Strategic human resource management:building research-based practice

Strategic Human Resource Management: Building Research-Based Practice is a challenging and engaging student-focussed text written by a team of world-class researchers and experienced HRM tutors at Aston University. It is ideal for students taking a HRM or Strategic HRM module at postgraduate and upper-undergraduate level. Structured around contemporary and emerging issues this critical text is designed to encourage students to think analytically about Strategic HRM and builds real-world practice on the basis of solid research evidence. With a unique and thought-provoking range of contents that explores the links between Strategic HRM, Strategic Management and Organisational Behaviour, this text connects theory, research evidence and real-world practice. It also provides examples and case studies covering a variety of organisations, cultures and contexts, with access to the latest in leading-edge thinking. The text also includes integrated consideration of Strategic HRM in an international context, including coverage of emerging markets such as China and India.

Doing business in India:building research-based practice

In response to the increasing interest in the growth and developments in the Indian economy, and the dynamic nature of the rapidly changing Indian business environment, this textbook is designed to provide a comprehensive guide to doing business in the Indian context. Written by academic experts in their respective fields, this book is divided into three parts: the Indian business context, conducting business in India, and India and the world. Key information is presented on a wide range of topics, including: •Both the shortcomings and opportunities associated with the Indian business environment •The economic development model in India •Critical skills for negotiation and incentives for foreign investors, including case studies of Italian companies that have entered the Indian market in different ways •Business culture in India, including particular customs and etiquette In addition to the pedagogical features, each chapter contains a set of key issues, and there is also a list of useful websites covering a wide range of business needs. This book introduces students to business in India, and will be also be of use to investors, organisations and managers who are already doing business, or intend to start one, in India.

From art for arts sake to art as means of knowing:a rationale for advancing arts-based methods in research, practice and pedagogy

This paper advances a philosophically informed rationale for the broader, reflexive and practical application of arts-based methods to benefit research, practice and pedagogy. It addresses the complexity and diversity of learning and knowing, foregrounding a cohabitative position and recognition of a plurality of research approaches, tailored and responsive to context. Appreciation of art and aesthetic experience is situated in the everyday, underpinned by multi-layered exemplars of pragmatic visual-arts narrative inquiry undertaken in the third, creative and communications sectors. Discussion considers semi-guided use of arts-based methods as a conduit for topic engagement, reflection and intersubjective agreement; alongside observation and interpretation of organically employed approaches used by participants within daily norms. Techniques span handcrafted (drawing), digital (photography), hybrid (cartooning), performance dimensions (improvised installations) and music (metaphor and structure). The process of creation, the artefact/outcome produced and experiences of consummation are all significant, with specific reflexivity impacts. Exploring methodology and epistemology, both the "doing" and its interpretation are explicated to inform method selection, replication, utility, evaluation and development of cross-media skills literacy. Approaches are found engaging, accessible and empowering, with nuanced capabilities to alter relationships with phenomena, experiences and people. By building a discursive space that reduces barriers; emancipation, interaction, polyphony, letting-go and the progressive unfolding of thoughts are supported, benefiting ways of knowing, narrative (re)construction, sensory perception and capacities to act. This can also present underexplored researcher risks in respect to emotion work, self-disclosure, identity and agenda. The paper therefore elucidates complex, intricate relationships between form and content, the represented and the representation or performance, researcher and participant, and the self and other. This benefits understanding of phenomena including personal experience, sensitive issues, empowerment, identity, transition and liminality. Observations are relevant to qualitative and mixed methods researchers and a multidisciplinary audience, with explicit identification of challenges, opportunities and implications.

Practice based learning approaches in collaborative design and engineering education:a case study investigation into the benefits of a crossdisciplinary practice based learning strategy

This study explores the ongoing pedagogical development of a number of undergraduate design and engineering programmes in the United Kingdom. Observations and data have been collected over several cohorts to bring a valuable perspective to the approaches piloted across two similar university departments while trialling a number of innovative learning strategies. In addition to the concurrent institutional studies the work explores curriculum design that applies the principles of Co-Design, multidisciplinary and trans disciplinary learning, with both engineering and product design students working alongside each other through a practical problem solving learning approach known as the CDIO learning initiative (Conceive, Design Implement and Operate) [1]. The study builds on previous work presented at the 2010 EPDE conference: The Effect of Personality on the Design Team: Lessons from Industry for Design Education [2]. The subsequent work presented in this paper applies the findings to mixed design and engineering team based learning, building on the insight gained through a number of industrial process case studies carried out in current design practice. Developments in delivery also aligning the CDIO principles of learning through doing into a practice based, collaborative learning experience and include elements of the TRIZ creative problem solving technique [3]. The paper will outline case studies involving a number of mixed engineering and design student projects that highlight the CDIO principles, combined with an external industrial design brief. It will compare and contrast the learning experience with that of a KTP derived student project, to examine an industry based model for student projects. In addition key areas of best practice will be presented, and student work from each mode will be discussed at the conference.

