Towards a mixed method approach for the multidisciplinary investigation of management processes

This paper presents the development of a mixed methods approach by a multidisciplinary group of academics to understand and so model management processes with a view to enabling informed management decision making. Considering management processes as one of three categories of business processes (CIMOSA Standards Committee, 1989), the literature in this area is reviewed to identify current management modelling techniques. The researchers conclude that these do not adequately address both the 'hard' and 'soft' characteristics of management processes as well as the methodological viewpoints of the group. The development of a mixed method approach designed to address these issues is presented, along with an explanation of its application in practice. The paper concludes with a critical evaluation of the method and outlines future developmental work planned by the research group. The value in this approach is that it informs both academia and the business community by proposing a transparent and repeatable method of understanding the subjective topics of management practices and processes that is grounded in both a priori theory and practical data

Transição da pessoa com doença oncológica avançada de oncologia para cuidados paliativos: O papel do enfermeiro especialista em enfermagem de saúde mental e psiquiátrica

Este relatório de estágio procura estruturar o percurso desenvolvido durante o 2º Estágio do 2º Mestrado em Associação de Enfermagem de Saúde Mental e Psiquiátrica e assim demonstrar a aquisição das Competências Especificas do Enfermeiro Especialista em Enfermagem de Saúde Mental e Competências de Mestre. Grande parte das pessoas com doença oncológica avançada não têm acesso de forma sistemática às intervenções de Cuidados Paliativos. Foi utilizada a metodologia de projeto para dar resposta ao problema identificado: “A transição da pessoa com doença avançada para CP é muitas vezes realizada de forma abrupta e sem preparação gradual”. Ao longo do trabalho foi evidenciado o papel do Enfermeiro Especialista em Enfermagem de Saúde Mental e Psiquiátrica como uma mais valia nesta transição pois, além das competências de avaliação das necessidades em saúde mental, só ele poderá intervir com cuidados psicoterapêuticos, sócio-terapêuticos, psicossociais e psicoeducacionais permitindo assim promover a melhoria da qualidade dos cuidados de saúde

Exploratory study to capture design expenditure in firms

Product innovation is increasingly considered to be a central source for competitive advantage and a crucial driver for economic growth. Corporations are trying to face the challenges of global competition by launching new products that better satisfy explicit and latent user needs and desires, and that have improved performance, superior functionality, lower cost, higher symbolic and emotional value, and sustainable impact on the environment. In this scenario, companies are seeking to understand how new products may be conceived and developed successfully. Managing product development is a major challenge because of its inherent uncertain, complex and multidisciplinary nature. Product development requires the management of creative resources and experimental processes with uncertain outputs. Also, it requires the management of many different types of interfaces: both interactions between different units within a firm (marketing, research, manufacturing, etc.) and interactions with external actors, being them users, suppliers, partners, designers, or universities. The interfaces today cross the borders of countries and continents. Different types of knowledge, competencies, attitudes and values have to work together. In the last years the list of challenges has been extended by the emergence of communities of experts who are developing new ideas and even products beside traditional firms. It becomes more important to understand how they work and how companies can cooperate with them . Research on product development management is challenged by this uncertain, complex and multidisciplinary nature. In order to understand the dynamics of new product conception and development, scholars have increasingly to operate across different disciplines: strategy, management of innovation, technology and R&D management, project management, research policy, marketing, design, anthropology, sociology, organization, operations management, etc

Developing a national design scoreboard

Recognising the growing importance of design, this paper reports on the development of an approach to measuring design at a national level. A series of measures is proposed, that are based around a simplified model of design as a system at a national level. This model was developed though insights from literature and a workshop with government, industry and design sector representatives. Detailed data on design in the UK is presented to highlight the difficulties in collecting reliable and robust data. Evidence is compared with four countries (Spain, Canada, Korea and Sweden). This comparison highlights the inherent difficulties in comparing performance and a revised set of measures is proposed. Finally, an approach to capturing design spend at a firm level is proposed, based on insights from literature and case studies