The relationship between Human
Resource Management practices and Collective Competencies: a case study in a
certified B company

A relação entre práticas de Gestão de Recursos Humanos e
Competências Coletivas: um estudo de caso em uma empresa certificada B

Luiz Henrique da Silva

http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7076-831X

Doutorando em Administração.
Universidade de São Paulo (USP) – Brasil. [email-masked]

Marise Regina Barbosa Uemura

http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7573-0321

Doutoranda em Administração.
Universidade de São Paulo (USP) – Brasil. [email-masked]

Luciana Meirelles Saboia

http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6394-9024

Mestra em Administração.
Universidade de São Paulo (USP) – Brasil. [email-masked]

Erica Harumi
Ysaiama Pinheiro

http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2537-0721

Bacharela em Administração.
Universidade de São Paulo (USP) – Brasil. [email-masked]

Tatiana Ghedine

http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4006-3917

Doutora em Administração.
Universidade do Vale do Itajaí (UNIVALI) – Brasil. [email-masked]

ABSTRACT

The complexity of forming teamwork and the articulation with different
individual knowledge towards a common goal make collective competence a relevant
topic for the Human Resource area. This article aims to analyze the
relationship between the practices carried out by the Human Resource Management
area of Company B with the collective competencies, identifying those practices
that can contribute to their development. The study is characterized as
descriptive, qualitative applying the case study strategy in a company in São
Paulo state with B certification. As a result, we identified the practices
carried out by the Human Resource Management area with their respective
mobilizing factors (communication, training and development, relationship, and
incentives). Some of these factors were essential to mobilize collective work
configurations. We also identified in the study collective actions evidence, which
resulted in two collective competencies: relationship and collaboration, and
the ability to develop joint solutions. In conclusion, we observed that Human
Resource Management practices contribute to actions that foster the cooperative
relationship and the employees' identification with their team and
organization, stimulating collective effort and teamwork, bringing them closer
to develop collective competencies.

Keywords: Human Resource
Management. Collective Competencies. B Certification. Teamwork.

RESUMO

A complexidade para formação do
trabalho em equipe e a articulação de diferentes conhecimentos individuais em
prol de um objetivo comum, tornam a competência coletiva uma temática relevante
para área de Recursos Humanos. Este artigo tem como objetivo analisar a relação
entre as práticas realizadas pela área de Gestão de Recursos Humanos de uma
Empresa B com as competências coletivas, identificando aquelas práticas que possam
contribuir para o seu desenvolvimento. O estudo caracteriza-se como descritivo,
qualitativo aplicando a estratégia de estudo de caso em uma empresa do estado
de São Paulo com certificação B. Como resultado, identificamos as práticas
realizadas pela área de Gestão de Recursos Humanos com seus respectivos fatores
mobilizadores (comunicação, treinamento e desenvolvimento, relacionamento e
incentivos). Alguns destes fatores mostraram-se essenciais para mobilizar
configurações coletivas de trabalho. Também identificamos no estudo evidências
de ações coletivas, que resultaram em duas competências coletivas:
relacionamento e colaboração, e capacidade de desenvolver soluções conjuntas.
Concluindo, observamos que as práticas de Gestão de Recursos Humanos contribuem
com ações que fomentam o relacionamento cooperativo e a identificação dos
colaboradores com sua equipe e organização, estimulando o esforço coletivo e o
trabalho em equipe, aproximando-os das competências coletivas.

Palavras-chave: Gestão de Recursos Humanos.
Competências Coletivas. Certificação B. Trabalho em equipe.

Recebido
em 31/03/2021.  Aprovado em 16/05/2021.
Avaliado pelo sistema double blind
peer review. Publicado conforme normas da APA.

https://doi.org/10.22279/navus.2021.v11.p01-14.1568

1 INTRODUCTION

Because Human
Resources Management (HRM) and the potentiation of team performance have become
a competitive advantage in contemporaneous organizations (Branchi
& Carrasco, 2019), the Human Resources (HR) area has gained strength in
recent years, having its practices recognized as relevant for organizational
performance (Brito & Oliveira, 2016). The HRM practices are close to or
aligned with the organization's policies and principles showing, the area
capacity to mobilize the cooperation and interaction of individual work to form
workgroups (Silva & Ruas, 2016).

