Organizational design as an enabler for innovation: evidence from a German Mechanical Engineering Company

Over the past two decades there has been a profusion of empirical studies of organizational design and its relationship to efficiency, productivity and flexibility of an organization. In parallel, there has been a wide range of studies about innovation management in different kind of industries and firms. However, with some exceptions, the organizational and innovation management bodies of literature tend to examine the issues of organizational design and innovation management individually, mainly in the context of large firms operating at the technological frontier. There seems to be a scarcity of empirical studies that bring together organizational design and innovation and examine them empirically and over time in the context of small and medium sized enterprises. This dissertation seeks to provide a small contribution in that direction. This dissertation examines the dynamic relationship between organizational design and innovation. This relationship is examined on the basis of a single-case design in a medium sized mechanical engineering company in Germany. The covered time period ranges from 1958 until 2009, although the actual focus falls on the recent past. This dissertation draws on first-hand qualitative empirical evidence gathered through extensive field work. The main findings are: 1. There is always a bundle of organizational dimensions which impacts innovation. These main organizational design dimensions are: (1) Strategy & Leadership, (2) Resources & Capabilities, (3) Structure, (4) Culture, (5) Networks & Partnerships, (6) Processes and (7) Knowledge Management. However, the importance of the different organizational design dimensions changes over time. While for example for the production of simple, standardized parts, a simple organizational design was appropriate, the company needed to have a more advanced organizational design in order to be able to produce customized, complex parts with high quality. Hence the technological maturity of a company is related to its organizational maturity. 2. The introduction of innovations of the analyzed company were highly dependent on organizational conditions which enabled their introduction. The results of the long term case study show, that some innovations would not have been introduced successfully if the organizational elements like for example training and qualification, the build of network and partnerships or the acquisition of appropriate resources and capabilities, were not in place. Hence it can be concluded, that organizational design is an enabling factor for innovation. These findings contribute to advance our understanding of the complex relationship between organizational design and innovation. This highlights the growing importance of a comprehensive, innovation stimulating organizational design of companies. The results suggest to managers that innovation is not only dependent on a single organizational factor but on the appropriate, comprehensive design of the organization. Hence manager should consider to review regularly the design of their organizations in order to maintain a innovation stimulating environment.

“Minha alma canta, vejo o Rio de Janeiro”: a zona sul carioca entre crônicas e canções

Esta tese aborda o processo de valorização da Zona Sul da cidade do Rio de Janeiro através de canções que enfocaram esse espaço e de crônicas, especialmente, publicadas no livro O Rio de Janeiro em prosa & verso, organizado por Manuel Bandeira e Carlos Drummond de Andrade. Para dar conta das complexas relações entre música e cidade, entre produção literária e cidade, este trabalho foi organizado em cinco capítulos. No primeiro capítulo, enfoquei as comemorações do IV Centenário da Cidade do Rio de Janeiro realizado em 1965, o carnaval desse ano dedicado à efeméride e algumas publicações motivadas pelo evento. No segundo, tratei da ocupação do espaço urbano carioca denominado Zona Sul, especialmente através das crônicas contidas no livro citado acima. O capítulo seguinte evidenciou a importância das boates, bares, cassinos e demais espaços de sociabilidade cultural na Zona Sul carioca, como lugares de formação e de vivência artística, onde eram tramadas importantes redes de solidariedade e filia. No quarto capítulo foram apresentadas algumas canções que priorizaram a cidade do Rio, as representações líteromusicais da Zona Sul, especialmente Copacabana como um dos bairros cariocas mais priorizados por esse acervo. Por fim, a Bossa Nova foi mostrada como momento indelével para o debate da identidade citadina carioca, sua projeção internacional e como o Rio foi apresentado pelas letras das canções.

