Impact of the HRM content (i.e. practices) and process (i.e. strength) on individual and organizational outcomes, in the hotel industry

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Analyzing the impact of HRM Systems on the organizational climate, culture and outcomes: The mediating role of HMR Strength, organizational climate and culture

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Personal advisors for business professionals: improving communication skills with online corpora

The business sphere is a multilingual world where foreign language communication skills are crucial in international relations. It makes employers look for business professionals who have a high level of linguistic competences. Language proficiency increases the chances of negotiation among partners. There are mainly two obstacles that make barriers in formal communication in a foreign language: lack of knowledge of specific linguistic structures or terminology and frequent transitions from one language to another. This paper contributes to the quest for quick access to a wide range of English, Spanish and Russian online databases that provide authentic language samples. Their application may improve communication skills and facilitate preparation for business discourse.

Reading for Academic Purposes: Techniques and Strategies to help Angolan ELT Students at ISCED-Benguela enhance their Reading Skills

This paper examines academic reading difficulties Angolan second year ELT students have at ISCED (Instituto Superior de Ciências da Educação) in Benguela and focuses on a variety of reading strategies and techniques as well as models for reading materials to help improve academic reading skills. Finally, it recommends the use of appropriate reading strategies and techniques, materials, and the adoption of a more student-centred approach in teaching reading to encourage the development of a reading culture for academic purposes.

On an organizational level: How can the emergency department at Rouge Valley Centenary hospital improve their wait times?

The prolonged wait times may arguably put into question the Canadian Health Act of 1984. Statistics show throughput wait times are 5.5 hours and output wait times for admitted patients are 32.4 hours. After probing and analyzing best practices through a qualitative/quantitative Value Stream Mapping and a qualitative SWOT Analysis; Team Triage and an Overcapacity Protocol is suggested to improve non-admitted patients wait times by 1.89 hours and admitted patients wait times by 16 hours by eliminating wasteful steps in the patient process and upon overcapacity, effectively sharing already stabilized and admitted patients with all wards in the hospital.

(Un)ethical leadership, organizational identification and sensemaking: the BES case and its impact on employees

This paper provides an ongoing analysis to one of the biggest ethical and financial scandals in Portugal – Banco Espírito Santo (BES). BES was considered one of the three best banks but it went bankrupted and its employees were transferred to a new entity – Novo Banco. This study was conducted in order to provide an understanding of the employees’ side, which has been forgotten so far. An ethical scandal (sensebreaking) creates ambiguity and uncertainty which triggers new sensemaking processes in order to understand and derive meaning from the new reality. The methodology followed was semi-structured interviews to employees both from the branches and the central services. We found evidence that in organizations with strong identification, unethical behavior has a significant impact on followers’ – the new process of sensemaking is particularly important in this situation because employees suffer more from the disruption of their reality.

Ethical leadership and unethical pro-organizational behavior: A moderated mediation model of affective commitment and authenticity at work

Recently, unethical conduct in the workplace has been a focus of literature and media. Unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) refers to unethical conduct that employees engage in to benefit the organization. Given the complexity of UPB, there is an increasing need to understand how and under what conditions this attitude originates within organizations. Based on a sample of 167 employees and seven organizations, results support the moderated mediation model. An ethical leader increases employees’ organizational affective commitment which increases the likelihood to engage in UPB. However, the indirect relationship diminishes when employees feel authentic at work.

How to improve consumer decision skills in children? A case study of an intervention with institutionalized children

The aim of this study is to assess the institutionalized children’s skills as consumers but also to assess how we can improve their knowledge through an intervention. The sample was composed of two subgroups (38 institutionalized children and 36 non-institutionalized children). In order to assess children’s knowledge, a questionnaire and an interview were used. The method used as intervention was a 30-minute class. Results suggested that institutionalized children have lower levels of knowledge regarding consumption-related practices and lower levels of accuracy at estimating prices than non-institutionalized children. However, results also showed that the attitudes of institutionalized children towards advertising and making decisions based on price/quantity evaluation or based on the use of the same strategy in different situations are not significantly different from the non-institutionalized children. Regarding the intervention, it was possible to conclude that one class is not the best method to improve children’s knowledge. Institutionalized children need a longer and more practical intervention.

