning to a permanent one, the one that
last through the entire lifespan.
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Chart 11 Educational attainment: adult population in 2006.
14
64
4
18
23
27
21
0
29
14
56
30
31
45
24
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Pre-primary and primary education
Lower secondary education
Upper secondary education
Post-secondary non-tertiaryeducation
Tertiary education
Poland Spain UK EU_19
Source: On the basis: Education at a glance 2008, Report OECD
Chart 12 Population that has attained tertiary education [%, 2006].
28
17
13
13
39
31
22
15
37
31
29
24
30
25
21
18
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
25-34
35-44
45-54
55-64
Poland Spain UK UE19
Source: On the basis: Education at a glance 2008, 2008, OECD
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Chart 13 Structure of people with higher education level in reference to gender [%, 2006].
16
28
31
23
20
28
30
25
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Poland
Spain
UK
UE19
males females
Source: On the basis: Education at a glance 2008, OECD Distribution of the 25-to-64-year-old male/female
population, by highest level of education attained.
Table 7Percentage of population between 25- 34 years old that have reached high level education in
2008 [%].
Total Men Women
EU (27) 30.9 27.2 34.7
Spain 38.8 34.2 43.7
Poland 32.1 25.6 38.7
UK 38.6 37.0 40.3
Source: INE
As requested by the European Commission Resolution of 15 November 2007, the
Communication New skills for new jobs (COM(2008) 868 final) presents a first assessment
ofthe EUs future skills and jbs requirements up t 2020. On 16 December 2008, the European
Commission published its proposal for better matching and anticipating labour market needs,
accompanied by a staff working document, outlining more effective ways to analyse and
predict which skills will be needed in tmrrws labur market. In rder to put Europe on the
road to recovery after the severity of the economic crisis, it is essential to enhance human
capital and employability by upgrading skills and ensuring a better match between the supply of
skills and labour market demand.
Diversified level of solutions concerning human resources management is confirmed by
a number of facts. One of them is for instance approach towards age management in the
enterprise: activeness of entities engaged in age management development partnership
realized within EQUAL boundaries. The Development Partnerships was realized cross follows
topics:
Employability - (Re-)integration to the labour market
Employability Combating racism
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Entrepreneurship Business creation
Entrepreneurship Social economy
Adaptability - Life long learning
Adaptability - Adaptation to change and NIT
Equal opportunities Reconciling family and professional life Equal opportunities Reducing gender gaps and desegregation
Asylum seekers
It is possible to take notice of a substantial difference in number of realized partnerships
within age management in partnership countries. Poland completed 6 of them, Spain 3 while
Great Britain 4010.
Chart 14 Participation in lifelong learning, by country and gender, 2008 [%].
9,5
4,2
16,6
8,7
11,3
5,2
23,2
10,410,4
4,7
19,9
9,6
0
5
10
15
20
25
Spain Poland United Kindom EU (27 countries)
Men
Women
Total
Source:A European Age Management Network: the way forward?EQUAL European Social Fund, June 2007, p.
35
In scale of the entire EU it is women who are more eager to take part in life long
learning programs and in general show more active attitude towards forming of their
professional career.
10A European Age Management Network: the way forward? EQUAL European Social Fund, June 2007, p. 35
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3.1. WOMEN'S SITUATION IN PARTNERSHIP COUNTRIES
A natural feature of specific social groups, including work teams is a variety. This might
apply to gender, age, education, believes or followed values. Advancing globalisation and
integration processes that lead towards eradication of human capital flows' barriers are alsoconsidered to be an accelerator of a variety growth within work teams. It is not always
however, that this same variety is used in a positive way for both enterprise, as well as workers,
as one of its consequences might be negative phenomena and social pathologies, including
discrimination. This problem was noticed in the 50s when International Labour Organization
passed the convention against this phenomenon. Convention no. 100 concerns unified salary
level for both working men and women for the jobs with the same value from 1951 and
Convention no. 111 concerning discrimination in terms of employment and carrying out of
profession from 1958.
