ESHT - DNA - Comunicações em eventos científicos
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- Erasmus students expectations: a qualitative study in portuguese contextPublication . Silva, Susana; Silva, Cândida; Martins, DoraThe European Commission presents the Erasmus+ Programme as a tool to achieving economic growth and creating highly-skilled jobs in Europe, in order to strengthen its position as a knowledgebased economy. This programme aims to improve the quality and relevance of higher education, strengthening quality through mobility and cross-border cooperation, making the knowledge triangle work: linking higher education, research and business to achieve excellence and bring about regional development, and therefore improving governance and funding. The aim of this work is to analyse and understand the Erasmus+ student’s expectations that choose a Portuguese higher education institution to perform their Erasmus+ experience. 54 Semi-structured interviews were conducted with Erasmus+ students. The main results showed that the motivations to have an Erasmus+ experience were the need to learn another language and add cultural background to their personal experience. It is also understood as a good way to develop their knowledge in academic and personal learning, and to promote their employability. Erasmus+ students believe that their curriculum vitae is valued, gaining more flexibility and more competence to work in the international environment. Their expectations are to improve the domain of a foreign language, to increase personal and professional independence, to ameliorate academic and communication skills, and to have more responsibility and comprehension about professional environments. The return to the home country is also referred as a relevant moment in this experience. Students expect to be more confident in that occasion, to have more personal and professional skills that facilitate their employability. The reached results allowed obtaining the following evidences: (1) the main motivations of students in an Erasmus+ programme to choose an institution were the good weather conditions, similar culture, language facilities, good networks between the home and host institutions, and personal development.; (2) the personal development includes academic and learning aspects of development of the individual curriculum vitae as well as being a facilitator to their professional integration in the market labour since that companies value international mobility experiences, which shows personal flexibility and a more natural ability to work internationally; (3) in the mobility process is important to have good processual organization of the host institution, the teachers availability to help foreign students and the fact that all the staff in the host institution can speak English; and (4) the soft skills development of students, namely communication, independency, responsibility and confidence, as well as academic skill, which may potentiate students employability at home countries.
- Expatriation: the focus on psychological contractPublication . Silva, Susana; Santiago, Filipa; Martins, DoraIn the past few years, the number of expatriates has shown a growth trend worldwide. Accordingly, the expatriate management, which integrates the subsystem of International Human Resources Management, has now a renewed attention and has been growing as an intervention area of Human Resources Management. Therefore, the psychological contract has been seen, more and more, as a relevant factor in explaining the labour relations and the number of studies around this theme has increased. The success of expatriation is directly influenced by the psychological contract and depends largely on how HRM practices are developed (Homem & Tolfo, 2008). Understanding the reaction of workers through changes (Bligh & Carsten, 2005; Shield et al., 2002) is essential, since the response behaviour can be a crucial contribution to the success or failure of the international assignment. In the same context, we are witnessing an increasing attention on the contribution that the Psychological Contract may have under uncertainty. The individual, as an employee of an organization that decides to accept an international assignment and move to another country, needs to fit in a continuous and motivating relationship with the employer. The concept of the psychological contract is fundamental to the understanding of labour relations, based on the perceptions of those involved. Many aspects of these relationships are implicit (unwritten) which can cause different interpretations of expectations, promises and obligations between parties. Several authors argue that the psychological contract is the key to understand and manage the attitudes and behaviour of individuals in organizations (Bunderson, 2001; Kraimer et al., 2005; Lemire & Rouillard, 2005). The goal of this work is to understand the psychological contract in expatriates: before the assignment, after adjustment to the host country and repatriation. A qualitative methodology was used, and for that we applied semi-structured individual interviews and sociographic questionnaire to people who were, at the time, expatriate. In total, ten interviews were conducted and the analysis of the interviews were made through Grounded Theory. The results suggest that there is only fulfilment of the psychological contract in the stage of the preparation of the international assignment, existing, on the other hand, breach of the psychological contract during expatriation and at repatriation, according to the perception that expatriates have about the end of expatriation. However, most of the interviewed expatriates evaluates positively the expatriation experience, although organizations appear to have just a few rules to support expatriate, particularly logistical and financial support, and not having a complete and thorough program of support to the expatriation management. The results also suggest that it is essential that organizations encourage communication with expatriates and promote the continuous support, which should be constant and intrinsic to all phases of expatriation in order to avoid the “abandon” feeling.
