Preface

Integrated in an environment characterized by strong levels of competitiveness and formidable challenges, today’s organizations face a continuous and highly complex process of change. Conscious of this reality, this book, Productivity and Organizational Management, aims to address the issues related to the latest advances in productivity and organizational management that have resulted from the new demands of the current business environment. As a consequence of social, technological, political, and economic changes, organizations need to be increasingly proactive to anticipate changes. Indeed, the field of work and organizational management is becoming highly complex, placing ever greater demands on management to come up with effective and proactive strategies. Taking into account this reality, this book seeks to provide a framework of support for academics and researchers, as well as those who operating in the management field who need to deal with policies and strategies related to work issues. Presently, we live in a time of vast uncertainty and ambiguity regarding the direction in which organizations are moving. While many advances have been made in understanding productivity, the social and organizational context remains problematic. Managers, engineers, and other professionals continue to have questions about what strategies would yield the greatest gains in productivity. Knowing what is the best work organization and design that is compatible with the desired productivity levels remains a challenge. Interdisciplinary perspectives that will further our knowledge and understanding of productivity and related change processes and work practices are needed. Such perspectives will foster greater synergy and interrelations among organization, management, and employees, which in turn will lead to increased efficiency, productivity, and profitability. Effective work practices and good employee relations are crucial in today’s organizations because they create incentives that will lead to reduced absenteeism, turnover, and organizational costs and higher levels of commitment, effectiveness, performance, and productivity. Addressing these issues, this book focuses on the implications of changes in productivity and organizational management. It explores the models, tools, and processes available to organizations that will help managers and all managerial professionals better prepare themselves to face emerging challenges and changes in the workplace and, consequently, lead their organizations to ever greater levels of productivity.

In its quest to share knowledge, through debate and information exchange, about productivity and organizational management, this book is divided into seven chapters. Chapter 1 addresses how human capital is measured and its relation to the generation of business value. Chapter 2 discusses a Portuguese university’s experience with ISO 9000 norms in connection with human resource management practices, employee performance, and employee satisfaction. Chapter 3 contains information on management tools that support productivity in organizations based on empirical investigations from Slovenia. Chapter 4 describes economic and social efficiency in public services. Then Chapter 5 covers human resource management and productivity improvements in health systems, in particular with respect to the Portuguese National Health Service. Chapter 6 describes the important role of managerial competencies in productivity enhancement interventions from a HRM perspective. Finally, Chapter 7 discusses the prospective characteristics of contemporary engineers, using mechanical engineering as an illustrative case.

Considered an excellent opportunity to participate in an exchange of information, ideas, and opinions about productivity and organizational management, this book is designed to increase knowledge and understanding of all professionals – human resource managers,managers, engineers, entrepreneurs, strategists, practitioners, academics, and researchers – involved with productivity issues, in all kinds of organizations and activity sectors.

The editors acknowledge their gratitude to de Gruyter for this opportunity and for its professional support. Finally, we thank all chapter authors for sharing their interest in the topic and carving out the time for their contributions.

Carolina Machado, Braga, Portugal

J. Paulo Davim, Aveiro, Portugal