The relationship between knowledge acquisition on international assignments and career development: an exploratory study with portuguese repatriates

This paper explores the relationship between the expatriates’ knowledge acquisition (KA) and their career development after an international assignment (IA). The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of expatriates in KA and transfer within International Portuguese multinational corporations. Furthermore, with this empirical study we try to analyse how the knowledge that is acquired and transferred translates into a basis for career development after the IA. This phenomenon has a special relevance in the Portuguese context, because this country is known a growing process of globalization in recent years. Furthermore, (a) there are no empirical studies concerning knowledge transfer and career development of repatriates from Portuguese companies; (b) little is known about the repatriates’ contributions to their home company after IA. This paper is one of the first to focus specifically on the repatriates’ role in KA and transfer from the host company to their Portuguese home company. A qualitative research methodology is used, specifically through an exploratory case study approach, which examines how knowledge management (KM) acquisition or transferring during IA are important for the repatriates’ career development in the Portuguese home company. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews to 42 Portuguese international assignees and 18 organizational representatives from nine Portuguese companies. Preliminary results show that KA and transfer made by Portuguese expatriates contributes directly to their career development. Moreover, evidence reveals that not all repatriates were promoted after their IA; rather some repatriates were even demoted after their IA. Furthermore, the results obtained suggest that the type of knowledge which acquired or transferred plays a central role in the career development after repatriation. According to these results, the paper discusses the major theoretical and practical implications. Suggestions for future research are also presented.

Knowledge management in multinational companies: the repatriates’ role in the competitive advantage in subsidiaries

This paper addresses the topic of knowledge management in multinational companies (MNCs). Its purpose is to examine the role of expatriates in knowledge acquisition and transfer within MNCs. Specifically it focuses on knowledge acquisition and transfer from one MNC head office located in Germany to two Portuguese subsidiaries as a basis for competitive advantage in their Portuguese subsidiaries. A qualitative research methodology is used, specifically through an exploratory case study approach, which examines how international assignments are important for the role of expatriates In knowledge acquisition and transfer between foreign head offices and their Portuguese subsidiaries. The data were collected through semi structured interviews to 10 Portuguese repatriates from two Portuguese subsidiaries of one foreign MNC. The findings suggest that the reasons that lead to expatriating employees from Portuguese subsidiaries to foreign head offices are connected to (1) knowledge management strategies to development the subsidiary’s performance; (2) new skills and knowledge acquisition by future team leaders and business/product managers in Portuguese subsidiaries; (3) procuring knowledge, from agents in head office, to be disseminated amongst co-workers in Portuguese subsidiaries; (4) acquiring global management skills, impossible to acquire locally and; (5) developing global projects within MNC. Also our results show that knowledge acquisition and transfer from foreign head office, through subsidiaries’ expatriates, contributes directly to the Portuguese subsidiaries’ innovation, improved performance, competitive advantage and growth in the economic sectors in which they operate. Moreover, evidence reveals that expatriation is seen as a strategy to fulfil some of the main organisational objectives through their expatriates (e.g., create new products and business markets, develop and incorporate new organisational techniques and processes, integrate global teams within multinational corporation with a responsibility on the definition of global objectives). The results obtained suggest that expatriates have a central role in acquiring and transferring strategic knowledge from MNC head office to their subsidiaries located in Portugal. Based on the findings, the paper discusses in detail the main theoretical and managerial implications. Suggestions for further research are also presented. The study’s main limitation is the small size of the sample, but its findings and methodology are quite original and significant.

Contextualização de “learning objects” no ensino da área da saúde. O caso do ensino da higiene oral

Com o crescimento das Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação os métodos de ensino também foram evoluindo, verificando-se assim mudanças bastante significativas na forma como se adquire o conhecimento. O aparecimento do ensino à distância aliado aos meios digitais, que estão cada vez mais disponíveis e acessíveis, tanto a alunos como a professores, são um excelente complemento à actividade lectiva. Exemplo disso é mesmo o caso do e-learning que veio revolucionar todo o processo de aquisição de conhecimento, deixando para segundo plano pormenores como o local ou a hora de aquisição do conhecimento. Entre muitos tipos de recursos disponíveis, os OA’s (Objecto de Aprendizagem) têm uma utilização cada vez mais frequente. No levantamento do estado da arte e no estudo dos recursos educativos utilizados actualmente na Medicina Dentária, foi assinalado a utilização recorrente dos OA’s, que basicamente são pequenos pedaços de informação que podem ser reutilizados ou referenciados tecnologicamente. Seguidamente, iniciou-se a realização de um OA que pudesse servir de apoio ao ensino da Medicina Dentária, focando-se concretamente na higiene oral para as crianças entre os 7 e 12 anos. Finalmente, procedeu-se à sua validação conclui-se que no futuro será possível a sua reutilização em diferentes contextos de ensino e aprendizagem na área.

