Suchergebnisse

The evaluation of organizational climate is a critical factor in business management, and its importance is even greater in military higher education institutions, due to the high motivation and commitment expected from their members. However, research on this topic in Ecuador is scarce. The present study validates a scale to measure organizational climate in Ecuadorian military higher education institutions. The instrument proposed by Hernández, Garrido & Rico (2016) was applied to an intentional sample of 44 Military Engineering School (ESINGM) members. Its reliability was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient, obtaining values above 0.960, indicating high internal consistency. The dimensions of the organizational climate present in the institution were identified, and the results of the first-level statistical validation were presented. It is concluded that the scale is valid and reliable for measuring the organizational climate in this institution. In addition, this study contributes to the understanding of the organizational climate in military higher education institutions in Ecuador and may have implications for the management and improvement of educational quality in the context of higher education in Ecuador.

The current situation in the field of education demands teachers who are capable of functioning in new learning scenarios where the possibilities offered by ICT for information acquisition and communication processes are enormous. In this sense, it is necessary to have postgraduate programs that contribute to the development of digital skills in teachers. The main purpose of this work is to propose the curricular design for a Master's program in Education, Mention in Management of Learning Mediated by ICT, offered by Universidad Nacional de Chimborazo in Ecuador. For this, a qualitative research was undertaken in order to characterize and determine the most important features of each module of the curriculum. A documentary research design was applied through the PICOC method (Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome, Context). The result of this work was a curricular mesh that consists of 12 study modules wherein aspects such as: digital literacy for the new society were addressed; didactics in new digital environments; the design and development of content and digital resources for learning; new ways of learning and innovating in education; as well as research in educational technology.

Postgraduate quality management can be carried out from two approaches: the first, (competitive) is based on compliance with academic, scientific and administrative standards, and the positioning of universities in world lists of best institutions; the second (humanist-social) in the commitment of the universities with the solution of the problems of sustainable development. The objective of this article is to review the recent information backing the competitive and social-humanist approaches to quality in postgraduate studies, and on this basis support what should be the meeting point between both approaches in Latin American universities. For this purpose, articles published predominantly in Latin America, and also from Asia and Africa, were analyzed. From the points of view expressed in the reviewed documents, reflections on quality management in postgraduate studies were formulated from the Latin American perspective. It was found that the competitive approach predominates in postgraduate quality management worldwide, and that the social responsibility of universities, and of postgraduate studies in particular, implies a commitment to solving local, regional and national problems, only achievable with a solid social-humanist approach. Latin American universities must combine compliance with competitive standards with postgraduate social responsibility objectives, and assign greater weight to the latter in accreditation systems.

The first decade of the 21st century has brought with it two important breakthroughs in the study of comparative politics. The first one concerns the availability of data. Nowadays, access to a wide range of information sources for a large number of countries in the world can be gained without too much effort. The second one concerns the methodological achievements made in recent years. Today, sophisticated multi-level analyses can be conducted fairly easily. Among qualitatively oriented researchers, Charles Ragin has made a significant contribution by introducing the fs/QCA-technique into the field of political science. However, the growing amount of data & the new methods not only open up new possibilities for the researcher. The present article explicitly deals with the problems related to the use of multi-level analyses & fs/QCA in comparative political research. In addition, attention is drawn to the drawbacks of using survey data from heterogeneous settings. Adapted from the source document.

This article presents a way of dealing scientifically with the problem of comparison among dynamically evolving units of analysis in social science, namely by using methods from theoretical, computational & mathematical biology & phylogeny (evolutionary tree) analysis. First, the standard political science & static method of comparative analysis is criticized. Second, some important aspects of the dynamic comparison are presented from its multidisciplinary & historic context, commenting on the compatibility with evolutionary institutional as well as universal Darwinian theoretical perspectives. Third, dynamic comparison is approached using first techniques from standard social science statistical software (SPSS) & then from molecular genetics (MEGA, Molecular Evolutionary Analysis). Examples of evolutionary tree analyses of the European nations are presented & discussed. Similarities & dissimilarities between social science & biological applications of the dynamic comparison techniques are discussed, emphasizing the importance of openness to new techniques & application of panel data for elaboration of new methods of dynamic comparative analyses in social sciences. 2 Tables, 9 Figures, 68 References. Adapted from the source document.

The research project described in this article starts out with the hypothesis that new forms of bureaucracy have arisen within public administration as a consequence New Public Management-related reforms which have swept through the West in recent decades. The main goal of these reforms is to make public administrations more business-like and therefore more effective and customer-oriented. Administrations are thereby coming more to resemble businesses and are becoming decentralized while retaining central management and control. Herein lies the danger that NPM reforms will have the effect of creating bureaucratic expansion within these administrations. This situation is paradoxical since the NPM wave builds on the very economic research which has been critical of the phenomenon of bureaucratization within public administration. Within the framework of ongoing efforts to incorporate public activity, a series of new organizational forms has been created, all with a need to justify their activities upward and outward. The bureaucratization of these secondary functions within the decentralized level of the state is the focus of the research project to be undertaken. The project will involve three case studies of NPM-influenced forms of management in a municipality, a hospital, and a college. Adapted from the source document.

The spatial theory of the functionality of representative democracy (Down, 1957) is one of the most known positive theories in political sciences; however, its correspondence with reality in certain issues is questioned. This project explores three different explanations for this phenomenon: 1) the theory is partially based on unrealistic assumptions, 2) the methods supporting the theory are based on unrealistic assumptions, & 3) certain observations leading to the idea of non-correspondence with reality are based on a simplified view of the theory. A common denominator for the explanations is that they question established assumptions of determinism, & will hopefully contribute to a deeper development of the theory, its methods, & how can it predict reality. References. Adapted from the source document.

This article examines five common misunderstandings about case-study research: (1) Theoretical knowledge is more valuable than practical knowledge. (2) One cannot generalize from a single case; therefore the single case study cannot contribute to scientific development. (3) The case study is most useful for generating hypothesis, while other methods are more suitable for hypothesis testing & theory building. (4) The case study contains a bias towards verification. (5) It is often difficult to summarize specific case studies. The article explains & correct these misunderstandings one by one & concludes with the Kuhnian insight that a scientific discipline without a large number of thoroughly executed case studies is a discipline without systematic production of exemplars, & that a discipline without exemplars is an ineffective one. Social science may be strengthened by the execution of more good case studies. 1 Table, 59 References. Adapted from the source document.

An interview with Gunnel Gustafsson, vice general director of the Swedish Research Council, on equality in research. The Swedish Research Council's main equality goal is an equal distribution of males and females in academic positions and research grants. According to Gustafsson, this policy has already achieved limited success, but the male dominated hard sciences remain a challenge. L. Pitkaniemi

Recent years have proven formative for the Swedish administration as the disciplinary commission and committee on the Constitution consider proposals whose adaption will have a far-reaching impact on the nation's social organization. As the constitutional changes can impact significantly on government at the local level, research focusing on questions of local government structure is urgently needed. A major strength of local government is political leadership, which is the key to bridging the gap between democracy and management research. The authors note that the influence of political leaders at the local level is often greater than that of their counterparts in the national government. The direction of future constitutional change will determine the extent to which local government and its leaders can preserve their strengths. Adapted from the source document.