PBL - Problem Based Learning for Companies and Clusters

[EN] Small and medium sized companies (SMEs) assure economic growth in Europe [8]. The financial crisis and the economic recession have hit SMEs hard in the Europe 28 (EU28) and the economic conditions remain difficult. Many of these companies are micro enterprises, having few resources and difficulties in facing technological, economic and financial changes. Cluster development particularly learning methods for urban logistics by means of smart specialisation strategies and creation of competitive niches - Joint Action Plan development and implementation – is not enough researched. Putting together companies and research institutions belonging to the Clusters on middlelong term objectives, for planning the development of the skills and qualification of their personnel is an effective way for creating permanent links between the research and the industrial environment. This attitude has several beneficial effects: Pushes industrial companies to link technological and market development to human resources qualification with a foresight of future trends. Can fill the cultural gap between industrial companies and R&D entities, creating osmosis between these two worlds. Stimulates companies to overcome the short-term vision of immediate interest and to cooperate with other companies on more ambitious targets. The following Figure shows some characteristics of clusters and networks.Hamburg, I.; Vladut, G. (2016). PBL - Problem Based Learning for Companies and Clusters. En XII Congreso de ingeniería del transporte. 7, 8 y 9 de Junio, Valencia (España). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 846-849. https://doi.org/10.4995/CIT2016.2015.4261OCS84684

Buscador de MOOCs orientado a VSEs

Over the last years online courses have started growing in popularity, emerging new ways of learning, such as MOOC (Masssive Online Open Courses). Most websites that work as MOOC aggregators platforms are focused on the student community or the teachers, being usually poorly suited for companies aiming to train their employees. Big companies have other resources to coach their staff, in order to archieve the ETSD concept (Education, Training and Staff Development), but small companies can not keep in business having their employees occupied training and learning, as they can not afford to spare them. This work aims to provide small companies with a web platform that can take information from the most important MOOC aggregators on the web so their employees can take online lessons in order to improve their skills. This platform will have a feature to search for MOOC, as well as options for the business to offer reccommended courses to their staff and follow their progress and will also provide their employees ways to access to courses and keep in track with them.Ingeniería de Sistemas Audiovisuale

Mentoring Elements that Influence Employee Engagement

Employee disengagement is a significant issue for leaders and managers in many organizations. The general problem is the workforce in many American organizations includes disengaged employees. In 2016, only 33% of the workforce in the United States was engaged. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship between the independent variables of mentoring, which include role modeling, acceptance and confirmation, and mentoring friendship functions with a dependent variable of employee engagement. The moderating variable of perceived organizational support was measured to test the strength or weakness of the effects that mentoring has on employee engagement. The theoretical foundation for this study was social exchange theory. The researcher recruited a convenience sample of 307 technicians and technologists representing 7 industries. The participants completed surveys and questionnaires to provide their views of mentoring, perceived organizational support, and work engagement. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential analysis, including Pearson\u27s correlations, linear, and stepwise regression analysis. The results of the inferential analyses indicated that each part of the mentoring variables (career support, psychosocial support, and role modeling) had an independent impact on work engagement. The interaction between psychosocial support and organizational support was also significant after accounting for the effects of mentoring and organizational support. The findings indicate that managers can achieve positive social change and improve employee well-bring within their organizations by being dutifully involved in their employees\u27 work lives. Managers should also be available to apply resources such as mentoring for technicians and technologist when needed

Collaborative Arrangements and the State of Trust between SMEs and Large Companies in Mandated Business Interactions

The focus of this study is to explore trust between small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and large companies in interorganizational relationships (IORs) that are mandated by government policy. Due to the important contribution made by SMEs to national economies and to the fact that their growth is pivotal for entrepreneurial activities, many governments have made significant efforts to enhance their performance. However, SMEs are constrained by their lack of resources and experience. Some countries have required large companies to collaborate with SMEs to overcome these constraints. Whilst much attention has been devoted to trust in relationships of choice between SMEs and large companies, scant attention has been paid to the state of trust in mandated business interactions. This study explores the state of trust between large companies and SMEs companies in mandated business interactions, identifying those factors that influence trust between them. Qualitative semi-structured interviews with 25 key managers from large companies and SMEs were conducted in Oman which has a policy of mandated IORs. The interview data were analyzed thematically. The key findings resulted in a new contextual concept of trust, a refinement of classical trust indicators by which the presence of trust in IORs can be more appropriately detected and the development of a model embracing factors which were found to influence trust. Several new factors not previously commented on in the literature were identified in this study. The findings provide theoretical and practical contributions with recommendations for policy, practice and further research.Ministry of Manpower, Oman