Building bridges between user and designer: co-creation, immersion and perspective taking

Designing for users rather than with users is still a common practice in technology design and innovation as opposed to taking them on board in the process. Design for inclusion aims to define and understand end-users, their needs, context of use, and, by doing so, ensure that end-users are catered for and included, while the results are geared towards universality of use. We describe the central role of end-user and designer participation, immersion and perspective to build user-driven solutions. These approaches provided a critical understanding of the counterpart role. Designer(s) could understand what the user’s needs were, experience physical impairments, and see from other’s perspective the interaction with the environment. Users could understand challenges of designing for physical impairments, build a sense of ownership with technology and explore it from a creative perspective. The understanding of the peer’s role (user and designer), needs and perspective enhanced user participation and inclusion.

Mechanical properties of adobe blocks used in building construction in Huambo Province - Angola

Despite significant advances in building technologies with the use of conventional construction materials (as concrete and steel), which significantly have driven the construction industry, earth construction have demonstrated its importance and relevance, as well as it has matched in an efficient and eco-friendly manner the social housing concerns. The diversity of earth construction techniques allowed this material to adapt to different climatic, cultural and social contexts until the present time. However, in Angola, the construction with earth is still associated with population fringes of weak economic resources, for which, given the impossibility of being able to acquire modern construction materials (steel, cement, brick, among others), they resort to the use of available natural materials. Furthermore, the lack of scientific and technical knowledge justifies the negative appreciation of traditional building techniques, and the derogatory way how are considered the earth constructions in Angolan territory. Given the country's current development status, and taking into account the environmental requirements and the real socio-economic sustainability of Angola, it is considered that one of the viable and adequate options, could be the recovering and upgrading of the ancestral techniques of earth construction. The purpose of this research is to develop the technical and scientific knowledge in order to improve and optimize these construction solutions, responding to the real problems of housing quality as well as to the current social, economic and environmental sustainability requirements. In this paper, a description of the physical and mechanical characteristics of the adobes typically used in the construction of traditional houses in some localities of Huambo, province in Angola, is carried out. The methodology was based on mechanical in-situ testing in adobe blocks manufactured with traditional procedures: i) tensile strength evaluated with the bending test and compressive strength test on earth blocks specimens; and, ii) durability and erodibility test by Geelong method adopting the New Zealand standard (NZS) procedures (4297: 1998; 4297: 1998 and 4297: 1999). The results allow the characterization of the materials used in the construction of raw earth in the Huambo region, contributing to the development of knowledge of these sustainable and traditional housing constructive solutions with a strong presence in Angola [1, 2]. This study is part of a larger project in the area of Earth Construction [3], which aims to produce knowledge which can stimulate the use of environmental friendly construction materials and contribute to develop constructive solutions with improved performance, durability, comfort, safety and sustainability.

Learning Process in Teaching and Bio-pedagogical Knowledge Building

Bio-pedagogy is built on praxis, i.e. the interrelationship between reflection and innovative action where these two merge in the construction of senses to generate knowledge. Then, the following question arises: How is teaching understood? How can practice be renovated from the action-reflection-action in a recurring manner and in life itself? A way to search for those answers is the systematization of experiences –a modality of qualitative research. It promotes the transformation of a common practice, based on knowledge building by holistic approaches to the educational process complexity. The systematization of bio-pedagogical experiences involves self-organization, joy, uncertainty and passion; it respects freedom and autonomy, and generates relational spaces, which promote creative processes in learning.

