Introduction: In nursing, identifying factors encouraging positive work attitudes is extremely important since a nurse’s performance directly impacts the quality of the care they provide, and, therefore, their patients’ health. Objective: The main objective of this research is to analyze whether the supervisor–nurse relationship is positively correlated with a nurse’s organizational citizenship behaviors. Thus, we established a main hypothesis as follows: the quality of the supervisor–nurse interpersonal relationship is positively related to the job satisfaction of the nurse, controlled by moderating the effects of psychological empowerment, the perceived organizational support, and leader–leader exchange. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional descriptive study with individuals as the units of analysis. The population studied comprised all the nurses and supervisors working in nine public hospitals in the autonomous community of Aragon (Spain). The sample consisted of 2541 nurses, 192 supervisors, and 2500 paired dyads. Self-report questionnaires were used to ensure workers’ anonymity. The dependent variable was the nurse’s organizational citizenship behaviors; the main independent variable was the supervisor’s leadership; the moderating variables were the nurse’s empowerment, the organizational support the nurse perceived, and the quality of the supervisor–superior relationship. Results: Empirical evidence demonstrates that the quality of the supervisor–nurse relationship is positively correlated with organizational citizenship behaviors. The results also confirm the moderating effect of nurses’ empowerment and of the organizational support they perceive. Discussion: Our research shows how important it is for organizations to establish management practices promoting high-quality nurse–supervisor relationships; thus, hospital management should monitor both the supervisors’ performance and leadership. Conclusions: The quality of the relationship the supervisor establishes with their nurses is vitally important since it is a necessary requirement for beneficial results for the organization as a result of citizenship behavior practice.

This article analyses the effect of temporality on the strategy map of a hospital by the use of neural networks. An attempt is made to temporally align all strategy objectives in order to test how temporality affects relationships between the indicators. The strategy map was prepared using a new method based on the European Quality Model (EFQM) and the BSC (Balanced Scorecard). Using the case of a hospital, and being based on the premise that the customer is the principal objective, this article demonstrates (by the application of artificial neural networks) that the two perspectives of finance, and learning and growth show a temporality of three and six months respectively in relation to prospective customers – as proposed by Kaplan and Norton (2002) Kaplan, R. S. and Norton, D. P. 2002. Cuadro de Mando Integral (The Balanced Scorecard), Barcelona: Gestion. [Google Scholar] . In addition, the article considers whether the relationship between the financial perspective and the customer perspective is direct, or if other relationships exist between the financial perspective and internal processes or training and growth; this is possible because artificial neural networks (ANNs) allow for the simultaneous inclusion of the interrelationships of all the indicators upon introducing the deduced temporality into the strategy map. The effect of the existence of internal relationships between indicators of the same perspective is also analysed.

ResumenEl Modelo Europeo de Gestión de la Calidad (European Foundation for Quality Management, EFQM) es el más implantado en los hospitales españoles. Este modelo tiene como fin último la satisfacción del cliente interno y externo. El modelo de gestión estratégica Cuadro de Mando Integral (CMI) facilita la alineación de la gestión con la misión y la visión del hospital. En este estudio se propone un modelo de gestión integrado EFQM-CMI. Para la obtención de los ítems del estudio se realizó una encuesta a los responsables de la gestión de los hospitales españoles, con una batería de 46 indicadores seleccionados del EFQM, priorizados y englobados en las cuatro perspectivas del modelo de gestión CMI. El estudio plantea dos posibles modelos causales: el modelo del cliente, en el cual el efecto final sería la perspectiva del cliente (satisfacción del paciente, personal y de la sociedad en general), o el modelo financiero, cuyo efecto final serían los resultados económico-financieros. Tras un análisis exploratorio de fiabilidad y dimensionalidad, y con un análisis discriminante, se obtienen los indicadores más consistentes y que mejor explican cada una de las perspectivas. Las relaciones entre estas perspectivas se determinan mediante ecuaciones estructurales, basadas en técnicas de mínimos cuadrados parciales. El estudio confirma que el modelo del cliente refleja una mayor consistencia en sus hipótesis.AbstractThe European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) is the most introduced model in Spanish hospitals. The main target of this model is the internal and external client's satisfaction. The model of strategic management Balanced Scorecard (BSC) facilitates the alignment between management and the mission and vision of hospitals. For this reason, we propose a model of integrated management: EFQM-BSC. In order to obtain the items of this research, a survey was conducted among managers of Spanish hospitals on a battery of 46 indicators, selected from the EFQM model, and prioritised and included in the four perspectives of the BSC model. The research shows two possible models of hypothesis: the client model, where the final effect would be the client perspective (patient, staff and society's satisfaction), or the financial model, where the final effect would be the economic and financial results. After a reliability, dimension analysis and a discriminant analysis, it was obtained more consistent indicators which better explain each perspective. The relationship among these perspectives are determined by structural equations based on methods of partial least squares. The research confirms that the client model reflects a better consistency in its hypothesis

