GESTÃO DO CONHECIMENTO: UM ESTUDO SOBRE A RELAÇÃO ENTRE A LIDERANÇA TRANSFORMACIONAL, A CONVERSÃO DO CONHECIMENTO E A EFICÁCIA ORGANIZACIONAL

Este estudo teve como objetivo principal analisar a relação entre a Liderança Transformacional, a Conversão do Conhecimento e a Eficácia Organizacional. Foram considerados como pressupostos teóricos conceitos consolidados sobre os temas desta relação, além de recentes pesquisas já realizadas em outros países e contextos organizacionais. Com base nisto identificou-se potencial estudo de um modelo que relacionasse estes três conceitos. Para tal considera-se que as organizações que buscam atingir Vantagem Competitiva e incorporam a Knowledge-Based View possam conquistar diferenciação frente a seus concorrentes. Nesse contexto o conhecimento ganha maior destaque e papel protagonista nestas organizações. Dessa forma criar conhecimento através de seus colaboradores, passa a ser um dos desafios dessas organizações ao passo que sugere melhoria de seus indicadores Econômicos, Sociais, Sistêmicos e Políticos, o que se define por Eficácia Organizacional. Portanto os modos de conversão do conhecimento nas organizações, demonstram relevância, uma vez que se cria e se converte conhecimentos através da interação entre o conhecimento existente de seus colaboradores. Essa conversão do conhecimento ou modelo SECI possui quatro modos que são a Socialização, Externalização, Combinação e Internalização. Nessa perspectiva a liderança nas organizações apresenta-se como um elemento capaz de influenciar seus colaboradores, propiciando maior dinâmica ao modelo SECI de conversão do conhecimento. Se identifica então na liderança do tipo Transformacional, características que possam influenciar colaboradores e entende-se que esta relação entre a Liderança Transformacional e a Conversão do Conhecimento possa ter influência positiva nos indicadores da Eficácia Organizacional. Dessa forma esta pesquisa buscou analisar um modelo que explorasse essa relação entre a liderança do tipo Transformacional, a Conversão do Conhecimento (SECI) e a Eficácia Organizacional. Esta pesquisa teve o caráter quantitativo com coleta de dados através do método survey, obtendo um total de 230 respondentes válidos de diferentes organizações. O instrumento de coleta de dados foi composto por afirmativas relativas ao modelo de relação pesquisado com um total de 44 itens. O perfil de respondentes concentrou-se entre 30 e 39 anos de idade, com a predominância de organizações privadas e de departamentos de TI/Telecom, Docência e Recursos Humanos respectivamente. O tratamento dos dados foi através da Análise Fatorial Exploratória e Modelagem de Equações Estruturais via Partial Least Square Path Modeling (PLS-PM). Como resultado da análise desta pesquisa, as hipóteses puderam ser confirmadas, concluindo que a Liderança Transformacional apresenta influência positiva nos modos de Conversão do Conhecimento e que; a Conversão do Conhecimento influencia positivamente na Eficácia Organizacional. Ainda, concluiu-se que a percepção entre os respondentes não apresenta resultado diferente sobre o modelo desta pesquisa entre quem possui ou não função de liderança.

Justice source and justice content:evaluating the fairness of organizational career management practices

This article presents part of the findings of a multi-method study into employee perceptions of fairness in relation to the organisational career management (OCM) practices of a large financial retailer. It focuses on exploring how employees construct fairness judgements of their career experiences and the role played by the organisational context and, in particular, OCM practices in forming these judgements. It concludes that individuals can, and do, separate the source and content of (in)justice when it comes to evaluating these experiences. The relative roles of the employer, line manager and career development opportunities in influencing employee fairness evaluations are discussed. Conceptual links with organisational justice theory are proposed, and it is argued that the academic and practitioner populations are provided with empirical evidence for a new theoretical framework for evaluating employee perceptions of, and reactions to, OCM practices.

The dynamics of HRM systems in Indian BPO firms

This paper highlights the context within which business process outsourcing (BPO) has rapidly grown in India and the critical need to investigate the dynamics of human resource management (HRM) practices and systems in this sector. Using a mixed-method approach involving both in-depth interviews and self-completing questionnaires, we analyze the nature of HRM systems in BPO organizations operating in India. The analysis is based on a sample of 51 BPO companies, a majority of which are located near the capital of New Delhi. The results focus on the nature and structure of work and organization of Indian BPOs, as well as the strategic role played by HRM in such organizations. Furthermore, the findings highlight the way specific HRM practices such as recruitment, performance appraisal, training and development, and compensations are implemented. Our study suggests the existence of formal, structured, and rationalized HRM systems in Indian BPOs. A number of insights related to HRM policies and practices are shared by the HR managers interviewed shedding more light on the inner workings of the Indian BPO companies and their challenges. The analysis provides original and useful information to both academics and practitioners and opens avenues for future research on the nature of HRM systems and practices in the Indian BPO industry.

The link between the management of employees and patient mortality in acute hospitals

The relationship between human resource management practices and organizational performance (including quality of care in health-care organizations) is an important topic in the organizational sciences but little research has been conducted examining this relationship in hospital settings. Human resource (HR) directors from sixty-one acute hospitals in England (Hospital Trusts) completed questionnaires or interviews exploring HR practices and procedures. The interviews probed for information about the extensiveness and sophistication of appraisal for employees, the extent and sophistication of training for employees and the percentage of staff working in teams. Data on patient mortality were also gathered. The findings revealed strong associations between HR practices and patient mortality generally. The extent and sophistication of appraisal in the hospitals was particularly strongly related, but there were links too with the sophistication of training for staff, and also with the percentages of staff working in teams.

