The world is undergoing dynamic changes. For businesses, it brings positives, but also negatives. The positive is the global market for business. The downside of the global market is the increasing ...competitive pressure. Large enterprises with serial production who are setting production for a longer period ahead are not so noticeable. Small companies are the most vulnerable. There are various tools or overall approaches to business management that allow them to increase work efficiency or production productivity or eliminate waste. In recent years, one can see an increase in the popularity of Lean or Six Sigma. Their contribution to businesses cannot be disputed. Most of the tools and approaches to support business management are oriented or based on the conditions of serial production. Small businesses with piece production are at a disadvantage here. It was this fact that motivated us to focus on piece production and to find space for the implementation of supporting tools that could be helpful. Our research has shown that there are tools that can be applied in the conditions of piece production. The application of the identified tools proved that the results achieved in reducing production times or increasing productivity are unmistakable.
EVALOG Prümper, Jochen; Schneeberg, Tom; Prümper, Alina Marie
Prävention und Gesundheitsförderung,
11/2021, Volume:
16, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Open access
Zusammenfassung
Hintergrund
In Kleinstbetrieben werden Arbeitsplatzevaluierungen/Gefährdungsbeurteilungen – insbesondere zur psychischen Belastung – seltener umgesetzt als in größeren Betrieben.
Ziel ...der Arbeit
Mit EVALOG existiert seit jüngstem ein Verfahren zur Evaluierung psychischer Belastung in Kleinstbetrieben. EVALOG beruht auf dem KFZA (Kurzfragebogen zur Arbeitsanalyse), der im Rahmen der Gefährdungsbeurteilung psychischer Belastung als Standardinstrument gilt. Der vorliegende Beitrag geht der Frage nach, ob EVALOG die Gütekriterien der Gebrauchstauglichkeit gem. EN ISO 10075‑3 (2004) erfüllt und wie die Verständlichkeit, Handhabbarkeit, Teilnahmemotivation und emotionale Reaktion aus Sicht von Evaluierenden und Beschäftigten beurteilt wird.
Material und Methoden
Die Studie wurde durch standardisierte Fragebögen im Feld erhoben sowie mithilfe deskriptiver sowie inferenzstatistischer Verfahren ausgewertet. Es nahmen 19 Evaluierer/-innen und 27 Mitarbeiter/-innen aus 19 österreichischen Kleinstbetrieben teil.
Ergebnisse
Der EVALOG wurde eine hohe Gebrauchstauglichkeit attestiert, die Informationen zur Evaluierung waren eingängig und gut verständlich und die einzelnen Schritte der Evaluierung einfach umzusetzen. Zudem waren die Teilnehmer/-innen der Studie hoch motiviert den Evaluierungsdialog durchzuführen und fühlten sich nach dem Dialog positiv gestimmt.
Diskussion
Mit EVALOG liegt ein wissenschaftliches fundiertes, standardisiertes, leitfadenorientiertes ökonomisches, dialogorientiertes und anwendungsfreundliches Verfahren zur Evaluierung psychischer Belastung vor, welches von Kleinstbetrieben eigenständig zum Einsatz gebracht werden kann.
In many European countries, entrepreneurs have to consider psychosocial factors in the workplace risk assessment. Little is known about psychosocial working conditions in micro- and small companies. ...Even less is known about the entrepreneur in these settings.
The present study was conducted to develop and examine the job demands and resources of small business owners and managers, who serve as important designers of their businesses' working characteristics.
N = 29 semi-structured interviews with a unique sample of owners and managers of the transportation sector were analysed via qualitative content analysis.
The data suggest the presence of specific demands (time-, management-, and organisational demands) and resources (support and feedback). In particular, the variability and load of the demands indicate that the existing theoretical framework for employees is inadequate for evaluating the working characteristics of micro- and small business managers.
Occupational health activities in small companies should include the working situation of the entrepreneur/manager.
Management practices is the term used to refer to the activities and procedures adopted to manage an organization. The effects of managerial practices on micro and small companies need to be studied ...and known, not just limited to the theoretical perspective. The objective of this study is to identify the management practices of the companies participating in a program to foster innovation and how they contributed to the technological performance of innovative projects. To this end, interviews were carried out with 21 MSEs (Micro and Small Enterprises) seeking to have an in-depth understanding in order to achieve the research objective. The results revealed that in management practices in general, only three companies achieved management practices considered strong. In addition, all companies that presented a level of management practices above average, likewise, had a good technological performance.
Práticas gerenciais é o termo utilizado para se referir às atividades e procedimentos adotados para administrar uma organização. Os efeitos das práticas gerenciais nas micro e pequenas empresas necessitam ser estudados e conhecidos não limitando-se apenas à perspectiva teórica. O objetivo deste estudo é identificar quais as práticas gerenciais das empresas participantes de um programa de fomento a inovação e como elas contribuíram com o desempenho tecnológico de projetos inovadores. Para tanto foram realizadas entrevistas com 21 MPEs buscando ter uma compreensão aprofundada com o intuito de atingir o objetivo da pesquisa. Os resultados revelaram que nas práticas de gestão de forma geral, somente três empresas atingiram práticas de gestão consideradas fortes. Além disso, todas as empresas que apresentaram um nível de práticas de gestão acima da média, de igual forma tiveram um bom desempenho tecnológico.
