Wesley Ricardo de Souza Freitas

Continuing the evolution: towards sustainable HRM and sustainable organizations

Purpose – This article aims to put sustainability as a new step in the evolutionary pathway of human resource management (HRM).Design/methodology/approach – This article provides a literature review on the evolution of HRM and we reflected how HRM can contribute to organizational sustainability.Findings – The study presents a sustainable HRM as a new step in HRM evolution. The study argues that sustainable HRM is completely necessary to achieve sustainable organizations and a more sustainable society.Originality/value – Sustainability is becoming a key concept and a key element in the future of organizations, but little is known about the role of HRM in this process.

Lean and green? Evidências empíricas do setor automotivo brasileiro

e-mail: ablsjabbour@gmail.com; prof.charbel@gmail.com 2 Curso de Administracao, Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso do Sul – UFMS, Rod. BR 497, Km 12, CEP 79500-000, Paranaiba, MS, Brasil, e-mail: wesley007adm@gmail.com 3 Faculdade de Economia, Administracao e Contabilidade de Ribeirao Preto, Universidade de Sao Paulo – USP, CEP 14040-905, Ribeirao Preto, SP, Brasil, e-mail: aatadrianobirigui@gmail.comThe aim of this paper is to verify whether the practices of lean manufacturing are positively associated with the adoption of environmental management practices in Brazilian companies in the automotive sector to test the hypothesis that by being lean the business tends to become green. To this purpose, a framework associating these concepts with the research hypothesis was proposed. The data collected from 75 companies were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling. The main results show that lean manufacturing (LM) is positively associated with environmental management (EM), but the explanation power of LM over EM is considered weak/moderate. In fact, being lean also means being green, but other organizational variables not considered in this study may influence the greening of organizations.

Gestão de recursos humanos e desempenho operacional : evidências empíricas

Suporte financeiro: UNESP. Abstract: Human resource management is often cited as a variable that positively influences the performance of organizations. Arguments and theoretical proposals of similar content have increased in the literature, yet there is very little research that sheds light on this relationship in Brazilian companies. Accordingly, a survey was conducted in order to check empirically whether the human resource management positively influences the operational performance of companies in the Brazilian automotive industry focusing on the segment of automotive parts and components. Methodologically, a survey of 75 companies in the sector aforementioned was carried out; the data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling, a second-generation multivariate analysis. The main hypothesis was confirmed indicating that human resource management is indeed positively related to the operational performance of the companies studied.Human resource management is often cited as a variable that positively influences the performance of organizations. Arguments and theoretical proposals of similar content have increased in the literature, yet there is very little research that sheds light on this relationship in Brazilian companies. Accordingly, a survey was conducted in order to check empirically whether the human resource management positively influences the operational performance of companies in the Brazilian automotive industry focusing on the segment of automotive parts and components. Methodologically, a survey of 75 companies in the sector aforementioned was carried out; the data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling, a second-generation multivariate analysis. The main hypothesis was confirmed indicating that human resource management is indeed positively related to the operational performance of the companies studied.

Building sustainable values in organizations with the support of human resource management: Evidence from one firm considered as the 'best place to work' in Brazil

Researchers and other professionals unanimously agree that companies should become more sustainable, but this will not happen without the support of human resource management. Paradoxically, there is a lack of information on the support human resource management offers to organizational sustainability applied to real cases. Therefore, this research presents a case study on this topic that was carried out in a leading Brazilian company, which is considered as a model and has been selected as ‘the best place to work in the country’. The results provide practical examples of how this family company has been working to guarantee an increasingly sustainable performance with the support of human resources, highlighting the achievements and challenges the company has faced. One of the main results indicates that companies seeking to achieve sustainability need the assistance of the human resource field in order to design a communication system which bridges the gap between practices and sustainable values.

Gestão de recursos humanos e manufatura enxuta: evidências empíricas do setor automotivo brasileiro

The aim of this paper is to verify whether the practices of human resource management have a positive influence on the adoption of lean manufacturing practices in Brazilian companies in the automotive sector. To this aim, we proposed a framework linking these concepts to the proposed research hypothesis. Data collected from 75 companies were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The research demonstrates that human resource management indeed tends to influence the adoption of lean manufacturing practices in a weak-moderate manner.

Organizations and the United Nations Millennium Development Goals: Evidence from some of the largest companies in Brazil

Purpose - The objective of this study is to verify whether some of the largest companies in Brazil adopt management practices aligned with the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Design/methodology/approach - Overview information obtained from the web sites of six Brazilian multinational companies listed in the Forbes Global 2000 ranking was analyzed. Findings - The major findings of this study indicate that the companies studied did not demonstrate clear knowledge of the MDGs, nor did they adopt practices aiming at meeting those goals. The evidences show that the companies adopt corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices, which are indirectly related to four MDGs. It was observed that the CSR practices tend to be developed based on a contingency perspective according to the characteristics and impacts of products offered by those companies. Therefore, there is a window of opportunity for those companies to begin developing programs in order to meet the MDGs aiming at new business opportunities, innovative CSR practices, and new ways to make CSR information evident and more organized. Originality/value - The originality of this research lies in the fact that there is a dearth of literature on MDGs and companies in development countries.

The importance of quality management for the effectiveness of environmental management: evidence from companies located in Brazil

Recent discussions in the specialised literature support that quality management influences the level and maturity of environmental management practices; however, in searches performed in the ISI Web of Science and Scopus databases, it was verified that there is a need for research to portray this relationship quantitatively, especially when it comes to companies located in Brazil. Thus, this research aims to explore this gap: does quality management positively influence the adoption of environmental practices in companies located in Brazil? Therefore, a conceptual grounding on the aforementioned issues was carried out and, based on this, the questionnaire used for the empirical phase of the research was constructed, being a self-administered e-survey with 104 companies of all sizes and sectors located in Brazil. The results demonstrated that, in fact, quality management positively influences environmental management practices. In addition, it was verified that the size of the companies and ISO 14001 certification are significant to control environmental management practices. To date, it is believed that this is the first study that shows a survey to test the relationship between quality management and environmental management practices in companies in Brazil.

A influência da gestão de recursos humanos no desempenho ambiental no setor metal mecânico brasileiro

The environmental protection is a concern of all sectors of society. In the business environment, human resources can contribute to environmental performance through its Human Resources practices. Thus, this article aims to identify whether human resource management practices influence the environmental performance in the mechanical metal sector companies linked to the Brazilian Association of Machinery and Equipment (ABIMAQ). As methodological procedures, we carried out a survey with a sample of 108 companies, analyzing the results through the Partial Least Squares (PLS). The results indicated that from the management of green human resources, through practices such as recruitment and selection, training, performance evaluation and rewards, there is a positive and significant influence on reducing the consumption of natural resources such as water, energy, matter raw and reduction in the generation of solid waste and wastewater, environmental aspects that form the environmental performance of companies in the sample of the Mechanical Metal Sector.