The aim of this thesis is to empirically study challenges and opportunities in the operational work in contract-based R&amp;D alliances in order to increase the understanding of this type of work system and explore how these work systems could be sustainable. Based on the concept of sustainable work systems, this thesis addresses issues of how work in R&amp;D alliance should support both the competitiveness of the firm as well as regeneration of human resources. In the area of product development, the main drivers for creating alliances are often strategic and concern the globalization of today’s business environment. Issues such as increased cost-based competition, shorter product life cycles, and a greater need for flexibility to tackle technological or strategic shifts have all been argued to motivate companies to form R&amp;D alliances. No doubt adopting the firm’s development of new products to an R&amp;D alliance strategy has a substantial impact on the operational work. However, despite the vast research on why companies engage in R&amp;D alliances, the knowledge of operational work and how they are operationally managed is still limited. Several scholars have recently reported that failed operations may be one of the most important reasons for situations where R&amp;D alliances do not reach their goals. An empirical investigation covering 14 R&amp;D alliances has been conducted based on the Critical Incident Technique. The findings – supported by 158 critical incidents, which have been identified by operational leaders – reveal new knowledge about the R&amp;D alliance operational work with implications for both competitiveness and regeneration of human resources. A central contribution stems from the specific insights given to challenges and opportunities that operational leaders face in the R&amp;D alliance work, in five perspectives on the R&amp;D alliance process: Formation, Formal R&amp;D process, Informal relationships, Embeddedness, and Exit. Further examination of the critical incident data showed several implications for operational leaders with direct contributions to both product development and alliance theory. First, four critical roles for operational leaders in R&amp;D alliances have been suggested: Facilitating, Finishing, Ambassadoring, and Trustkeeping. Secondly, a framework of trust formation mechanisms has been applied and tested. This concluded that process-based, characteristic-based, and institutional-based mechanisms represent important aspects in alliance operation; the relevance of these trust formation mechanisms contributes both to the knowledge of micro-processes of trust formation and specific managerial abilities in R&amp;D alliances. Third, we examine the influence of two types of contextual risks that have been addressed in previous alliance research: relational and performance risks. The comparative analysis of a sub-sample of alliances shows that these risks influence the operational work in R&amp;D alliances for which operational leaders could be specifically trained and prepared. Lastly, a framework that addresses support from HRM in inter-organizational context has been developed and analyzed. This has indicated that HRM represents an important, although unexploited, resource when engaging in R&amp;D alliances. Furthermore, we have suggested a tentative framework for the R&amp;D alliance as a sustainable work system. The overall findings from this study have been synthesized from a sustainable work systems perspective, based on three organizational principles that have been drawn from practice-centered product innovation: broadened roles and responsibilities, work as a collaborative process, and decentralization of strategic information. A fourth principle has been incorporated as well: support systems for sustainable work. This concluded that, in order to be sustainable, companies that engage in R&amp;D alliances should carefully manage and reassess the consequences of these organizational principles in order to simultaneously support the goals that are involved in this type of work system: to simultaneously support innovation, inter-organizational relationships, and the regeneration of human resources. / <p>QC 20100813</p>

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T16:45:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Jose Roberto de Melo Franco Junior.pdf: 631721 bytes, checksum: e6a2d407af746b73123b4cd0cca2451b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-11-04 / Two large sectors of the economy that are in the transitional stage of personal decisions (for administrators) for institutional decisions (based on systems). The survey was conducted as a series of structured interviews applied to all (forty) of the administrators of a given hierarchical level of an IT department of a large financial institution of São Paulo called leadership in this financial institution. The study took place during an organizational transition. A portion was already working under the personal approach and the other based on a system approach. The results were proof that administrative work has become operational and the identification of features and scope of influence of this transformation. Using the criterion of separation between administrative and operational work of Simon, it becomes possible to compare two people and say who spends more or less time with administrative activities. This criterion based on the time spent is what was used to conduct the research. It was concluded that a simple questionnaire would not be able to give valid results in terms of cognitive psychology and a lot of care would be taken even if it used an interview to have evidence of reliability and validity suggested by Stabein to a relevant work. The results were processed and analyzed from the qualitative point of view to serve the purpose of identifying the transformation of administrative work in operational work. The characteristics found were that this transformation has a behavior of imposition; the quality of the result depends on the maturity of existing processes and affects self-image of the administrator. Synthesizing the scope found in a single sentence, it becomes: "People management, process management and software management / Dois grandes setores da economia que se encontram no estágio de transição das decisões pessoais (por administradores) para decisões institucionais (baseadas em sistemas). A pesquisa foi realizada como uma série de entrevistas estruturadas, aplicadas à totalidade (quarenta) dos administradores de um dado nível hierárquico de uma área de TI de uma grande instituição financeira de São Paulo, chamada de liderança nessa instituição financeira. O estudo se deu durante uma transição organizacional. Uma parcela já trabalhava segundo a abordagem pessoal e a outra baseada em um sistema. Os resultados obtidos foram a comprovação de que o trabalho administrativo se tornou operacional e a identificação de características e escopo da influência dessa transformação. Usando o critério de separação entre trabalho administrativo e operacional de Simon, passa a ser possível comparar duas pessoas e dizer quem gasta mais ou menos tempo com atividades administrativas. Esse critério, baseado no tempo empregado, foi utilizado para a condução da pesquisa. Concluiu-se que um simples questionário não seria capaz de dar resultados válidos do ponto de vista da psicologia cognitiva e que uma série de cuidados teriam de ser tomados, mesmo quando se utilizasse uma entrevista para ter as evidências de confiabilidade e validade preconizadas por Stabein para um trabalho relevante. Os resultados foram tratados e analisados sob o ponto de vista qualitativo, para se atender ao objetivo de identificar a transformação de trabalho administrativo em operacional. As características encontradas foram que essa transformação é de natureza impositiva, que a qualidade do resultado depende da maturidade dos processos existentes e afeta a autoimagem do administrador. Sintetizando o escopo encontrado em uma única frase, ele se torna: Gestão de pessoas, gestão de processos e gestão de software