The complexity of
forming teamwork and the articulation with different individual knowledge
towards a common goal make collective competence (CC) a relevant topic for the
HR area (Avelino, Sales, & Costa, 2017). Thus, CC appears as the key
element for carrying out shared activities, solving problems together, and
adapting to changes (Defelix, Le Boulaire,
Monties, & Picq, 2014; Iazykoff, 2018), adding value to teamwork and supporting
the collective performance (Puente-Palacios & Brito, 2017).

In this way,
understanding the collective activities and the relationship between
individuals and organizations can be a start to understand organizational
dynamics and how to manage people (Avelino, Sales, & Costa, 2017). In this
sense, some studies consider the HRM importance for collective competencies
(Avelino, Salles, & Costa, 2017; Lima & Silva, 2015; Silva & Ruas, 2014, 2016), their practices are considered elements
that facilitate the composition of their attributes, as well as configuring the
possibility of forming or developing collective competencies (Silva & Ruas, 2014, 2016).

The justification
for this research has as an essential point an empirical contribution on the
understanding of collective competencies since some authors point out the lack
of research on this theme (Avelino, Salles, & Costa, 2017; Silva & Ghedine, 2019; Wagner, Dubé,
& Gomez-Garibello, 2020), added by the need to
understand HR practices and collective competence in other environments and
situations (Silva & Ruas, 2014, 2016). Thus,
there is an interest in conducting such research in organizations certified as
Companies B, companies that work with a focus on both social and environmental
problems and that commit to social and environmental responsibility practices
and standards (Rodrigues, 2016).

B companies are
companies that meet verified standards of social and environmental performance,
public transparency, and legal responsibility, seeking to balance profit and
purpose, to positively impact their employees, the community, and the
environment. To be certified, the company must achieve a minimum score in its
impact assessment B, which assesses how the company's operations and its
business model impact on five measured and assessed dimensions: employees,
community, environment, governance, and customers. This certification not only
evaluates products and services but evaluates the overall positive impact of
the company and what is behind it (B Lab, 2021).

As the certification
submitted by which Companies B involves monitor and evaluate management
practices, expected that they present different management practices. The
concern with the team development, the satisfaction of its employees, and the
alignment of these employees with the company's values, among other ones, are
part of the evaluation of System B (Winkler & Portocarrero,
2019).

Thus, the following
question emerges as a research problem: how do the practices carry out by the
HRM area of Company B stimulate collective competencies? To answer this
question and to assist in the discussion on the topic, this article aims to
analyze the relationship between the practices carried out by the HRM area of
Company B with the collective competencies, identifying those practices that
can contribute to the development of these competencies.

For that, this
article initially presents the theoretical foundation encompassing the concept
of HRM, discussions about collective competencies, and the definition of B
Companies. Then, we show the methodological procedures used for the analysis,
the results interpretation, and the final considerations.

2 THEORETICAL FOUNDATION

This section
presents the main theoretical contributions that supported this research.

2.1 Human Resource
Management

Almost at the end of
20 century, HRM started to focus its efforts on creating methods and metrics to
develop people and groups (Amorim, Comini, &
Fischer, 2019). However, over time, the organizations realized that the simple
possession of high-quality human capital does not necessarily produce superior
results. Human capital resources without HRM practices do not bring
organizations to the appropriate motivation levels and the desired results. HRM
practices that can influence the organizational human capital resources
characteristics and combine them with other resources to achieve strategic
objectives and generate competitive advantage started to be demand (Delery & Roumpi, 2017).

In recent decades,
the HR area started to be recognized as necessary and critical to any
organization and perceived as a relevant strategic partner (Cohen, 2015). The
HR area started to present different perspectives, encompassing approaches that
aim to consolidate as an area in constant transformation and integrate aspects
present in the organizational context (Mascarenhas
& Barbosa, 2019). Also, this area came to be called HRM.

