New frontiers of managerial training: the LiVES project

The evolution of the Internet allowed the Web to become, among the different media, the most global, inter-active and dynamic medium to share information. Therefore, in the last decades, e-Learning has been widely used not only in the academic community, but also in the business sector. Within this context, thanks to their own competences, people can develop specific characteristics which may provide a competitive advantage for their organizations. The development and use of new technologies for the creation of three-dimensional (3D) Virtual Worlds set new challenges and enlarge the very idea of ‘learning environment’. This paper aims at inves-tigating the characteristics of training activities directed at the managerial class, in such a way as to increase their efficacy; it also analyses how the use of specific innovative technologies may be an effective solution.The evolution of the Internet allowed the Web to become, among the different media, the most global, inter-active and dynamic medium to share information. Therefore, in the last decades, e-Learning has been widely used not only in the academic community, but also in the business sector. Within this context, thanks to their own competences, people can develop specific characteristics which may provide a competitive advantage for their organizations. The development and use of new technologies for the creation of three-dimensional (3D) Virtual Worlds set new challenges and enlarge the very idea of ‘learning environment’. This paper aims at inves-tigating the characteristics of training activities directed at the managerial class, in such a way as to increase their efficacy; it also analyses how the use of specific innovative technologies may be an effective solution.Monograph's chapter

La gestione delle risorse umane in Italia : bilancio di un decennio

Le ricerche internazionali pi\uf9 recenti sottolineano che, nella gestione delle risorse umane, le imprese si stanno spostando da modelli in cui le persone sono considerate un costo da minimizzare verso modelli caratterizzati da una gestione integrata nel business, all\u2019interno della quale le persone sono ritenute strategiche per il conseguimento di un vantaggio competitivo durevole per l\u2019impresa. Il presente contributo si basa su una survey condotta nel 2009 sulla Direzione delle Risorse Umane di 102 imprese operanti in Italia, utilizzando lo stesso strumento di raccolta dati utilizzato in una survey simile condotta nel 1999. Sulla base dei dati emergenti l\u2019articolo raggiunge due risultati: presenta un\u2019analisi longitudinale sulla gestione delle risorse umane in Italia, confrontando le evidenze del 1999 con quelle del 2009; ed analizza in che misura le politiche di gestione delle risorse umane dichiarate sono coerenti con le pratiche effettivamente implementate, anche qui offendo un raffronto a distanza di dieci anni

Human Resource Management: evoluzione o involuzione?

QUESTO ARTICOLO INDAGA IN CHE MISURA LE DIREZIONI DELLE RISORSE UMANE OPERANTI IN ITALIA ABBIANO FATTO PROPRI, NELLA PROSPETTIVA DELLO HUMAN RESOURCE MAN - AGEMENT, I MODELLI ORIENTATI ALLA VALORIZZAZIONE DELLE RISORSE UMANE O QUELLI CHE ENFATIZZANO LA COERENZA TRA GESTIONE DELLE RISORSE UMANE E STRATEGIE DELL\u2019ORGANIZZAZIONE. NELLA PRIMA SEZIONE SI ESPONGONO I PRESUPPOSTI TEORICI DELLA RICERCA; LA SECONDA SEZIONE PRESENTA GLI OBIETTIVI SPECIFICI DELLA RICERCA E LA METODOLOGIA USATA PER LA RACCOLTA E L\u2019ANALISI DEI DATI; I RISULTATI SONO ILLUSTRATI ALL\u2019INTERNO DELLA TERZA SEZIONE DEL DOCUMENTO. L\u2019ARTICOLO SI CHIUDE CON LA DISCUSSIONE DEI RISULTATI, IN CUI SI EVIDENZIANO ALCUNI ELEMENTI CRITICI CHE IL CONTESTO ITALIANO REGISTRA IN MERITO AL PASSAGGIO A UNA PROSPETTIVA DI HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Competences and Human Resources Empowerment in a Market-Driven Company. The Unilever Case

The organization of modern economy is struggling with its structural complexity. The intention of this article is to focus on the role assumed by the ‘competencies method’ in reference to development of human resources and its management in Market-Driven organizations. The application of such objective will be discussed afterwards by analyzing ‘the competencies method’ in multinational companies. In the Unilever case, ‘the competencies method’ is supposed to delineate operative solutions concerning co-evolutionary relation between strategies and management development practices

Performance measurement systems in SMEs : a review and a research agenda

In recent years, literature has identified the increasing complexity of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and highlighted their sensitivity to differences in managerial culture and management systems. Research has shown that performance measurement systems (PMSs) could play an important role in supporting managerial development in these companies. In this paper, the literature on performance measurement in manufacturing SMEs is reviewed and the diffusion, characteristics and determinants of performance measurement in SMEs are analysed. Shortcomings in the performance measurement systems are highlighted and the many factors that seem to constrain PMSs in manufacturing SMEs are defined, e.g. lack of financial and human resources, wrong perception of the benefits of PMS implementation, short-term strategic planning. Moreover, using dimensions defined according to the information found in the literature, two PMS models specifically developed for SMEs are compared with generic PMS models. The comparison points out an evolution in PMS models over time; in particular, the models developed in the last 20 years are more horizontal, process-oriented and focus on stakeholder needs. However, it is not clear whether these changes are due to the evolution of the generic models or an attempt to introduce models suited to the needs of SMEs. To clarify this matter and better to understand PMSs in SMEs, further theoretical and empirical studies are necessary. The main issues still requiring investigation are listed in a research agenda at the end of the paper

Comparison of three therapeutic regimens for genotype-3 hepatitis C virus infection in a large real-life multicentre cohort

Background & Aims: In the direct-acting antiviral era, treatment of genotype-3 HCV (HCV-GT3) is still challenging. Real-life comparisons between recommended regimens, sofosbuvir (SOF)+daclatasvir (DAC), SOF/velpatasvir (VEL), glecaprevir/pibrentasvir (GLE/PIB), are scarce. We aimed at filling this data gap. Methods: Sustained virological response 12 weeks after treatment completion (SVR12) was assessed for all HCV-GT3 patients consecutively treated within the Lombardia web-based Navigatore HCV-Network; differences in SVR12 across regimens were evaluated by logistic regression. Results: Of the 2082 subjects with HCV-GT3, 1544 were evaluable for comparisons between regimens: SOF + DAC (1023, 66.2%), SOF/VEL (369, 23.9%), GLE/PIB (152, 9.8%). Patients treated with former regimens were more frequently male, cirrhotic, HIV-positive, pretreated, used ribavirin in their regimen, and had lower baseline HCV-RNA. SVR12 was similar across groups: 94.8% in SOF + DAC, 97.6% in SOF/VEL, 96.7% in GLE/PIB (P =.065). At univariate analysis, SVR12 was associated with female gender (97.9% vs 94.8%, P =.007) and lower median pretreatment Log10HCV-RNA (5.87 vs 6.20, P =.001). At multivariate logistic regression analysis, treatment with SOF/VEL was associated with a higher likelihood of SVR12 than SOF + DAC, but only in the absence of ribavirin (98% vs 90.3%). Female gender and lower pretreatment HCV-RNA were independently associated with SVR12. Conclusions: In a large real-life setting of HCV-GT3-infected patients with a high proportion of cirrhosis, the success rate was remarkable. The slight advantage of SOF/VEL on SOF + DAC was significant only without ribavirin. The current prescription shift towards novel regimens (ie SOF/VEL and GLE/PIB) in easier-to-treat patients allows ribavirin-free and shorter schedules without mining SVR12 in this <> genotype