Corporate diplomacy in action: diplomatic ties of Maersk in Brazil

Durante as últimas três décadas, a globalização tem empurrado empresas em direção a internacionalização, e consequentemente essas mesmas corporações tem se tornada instituições independentes parecidas com estados. Estes “estados independentes” precisam de estratégias internacionais coerentes e relações diplomáticas com funcionários da administração pública a fim de acompanhar as demandas desses mercados, criar estratégias para minimizar riscos, e ganhar legitimidade. O objetivo desta dissertação foi explorer a complexa relação entre o Grupo Maersk e o governo brasileiro e outros atores involvidos no Mercado de olio e gas controllado pelo estado. Afim de compreender o processo de diplomacia corporativa da empresa ,entrevistas semi-estruturadas foram realizadas com os indivíduos presentes na cadeia da diplomacia corporativa da empresa . A descoberta revelou a importância de diplomacia corporativa para a Maersk. Relações diplomáticas pessoais forjadas com entidades representativas e brasileiras são a chave para a Maersk impulsionar seus objetivos. Também mostra a importância das missão diplomáticas dinamarquesa ajudando a empresa a ter acesso a autoridades governamentais.

Democratização do acesso ao ensino superior: os cursos de graduação à distância na UFRN

This thesis pursuits to contextualize the theoretical debate between the implementation of public education policy of the Federal Government focused in a distance learning and legal foundations for its enforcement, in order to raise questions and comments on the topic in question. Its importance is back to provide scientific input and can offer to the academy, particularly in the UFRN, and elements of society to question and rethink the complex relationship between the socio-economic and geographic access to higher education. It consists of a descriptive study on the institutionalization of distance education in UFRN as a mechanism for expanding access to higher education, for both, the research seeks to understand if the distance undergraduate courses offered by the UAB system and implemented at UFRN, promote expanding access to higher education, as it is during implementation that the rules, routines and social processes are converted from intentions to action. The discussion of this study lasted between two opposing views of Implementation models: Top-down and Bottom-up. It is worth noting that the documents PNE, PDE and programs and UAB MEETING reflect positively in improving the educational level of the population of the country It is a qualitative study, using the means Bibliographic, Document and Field Study, where they were performed 04 (four) in 2010 interviews with the management framework SEDIS / UAB in UFRN. The data were analyzed and addressed through techniques: Document Analysis and Content Analysis. The results show that the process of implementation of distance education at UFRN is in progress. According to our results, the research objective is achieved, but there was a need to rethink the conditions of the infrastructure of poles, the structure of the academic calendar, the management of the SEDIS UFRN, regarding the expansion of existing vacancies and the supply of new courses by the need for a redesign as the Secretariat's ability to hold the offerings of undergraduate courses offered by the Federal Government to be implemented in the institution. It was also found that levels of evasion still presents a challenge to the teaching model. Given the context, we concluded that the greatest contribution of UAB and consequently UFRN by distance learning for undergraduate courses (Bachelor in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Geography and Biological Sciences, beyond the bachelor's degrees in Business and Public Administration ) is related to increasing the number of vacancies and accessibility of a population that was previously deprived of access to university

A Escola sob o olhar da família: relações que se compreendem e se praticam no cotidiano

This study approaches the relations of family and school, from the perspective of the family. It aims to analyze the meanings attributed by family to the school as a space for plural relationships, and understand the relations that these mothers constitute culturally with schools and their everyday pedagogical practices. When we seek to understand this problematic, it was established as guiding principles of the search in/from/with everyday life. Accordingly, we focused on, as main interlocutors, mothers and authors such as Certeau (1994), Morin (2000) and Freire (1978), among others, on the understanding that cultural diversity is an essential element of the complex relationship between family and public school, because they come from different cultural contexts. In the course of the research it was made the use of the procedure of dialogic conversation as a production process and information analysis. The current analysis highlights that families observe the difference between cultural and report that they are from different socio-political context set by the school, they came from rural areas and their lives were marked by the struggle for survival, and the work activity has been present since their childhood. For the families that participated in this research the school is/was not part of the cultural repertoire significance in their lives and it feels that they attribute to them, are in negotiations with their symbolic universe. The mothers hold a speech of a schoolar binding and pertencing, but the school has the time as possible in their daily lives. Thus, the dynamics of family and school relationships, is configured as complex, and the ambiguity in maternal speech marks a thinking/doing about the school in which they demonstrate ways of making the common man, involving the art of duplicity of the saying and doing, gimmnicks and antidiscipline