Urban ecosystems – tapping the human resource

In order to take an interest in environmental issues, people need an idea of what ‘the environment’ is, and to have access to something worth caring about. In the UK, around 90% of us already live in towns or cities, and by 2030, around 60% of the world’s population will live in urban areas. But without a vocal set of ‘owners’, public land such as parks and allotments can easily be lost. The majority of the UK's ‘natural’ areas have historically been created, managed or modified by humans. and we should appreciate urban habitats just as much as pristine reserves for the ecosystem services they provide. In particular, scruffy and overlooked brownfield sites can be amazing refugia for insect and plant species which can no longer persist in a countryside dominated by industrialised agriculture.

Towards a generic autonomic architecture for legacy resource management

Half a decade has passed since the objectives and benefits of autonomic computing were stated, yet even the latest system designs and deployments exhibit only limited and isolated elements of autonomic functionality. From an autonomic computing standpoint, all computing systems – old, new or under development – are legacy systems, and will continue to be so for some time to come. In this paper, we propose a generic architecture for developing fully-fledged autonomic systems out of legacy, non-autonomic components, and we investigate how existing technologies can be used to implement this architecture.

Employability management needs analysis and the ICT sector in Europe:the case of small and medium-sized enterprises

The purpose of this paper is to deal with the outcomes of a so-called “employability management needs analysis” that is meant to provide more insight into current employability management activities and its possible benefits for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) professionals working in Small- and Medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) throughout Europe. A considerable series of interviews (N=107) were conducted with managers in SMEs in seven European countries, including Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and the UK. A semi-structured interview protocol was used during the interviews to cover three issues: employability (13 items), ageing (8 items), and future developments and requirements (13 items). Analysis of all final interview transcriptions was at a national level using an elaborate common coding scheme. Although an interest in employability emerged, actual policy and action lagged behind. The recession in the ICT sector at the time of the investigation and the developmental stage of the sector in each participating country appeared connected. Ageing was not seen as a major issue in the ICT sector because managers considered ICT to be a relatively young sector. There appeared to be a serious lack of investment in the development of expertise of ICT professionals. Generalization of the results to large organizations in the ICT sector should be made with caution. The interview protocol developed is of value for further research and complements survey research undertaken within the employability field of study. It can be concluded that proactive HRM (Human Resource Management) policies and strategies are essential, even in times of economic downturn. Employability management activities are especially important in the light of current career issues. The study advances knowledge regarding HRM practices adopted by SMEs in the ICT sector, especially as there is a gap in knowledge about career development issues in that particular sector.

The process of strategic change:a management perspective

This thesis is concerned with the management processes concerned with complex strategic decision in organisations. The research has sought to explore these processes by taking as its focus the reconstruction of decision processes a) on the basis of an historical study of an industry and in particular a major company in that industry; and b) the perception and understanding of strategic decision processes and change by managers involved in companies in that industry. The main body of analysis and theoretical contributions arise from the detailed analysis of extended depth interviews with managers carried out in 1980 and 1983 which trace thirteen years of the strategic development of a firm. In so doing, extensive use is made of verbatim accounts by managers of events and their interpretation of events. This is then compared with data gathered from.similar interviews with managers of two other companies and examined in the light of existing research and theory in the field. The thesis both provides a detailed insight into the processes associated with the identification and resolution of complex strategic issues and also generates a body of theory concerning the mechanisms by which strategic decisions and the processes of strategic change are interwoven with the cultural and political fabric of organisations. The thesis is divided into four parts. The first part deals with the background to the research, provid1ng a fuller summary of the purpose, structure and content of the thesis and a discussion of relevant previous research and the methodology employed herein. The second part mainly provides case studies of the industry and the main company studied. The third part is a detailed presentation and analysis of data. The fourth part is a synthesis of the findings and consolidation of the theoretical interpretation advanced in the thesis.

The role of line managers in employee career management:an attachment theory perspective

Line managers increasingly play a key role in organizational career development systems, yet few studies have examined the nature of this role or its implications for employee career attitudes and behaviors. In two studies, we used attachment theory to explore this issue. In Study 1, in-depth interviews (N = 20) showed that employees viewed career management as a relational process in which line managers are expected to act as ‘caregiver’ to support individualized career development. Study 2 was a large-scale international survey (N = 891). Participants scoring higher on attachment avoidance in their line manager relationships reported more negative perceptions of career growth opportunities, lower participation in organizational career development activities and higher turnover intentions. Trust in the organization partially mediated the relationship. Theoretical and practical implications for HRM are discussed.

Is there a global model of learning organizations? An empirical, cross-nation study

This paper develops and tests a learning organization model derived from HRM and dynamic capability literatures in order to ascertain the model's applicability across divergent global contexts. We define a learning organization as one capable of achieving on-going strategic renewal, arguing based on dynamic capability theory that the model has three necessary antecedents: HRM focus, developmental orientation and customer-facing remit. Drawing on a sample comprising nearly 6000 organizations across 15 countries, we show that learning organizations exhibit higher performance than their less learning-inclined counterparts. We also demonstrate that innovation fully mediates the relationship between our conceptualization of the learning organization and organizational performance in 11 of the 15 countries we examined. It is the first time in our knowledge that these questions have been tested in a major, cross-global study, and our work contributes to both HRM and dynamic capability literatures, especially where the focus is the applicability of best practice parameters across national boundaries.