Discrimination became the subject of legal regulations within countries that constitutethe European community, introducing proper regulations in terms of forbidding it legally. Art. 2
of directive from February 9th 1976 concerning introduction of equal treatment of men and
women in terms of access to employment, education and professional promotion and working
conditions (76/207/EWG) defined the rule of equality as a "lack of discrimination due to
gender, both direct and indirect, especially in terms of marital and family statuses". Ban on
discrimination includes rules concerning employment selection, access to all job positions and
all hierarchy levels, as well as counselling and professional education. In order to eradicate
symptoms of discrimination, EU partnership countries are to invalidate or alter all provisions
within normative acts that are in direct violation with women and men equality at work.
Countries were also obliged to monitor that all regulations not complying with rule of equal
treatment included in collective agreements, individual work contracts, inner enterprises
regulations or rules regulating execution of free professions became invalid or it would be
possible to be deemed invalid, or at least changed. The directive obliges all partnership Union
countries to equip both men and women with the same working conditions, without any form
of discrimination due to age, including terms of leave. Understanding "working conditions"
concerns employer's obligation to assure safe and hygienic working conditions, as well as
unified behaviour towards all workers when terminating a work contract.
The Global Gender Gap Index examines the gap between men and women in four
fundamental categories: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment,
political empowerment and health and survival.
Economic participation and opportunity This area is captured through three concepts:
the participation gap, the remuneration gap and the advancement gap. The participation gap is
captured through the difference in labour force participation rates. The remuneration gap is
captured through a hard data indicator (ratio of estimated female-to-male earned income) and
a qualitative variable calculated thrugh the Wrld Ecnmic Frums Executive Opinion Survey
(wage equality for similar work). Finally, the gap between the advancement of women and men
is captured through two hard data statistics (the ratio of women to men among legislators,
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senior officials and managers, and the ratio of women to men among technical and professional
workers).
Educational attainment. In this categry, the gap between wmen and mens current
access to education is captured through ratios of
women to men in primary-, secondary- and tertiary-level education. A longer-term viewf the cuntrys ability t educate wmen and men in equal numbers is captured thrugh the
ratio of the female literacy rate to the male literacy rate.
Political empowerment. This category includes mainly measures of the gap between
men and women in political decision-making at the highest levels. This concept is captured
through the ratio of women to men in minister-level positions and the ratio of women to men
in parliamentary positions. In addition, we include the ratio of women to men in terms of years
in executive office (prime minister or president) in the last 50 years. A clear drawback in this
category is the absence of any variables capturing differences between the participation of
women and men at local levels of government. Should such data become available at a globallevel in future years, they will be considered for inclusion in the Global Gender Gap Index.
Health and survival. This category attempts to provide an overview of the differences
between wmen and mens health. To do this, we use two variables. First, we use the gap
between wmen and mens healthy life expectancy, calculated by the Wrld Health
Organization. This measure provides an estimate of the number of years that women and men
can expect to live in good health, by taking into account the years lost to violence, disease,
malnutrition or other relevant factors. The second variable included in this subindex is the sex
rati at birth. This variable aims specifically t capture the phenmenn f missing wmen
prevalent in many countries with strong son preference.
The Global Gender Gap Index shows that the 134 countries covered in the Report,
representing ver 90% f the wrlds ppulatin
Table 8Comparisons The Global Gender Gap Index 2009 rankings.
2006 2007 2008 2009
rank score rank score rank score rank score
Spain 11 0.7319 10 0.7444 17 0.7281 17 0.7345
Poland 44 0.6802 60 0.6756 49 0.6951 50 0.6998
UK 9 0.7365 11 0.7441 13 0.7366 15 0.7402
Source: On the basis The Global Gender Gap Report, World Economic Forum, Geneva 2009.
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Table 9 The Global Gender Gap Index 2009 [ rank].