In this sense, some
researchers highlight the HRM importance for the organization. Podgorodnichenko, Edgar, and McAndrew (2020) state that HRM
allows organizational priorities and values to be shared and supported by the
entire organization, enabling employees to get involved, recognize different
situational needs, support the decisions, and providing suggestions aligned
with the organization's purposes. For Stahl, Brewster, Collings, and Hajro (2020), the HRM function can contribute to the way
employees are treated within the organization, ensuring their external needs
and expectations, creating an alignment of their internal interests and
external. To this end, the HRM needs to choose appropriate business structures
and develop mechanisms to identify, engage and integrate stakeholders.

Daniels, Wang, Lawong, and Ferris (2017) point out that almost all HRM
strategic practices and policies contribute to organizational performance,
contributing to the employees' attitude and retention. Lepak
and Shaw (2008) state that researchers advanced to a certain degree of
consensus that HRM systems consist of a set of practices. However, how these
systems are conceptualized and operationalized still requires discussion. The
authors highlight the importance of differentiating policies from practices due
to the possibility of disconnection between the policies and practice adopted
and implemented.

HRM policies
represent the company's intentions regarding the types of programs, processes,
and techniques for managing people (Wright & Boswell, 2002). On the other
hand, practices consist of real programs, processes, and techniques effectively
operationalized at the unit (Gerhart, Wright, Mahan, & Snell, 2000; Huselid & Becker, 2000). So, for a given HRM policy the
HRM can use some practices to achieve the policy objective (Lepak
& Shaw, 2008).

Effective people
management should not be content with just executing a standardized set of
practices. They need constantly develop and implement new practices, in
addition to improving existing ones to remain competitive. An organization that
introduces innovations in its people management practices can obtain valuable
benefits (Agarwala, 2003). In this sense, to seek
improvements in the HRM area, Silva and Ruas (2016)
note that some HRM practices can generate and develop collective competencies
when connected to the stimulus of cooperation, interaction, and sharing
processes in the work environment. These practices facilitate the existence of
elements considered conditional to support collective competencies' existence
and development (Silva & Ruas, 2014).

2.2 Collective
Competencies

The collective
competencies (CC) concept arose primarily linked to the socio-cognitive
phenomena analyzed in the ergonomics and psychology areas in the context of
collective work, such as groups and teams. In the administration area, the CC
concept started to appear in the 90s but spread
after the 2000s, which allowed the coexistence of various conceptions
about the theme (Michaux, 2011). In this way, CC started to gain space in
discussions about competencies (Avelino, Salles, & Costa, 2017; Guernoub & Kerboub, 2019),
since the new forms of work and management methods seek to collectively
mobilize energies and talents resources for continuous improvement of
organizations (Guernoub & Kerboub,
2019).

Collective
competencies can be referred to as the individuals' participation and
interaction in workgroups and represent all their knowledge and know-how to
deal with different work situations (Avelino, Salles, & Costa, 2017). The
CC take place when people mobilize themselves in favor of the desired results
and taking measures later to achieve these results (Mancini, O'Neal, Martin,
& Bowen, 2018). Thus, CC are perceived as the individuals' group's ability
to act towards a common collective goal (Todero,
Macke, & Sarate, 2016).

For Guernoub and Kerkoub (2019), the
CC is a management tool used to improve the efficiency of work team and its functioning
based on the effective individual skill combinations existence and the
reciprocal interaction between its members. Dupuich
(2011) adds that building collective competence is necessary to sharing
knowledge and experience in work situations. For this to happen, managers must
recognize the work situations characteristics, especially the nature of the
activity and the value of the experience (Iazykoff,
2018).

The competence
notion can be extended to many collective work situations, the mobilization
around a patient or a new product launch, as these are activities that require
CC and may include one or more people from the company (Ruas,
2005). Brandão (2017) points out as collective
competence example, a surgery team in a hospital emergency. Each team member,
doctor, or nurse provides different competencies contributions. The social
interactions establish between the team can give rise to collective competence,
which is constituted as a property of the team and not of its members in an
isolated way, so the collective competence is linked to the collective level or
unity of an organization.