Leadership in Angola and Mozambique: How Portuguese leaders overcome the human resources challenge and contribute to organizational success

This Work Project presents human resources as one of the major challenges that Portuguese leaders meet in Angola and Mozambique. The main goal is to understand the role of leaders in translating this challenge into benefits for their own business and the African society. To conduct this study 13 leaders who work in Portugal and Africa were interviewed. Then, a framework was constructed based on the two ways these leaders recognize the importance of their employees for sustainable growth – financial incentives or/and personal development. The main conclusion here is that individually, incentives and personal development are not effective methods. Because of this, an employee empowerment process is proposed that encloses both, along with the leaders’ personal qualities needed to implement that “ideal” process.

The efficacy of the old way/new way methodology on the correction of an automated technical error and its impact on the athlete’s psychological skills : Case study in tennis

The aim of this study was to evaluated the efficacy of the Old Way/New Way methodology (Lyndon, 1989/2000) with regard to the permanent correction of a consolidated and automated technical error experienced by a tennis athlete (who is 18 years old and has been engaged in practice mode for about 6 years) in the execution of serves. Additionally, the study assessed the impact of intervention on the athlete’s psychological skills. An individualized intervention was designed using strategies that aimed to produce a) a detailed analysis of the error using video images; b) an increased kinaesthetic awareness; c) a reactivation of memory error; d) the discrimination and generalization of the correct motor action. The athlete’s psychological skills were measured with a Portuguese version of the Psychological Skills Inventory for Sports (Cruz & Viana, 1993). After the intervention, the technical error was corrected with great efficacy and an increase in the athlete’s psychological skills was verified. This study demonstrates the methodology’s efficacy, which is consistent with the effects of this type of intervention in different contexts.

Ethical leadership and reputation: Combined indirect effects on organizational deviance

This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Journal of Business Ethics following peer review. The version of record Neves, P., & Story, J. (2015). Ethical Leadership and Reputation: Combined Indirect Effects on Organizational Deviance. Journal of Business Ethics, 127(1), 165–176. “The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1997-3”.

Adverse life events and coping skills in panic disorder

Research literature and clinical experience shows that panic patients are often able to identify stressors that preceded the onset of their first attacks. In this study we investigated the relation between life events, coping skills, and panic disorder. METHODS: Forty-tree panic patients were compared with 29 control subjects regarding the occurrence and the impact of stressful life events in a 1-year period preceding the onset of panic attacks using the Social Readjustment Rating Scale and London Life Event and Difficulty Schedule. Coping skills were measured using the Ways of Coping Questionnaire. RESULTS: No differences were observed between panic patients and controls regarding the number of reported stressful life events in the previous year. Panic patients compared to controls reported loss of social support as the most meaningful class of events significantly more often. In response to stressful situations, panic patients more often used coping skills judged as ineffective. CONCLUSIONS: The present study suggests that the type of life event and the coping skills used in response to them, more than the occurrence of stressful events itself, may be associated with the onset of panic disorder.

How servant leadership is perceiver by leaders and followers in a Portuguese organizational context

Servant leadership theory has been the subject of great academic discussion, namely in what concerns reaching a consensus for its definition. As many frameworks have been designed in order to define the servant leader’s characteristics, we based ourselves in van Dierendonck’s review and synthesis on servant leadership (2011) to assess how it is perceived in a Portuguese organizational context. After performing several interviews in a private health care organization, we conclude that the perception of servant leadership is generally positive and that its characteristics seem to be in line with academic literature. However, some issues arose such as a seemingly lack of relevance given to authenticity and humility, the latter being a unique attribute of servant leadership. Also, we found a discrepancy between hierarchical levels’ perception of servant leadership characteristics as well as questioning if an over emphasis on service can diminish the servant leader’s impact on organizational performance.

