The impact of EFQM awards on organizational management

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how the recognition of the European Foundation for Quality and Management (EFQM) awards to organizations (variable 1), particularly contribute to the improvement of management models, translated into different stages of evolution of management models/management control systems (variable 2), testing the hypothesis of correlation between these two variables. Methodology: The investigation covers the 35 organizations that won EFQM awards in Portugal (2010-2015). The bases are the different levels/scores of EFQM awards. Additionally, a questionnaire was used regarding the different stages of management models/management control systems (1=Basic stage of management control systems; 10=Advanced and very efficient management control systems stage). Moreover, interviews in all 35 organizations implied the collection of more accurate data. Findings: Important findings result from the research. Whenever organizations implement a quality management process/EFQM, substantial improvements occur in organizations regarding the implementation of management control models. Additionally, a positive and very strong correlation was found between the two variables: (i) different levels/scores of EFQM awards, and (ii) results of the questionnaire on different stages of management models/management control systems. Practical implications: The study makes it possible to conclude that the more an organization invests in a quality management process/program, the more efficient and useful a management control model becomes. Originality/Value: There is a gap in literature regarding the impact of quality management on the effectiveness of management models. Our study helps to close this gap, contributing to the development of a new body of knowledge, by assessing this favourable impact.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Sustainability Assessment of indicators for integrated water resources management

The scientific community strongly recommends the adoption of indicators for the evaluation and monitoring of progress towards sustainable development. Furthermore, international organizations consider that indicators are powerful decision-making tools. Nevertheless, the quality and reliability of the indicators depends on the application of adequate and appropriate criteria to assess them. The general objective of this study was to evaluate how indicators related to water use and management perform against a set of sustainability criteria. Our research identified 170 indicators related to water use and management. These indicators were assessed by an international panel of experts that evaluated whether they fulfil the four sustainability criteria: social, economic, environmental, and institutional. We employed an evaluation matrix that classified all indicators according to the DPSIR (Driving Forces, Pressures, States, Impacts and Responses) framework. A pilot study served to test and approve the research methodology before carrying out the full implementation. The findings of the study show that 24 indicators comply with the majority of the sustainability criteria; 59 indicators are bi-dimensional (meaning that they comply with two sustainability criteria); 86 are one-dimensional indicators (fulfilling just one of the four sustainability criteria) and one indicator do not fulfil any of the sustainability criteria.Postprint (author's final draft

Recodificando o aplicativo móvel Agritempo a partir de requisitos identificados no processo de validação.

A redefinição de código de aplicativos é de suma importância para que sejam atendidas efetivamente as necessidades do público-alvo. A utilização desta prática propõe revisar, corrigir e/ou adicionar recursos no projeto com base nos dados identificados após as etapas de validação realizadas com futuros usuários, durante o processo de desenvolvimento de software. A revisão de código normalmente é feita após a apresentação de um protótipo aos stakeholders, gerando um relatório contendo os principais pontos a serem revisados. O processo utilizado na validação do aplicativo Agritempo tinha por objetivo a melhoria do aplicativo de forma geral para atender à demanda das diferentes classes de usuários, tornando simples a experiência destes