Best-practice model for technology enhanced learning in the creative arts

This paper presents a best-practice model for the redesign of virtual learning environments (VLEs) within creative arts to augment blended learning. In considering a blended learning best-practice model, three factors should be considered: the conscious and active human intervention, good learning design and pedagogical input, and the sensitive handling of the process by trained professionals. This study is based on a comprehensive VLE content analysis conducted across two academic schools within the creative arts at one Post-92 higher education (HE) institution. It was found that four main barriers affect the use of the VLE within creative arts: lack of flexibility in relation to navigation and interface, time in developing resources, competency level of tutors (confidence in developing online resources balanced against other flexible open resources) and factors affecting the engagement of ‘digital residents’. The experimental approach adopted in this study involved a partnership between the learning technology advisor and academic staff, which resulted in a VLE best-practice model that focused directly on improving aesthetics and navigation. The approach adopted in this study allowed a purposive sample of academic staff to engage as participants, stepping back cognitively from their routine practices in relation to their use of the VLE and questioning approaches to how they embed the VLE to support teaching and learning. The model presented in this paper identified a potential solution to overcome the challenges of integrating the VLE within creative arts. The findings of this study demonstrate positive impact on staff and student experience and provide a sustainable model of good practice for the redesign of the VLE within creative disciplines.

(FAB07_002) From the 'Curry to the 'Weal: Aboriginal town camps and compounds of the back-blocks

My involvement with Aboriginal people began in 1972 in my final year of architecture, when a small group of students were asked to advise on some Aboriginal building projects in Mt Isa and Cloncurry. This led to my Doctoral research and grew into the Aboriginal Environments Research Centre now well established at the university of Queensland. Although the personnel of this Centre have completed over 140 field trips in the last 20 years, it is a set of data collected largely from the first ten field trips in 1972-76 that will be presented in this paper.

Plano de implementa????o do projeto de desenvolvimento de capacidade de governan??a