For Zarafian (2001), studies in sociology and ergonomics have
shown that to exercise collective competence some particularities must occur:
individuals need to build ordinary references, sharing the same professional
language and “operative images” which allows them to glimpse their needs for
cooperation and which are guided by the same implications. Thus, researchers
Retour and Krohmer (2011) classified four fundamental
attributes that constitute collective competence:

a) Common frame of
reference: describes the collective action structure that results in the
comparison between experiences and people representations involved. Refers to a
common representation of the work to be done.

b) Shared language:
refers to a language that allows team members to forge their own identity and
differentiate themselves from other collectives, like the team's use of the
same professional terms and jargon.

c) Collective
memory: linked to learning, to know how to learn collectively through
experience. It includes problems found and resolved together through
interaction.

d) Subjective
engagement: refers to the subjective mobilization of people-oriented towards the
company there is a desire to work together. They are related to the resolution
of unforeseen events and some dysfunctions that can compromise the progress of
the action.

In this sense, Klein
and Bitencourt (2012) state that collective
competencies are developed by the interaction between different workgroups and
the interdependence of the relationship between process and result. To
understand the CC developing process, Silva and Ruas
(2016) proposed a framework that defines the elements capable of stimulating
the collective competencies development (figure 1).

Figure 1 - Process
of relating elements capable of stimulating the development of collective
competence.

Source: Silva
and Ruas (2016).

As noted in Figure
1, the mobilizing factors, in the HRM practices context, are management
policies that encourage and reinforce the cooperation and interaction
individual work process. So, the collective competencies attributes are the
interaction process result between individuals, establishing a consolidated
work collectively, and specific attributes to these collective configurations,
such as team engagement, shared language, among others. Finally, collective
competencies result from the HRM practices mobilization and the context of
interaction, learning, and collaboration among individuals. (Silva & Ruas, 2016).

The authors also
identified three HRM practices that mobilize collective configurations:
participation, relationship, and communication. Participation practices are
procedures that guide the employees to make decisions, solve problems, and
plans to carry out actions collectively. The relationship practice combines
events and actions aimed at integration and cooperation in individual work.
Communication practice prioritizes valuing suggestions, ideas, and criticisms
(Silva & Ruas, 2016).

Silva and Ruas (2014) considered other mobilizing factors are also:
a) recognition; b) performance evaluations; c) training and development; d)
incentives; and e) stimulating learning and the production and sharing of
knowledge. The authors also point out that some of these factors have a weak or
strong relationship with the attributes of collective competencies being
related to the encouragement of the implemented HRM practices.

Klein and Bitencourt (2012) state that interaction, individual
participation, and cooperation are essential for the emergence and development
of collective competencies. This development involves practices to increase
collective skills and adjust teams to work, promoting cooperative
relationships, better learning, and performance (Le Boterf, 2003; Lima &
Silva, 2015). So, the collective competencies development can generate greater
effectiveness and work quality, an increase in the scope of actions carried out
by the collective (Retour, 2005), or a greater capacity to solve problems
experienced by organizations, which could not be done by only an individual.
(Retour & Krohmer, 2011).

2.3 Companies B

Organizations
continue to focus on their financial results, but it is no longer the only
center of action. They started to consider social values and
socio-environmental responsibility due to the consciousness change with global
sustainability concerns in addition to social change towards communitarianism.
Certification B has become a way of adding a layer of prosperity to companies,
allowing them to enter distinct markets and signaling a positive message to
their customers and strategic partners (Best & Binkley, 2020). In this way,
the Companies B growth has been seen as an opportunity for organizations to
communicate their commitment to society and the environment (Kim, Karlesky, Myers, & Schifelins,
2016).

