The Covid-19 virus outbreak in late 2019 - early 2020 led to a surge of remote working, where the majority of EU white collar workforce was compelled to work in an out-of-office setting; this comes to a sharp contrast compared to past years, where just 5-10% of EU employees have been working remotely. Nevertheless, such a rise in remote working has not been unprecedented; there has been a steady, yet minimal, increase through the years in the numbers of remote workers (esp. in the ICT sector), with a similar spike during the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak and other similar cases of business interruptions. The difference this time is that the increase in remote working due to Covid-19 virus outbreak has been fuelled both by more flexible and decentralised management practices, as well as more widely available technologies. Moreover, people are more used to it, be it for work or for personal communication. This led to an immediate and creative adaptation of workplaces to a remote work mode, where in many occasions the entire workforce worked from home.

O PROJETO DTE vai disponibilizar um conjunto de funcionalidades inovadoras, que recorrerá a tecnologias nas áreas de inteligência artificial e blockchain, permitindo designadamente a seleção e avaliação de candidatos com motores e ferramentas muito especificas e diferenciadas

Social dialogue is an essential instrument within the EC to prevent and regulate relations between employers and employees. Within the EC conflicts at organizational level regularly escalate at high costs, and therefore member states offer different third party interventions and mediation services to solve these conflicts. The EC promotes mediation and other forms of non-judicial conflict resolution. However, there is a lack of knowledge about a) the actual functioning of these services; b) the conditions to promote the use of mediation; c) the antecedents of effective mediation interventions. Especially for collective labor conflicts, the structuring of third party support and mediation services in itself are important elements of social dialogue. Partners feel the need to innovate social dialogue. One of the components for innovation is supporting social partners at organizational level, especially when negotiations are stuck, agreements cannot be reached, or rights are not respected, and conflict escalation might occur. Different member states have different traditions in providing such mediation assistance. However, actual knowledge on how this functions and how to further develop lacks. Are the structures adequate, accessible, and acceptable to conflicting parties in collective organizational conflicts? How do the formal structures relate to the use of independent consultants offering facilitation and mediation services? What are limitations to the use of mediation, and how can ‘preventive mediation’ be used to de-escalate in an early stage conflicts within organizations between management and labor? These questions are at the heart of further development of social dialogue in Europe, and this study aims to compare the experiences in different member states, in a search for good practices, inspiring social partners and governments of member states to promote mediation, both as prevention and conflict intervention.

Adapting to unstable and dynamic environments is a critical challenge for organizations. It requires continuous improvements not only in products and services but also in their overall functioning. Rapid shifting in the context creates a need for individuals and work teams to quickly adapt to new conditions and task demands (e.g. Kozlowski & Bell, 2008). The recognition of this new reality has given rise, in the last decade, to a set of theoretical models and empirical research that seek to explain adaptation (e.g. Rosen et al., 2011). Authors have argued that in order to adapt to unexpected situations, teams need to adjust their cognitive and behavioral processes, and emergent states (e.g., Burke et al., 2006). However, a lack of theoretical and empirical integration among different approaches for studying adaptation has constrained the advancement of this field of research. At the empirical level, there is a lack of experimental research and empirical work on the underpinnings of adaptation as a dynamic process, as well as a lack of longitudinal designs that analyze how team performance and adaptation occurs over time (Baard et al., 2014). Finally, although organizations increasingly rely on multiteam systems (MTS) to accomplish their goals (i.e., “two or more teams that interface directly and interdependently in response to environmental contingencies toward the accomplishment of collective goals”, Mathieu et al., 2001, p. 290), research has not empirically analyzed how teams coordinate their work in order to adapt and perform over time. We propose four interrelated empirical studies, combining research methods and approaches to capture the dynamics of team cognition on team adaptation and performance trajectories. We also investigate team cognition and leadership as two relevant coordinating mechanisms that support team adaptation in multiteam systems. In study 1 we will experimentally manipulate shared mental models (SMM) and team cognitive flexibility in o...

Psychosocial Risks prevention was identified as a key priority and the recognition of the significant changes in the work context contributed for emphasizing Emergent Psychosocial Risks - EPR (e.g., precarious contracts, ageing workforce, and family-work conflict) (EU-OSHA, 2007). The contextual factors and risk management practices critical for prevention have been evidenced in research and support the European policy and national strategies and obligations. However, ESENER survey reveal that these policies did not yet consolidate into generalized good practices (EU-OSHA, 2010, 2012). It is also acknowledged that social dialogue is a key factor for improving quality in work (EC, 2003), implementing participative solutions and empowering the stakeholders increase the success of the preventive actions. The accomplishment and positive outcomes of this involvement require that the stakeholders have opportunity to participate and that their perspectives are taking into account. The current societal and economic crises amplified the threats related to psychosocial risks. In this context SMEs are more vulnerable and also facing bigger challenges for initiating, maintaining and improve prevention initiatives. The present action intends to contribute for an efficient promotion of knowledge dissemination and offer an informative toolkit for preventive actions towards EPR that SMEs are facing, cross industry and cross sector.  This will be achieved using social dialogue with different formal stakeholders.  Action specific objectives are:  Map the SMEs knowledge about EPR; Identify best practices and main obstacles perceived by SMEs Stakeholders; organize a workshop with stakeholders to disseminate and debate knowledge, action plans and a tool kit; develop a tool kit that can be easily used by SMEs. The action targets SMEs in four European countries that are facing severe societal challenges due to the economic crisis (Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain).

The project ORCAB, involving 10 partners from nine countries, aimed to benchmark the organisational factors influencing the well-being of health professionals, quality of hospital care and patient safety. A multi-centre study, partners hailed from Bulgaria, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Romania, Turkey and the United Kingdom.ORCAB profiled the specific factors of hospital organisational culture that increase burnout among physicians, and monitored physician burnout and its association with quality of hospital care. The team then identified appropriate bottom-up solutions to these problems and developed a network for stakeholders to communicate about interventions to improve the quality of care.The project succeeded in meeting many of its goals. ORCAB built a website as an ongoing resource for stakeholders, providing guidance on how to reduce job burnout. The team also completed 10 systematic reviews that provided evidence-based data on these issues, and identified successful interventions.Other accomplishments include country-by-country reports on the targeted concerns in rarely studied countries. Although interventions were not developed for these countries, ORCAB did complete case studies based on qualitative and quantitative data. These case studies may be used as the basis for interventions in hospitals.ORCAB also identified three gaps in the assessment of organisational culture, quality of care and medical error. To fill these gaps, the project developed three scales to measure these variables. These tools have already contributed greatly to the field. Finally, a European network of hospitals has been established to further disseminate project findings.Through its work, ORCAB has already improved the working conditions of more than 3 000 health care professionals. With plans in place for providing consultation to clinics and hospitals interested in change, ORCAB hopes to bring about further reductions in physicia...