Search results

According to the ISO 9001 standard, all the certified companies should calibrate their measuring equipment. By doing so, companies can guarantee, with rigor and quality, its measurement and use reliable data for monitoring the quality of their products. However, a metrology laboratory is not required to have an ISO 9001 certification or ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation. At this moment, there are companies with their quality management systems certified according to the ISO 9001 standard which have metrology laboratories to make internal checks of their measuring equipment. On the other hand, there are companies with ISO/IEC 17025-accredited laboratories. Finally, there are companies that have their QMS certified according to ISO 9001 and also their metrology laboratory accredited by ISO/IEC 17025. In this case the metrology laboratory must comply with the requirements of both standards. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the level of importance of the ISO 9001 and ISO/IEC 17025 standards from the perspective of a metrology laboratory.

The research methodology used to conduct this research was supported in case studies that had been carried out in nine metrology laboratories. The information was gathered based on semi-structured interviews.

After an analysis and discussion over the data obtained, the authors verified that the impact on customer perception is significantly positive, if the metrology laboratory is simultaneous certified and accredited.

From the laboratories perspective, the issue analyzed in this paper is of the utmost importance and the aim is to give the contribution in order to clarify this kind of organizations of which could be the best option for their context.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to develop a standard providing requirements for managing the quality and competence of the biological resource centres (BRC).

The methodology for the standard setting was based on the principles of credibility, transparency, alignment and consistency. A justification study was performed to establish its objectives and scope, avoid overlap and prevent the risks in implementation. International documents providing rules for standard development were taken into consideration. Requirements were assembled from several standards and participation of interested parties was promoted.

No relevant international document exists covering fundamental issues for BRC operation. It is possible to develop a consistent and aligned standard, under a credible and transparent process that fits BRC purposes.

This standard will strengthen the BRC technical competence increasing its capability to provide authenticated high-quality biological materials – a crucial factor for biotechnological developments in the fields of health, agriculture and environment. It will serve as a basis for the BRC compliance assessment and the launch pad for establishing the global BRC network.

Original paper.

The aim of this study is to examine how and in what way authentic leadership and affective employee commitment foster the learning organisation in the context of transitional market conditions. Acting as role factors, their relationships with the learning organisation were examined simultaneously, at leadership and employee level.

The study was conducted on a sample of 500 employees from various industries of Serbian transitional economy. For the research purposes, structural equation modeling (SEM) methodology was used.

The findings reveal that authentic leadership and employee commitment both play an important role. Specifically, authentic leadership directly and indirectly affects the learning organisation. The indirect effect is partially mediated by the employee affective commitment.

The focus of this study is limited to the role of authentic leadership in fostering the learning organisation. Apart from leadership and employee commitment, it might be assumed that other variables have the potential to play a role in fostering the learning organisation as well.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no previous study has focused on authentic leadership and employee commitment as an “enabling-mechanism” in fostering learning organisations in the context of transitional economies. Consequently, this paper provides theoretical and practical implications on how and in what way they impact a learning organisation by empirically studying them in the context of transitional market conditions.

Based on this holistic model, the authors propose and analyze seven key issues related to the admissibility of digital media in cross-border trials considering four Latin American countries.

The authors apply the modeling process of the soft systems methodology by Checkland in order to develop a holistic model focused on human situation problems involving digital media and information technology devices or systems.

The authors discuss the status of the identified key issues in each country and offer a perspective on the integration of cross-border work analyzing the contribution of these key issues to the collaboration between countries criminal cases or the use of foreign digital artifacts in domestic trials.

In this study, the authors assumed that the problems of official interaction between agencies of different countries are considered solved. However, for future studies or research, the authors recommend that these issues can be considered as relevant, since they are related to cross-border cooperation topics that will necessarily require unavoidable official arrangements, agreements and formalities.

This work is aimed at defining and analyzing the key issues that can contribute to the application of current techniques and methodologies in digital forensics as a tool to support the legal framework of each country, considering cross-border trials. Finally, the authors highlight the implications of this study lie in the identification and analysis of the key issues that must be considered for digital forensics as a support tool for the admissibility of digital evidence in cross-border trials.

The authors consider that digital forensic will have high demand in cross-border trials, and it will depend on the people mobility between the countries considered in this study.

This paper shows that the soft systems methodology allows elaborating a holistic model focused on social problems involving digital media and informatics devices.

This study aims to dissect the multifaceted impact of ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation, specifically within civil engineering testing and calibration laboratories. To achieve this, it intends to explore several key objectives: identifying the prominent benefits of accreditation to laboratory performance, understanding the advantages conferred through participation in proficiency testing schemes, assessing the role of accreditation in enhancing laboratory competitiveness, examining the primary challenges encountered during the accreditation process, investigating any discernible adverse effects of accreditation on laboratory performance and evaluating whether the financial cost of accreditation justifies the resultant profitability.

This study employs a qualitative approach through semi-structured interviews with 23 industry professionals—including technical managers, quality managers, external auditors and clients. Thematic analysis, guided by Braun and Clarke’s six-stage paradigm, was utilized to interpret the data, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of the accreditation’s impact.