Desde a d??cada de 1990, o Governo Federal brasileiro vem implementando uma agenda ambiciosa de reformas do Estado, centradas na redu????o da pobreza e na melhoria da efici??ncia dos servi??os p??blicos. As principais prioridades, conforme previstas no Plano Plurianual (PPA) para o per??odo 2003-2007, s??o as seguintes: inclus??o social e redu????o da desigualdade; crescimento econ??mico com gera????o de emprego; distribui????o de renda e respeito ao meio ambiente; promo????o e amplia????o dos direitos de cidadania; e fortalecimento da democracia. No in??cio de 2006, o Governo criou a Pol??tica Nacional de Desenvolvimento de Pessoal (Decreto 5.707), com o objetivo de melhorar e aumentar a efici??ncia e a efic??cia na presta????o de servi??os p??blicos. No marco dessa pol??tica recente, as escolas de administra????o p??blica desempenham um papel fundamental na identifica????o das compet??ncias que precisam ser desenvolvidas nas institui????es do governo, bem como na implementa????o de pol??ticas de capacita????o para os servidores p??blicos, diretamente e/ou em parceria com escolas de governo nos n??veis federal, estadual ou local. O Canad?? tamb??m est?? criando uma estrutura para levantar as compet??ncias necess??rias para os servidores p??blicos e desenvolv??-las como um componente da Renova????o do Servi??o P??blico em todo o governo. Como institui????es l??deres no desenvolvimento de compet??ncias de servidores p??blicos, a Canada School of Public Service (CSPS) e a Escola Nacional de Administra????o P??blica (ENAP) firmaram uma parceria para implementar o Projeto de Desenvolvimento de Capacidade de Governan??a no Brasil. A finalidade do Projeto ?? melhorar a capacidade de servidores p??blicos federais, estaduais e municipais do Brasil para desenvolver e implementar programas de capacita????o e gerenciar pol??ticas p??blicas descentralizadas. Espera-se que essa parceria e o resultante compartilhamento de experi??ncias em capacita????o para governan??a efetiva contribuam para a redu????o da pobreza e das desigualdades no Brasil, por meio do desenvolvimento de compet??ncias de servidores na presta????o de servi??os p??blicos eficazes e eficientes, voltados para o cidad??o. O Projeto re??ne, al??m das duas principais Escolas de Governo no Canad?? e no Brasil, seis Escolas Brasileiras de Administra????o P??blica regionais e duas renomadas Institui????es Acad??micas Canadenses ??? a Queen???s University e a Western Ontario University. O Minist??rio do Desenvolvimento Social e Combate ?? Fome (MDS) e tr??s Secretarias Especiais do Governo Federal ??? Ra??a (SEPPIR), Direitos Humanos (SEDH) e Pol??ticas para as Mulheres (SPM) ??? tamb??m se envolver??o nas atividades de compartilhamento de conhecimentos com o Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) e a Canada Public Service Agency (CPSA). A CIDA fornecer?? CND$1.700.000 por meio do Programa Brasil-Canad?? de Interc??mbio de Conhecimentos para a Promo????o da Equidade (PIPE). A contribui????o da ENAP ser?? de CND$1.069.707 em esp??cie. A CSPS contribuir?? com cursos, al??m de conhecimentos e suporte t??cnicos, avaliados em CND$1.000.000. Aproveitando a parceria entre a CSPS e a ENAP, que resultou na transfer??ncia e na adapta????o bem sucedidas de cursos e metodologias canadenses, o novo projeto extrapola o n??cleo do servi??o p??blico em Bras??lia, alcan??ando escolas de governo em regi??es brasileiras em situa????o de desvantagem. ?? semelhan??a do papel da CSPS no primeiro projeto, a ENAP fortalecer?? a capacidade das escolas parceiras regionais para capacitar servidores p??blicos envolvidos na presta????o de servi??os aos brasileiros. O interc??mbio estruturado entre Minist??rios dos Governos canadense e brasileiro tamb??m aplicar?? a aprendizagem mais diretamente a quest??es de pol??ticas e programas sociais do Brasil. O desafio assumido neste Projeto ?? a adapta????o de conhecimentos e aprendizagem, com vistas a melhorar a implementa????o de pol??ticas e programas sociais. Para tanto, a CSPS e a ENAP introduzir??o novos cursos nos curr??culos das escolas parceiras e incorporar??o novos m??todos e tecnologias de aprendizagem como, por exemplo, comunidades de pr??tica virtuais e um componente de tutoria (mentoring) envolvendo o Human Resources and Skills Development Canada e o Minist??rio do Desenvolvimento Social e Combate ?? Fome do Brasil. Seis institui????es da Rede Nacional de Escolas de Governo do Brasil e do Programa de Parceria da ENAP foram selecionadas e convidadas a se unir ?? CSPS e ?? ENAP nesse novo Projeto: a Universidade Federal do Par?? (UFPA), de Bel??m (estado do Par?? ??? regi??o Norte); a Funda????o Joaquim Nabuco (FUNDAJ), de Recife (Pernambuco ??? Nordeste); a Universidade Corporativa do Servi??o P??blico / Secretaria de Administra????o do Estado da Bahia (UCS/SAEB), Salvador (Bahia ??? Nordeste); a Escola de Governo do Mato Grosso do Sul (ESCOLAGOV), Campo Grande (estado do Mato Grosso do Sul ??? Centro-Oeste); a Escola Nacional de Ci??ncias Estat??sticas / Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estat??stica (ENCE/IBGE), Rio de Janeiro (estado do Rio de Janeiro ??? Sudeste); e o Instituto Municipal de Administra????o P??blica (IMAP) de Curitiba (Paran?? ??? Sul). Essas escolas de refer??ncia foram escolhidas segundo sua capacidade de trabalhar como p??los de pr??ticas inovadoras em pol??ticas p??blicas e disseminar os benef??cios do Projeto para outras escolas em suas regi??es, por meio da Rede Nacional coordenada pela ENAP. O objetivo dessa parceria ?? fortalecer as escolas de governo locais, para que estas desenvolvam, por meio de eventos de aprendizagem, compet??ncias em servidores p??blicos, a fim de aumentar a capacidade do governo na implementa????o e gest??o de pol??ticas p??blicas. O Plano de Implementa????o do Projeto (PIP) descreve o trabalho a ser realizado por essas institui????es nos pr??ximos 30 meses, ao tempo em que serve de guia para os Parceiros do Projeto no que se refere ??s a????es e aos recursos necess??rios para a obten????o dos resultados acordados. Na medida em que o Projeto estiver em andamento e os parceiros iniciarem um interc??mbio produtivo de conhecimentos, o Plano de Trabalho Anual ser?? atualizado e revisto por meio de reuni??es anuais de avalia????o e encontros do Comit?? Diretor do Projeto, com vistas a assegurar que os resultados descritos no PIP sejam alcan??ados com sucesso

A creative solution for rapid and inexpensive model-making in product design processes

Rapid prototyping (RP) is an approach for automatically building a physical object through solid freeform fabrication. Nowadays, RP has become a vital aspect of most product development processes, due to the significant competitive advantages it offers compared to traditional manual model making. Even in academic environments, it is important to be able to quickly create accurate physical representations of concept solutions. Some of these can be used for simple visual validation, while others can be employed for ergonomic assessment by potential users or even for physical testing. However, the cost of traditional RP methods prevents their use in most academic environments on a regular basis, and even for very preliminary prototypes in many small companies. That results in delaying the first physical prototypes to later stages, or creating very rough mock-ups which are not as useful as they could be. In this paper we propose an approach for rapid and inexpensive model-making, which was developed in an academic context, and which can be employed for a variety of objects.

