Exploring the link between flexible working and organizational performance

The expansion of flexible work experienced since the 1980s in developed economies is consistent with a more generic trend towards organizational flexibility, which many authors see as essential in order to compete in the dynamic global environment (Volberda, 1998). From this point of view, the changing demands of the environment have forced organizations to seek the ability to adapt rapidly and effectively as a means to be successful or even to survive. In the quest for flexibility, every area of the organization has been scrutinized in order to render it as ¿agile¿ as possible. In the human resources arena, this analysis has led to the definition of diverse ¿flexible working practices¿ (FWP) that describe a wide range of employment practices, which differ from the traditional full-time job with a fixed salary and a permanent contract. These practices have been described using other terms, such as ¿alternative¿ (Polivka, 1996; Powell & Mainiero, 1999), ¿non-standard¿ (Kalleberg, 2000), or ¿atypical¿ (De Grip, Hoevenberg, &m Willems, 1997), which coincide in denoting their divergence from the most traditional forms of employment. This article will show that quite different practices have been embraced by the common term ¿flexible working practices.¿ Subsequently, the results of empirical research regarding the implications for organizational performance of a number of flexible practices will be commented on.

Alguns aspectos da política nacional de ciência e tecnologia

The Brazilian industrialisation process, which occurred from World War II up to the early eighties, was almost totally based on imported technology and has thus not demanded local S&T capability. National S&T expenditures were limited to 0.7 % of the GNP, covering mainly expenses with basic research and training of scientists and engineers. Federal Government was then responsible for 90% of the national S&T expenditures. The globalisation of the economy, associated with the reduction of tariff barriers, has, since the early nineties, exposed Brazilian industries to international competition and, thus, forced them to invest in research and development. S&T policy fosters research activities, provides research infrastructure and human resources training. The goal is to raise national expenditures to 1.5% of GDP by 1999, with a share of the private sector of about 40%. In 1996, national S&T expenditures have already attained 1.1% of the GDP and private sector investments in this area reached a share of 30%.

O impacto do PADCT na química brasileira: uma visão acadêmica

An appraisal has been conducted of the impact PADCT (Support Program for Scientific and Technological Development) has caused on brazilian Chemistry and Chemical Engineering over a ten years period (1985-1995). During this time PADCT invested US$ 87.5 million dollars to support both scientific and technolgical development of chemistry. The main results, from an academic point of view, has been the strengthening of support services for academic research, including libraries and analytical facilities, and a consequent increase of the number and quality of human resources trained at the graduate level as well as a significant increase in the number of scientific publications.

Liderazgo y dirección de empresas en el s. XXI

Peer-reviewed

Clasificación automática de textos y explotación BI

El presente proyecto tiene como objetivo desarrollar una tecnología que permita codificar grandes cantidades de texto de manera automática para posteriormente ser visualizada y analizada mediante una aplicación diseñada en Qlikview. El motor de la investigación e implementación de este proyecto se ha encontrado en la incipiente presencia de tecnologías informáticas en los procesos de codificación para ciencias políticas. De esta manera, el programa creado tiene como objetivo automatizar un proceso que se desarrolla comúnmente de manera manual y, por ende, las ventajas de introducir técnicas informáticas son notablemente valiosas. Estas automatizaciones permiten ahorrar tanto en tiempo de codificación, como en recursos económicos o humanos. Se ha elaborado una revisión teórica y metodológica que han servido como instrumentos de estudio y mejora, con el firme propósito de reducir al máximo el margen de error y ofrecer un instrumento de calidad con salida de mercado real. El método de clasificación utilizado ha sido Bayes, y se ha implementado utilizando Matlab. Los resultados de la clasificación han llegado a índices del 99.2%. En la visualización y análisis mediante Qlikview se pueden modificar los parámetros referentes a partido político, año, categoría o región, con lo que se permite analizar numerosos aspectos relacionados con la distribución de las palabras repartidas entre las diferentes categorías y en el tiempo.

ESTRO-HERO survey: Guidelines for equipment and staffing of radiotherapy facilities in the European countries: Final results of the ESTRO-HERO survey

Background and purpose: In planning to meet evidence based needs for radiotherapy, guidelines for the provision of capital and human resources are central if access, quality and safety are not to be compromised. A component of the ESTRO-HERO (Health Economics in Radiation Oncology) project is to document the current availability and content of guidelines for radiotherapy in Europe. Materials and methods: An 84 part questionnaire was distributed to the European countries through their national scientific and professional radiotherapy societies with 30 items relating to the availability of guidelines for equipment and staffing and selected operational issues. Twenty-nine countries provided full or partial evaluable responses. Results: The availability of guidelines across Europe is far from uniform. The metrics used for capital and human resources are variable. There seem to have been no major changes in the availability or specifics of guidelines over the ten-year period since the QUARTS study with the exception of the recent expansion of RTT staffing models. Where comparison is possible it appears that staffing for radiation oncologists, medical physicists and particularly RTTs tend to exceed guidelines suggesting developments in clinical radiotherapy are moving faster than guideline updating. Conclusion: The efficient provision of safe, high quality radiotherapy services would benefit from the availability of well-structured guidelines for capital and human resources, based on agreed upon metrics, which could be linked to detailed estimates of need

