Trabalho temporário e qualidade dos serviços prestados: reflexão sobre a evolução recente na região de Setúbal

Os conceitos de qualidade e capital humano são amplamente conhecidos e a sua importância aceite por todos. A aplicação destes pressupostos à realidade do trabalho temporário, tomou-se um imperativo face ao contexto económico actual, repleto de rápidas mudanças organizacionais, caracterizado por colaboradores detentores de um novo leque de competências e flexibilidade profissional. Ao longo deste trabalho. procurou-se analisar a possível integração do trabalho temporário num novo modelo de relações laborais, na tentativa de distanciamento da corrente associação do trabalho temporário a uma "forma atípica de trabalho'', estabelecendo ainda uma breve evolução do trabalho temporário na Península de Setúbal. baseada na apreciação de trabalhos análogos. Em resultado da aplicação de questionário. definiu-se uma hierarquia de características individuais e organizacionais, como critério válido para um futuro processo de recrutamento e selecção, permitindo averiguar, ao nível do individuo, um aumento de competências profissionais e técnicas, acompanhado pelo incremento de formação e experiência profissional. Concluindo ao nível organizacional que qualidades como flexibilidade e dinamismo, aliado à experiência profissional, são factores críticos no processo de recrutamento e selecção, sendo imprescindíveis na procura contínua da qualidade, facilitando o alcance da excelência individual e organizacional. ABSTRACT: Quality and Human Capital are widely know concepts and their importance is accepted by all. Therefore, it has become imperative to make use of them in the contex t of temporary work given the current economic situation for they are present wherever organizational change happens rapidly and stakeholders possess a wide range of professional competencies and flexibility. The aim of this work is to study the possible integration of temporary work into a new model for labour relations, in an effort to distance temporay work from the notion of "atypical form of work" with which it is presently associated. Moreover, it presents a brief evolution of temporary work in the Peninsula of Setúbal, based on the analiysis of similar works. The findings obtained from our surveys ena bled us to define a hierarchy of individual and organizational characteristics which can serve as valid criteria in future recruitment and selection processes. With these processes it is al so possible to assess any increase of professional and technical competencies regarding the individual as well improvement as regards training and professional experience. At the organizational level, qualities such as nexibility and dynamism, together with professional experience, turned out to be critical factors in the recruitment and selection process. Not only are they indispensable in the constant pursuit of quality, but they also make it easy to achieve individual and organizational excellence.

Redes de cooperação transfronteiriça? Dilemas da rede transfronteiriça da educação/formação como instrumento de inclusão social no Alentejo-Extremadura : Um olhar dos actores das escolas oficiais de idiomas

A presente proposta de investigação, ao abordar os dilemas inerentes à cooperação transfronteiriça, no âmbito da educação/formação, no Alentejo-Extremadura, traduz-se assim, num diagnóstico a nível meso, já que aborda em termos micro, o papel dos professores das Escolas Oficiais de Idiomas da Extremadura enquanto potenciais agentes de regulação da cooperação transfronteiriça, através das suas relações interpessoais, funcionando esta regulação como uma ponte ou forma intermediária de atingir a regulação macro, entendida aqui como a regulação nacional e internacional, no panorama transfronteiriço Portugal/Espanha. A Escola Oficial de Idiomas, ao possuir uma estrutura organizacional geradora de uma dinâmica das relações sociais dos actores, permitiu diagnosticar, no seu dinamismo, a importância das interdependências entre os indivíduos, e destes com o exterior, as quais poderão constituir "redes emergentes'' de cooperação, assentes essencialmente em relações débeis e muitas informais, servindo de eventuais nós na criação de redes de cooperação transfronteiriça mais formais. / Summary: This research proposal, as it tackles the dilemmas inherent in cross-border cooperation concerning education/training in Alentejo-Extremadura, is thus a meso level analysis, since it deals, at the micro levei, with the role of the teachers in the Official Language Schools of Extremadura as potential regulation agents of cross-border cooperation, through their interpersonal relationships. This regulation acts as a bridge or an intermediary way of achieving macro regulation, which refers to the national and international regulation in Portugal/Spain's cross-border context. The Official Language School, possessing an organizational structure that brings dynamics into the actors’ social relations, has made it possible, within its dynamism, to establish the importance of the interdependence between individuals, and between them and the outside, which may create "emerging networks" of cooperation, based mostly in feeble and many informal relationships, operating as possible ties in the creation of more formal networks of cross-border cooperation.

