The presented collection in PDF is the result of the international scientific conference "Economics and management in health and social services", which took place in Prague on April 18, 2013.
EDITORIAL
The presented collection is the result of the international scientific conference "Economics and Management in Health and Social Services", which was held in Prague on April 18, 2013 with the support of the University of Applied Psychology in Prague, the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of St. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava, University of Health and Social Work St. Alžbety in Bratislava and the Society for the Development of Social Work. The conference continued the tradition of the previous year, and broadened its perspective from financial literacy and educational contexts to a society-wide perspective on healthcare and social work issues.
The publication is primarily focused on the issues of economics and management in health and social services, expanded to include psychological aspects of health care, social care, and economic and organizational security of entities operating in this sphere. The effects of the social context are also addressed, which have a fundamental influence on the monitored area and are reflected in related socioeconomic topics of contemporary society (eg homelessness, financial literacy, etc.), with the possibility of limiting their negative impact on the life of the individual, family, community and the entire society.
Organizations that deal with the provision of health and social services form a complex and internally disparate group. Many of them operate on a commercial basis as business entities, others as facilities with a generally beneficial character, others have a public or state character, they differ in their size and complexity, their role and position in the system, and the range of services provided. The existing mix is the result of historical development, in which different opinions were applied to existing and gradually emerging needs.
As the knowledge of the value of human life for modern society was formed, the need to protect and save it forced the establishment of specialized institutions capable of providing the necessary care, based on the knowledge of medical and social sciences. In developed countries, more or less complex systems were gradually created, institutionally ensuring these needs.
Society has accepted the protection of human basic social rights as an important part of the protection of human life. This was followed by the gradual creation of institutions that would ensure this protection. In developed countries, a combination of public and private facilities was created, which together formed a network, striving to cover social needs.
The question of the present is the economic side of the problem. We most often come across the claim that healthcare and social services are simply a necessary social cost (sometimes with the subtext of "necessary evil"), which can be saved more easily from an economic point of view. This approach completely overlooks the economic importance of both sectors, to which we therefore dedicate a separate chapter. We believe that they not only satisfy the important needs of modern society and contribute to the growth of society's wealth (measured, for example, by gross domestic product), but also have a countercyclical effect to a certain extent, which is an important factor in times of economic crisis.
Management in the field of healthcare and social services is not only faced with challenges given by the nature of these sectors and "social order" – the demands of society based on the state of its social and economic development. Here, managements are confronted with all the problems of managing economic entities.
Modern business requires constantly new creative approaches that would fulfill the constantly growing expectations of potential customers and clients, which would succeed in the conditions of constantly growing competition. No industry, no market segment can avoid these trends. They arise from the very essence of civilization and from the essence of business. Their current dynamism is a product of the creation of a qualitatively new interconnected world economy – a process known as globalization. The current crisis only deepens this process.
At the same time, globalization processes do not only affect the business itself. They affect our lives and their quality in all aspects. They affect overall social conditions, we find their manifestations in the economy, politics, they also have an influence on our private life - whether we admit it or not. Orienting yourself in this environment with all its geographical, political, cultural, economic and other problems is not easy. It is even more challenging to find one's own way in this complex environment, preserving the entity's own identity and enabling its coexistence with other entities on a partnership basis. This is exactly what the strategy is for. The personal, but also the family, national as well as European, political as well as economic, business, not to mention the military.
The crisis development, which, after the financial sector, also affected other important sectors of the world economy at the end of the last decade and gradually grew into a global economic crisis, only underlines the importance of strategic management, the necessity of systemic approaches both to the creation of a strategy and to the examination of risks that are inextricably linked with every strategy. These facts will require a substantial improvement in the quality of all levels of economic management. Although many believe that the crisis is already behind us, this does not mean that we would perhaps return to the starting point. There is no turning back in life. The crisis, but not only it, rather the entire long-term development that led to it, cannot remain without influence on the future. New conditions have been created, persistent uncertainties require a new orientation in the whole situation. The crisis has at least eroded, if not directly demolished, the existing system. It created – figuratively speaking – a brownfield on which a new system will grow, with its qualities overcoming existing problems and at the same time giving birth to new ones.
Today, Europe in particular is threatened by another wave of crisis, referred to as the "debt crisis", strongly affecting even the developed countries of the Eurozone, from which it is gradually spilling over into other countries of the European Union and threatening further development on a global scale. After all, he does not avoid our country either. In this situation, the need for orientation and finding new solutions is particularly significant. Strategy can be an effective tool in this search.
The new situation, which is not the final state, requires consideration of others. The competition is not just a battle of predators, although many imagine it to be so. It is the search for new ways of fulfilling the needs and wishes of customers and clients. The old methods, especially the sale of the raw materials themselves, the resale of products and the tendency to restore almost feudally fragmented autarkic economies, closed within narrow regional boundaries, are being overcome. If we want to be successful in the future, we need to improve not only our economy through fundamental modernization, which cannot be limited to technological innovation, but also our overall behavior. We have to change not only our businesses, but also our national institutions and relationships between people.