Sistema pericial para o estudo de composição de betões

O betão é o material de construção feito pelo Homem mais utilizado no mundo. A sua composição é um processo complexo que exige um conhecimento teórico sólido e muita experiência prática, pelo que poucas pessoas estão habilitadas para o fazer e são muito requisitadas. No entanto não existe muita oferta actual de software que contemple alguns dos aspectos importantes da composição do betão, nomeadamente para o contexto europeu. Nesse sentido, foi desenvolvido um sistema de apoio à decisão chamado Betacomp, baseado num sistema pericial, para realizar estudos de composição de betão. Este contempla as normas legais portuguesas e europeias, e a partir da especificação do betão apresenta toda a informação necessária para se produzir um ensaio de betão. A aquisição do conhecimento necessário ao sistema contou com a colaboração de um especialista com longa e comprovada experiência na área da formulação e produção do betão, tendo sido construída uma base de conhecimento baseada em regras de produção no formato drl (Drools Rule Language). O desenvolvimento foi realizado na plataforma Drools.net, em C# e VB.net. O Betacomp suporta os tipos de betão mais comuns, assim como adições e adjuvantes, sendo aplicável numa grande parte dos cenários de obra. Tem a funcionalidade de fornecer explicações sobre as suas decisões ao utilizador, auxiliando a perceber as conclusões atingidas e simultaneamente pode funcionar como uma ferramenta pedagógica. A sua abordagem é bastante pragmática e de certo modo inovadora, tendo em conta parâmetros novos, que habitualmente não são considerados neste tipo de software. Um deles é o nível do controlo de qualidade do produtor de betão, sendo feito um ajuste de compensação à resistência do betão a cumprir, proporcional à qualidade do produtor. No caso dos produtores de betão, permite que indiquem os constituintes que já possuem para os poderem aproveitar (caso não haja impedimentos técnicos) , uma prática muito comum e que permitirá eventualmente uma aceitação maior da aplicação, dado que reflecte a forma habitual de agir nos produtores.

"Poster yourself": a construção colaborativa e multimédia do conhecimento no Ensino Precoce de Inglês

Mestrado em Ensino Precoce do Inglês

Digital serious games and simulation games - comparison of two approaches to lean training

In an increasingly competitive and globalized world, companies need effective training methodologies and tools for their employees. However, selecting the most suitable ones is not an easy task. It depends on the requirements of the target group (namely time restrictions), on the specificities of the contents, etc. This is typically the case for training in Lean, the waste elimination manufacturing philosophy. This paper presents and compares two different approaches to lean training methodologies and tools: a simulation game based on a single realistic manufacturing platform, involving production and assembly operations that allows learning by playing; and a digital game that helps understand lean tools. This paper shows that both tools have advantages in terms of trainee motivation and knowledge acquisition. Furthermore, they can be used in a complementary way, reinforcing the acquired knowledge.

Aparato para experimentação remota do lançamento de projéteis

Num sistema de ensino cada vez mais exigente, a experimentação assume um papel fundamental na aquisição e validação do conhecimento. No ensino da Física, a necessidade de compreender a influência do meio num dado conceito teórico leva a que a experimentação tenha um carácter obrigatório. Neste contexto, surgem três cenários capazes de suportar a aprendizagem dos conceitos teóricos adquiridos. A simulação que faz uso da velocidade e capacidades de cálculo do computador para obter o resultado de uma experiência, a experimentação tradicional em laboratório, na qual o aluno executa, presencialmente, a sua experiência e por último a experimentação remota, que permite a execução de uma experiência real sem a presença física do aluno. Esta dissertação apresenta o projeto de um aparato para experimentação remota do “Lançamento de projéteis”. De forma a providenciar um meio de ensino de Física mais flexível, o aparato desenvolvido permite, aos alunos, a determinação da aceleração da gravidade e o estudo da dependência do movimento de um projétil num conjunto de parâmetros. Este aparato, operado remotamente, é acedido via web, onde primeiramente é reservado um intervalo de tempo. O conjunto de parâmetros (“Bola”, “Altura de lançamento” e “Ângulo de lançamento”) da máquina permite suportar vários cenários de ensino da Física, com diferentes complexidades.

