Bianca Smith Pilla

Trust in Virtual Teams: A Performance Indicator

This paper aims to analyze how virtual teams deal with the process of trust among the people who are part of it. The research is characterized as descriptive. The survey data techniques that were used were questionnaires via Internet and interviews by telephone. The participants of this research were eight managers from Embratel, a telecommunication company in Brazil. The results of this research pointed out that, for its participants, trust is a significant performance indicator for the collaborators and that reciprocity, positive expectation and foresight are base concepts so that all may feel secure when it comes to the risk of a negative consequence and vulnerability. The clear definition of the objectives, the emphasis in internal communication, the manager as an example and model, and the worthiness of the people become the main care and practice in order to obtain better trust in virtual teams.

Educação a distância para gestores locais : potencialidades e desafios

Resumo: A partir de um curso de extensao a distância voltado a gestores locais, intitulado Administracao Municipal Eficaz com Responsabilidade Fiscal (AMERF), analisam-se as potencialidades e desafios da EAD no aprimoramento da gestao publica. visando a ampliar a eficacia governamental, A experiencia do curso AMERF destaca algumas perspectivas da EAD no setor, tais como a flexibilidade de tempo e espaco proporcionada pela EAD e a possibilidade de reducao do custo da maquina publica, assim como a troca de experiencias e a busca de inovacoes para solucionar problemas administrativos atuais . Por outro lado, constata-se tambem a necessidade de uma mudanca nas estruturas mentais e nas culturas organizacional dos participantes.

Characterizing E-learning Practices in Companies

It becomes perceptible that each day more companies make use of e-learning for the capacity of its workers. During a congress in the e-learning area it has been noticed the increase in corporative e-learning cases. These cases show that there does not exist a single form of e-learning within the companies. Each program makes use of adequate practices for organizational characteristics, which may vary according to each company’s knowledge, the technology, the available resources, and the vision administrators have concerning e-learning. Thus, this paper aims to characterize some of these different e-learning practices. Exploratory research was carried out where e-learning specialists were interviewed in nine different companies and a university in Australia. The results revealed successful accounts as well as challenges that must overcome. These results will form the basis for later research where an evaluation system that can be adaptable to each corporate e-learning practice will be developed.

Virtual Corporate Training Systems

The objective of this study is to identify criteria and indicators to evaluate distance education programs used in companies. The choice of this subject is justified by current difficulties companies experience in evaluating training, especially virtual training. It provides a correlation between results of this type of training and organizational results. A theoretical base was built on the following aspects: training perspectives and development, structure and evaluation of virtual training and definition of performance indicators — emphasizing the model of evaluation of four levels by Kirkpatrick (1998) and the Balanced Scorecard by Kaplan & Norton (1997). Starting from this conceptual base, the authors conducted exploratory research using techniques of data collection, interviews with distance education specialists, and an analysis of organizational best practice in virtual training. Eight specialists from Brazilian Universities were interviewed and the best practices of thirty two companies were analysed from papers presented to the Congress on E-learning Brazil in 2004. The preliminary results allow establishment of a relation between criteria and relevant indicators for evaluation of this type of training system. The validation of this model will be through a case study of a company using virtual training.

The Human Dimension on Distance Learning: A Case Study of a Telecommunications Company

Introduction The history of administration reveals that the greatest concern for the people in organizations first appeared in the 1930s, in opposition to the mechanistic paradigm of the scientific management and classical theories, which were first advanced by Taylor and Fayol. The research done by Elton Mayo about the productivity of the employees in the Hawthorne demonstrated that people are motivated to work by social and psychological factors and not only by salaries. This was the beginning of the Human Relations (HR) theory in which employees start to be seen as people and the organizations consider them as a fundamental factor in productivity, although the importance of the human aspects was not universally recognized. At the present, due to the complexity of organizations, a number of organizational studies are appearing that do not yet constitute acknowledged theories, but indeed deserve much attention. What stand out are the researches on Organizational Culture, Apprenticeship, Innovation, and Creativity, among others, with contributions to the Administration from several sciences: Sociology, Psychology, Economics, Pedagogy, Computer Science, and more. Organizational behavior studies bring up the human matters in organizations. To study the human aspects in the organizations (motivation, change in behavior, desire, symbolism, communication and speech, perception of space and time, leadership, individual singularities, participation and consideration, and learning) permits a greater comprehension of people, their feelings, interactions, and reactions to changes. Thus, the human aspects should be considered in the Human Resources policies so that the employees and the company may both achieve their strategic goals. Nevertheless, history also reveals that when employees are attempting to upgrade their professional capacities, some organizations have claimed that priority must be given to the objective aspects (costs, logistics, needs assessments, evaluation...) to the detriment of the human aspects. On the other hand, historically, many organizations acknowledged the strategic importance of Training and Development. Therefore, organizations have been investing heavily in the capacity of their employees. The skills and knowledge of latter must be continuously updated so that they may keep up with the speed of change with efficiency. With this growing need for people qualified, every day there appear new information technologies that can be combined with modern education techniques, thus permitting improvements in human learning and work performance. One option used in company training is Distance Learning (DL). This learning-apprenticeship modality is being applied more and more to increase the capacity of employees. The utilization of a Distance Learning System presents advantages, such as the access to a greater number of people, the integration of many educative resources, respect for the students own rhythms of work and learning, continuous updating, and a reduction on educational costs (Niskier, 1999). On the other hand, owing to the fact that it is a recent application system in companies and despite the several studies about its organizational impacts, knowledge about DL systems are still insufficient. Research in general so far has taken in account the mainly technological aspects of DL and, in some situations, the matter of apprenticeship. This is so in the case of the company investigated, since 1996, it has implemented and consolidated a DL System, which delivers several training programs to their employees. This company in the telecommunications business, where changes are swift and technologies rapidly become obsolete, demonstrates concern in overcoming the barriers of space and time. It is also striving to make the capacity of its employees more flexible in order to maintain its leadership in the market and achieve its goals. This telecommunications company is a pioneer in this matter with its DL System, which has been acknowledged in the business and academic area. …