WPOM-Working Papers on Operations Management

How to measure cultural fit in organizations. The CFAM Method

Antonio L. Leal-Rodríguez — 2022-11-14

Organizational culture is definitely a transcendental element in terms of the development and smooth running of organizations. However, there are still very few companies that are actively managing it. This is largely due to the inherent difficulty in quantifying such an abstract and ethereal subject as culture and values. Our objective is to present the CFAM method (Cultural Fit Assessment Method), a procedure for measuring organizational and individual culture based on values, as well as the degree of fit between them. This method makes it possible to identify dominant cultural traits in organizations and individuals and then to assess by means of a series of KPIs whether the two fit together in an agile, fast and cost-effective way.

SQAS, social responsibility assessment or instrumentalisation?

Juan-Luis Torres-Rubira — 2022-11-14

Safety and Quality Assessment for Sustainability (SQAS) is evaluation promoted by an as-sociation of chemical companies called CEFIC. Its vocation is to serve as a tool for the as-sessment of safety, quality, security, health, environmental and corporate social responsi-bility (CSR) of the logistic suppliers, but the activity of the companies that promote it can generate doubts about its instrumentalization. On the other hand, ISO 26000 offers an agreed guidance framework on social responsibility (SR). Through a comparative analysis, using the core subjects of ISO 26000 as a basis, the suitability of the SQAS evaluation in its “Transport Service” modality, as SR measurement tool, is tested. The analysis detects im-portant shortcomings in the SR core subjects assessed, especially those referring to human rights, moral obligations with society or stakeholder commitment and its participation, but on the other hand, the assessment stands out for its exhaustiveness in specific transporta-tion safety issues. This work contributes to contextualize the SQAS assessment as a CSR tool and identify the aspects that should be incorporated for a more effective assess of CSR. It also shows the lack of rigor of the self-regulation tools of organizations.

Protocol: Systematic literature review on family business and information and communication technologies

Yadira Robles-Santana — 2022-11-14

Family businesses move the Spanish economy and are the main job generators in the country, adapting to changes where it is necessary and useful to incorporate Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for good business and commercial management. Taking this into consideration, this research aims to carry out a protocol to subsequently develop a systematic literature review on these topics: family businesses and ICTs.
This protocol introduces some reflections about the issues of family businesses and ICTs, which gives threads to understand their importance. Likewise, the objective is to give answer to a group of research questions that will be answered along the literature review process. A methodology section is also included. It clearly shows which inclusion and exclusion criteria have been used in the search strategy under the Scopus and Web of Science databases, making visible the total number of scientific articles until reaching a filtered sample of 106 final articles for later review. Finally, a code´s tree is elaborated based on the research questions and a working plan. It ends by including a list of bibliographical references of all the work prior to the development of the protocol.

The part-time assistant professor in the Spanish university from an autoethnographic approach

Beatriz Garcia-Ortega — 2022-11-14

The figure of the part-time assistant professor has been gaining presence in Spanish uni-versities since its inception in the 1980s, especially since 2010 with the economic crisis and the reduction in the replacement rate of university professors. Despite the growing rele-vance within the university faculty, the controversy that the use of this figure has generated, and the problems faced by this group of professors in their performance, there is a shortage of publications focused on questioning its role, how this figure is used and how its perfor-mance can be smoothed and favored. To contribute in this direction, and with the purpose of encouraging better management of this figure from the perspective of human resources and the quality of the service offered, this article addresses the use and improvement of the benefits of the part-time assistant professor in the Spanish university from a collaborative autoethnographic approach. In this sense, a series of aspects are identified and proposed to improve the framework and conditions in which part-time assistant professors carry out their activity, as well as their competences and attributions, in order to promote reflection and debate among teachers, scholars, government bodies and other actors with the ability to influence their performance according to the goals for which this figure was actually conceived, which ultimately would result in greater self-realization and personal satisfac-tion of these professors, and contribute to educational excellence, as well as a better quali-ty of service and superior competitiveness of universities.