Findings reveal that accreditation significantly enhances operational processes, fosters quality awareness and facilitates continuous improvement, contributing to greater client satisfaction. In addition, standardized operations and rigorous quality controls further result in enhanced performance metrics, such as staff capability and measurement accuracy. However, the study also uncovers the challenges of accreditation, including high resource costs and bureaucratic hurdles that can inhibit innovation and slow routine operations. Importantly, the research underscores that the impact of accreditation on profitability is not universal, but contingent upon various factors like sector-specific regulations and market demand. The study also highlights sector-specific variations in the role of accreditation as a marketing tool and differing perceptions of its value among clients. It further emphasizes the psychological stress of high-stakes evaluations during audits.

This study represents the first in-depth investigation into the impact of ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation on civil engineering testing and calibration laboratories, directly contributing to the enhancement of their quality and operational standards. Providing actionable insights for laboratories, it underscores the importance of weighing accreditation costs and benefits and the necessity for a tailored approach to the unique market and regulatory landscapes they operate in.

This research aimed to explore whether different project management approaches (traditional, agile or hybrid) differentiate concerning their impact on project success, taking project success as multidimensional phenomena. In addition to this, the authors wanted to explore if specific project characteristics moderate these effects.

The authors empirically addressed these on a sample of 227 project professionals worldwide. The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of project success dimensions was done to validate these factors' constitution concerning their manifest variables. The K-means cluster method was used to distinguish respondents' profiles among agile, hybrid and traditional project management approaches. To test the significance among research groups, the research hypotheses were tested with ANOVA tests.

The authors evidenced that the agile approach has a more significant positive impact concerning the two out of five dimensions of project success, under analysis in this research (impact on the team and preparing for the future), over the traditional approach.

The research is relevant for project management practitioners to tailor the success-oriented project management approach and for academics to develop project management contingency theory.

The authors constructed a research framework to test the impact and effectiveness of different project management approaches (traditional, agile, hybrid) on the dimensions of project success in different contextual conditions (organization industry, project type, novelty, technology, complexity and pace). The paper's main contribution is to expand data on the impact of these approaches on project success and compare them with relevant results and findings of previous research.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the critical factors (CRFs) of IS/ISO/IEC 17025:2005 laboratory accreditation and indicators of the performance (IOPs) in the testing/calibration laboratories. The impact of accreditation on the performance is analyzed using the level of presence of critical factors that can be used to benchmark the best practices in the accredited testing and calibration laboratories.

A questionnaire is designed on the basis of an extensive literature review on laboratory accreditation and performance. Based on the responses from pilot study, the developed instrument is tested for its unidimensionality, reliability and validity. Multiple regression analysis is carried out to analyze the impact of critical factors on the IOPs.

The findings reveal that the six distinct critical dimensions of laboratory accreditation (which are the independent variables) have a significant impact on the performance of the accredited testing/calibration laboratories. The performance is measured by the dependent variables which are the IOPs. The customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, laboratory performance, image of the laboratory, the number of increased customers and loyalty of the existing customers are highly influenced by the accreditation which in turn improves the performance to gain the competitive advantage.

Contribution to research is in the area of laboratory accreditation and the performance measurement by the development of a comprehensive instrument to analyze the Laboratory Quality Management System. The results are dependent on the number of respondents who are the quality/technical managers.

This instrument would enable the accredited laboratories to analyze their performance through the feedback from the quality/technical managers to gain credibility and to continually improve and benchmark the quality management system in alignment with the quality policies.

This paper proposes an instrument to measure and benchmark the performance of the accredited testing and calibration laboratories.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the activities needed to meet specified requirements to assist laboratory staff running tests and calibrations and to obtain ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation.

The relevant literature that contributes to establishing activities that help laboratory staff to obtain ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation was studied. Laboratory researchers specializing in electro-medical equipment quality control were questioned about the criteria to be observed when selecting, developing and validating analytical steps.

Results revealed the analytical method criteria to be observed, which demonstrated their essentially quantitative nature.

This study presents a model that improves selecting, developing and validating analytical steps and contributes to producing reliable test and calibration results. These improvements can help laboratory testing and calibration to meet clients’ needs, satisfy specified requirements and provide reliable results.

This study aims to present the environmental management system implemented at UNISINOS and demonstrate some of the main results obtained in more than 15 years carrying out the environmental management of the campuses in São Leopoldo and Porto Alegre. The focus is on the main environmental impacts: electricity consumption, water consumption and solid waste management.

Sustainable development of universities has gradually become a common practice, as the knowledge shared in the higher education institutions reflects in the behavior of society. In a university, an environmental management system is used to plan, implement and manage processes referring to the environmental, social and economic aspects, so as to improve their performance and comply with legal requirements. For this, national or international standards and/or methodologies can be followed, which serve as a guide for the institution to reach sustainability in a staggered manner, according to the availability of data and resources for environmental management.

After 16 years of certification, based on the monitoring performed, positive performance was observed, reflecting a better and attentive university, with an environmental policy that goes beyond the borders of the campuses and transmits solid concepts of environmental education to the academic community, under the rigid control of the ISO 14001 tool.

In 2004, UNISINOS became the first Latin American university with an ISO 14001 certification. In 2018, the certification was extended to the UNISINOS Campus in Porto Alegre, capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. All the support activities conducted and implemented in the campuses (São Leopoldo and Porto Alegre) follow the same rules implemented by the UNISINOS environmental management system. After the experience of implementing the ISO 14001 requirements, UNISINOS included other normative requirements in 2013, adopting an integrated management system.