Resiliência no trabalho contemporâneo: promoção e/ou desgaste da saúde mental

Este estudo teórico resgata a concepção processual e contextual de resiliência, a qual compreende esse fenômeno enquanto relação complexa entre indivíduo e ambiente na produção de fatores de risco e no provimento de fatores protetores da subjetividade do indivíduo, buscando aplicá-la à realidade organizacional, haja vista que o mundo do trabalho contemporâneo demanda uma força de trabalho específica, qual seja, o trabalhador flexível, polivalente, sujeito a mudanças - portanto, um trabalhador resiliente. A partir dessas considerações, realiza-se um processo de reflexão sobre as situações em que a resiliência pode ser promotora de saúde mental, bem como acerca dos contextos que contribuem para o processo de adoecimento do trabalhador, buscando aventar possibilidades de atuação do profissional psicólogo diante de um contexto de trabalho adverso, considerando-se que o principal objetivo dessa atuação profissional é garantir a proteção/promoção da saúde e qualidade de vida no ambiente de trabalho.

Environmental management in ethanol and sugarcane plants in Brazil

There has been much discussion on the importance of Brazilian ethanol in promoting a more sustainable society. However, there is a lack of analysis of whether sugarcane plants/factories that produce this ethanol are environmentally suitable. Thus, the objective of this study was to analyse stages of environmental management at four Brazilian ethanol-producing plants, examining the management practices adopted and the factors behind this adoption. The results indicate that (1) only one of the four plants is in the environmentally proactive stage; (2) all plants are adopting operational and organisational environmental management practices; (3) all plants have problems in communicating environmental management practices; and (4) the plant with the most advanced environmental management makes intense use of communication practices and is strongly oriented towards a more environmentally aware international market. This paper is an attempt to explain the complex relationship between the evolution of environmental management, environmental practices and motivation using a framework. The implications for society, plant directors and scholars are described, as well as the study's limitations.

Immunomodulatory effects of tick saliva

Ticks are bloodsucking ectoparasites that cause great damage to host organisms, so these ectoparasites are of great importance in medicine and veterinary medicine. All the biological success achieved by ticks is due to the action of bioactive components present in their saliva, which are synthesized by the salivary glands. These components have great diversity of functions such as enabling feeding and the permanence of ectoparasites on hosts, since they modulate immune system acting as complement inhibitors, immunosuppressors, cytokine expression modulator and chemokine binders of hosts. In addition, these components are an important source of protective antigens. In this sense, salivary glands/saliva are considered a potential source of multifunctional molecules. In this context, many studies have been conducted aiming at searching to establish a better understanding on the biology and morphophysiology of some organs such as salivary glands, as well as elucidate the complex relationship of these ectoparasites with their hosts. Such studies are conducted with the main objective of developing new immunobiological products aimed at the alternative control of ticks, as well as for the identification and isolation of bioactive molecules with pharmacological properties and with great therapeutic potential in the search for treatments for some diseases.

Surprising genomic diversity in the Neotropical fish Synbranchus marmoratus (Teleostei: Synbranchidae): how many species?

Os cromossomos e a variação de conteúdo de DNA nuclear foram estudados em sete amostras de Synbranchus marmoratus das bacias dos rios Paraguai e Paraná com o objetivo de avaliar se diferenças no cariótipo e no conteúdo de DNA nuclear poderiam fornecer informações para a caracterização de linhagens evolutivas independentes no gênero e para a elaboração de hipóteses evolutivas e biogeográficas. A ocorrência de diferentes cariótipos já foi descrita para essa espécie, entretanto, um novo citótipo foi encontrado no rio Miranda. O conteúdo de DNA nuclear mostrou uma ampla variação entre as amostras e indivíduos, com valores entre 5,2 a 9,1 pg de DNA/núcleo. Uma análise de variância confirmou a ocorrência de diferenças significativas entre as amostras. em uma série de análises, um padrão multimodal foi encontrado na distribuição do conteúdo de DNA nuclear, pelo qual várias unidades, mais ou menos discretas, foram identificadas. Combinando a fórmula cariotípica com o conteúdo de DNA nuclear, uma relação complexa entre os rios foi observada. Com base nos dados disponíveis, sugerimos que existem várias linhagens evolutivas independentes de Synbranchus marmoratus nos rios amostrados. Hipóteses biogeográficas são propostas e discutidas.