Economic
Participation
and Opportunity
Educational
Attainment
Health
and
Survival
Political
Empowerment
Spain 90 56 80 9
Poland 71 33 41 40
UK 35 1 72 22
Source: On the basis The Global Gender Gap Report, World Economic Forum, Geneva 2009.
Chart 15 The Global Gender Gap In 2009 score.
0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1 1,2
Economic Participation
and Opportunity
Educational Attainment
Health and Survival
Political Empowerment
Spain Poland United Kindom
Source: On the basis The Global Gender Gap Report, World Economic Forum, Geneva 2009.
Chart 16Unadjusted gender pay gap, as percentages f mens grss hurly earnings [%].
17,9
7,5
24,3
17,717,6
7,5
21,1
17,4
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Spain Poland United Kindom EU (27 countries)
2006
2007
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4. LABOUR MARKET SITUATION AS A DETERMINANT OF SME SECTOR'S
CONFLICTS
Chart 17Unemployment rates Member States [%].
0
5
10
15
20
25
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Spain
Poland
United Kindom
EU (27 countries)
Source: On the basis of Eurostat (SBS).
Chart 18Unemployment rates [%].
19,3
8,4 7,8
9,3
19,9
9,8
7,9
9,6
0
5
10
15
20
25
Spain Poland United Kindom EU (27 countries)
December 2009
May 2010
Source: On the basis of Eurostat (SBS).
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Chart 19 Unemployment rates by gender in 2004.
8,0
18,2
5,1
8,5
14,3
20,0
4,2
9,8
0,0
5,0
10,0
15,0
20,0
25,0
Spain Poland United Kindom EU (27 countries)
Male, 2004
Female, 2004
Source: On the basis of Eurostat (SBS).
Chart 20Table unemployment rates by gender in 2009.
18,4
8,7
6,4
8,8
17,7
7,88,6
9,4
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
Spain Poland United Kindom EU (27 countries)
Female, 2009
Male, 2009
Source: On the basis of Eurostat (SBS).
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Chart 21 Long-term unemployment rates, by gender, 2008 [%].
1,1
4,6
1,6
2,82,5
5,4
0,9
3,3
1,7
4,9
1,3
3,0
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Spain Poland United Kindom EU (27 countries)
Men Women Total
Source: On the basis of Eurostat (SBS).
Chart 22 Gender gap in employment, by country, 2007 [%].
21,5
13,0 12,0
14,2
0
5
10
15
20
25
Spain Poland United Kindom EU (27 countries)
Source: Annual review of working conditions in the EU 2008-2009, European Foundation for the Improvement of
Living and Working Conditions, 2009, p. 5
A difference in women's situation on partnership countries' labour market is highly
noticeable11:
Women employment indicator in 2007 was 55% for Spain and 50% for Poland, while in
Great Britain it reached 65%, with EU27 average of 58%.
11Source: Annual review of working conditions in the EU 2008-2009, European Foundation for the Improvement of
Living and Working Conditions, 2009, s. 6-7.
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There was a visible change in women's situation on labour markets between 2002 and
2008; during that time there was a 10,4% increase in Spain's women's employment rate while
the same indicator in Poland increased by 3,9% and in Great Britain only by 0,3%. An average
growth in women's employment in 27 EU was 2,8%.
Chart 23 Table unemployment rates by age in 2009.
37,8
20,619,1 19,6
15,9
6,85,5
7,6
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Spain Poland United Kindom EU (27 countries)
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Chart 24 Youth unemployment rates, by gender, 2008 (%).
23,7
15,2
17,015,5
25,8
19,9
12,7
15,2
24,6
17,3
15,0 15,4
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Spain Poland United Kindom EU (27 countries)
Men
Women
Total
Source: Annual review of working conditions in the EU 2008-2009, European Foundation for the
Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, 2009, p. 5
Chart 25 Share of employed in the age of 55-56 during 2007.
