Information systems models in higher education

This paper intends to contribute to a better understanding of the process through which information resource, information technology, and organisation actors can contribute to the performance and quality of higher education institutions. Conceptual models will be presented and discussed

Conflict behavior and conflict management in the organizations

Some people think conflict is a topic that should not be discussed and that we should not engage in conflict. Productively engaging in conflict is always valuable. Most people are willing and interested in resolving their conflicts; they just need the appropriate skill set and opportunities in which to practice this skill set. Without a conflict skill set, people want to avoid conflict, hoping it will go away or not wanting to make a “big deal out of nothing.” Research and personal experiences show us that, when we avoid conflict, the conflict actually escalates and our thoughts and feelings become more negative. Through conflict self-awareness we can more effectively manage our conflicts and therefore our professional and personal relationships. Furthermore, by discussing issues related to conflict management, teams can establish an expected protocol to be followed by team members when in conflict. All teams and organizations have a conflict culture (the way the team responds to conflict). However, most teams never discuss what the conflict culture is, therefore providing the opportunity for individual team members to make assumptions that can be counterproductive to the team. Practicing one’s conflict management skills leads to more successful engagement in conflict with outcomes of relief, understanding, better communication, and greater productivity for both the individual and the team. When we manage our conflicts more effectively, we use less energy on the burdensome tasks such as systemic conflict and get to spend more of our energy on our projects at work and building our relationships

Financial interdependencies and causality in the European Union

The main objectives of this paper are the study of foreign direct investment (FDI) among several UE countries, the appreciation of the interdependencies among them, the integration and co-integration of the FDI export series, in order to try to discover whose economies are the financial engines of the EU, the appreciation of the way of absorption of the FDI in the destiny countries of this money, the way that the economies found to regain the equilibrium after a foreign investment stimulus. In methodological terms the paper uses the VAR modelling theory, it optimizes the lag length, it uses the SURE method to estimate the parameters, it appreciates the IRF (functions), it uses the Granger causality and the Cholesky Variance Decomposition to study the degree of dependence or of independence of one economy against the others. Before this, it studies the stationarity, the integration and the co-integration of the series

Determinação da performance empresarial - Aplicação DEA

A avaliação das organizações e a determinação do desempenho, obtido pelo exercício da gestão, tem sido uma preocupação constante de gestores e accionistas, embora com objectivos diversos. Nos dias de hoje, a questão coloca-se com maior acuidade quer pela competitividade acrescida quer pela dimensão e complexidade das empresas. Pretendemos com este trabalho fazer a aplicação da metodologia DEA - Data Envelopment Analysis - a um departamento de uma empresa do Sector não Financeiro. Com a metodologia utilizada, a DEA, pretendemos obter uma medida, única e simples, de avaliação da eficiência, combinando um conjunto de outputs e de inputs observados, relativos às diferentes unidades homogéneas que pretendemos avaliar. A metodologia DEA, utilizando ponderadores determinados endogenamente, variáveis diversas e produzindo uma medida agregada simples, é particularmente adequada para a avaliação de unidades homogéneas não necessariamente lucrativas.Despite their diverse aims, managers and shareholders are consistently concerned with evaluating and determining the performance of their organizations. Today this question is possibly of greater importance due both to increased competitiveness and greater complexity and size of the enterprises. Our intent with this work is to apply DEA methodology - Data Envelopment Analysis -DEA,our aim is to obtain a unique and simple measure of evaluating efficiency, by combining a group of outputs and inputs related to the different homogeneous units under evaluation. The DEA method, using endogenously determined weights and diverse variables, yielding a simple aggregate measure, is particularly adequate to evaluate homogeneous units which are not necessarily profit motivated

O estágio como instrumento de relacionamento entre a universidade e a empresa

A capacidade da universidade e empresa estabelecerem relações duradouras e mutuamente benéficas é um dos desafios que se colocam numa sociedade cada vez mais exigente para com o papel da universidade. Este artigo identifica três níveis de análise da relação universidade-empresa: i. nível supra-institucional; ii. nível estratégico; e iii. nível operacional. O artigo debruça-se sobre o nível operacional, abordando a forma como num projecto de ensino de graduação em gestão é possível estabelecer diferentes formas de relacionamento entre a universidade e a empresa. Apresentam-se e discutem-se as várias acções baseadas no ensino/aprendizagem que permitem fomentar e operacionalizar a relação universidade-empresa. Para uma dessas acções – a realização dum estágio curricular por parte dos alunos – analisa-se como, num primeiro momento esse estágio era limitador da relação e, num segundo momento, após uma reestruturação curricular, esse estágio passou a fomentar uma relação universidade-empresa baseada na interdependência entre as partes e na reciprocidade de custos e benefícios.The capacity to establish sustainable and mutual advantage relationships between university and enterprise is a challenge raised by a more demanding society. This article identifies three levels of analysis of the university-enterprise relationship: i. supra-institutional level; ii. strategic level; and iii. operational level. The article focuses on the operational level and takes into account how an undergraduate degree in management can boost different sorts of relationships between university and enterprise. Then, it presents and discusses several teaching/learning initiatives that may be used to develop and implement university-enterprise relationships. For one of those actions – internships – the article analyses how they were, in a first moment, a barrier to the relationship, and, in a second moment, after a new plan of studies, how they were managed to foster university-enterprise relationships based on interdependence and reciprocity in costs and benefits

