A transformação de especialistas em administradores: alguns números

The purpose of this study is to obtain information on the nature of the Brazilian research leader's job (responsibilities and practices). As a means for achieving this goal, questionnaires were administered to 64 project leaders drawn from 21 research institutes who were participants in a management development program. The respondees used a three-point scale to rate the difficulty perceived by them in a set of managerial activities in their work as project leaders. The results indicate that 46% of the respondees are involved in project planning. Twentynine percent rated planning as difficult to perform. Fifty-eight percent rated project planning as being of intermediate difficulty. Only 13% rated planning as being easy to perform. The results also indicate that 59% of the respondees actively engage in project budgeting activities. Most of the project leaders (53%) rate budget planning as being difficult to do. Forty-three percent rate project budgeting as being of intermediate difficulty. The remaining 3% rate the activity as presenting little difficulty to them. Conclusions: of the 24 functions investigated, project planning and budgeting were identified by the project leaders as being frequently performed functions and ones that are difficult to perform. Aditional research on these functions is recommended for a better understanding of the nature of this difficulty. It is suggested that a combined interview and questionnaire data collection session be employed to obtain more in-depth information on the personal and situational factors that contribute to the difficulty of project planning and budgeting. This aditional information will be of use in developing training programs designed to deal with these problem areas. It will also be of use in identifying candidates for managerial positions

Six sigma: critical success factors for its implementation

Este artigo descreve uma investigação dos fatores críticos de sucesso para a implantação do programa Seis Sigma em empresas que atuam no ambiente empresarial brasileiro. Além disso, este estudo teve por objetivo secundário investigar relações entre fatores como os seguintes: a percepção de sucesso alcançado pelas empresas que implantaram o Seis Sigma; tamanho e nacionalidade das empresas; tempo de implantação do Seis Sigma e de treinamento continuado; nível de comunicação entre os profissionais; regime de dedicação de tempo dos Black Belts; taxa de conclusão de projetos, sua duração e economia gerada. Os dados foram coletados por meio de questionário postado na Internet e distribuído por correio eletrônico e em fóruns de discussão que envolveram profissionais do Seis Sigma. O desenvolvimento do questionário abrangeu pesquisa bibliográfica e entrevistas com profissionais experientes em Seis Sigma. Os resultados indicaram oito fatores considerados críticos para o sucesso na implantação do Seis Sigma: (a) Liderança, (b) Projetos, (c) Treinamento, (d) Comunicação e Revisão, (e) Processo Gerencial, (f) Perfil dos Black Belts, (g) Equipe de Projetos e (h) Iniciativas Prévias de Qualidade.This article describes an investigation of critical success factors to implement Six Sigma in organizations operating in the Brazilian market place. Besides that, a secondary objective was to investigate the relationship between aspects like success perception among those companies which implemented Six Sigma, company size, company nationality, time of Six Sigma of implementation, continuous training, communication level between professionals, full-time and part-time Black Belts, project completion, project duration and project savings. Data were collected through an Internet questionnaire, distributed by email and sent to discussion groups involving Six Sigma professionals. Questionnaire development included a literature review and interviews with experienced Six Sigma professionals. The results indicated eight critical success factors for Six Sigma implementation: (a) Leadership, (b) Projects, (c) Training, (d) Communication and Review, (e) Managerial Process, (f) Black Belts Profile, (g) Project Teams and (h) Previous Quality Initiatives