Nature
Scientific research project (Notice Call PIBIC-UFPB-CNPQ-PROPESQ 01/2018)
Status:
Completed
Funding:
National Council for Scientific and Technological Development – CNPq
Description and Purpose:
Junior Enterprises (JEs) are non-profit civil associations with educational purposes, classified as organizations in the Third Sector of the economy. Exclusively formed by undergraduate and/or technical level students, and mainly serving the micro and small business market from various economic activities, JEs are organizations that carry out projects and services in the thematic areas of the courses which they belong (or from which they come), usually at low-cost charges, compared to consultancies already established/consolidated in professional markets, given that the rewards associated to participating in it – i.e., get to know markets while still a student, acquire work experiences, to know the entrepreneurial practice, and to develop business skills and competences – are priority elements in the JEs' mission, and of their members. A striking feature of the managerial difficulties in JEs involves the turnover of its members and its impact on the quality of creation, formalization and maintenance of daily organizational and strategic processes. Due to this turnover, and the alternations of managerial direction, a characteristic problem JEs face is that of the experiential knowledge that cannot be registered in manuals, reports, Business Intelligence (BI) tools, virtual environments, or inscribed in sustainable practices by those participating in such enterprises. This means that the elementary processes of socialization, externalization, combination and internalization of knowledge is difficult to be carried out in the context of the JEs. Knowledge Management (KM) was understood as instrumental for the practice of management as much as influenced by sociocultural elements that are beyond the mere instrumentalism with which the theme is sometimes understood in the Management literature. Institutional pressures from stakeholders, special interest organizations, trade associations, regulatory and supervisory agents are elements that also influence the practices internally sustained by these organizations. The project analyzed how knowledge management practices occur in ten (10) Junior Enterprises (JEs) located on campus I of the Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB).
Findings/Results:
Research findings encompassed the following: (i) researched JEs support KM practices at different levels of formalization; (ii) when implementing such KM practices, they face, mainly, mimetic pressures; (iii) regulatory actors of JEs' activities did not attribute importance to the theme of KM in their actions; and (iv) symbolic value and ceremonial meaning was evidenced in the adoption of KM practices, which can be considered a contemporary organizational (rational) myth.
Keywords:
Knowledge Management; Junior Enterprises; Management Practices; Organizational Analysis.
Members:
Samir Adamoglu de Oliveira (coordinator), Ana Carolina Kruta de Araújo Bispo (collaborative researcher), Ana Lúcia de Araújo Lima Coelho (collaborative researcher), Anielson Barbosa da Silva (collaborative researcher), Heudja Santana Varela Ribeiro de Araújo (researcher), Isaac Almeida Moraes Oliveira de Azevedo (researcher), Mariene Cavalcante Borba de Albuquerque (researcher), Vivianne Freire Felix (researcher).
Associated Publications:
Articles published in scientific journals:
Azevedo, I. A. M. O., & Adamoglu de Oliveira, S. (2023). Institutional Influences on Management Ideas Diffusion: The Adoption of Managerial Concepts and Practices by Management Junior Enterprises. Teoria e Prática em Administração – TPA, 13(1), 1-14. https://periodicos.ufpb.br/index.php/tpa/article/view/62974
Articles/Abstracts published in event proceedings:
Araújo, H. V. S. R., Azevedo, I. A. M. O., Felix, V. F., Albuquerque, M. C. B., & Adamoglu de Oliveira, S. (2019). Influências Institucionais em Práticas de Gestão do Conhecimento de Empresas Juniores de uma IES Federal Brasileira. Annals of Encontro da Divisão de Estudos Organizacionais da Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Administração (EnEO), Fortaleza, CE, Brazil, 10.
Final paper (undergraduate degree):
Azevedo, Isaac Almeida Moraes Oliveira de (2019). Influências Institucionais na Adoção de Conceitos e Práticas de Gestão Utilizados por Empresas Juniores de Administração: Uma Análise Regional (Final paper – undergraduate degree). Federal University of Paraíba, João Pessoa, PB, Brazil. https://repositorio.ufpb.br/jspui/handle/123456789/16222