- Online recruitment for organizational knowledge management: a quantitative studyPublication . Silva, Susana; Silva, Cândida; Martins, DoraThe process of Recruitment and Selection of new employees has a growing influence on business results and, nowadays, the use of knowledge and information and communication technologies enables this process to be faster and more complete. The need to improve the existing resources in companies has conditioned the changes in the Recruitment and Selection process and, over time, we observe the transformation of this process. Thus, Recruitment and Selection became a strategic process in Human Resources Management improving the organization's competitiveness. The objective of the study is to understand the role of online recruitment for organizational knowledge management; and to characterize the most used social networks in Online Recruitment, identifying the main reasons to use online recruitment during the process of recruitment and selection. ln this quantitative study, 112 companies fulfilled a questionnaire that evaluated the online recruitment process. The main results suggested that national companies and companies with more than 250 employees use more online recruitment. The fact that some companies have job openings available on multiple websites simultaneously, making information available 24 hours a day, reducing the time and process costs and streamline communication between candidates and the organization are some of the most listed reasons to use the Online Recruitment. Otherwise, the use of traditional methods of recruitment and the fact that the access to social networks are not allowed in some organisations are some of the reasons cited for not using this method of recruitment. Thus, it can be concluded that the Information and Communication Technologies are present in the process of recruitment and selection and that this is a reality existing in organizations as a tool to support of knowledge management.
- Knowledge management and labour retention: an empirical studyPublication . Martins, Dora; Silva, SusanaThis study focuses on exploring how knowledge management topic is linked with labour retention. Thus, the main objective of this research is to understand how knowledge management (KM) influence the retention decision of expatriates after an international assignment (i.e. repatriates) within the organisation. Although the knowledge management literature has started to emphasize the role of knowledge management on employees’ retention, remains unaddressed the relationship between the knowledge management and repatriates’ retention. This concern is increasingly present on the agenda of Portuguese organisations given their recent need of growing internationalisation. Related with this issue, it is important to pay attention to employees involved in international assignments, especially in the period after returning to their home organisation (i.e. repatriates). However, empirical evidence in literature of this relationship is scarce. Therefore, this study was conducted with nine organisations aiming to understand why repatriates remain within home organisation upon their international assignment, underlining what factors associated with knowledge management increase the willingness to stay. Data were gathered from organisations of different business sectors operating in Portugal, in a set of 42 repatriates and 18 human resource managers through semi-structured interviews. The results show that in general repatriates remain after returning to their home organisation. Although, (i) when organisations value the knowledge acquisition (i.e. experience, knowledge and skills acquired) upon the return, the repatriates remain satisfied. In contrast, (ii) when their home organisation does not value the knowledge acquired the repatriates also stay but dissatisfied. Furthermore, the results also suggest that the type of knowledge acquired or transferred plays a central role in promoting the willingness in remaining satisfied after repatriation. Thus, the repatriates’ retention will remain a problem and the satisfaction of repatriates will be the key challenge for organisations. Finally, this study suggests further research possibilities in this area and provides guidelines to managers in order to potentiate the retention of their repatriates within the organisation.
- Human resources management practices in hospitality companiesPublication . Martins, Dora; Silva, Susana; Silva, CândidaHuman Resources Management (HRM) has been recognized by academics and practitioners as an important element in organizations. Therefore, this paper explores the best practices of HRM and seeks to understand the level of participation in the development of these practices by human resources managers in the hospitality industry and compare it with other industries. Thus, the study compared the HRM practices of companies in the hospitality sector with HRM practices of companies in other sectors, and identifies the main differences between their HRM practices. The results show that the most frequent HRM practices in all companies, independently of its sector of activity, are hiring and training. When comparing hospitality sector with other sectors of activity, some differences were noticed, namely in the adoption of the practices of communication and information sharing, and of recruitment and selection. According to these results, the paper discusses the major theoretical and practical implications. Suggestions for future research are also presented.
- Tendencies on reward practices and employees’ satisfaction level: evidence from portuguese companiesPublication . Martins, Dora; Silva, SusanaThe purpose of this research is to characterize the reward practices existing in Portuguese companies through the reward systems developed by these companies. Therefore, it was identified what include systems rewards on Portuguese companies and explored what type of rewards is more valued by employees. Survey data were collected from 146 Portuguese companies representing different sizes and business sectors operating in Portugal and 94 employees from two companies. A quantitative study was conducted to evaluate the hypothesis of the study. The findings show that 1) the rewards based on seniority systems are currently in disuse, unlike rewards systems based on job/position, performance and skills; 2) a combination of monetary and non-monetary rewards are the most valued by companies; 3) there is a predominance of variable compensation in reward systems of the companies as well as mixed incentives (individual and group); 4) there is a predominance of the short-term incentives in the reward system; 5) the annual bonus is the most common incentive; 6) the predominant benefit is the assignment of mobile phone and health insurance; 7) the satisfaction with the rewards system is lower in female employees; 8) the employee’s seniority is not related with the satisfaction of the rewards system; 9) the higher satisfaction with the rewards system is founded in the employees with higher educational qualifications; and 10) the satisfaction with the reward system seems equal in employees with more and less than 45 years of age. Theoretical and practical implications as well as and future research directions are discussed.
