Directorio de organismos nacionales a cargo de las políticas y programas para las mujeres de América Latina y el Caribe = Directory of national organizations dealing with programmes and policies on women in Latin America and the Caribbean

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Managing organizations for sustainable development in emerging countries: an introduction

This introduction article is for the special issue Managing organizations for sustainable development in emerging countries: natural resources, biodiversity, and climate change' in the International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology and presents an introduction to the topics and summarizes accepted contributions in the special issue. The accepted works may contribute with organizational management in the search for more sustainable organizations. The works focus on the challenges of managing organizations in a context of degradation of natural resources, loss of biodiversity, and climate change. Accepted papers discuss these issues, based on the reality of emerging economies (e.g. Brazil, India, and China).

Quality in healthcare organizations: Its meaning and measurement

This dissertation explores two important aspects of quality in healthcare: its meaning and its measurement. For a better understanding of what quality means, the history of quality in the manufacturing and service industries is reviewed. Concepts that are similar are pointed out as are concepts that are different. The definition introduced by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) for quality in healthcare and the six IOM aims of safety, timeliness, patient-centeredness, effectiveness, efficiency, and equitableness for a high quality healthcare system are adopted. The current activities by various organizations that proclaim improvement in quality or measurement of quality as their goal are reviewed. This is followed by examining what is offered by these organizations in terms of how many of IOM aims they address.^ This dissertation ends by offering a quality measurement framework that satisfies all IOM aims. Operational aspects of the measurement framework are discussed. Future areas of research are also discussed.^

GovCloud: the usage of cloud computing in public organizations

It has been shown that cloud computing brings cost benefits and promotes efficiency in the operations of the organizations, no matter what their type or size. However, few public organizations are benefiting from this new paradigm shift in the way the organizations consume and manage computational resources. The objective of this thesis is to analyze both internal and external factors that may influence the adoption of cloud computing by public organizations and propose possible strategies that can assist these organizations in their path to cloud usage. In order to achieve this objective, a SWOT analysis has been conducted, detecting internal factors (strengths and weaknesses) and external factors (opportunities and threats) that can influence the adoption of a governmental cloud. With the application of a TOWS matrix, by combining the internal and external factors, a list of possible strategies have been formulated to be used as a guide to decision-making related to the transition to a cloud environment.

The autonomy of the EU legal order and the law-making activities of international organizations. Some examples regarding the Council most recent practice. Research Papers in Law 03/2012

[Introduction.] It is generally believed that while the principle of the autonomy of the EU legal order, in the sense of constitutional and institutional autonomy that is to say what concerns the autonomous decision-making of the EU, has been clearly strengthened by the most recent jurisprudence of the Court of Justice (eg. Moxplant3, Intertanko or the Kadi/Al Baraakat judgements or the Opinion 1/2009 of the CJEU etc.) as well as, in my opinion, in many aspects by the Treaty of Lisbon, it is still valid to add that the principle of a favourable approach, stemming from the Court jurisprudence, for the enhanced openness of the EU legal order to international law has remained equally important for the EU4. On the other hand, it should be also seen that in a globalized world, and following the increased role of the EU as an international actor, its indispensable and crucial role concerning the creation of world (legal) order in many policy fields ( for example let's think about the G20 issues, the global economic and financial crisis, the role of the EU in promoting and protecting human rights worldwide, the implementation of the multilateral or regional conventional law, developed in the framework the UN (e.g. in the field of agriculture or environment etc) or what concerns the Kyoto process on climate change or the conservation of marine biological resources at international level etc), it seems reasonable and justified to submit that the influence, for example, of the law-making activities of the main stakeholder international organizations in the mentioned policy-areas on the EU (especially on the development of its constantly evolving legal order) or vice-versa the influence of the EU law-making practice on these international organizations is significant, in many aspects mutually interdependent and more and more remarkable. This tendency of the 21st century doesn't mean, however, in my view, that the notion of the autonomy of the EU legal order would have been weakened by this increasing interaction between international law and EU law over the passed years. This contribution is going to demonstrate and prove these departuring points by giving some concrete examples from the most recent practice of the Council (all occuring either in the second half of 2009 or after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty), and which relate to two very important policy areas in the EU, namely the protection of human rights and the Common Fishery Policy.

