Redesigning work in university classrooms: factors related to satisfaction in engineering and business administration students
Objeto: Con este trabajo se pretende analizar cómo afectan las características del contexto del aprendizaje, es decir, cómo es el trabajo de los estudiantes en la asignatura, al potencial motivador de la asignatura y a la satisfacción de los estudiantes. Diseño/metodología/enfoque: Mediante ecuaciones estructurales (SEM) se ha analizado los datos de una muestra transversal (cursos 2008, 2009 y 2010) de 535 estudiantes de ingeniería industrial y administración de empresas, de una universidad pública española. Aportaciones y resultados: Los resultados, utilizando un instrumento validado y adaptado al mundo docente, demuestran la asociación existente entre las características del tipo de traba…
Testing invariance between web and paper students satisfaction surveys. A case study
[EN] Purpose: This paper studied the measurement invariance (MI) across web-based and paper-based surveys to evidence if both techniques of data collection can be regarded as equivalent. Design/methodology: We develop a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) with Maximum Likelihood Estimation to asses measurement invariance of the Job Diagnostic Survey (JDS) adapted to teaching, with data collected from paper and web surveys. Sample from paper surveys was constituted by 294 student of a Spanish public university in the academic years 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10. Internet surveys were administered through an open source survey application called Lime Survey. We received 241 complet…
Research in operations management teaching: Trends and challenges
Objeto: El objetivo planteado es analizar la investigación en docencia en Dirección de Operaciones (DO) publicada en revistas de alto impacto del área, con objeto de estudiar tendencias y establecer futuros retos. Diseño/metodología/enfoque: Se ha realizado un estudio bibliométrico en 45 de las principales revistas JCR de DO y Management para el periodo 1995-2010. Los 129 artículos identificados sobre investigación en docencia en DO han sido analizados. Aportaciones y resultados: Existe una escasez de artículos sobre docencia en las principales revistas de DO y Management. El 62.2% de las revistas analizadas no han publicado ninguno, y las restantes (17) han dedicado tan solo el 0.4% del to…
El efecto del tipo de producto fabricado y del tamaño de la empresa en los resultados productivos de las empresas de pavimentos y revestimientos cerámicos de la Comunidad Valenciana
En este artículo, describimos los datos recogidos en las entrevistas realizadas a 101 directores de producción y en las visitas posteriores a sus plantas. En él, presentamos la importancia que tiene el tipo de producto fabricado y el número de trabajadores en plantilla, para explicar las diferencias que existen en los resultados productivos de las empresas. Algunos indicadores como el plazo de fabricación, la cantidad de inventario de producto terminado o la productividad por operario, son sensiblemente diferentes en las distintas agrupaciones de empresas. Sin embargo, la satisfacción percibida por el mando de producción apenas varía al agrupar las empresas por producto fabricado.
Integrating human resource management into lean production and their impact on organizational performance
PurposeThe first goal of this research is to analyse the effects of lean production (LP) on the policy of human resource management (HRM). The second is to determine whether or not implementation of HRM practices associated with LP explains the differences in organizational performance between manufacturing plants.Design/methodology/approachThe paper developed a questionnaire for data collection. Findings are presented from 76 establishments (79.17 per cent of the total sample) that specialise in single‐firing ceramic tiles in Spain.FindingsCompanies that make the most of LP practices are also those that take care to train workers in using these practices as well as improving their employme…
Exploring working conditions as determinants of job satisfaction: an empirical test among Catalonia service workers
Job satisfaction is particularly important in the service industries since it involves direct contact with customers and thus has a direct influence on company performance. This paper analyses the impact of 10 working conditions on job satisfaction by means of structural equation modeling in a representative stratified random sample of 1553 service sector employees in Catalonia, Spain. Significant effects in social aspects (recognition of a job well done and social support) were found, followed by psychological loads (emotional demands and job insecurity) and by task contents (development and meaning, and predictability). These variables explained 50% of the variance in job satisfaction.
