Características de liderazgo de los gerentes de la generación “baby boomers” y propuesta de plan de mejora de toma de decisiones estratégicas y eficacia, caso de estudio Global Engineering S.A.

El presente documento analiza las características de liderazgo de los gerentes “baby boomers” de la empresa transnacional Global Engineering S.A., que tiene oficinas en España, Cuba, Venezuela y Ecuador. Esta investigación se realiza sobre la premisa que los Gerentes de las cuatro oficinas pertenecen a la generación de los baby boomers, por lo se presenta la hipótesis de que, al pertenecer a una misma generación las características de liderazgo son similares. Los objetivos de la presente investigación, fueron el identificar las características de liderazgo de los gerentes, analizarlas, verificar si son eficaces, identificar las oportunidades de mejora y presentar un plan de mejora para la organización. Al presente estudio se lo define como exploratorio, descriptivo y correlacional, se utiliza como herramienta principal para la investigación el MLQ 5X versión corta creado por Bass y Avolio y adaptado por Vega y Zabala, se lo aplica a las cuatro oficinas de la empresa tanto a los gerentes como a los seguidores. Para la comprobación de la hipótesis, se utilizó la prueba t de Student, para establecer valores máximos y mínimos de los promedios de las características de liderazgo, para de esa manera conocer si los Gerentes de cada oficina tienen las mismas características, también se promediaron los valores resultantes de cada estilo de liderazgo para conocer si son eficaces para la realidad de la organización. Como herramienta para la mejora de toma de decisiones estratégica, se presenta el Cuadro de Mando integral, se establecen los objetivos principales para las perspectivas y se señalan los pasos de cómo debe ser el proceso de implementación del plan de coaching gerencial para la organización. De la investigación realizada se concluye que las características de liderazgo de los gerentes de la organización no se relacionan directamente con la generación a la que pertenecen, sino, dependen más del entorno, la situación y de los seguidores. Se recomienda la implementación del Cuadro de Mando Integral para mejorar la toma de decisiones estratégicas, haciendo énfasis en la propuesta de valor de implementar un plan de coaching gerencial para los gerentes de las distintas oficinas para así mejorar la eficacia de la organización.

Empirical evidence for a nonlinear effect of galactic cosmic rays on clouds

Galactic cosmic ray (GCR) changes have been suggested to affect weather and climate, and new evidence is presented here directly linking GCRs with clouds. Clouds increase the diffuse solar radiation, measured continuously at UK surface meteorological sites since 1947. The ratio of diffuse to total solar radiation-the diffuse fraction, (DF)-is used to infer cloud, and is compared with the daily mean neutron count rate measured at Climax; Colorado from 1951-2000, which provides a globally representative indicator of cosmic rays. Across the UK, oil days of high cosmic ray flux (above 3600 X 10(2) neutron counts h(-1), which occur 87% of the time on average) compared with low cosmic ray flux, (i) the chance of an overcast day increases by (19 +/- 4)%; and (ii) the diffuse fraction increases by (2 +/- 0.3)%. During sudden transient reductions in cosmic rays (e.g. Forbush events), simultaneous decreases occur in the diffuse fraction. The diffuse radiation changes are; therefore; unambiguously due to cosmic rays. Although the statistically significant nonlinear cosmic ray effect is small, it will have a considerably larger aggregate effect on longer timescale (e.g. centennial) climate variations when day-to-day variability averages out.

Goal sketching: towards agile requirements engineering

This paper describes a technique that can be used as part of a simple and practical agile method for requirements engineering. The technique can be used together with Agile Programming to develop software in internet time. We illustrate the technique and introduce lazy refinement, responsibility composition and context sketching. Goal sketching has been used in a number of real-world development projects, one of which is described here.

Risk and price in the bidding process of contractors

Formal and analytical risk models prescribe how risk should be incorporated in construction bids. However, the actual process of how contractors and their clients negotiate and agree on price is complex, and not clearly articulated in the literature. Using participant observation, the entire tender process was shadowed in two leading UK construction firms. This was compared to propositions in analytical models and significant differences were found. 670 hours of work observed in both firms revealed three stages of the bidding process. Bidding activities were categorized and their extent estimated as deskwork (32%), calculations (19%), meetings (14%), documents (13%), off-days (11%), conversations (7%), correspondence (3%) and travel (1%). Risk allowances of 1-2% were priced in some bids and three tiers of risk apportionment in bids were identified. However, priced risks may sometimes be excluded from the final bidding price to enhance competitiveness. Thus, although risk apportionment affects a contractor’s pricing strategy, other complex, microeconomic factors also affect price. Instead of pricing in contingencies, risk was priced mostly through contractual rather than price mechanisms, to reflect commercial imperatives. The findings explain why some assumptions underpinning analytical models may not be sustainable in practice and why what actually happens in practice is important for those who seek to model the pricing of construction bids.