This scientific paper deals with the issue of the global level of emotional intelligence of managers in family enterprises. The aim of this paper is to point out the importance and positive impact of skills of managers in the form of emotional intelligence, which we consider as an important predictor of managerial work in family enterprises. The aim of this paper is also to suggest possibilities of further development of individual factors of emotional intelligence in managers. The object of the survey was the global level of emotional intelligence of managers according to Petrides. We determined the level of four factors (well-being, self-control, emotionality, and sociability) of emotional intelligence using TEIQue online questionnaires. When evaluating the research results, we used methods of descriptive statistics (arithmetic mean, median, standard deviation, skewness, and kurtosis) processed in the statistical program SPSS. In a sample of 286 randomly contacted family business managers, the results showed us that the global level of emotional intelligence of managers in family enterprises is medium–high. In the examined factors, we found some deficiencies in self-control and sociability in women’s results and some in self-control and emotionality in men’s results. Slovakia as a globalized country has undergone many changes, so enterprises have also changed their point of view of management. Nevertheless, enterprises’ investments in the development of personality of family enterprise managers are incomparably smaller than in other countries. We are convinced that these presented results will help managers in family enterprises realize that their better future is in streamlining managerial activities. Only then will managers have enough time to plan for the future, cope with unpredictable situations, and especially have time for their happiness and family life.

Weaknesses in the institutional environment of Central Europe challenge the sustainability of economic development. Institutional theory stipulates that institutions drive economic development, and institutions are configured by individual values and practices. The World Governance Indicators, the Corruption Perception Index, and the Doing Business Indicators indicate weaknesses in the institutional environments of the Visegrád countries. This paper explores the micro level perspective of institutions, focusing on values and practices, in terms of leadership and ethics. A survey of 868 private and public sector managers from Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia provides evidence that leadership practices and ethical values are congruent, suggesting a positive influence on the institutional environment. The results also provide evidence for the presence of the gap, spanning between the micro and the macro level factors affecting sustainable economic development. These results imply that a bottom-up view of sustainable economic development is more suitable to the Central European context, and promotion of sustainable economic development needs to focus on the micro level factors.

Globalization is one of the most significant trends of the contemporary reality that needs to be accepted and adapted to the changes it brings. Human resources have always been viewed by enterprises as a significant long-term functioning capital. Along with new creative work skills, HR currently represent one of the most crucial potentials within an enterprise, enabling it to achieve competitive advantage among rivals. Thus HR serve as a source of the future success of an enterprise. People spend a substantial amount of time at work, and satisfactory working conditions are essential for their psychological well-being, as they can greatly affect both the person’s work performance and the overall quality of life. In order for an enterprise to fulfill the criteria of the contemporary globalized world, management needs to adhere to this trend not only by adjusting the organizational structure, but also by maintaining more complex interpersonal relations among employees. It is the relations that may create conditions for mobbing or psychological bullying to occur, while originating from one or more members of a team, and being directed towards other individuals. In this paper, the authors present selected results of a research related to mobbing in Slovakia, which investigated the degree of its occurrence in a workplace, its most frequent causes, and the manifestations of negative behavior. In conclusion, we propose such measures that will prevent any form of violent behavior from occurring in the workplace, and will have a positive impact on building culture of quality in an enterprise.

Background and purpose: The Covid-19 pandemic brought about a shift in the way businesses operate, accelerating the adoption of digital communication tools. The study examines the effectiveness of communication tools in Slovak enterprises, comparing the dynamics before and during the pandemic. The study highlights the need for businesses to address communication-related issues.Methodology: An electronic questionnaire was used to collect the data. The representative survey sample consisted of 555 respondents. The results of the research were processed using the statistical tools McNemar Test, Pearsons Chi square test and Cramer’s V.Results: Before the pandemic, Slovak enterprises relied on traditional means of communication, with face-to-face meetings, phone calls and emails being the primary means of interaction. However, when the pandemic forced people to work from home, dependence on digital communication tools such as video conferencing and collaboration platforms increased significantly.Conclusion: The research findings indicate that during the pandemic, businesses recognized the importance of digital communication tools for sustaining business operations and employee collaboration. In conclusion, the Covid-19 pandemic was a catalyst for the transformation of communication practices in Slovak enterprises. The findings emphasise the continued importance of digital communication tools in the post-pandemic era and the need for businesses to strike a balance between traditional and digital communication methods in order to optimise overall effectiveness.

Trust is the elementary factor which affects interpersonal relations and becomes imperative in survival of both people and enterprises. It is related to employee satisfaction, fluctuation, inability to work due to sickness, as well as employee identification with the organization's system of values, its vision, and the long-term strategy. Culture of trust, as an element of corporate culture is a system of norms and values which defines how trust is exhibited, and generalizes the long-term experience of people with it. Our paper deals with the culture of trust in chosen enterprises in Slovakia. The main objective of our research at the Faculty of Economics, Matej Bel University in Banska Bystrica, was to find out what experience the organizations have with giving and accepting trust in chosen aspects of the organization's life. We have attempted to analyze the trust of relationships, as well as trust within the work duties, and find out how the atmosphere of trust is created and how it develops. At the same time we tried to identify the most common factors which lead to loss of trust in Slovak enterprises.

The paper examines the relationship between strategic agility and organizational adaptation in European enterprises. It combines quantitative research, based on a survey of 456 EU enterprises conducted between 2023 and 2024, with a structured narrative literature review. The empirical section explores six dimensions of strategic agility on a preliminary basis: values, technologies, workforce, management, collaboration, and structures. The findings indicate that collaboration and values scored lowest on the reverse-coded scale, suggesting higher perceived agility, while management and workforce reached higher scores, indicating lower perceived agility. Significant associations emerged across all six dimensions, with management demonstrating the strongest links to workforce, collaboration, and structures. Demographic factors had limited connections with perceived agility, and enterprise age showed only a weak exploratory link to management agility with limited practical importance. The findings provide preliminary proof for an integrated framework connecting technological, cultural, workforce, managerial, collaborative, and structural aspects of strategic agility. The study relates strategic agility to flexible systems management by proposing how strategy, processes, learning, and performance might be conceptually connected in response to changing conditions. For practical purposes, the results emphasize that management development, employee involvement, and flexible systems should be viewed as interconnected areas for improving agility rather than separate initiatives.