Virtual Communities of Practice: Design and Development of Support Platforms and Participation Fostering

Mestrado em Engenharia Informática - Área de Especialização em Sistemas Gráficos e Multimédia

Utilização do software Scratch no ensino das ciências da natureza e da matemática com alunos portadores de dislexia

O estudo que apresentamos tem como objetivos de investigação contribuir para o desenvolvimento global das crianças com Necessidades Educativas Especiais, nomeadamente, portadoras de Dislexia, designadamente em aulas onde são lecionados conteúdos de Ciências da Natureza e de Matemática, e conceber um recurso didático apoiado nas TIC que seja adequado à utilização em sala de aula por alunos com dislexia. Neste sentido, o estudo foi orientado pelas seguintes questões de investigação: A utilização do Scratch é adequada e exequível no trabalho quotidiano de alunos portadores de Dislexia? e Em que medida o Scratch pode contribuir para um melhor envolvimento dos alunos portadores de Dislexia na realização das tarefas propostas? O presente trabalho segue uma metodologia de carácter qualitativo, centrando-se no estudo de caso. Tentou-se dar uma resposta à reduzida utilização do software Scratch no ensino das Ciências da Natureza e Matemática como instrumentos viáveis para uma aprendizagem de sucesso em alunos portadores de Dislexia. Este estudo foi aplicado a três alunos do 4º ano, com este diagnóstico, de um agrupamento de escolas do concelho de Viseu. Para dar resposta às questões de investigação supracitadas foram implementadas e projetadas duas atividades no software Scratch para serem desenvolvidas em duas situações formativas contextualizadas. O subdomínio que se pretendeu trabalhar foi “A importância da água para os seres vivos” articulando com o conteúdo dos volumes. Os dados foram recolhidos através da análise dos Programas Educativos Individuais de cada um dos alunos participantes, das entrevistas às docentes de Educação Especial, de gravações áudio, fotografias, trabalhos dos alunos e os registos da professora investigadora. Os resultados obtidos permitiram caracterizar o modo como os alunos, portadores de dislexia, se envolveram com o Scratch na aquisição de conhecimento. Permitiram ainda demonstrar aos professores que é possível construir atividades nesta ferramenta envolvendo conteúdos curriculares interdisciplinares.

Innovation through virtual communities of Practice: motivation and constraints in the knowledge-creation process

Communities of Practice are places which provide a sound basis for organizational learning, enabling knowledge creation and acquisition thus improving organizational performance, leveraging innovation and consequently increasing competitively. Virtual Communities of Practice (VCoP‟s) can perform a central role in promoting communication and collaboration between members who are dispersed in both time and space. The ongoing case study, described here, aims to identify both the motivations and the constraints that members of an organization experience when taking part in the knowledge creating processes of the VCoP‟s to which they belong. Based on a literature review, we have identified several factors that influence such processes; they will be used to analyse the results of interviews carried out with the leaders of VCoP‟s in four multinationals. As future work, a questionnaire will be developed and administered to the other members of these VCoP‟s

Virtual communities of practice: investigating motivations and constraints in the processes of knowledge creation and transfer

With accelerated market volatility, faster response times and increased globalization, business environments are going through a major transformation and firms have intensified their search for strategies which can give them competitive advantage. This requires that companies continuously innovate, to think of new ideas that can be transformed or implemented as products, processes or services, generating value for the firm. Innovative solutions and processes are usually developed by a group of people, working together. A grouping of people that share and create new knowledge can be considered as a Community of Practice (CoP). CoP’s are places which provide a sound basis for organizational learning and encourage knowledge creation and acquisition. Virtual Communities of Practice (VCoP's) can perform a central role in promoting communication and collaboration between members who are dispersed in both time and space. Nevertheless, it is known that not all CoP's and VCoP's share the same levels of performance or produce the same results. This means that there are factors that enable or constrain the process of knowledge creation. With this in mind, we developed a case study in order to identify both the motivations and the constraints that members of an organization experience when taking part in the knowledge creating processes of VCoP's. Results show that organizational culture and professional and personal development play an important role in these processes. No interviewee referred to direct financial rewards as a motivation factor for participation in VCoPs. Most identified the difficulty in aligning objectives established by the management with justification for the time spent in the VCoP. The interviewees also said that technology is not a constraint.