How new online communication tools and the availability of content influence the audiences and the creative process

We live in a changing world. At an impressive speed, every day new technological resources appear. We increasingly use the Internet to obtain and share information, and new online communication tools are emerging. Each of them encompasses new potential and creates new audiences. In recent years, we witnessed the emergence of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other media platforms. They have provided us with an even greater interactivity between sender and receiver, as well as generated a new sense of community. At the same time we also see the availability of content like it never happened before. We are increasingly sharing texts, videos, photos, etc. This poster intends to explore the potential of using these new online communication tools in the cultural sphere to create new audiences, to develop of a new kind of community, to provide information as well as different ways of building organizations’ memory. The transience of performing arts is accompanied by the need to counter that transience by means of documentation. This desire to ‘save’ events reaches its expression with the information archive of the different production moments as well as the opportunity to record the event and present it through, for instance, digital platforms. In this poster we intend to answer the following questions: which online communication tools are being used to engage audiences in the cultural sphere (specifically between theater companies in Lisbon)? Is there a new relationship with the public? Are online communication tools creating a new kind of community? What changes are these tools introducing in the creative process? In what way the availability of content and its archive contribute to the organization memory? Among several references, we will approach the two-way communication model that James E. Grunig & Todd T. Hunt (1984) already presented and the concept of mass self-communication of Manuel Castells (2010). Castells also tells us that we have moved from traditional media to a system of communication networks. For Scott Kirsner (2010), we have entered an era of digital creativity, where artists have the tools to do what they imagined and the public no longer wants to just consume cultural goods, but instead to have a voice and participate. The creativity process is now depending on the public choice as they wander through the screen. It is the receiver who owns an object which can be exchanged. Virtual reality has encouraged the receiver to abandon its position of passive observer and to become a participant agent, which implies a challenge to organizations: inventing new forms of interfaces. Therefore, we intend to find new and effective online tools that can be used by cultural organizations; the best way to manage them; to show how organizations can create a community with the public and how the availability of online content and its archive can contribute to the organizations’ memory.

Teatro e igualdade de género : uma intervenção social e artística : relatório de estágio

O presente Relatório de Estágio tem como objecto de pesquisa a concepção e monitorização de duas Oficinas de Teatro dirigidas a dois grupos de mulheres constituídos, respectivamente, por estudantes universitárias e desempregadas. O estágio realizou-se entre Novembro/2013 e Junho/2014 na Quarta Parede - Associação de Artes Performativas da Covilhã e inseriu-se nos Empowerment Labs, laboratórios formativos que cruzam artes performativas e ciências sociais na reflexão e intervenção sobre a igualdade de género com foco no desemprego feminino. Este relatório expõe os três momentos do processo do estágio: pesquisa de referenciais teórico-práticos, concepção e monitorização das Oficinas de Teatro e reflexão a partir da prática laboratorial. Na pesquisa de referenciais, essencial para delinear a metodologia operacional e o programa de conteúdos, explorei dimensões como o feminismo e a igualdade de género, e procurei compreender de que forma o empowerment, a pedagogia de Paulo Freire e as metodologias do teatro aplicado serviam os objectivos do meu trabalho. A realização das oficinas foi o momento de experimentar as metodologias e o programa delineado. Tendo a igualdade de género como temática unificadora, o empowerment através da arte como objectivo maior e o teatro aplicado como base metodológica, as oficinas inserem-se nos processos de educação não-formal aplicados ao incremento de recursos intelectuais, emocionais, sociais, expressivos e criativos e, neste caso específico, à ampliação da consciência de género. Neste sentido, as oficinas desenvolveram uma abordagem metodológica processual, participativa e multidisciplinar, orientada para a pesquisa performativa, primeiro de uma dramaturgia individual, depois de uma dramaturgia do colectivo e, por fim, de uma dramaturgia orientada para a igualdade de género. O conceito de “dramaturgia” surge aqui no sentido metodológico do pachwork (trabalho com retalhos) e do sampling (recolha e transformação de materiais), relevante sobretudo na última fase, dedicada à construção colectiva de um exercício performativo apresentado publicamente.