Economic growth with equity: challenges for Latin America

Includes bibliography

Sindicato dos Eletricitários de Campinas: em face da reestruturação produtiva e a terceirização

Pós-graduação em Serviço Social - FCHS

Modos de subjetivação e estratégias de governamentalidade: a constituição de um "sujeito infrator" nas tramas de um dispositivo jurídico

Este trabalho teve como objetivo vislumbrar os modos de subjetivação, presentes nas complexas relações de saber-poder de um dispositivo jurídico, capazes de fabricar uma categoria específica de indivíduo: o sujeito infrator. Segundo Foucault (1997), os modos de subjetivação são os processos através dos quais nos tornamos sujeitos, isto é, os meios pelos quais somos capturados por relações de forças implicadas no processo de produção de subjetividades. Sendo assim, certos saberes e técnicas presentes em diversos dispositivos - aos quais nos conectamos ou somos conectados - são considerados modos que nos subjetivam, engendrando-nos e constituindo-nos na medida em que atuam como tipos normativos de modos de ser. Entender os discursos acerca do “sujeito infrator” e práticas que atuam sobre ele, como parte das forças que assim o constitui, pode ser um caminho para provocar qualquer tipo de fissura no dispositivo jurídico, que teima em justificar sua atuação em nome de um discurso de “proteção” e “recuperação”. Não sendo possível pensar nos modos de subjetivação sem atrelá-los à questão do “governo”, interrogamos, a partir de um estudo genealógico, as práticas de saber-poder-subjetivação presentes no dossiê de um adolescente em cumprimento de Medida Sócio-Educativa de Internação. Para entender os modos de subjetivação como estratégias de governamentalidade, problematizamos um conjunto de técnicas disciplinares, regulamentares e práticas de si, e alguns dos saberes considerados legítimos, que as fundamentam. As divisões binárias produzidas por instrumentos disciplinares constituem o “anormal”, neste caso, o “sujeito infrator”, em detrimento do que seria ser “normal”, o “sujeito cidadão” que desejam torná-lo. Assim, busca-se por meio de diversas técnicas que, apartados da “normalidade” desejada e “identificados” aos discursos que versam sobre o “infrator”, tornem-se alvos fáceis das técnicas de governo constituídas especialmente para lidar com essa categoria de indivíduos. Por fim, observa-se que, para justificar o encarceramento de jovens, a suposta função de recuperar os “desviantes” mascara o tom punitivo da Medida Sócio-Educativa de Internação e exalta um suposto caráter corretivo-educacional, o que a mantém existindo como principal medida anti os “delinquentes” que o próprio dispositivo jurídico também constitui.

Comprehensive Analysis of Gene Expression Profiles of the Beet Armyworm Spodoptera exigua Larvae Challenged with Bacillus thuringiensis Vip3Aa Toxin

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Efeito da estrutura espacial de cobertura arbórea na comunidade de aves em parques urbanos no município de Jundiaí, SP

Pós-graduação em Engenharia Civil e Ambiental - FEB

Litofácies e relações estratigráficas da formação Aquidauana no nordeste da Bacia do Paraná - São Sebastião do Paraíso (MG)

The Aquidauana Formation is characterized by sandstones of variable granulation, mudstones and diamectites abundant in clay, typical colors like brick red (vermelho tijolo) of glacial, fluvial and lacustrine origin. It’s chronostratigraphic equivalent to the Itarará group from the Neo Carboniferous age, that under the exploratory view, such units represent important intervals in the basin, occurring together with them minerals as well as energy resources as petroleum, underground water and coal – what requires a great paleogeography and stratigraphy knowledge for its exploration. By gathering information from the columnar sections of the area, it was possible to characterize the sedimentary facies, the stacking pattern as well as the association. It was also made an attempt of stratigraphic correlation, which showed great difficulties since glacial environments present a great lateral discontinuity of the facies besides the complex relationship process of formation. As a result, it was obtained 8 sedimentary facies, the lateral and vertical relations and genesis process. It is proposed that the sedimentary environment in the study area is the fluvio glacial, characterized by alluvial systems formed by defrosted water which transport the sediments that are deposited in plains in front of the glacier (distal outwash). Petrographic thin section analysis showed that the transportation process was ineffective. The grains present punctual to lobular contacts, characterizing good porosity and permeability to the rock, varying these qualities according to more or less existence of matrix. The presence of Iron Oxide deposited between the recrystallization border and feldspathic mineral indicates that this rock has possibly presented a primary rubefaction, intensified by alkaline fluid percolation