44,6
29,7
57,4
44,7
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Spain
Poland
United Kindom
EU (27 countries)
Source:Age management Mayday Model of Active Support of Employees from 50+ Companies, published by
Politechnika Gdanska, Gdansk 2008
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Chart 26 Share of women employed in the age of 55-64 during 2007.
19,4
36,0
30,0
47,9
0,0 10,0 20,0 30,0 40,0 50,0 60,0
Spain
Poland
United Kindom
EU (27 countries)
Source:Age management Mayday Model of Active Support of Employees from 50+ Companies, published by
Politechnika Gdanska, Gdansk 2008
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5. WORKING CONDITIONS AS A DETERMINANT OF CONFLICTS
The proportion of non-permanent employees, that is, with temporary employment
contracts, in the EU in 2007 was 14.4% of total employment, the same as in 2006 (p. 29, reportconcerning working conditions).
The situation on the label market is creating by wide range factors. Among them there it
is necessary to note about temporary work as a way of increasing of flexibility of employment
and enlarge the opportunity for work. The measure we can use to show the role of Private
Employment Agency is TAW penetration rates. It is a number of temporary agency workers in
FTE/total employment (Eurostat statistics). This rate was established in 2006 for Poland 0,2%;
for Spain 0,7% and for UK 4,5%. It means that there is big difference between UK and other
two partner country: temporary work is much popular in UK and as the different research and
publications have shown such kind of work is acceptable by people in much more wide range
than in Poland or Spanish. Such kind of work gives many positives, e.g. . But it has one big
disadvantage: it desnt give safety filing and stabilizatin that people expect form work. It
cnfirms answers f temprary wrkers that in UK 33% amng them dnt want a permanent
job, in Spain it is 13% respondents12
.
Average working time in EU for full-time employed decreased from 41,9 to 41,8 hours
(in years 2006-2007). The longest working week is that of British (both in 2006 and 2007) with
a similar amount of time in 2006 in Poland, with a slight decrease in the next year. In 2006
Spaniards devoted slightly more than 42 hours weekly for work, but during the next year it was
exactly 42 hours.13
12
More work opportunities for more people, Report Commissioned by Eurociett, 2007.13Annual review of working conditions in the EU 2008-2009, European Foundation for the Improvement of Living
and Working Conditions, 2009, p.49.
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6. FINANCIAL SECURITY AS A DETERMINANT OF EMPLOYEES' SITUATION
Table 10Comparison of minimum wages conditions.
Specification Spain Poland UK
Year
implementations1980 1990 1999
Subject-matter
scope
All
workersAll workers
All
workers above
16 years
Method
of determining
Regulated
by government
Regulated by government
on
the basis of
recommendation
from social partners
Regulated by government on
based on recommendation
from social partners
Methodof valorisation
Mostly
once per year
by government
One or twice per year
based on government's
inflation forecasts
By government based on
social partners'
recommendation
Type of ratemonthly and
dailymonthly Hourly
Statutory
level in
national
currency on
01.01.2010
633,30 EUR1317 PLN
5.80 - the main rate forworkers aged 22 and over
4.83 - the 18-21 rate3.57 - the 16-17 rate for
workers above school
leaving age but under 18
Source: Minimum Wages in 2008. Statistics in focus 105/2008, EUROSTAT
Chart 27Comparison of minimum wages in February 2006 [EUR].
631
234
1269
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400
Spain
Poland
United Kindom
Source: Statistics in focus, Theme 3 9/2006, Eurostat.
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Chart 28Total yearly salary averages of researches in EU25, 2006, [EUR].
34908
11659
56048
38873
21591
52776
0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000
Spain
Poland
United Kindom
remuneration average in EUR remuneration average in EUR in terms of PPS Source: Remuneration of researches in the Public and Private Sectors. Final Report. European Commission, April
2007
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SUMMARY
Being inseparably tied with society's structures, a conflict is an inevitable phenomena. It
is said that the more means of communication there is among people, the bigger the chance for
having a conflict. A conflict is very negative, as the majority of people is not able to cope with iteffectively. On the other hand, it is very tempting to take part in it, even though we are fully
aware of negative consequences of such an action. The evil lies within the conflicts, which
despite being a natural phenomena of social life are also related to a lot of undesirable effects.
