No abstract

The approach expressed by its author A. Kopčaj as a Spiral management is based on the philosophy according to which the firm is perceived as a living organism. Living organisms are guided by the principle of reducing their entropy in order to ensure the inevitable energy as well as their long-term survival. The contribution is analysing one of the potential applications of the above-indicated approach to the firm in which the measurement of the so-called internal entropy gives the possibility to determine in a very precise way whether the new managerial approach can be or cannot be implemented in the firm in the current state or whether it is possible to define the strategies for cultivation of the firm´s social capital. The paper proceeds from the data acquired during practical applications of the Spiral management in the environment of the Czech and Slovak companies. Key words: entropy, social subsystem of the firm, technical subsystem of the firm, the Spiral management.

The article shows a new approach -how to reach higher efficiency in the production from knowledge management via managing social capital through measurement, motivation and stimulation. The test in a real company on the Toyota system implementation is described. The active involvement of people is an important part of the Toyota system success. This is obvious in Japan but creates a big problem in Europe. These problems were tested in order to answer the following questions: 1. Is it possible to measure the social system level before the application of the system?, 2. Is it possible to evaluate the necessary level of the social system for successful implementation in advance?, 3. Is it possible to cultivate the social system to the desired level? We try to answer all of these questions adopting the Kopčaj Spiral Management approach. The practical results on an existing company are presented together with managerial recommendations.