This cannot be achieved without the close cooperation of the various participants in this process, starting from the government level, through regions, municipalities, to business entities and individuals. It should be remembered that this process has its political, economic and social consequences. Therefore, it is necessary to coordinate it firmly and carefully. There are two basic ways to deal with this problem. Either a totalitarian dictatorship or a pluralist democracy, seeking consensus and compromise. Since the first way is unacceptable (not only for humane reasons, but also purely economic ones), it is necessary to solve the question of how to manage the democratic way in the current conditions. This question is of particular importance for the so-called "new" economies of Central and Eastern Europe, where there are problems of limited capital resources and a strong need to optimize the entire process.
It is difficult to imagine the future of business without efforts for sustainable development. This should be understood not only in the most widespread sense so far, as a question of natural resources and the protection of the natural environment. We must arrive at a significantly more complex approach, which will include economic and social sustainability in addition to the above-mentioned areas. The danger of deep, long-term economic and social upheavals can fundamentally damage the business environment. Therefore, it is necessary to do business with these facts in mind. At the same time, it is not and cannot be an effort to preserve the current state in any form. On the contrary, only a new start of innovation processes can open the way to this goal.(1)
This is a call for the use of strategic management principles at all levels of the described process. It is the strategies of individual participants (and actions in agreement with them) that can give others the necessary information about their intentions and goals, provide them with a certain degree of safety and navigation, strengthening serious competitive behavior.
Creating strategies is one of the most creative areas of human activity. It requires a lot of knowledge, but even that is not enough. It cannot be done without invention and fantasy, without imagination, without the ability to find new effective solutions. From there, it is close to questions about the very essence of our being, about knowing the reality that surrounds us and of which we are a part. Solving strategic issues, however, requires a lot of humility at the same time. Without it, it would be difficult to create such diverse approaches, diversity and thus indirectly the future of humanity would be threatened.
Solving the problem of disabled and socially disadvantaged individuals and groups of the population is an inseparable part of the process of humanization and democratization of contemporary Czech society. (2) Its reality permeating every society is also a field on which the difficult relationship of the stronger, healthy, non-disabled, who represent themselves as the majority, to the weaker, sick, disabled, who are in a minority position and need help and care for life is resolved.
The fact that people lack basic knowledge, skills and value attitudes to managing finances was also discussed. These are necessary for the citizen to secure himself and his loved ones financially and existentially in today's complicated times. Collectively, this ability is called financial literacy.
The discussed problems are solved in the publication mainly from an economic point of view. However, attention is also paid to legal, social and psychological aspects, especially when it comes to the management of health and social entities with economic impacts on individuals and the whole society. We believe that the presented topics will contribute to a deeper understanding.
Editors
CONTENT
Strategy and financing of healthcare and social services organizations Karel Preuss
Reflections of the global economic crisis and its impact on the provision of health and social care in the Slovak Republic Miroslav Kollár, Zuzana Pačesová
European social model in danger Jaromír Řezáč
Strategic advantages of corporate social responsibility in relation to social services Jitka Nesnídalová
Economic problems of the current family and the help of social services Jiří Tůma, Alena Tůmová
The change in the levy reform in Slovakia and its consequences Michal Imrovič
Management of main, managerial and support processes in social service facilities Mária Kovaľová
Management in social work and social management in the practice of a social worker - comparison and theoretical definition Milan Schavel
Economics and management of non-profit organizations Jaroslava Kmecová
The position of a manager in a social services facility Monika Mackinová, Eva Musilová
Social worker in palliative care management Eve Grey
Management of nursing care for seniors in social service facilities Musilová Eva, Mačkinová Monika
Knowledge management is the key to the success of organizations Marta Vaverčákková, Jana Keketiová, Zuzana Polakovičová
Managerial competence training Štefan Medzihorský
Teambuilding as a method in health and social services Soňa Hermochová, Eva Drlíková
Psychological aspects of care and access to an individual with a medical handicap Peter Slovak
Competence of financial literacy in the elderly population Jaroslava Pavelková
Diagnostics in the work of a social worker, forecast of demographic development and direction of social services Marta Vaverčáková, Jana Keketiová
Voluntary activity as a relevant part of the professional training of university students of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the UCM in Trnava Silvia Dončevová
Attitudes of social work students towards the poor Peter Vansač, Radoslav Micheľ
Critical factors of social and economic security of natural persons with credit David Mareš
Migration for work from Slovakia as a caregiver for seniors in Austria Silvia Kozoňová
Is the creation of one health insurance company in Slovakia the right step? Martin Švikruha
ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT IN HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES Proceedings of the international scientific conference Publisher: University of Applied Psychology, s.r.o. Scientific editor: Doc. Ing. Roman Zuzák, CSc. Reviewers: Prof. PhDr. Václav Furmánek, DrSc. RNDr. Jaroslava Fišerová, CSc. Editors: PhDr. Karel Preuss, CSc. Doc. RNDr. Jaroslava Pavelková, CSc.
Place of publication: Prague Year of publication: 2013 ISBN 978-80-87871-00-3
(1) An article by two prominent American authors PORTER, M.E., is a significant contribution to this concept; KRAMER, M.R. 2011 Creating Shared Value. In Harvard Business Review, January-February 2011, pp. 63-77. ISSN 0017-8012, partly reflecting an older article by Bill Gates (GATES, B. 2008 How to Fix Capitalism. In Time, 8/11/2008, Vol. 172 Issue 6. p. 40-45, ISSN 0040-781X). (2) ČERNÁ, M. Disability and multicultural tolerance. In Chapters from multicultural tolerance. Prague: Human Rights, 2002, volume 17, p. 58-64. ISBN 80-902345-5-9.