The destructive consequences of conflicts are, for the most of the time, a result of incorrect
proceeding during conflict situation.14Conflicts take place in every institution and their scale
and intensity is largely varied for those involved in them. Some take advantage of a conflict for
their purposes, treating it as merely a tool being a part of their overall strategies. They use it to
realize their own agenda. These individuals are not interested in solving the conflict. Some use
it as an element of demonstrating strength. No matter whether people want to solve theconflict or not, it still has a significant influence on their ability to communicate and work
performance. The costs of an on-going argument is suffered by the entire organization, its
workers and co-workers. In its most serious form, a conflict is capable of leading the entire
work teams and in some rare cases even the entire enterprise to a stalemate situation. Now
that diversity is a major factor to address, analyse and manage; companies and institutions are
starting to address the issue of differences. The two major factors of differences the business
world has awaken to are: immigration and women in the workplace. Age, which is a critical
factor that impacts the social security system and therefore the sustainability of the present
welfare state, is in danger. The social environment lacks infrastructure to face an agingpopulation without health and social care in place. The double income families have a lack of
support for children schooling. Yet these issues are still to become part of the agenda.
Only major corporations which have been active multi-nationally have had to face
multiculturalism some time ago. And have developed diversity and inclusion policies to control
conflicts, which they rightly had identified as a major source of corporate losses. SMEs have not
had this multinational experience and now face multiculturalism for the first time with lack of
references, knowledge and resources. SMEs are part of the global economy with highly diverse
clients and suppliers every day with the possibility of purchasing and selling operating
virtually and interacting with the rest of the world to survive in very competitive and innovative
scenarios.
The need for SMEs to access tools such as the Beyond Diversity CD training and
exchange platform is critical for the social and economic development, considering that SMEs
are the real base of the EU economy and the creators of over 70% of jobs.
Managing conflicts originated by the new typology of the European scenario is critical to
make companies of all sizes more efficient, create more and new types of jobs; and stop
outsourcing production and services to other parts of the world in search of lower costs.
14J. Marciniak, op.cit., p. 69.
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Managing conflicts bring down the operations costs of companies and improve the quality
in work and life of the European citizens.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Adamus - Matuszynska A., Contemporary Theories of Social Conflict, Published by AE in Katowice,Katowice 1998
2. A European Age Management Network: the way forward? EQUAL European Social Fund, June2007.
3. Annual review of working conditions in the EU 2008-2009, European Foundation for theImprovement of Living and Working Conditions, 2009.
4. N. Daszkiewicz, Small and Medium Enterprises - Chances and Dangers of their Growth, Published byCeDeWu, Warsaw 2007
5. Education at a glance 2008, Report OECD6. Eurostat (SBS).7. More work opportunities for more people, Report Commissioned by Eurociett, 2007.8. Observatory of European SMEs Analytical Report, The Gallup Organization, 20079. A. Pocztowski, Management of Human Resources. Strategies, Structures, Processes, PWE, Warsaw
2003.
