Tiltai

Scientific journal Tiltai / Bridges / Brücken published by Klaipėda University (established in 1991) is devoted to the issues of social sciences, and seeking academic dialogue, also to other human and society functioning-related humanities and biomedical sciences, with expand and interpret different social phenomena and current issues from an interdisciplinary perspective. The publications attempts at analysing and solving actual problems of economy, management, demography, social geography, geopolitics, political sciences, history, education, religious, regional planning and land use, other social problems. Science has no borders. Therefore scientific cooperation is one of the most important elements in the progress of world’s community. Scientists from different countries of the world are kindly invited to write for and contribute to the journal.Tiltai / Bridges is the scientifical periodical magazine, which publications, by the decision of Lithuanian Science Council, are recognized as convenient for doctoral dissertations and pedagogical scientific names.

The article is devoted to a review of the results of the study of the features of professional well-being among representatives of various professions. The following main indicators of the study were used: indicators of professional well-being, subjective economic well-being, occupational psychological well-being, professional demand for personality, professional motivation, work engagement, life satisfaction, subjective social well-being, meaningfulness of life, psychological capital, job satisfaction, psychological climate. The study involved 403 representatives of various professional groups: economists, engineers, police inspectors, cook-confectioners, managers, unskilled manual workers, medical representatives, salesmen, police investigators. The hierarchy of professional groups by mean indicators of professional well-being was revealed. The strength of the relationship between the general indicators of the study and professional well-being in each professional group is determined. Possible reasons for differences between groups for each indicator were explained. The predictors of professional well-being for different professional groups were identified. The results of the study confirmed that the structure of predictors of professional well-being can differ significantly for representatives of different professional groups. The differences between the groups are related to the hierarchy of predictors of professional well-being within a single semantic field. In addition, it was found that the scales of general indicators can contribute to the differences between professional groups, which requires additional study of the features of professional well-being, at the level of the items behind each general indicator.

The current global situation after Covid-19 presents the situation of youth in Europe as a synthesis for an international strategy of national youth policies instigated by the Council of Europe ‘Supporting Young People in Europe: Principles, Policy, Practice’. We look at youth policy as an initiative within other policy areas, which affect not only young people but all of society. The article presents the social and demographic situation of youth in the EU, and the state of play regarding welfare and poverty, education, employment, family issues, health and behaviour, and the future of youth in the EU.

Across the social work and social pedagogy educational programmes in Sweden, the nature and process of curriculum designs require engagement with multiple stakeholders within a highly complex context. A number of studies have identified diverse models of academic collaborations derived from various theoretical positions and environmental influences. This article explores collaborative creativity embedded in Swedish national and international Erasmus networking. Research participants consisted of teaching staff, fieldworkers, experts and researchers. This study goes on to propose knowledge alliances as action models for capacity building in social pedagogy and social work professional practice. It is concluded that sharing information and perspectives on, for example, contextual aspects and theoretical viewpoints in which scholars and practitioners operate, provides inspiration for capacity building in social pedagogical educational settings. This article has been prepared within the framework of the project ‘Social Professions for Youth Education in the Context of European Solidarity’ (2019-1-PL 01-KA203-065091).

The article analyses a relatively new position in the field of social services for the family: the complexity of the professional activity of a case manager, and the prospects of applying supervision as a form of professional support. In the field of social work, supervision is already a well-known way of counselling professional relationships. While improving their professional qualifications, social workers seek to participate in group, team and individual supervision. The supervision of the manager and the whole organisation is also well known in social work practice. In Lithuania, as in the rest of the world, supervision first established itself in the field of social work, which only proves the complexity of this profession.Social work as a profession is undergoing constant change, services are expanding, and more and more attention is being paid to specialised methodologies when the global approach no longer satisfies the current situation of empowerment. The case manager is a new position, the content of which is still being formed. The research has revealed that employees experience stress and tension as a burden of responsibility, they become the creators of the content of this position, and they face obstacles to inter-institutional cooperation.The qualitative research presented in this article, the interviews with case managers, and the reflection on the experience of supervision, allow us to draw conclusions about the prospects for supervision, and allow us to offer specific forms of supervision; and individual and team supervision become unique in this situation.

In the article, the importance of the physical environment of the organisation, the office, in achieving the efficiency of various management processes, is analysed. The article explains the concept of the physical environment of the organisation and its essential classification methods, and analyses the essential advantages of a closed and open office for internal communication, conflict resolution, organisational culture and subcultures, employee productivity, and other organisational phenomena. Twenty-first-century trends show that more and more business organisations are moving towards open office trends, in order to distance themselves from the physical environment of a traditional bureaucratic organisation. The authors of the article seek to critically evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of a closed and open office, and to review possible future trends and prospects for research into the physical environment of organisations. Nevertheless, research into these complex factors requires primarily an interdisciplinary methodological approach, combining a knowledge of management, economics, psychology, architecture, and other fields, and this topic does not receive sufficient attention in the Lithuanian scientific discourse. The authors of the article seek to define the concept of the physical environment of the organisation, identify its essential features, compare the differences between closed and open physical environments, and discuss possible perspectives for future research.

The aim of the paper is to review the global research on household saving behaviour, to review the scientific literature, and to consider the selection of the optimal research methodology for the thesis ‘Lithuanian Households’ Saving Behaviour for Retirement in an Ageing Society’. The paper reviews the main theoretical perspectives defining household behaviour and the methodological approaches of research conducted in the USA, Germany, Japan, the UK and Scandinavian countries. The traditional approach of economists to the human being in the economy is compared with the theoretical perspective of behavioural economists. The article presents recommendations for the methodology of research in Lithuania, by proposing to analyse the data from the Household Finance and Consumption Survey, and, based on the assumptions of behavioural economists, to provide recommendations to help people save more for retirement.

As a career develops throughout a person’s life, the andragogue consultant involved in this process, providing career guidance for adults, counselling, information and career development services, is particularly relevant. The article analyses, both theoretically and empirically, what characterises the process of providing career guidance services to adults, and how the andragogue consultant’s activities are manifested in providing support, guidance and counselling to those pursuing their lives and careers. Thus, the theoretical discourse of career guidance service andragogue consultant activity is analysed, and empirically substantiated career guidance service features, and links with andragogue consultant activities, are provided. The qualitative research carried out reveals that the characteristics of career guidance services are revealed through the activities of the andragogue as a competent career and life consultant. The summarised theoretical, documentary and empirical analysis suggests that the andragogue consultant’s career guidance, client-centred, needs-based approach is designed to help an adult choose their education and employment, career planning and management competencies, and create and develop a career.