The paper deals with the talent management issue as one of the effective human resource management practices during the global pandemic caused by COVID-19 and points to the main challenges and priorities in the research area. Talent management has undergone a dynamic development in recent years. It has recently become a frequently discussed concept among business and academics alike and one of the priorities of the modern management of all companies. The paper also presents the results of research carried out on a sample of 137 human resources managers. Respondents who participated in the questionnaire survey are human resources managers in companies operating in the Slovak Republic at national and international markets. Data were collected using the online questionnaire. For the research, two research hypotheses were established. The hypotheses aimed to determine whether there are statistically significant relationships between the scale of talent recruitment and selection process over the past year; the change in the management and organizational style of the company during the COVID-19 pandemic; the existence of the statistically significant relationship between the budget allocated to talent management and headhunting practices over the last year. The hypotheses were verified using correlation analysis and the methods of inductive statistics. Testing the statistically significant relationships verified hypothesis H1. It confirmed the existence of statistically significant relationships between the scale of the talent recruitment and selection process over the past year and the change in management and organization of the company during the COVID-19 pandemic. The hypothesis H2 was rejected. It stated the absence of statistically significant relationships between the budget for talent management in the organization during the COVID-19 pandemic and the competition for qualified talent for the last year. The questionnaire survey results pointed how human resources managers in companies operating in the Slovak Republic perceive the situation associated with the current COVID-19 pandemic. The findings identified the pandemic impact on talent management and how human resources managers see human resource management's future and priorities.

he present paper falling into the field of innovative management tools explores using the Total Quality Management (TQM) tool in the SME sector in Slovakia, attempting to identify barriers to the use of this tool in the given segment. TQM can be ranked among the innovative management tools that are under investigation and in our contribution, we want to bring a new overview of the use of this tool. Our research was based on foreign research in which the TQM management tool is at the forefront of use. On the other hand, we know from the research conducted so far on management tools in our business environment that the use of innovative tools is relatively low. The present research is based on the formulated hypotheses verified using statistical methods, namely the chi-square test of independence. In this research, we worked with hypotheses arguing that there are statistically significant relationships between the lack of personnel and financial resources on the one hand and the use of the innovative TQM management tool on the other hand. These relationships were statistically proved because in both examined hypotheses the expected value of p was lower than 0.05. We can, therefore, conclude that the lack of financial resources and the lack of skilled labour are among the important barriers to the use of TQM. In the determination of the third hypothesis, we assumed that managers could not agree on the establishment of TQM. This fact can, therefore, contribute to its relatively low use in our business environment. We also consider the incongruity of managers´ ideas as a barrier that may have an impact on the use of TQM, and these dependencies were examined by the Chi-square independence test. In verifying this hypothesis, the p-value was calculated to be p˃0.05 proving that this factor has no effect on the use of TQM and there is no dependency between these variables. In the present paper, we also focus on juxtaposing the present investigation with the research conducted to date in the field of innovative management tools. The present research is aimed at identifying barriers to the use of this management tool in an SME environment and at presenting TQM as a modern innovative instrument to be used by companies to manage and measure their performance. By using TQM, the company can align the financial and non-financial factors together and thus increase its competitiveness and meet the expectations of investors and other stakeholders. Keywords: Total Quality Management, innovative management tools, small and medium enterprises, performance.

In this paper, we addressed the analysis of strategic management issues with specific focus on the use of Balanced Scorecard concept within the Slovak tourism enterprises. The main objective of paper is to highlight barriers complicating the application of the above mentioned method into business practice by means of the data obtained from the questionnaire survey. The essence of paper consisted of hypotheses formulated on the basis of literature review with an emphasis on professional publications and research studies conducted so far. Hypotheses were verified by selected statistical methods to explore the potential dependencies between variables. The partial objective of this research study was to point out the importance of Balanced Scorecard concept in terms of enterprise management assessing its performance by financial indicators as well as non-financial indicators.

This article focuses on human resources management in relationship to organizational performance in global Covid-19 pandemic times, particularly in the tourism companies operating in the Slovak Republic. From the theoretical part, the paper focuses on the evaluation of the situation in hospitality caused by Covid-19 in tourism companies in the current business environment and look at the more detailed human resources management, as many scholars point to some irregularities. The paper also presents the research results that was carried out on 274 respondents of managers who work in hospitality and the other sectors in this field. For research purposes, we suggested and tested the research hypothesis to analyze the statistically significant relationship between the impact of Covid-19 on the selected human resource management practices and the performance development of tourism companies in the Slovak Republic. There were the following practices: recruitment and selection of employees, education (training) and development, evaluation and management of employees´ performance, rewarding and employee participation. The hypothesis was verified by correlation analysis with the use of inductive statistic. The hypothesis was verified at the end. The article points at the fact, that the procedures and practices of human resources are affected by Covid-19, as the other sector of human resources management. Also, the impact of Covid-19 affects the changes in the performance development of tourism companies operating in the Slovakia.

Human resources and knowledge play an important role in the today’s fast-changing world. Human resource optimization is achieved when human resources are aligned with key organizational initiatives to maximize business performance. Talented people are the future of every business. Leading and developing the potential of talented employees should be on the agenda of every modern business. Businesses that know what globalization brings try to attract talented people as talented people are playing an increasingly important role in all sectors, thus confirming that talent management is becoming the fastest growing global human resource management trend. Many businesses realize that they must relocate their business, sometimes even across borders, to succeed. Working with talent must be a top priority for businesses, as talent needs to be constantly developed and managed. The aim of the paper is to define the basic concepts related to the acquisition, management and development of talents at the theoretical level and to point out the importance of talent management as it is becoming an important global trend. Based on the survey we carried out and literature available, the main objective of the paper is to identify key roles and responsibilities that talented employees take upon, to specify a set of requirements placed upon talented employees and to identify factors determining the ability of a business to attract talents.