There is a global
movement called B Corporations or B-Corp, which aims to certify for-profit
organizations that are concerned with providing services or products that
collaborate with the environment and social well-being and, at the same time,
promoting profit to its shareholders. The assessment for Certification B is
carried out voluntarily, requiring organizations to fulfill some necessary
prerequisites to receive certification as Company B (Araújo, Bezerra, Nóbrega, Neves, &
Mendonça, 2020).

Companies B are
corporate entities that assume social responsibility as a central part of their
operating principles, committing to providing benefits to all stakeholders and
not just to their shareholders (Winkler, Brown, & Finegold, 2018).
Certification granted by a non-profit organization called B Lab, which
certifies companies based on how they create value for their employees, the
local community, and the environment. Through some steps, the company starts to
follow a governance philosophy fundamentally different from a traditional
organization focused on its shareholders (Kim et al., 2016). Companies B
changed their corporate statutes to encourage their commitment to providing
social services and environmental benefits (Cao, Gehman,
& Grimes, 2017).

According to Wilburn
and Wilburn (2014) and Comini, Rodrigues, and Fidelhic (2014), Movement B operates on three main fronts:
legislation, certification, and impact investing. In legislation, it creates a
new format for companies with a greater purpose in accountability and
transparency in the generation of shared value, known as Benefit Corporations.
In certification, it establishes common standards and distinguishes companies
committed to socio-environmental responsibility from those that use the theme
only as a marketing promotion mechanism (B Corporation or B-Corp
Certification), creating a community of “good companies”.  In impact investment, through information on
impact assessments and socio-environmental performance (B-Analytics) it
stimulates an appropriate capital market, culminating in the GIIRS (Global
Impact Investment Rating System).

For a company to be
certified, it must meet rigorous standards of impact areas measured and
evaluated over five dimensions by B Lab (Sharma, Beverifge,
& Haigh, 2018), which are: environment, workers, customers, community, and
governance (Cao, Gehman, & Grimes, 2017):

a)      Environment: evaluation of ecological products and
services, such as the use of renewable energy and recycling, in addition to
practices that negatively affect the environment, such as energy use and gas
emissions.

b)      Workers: assessment of employee salaries and benefits,
training and education, work flexibility, corporate culture, and health and
safety practices.

c)      Clients: evaluation of how products and services
contribute to the social benefit such as the promotion of public health and attention
to marginalized groups.

d)      Community: assessment of suppliers and distributors,
job creation, diversity, as well as community products, services, and practices.

e)      Governance: assessment of the company's mission,
stakeholder involvement, and its policies and practices transparency.

To be eligible for
Certification B, a company must score at least 80 out of 200 possible points in
these areas. The certification lasts two years when the company must be
certified again (Cao, Gehman, & Grimes, 2017).

HRM in Companies B
is in line with B Lab's vision: for organizations to be "the best in the
world" they need to be "best for their workers". This involves
paying fair wages to its employees, developing learning experiences so that
team members become more efficient and productive, as principles of trust,
engagement, and transparency guide the management of work environments (Winkler
& Portocarrero, 2018). Thus, organizations
certified as Companies B have differential regard about their HRM practices,
since the concern with the team development, the employees' satisfaction, the
alignment of these employees with the values of the company, among other
practices that seek equity in the team, are part of the assessment.

3 METHODOLOGY

The study is
characterized as descriptive, qualitative applying the case study strategy. We
researched Okena Serviços Ambientais company, whose principal business is industrial
effluents treatment. We choose the company for its certification as Company B
and the convenience of the researchers.

Okena Serviços Ambientais was founded in 2011 in the Itapevi
city, state of São Paulo, with 46 employees on its staff. The company is
concerned with environmental and social impacts, in addition to seeking to
achieve economic results. Four pillars support the company's objectives: 1)
develop the Okena team; 2) evolve the business and
generate profit; 3) attend, understand and provoke customers; and 4) engaging
in the network of relationships.

