Rocío Poveda-Bautista

University objectives and socioeconomic results: A multicriteria measuring of alignment

Universities develop technology transfer mechanisms as the tools required to undertake missions committed to the socioeconomic environment. In this work a new proposal to measure the extent to which the goals or strategic objectives of a university are aligned with the results obtained through its technology transfer mechanisms with the local community is presented. This will enable to perform a diagnosis, by comparing the situation sought by the University Management team (expected case) with the actual one that derives from the application of the plans that implement the technology transfer mechanisms (real case). To achieve this, two different Multicriteria Decision Analysis techniques e.g. Analytic Network Process (ANP) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) will be used. Both the methodology and the MCDA techniques proposed need to be explained and clarified to the different experts who collaborate in the study, hence the facilitating process, key to the whole procedure, will be analysed in detail. The model proposed in this study is applied to analyse the case of the National University of Colombia - Bogota Campus. Findings show that the following questions can be answered: (i) How much importance is granted by the University Management to the objectives of the University? (ii) To what extent are the objectives of the university fulfilled by the technology transfer mechanisms to the socioeconomic environment? (iii) Are the objectives of the university aligned with the results achieved through the technology transfer mechanisms?

Influences on the use of observational methods by practitioners when identifying risk factors in physical work

Most observational methods for musculoskeletal disorder risk assessment have been developed by researchers to be applied in specific situations, and practitioners could find difficulties in their use in real-work conditions. The main objective of this study was to identify the factors which have an influence on how useful the observational techniques are perceived to be by practitioners and to what extent these factors influence their perception. A survey was conducted on practitioners regarding the problems normally encountered when implementing these methods, as well as the perceived overall utility of these techniques. The results show that practitioners place particular importance on the support the methods provide in making decisions regarding changes in work systems and how applicable they are to different types of jobs. The results of this study can serve as guide to researchers for the development of new assessment techniques that are more useful and applicable in real-work situations. Practitioner Summary: A survey about the use of ergonomics assessment methods for identifying risk factors in physical work was conducted among practitioners. The reasons to find a method more or less useful were analysed. The support the methods provide in making decisions regarding changes in work systems and how applicable they are to different types of jobs were found to be the main reasons.

Errors Using Observational Methods for Ergonomics Assessment in Real Practice

Objective: The degree in which practitioners use the observational methods for musculoskeletal disorder risks assessment correctly was evaluated. Background: Ergonomics assessment is a key issue for the prevention and reduction of work-related musculoskeletal disorders in workplaces. Observational assessment methods appear to be better matched to the needs of practitioners than direct measurement methods, and for this reason, they are the most widely used techniques in real work situations. Despite the simplicity of observational methods, those responsible for assessing risks using these techniques should have some experience and know-how in order to be able to use them correctly. Method: We analyzed 442 risk assessments of actual jobs carried out by 290 professionals from 20 countries to determine their reliability. Results: The results show that approximately 30% of the assessments performed by practitioners had errors. In 13% of the assessments, the errors were severe and completely invalidated the results of the evaluation. Conclusion: Despite the simplicity of observational method, approximately 1 out of 3 assessments conducted by practitioners in actual work situations do not adequately evaluate the level of potential musculoskeletal disorder risks. Application: This study reveals a problem that suggests greater effort is needed to ensure that practitioners possess better knowledge of the techniques used to assess work-related musculoskeletal disorder risks and that laws and regulations should be stricter as regards qualifications and skills required by professionals.

Competitiveness measurement system in the advertising sector

In this paper a new approach to find indicators that can be used to measure companies’ competitiveness and performance in an efficient and reliable way is presented.The aim is to assist managers of companies within a specific industrial sector by providing information about their relative position in the market so as to define better action plans that may improve the company’s performance.The approach combines the use of the Analytic Network Process, a multicriteria decision method, with the Balanced Scorecard. It allows the definition of a number of competitiveness indicators based on the performance and setting of the advertising sector. In this way it is possible to obtain a Competitiveness Index that allows a company to know its relative position with respect to other companies in the sector, and establish a ranking of the companies ordered by their competitiveness level.A case study in the advertising industry of Venezuela is provided. Results show that improvement plans for the agencies analyzed should promote creativity, innovation and the use of new technologies, as a particular form of innovation. These factors were considered to be the most relevant indicators in the advertising sector.The participating experts agreed that the methodology is useful and an improvement over current competitiveness assessment methods.

Measuring the Project Management Complexity: The Case of Information Technology Projects

Complex projects require specific project management (PM) competences development. However, while no complex projects have standards that are recognized to guide their management, complex projects do not have guides to deal with their complexity. To lead complex projects to success, this complexity must be measured quantitatively and, in our opinion, project management complexity assessment should be based on existing PM standards. In this work, the main project complexity assessment approaches based on PM standards are analyzed, observing that International Project Management Association (IPMA) approach is the closest to a tool that can be used as a complexity quantitative measurement system. On the other hand, several authors have shown that the inherent complexity of specific kind of projects must be measured in a particular way. The main objective of this research is to propose a project management complexity assessment tool for IT projects, providing a Complexity Index that measures the impact that complexity factors inherent to IT projects have under a specific complexity scenario. The tool combines the use of complexity factors defined by IPMA approach and the use of complexity factors found in the literature to manage inherent complexity of IT projects. All these factors were validated by expert survey and the tool was applied to a study case.