Professores realistas: mais eficazes e otimistas

A indisciplina na sala de aula prejudica o ensino e a aprendizagem sendo uma das principais causas do mal-estar dos professores, roubando-lhes energia e tempo conduzindo, muitos deles, à exaustão física e emocional e apresenta-se como um sério problema quer para professores principiantes, quer para professores experientes. A análise do ensino na perspetiva interpessoal possibilita uma nova visão sobre o ambiente de aprendizagem, nomeadamente no que se refere à relação professor-aluno. Nesta perspetiva, o enfoque dirige-se para a análise das perceções dos alunos sobre o comportamento do professor e o impacto que o mesmo tem sobre os alunos. Além de que, ao considerar-se a turma como um sistema deve ter-se em conta que o comportamento não pode ser visto como uma característica da pessoa mas, sim, como uma característica do sistema formado por aqueles que estão envolvidos na interação comunicacional. Analisar as interações comunicacionais à luz da pragmática da comunicação e dos seus cinco axiomas apresenta-se como um poderoso quadro clarificador de muitos dos comportamentos ditos disruptivos, possibilitando aos professores um “novo olhar” sobre o seu papel enquanto gestores da sala de aula. A formação realista de professores apresenta-se como uma estratégia com efeitos muito positivos uma vez que possibilita e ajuda-os a compreenderem o processo de circularidade característico da turma vista como um sistema. Por outro lado, permite evidenciar a impossibilidade dos professores de solucionarem os problemas disciplinares culpabilizando os alunos. Dito de outro modo, a formação realista conduz os professores a um (re) equacionar das suas práticas encorajando-os a selecionarem um comportamento interpessoal mais adequado. No 1º e 3º período letivo, os professores participantes (N= 15) responderam ao Questionário de Interação do Professor (Q.I.P.) e ao Questionário do Otimismo Académico (Q.O.A.) composto por três subescalas: Autoeficácia, Confiança nos alunos e famílias e Ênfase académica. Paralelamente, foram gravadas em suporte vídeo quatro aulas de cada professor, referentes a duas turmas selecionadas previamente pelos mesmos. Após a observação das suas aulas refletiram por escrito aquilo que observaram. No 2º período, participaram numa ação de formação intitulada “Ecologia da sala de aula: relacionamento interpessoal professor-aluno e a criação de ambientes de aprendizagem positivos” baseada no modelo realista de formação de professores. Desta formação resultou um conjunto de relatórios reflexivos que tiveram por objetivo desenvolver nos participantes a sua competência reflexiva, questionarem crenças tidas como inquestionáveis e otimizar a relação professor-aluno. A partir dos resultados obtidos pode afirmar-se que: 1) verificou-se um aumento no otimismo académico e no sentimento de autoeficácia; 2) observou-se um impacto nas conceções prévias, bem como no contexto organizacional.

Critical incident study on forgiveness in the organizational context

Forgiveness has been subject of interest, mainly in the psychology fields of study. Relatively to the organizational context, this topic has been somehow put aside and settled as something that is purely an intra-individual phenomenon which organizations cannot force, or even stimulate. As conflicts are common within organizations and being often difficult to overcome, eyes have turned into the role forgiveness might take in this scenario. Despite forgiveness being accepted as an intrapersonal decision and a result of predisposition as it is a result of education and culture. This study, as some already done, refuses to accept forgiveness as an unchangeable behavior that cannot be manipulated or induced by managers or by organizational context. Therefore, offering a set of incidents as well as their classification, that have been identified by individuals performing different types organizational roles in different organization which is believed as being a genuine way of delivering to the reader a set of actions and behaviors that if taken, may incentivize or inhibit forgiveness.