The Legal Status and Influence of Decisions of International Organizations and other Bodies in the European Union. College of Europe Research Paper in Law 01/2014

Introduction. The European Union’s external action is not only defined by its influence on international developments, but also by its ability and the need to respond to those developments. While traditionally many have stressed the EU’s ‘autonomy’, over the years its ‘dependence’ on global developments has become more clear.2 International law has continued to play a key role in, not only in the EU’s external relations, but also in the Union’s own legal order.3 The purpose of this paper is not to assess the role or performance of the EU in international institutions.4 Rather it purports to reverse the picture and focus on a somewhat under-researched topic: the legal status of decisions of international organizations in the EU’s legal order.5 While parts of the status of these decisions relate to the status of international agreements and international customary law, it can be argued that decisions of international organizations and other international bodies form a distinct category. In fact, it has been observed that “this phenomenon has added a new layer of complexity to the already complex law of external relations of the European Union”.6 Emerging questions relate to the possible difference between decisions of international organizations of which the EU is a member (such as the FAO) and decisions of organizations where it is not (irrespective of existing competences in that area – such as in the ILO). Questions also relate to the hierarchical status of these decisions in the EU’s legal order and to the possibility of them being invoked in direct or indirect actions before the Court of Justice. This contribution takes a broad perspective on decisions of international organizations by including decisions taken in other international institutions which do not necessarily comply with the standard definition of international organizations,7 be it bodies set-up by multilateral conventions or informal (transnational / regulatory) bodies. Some of these bodies are relatively close to the EU (such as the Councils established by Association Agreements – see further Section 5 below); others operate at a certain distance. Limiting the analysis to formal international organizations will not do justice to the manifold relationships between the European Union and various international bodies and to the effects of the norms produced by these bodies. The term ‘international decisions’ is therefore used to refer to any normative output of international institutional arrangements.

Third sector in transition - A question of sustainability for community service organizations and the sector?

Third sector organizations are transitioning towards entrepreneurial and managerial models as a result of quasi-market strategies. This paper reports on the research findings of a survey of nonprofit disability organizations in Queensland and Victoria impacted upon by quasi-market reform. Enterprising organizations were found to have made substantial change to organizational structures and systems, whilst more traditional organizations made few changes. All organizations demonstrated commitment to a social justice ethos. However across the organizational archetypes there were reports of an organizational 'fragility'. It is argued that the problems of sustainability of community service organizations that existed prior to quasi-market reforms remain. This implies community service organizations will experience ongoing difficulties in the post-market era without further rationalization and change. A conceptual framework for sustainability of the community service sector is presented at the policy and organizational level.

Distinctive manufacturing competence or core competence:which is more relevant in non-corporate organizations?

This paper addresses the issues of what core competencies mean in the light of the earlier existing concept of distinctive manufacturing competencies (or manufacturing competencies). The apparent parallels bel ween these two concepts are highlighted and considered. The results of empirical research comlucled via a survey of UK non-corporate organizations is presented and then analyzed. The results from the investigation lead directly to conclusions about the relevance of these competency concepts to non-corporate, non-multinational organizations.

Managing diversity in organizations:an integrative model and agenda for future research

The literature on policies, procedures, and practices of diversity management in organizations is currently fragmented and often contradictory in highlighting what is effective diversity management, and which organizational and societal factors facilitate or hinder its implementation. In order to provide a comprehensive and cohesive view of diversity management in organizations, we develop a multilevel model informed by the social identity approach that explains, on the basis of a work motivation logic, the processes by, and the conditions under which employee dissimilarity within diverse work groups is related to innovation, effectiveness, and well-being. Building on this new model, we then identify those work group factors (e.g., climate for inclusion and supervisory leadership), organizational factors (e.g., diversity management policies and procedures, and top management's diversity beliefs), and societal factors (e.g., legislation, socioeconomic situation, and culture) that are likely to contribute to the effective management of diversity in organizations. In our discussion of the theoretical implications of the proposed model, we offer a set of propositions to serve as a guide for future research. We conclude with a discussion of possible limitations of the model and practical implications for managing diversity in organizations. © 2014 Taylor & Francis.

Managing the threat of terrorism in British travel and leisure organizations

Purpose - To study how the threats of terrorism are being handled by a variety of UK companies in the travel and leisure sector in the UK in the post 9/11 era. Design/methodology/approach - A review of the literature of risk management in a world that is perceived to be more risky as a result of the terrorist attacks on the US on 11 September 2001 (9/11) is presented. Describes the application of theories of organizational resilience and institutions to frame an understanding of how managers make sense of terrorism risk and comprehend uncertainty. Reports a qualitative analysis of themes in interviews conducted with 25 managers from 6 unnamed organizations in the aviation industry (3 organizations) and the UK travel and leisure industry (3 organizations), representing a catering supplier, an airport, an airline, a tour company, a convention centre, and an arts and entertainment centre. Findings - The results indicated that the three organizations in the aviation industry prioritize threats from terrorism, whilst the three organizations in the leisure and travel sector do not, suggesting that the managers in the travel and leisure industry apply a probabilistic type of thinking and believe the likelihood of terrorism to be low. Reports that they give precedence to economic concerns and numerous other threats to the industry. Concludes that managers fall prey to the 'ludic fallacy', which conceives all odds as being calculable and hence managers conceive the terrorism risk as low while also expecting institutional factors to pre-empt and control terrorism threats, a reaction which the authors believe to be rather complacent and dangerous. Originality/value - Contributes to the research literature on risk management by revealing the gap in the ability of existing management tools and methodologies to deal with current and uncertain threats facing organizations due to terrorism.