Izabela Simon Rampasso, Sidney L.M. Mello, Rubens Walker, Victor G. Simão, Robson Araújo, Juliana Chagas, Osvaldo Luiz Gonçalves Quelhas and Rosley Anholon
The objective of this study is to identify research gaps related to skills required for Industry 4.0, considering research in the context of Brazilian undergraduate courses. In…
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of this study is to identify research gaps related to skills required for Industry 4.0, considering research in the context of Brazilian undergraduate courses. In this sense, the question of this study was established: What are the educational gaps related to skills required in Industry 4.0 context, considering considering research in the previously mentioned?
Design/methodology/approach
To answer this question, the ten top work-related skills required for professionals in Industry 4.0 published by the World Economic Forum were used to perform a systematic literature review. From this review, 100 articles were found in the searched databases. From them, 18 were within the research scope.
Findings
Through an analysis of their content, it was possible to verify that, from the 10 skills analyzed, only six were identified in the articles. That is, no research was found for: people management, service orientation, negotiation, and cognitive flexibility. Additionally, there are undergraduate courses that are not considered in current researches and should be analyzed.
Originality/value
The gaps pointed out in this study are relevant to guide future analyzes of the Brazilian educational model and may provide insights for research in other countries.
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Claudia Affonso Silva Araujo and Kleber Fossati Figueiredo
This paper aims to identify the kind of work environment that should be offered by hospital leaders to their nursing staff in Brazil to generate job satisfaction, organizational…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify the kind of work environment that should be offered by hospital leaders to their nursing staff in Brazil to generate job satisfaction, organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behaviour within their field of expertise.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was applied to 171 nurses and 274 nursing technicians who work at five private hospitals in Brazil. Both factor analysis and regression analysis were used to analyse the study model.
Findings
The results indicate that to stimulate positive behaviours and attitudes among nursing staff, managers should mainly be concerned about establishing a clear and effective communication with their professionals to ensure role clarity, promote a good working environment and encourage relationships based on trust.
Research limitations/implications
The limitations of the study are absence of the researcher while the questionnaires were filled out and the fact that the sample comprised respondents who made themselves available to participate in the research.
Practical implications
This study contributes to elucidate the factors that can promote a good internal climate for nursing staff, assisting hospital leaders to face the huge managerial challenges of managing, retaining and advancing these professionals.
Originality/value
The findings contribute to the body of knowledge in leadership among nursing professionals in developing countries. Hospital leaders in Brazil should encourage trusting relationships with nursing professionals through clear, effective and respectful communications, besides investing in team development and promoting a good working environment.
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Tanja Wolf, Michael Kuttner, Birgit Feldbauer-Durstmüller and Christine Mitter
Academic interest in role changes of management accountants (MAs) has increased during the past two decades. Role changes imply identity reconstructions as they do not only…
Abstract
Purpose
Academic interest in role changes of management accountants (MAs) has increased during the past two decades. Role changes imply identity reconstructions as they do not only require an external legitimacy, but professionals have to internalize a new role script. Thus, this paper aims to contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the ongoing changes concerning MAs by providing an identity perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper systematically reviews the literature on the changing role of MAs from an identity perspective, based on a conclusive sample of 64 articles.
Findings
This review identified several external factors such as professional associations and educational institutions as well as organizational and individual factors that impact MAs’ identity and act as change drivers. MAs’ identity is linked with their image in the public and within the organization and is challenged by increasing demands, conflicting expectations and technological progress. Hence, the literature sample illustrates a fragmented and contradictory picture regarding the changes of MAs’ identities and roles and displays that the idea of a simple movement from one identity to another is misleading. Furthermore, the identity perspective offers new issues for management accounting research, practice and education such as nested identity, multiple or desired identities.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to review the literature of MAs’ changing identities and roles from an identity perspective. This perspective enables a novel focus on internal views, perceptions and internalized meanings of MAs connected with their role instead of exclusively debating changed external behavior expectations.
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Discusses the 6th ITCRR, its breadth of textile and clothing research activity, plus the encouragement given to workers in this field and its related areas. States that, within…
Abstract
Discusses the 6th ITCRR, its breadth of textile and clothing research activity, plus the encouragement given to workers in this field and its related areas. States that, within the newer research areas under the microscope of the community involved, technical textiles focuses on new, ‘smart’ garments and the initiatives in this field in both the UK and the international community at large. Covers this subject at length.
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Looks at the eighth published year of the ITCRR and the research, from far and near, involved in this. Muses on the fact that, though all the usual processes are to the fore, the…
Abstract
Looks at the eighth published year of the ITCRR and the research, from far and near, involved in this. Muses on the fact that, though all the usual processes are to the fore, the downside part of the industry is garment making which is the least developed side. Posits that the manufacture of clothing needs to become more technologically advanced as does retailing. Closes by emphasising support for the community in all its efforts.
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Claudio de Araujo Wanderley, John Cullen and Mathew Tsamenyi
The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) possesses an inherent duality, as it has been described as a carrier of institutions (i.e. the BSC is a “management ideology” or “mode of thinking”…
Abstract
Purpose
The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) possesses an inherent duality, as it has been described as a carrier of institutions (i.e. the BSC is a “management ideology” or “mode of thinking”) and a flexibly interpretive boundary object at the same time. This study examines how this inherent duality of the BSC may influence the unfolding rationales surrounding its implementation and use.
Design/methodology/approach
Empirical support for this investigation is gathered from an in-depth field study. The focal firm is a Brazilian electricity distribution company that transitioned from state to private ownership under hyper-regulation, and whose holding company experienced strategic and structural changes.