10.A. Pocztowski, Management of Human Resources. Outline of Problematic and Methods, Antykwa,Cracow 1998
11.SME Sector in Poland in 2007-2008, Warsaw, PARP 200912.S. P. Robbins, D. A. DeCenzo, Basics of Management, PWE, Warsaw 200213.S. P. Robbins, Behaviours in Organization, PWE, Warsaw 2004.14.Statistics in focus, Theme 3 9/2006, Eurostat.15.The Global Gender Gap Report, World Economic Forum, Geneva 200916.Uniszewski Z., Conflict and Negotiations, Published by Proszynski i S-ka, Warszawa 200017. In Search for Strategic Competitive Advantages, edited by J. L. Czarnoty, K. Moszkowicz, Published
by Czestochowa University of Technology Faculty of Management, Czestochowa 2003
18.Organizational Behaviours Selected Issues, edited by A. Potocki, Difin, Warsaw 2005,19.Commission's recommendation 2003/361/WE from April 6th 2003 concerning small and medium
enterprises
20.Commission's recommendation 96/280/WE from April 3th 1996 concerning small and mediumenterprises
21.Age management Mayday Model of Active Support of Employees from 50+ Companies, published byPolitechnika Gdanska, Gdansk 2008
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APPENDIX
TABLE INDEXTable 1 Conflicts' definitions.................................................................................................................... 6
Table 2 Positive and negative aspects of conflicts. ................................................................................. 7
Table 3 Subjective and objective sources of conflicts. ............................................................................. 8
Table 4 Means of conflict solving. ......................................................................................................... 10
Table 5 Selected economic indicators of partnership countries in 2008 (in %). .................................... 13
Table 6 Acquisition of citizenship in the EU27, 2008 [number]. ............................................................ 19
Table 7 Percentage of population between 25- 34 years old that have reached high level education in
2008 [%]. ............................................................................................................................................... 21
Table 8 Comparisons The Global Gender Gap Index 2009 rankings. .................................................... 24Table 9 The Global Gender Gap Index 2009 [ rank]. ............................................................................. 25
Table 10 Comparison of minimum wages conditions. .......................................................................... 33
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CHART INDEX
Chart 1 Business economy overview operating expenditure, non-financial business economy, 2006 [%].
............................................................................................................................................................... 13
Chart 2 Employment and value added by enterprise size class, non-financial business economy, EU-27,
2005 [%]. ............................................................................................................................................... 14
Chart 3 Number of enterprises economy by size-class, 2006 [% share of total]. ................................. 15
Chart 4 Value added by size-class, 2006 [% share of total]. ................................................................. 15
Chart 5 Number of enterprises economy by size-class, 2006 [% share of total]. ................................. 16
Chart 6 Ratio of average employment in SME sector to total employment in 2005 [%]. .................... 16
Chart 7 Average level of employment in SME sector's in 2005. ........................................................... 17
Chart 8 Share of EU-27 population of partnership countries [%]. ....................................................... 18
Chart 9 Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment per 1 000 persons. ............................................ 18
Chart 10 Asylum applications [persons]. .............................................................................................. 19
Chart 11 Educational attainment: adult population in 2006. .............................................................. 20Chart 12 Population that has attained tertiary education [%, 2006]. .................................................. 20
Chart 13 Structure of people with higher education level in reference to gender [%, 2006]. .............. 21
Chart 14 Participation in lifelong learning, by country and gender, 2008 [%]. .................................... 22
Chart 15 The Global Gender Gap In 2009 score. ............................................................................... 25
Chart 16 Unadjusted gender pay gap, as percentages of mens gross hourly earnings [%]................ 25
Chart 17 Unemployment rates Member States [%]. ............................................................................ 26
Chart 18 Unemployment rates [%]. ...................................................................................................... 26
Chart 19 Unemployment rates by gender in 2004. .............................................................................. 27
Chart 20 Table unemployment rates by gender in 2009. ..................................................................... 27
Chart 21 Long-term unemployment rates, by gender, 2008 [%]. ......................................................... 28Chart 22 Gender gap in employment, by country, 2007 [%]. ............................................................... 28
Chart 23 Table unemployment rates by age in 2009. .......................................................................... 29
Chart 24 Youth unemployment rates, by gender, 2008 (%). ................................................................ 30
Chart 25 Share of employed in the age of 55-56 during 2007. ............................................................ 30
Chart 26 Share of women employed in the age of 55-64 during 2007. ............................................... 31
Chart 27 Comparison of minimum wages in February 2006 [EUR]. ..................................................... 33
Chart 28 Total yearly salary averages of researches in EU25, 2006, [EUR]. ........................................ 34