Rafael Borim-de-Souza

Sustainable development and sustainability as quasi‐objects of study in management

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose styles of reasoning for the characterization of sustainable development and sustainability as quasi‐objects of study for management.Design/methodology/approach – This proposition occurs in three primary dimensions: the first deals with ontological postures, the second with epistemological perspectives, and the third with supplementary conceptualizations (dominant paradigms, the meanings of sustainable development and sustainability, and the approaches to classifying sustainability).Findings – After the theoretical‐analytical discussion the authors present a framework that classifies different possibilities for framing sustainable development and sustainability as interesting research themes for management studies.Research limitations/implications – The paper considers that discussions about sustainable development and sustainability as concerns management studies need a deeper conceptual and theoretical scrutiny. This deficiency is expressed in the difficu...

Sustainable development and sustainability as study objects for comparative management theory

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to characterize sustainable development and sustainability as study objects for comparative management theory. Design/methodology/approach – The primary objective of this paper is to characterize sustainable development and sustainability as study objects for comparative management theory. Findings – Analytical dimensions were related to establishing three proposals, which represent possible theoretical routes for characterizing sustainable development and sustainability as study objects for comparative management theory. A framework which illustrates the theoretical route taken to develop these proposals is presented at the end of the theoretical-analytical discussions. Research limitations/implications – This paper considers that discussion about sustainable development, sustainability and comparative management theory, as interesting themes for organizational studies, lack epistemological clarity and theoretical depth. Such shortcomings are identified based upon t...

Indigenous Brazilian Management Practices

The present research seeks to understand to what extent companies in emerging countries, specifically, Brazilian, adopt dominant management practices, the so-called Euro-American practices, possess their one, or show a syncretism between the two. Methods: Mixed research. One phase was to collect data using a survey about cultural dimensions adopted from GLOBE (House 1998) management practices and also from Brazilian academy. Another was to collect data through interviews, which were analyzed in parallel. Results: Of the seven dominant cultural dimensions, indigenous practices influenced two. Another three were influenced by dominant management practices. Two of the local dimensions, even with internationalization, merged practices with Brazilian cultural traits. Even so, the practices derived from Jeitinho diminished relative to the international relations and experience of managers. Conclusions: The paper shows the existence of powerful Brazilian Indigenous Managerial Practices such as personalism and formalism. These practices have great influence on international business negotiations. On the other hand, it also shows that there are still dominant managerial practices specially in the case of more internationalized Brazilian managers

Sustainability and competencies in organisational contexts: a proposal of a model of interaction

The objective of this article is to propose a model of interaction between sustainability and competencies in organisational contexts. It explores the construction of a model for understanding organisational sustainability, which is supported by contributions from organisational competencies and linked with the theory of organisational action. This leads to a brief presentation of topics related to discourse on the central idea of interaction. The article culminates by explaining the model’s logic: that competencies concede the ability for organisations to manage sustainability, and since the theory of organisational action helps clarify how organisational and societal action mesh in attempts to achieve holistic sustainability, their alignment links sustainability and competences in an organisational context with management strategies that allow an organisation to become a social agent that is aware of its place in reaching overall sustainable development.

A cultura como tema de interesse para a Teoria da Gestão Comparativa

This article was developed with the aim of analyzing which characteristics of the comparative management theory must be considered as the most coherent in studies of culture in administration. It is proposed that studies about culture, which has the influence of the comparative management theory, should be conducted by the theoretical-abstract and by the empirical approaches of this theory. This allows that the constructs researched theoretically can be enriched by knowledge of other sciences and tested empirically.

La cultura como tema de interés para la Teoría de la Gestión Comparativa

This article was developed with the aim of analyzing which characteristics of the comparative management theory must be considered as the most coherent in studies of culture in administration. It is proposed that studies about culture, which has the influence of the comparative management theory, should be conducted by the theoretical-abstract and by the empirical approaches of this theory. This allows that the constructs researched theoretically can be enriched by knowledge of other sciences and tested empirically.

Culture as an interesting topic to the Comparative Management Theory

This article was developed with the aim of analyzing which characteristics of the comparative management theory must be considered as the most coherent in studies of culture in administration. It is proposed that studies about culture, which has the influence of the comparative management theory, should be conducted by the theoretical-abstract and by the empirical approaches of this theory. This allows that the constructs researched theoretically can be enriched by knowledge of other sciences and tested empirically.