Desenvolvimento da Química Inorgânica no Brasil

This article focuses on the development of Inorganic Chemistry in Brazil, including historical perspectives, scientific production (WEB-ISI data), international cooperation, teaching, literature and human resources, with particular emphasis on the last 25 years.

Avaliação dos programas de pós-graduação em química no Brasil: versão 2002

The graduate programs in Chemistry were evaluated and classified from the data collected for the period 1998-2000 by CAPES, the Minister of Education agency that is responsible for the regulation and support of this level of human resources formation. The next classification will be made in 2004, from the data of the period 2001-2003. The years in between, like the present year, are used for an evaluation without classification, from what comments are emitted to the programs to know how their data are improving or not, before the new ranking reporting. The progresses in the area of chemistry in Brazil are analysed from the confrontation of the present data with that of all previous evaluations, since 1983. The results confirm that the research and graduate formation in the area of Chemistry is continuously improving in Brazil, particularly during the last seven years.

A formação do Químico

Training of highly qualified personnel is the most transversal axis among those identified in the document "Mobilizing Axes in Chemistry", published by SBQ, in 2002, which demands to deep the discussions, initiated in the symposium "The Chemist's Education", whose main objective was to discuss the repercussions of that training in the teaching and in the industrial section. After the publication of an initial paper, a couple of meetings and workshops held in Rio de Janeiro, in December 2003, involving the national chemist community, discussed the "The role of the graduate degrees in the Chemist's Education" and "The Chemist's Education", and confirmed the need to invest in the formation of qualified human resources in profusion and in all levels. Actions to be taken were delineated. Presently, the graduate programs in Chemistry are showing expressive results. However, although these professionals are mostly absorbed by the academy (the absorption of the industry is less significant), only a few programs give special attention to the didactical and pedagogical training. The regional decentralization is actually a tendency in most programs, but the interaction academy-economic activities is still a challenge. It is necessary to establish with the industrial section, the highly qualified professional's profile in Chemistry that the industry can absorb. The undergraduation is growing in number and quality, however still excessively concentrated in the Southeast area. The national "Curricula Guidelines" for Chemistry Courses, through its flexible approach, propitiate the integral, interdisciplinary (non compartmentalized) and critical-reflexive training of the professionals as citizens and as entrepreneurs. However, deficiencies are still recognized. The evaluation system of undergraduate courses has been able to identify the most fragile modalities of courses and other indicators. It was also verified that Brazilian chemistry industry absorbs minimally the highly qualified professionals, which is attributed to the fact that the Federal Council of Chemistry is vertically organized and does not recognize the graduate degrees as professional qualification. In the conclusion, it stands out, among other aspects, the importance of the effective implantation of the national curricula guidelines, bringing out courses whose didactical and pedagogical projects may offer a solid formation in Chemistry, but comprehensive and general enough to enable the Chemistry professionals to develop varied skills.

Liderazgo y dirección de empresas en el s. XXI

Peer-reviewed

Älykkäät lääkkeenjakoratkaisut:Liiketoimintakonseptien nykytila

Älykkäille lääkkeenjakoratkaisuille tulee luultavasti olemaan tulevaisuudessa suuri kysyntä, sillä asiakasmäärät ja julkisen terveydenhuollon resurssit eivät kohtaa toisiaan. Säilyttääksemme yhteiskuntamme terveydenhuollon tason kohtuullisilla kustannuksilla on ainoana mahdollisuutena alan uudet innovaatiot. Älykkäillä lääkkeenjakoratkaisuilla tarkoitetaan älykkäitä lääkepakkauksia tai muita lääkintään liittyviä tuotteita tai palveluja, jotka mahdollistavat teknologisen edistyksellisyyden avulla ihmistyömäärän vähentämisen terveydenhuollossa. Raportti esittelee tapaustutkimuksen alustavia tuloksia, joissa on tarkoituksena tuoda esille yleiskatsaus tuotteista ja asiakaseduista. Tuotteet on kuvattu niihin liittyvien liiketoimintamallinen tarjoomien avulla. Analyysi rakentuu liiketoimintamallin neljän peruspilarin mukaisesti, Tuote, Asiakassuhde, Rakenne, ja Talous, jotka määrittävät mallin asiakasarvon. Lähtökohtana liiketoimintamallien mittaamisessa on neljä arvon päämittaria: tekniset, taloudelliset, palvelulliset, ja sosiaaliset attribuutit. Esimerkin avulla voidaan huomata, että tarjoamaa markkinoilla on vakiintumaton. Yksi malli painotti lääkkeiden annosjakelun tehokkuutta, toinen nautittujen lääkkeiden oton valvontaa ja kolmas yritti pärjätä molemmissa. Suurimmat hyödyt voidaan nähdä, jos pystytään yhdistämään koneellinen jakelu älykkäisiin jakelulaitteisiin.