We collected the
primary data through semi-structured interviews that followed by a script
established with open questions. We divided the interview script into two
categories of analysis. The first refers to practices carried out by the HRM
area, intending to identify these practices present at Okena.
We elaborated 8 questions related to the mobilizing factors proposed by Silva
and Ruas (2014; 2016). The second is about the
collective competencies concept, seeking to know whether there exists some
evidence about them in the company. We elaborated 10 questions based on the
attributes (common frame of reference, shared language, collective memory, and
subjective engagement), considered by Retour and Krohmer
(2011) as relevant for the collective competencies’ formation.

We seek to identify
with the interviews which principles and strategies stimulated cooperation and
which HRM practices the company used. Chart 1 presents the analysis categories,
their objectives, and their basic references.

Categories

Objective

Base reference

HRM practices

Identify the
practices carried out by the HRM area at Okena.

Silva and Ruas (2014, 2016)

Collective Competencies

Identify if
there is evidence of collective competencies.

Retour and Krohmer (2011);

Silva and Ruas (2016)

Chart 1. Analysis categories

Source:
elaborated by the authors (2021).

We realized five
interviews during the month of December in 2017 involving employees who held
managerial or operational positions in the Administrative-Financial, People
Care (Human Resources area), Commercial and Operations areas. The sampling used
in this study was intentional sampling, which according to Yin (2016) in
qualitative research is chosen with the purpose of producing the most relevant
and abundant data for the study topic. Thus, the interviewees were appointed by
the People Care department, as according to the company's organizational chart
they were responsible for coordinating their departments, thus totaling 5
interviewees indicated by Okena.

Interviewee 1 (E1)
has the position of administrative manager, interviewee 2 (E2) is a people
manager, interviewee 3 (E3) is an operations supervisor, interviewee 4 (E4) is
a laboratory technician and interviewee 5 (E5) is a commercial manager. In
analyzing the data, employees were identified by the codes E1, E2, E3, E4, and
E5 previously presented. Two researchers conducted interviews in-person, using
text notes to register the data, following Eisenhardt's (1989) suggestion about
having at least two different views about the same topic.

Regarding secondary
data, we used documentary analysis of the company's website, and internal
documents provided by Okena (institutional magazines,
newspapers, and folders). To perform the analysis, we used data obtained from
semi-structured interviews and documents, which we classified into predefined
analysis categories (HRM practices and collective competencies), following
content analysis criteria proposed by Bardin (2011). The content analysis was carried out through the following chronological
poles: a) pre-analysis; b) exploration of the material; and c) the treatment of
results, inference, and interpretation. The pre-analysis aimed to organize the
research. In this phase, the choice of materials that were submitted to
analysis and the formulation of objectives were formulated. To explore the
material, the data were categorized. The categorization consisted of the
classification of the constitutive elements by differentiation and regrouping
with previously defined criteria (chart 1). The treatment of the results, the
inference and the interpretation were carried out through the writing and discussion
of the results found, in the interviews with the collaborators and in the
documents made available.

The sampling
technique used is that of diversification, bringing the person responsible for
each department that would bring a different view of the phenomenon.

4 DATA ANALYSIS

Through the
collected data, HRM practices present at Okena are
presented, evidence of collective competencies, and finally, the relationship
between HRM practices and collective competencies.

4.1 HRM at Okena

According to the
analyzed documents, it was noticed that for Okena HRM
practices are related to the human sources area. Respondents state that the
company's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) always highlights that people are
"very important" and need to be valued, even disagrees with the use
of HR term because he does not believe that people are resources but sources of
inspiration and work. In this way, the CEO always had resistance to form an HR
area, as he believes that human sources, as he calls them, are as important as
any other company process and that the area leaders themselves should value and
be responsible for the selection, hiring, training and monitoring the
development of their team.

From the mobilizing
factors proposed by (Silva & Ruas, 2014, 2016),
we identified the practices carried out by the HRM area at Okena.
The first mobilizing factor considered was communication. The communication
concerns important disclosures for job performance because considering ideas,
suggestions, and complaints from employees (Silva & Ruas,
2014, 2016).