How did the AD 1755 tsunami impact on sand barriers across the southern coast of Portugal?

Tsunamis are highly energetic events that may destructively impact the coast. Resolving the degree of coastal resilience to tsunamis is extremely difficult and sometimes impossible. In part, our understanding is constrained by the limited number of contemporaneous examples and by the high dynamism of coastal systems. In fact, longterm changes of coastal systems can mask the evidence of past tsunamis, leaving us a short or incomplete sedimentary archive. Here, we present a multidisciplinary approach involving sedimentological, geomorphological and geophysical analyses and numerical modelling of the AD 1755 tsunami flood on a coastal segment located within the southern coast of Portugal. In particular, the work focuses on deciphering the impact of the tsunami waves over a coastal sand barrier enclosing two lowlands largely inundated by the tsunami flood. Erosional features documented by geophysical data were assigned to the AD 1755 eventwith support of sedimentological and age estimation results. Furthermore, these features allowed the calibration of the simulation settings to reconstruct the local conditions and establish the run-up range of the AD 1755 tsunami when it hit this coast (6– 8 m above mean sea level). Our work highlights the usefulness of erosional imprints preserved in the sediment record to interpret the impact of the extreme events on sand barriers

Creative Practices Around the Production of Cork

Cork, as a natural product provided by the bark of the cork oak tree, is an important staple of the Portuguese economy and important to Portuguese culture. It is a sustainable product with a positive ecological footprint, from harvesting to industrial production, with the advantage of creating a local economic model through regional labour activity and distribution. Within the balance between nature-human-economy to create a sustainable system, cork production in Portugal represents a human and social dimension. By focusing on that dimension and by creating an awareness of the cultural and social impact of the activity and by re-appraising the meaning of the material within the culture, the study reframes a consideration of the actual place of labour and production. The human, geophysical, historical, social, economic, ecological and cultural aspects of the place are observed as regards their relation to work or labour in that physical space. A pilot study is being developed in the village of Azaruja in the district of Évora, Portugal. In this small locality, cork is very important in terms of the relationships between the physical subsistence of their residents and the local natural resources, because it structures the place in its cultural, social and economical dimensions. This paper outlines the theoretical foundations, the process and the outcomes of the participatory ecodesign project titled Creative Practices Around the Production of Cork which was initiated by a Portuguese artist/design researcher and developed further through the collaboration with the other two authors, one a Portuguese visual artist/researcher and the other a Turkish fashion designer/theorist. The investigation focuses on questions that expand the notion of place for artists and designers, filtered through the lenses of manual labourers in order to understand their physical, social, cultural and economic relationship with the environment. To create the process of interaction with the place and the people, a creative collaborative dynamic is developed between the authors with their range of artistic sensibilities and the local population. To adopt a holistic notion of sustainability and cultural identity a process of investigation is designated to: (1) analyse, test and interpret - through the dissemination of life stories, visual representation of the place and the creation of cork objects - the importance of culture related to the labour activity of a local natural resource that determines and structures the region; (2) to give public recognition to those involved, taking into account their sense of belonging to the place and in order to show the value of their sustainable labour activities related to local natural resources; (3) to contribute to the knowledge of the place and to its dynamism through an aesthetic approach to labour activities. With reference to fields of knowledge such as anthropology, the social arts and sustainable design, a practice-based research is conducted with collaborative and participatory design methods to create an open model of interaction which involves local people in the realization of the project. Outcomes of this research will be presented in the paper as a survey analysis with theoretical conclusions.