Henkilöstön motivointi yrityksen kasvutavoitteissa, Case:Sampo Rahoitus Huoltoleasing

The main objective of this Master´s Thesis was to examine human resources motivation in firm´s growth in management point of view. The thesis concentrate mostly on intrinsic motivation conditions to way of motivate human resources. Basis for this thesis was assumption that companies don’t exploit enough intrinsic motivation potential in work motivation. Research method in this thesis was case study. Material for case study is collected by interviewing subject company’s managers. The Case study subject company was Finnish finance company. Outcome of this thesis was that assumption overthrown. The subject company was taking notice of intrinsic motivations potential in human resources motivation. There is no possibility to make widescale generalisation about results of the thesis because sample was only one company.

Analyzing the cost-efficiency and performance of a payroll department by benchmarking

Tämän diplomityön tavoitteena oli analysoida Stora Enson palkkakeskuksen ja sen henkilöstöhallinnon järjestelmän, SAP HR:n, kustannustehokkuutta ja suorituskykyä. Tutkimuksessa käytettiin apuna benchmarkingia. Viisi suurta suomalaisyritystä osallistui benchmarkingiin. Benchmarkingin pääkohteena oli yritysten välinen kustannusvertailu. Kyselyssä perehdyttiin myös yritysten järjestelmien suorituskykyyn. Tuloksien perusteella Stora Enson palkkakeskus tarjoaa kustannustehokkaan ja kilpailukykyisen ratkaisun, joka menestyy hyvin vertailussa muihin suomalaisiin yrityksiin.

Henkilöstöresurssien optimointi ja hallinta sataman operaattoriyhtiössä

Työn tavoitteena on selvittää erilaisten työaikamallien ja henkilöstön määrän vaikutuksia Finnsteven henkilöstökustannuksiin ja ylitöiden määrään. Selvitystyö toteutetaan simuloimalla vaihtoehtoisia työaikamalleja ja henkilöstömääriä tilastollisten menetelmien avulla. Työn toisena tavoitteena on ehdottaa yritykselle toimintatapaa suorittaa lopullinen henkilöstöresurssien optimointi. Työn teoriaosuudessa esitellään aluksi yritystä ja sen toimintaympäristöä. Tämän jälkeen tarkastellaan nykyisen TE-sopimuksen mahdollistamia työaikamalleja. Seuraavaksi perustellaan käytettävät tilastolliset menetelmät ja tiedonkeruumenetelmät. Edetessään työ syventyy tarkastelemaan yrityksen tekemän työn kohdentumista aikatyöhön ja ylityöhön sekä viikonpäiville että työvuoroille. Lopuksi kuvataan työn optimoinnissa käytetty logiikka, analysoidaan saatuja tuloksia ja esitellään optimointityökalun toteutussuunnitelma. Diplomityössä tehdyn selvityksen mukaan satamatyössä tehdään nykyisellään erittäin paljon ylitöitä. Siten työaikamallien optimointi on perusteltua. Optimoinnilla saavutettavat potentiaaliset kustannussäästöt ovat erittäin huomattavia. Lopullinen optimointi on haastava tehtävä, jota henkilöstöhallinto ei pysty ratkaisemaan pelkkään kokemukseensa luottaen. Tuotannonsuunnittelun avuksi tarvitaan täten työkalu, joka palvelee paitsi mallien luontia, toimii suunnittelun apuna jatkossakin.

Planejamento participativo no subprograma QEQ do PADCT

The development of the Brazilian chemistry sector, during the last 30 years, is nowadays being attributed to PADCT (Science and Technology Development Program). Since the seventies, the Government took notice of the importance of research in chemistry for the Brazilian economy, therefore creating PADCT to support chemistry and chemical engineering among other areas of science and technology. Planning and implementation of the second phase of this program represented a real joint strategic planning. Since then, academic research and human resources education have experienced significant improvements. However, in the chemical trade, the deficit continues to grow, in spite of an almost constant ratio between importation costs and export revenues. Continued investments for research in the area remain necessary.