The purpose of this study is to contribute to our understanding of the effects of implementing optimized solutions to increase the performance of a company. Based on a sample of 1442 small companies, ...the design of a linear model of optimization was selected because of the limits of the model of organizational development in Romania and the perspective on the market value of firms, which, in fact, is the most eloquent result of management's actions. Research results reveal that successful performance management is important for the survival and success of any organization in today's environment, which is highly competitive and continuously evolving. As expected, the management of an entity goes beyond time, and the role of the leader of the future is to ensure the long-term growth of shareholders' wealth and the prosperity and well-being of the company he or she leads. Finally, our conclusions show that this model is valid and can be used to produce and implement organizational change in Romanian companies.
The aim of this paper is to explore the sustainability choices of a group of investors relating to corporate environmental initiatives and disclosures given a case‐based scenario. Obtaining such an ...understanding is important because, as per signaling theory, investors' preferences for sustainable development initiatives and disclosures are one of the contributory factors in determining the quality of environmental disclosures. A web‐based survey of a group of investors was conducted. The questionnaire includes a hypothetical case‐based scenario presenting environmental versus economic consequences of pollution prevention initiatives for a small mining company. The findings indicate that a majority (52%) of the respondents failed to choose a dominant proenvironmental or profinancial strategy. The findings imply that making a decision about a sustainable initiative is complex and requires consideration of a range of contextual factors. The findings support the view that given the resource limitations of a small company, compliance with existing regulation is preferred by the investors over competitive advantage and reputation for undertaking prosustainability initiatives. Hence, one implication is that the regulators should examine tightening the current sustainability regulation status for small companies regarding their environmental policies and disclosures.
Small software companies have to work hard in order to survive. They usually find it challenging to spend time and effort on improving their operations and processes. Therefore, it is important to ...address such needs by the introduction of a proposed framework that specifies ways of getting things done while consciously encourage them to enhance their ability to improve. Although there are many software process improvement approaches, none of them address the human factors of small companies in a comprehensive and holistic way. Samay is a proposed framework to integrate human factors in the daily work as a way to deal with that challenge. This study suggests managing human factors but pointing out the software process life cycle. The purpose is to converge toward a continuous improvement by means of alternative mechanisms that impact on people. This framework was developed based upon reviews of relevant standards (such as ISO/IEC 29110, ISO 10018, OMG Essence and ISO/IEC 33014) and previously published studies in this field. Moreover, an expert review and validation findings supported the view that Samay could support practitioners when small software companies want to start improving their ways of work.
•A standard based framework: ISO/IEC 29110, ISO 10018, OMG Essence and ISO/IEC 33014.•Human factors identification along the software process life cycle.•Merging these human factors into “Samay”, our standard based framework.•Validation of the proposed approach, and highlighting benefits and limitations.
Strategic business advice is perceived as the way to meet challenges related to business development and strategic change, with direct impact on business growth and productivity. Small IT companies ...face particular pressures resulting from rapid changes in technology and market environment. In many cases they need transformation in order to grow or to cope with evolving competition. They often need to transform their strategic business approaches, including implementation of new products and increasing business models efficiency. The article analyses the process of strategic change of the management model in a small IT company with the participation of a business advisor. The process based consulting model was used to demonstrate how the strategic change is implemented in organization, while the perspective of business owner is used. It is concluded that strategic business advice is a powerful tool when pivot in company’s strategic orientation is necessary, but several conditions has to be met for the change to happen.
Abstract This paper aims to exhibit three issues that have risen in Consumer Law as a result of the enforcement of Law Nº. 19,496 by our Courts of Justice. First, the enforcement of the protective ...statute by micro and small companies against their suppliers under the terms of Law No. 20,416. Second, the close dependency or autonomy between infringement liability and compensation, particularly under the hypotheses by which legal warranty operates. Lastly, the expiration period that characterizes the legal warranty as opposed to the general statute of limitations periods set forth in Article 26 of Law No. 19,496.
Resumen Este trabajo pretende exponer tres temáticas que se han suscitado en el derecho del consumo a raíz de la aplicación de la Ley n.º 19496 por nuestros tribunales de justicia. En primer lugar, la aplicabilidad del estatuto tutelar por las micro y pequeñas empresa ante sus proveedores en virtud de la Ley n.º 20416. Segundo, la íntima dependencia o autonomía entre la responsabilidad infraccional y la indemnizatoria, en particular cuando operan las hipótesis que dan lugar a la garantía legal. Por último, el plazo de caducidad que caracteriza a la garantía legal en oposición a los plazos generales de prescripción consagrados en el art. 26 de la Ley n.º 19496.
After a long period of universal mandatory audit, the UK reduced the regulatory burden of private firms by introducing size-based audit exemption in 1994; the size thresholds have subsequently been ...progressively increased. Both accounting bodies and credit-rating agencies (CRAs) have expressed reservations about this policy, arguing it could diminish user confidence in reported accounting numbers, and lead to a reduction in financial statement quality and credit ratings. Prior research, however, suggests that the managers of small UK companies do not perceive there to be an association between financial statement audit and firm credit score. To provide evidence of any effect on user confidence of making audit optional, we examine the credit scores and financial reporting quality of a large sample of UK private firms which qualified for audit exemption after major threshold changes in 2004. We find that, even though they report lower average profits, companies which retain a voluntary audit enjoy significantly higher credit scores than those which opt out of audit. The results of both conservatism and accruals-based tests indicate that opting out of audit is associated with less conservative financial reporting, consistent with the concerns of the accounting bodies and the CRAs, and providing an explanation for why opt-out firms report higher profits but receive lower credit scores. This study contributes to an important policy debate by providing large sample evidence that the audit does confer benefits to private firms in terms of financial reporting quality, assurance and the credit scores generated from the financial reports.
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