Clustering the mediators between the sales control systems and the sales performance using the AMO model: A narrative systematic literature review
[EN] Purpose: To identify all types of sales force control systems in the academic literature, and to cluster the mediators between these controls and the performances, according to the AMO model (abilities, motivations, and opportunities), analysing how each of these three groups of mediators are influenced by control systems, and how they impact on the sales performance, using a systematic literature review. Design/methodology: Scientific papers published during the last 32 years, using as databases: Business Source Premier (EBSCO), Science Direct, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. Business, Management and Social Sciences were taken as selection fields. False positives identific…
Spanish Validation of the Leader Empowering Behavior Questionnaire (LEBQ)
The concept of empowering leadership has attracted widespread academic and practical interest and different questionnaires have been developed to measure it. However, there are no instruments to measure empowering leadership in the Spanish language. This article presents the translation, adaptation, and validation of a scale to measure this construct. In addition, it analyzes the relationship between managers’ empowering leadership and employees’ job satisfaction. In turn, the study analyzes whether employees who participate in a greater number of continuous improvement programs have supervisors who favor more empowering behaviors. A total of 739 participants with various occupations from d…
The impact of Kaizen Events on improving the performance of automotive components' first-tier suppliers
Purpose - The aim of this paper is to explore the possibility of improving production indicators by implementing Kaizen Events. The teams are composed of both managers and operators with the aim of developing and/or implementing improvements in three to five days. Methodology - The empirical research will consists of the description of the results obtained in 11 industrial companies from the automotive components industry. In each company, we have followed up different interventions over a 9-12-month period. Findings - We shall present the initial situation, the activities carried out by the companies and the evolution of manufacturing performance approximately three months after the activi…
Análisis de programas de mejora continua. Un estudio longitudinal en una empresa industrial
Las empresas han utilizado diversas herramientas que permiten que los operarios contribuyan al proceso de mejora continua. Entre las herramientas más usadas podemos destacar los sistemas de sugerencias tanto individuales como en grupo. En esta comunicación haremos un repaso de las principales características de ambos sistemas y los modos habituales de implantación. Nuestra ponencia pretende intentar responder a estas preguntas de investigación. ¿Qué resultados se derivan de la implantación de sistemas de sugerencias individuales o en grupo? ¿Cuál de los dos sistemas es más beneficioso para la empresa? ¿Qué problemas surgen durante el funcionamiento de estos programas? Para ello, analizaremo…
The use of employee participation in the USA and Spanish companies
Abstract This article presents a description of employee participation in Spain. The number of published papers in English about Spain regarding this subject is very low, and even lower by Spanish authors. In short, we can say that there is hardly any knowledge regarding employee participation in Spain in both the European and American settings. This paper summarized the results of a research project we carried out whose objective was to compare employee participation using samples from large American and Spanish companies following the works of Edward E. Lawler and his team. Our aim is to have professionals and researchers throughout the world better understand the actual situation in our …
The measurement invariance of Job Diagnostic Survey (JDS) across three university student groups
Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to apply a multigroup confirmatory analysis to examine the measurement invariance (MI) of the adapted version of the Job Diagnosis Survey (JDS) as a measurement tool that analyses the relationship between the features of teaching methodologies with university students’ motivation and satisfaction across data collected on different degrees and academic years. Design/methodology/approach: Confirmatory factor analysis was carried out using a multigroup structural equation model, using the program EQS 6.1 to test the invariance of the adapted version of JDS in a sample constituted by 535 student of a Spanish public university. The assessment of invaria…
Strategic Priorities and Lean Manufacturing Practices in Automotive Suppliers. Ten Years After
Currently, automobile manufacturers have transformed their philosophy of production in favour of the lean manufacturing paradigm. By doing so, they hope to improve efficiency and to obtain better results in the markets in which they operate. This transformation must occur not only in their plants, but it seems important that their suppliers should also modify their production systems in line with the lean manufacturing philosophy (Liker & Wu, 2000; Morris et al., 2006; Oliver & Delbridge, 2002). The effects of this wave will probably result that one integrated supply chain can be built. Supply companies can see benefits from the implantation of lean manufacturing practices in certain of the…
Los Sistemas Productivos, el Aprendizaje Interno y los Resultados del Área de Producción de Baldosas-Cerámicas
El objetivo de la investigacion es comprobar la validez del modelo universal de gestion en la estrategia de produccion en el sector de fabricantes de pavimentos y baldosas ceramicas espanoles. El trabajo se centra en las decisiones de infraestructura, y pretende resaltar el efecto de los recursos internos y externos sobre la ventaja competitiva del area de produccion de las empresas. Los datos utilizados corresponden a 76 empresas espanolas fabricantes de pavimentos ceramicos. Los resultados obtenidos permiten comprobar que en este sector los recursos implantados guardan poca relacion con las prioridades manifestadas. Ademas, se demuestra que la ventaja competitiva esta mas explicada por el…
Relationship between employee involvement and lean manufacturing and its effect on performance in a rigid continuous process industry
Relationship between employee involvement and lean manufacturing and its effect on performance in a rigid continuous process industry DOI: 10.1080/00207543.2014.975852 Juan A. Marin-Garciaa* & Tomas Bonaviab Received: 1 Aug 2013 Accepted: 30 Sep 2014 Published online: 04 Nov 2014 This research aims to empirically test the effect of employee involvement on lean manufacturing (LM), and the effect of LM on production outcomes. Employee involvement is operationalised through four related variables: empowerment, training, contingent remuneration and communication. The effects are tested by recording management perceptions in a different industrial sector from those usually studied in previous re…
Protocol: Literature review on the psychometric properties of the short versions of the scales of social desirability in the answers to competency self-assessment questionnaires
[EN] Research in business organization in general and talent management (in university or professional students) uses in many cases self-administered questionnaires as a source of data to assess people's competencies. In clinical psychology, it has been shown that self-evaluations of behaviors may present a bias of social desirability. However, even in this field of research it is not usual to measure its effect when taking data. Our work proposes a protocol to find a set of scales of social desirability (SD) with less than 20 items that are valid and reliable. We also intend to identify if SD scales are associated with the self-assessments of some transversal competences.
Empowerment and Employee Well-Being: A Mediation Analysis Study
This study examines the relationship between structural and psychological empowerment and its effects on employees’ psychological, physical, and social well-being. Despite the quantity of previously published works, empirical evidence about these relationships in the workplace is scarce. We developed a mediation model in which structural empowerment predicts employee well-being via psychological empowerment. We based our study on the EU-27 data from the 6th European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS). Data were collected from a questionnaire administered face-to-face to a random sample of employees and the self-employed representative of the working population in the European Union (number of…
Changes in the Association between European Workers’ Employment Conditions and Employee Well-Being in 2005, 2010 and 2015
[EN] The aim of this paper is to study whether there is a change in the association between employment conditions and European employees' well-being at three different time points (the years 2005, 2010 and 2015), characterized by different socio-economic contexts. We based our study on the European Working Conditions Survey. Logistic regressions were performed by adjusting for gender, age, level of education, seniority, occupation, establishment size, activity sector and economic activity. Adjusted odds ratios (ORadj) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) are reported. In general, the association between employment conditions (type of employment contract, supervising, weekly working hours, …