The internal
documents show that to comply with the principles of conscious capitalism and
the practices evaluated by the System B certification, the company developed a
program to generate a shared value between Okena and
its stakeholders, called OkenaExperience. This
program includes various HRM actions and practices that aimed to combine
employees and the needs and interests of the company, as holding workshops with
employees to disseminate company values, promoting new ideas, and promoting
initiatives that generate shared value. For the interviewees, generating shared
value is both important in the material (physical and financial) and the
immaterial (psychological, emotional, and spiritual) dimensions because the
company believes that those who develop in these dimensions in a balanced way
have better performance in their personal and professional activities.

The second
mobilizing factor observed in HRM practices was training and development
(T&D). According to Silva and Ruas (2014), this
factor refers to development plans formulated jointly with employees,
clarifying ways for their growth and development. Also, Gil, Hoeckesfeld, Silva, and Pereira (2020) state that T&D
techniques allow to increase the performance of individuals, develop
competencies, and acquire new knowledge that contributes to the personal and
professional satisfaction of employees.

At Okena, through the analysis of secondary data, we found
that this practice refers to the concern with the quality of employees'
education, a work developed through the so-called “Social Seal”, the result of
a partnership with the municipality of Itapevi/SP. We
observed this practice when E4 reported that he was encouraged, when he began
to work at the company, to continue his studies. The employee had a position as
a treatment operator and, after taking a technical chemistry course, he was
transferred to the laboratory. Also, another practice perceived concerning the
T&D factor was the mindfulness workshop, which aims to allow employees to
become more aware of their mental processes and actions.

It was perceived in
HRM practices at Okena the relationship factor, which
considers the employees' expectations about work, based on their treatment of
respect and attention (Silva & streets, 2014). This third factor analyzed
is the integration events and actions carried out with employees.

According to E2, Okena has a volunteer program and a project entitled “day
of giving”. They organized the volunteer program in partnership with a local
non-governmental organization, intending to develop the agents' role transforming,
both the company and the individual. But the “day of giving” is not an Okena project, it is a global movement that encourages
philanthropy worldwide, with the mission of encouraging ordinary citizens and
companies to join through the culture of giving.

The fourth
mobilizing factor perceived at Okena are incentives,
made up of promotions made possible by career plans, stock options, bonuses,
among other actions that contribute to the valorization and recognition of
employees (Silva & Ruas, 2014). In the secondary
data practices related to the incentive we perceived the extension of the
paternity leave to two weeks and the birthday off day, where all employees can
enjoy their day at home.

According to the
interviewees, Okena believes in building a human
company committed to the progress of the world through people. So, the company
invests time and money to contribute to employees' development, reflecting on a
humanized, safe, transparent, and ethical service. In this sense, we identified
other benefits, such as Gympass, which allows
employees access to gyms aiming at life quality.

Finally, we present
a summary of the mobilizing factors and their respective HRM practices in Chart
2.

Mobilizing
factors

Practices

Objective

Communication

Okena Experience

Alignment of
the needs of employees with the needs of the company seeking to generate
shared value.

Training and Development

Social Seal

Quality
education of its employees.

Mindfulness
Workshop

Allow
employees to become more aware of their mental processes and actions.

Relationship

Project “day of
giving"

Encourage a
culture of giving.

Volunteer program

Develop the
role of transforming agents, for both the company and individuals.

Incentives

Paternity leave

Personal and professional
satisfaction of its employees.

Birthday break

Personal and
professional satisfaction of its employees.

Gympass

Improvement
of the quality of life.

Chart 2 - Okena Human Resources Management Practices

Source:
elaborated by the authors (2021).

4.2 Collective
competencies

We perceived,
through the opinion of the interviewees, that Okena
stimulates cooperation between their employees. It is essential to collective
competencies development because cooperation and collaboration improve
interaction processes, experiences, and knowledge exchanges (Silva & Ruas, 2016). The interviewee E5 points out: “today the
environment here favors cooperation, there is cooperation from the board, the
owner, superiors, they see that they need to be able to generate results”. The
only restriction made by one interviewee is that "there is still a lot of
defense about the area individual objectives, above the common objectives"
(E1). For this reason, we perceived that the cooperation can be boosted, a fact
already understood by the company that started to focus on leadership training
topics such as conflict management and professional profile assessment so that
everyone has the Okena DNA.