Post-MAPS: An interactive acquisition platform for gastroenterology

Post-MAPS is a web platform that collects gastroenterological exam data from several european hospital centers, to be used in future clinical studies and was developed in partnership with experts from the gastroenterological area and information technology (IT) technicians. However, although functional, this platform has some issues that are crucial for its functioning, and can render user interaction unpleasant and exhaustive. Accordingly, we proposed the development of a new web platform, in which we aimed for an improvement in terms of usability, data uni cation and interoperability. Therefore, it was necessary to identify and study different ways of acquiring clinical data and review some of the existing clinical databases in order to understand how they work and what type of data they store, as well as their impact and contribution to clinical knowledge. Closely linked to the data model is the ability to share data with other systems, so, we also studied the concept of interoperability and analyzed some of the most widely used international standards, such as DICOM, HL7 and openEHR. As one of the primary objectives of this project was to achieve a better level of usability, practices related to Human Computer-Interaction, such as requirement analysis, creation of conceptual models, prototyping, and evaluation were also studied. Before we began the development, we conducted an analysis of the previous platform, from a functional point of view, which allowed us to gather not only a list of architectural and interface issues, but also a list of improvement opportunities. It was also performed a small preliminary study in order to evaluate the platform's usability, where we were able to realize that perceived usability is different between users, and that, in some aspects, varies according to their location, age and years of experience. Based on the information gathered during the platform's analysis and in the conclusions of the preliminary study, a new platform was developed, prepared for all potential users, from the inexperienced to the most comfortable with technology. It presents major improvements in terms of usability, also providing several new features that simplify the users' work, improving their interaction with the system, making their experience more enjoyable.

Accounting education in an action-based learning environment: lessons learned

In the context of the Bologna Declaration a change is taking place in the teaching/learning paradigm. From teaching-centered education, which emphasizes the acquisition and transmission of knowledge, we now speak of learning-centered education, which is more demanding for students. This paradigm promotes a continuum of lifelong learning, where the individual needs to be able to handle knowledge, to select what is appropriate for a particular context, to learn permanently and to understand how to learn in new and rapidly changing situations. One attempt to face these challenges has been the experience of ISCAP regarding the teaching/learning of accounting in the course Managerial Simulation. This paper describes the process of teaching, learning and assessment in an action-based learning environment. After a brief general framework that focuses on education objectives, we report the strengths and limitations of this teaching/learning tool. We conclude with some lessons from the implementation of the project.

Building a knowledge and learning society in Portugal: adult students in technological schools and higher education institutions

Lifelong learning (LLL) has received increasing attention in recent years. It implies that learning should take place at all stages of the “life cycle and it should be life-wide, that is embedded in all life contexts from the school to the work place, the home and the community” (Green, 2002, p.613). The ‘learning society’, is the vision of a society where there are recognized opportunities for learning for every person, wherever they are and however old they happen to be. Globalization and the rise of new information technologies are some of the driving forces that cause depreciation of specialised competences. This happens very quickly in terms of economic value; consequently, workers of all skills levels, during their working life, must have the opportunity to update “their technical skills and enhance general skills to keep pace with continuous technological change and new job requirements” (Fahr, 2005, p. 75). It is in this context that LLL tops the policy agenda of international bodies, national governments and non-governmental organizations, in the field of education and training, to justify the need for LLL opportunities for the population as they face contemporary employability challenges. It is in this context that the requirement and interest to analyse the behaviour patterns of adult learners has developed over the last few years

Towards a knowledge-based society: the need for a continuous lifelong

IRMA International Conference under the theme Managing Worldwide Operations and Communications with Information Technology, May 19-23, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada