BASES DE PODER SOCIAL, ENGAJAMENTO NO TRABALHO E RESILIÊNCIA: UM ESTUDO COM SERVIDORES PÚBLICOS MUNICIPAIS DE DIADEMA - SP

Este estudo teve a intenção de analisar até que ponto o uso de diferentes bases de poder dos superiores hierárquicos predizem os níveis de engajamento no trabalho e de resiliência dos trabalhadores, colaborando para aumentar o conhecimento sobre o comportamento dos servidores públicos municipais, quanto aos níveis de engajamento no trabalho e resiliência apresentados. Partiu-se da definição de poder de French e Raven (1959): poder é a influência potencial que o agente O poderia causar no sujeito P; adotou-se o conceito de engajamento no trabalho de Schaufeli e Bakker (2003), que definem engajamento no trabalho como um construto motivacional positivo, caracterizado por vigor, dedicação e absorção, sempre relacionado ao trabalho, o qual implica sentimento de realização, envolve estado cognitivo positivo, é persistente no tempo, apresentando, assim, natureza motivacional e social e por fim utilizou-se o conceito de Grotberg (2005) que define resiliência como a capacidade humana para enfrentar, vencer e ser fortalecido ou transformado por experiências de adversidades . Para isto, definiu-se como objetivo geral testar a capacidade preditiva das bases de poder social dos chefes sobre a resiliência e o engajamento no trabalho, em servidores públicos municipais de Diadema - SP. Participaram deste estudo 95 servidores públicos municipais do município de Diadema, SP, com pequena maioria de indivíduos do sexo feminino (51,6%), com maior percentual de idade entre 25 e 40 anos (38,9%). A maioria dos participantes (60%) declarou possuir nível superior completo (35,8%) ou pós-graduação (24,2%). Utilizou-se os instrumentos: Escala de Bases de Poder do Supervisor (EBPS), escala desenvolvida por Martins e Guimarães (2007); Escala de Avaliação da Resiliência (EAR), escala construída por Martins, Siqueira e Emilio (2011) e a Escala de Engajamento no Trabalho de UTRECHT (UWES) que tiveram seus indicadores de validade e fidedignidade apurados neste estudo. Como resultado constatou-se parcialmente a existência de associação entre engajamento no trabalho e resiliência, pois engajamento no trabalho correlacionou-se com três dos cinco fatores de resiliência: adaptação positiva à mudanças, competência pessoal e persistência diante de dificuldade. Verificou-se que as dimensões que compõem a variável resiliência obtiveram médias ao redor do ponto quatro da escala de resiliência (frequentemente é verdade), indicando que os participantes frequentemente percebem a si mesmos como capazes de enfrentar as adversidades da vida em função da sua alta percepção de persistência, capazes de adaptar-se às mudanças, com bom nível de competência pessoal e de espiritualidade. Constatou-se que as médias nas dimensões que compõem a variável engajamento no trabalho ficaram muito próximas do ponto quatro da escala de engajamento (algumas vezes na semana), indicando que eles percebem em si um alto grau engajamento no trabalho, ou seja, que possuem vigor, são dedicados e deixam-se absorver pelo trabalho. Verificou-se ainda que os trabalhadores percebem o poder de perícia como o mais empregado pelos seus superiores hierárquicos com média de 4,46 (DP= 0,71). Por fim, os resultados obtidos apontaram que o papel e o posicionamento da chefia não provocaram impacto significativo em nenhuma das variáveis consequentes, portanto, bases de poder não explicam resiliência para os trabalhadores participantes desta pesquisa como também não predisseram engajamento no trabalho.

A INFLUÊNCIA DA QUALIDADE DE VIDA E SUPORTE SOCIAL NO ABSENTEÍSMO POR LESÕES OCUPACIONAIS

Esta pesquisa é uma proposta de aproximação das diversas áreas de conhecimento e flexibilização de suas fronteiras, a fim de estabelecer interfaces entre os diversos campos conceituais engendrando novas práticas que ensejam formas mais abrangentes e holísticas de aproximação com a realidade. Através da avaliação da qualidade de vida, suporte social e sua relação com o absenteísmo por lesão ocupacional. Materiais e Métodos: Participaram desta pesquisa 47 trabalhadores, do sexo masculino, com idade variável entre 30 e 60 anos, que trabalham no setor de centrifugação dentro de uma fundição em uma indústria metalúrgica do ramo de autopeças em São Bernardo do Campo. Instrumentos: Foi analisado o prontuário médico de cada um desses trabalhadores, sendo analisadas como variáveis: se esses trabalhadores apresentaram lesões ocupacionais avaliadas e diagnosticadas pelos médicos. Avaliação de um questionário social, composto por quatro questões abertas: idade, nível de escolaridade, estado civil e número de dependentes. Instrumento de Avaliação da Qualidade de Vida WHOQOL Bref. e Instrumento de Avaliação de Suporte Social: Escala de percepção de suporte social (EPSS). Análise dos Resultados: Os dados coletados dos prontuários foram agrupados em quatro grupos chamados de: grupo de absenteísmo 1, grupo de absenteísmo 2, grupo de absenteísmo 3 e grupo de absenteísmo 4. Sendo o primeiro composto por 15 trabalhadores que não apresentaram lesões ocupacionais. O segundo grupo composto por 10 trabalhadores apresentou de uma hora até seiscentas horas de absenteísmo por lesão ocupacional. O terceiro grupo composto por 11 trabalhadores apresentou absenteísmo de seiscentas e uma horas até mil horas, e o quarto grupo constituído de 11 trabalhadores tiveram absenteísmo superior a mil horas. Resultados: Nas comparações entre os grupos de absenteísmo e as variáveis do questionário social não foram encontradas diferenças significantemente estatística, o mesmo tendo ocorrido na comparação entre grupos de absenteísmo e os escores do EPSS Analisando os grupos de absenteísmo e os domínios do WHOQOL Bref. Foi detectada diferença com significância estatística de P = 0,01 maior dentro do domínio físico no grupo de absenteísmo 1 que não apresentou absenteísmo em relação ao grupo de absenteísmo 4 com maior número de absenteísmo. Conclusão: Visto que as lesões ocupacionais interferem na qualidade de vida dos indivíduos, o que se pode constatar é que o modelo biomédico ainda é muito forte, principalmente dentro da saúde ocupacional que na busca de soluções ergonômicas defronta com os interesses econômicos imediatistas que não contemplam os investimentos indispensáveis à garantia da saúde do trabalhador. Sintetizando as análises conceituais e os resultados deste trabalho, mostrou-se que os problemas de saúde ocupacional são conhecidos há muito tempo. Apesar da crescente produção de trabalhos acerca da construção , conhecimento das características da saúde do trabalhador e a existência de uma tônica predominante que sugere a mudança das situações encontradas, há um escasso empenho em efetuar as transformações necessárias, num descompasso entre avanço do conhecimento e perpetuação de práticas insalubres. Para tanto é necessária uma compreensão das determinantes da saúde. Além do investimento material se faz necessário emergir um verdadeiro diálogo entre as ciências. Ressalta-se a necessidade de estudos longitudinais para elucidar a complexidade das relações entre qualidade de vida, suporte social e lesões ocupacionais. Os achados apontam para a relevância de estudos futuros acerca dessas associações.(AU)

Stakeholder accountability or stakeholder management: a review of UK firms? Social and ethical accounting, auditing and reporting SEAAR practices

The main aim of this study is to undertake an evaluation of the initial wave of stand-alone social reports issued by the major market players in the UK using AA1000 as an evaluative tool, or benchmark, in order to ascertain the extent to which they conform to the provisions of AA1000, in particular the core principles of accountability and inclusivity. Applying the lens of the stakeholder model the paper examines to what extent contemporary SEAAR practices in the UK are likely to promote stakeholder accountability, or whether they are simply exercises in stakeholder management.

Integrated project evaluation and selection using multiple-attribute decision-making technique

The evaluation and selection of industrial projects before investment decision is customarily done using marketing, technical and financial information. Subsequently, environmental impact assessment and social impact assessment are carried out mainly to satisfy the statutory agencies. Because of stricter environment regulations in developed and developing countries, quite often impact assessment suggests alternate sites, technologies, designs, and implementation methods as mitigating measures. This causes considerable delay to complete project feasibility analysis and selection as complete analysis requires to be taken up again and again till the statutory regulatory authority approves the project. Moreover, project analysis through above process often results sub-optimal project as financial analysis may eliminate better options, as more environment friendly alternative will always be cost intensive. In this circumstance, this study proposes a decision support system, which analyses projects with respect to market, technicalities, and social and environmental impact in an integrated framework using analytic hierarchy process, a multiple-attribute decision-making technique. This not only reduces duration of project evaluation and selection, but also helps select optimal project for the organization for sustainable development. The entire methodology has been applied to a cross-country oil pipeline project in India and its effectiveness has been demonstrated. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Word of mouth communication within online communities:conceptualizing the online social network

Word of mouth (WOM) communication is a major part of online consumer interactions, particularly within the environment of online communities. Nevertheless, existing (offline) theory may be inappropriate to describe online WOM and its influence on evaluation and purchase.The authors report the results of a two-stage study aimed at investigating online WOM: a set of in-depth qualitative interviews followed by a social network analysis of a single online community. Combined, the results provide strong evidence that individuals behave as if Web sites themselves are primary "actors" in online social networks and that online communities can act as a social proxy for individual identification. The authors offer a conceptualization of online social networks which takes the Web site into account as an actor, an initial exploration of the concept of a consumer-Web site relationship, and a conceptual model of the online interaction and information evaluation process. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. and Direct Marketing Educational Foundation, Inc.

An ex ante evaluation framework for the regional benefits of publicly supported R&D projects

This paper draws on the knowledge-base implicit in ex post evaluations of publicly funded R&D and other related conceptual and empirical studies to suggest a framework for the ex ante evaluation of the regional benefits from R&D projects. The framework developed comprises two main elements: an inventory of the global private and social benefits which might result from any R&D project; and, an assessment of the share of these global benefits which might accrue to a host region, taking into account the characteristics of the R&D project and the region's innovation system. The inventory of global benefits separately identifies private and social benefits and distinguishes between increments to public and private knowledge stocks, benefits to R&D productivity and benefits from commercialisation. Potential market and 'pure' knowledge spillovers are also considered separately. The paper concludes with the application of the framework to two illustrative case studies. © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Stakeholder performance measurement:general approaches and methods of economic evaluation

This paper begins by suggesting that when considering Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), even CSR as justified in terms of the business case, stakeholders are of great importance to corporations. In the UK the Company Law Review (DTI, 2002) has suggested that it is appropriate for UK companies to be managed upon the basis of an enlightened shareholder approach. Within this approach the importance of stakeholders, other than shareholders, is recognised as being instrumental in succeeding in providing shareholder value. Given the importance of these other stakeholders it is then important that corporate management measure and manage stakeholder performance. In order to do this there are two general approaches that could be adopted and these are the use of monetary values to reflect stakeholder value or cost and non-monetary values. In order to consider these approaches further this paper considered the possible use of these approaches for two stakeholder groups: namely employees and the environment. It concludes that there are ethical and practical difficulties with calculating economic values for stakeholder resources and so prefers a multi-dimensional approach to stakeholder performance measurement that does not use economic valuation.

A profile of low vision services in England the Low Vision Service Model Evaluation (LOVSME) project

In the UK, low vision rehabilitation is delivered by a wide variety of providers with different strategies being used to integrate services from health, social care and the voluntary sector. In order to capture the current diversity of service provision the Low vision Service Model Evaluation (LOVSME) project aimed to profile selected low vision services using published standards for service delivery as a guide. Seven geographically and organizationally varied low-vision services across England were chosen for their diversity and all agreed to participate. A series of questionnaires and follow-up visits were undertaken to obtain a comprehensive description of each service, including the staff workloads and the cost of providing the service. In this paper the strengths of each model of delivery are discussed, and examples of good practice identified. As a result of the project, an Assessment Framework tool has been developed that aims to help other service providers evaluate different aspects of their own service to identify any gaps in existing service provision, and will act as a benchmark for future service development.

Non sexist-translation and/in social change: gender issues in translation

Following centuries of feminist struggle, centuries which have born witness to the close relationship between linguistic discrimination and social reality, there is a growing tendency in modern society to acknowledge the vital role played by language in overcoming gender discrimination. Political institutions are currently compensating by instituting the use of non-sexist language through legislative guidelines, and this makes an important contribution to social reform for equality between the sexes. Seeing that translation is so important for the creation of the collective identities on which modern global society depends, it is clear that non-sexist translation is crucial if there is to be non-sexist language. In this article I examine the potential of non-sexist translation in the struggle for gender equality from a both a theoretical and a practical viewpoint, and I end with a critical evaluation of non-sexist translation methods.

The contextual evaluation of research on sexually explicit materials

This thesis criticises many psychological experiments on 'pornography' which attempt to demonstrate how 'pornography' causes and/or equals rape. It challenges simplistic definitions of 'pornography', arguing that sexually explicit materials (SEM) are constructed and interpreted in a number of different ways; and demonstrates that how, when and where materials are depicted or viewed will influence perceptions and reactions. In addition, it opposes the overreliance on male undergraduates as participants in 'porn' research. Theories of feminist psychology and reflexivity are used throughout the thesis, and provide a detailed contextual framework in a complex area. Results from a number of interlinking studies which use a variety of methodological approaches (focus groups, questionnaires and content analysis), indicate how contextual issues are omitted in much existing research on SEM. These include the views and experiences participants' hold prior to completing SEM studies; their opinions about those who 'use' 'pornography'; their understanding of key terms linked with SEM (eg: pornography and erotica); and discussions of sexual magazines aimed at male and female audiences. Participants' reactions to images and texts associated with SEM presented in different contexts are discussed. Three main conclusions are drawn from this thesis. Firstly, images deemed 'pornographic' differ through historical and cultural periods' and political, economic and social climates, so 'experimental' approaches may not always be the most appropriate research tool. Secondly, there is not one definition, source, or factor which may be named 'pornography'; and thirdly the context and presentation of materials influence how images are perceived and reacted to. The thesis argues a number of factors influence view of 'pornography', suggesting SEM may be 'in the eye of the beholder'.

