Análise da situação de trabalho do motorista em uma empresa de ônibus urbano da idade de Natal (RN)

The problem dealt with in this study concerns the analysis of bus drivers' working situation. It stemmed from the need to identify the difficulties faced by these professionals in accomplishing the results expected by the company. A case study was carried out in a public transportation company in the city of Natal. Records and observations made in the workplace, alongside perfomance indicators, such as absenteeism tax, staff turnover and traffic accidents, revealed problems in their activity. It was made clear that, in the company being studied, absenteeism was related to health problems, particularly psychiatric and musculoskeletal disorders, and that although the indicators of traffic accidents and staff turnover have declined over the years, they are still elevated. The interviews involved 50 of the 124 drivers who worked directly in the service, and contained questions covering eleven factors related to the drivers' work. They indicated a gap between the prescribed work and the work actually done, in that there were a series of embarassing or stressful situations involving traffic, itinerary length, road conditions, vehicle maintenance, physical environment (bus terminus), job post and supervision policies. On the other hand, factors such as enjoying driving, the work itself and being with workmates positively influenced the drivers' working conditions. In the propositions of the administration and human resources subsystems, some alternatives were found in order to remodel this activity

Indicadores associados a acidentes de trânsito envolvendo motoristas de ônibus da cidade de Natal

The purpose of this study was to investigate indicators of urban bus drivers involvement in transit accidents. We analyzed their involvement in accidents in relation to several indicators suggested by the literature, including the temporal dimension of those bus drivers, as expressed in Zimbardo's Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI), for previous studies have shown that people more present time oriented revealed greater tendency to engage in risk driving. A questionnaire was applied to 457 bus drivers of the city of Natal, RN, Brazil, with questions about participants socio-demographic information, their professional performance and items on time perspective, presented in a five points Likert type scale. Among the indicators analyzed, the best predictors of traffic accidents were: worried about not being on schedule, family problems, and falling asleep; to work overtime, passengers complaints, work while on vacations and medical leaves. In regard to drivers' time perspective, the sub-scale of "combined present" showed a positive relationship with involvement in transit accidents, while the future scale a negative one, in both cases in accordance with the expect direction, even though the effects have not been statistically significant. The selected predictive variable indicate that traffic accidents are mainly associated to situational factors, that could be prevented through the betterment of work conditions of the bus drivers and other organizational and public policies, since transit accidents should be part of initiatives in the areas of health and safety

Gestão da satisfação e fidelidade do cliente :um estudo dos fatores que influenciam a satisfação e a fidelidade no turismo regional

This Thesis presents a contribution to the study of models of customer satisfaction, analyzing the relationship between construct satisfaction and its antecedents and consequences, carrying through a survey with tourists who live in states of northeast region, had used to travel by bus or their own car and used hotel of Natal in the period from march to june at 2004. The theory research is focused in concepts of customer satisfaction and loyalty, quality management system models and customer satisfaction measurement index models. For the field survey was applied a model with questions based on the norwegian customer satisfaction barometer - NCSB considered for Johnson et al., 2001 with 92 tourists. The results gotten for the multiple regression evidence that tourist satisfaction with respect to the hotel suffer fort influences of six drivers of quality and complaints management. However the factors that influencing tourist loyalty with hotel are affective commitment, satisfaction with the hotel and the complaints management

Competição e regulamentação no transporte de passageiros: Um estúdio no transporte rodoviário intermunicipal

The objective of this research is the verification of the competition in the intecity market, after the entrance of new competitors (vans and microbus) regulated and clandestine. For verification of this new view was effected one research of documentary character for the knowledge of the regulation and exploratory character of the system Natal - territory of the Seridó, for thus in making will know this problematic, well as its characteristics, attractivenesses and development of the territory of the Seridó, and its link with the Capital (Natal). Later, through a descriptive exploratory research of the type survey with the passengers to know as these are being taken care and its satisfaction in relation to the regulated companies. With the drivers if focus effected one group, and with the staff of the of sale ticket a research survey, aiming at to know the strategies used for the only company of bus that takes care of the territory of the Seridó, the implantation of these and the consequence of the user. In accordance with the generic tipologia of Porter and its strategies, were perceived that the bus company adopted the strategy of price leadership being competitive, using to advantage its bigger space in the market, already vans and the microbuses with its limited participation bet in a strategy of "differentiation" in its service, effecting faster trips and in the strategy of "approach" we find the not regulated services earn the service to the taste of the user

Uma fonte chaveada de 50kW com correção de fator de potência para alimentação de uma tocha de plasma Indutiva utilizando técnicas de controle digital

This work deals with the development of an experimental study on a power supply of high frequency that provides the toch plasmica to be implemented in PLASPETRO project, which consists of two static converters developed by using Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT). The drivers used to control these keys are triggered by Digital Signal Processor (DSP) through optical fibers to reduce problems with electromagnetic interference (EMI). The first stage consists of a pre-regulator in the form of an AC to DC converter with three-phase boost power factor correction which is the main theme of this work, while the second is the source of high frequency itself. A series-resonant inverter consists of four (4) cell inverters operating in a frequency around 115 kHz each one in soft switching mode, alternating itself to supply the load (plasma torch) an alternating current with a frequency of 450 kHz. The first stage has the function of providing the series-resonant inverter a DC voltage, with the value controlled from the power supply provided by the electrical system of the utility, and correct the power factor of the system as a whole. This level of DC bus voltage at the output of the first stage will be used to control the power transferred by the inverter to the load, and it may vary from 550 VDC to a maximum of 800 VDC. To control the voltage level of DC bus driver used a proportional integral (PI) controller and to achieve the unity power factor it was used two other proportional integral currents controllers. Computational simulations were performed to assist in sizing and forecasting performance. All the control and communications needed to stage supervisory were implemented on a DSP

As fontes de desgaste físico e emocional e a Síndrome de Burnout no setor de transporte coletivo urbano de Natal

Recognizing the importance the workplace has on mental health of the individual, the objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between the burnout syndrome and the sources of physical and emotional wear which permeate the work conditions of the urban public transport system of the city of Natal. Although existent in international literature, research on burnout in the professional transport category and studies directed to this category are not a tradition in Brazil. The research was carried out using 412 drivers and money-changers of two transport companies of Natal. To collect the data, two questionnaires and a semi-structured interview were used. The first instrument, developed and validated during the research, investigated the sources of wear and the second, the syndrome of burnout. As its main results, two sources of empirical wear were identified as follows: (1) the Conflict of Values and the Lack of Justice at the Workplace, (2) Union and Reward. Besides these, it was observed that there is an incidence of the syndrome of burnout among the drivers and money-changers of urban transport by bus, not only in the caring occupations studied before in Natal and Brazil and that this incidence is related to the sources of wear which permeate the work conditions of these professionals