E-Procurement and Innovation in the Portuguese Municipalities: When Change Is Mandatory

Changing the traditional pattern of public procurement for an electronic paradigm is a radical innovation involving major organizational changes, the breaking up of traditional processes and practices, obsolescence of knowledge and skills. Going beyond the European Commission's recommendations, in 2009 Portugal pioneered in making e-procurement mandatory in the pre-award phase, in a European context of multiple technical standards and lack of interoperability of electronic platforms across the EU countries. Six years later, when the creation of a European e-procurement single market is a EU mission and a major legislative amendment is underway in Portugal, this study looks at the relationship between e-procurement and innovation in the Portuguese municipalities aiming to understand the extent into which the adoption of e-procurement embraced a real organizational change or, on the other hand, if it just represented a mere adaptation of the usual procurement practices. The study draws on data from an electronic survey to all municipalities in mainland Portugal and the analysis is mainly descriptive and exploratory. The paradigm shift in public procurement involves major organizational changes but, overall, the results suggest that most municipalities do not have a clear understanding of the innovative scope (depth and diversity) implied by e-procurement. E-procurement shows advantages over the paper-based model but an unbalanced perception of the innovation dimensions has influenced the implementation of e-procurement and the degree of organizational change.

A influência da cultura organizacional nas actividades pedagógicas dos professores do ensino superior: um estudo de caso

Com o presente estudo pretende-se compreender a importância da cultura organizacional escolar e demonstrar a sua influência nas actividades pedagógicas dos docentes. Na abordagem teórica referem-se algumas definições, principais características, funções e importância da cultura, cultura organizacional e cultura organizacional escolar, com base na bibliografia consultada. Faz-se referência a modelos de análise da cultura organizacional e refere-se a sua importância face às mudanças nas organizações. Este estudo configura-se como um estudo de caso, utiliza-se uma amostra de três docentes do Curso de Licenciatura em Radioterapia da Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde de Lisboa. Na recolha de dados efectua-se a cada docente, três entrevistas semi-estruturadas, designadas de Entrevista, Entrevista Reflexiva e Entrevista Reflexiva Aprofundada. Analisam-se os dados através da análise de conteúdo, seleccionando-se categorias analíticas relevantes para o estudo. Nas considerações finais aborda-se a importância da cultura escolar nas actividades pedagógicas dos docentes e sugerem-se novas linhas de estudo. ABSTRACT: With the present study it's intend to understand the importance of the scholar organizational culture and demonstrate its influence on the teacher's pedagogic activities. ln the theoretical part there are mentioned some definitions, main characteristics, functions and importance of culture, organizational culture and scholar organizational culture, based on the consulted bibliography. Are mentioned also models of analysis of the organizational culture and their importance on the organizational changes. This study is a case study; it's used a sample of three teachers of the Radiotherapy Degree of the Higher School of Health Technologies of Lisbon. There were made three semi­ structured interviews to each teacher, called Interview, Reflexive lnterview and Deepened Reflexive Interview. The data were analysed through content analysis, by selecting analytic categories relevant to the study. ln the final considerations is approached the importance of the scholar culture in the pedagogic activities of teachers and are suggested new study lines.