An evaluation of pharmacy education and pre-registration training

This thesis covers two major aspects of pharmacy education; undergraduate education and pre-registration training. A cohort of pharmacy graduates were surveyed over a period of four years, on issues related to undergraduate education, pre-registration training and continuing education. These graduates were the first-ever to sit the pre-registration examination. In addition, the opinions of pre-registration tutors were obtained on pre-registration training, during the year that competence-based assessment was introduced. It was concluded that although the undergraduate course provided a broad base of knowledge suitable for graduates in all branches of pharmacy, several issues were identified which would require attention in future developments of the course. These were: 1. the strong support for the expansion of clinical, social and practice-based teaching. 2. the strong support to retain the scientific content to the same extent as in the three-year course. 3. a greater use of problem-based learning methods. The graduates supported the provision of a pre-registration continuing education course to help prepare for the examination and in areas inadequately covered in the undergraduate course. There was also support for the introduction of some form of split branch training. There was no strong evidence to suggest that the training had been an application of undergraduate education. In general, competence-based training was well regarded by tutors as an appropriate and effective method of skill assessment. However, community tutors felt it was difficult to carry out effectively due to day-to-day time constraints. The assistant tutors in hospital pharmacy were found to have a very important role in provision of training, and should be adequately trained and supported. The study recommends the introduction of uniform training and a quality assurance mechanism for all tutors and assistants undertaking this role.

A critical evaluation of theories of nationalism

This thesis considers the main theoretical positions within the contemporary sociology of nationalism. These can be grouped into two basic types, primordialist theories which assert that nationalism is an inevitable aspect of all human societies, and modernist theories which assert that nationalism and the nation-state first developed within western Europe in recent centuries. With respect to primordialist approaches to nationalism, it is argued that the main common explanation offered is human biological propensity. Consideration is concentrated on the most recent and plausible of such theories, sociobiology. Sociobiological accounts root nationalism and racism in genetic programming which favours close kin, or rather to the redirection of this programming in complex societies, where the social group is not a kin group. It is argued that the stated assumptions of the sociobiologists do not entail the conclusions they draw as to the roots of nationalism, and that in order to arrive at such conclusions further and implausible assumptions have to be made. With respect to modernists, the first group of writers who are considered are those, represented by Carlton Hayes, Hans Kohn and Elie Kedourie, whose main thesis is that the nation-state and nationalism are recent phenomena. Next, the two major attempts to relate nationalism and the nation-state to imperatives specific either to capitalist societies (in the `orthodox' marxist theory elaborated about the turn of the twentieth century) or to the processes of modernisation and industrialisation (the `Weberian' account of Ernest Gellner) are discussed. It is argued that modernist accounts can only be sustained by starting from a definition of nationalism and the nation-state which conflates such phenomena with others which are specific to the modern world. The marxist and Gellner accounts form the necessary starting point for any explanation as to why the nation-state is apparently the sole viable form of polity in the modern world, but their assumption that no pre-modern society was national leaves them without an adequate account of the earliest origins of the nation-state and of nationalism. Finally, a case study from the history of England argues both the achievement of a national state form and the elucidation of crucial components of a nationalist ideology were attained at a period not consistent with any of the versions of the modernist thesis.

Computer automation of land evaluation procedures

This study was concerned with the computer automation of land evaluation. This is a broad subject with many issues to be resolved, so the study concentrated on three key problems: knowledge based programming; the integration of spatial information from remote sensing and other sources; and the inclusion of socio-economic information into the land evaluation analysis. Land evaluation and land use planning were considered in the context of overseas projects in the developing world. Knowledge based systems were found to provide significant advantages over conventional programming techniques for some aspects of the land evaluation process. Declarative languages, in particular Prolog, were ideally suited to integration of social information which changes with every situation. Rule-based expert system shells were also found to be suitable for this role, including knowledge acquisition at the interview stage. All the expert system shells examined suffered from very limited constraints to problem size, but new products now overcome this. Inductive expert system shells were useful as a guide to knowledge gaps and possible relationships, but the number of examples required was unrealistic for typical land use planning situations. The accuracy of classified satellite imagery was significantly enhanced by integrating spatial information on soil distribution for Thailand data. Estimates of the rice producing area were substantially improved (30% change in area) by the addition of soil information. Image processing work on Mozambique showed that satellite remote sensing was a useful tool in stratifying vegetation cover at provincial level to identify key development areas, but its full utility could not be realised on typical planning projects, without treatment as part of a complete spatial information system.