- Employer branding: the importance of retentionPublication . Silva, Susana; Calisto, InêsEmployer Branding is a new tool used in Human Resources Management which develops a corporate branding as well as creates an active relationship between the organization and the qualified candidates to recruit and retain. Nowadays, the organizations have to take special care in the retention of its employees. The retention of employees is a priority for the Human Resources Management, as it leads the businesses to achieve high levels of profitability and success. The main goal of this research is to understand how the organizations settled in Portugal retain their employees and what practices are used to do so. It is also important to realize if the organizations think that the retention of employees is indeed important, and if so, what is their vision on the subject and, if it is through the Employer Branding process that they can achieve higher rates of retention and satisfaction of their employees. For this study were analysed eleven companies in Portugal, from distinct business areas and different locations. The qualitative methodology was used and the main technique of data collection was the semi-structured interviews. Altogether, eleven interviews were held to the responsible for Human Resources of each organization, or one of the department's employees who were linked to people management. The final results of this investigation suggest that the process of Employer Branding begins to gain ground in human resource management and that the companies in Portugal are concerned with the retention of its employees, using different practices and sometimes, creative strategies to achieve it.
- Soft skills in expatriationPublication . Silva, Susana; Martins, Dora; Silva, CândidaContemporary competitiveness and globalisation drives organisations to explore new markets, and provide themselves with distinctive features and value added. Additionally, the literature underlines the importance of this global environment impact the processes of managing Human resources in organisations. Therefore, the adequacy of human resources is imperative in the strategy of organisations. This study aims to understand the importance of the international assignment, to understand the soft skills most valued by recruiters and how is their evaluation. To successfully address these aims we conducted a qualitative study. The data collection method used was semi-structured interview and were interviewed ten recruiters of expatriates. Data were analysed according to content analysis procedures The results suggest that soft skills are important features in the international assignment, since that act on factors that influence the success of the assignment. The most important skills are interpersonal relationships, teamwork, communication, adaptability and tolerance to ambiguity. We discuss the main practical and theoretical implications, and offer some suggestions for further studies.
- Knowledge management in the human resources recruitment and selection processPublication . Silva, Susana; Silva, Cândida; Martins, DoraHuman resources management is related to a strategic and provisional vision of the organisations. Several authors have pointed the need to understand the human resources practices and the way different organisations implement these practices. On the other hand, it is also important how the information is managed during the several human resources practices. The main objective of the study is to understand the perception of human resources consultants during the recruitment and selection process. It also aims to understand how the recruitment and selection process is conducted, to comprehend the motivations of the recruiters during the process, to characterize the soft skills measured, and how the information is managed. In this qualitative study, participated 12 recruiters, of both genders, with mean age of 36 years (SD=7.98). The participants fulfilled a demographic questionnaire and it was conducted a semi-structured interview. Data were verbatim transcript and analysed according content analysis. The main results showed that recruiters have a positive perception of their activity. The online recruitment was identified as a source of excellency to attract candidates. Regarding to the assessment techniques the interview is the most frequent technique used during a recruitment and selection process therefore the competence of the recruiter conducting these interviews is pointed as very important. The recruiters referred that all the process is focused in the soft skills, and they reported a large degree of confidence in the evaluation methods used. The motivation of the recruiters lies essentially in the scope of knowledge of their function and development opportunities. Thus, it can be concluded that recruitment and selection is a very complex process with several features and all the information related to these processes should be managed very carefully. We discuss the main practical and theoretical implications, and offer some suggestions for further studies.
- Intercultural knowledge managementPublication . Martins, Dora; Silva, Susana; Silva, CândidaThe scope of intercultural knowledge is the study of the differences between the national and foreign cultures. This paper's main objectives are to understand how employees assigned internationally perceive the cultural differences they are faced with, the factors which influence intercultural adjustment during an international assignment and with what type of support they are provided in their home companies. Admittedly, cultural differences between home and host countries could negatively impact the success of international assignments inasmuch as the former may create a set of barriers which expatriates need to overcome. Thus, this study also examines how organisations could develop their employees' cross-cultural competencies by means of their intercultural knowledge management practices. A total of fortyfive semi-structured interviews with Portuguese international assignees (26 in Angola; 19 in United Arab Emirates), who were immersed in the host country culture for at least six months, allowed for a qualitative approach to data collection. Results from collected data suggest the process of intercultural adaptation of Portuguese assignees to the Angolan and United Arab Emirates context is not standard. On the one hand, the results emphasize the fact that there are (1) contextual factors; (2) idiosyncratic factors and; (3) factors of an organisational nature. These are the main types of factors which help explaining why international assignees find intercultural adjustment difficult. On the other hand, the study suggests that organisations should take heed of intercultural knowledge management practices which facilitate their future international assignees' intercultural adjustment. Most assignees consider the organisational support insufficient. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of the intercultural management process, and explore avenues for future research.