Ivan Malbašić

Institutions, paradoxes, and compensation logics: evidence from corporate values of the largest Chinese and US companies

ABSTRACT This study introduces the concept of Institutional Compensation Logics, which suggests that organizations can dynamically balance coexisting local and global logics, through a process known as the ‘paradox of embedded action’. Through this process, managers can gradually adapt institutional logics to the global environment, even if their actions, intentions, and rationality are embedded in the very logics that they wish to change. We propose that one important way they do that is by designing corporate values that challenge the organization’s local values. To test this approach, we use the mission-based corporate values’ framework and analyse the corporate values of a sample from the largest Fortune companies in the two most influential world economies: China (PRC) and the United States (US). Our study also helps advance the understanding of how espoused values are related to cultural values, often in paradoxical ways, thus supporting a negative relationship between espoused organizational and cultural values.

Organizational Values and Public Management in Local and Regional Self-Government in the Republic of Croatia

Local and regional self-government in the Republic of Croatia is characterized by a series of specific characteristics, including management style, territorial organization and a general question of effectiveness. The purpose of this paper is to identify the core organizational values in local and regional self-government units in the Republic of Croatia and classify them into specific value categories. Recognizing an existing system of organizational values is a prerequisite for managing organizational values so that they contribute to the greater effectiveness of local and regional self-government units. The paper presents the results of research conducted in 18 local and regional self-government units (city and county governments) in eight Croatian counties. The research results indicate which value orientations are predominant in the local and regional self-government system. Additionally, the paper provides guidelines for managing organizational values in the local and regional self-governments of the Republic of Croatia in order to function with good governance and, consequently, with greater effectiveness. Apart from recognizing the values orientation of Croatian local and regional self-government, this research also contributes to the effective management of organizational values, differentiating those organizational values that contribute to the greater effectiveness of local and regional self-government in the Republic of Croatia.