Design and radical innovation: a strategic perspective based upon a comparative case study between emergent and traditional industries in Portugal

The survival challenge faced by the Portuguese companies nowadays has promoted Innovation as the main management strategy to be applied. This research reveals the importance and the role of Design as the basic and integrative tool for the success of this strategy, focused on Radical or Breakthrough Innovation. The main contribution of this paper is the proposal of a conceptual model developed from a comparative case study research, made among Portuguese companies from the emergent sectors connected to new technologies and Portuguese companies from the traditional sectors. That work allowed the definition of the Success Critical Factors to consider for the development of radical new products: integrating new technologies (Science Knowledge), market sensibility (Marketing Knowledge), forecasting new needs or user interfaces and disruptive creativity (Design Knowledge)

La contribución de las decisiones de producción infraestructurales al desarrollo de capacidades estratégicas

Diversos autores, pertenecientes al ámbito de estudio de la Dirección de operaciones, nos han contagiado de su confianza en el potencial de la función de producción para fundamentar una ventaja competitiva (Skinner, 1985; Hayes y Wheelwright, 1984; Hayes, 1985; Hayes et al., 1988; Edmondson y Wheelwright, 1989). Los planteamientos de estos autores guardan una estrecha relación con los fundamentos del enfoque que en la actualidad domina la Dirección estratégica, la Teoría de los recursos, e incluso se podría decir que anticipan algunas de las nociones principales de esta teoría.En este contexto, se examina la relación entre ciertas decisiones de producción infraestructurales, la estrategia de la empresa en el mercado y sus resultados. El objetivo de este trabajo es aportar evidencia acerca de la influencia estratégica de tales decisiones e identificar el tipo de capacidades de producción que son relevantes por su potencial para asentar una ventaja competitiva.Some authors, who have experience in production management studies, show the possibilities that the manufacturing function offers to got a competitive advantage (Skinner, 1985; Hayes y Wheelwright, 1984; Hayes, 1985; Hayes et al., 1988; Edmondson y Wheelwright, 1989). These authors’ reflections are strongly related with the current strategic management basis, Resource based theory, and, even, these authors anticipate some of the main topics of this theory.In this context, we examine the relationship between certain infrastructural manufacturing decisions, the firm’s business strategy and its performance on the market. We aim to provide evidence of the role these decisions play in the creation of a firm’s competitive advantage, and identify strategically relevant production capabilities

Análisis de la evolución experimentada por las entidades de crédito en España: 1997-2003

This paper aims to analyse the evolution of the financial institutions in Spain. Statistical Bulletins published by the Bank of Spain from 1997 to 2003 are used in this research. A description of the current situation and changes happened to banks, saving banks, credit unions, E.F.C. and I.C.O. are shown in the paper

Fortalezas y debilidades del DNI electrónico (eDNI)

La explosión y extensión de internet ha marcado la globalización mundial abriendo una serie de retos a la sociedad desde el punto de vista de la identificación de los ciudadanos. A fin de responder a estas nuevas necesidades de la población española el Gobierno decidió lanzar el eDNI. En este trabajo se presentan los acontecimientos más relevantes que antecedieron a esta trascendente decisión, así como el modelo de DNI electrónico propuesto, el cuál es analizado a través de sus muchas fortalezas y debilidades.The outburts and spreading of internet has affected the world globalization opening a series of challlenges to this society from the point of view of citizen’s identification. In order to answer to these new needs of Spanish population, the Government decided to set up the DNI. On this task we are not only introduced to the outstanding events that preceded this transcendental decision, but also the proposed electronic DNI, which is analysed through its varied strength and weakness

As práticas de gestão nas empresas familiares portuguesas do sector textil

A empresa familiar ocupa um espaço importante nas economias industrializadas e emergentes. A relação entre família e empresa confere-lhe características especiais em que se confundem as esferas económica e familiar. Vários trabalhos têm surgido sobre esta realidade empresarial, sendo escasso o estudo dos domínios da gestão propriamente dita. O presente trabalho tem por base uma amostra de empresas familiares do Sector Têxtil do distrito de Castelo Branco, em Portugal. Procura-se estudar a particularidade deste tipo de empresa, identificando as práticas de gestão que orientam a sua actuação como empresa. Na sequência da metodologia de investigação utilizada, foi possível identificar, quanto às práticas de gestão, que se privilegia a manutenção da gestão na família, seguida das práticas relacionadas com os recursos humanos.The family firm occupies an important space in the industrialised and emergent economies. The relationship between family and business adds special characteristic in which economic and family spheres are fused. Various studies have appeared on this business reality, thus dealing little with the areas of management specifically. This study is based on a sample of family firms in the Textile Sector located in the district of Castelo Branco, in Portugal. It seeks to study the particularity of this type of organisation, identifying the management practices that guide its performance as business. Following the research methodology used, it was possible to identify, with regard to management practices, that maintaining the management in the family has priority, followed by practices related to human resources