When it deals with the wine sector, the quality has always been an essential requirement at the time of launching a product or increasing its presence in the Market. The purpose of this article consists of providing the customer an idea of how quality affects Spanish wines’ Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) (in Spanish ‘Denominación de Origen Protegida’) at the time of buying one product instead of another, so that, the Spanish wine geographic areas with higher repercussion will be indicated. Furthermore, a European Customer Satisfaction Index (ECSI) will be performed with the aim to measure the influence between quality and satisfaction of a collective brand, the Somontano (Aragon) PDO wines, based on the study in the cause–effect relationships of the ECSI model. The result is that quality has high influence on customer satisfaction, explaining the 23.90% of satisfaction variable through this variable and only being over-passed by the generated expectations on the clients.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo fazer uma análise comparativa dos modelos de excelência em gestão European Foundation Quality Management (EFQM), Baldridge Performance Excellence Program (BPEP) e Modelo de Excelência da Gestão (MEG), utilizando como instrumento de medição as perspectivas do Balanced Scorecard (BSC). A metodologia utilizada foi a análise de conteúdo, onde se buscou analisar a pontuação dos critérios e dos subcritérios de cada um dos modelos, relacionando-os com as perspectivas do BSC. Os resultados demonstram os pontos similares entre os três modelos avaliados (EFQM, BPEP e MEG), bem como um relacionamento entre cada subcritério e sua respectiva pontuação com as perspectivas do BSC, sendo possível quantificar percentualmente quanto cada modelo contribui para cada perspectiva do BSC.

Debido al estado de crisis en el que vivimos son necesarios cambios en las organizaciones, principalmente en sus líderes capaces de afrontarlos. Ello conlleva un cambio significativo en las estrategias de los recursos humanos tanto a nivel organizacional como educacional. Se necesitan líderes más autónomos con un repertorio conductual para ser más flexibles, ser un líder eficaz. Un aspeto fundamental para que funcione la organización es el equipo humano. El líder se preocupa de motivarles, inspirarles e involucrarles en las tareas que llevan acabo. En muchos casos el principal problema de las organizaciones actuales es la falta de dirección, planificación, ejecución y control de atividades, que pretenden el desarrollo de un grupo y el logro de unas metas en común. Existe una falta de liderazgo por lo que se necesita que surjan personas capacitadas y motivadas para facilitar procesos de cambio y desarrollo social. Este trabajo pretende un acercamiento en la tarea de alcanzar un modelo que desvele cuáles son los aspetos más relevantes en dicho fenómeno, a través de su medición en una empresa real, pudiendo contribuir así con la labor de desarrollar líderes eficaces. Desde el planteamiento que proponemos en el presente trabajo; y basándonos en argumentos de Robert Blackburn (2011) “Un mundo marcado por sistemáticas y profundas transformaciones necesita un nuevo tipo de liderazgo”. Con el estudio realizado pretendemos realizar una propuesta taxonómica de aquellas competencias, habilidades o capacidades que debe reunir un “buen líder” en el contexto organizacional del siglo XXI. Las nuevas situaciones generan la necesidad de líderes capaces de adaptarse y afrontar los retos de la sociedad atual; pero la dificultad estribaría en establecer Cómo es y Qué hace un líder.