Findings
The study identified a misalignment between the characteristics of the firm (e.g. organizational logics) and the perceived BSC features. This misalignment initially produced tensions and institutional logics complexity for the organization forcing the BSC implementers to rationalize it to provide meaning regarding its implementation in the firm. The findings also show why and how the promoters of the BSC conducted its “strategy of translation” in order to disentangle and reassemble both the material and symbolic components of the BSC to facilitate its implementation and use. It was found that promoters of the BSC engaged in contextualization work, which featured two main actions: a combination of coupling and selective decoupling and a change of meaning.
Originality/value
This paper advances current understanding of the process of the unfolding rationales surrounding management accounting innovations (e.g. the BSC). The study shows that the BSC unfolds in more complex, time-related and simultaneous ways than has previously been reported in the literature. Moreover, the paper contributes by explaining how the management's rationales, relating to their historical understanding, perception of legitimation needs and social skills, contributed to the continuous unfolding of the BSC. In addition, four potentially interesting areas for further research were identified.
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The study here examines how business actors adapt to changes in networks by analyzing their perceptions or their network pictures. The study is exploratory or iterative in the…
Abstract
The study here examines how business actors adapt to changes in networks by analyzing their perceptions or their network pictures. The study is exploratory or iterative in the sense that revisions occur to the research question, method, theory, and context as an integral part of the research process.
Changes within networks receive less research attention, although considerable research exists on explaining business network structures in different research traditions. This study analyzes changes in networks in terms of the industrial network approach. This approach sees networks as connected relationships between actors, where interdependent companies interact based on their sensemaking of their relevant network environment. The study develops a concept of network change as well as an operationalization for comparing perceptions of change, where the study introduces a template model of dottograms to systematically analyze differences in perceptions. The study then applies the model to analyze findings from a case study of Norwegian/Japanese seafood distribution, and the chapter provides a rich description of a complex system facing considerable pressure to change. In-depth personal interviews and cognitive mapping techniques are the main research tools applied, in addition to tracer studies and personal observation.
The dottogram method represents a valuable contribution to case study research as it enables systematic within-case and across-case analyses. A further theoretical contribution of the study is the suggestion that network change is about actors seeking to change their network position to gain access to resources. Thereby, the study also implies a close relationship between the concepts network position and the network change that has not been discussed within the network approach in great detail.
Another major contribution of the study is the analysis of the role that network pictures play in actors' efforts to change their network position. The study develops seven propositions in an attempt to describe the role of network pictures in network change. So far, the relevant literature discusses network pictures mainly as a theoretical concept. Finally, the chapter concludes with important implications for management practice.
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Robson Almeida Borges De Freitas and Antonio Martins de Oliveira Junior
Although Public Research Institutions (PRIs) are large technology producers, they lack automated information tools that follow technical and scientific criteria for assessing and…
Abstract
Purpose
Although Public Research Institutions (PRIs) are large technology producers, they lack automated information tools that follow technical and scientific criteria for assessing and valuing patents. The assessment and valuation processes are stages of technology transfer (TT) that make it possible to obtain productive arrangements and guide the efforts of those involved in the development, maintenance and negotiation. This study aims to analyze the hybrid model of assessment and valuation of technologies by Soares (2018), applying the ‘Valorativo' software. In addition to patent value and indicator scores, the methods allow an understanding of the technology portfolio and its management.
Design/methodology/approach
This research is quali-quantitative, following an approach of applied nature and descriptive objectives. The research has bibliographical, documental and case study features based on the software development methodologies described in the study and the theoretical framework.
Findings
The Valorativo software assisted in the analysis of ten patents on PRIs. With the data collection and patent analysis, PAT1 scored highest among engineering patents, PAT3 scored highest among pharmaceutical patents and PAT10 scored highest among biotechnology patents. Five of the assessed patents resulted in a surplus of net present value (NPV), final net present value (NPVF) and royalties; revenue expectations outpaced investments.
Practical implications
The authors based the developed software on Soares’s (2018) methodology, with additional calculations and graphs. The Web software and the spreadsheet with Visual Basic for Application (VBA) were developed to deal with the patents assessment and valuation, helping in the analysis of their Legal Value, Technological Value and Market Conditions in the assessment process, and the Discounted Cash Flow and NPV in the valuation process.
Originality/value
The software helps with patent analysis and can generate indicators for traders, technology holders and researchers. Thus, it was necessary to understand and develop a theoretical-applied framework to outline and replicate the methodology clearly and easily.
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Saad M. Al Otaibi, Muslim Amin, Jonathan Winterton, Ester Ellen Trees Bolt and Kenneth Cafferkey
This study aims to investigate to role of empowering leadership and psychological empowerment on nurses' work engagement and affective commitment.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate to role of empowering leadership and psychological empowerment on nurses' work engagement and affective commitment.
Design/methodology/approach
Self-administered questionnaire data from 231 nurses working in a university hospital in Saudi Arabia were analysed using a cross-sectional research design using structural equation modelling (SEM) to assess the relationship between empowering leadership (EL), affective commitment (AC) and work engagement (WE) while testing for the mediating role of psychological empowerment (PE).
Findings
SEM analysis demonstrated that EL significantly relates to AC. AC similarly significantly relates to WE. Further, the results showed that PE substantially mediates the relationship between EL and WE. There is no significant direct relationship found between EL and WE.
Practical implications
The study findings are essential for nursing managers. They illustrate that nurses become more committed to their organisation and, in return, more engaged with their work when they receive EL. Therefore, nursing managers could train their leaders to practice EL as increased WE has been found to result in other positive work attitudes such as reduced turnover intention.
Originality/value
This study corroborates the relationships between EL, AC and WE, as well as the mediating role of PE. However, this research is unique as the long-established relationship between EL and WE was not supported. It shows that the propositions of leader-member exchange theory may not hold for unique non-Western contexts, in this case, Saudi Arabia.