The following
excerpt from one of the interviews describes the Okena
environment “here no boss is above the employee,they
make us feel at ease and from the results, they understand what we are doing”
(E3). An example cited during an interview illustrates the employee´s
encouragement to participate in decisions. When problem occurred in the
laboratory, they needed to rely on the operations and laboratory teams to
implement a process improvement. After the employees of the lab identified the
problem and thought of a solution, the leader and the operations manager heard
them and accepted their suggestion. The result of this collaboration has
brought benefits to the company and satisfaction for all involved. It is
possible to observe not only the teamwork and the good relationship between the
departments, but also the opportunity that the company offers to  employees to become  participative in the decisions.

The leaders cited in
the example above proved to be a fundamental element, as they provide the necessary
conditions for developing the collective competencies attributes. Respondents
mentioned that previously there were people in a leadership position who acted
in a very authoritarian and uncooperative way, going against the values of the
company. However, in the interviewees' reports, we noticed that leaders
currently seek participation and develop a collaborative spirit, which makes
employees very comfortable, as one of the interviewees says “the worst thing is
when a person looks at the leader with fear, so frank conversation and harmony
are important” (E4). The interviewee E4 also affirms that at any time he can
contact other leaders and feels very comfortable suggesting improvements and
exchange information.

The interviewees
reported examples of situations experienced in Okena
in which collective action generated a non-existent organizational capacity, as
shown in Chart 3. Although there are different examples, they all had the focus
on improving a process in common. However, the experiences lived are still very
much within the individual or group scope that participated in the action, with
little interference of the company to disseminate or exchange practices. We
noticed that when talking about collective competencies, the discussion is how
much they are circumscribed to the group or can be structured and transferred
to other groups, becoming an organizational learning (Dutra, 2017).

Area

Example

Result

Financial
Administration

Implementation
of a system (ERP) to unify the database. Previously, each area kept records
in its own way. The team involved talked about the workflow to find the best
way to adapt the system to the process and vice versa.

There was
standardization of processes and gains in the quality of the information
inserted in the system. This project allowed everyone to start speaking “the
same language”.

Operation/Treatment

The team was
having difficulty with a filter in one part of the operation process, as the
pump was not adequate. The team suggested switching to a pneumatic pump and
the suggestion was accepted by superiors.

The process improved
because the new pump was more powerful. Although the solution is simple, the
fact that they listened to employees, generated recognition of teamwork and
the satisfaction of those who participated.

Operation

The ink
rubberization process occurs at an acidic PH. Before, this process was done
in a specific tank and there was a great risk, because a person was handling
acid inside that tank. After talking between the teams, trial, and error,
they managed to change this process.

The ink
rubberization process started to be done together with another step in the
process. The improvement was very useful, because it eliminated the odor and
the risk of having a person working with sulfuric acid in a tank.

Laboratory

They were
having a problem in the decanting process and the synergy between the
laboratory and operation teams caused them to change the PH of the process so
that the decanter worked better, after studies and tests.

Before,
professionals followed a “cake recipe” a lot, and with this experience
everyone was able to work together to improve the decantation process.

Chart 3 - Examples of collective actions

Source:
elaborated by the authors (2021).

According to
examples mentioned in Chart 3, we observed two collective competencies evidence
present in Okena, competencies already identified by
Silva and Ruas (2016). The first is the relationship
and collaboration, which shows the employees' engagement for joint
decision-making and problem solving, making use of collective memory,
subjective engagement, and a common frame of reference being present. However,
it needs to be disseminated with greater attention to strengthen organizational
learning as highlighted by one of the interviewees “there is no forum for
sharing good practices”. For Silva and Ruas (2016),
these attributes streamline the working relationship and the engagement of
employees to achieve the objectives of the area, stimulating a better
collective performance.

The second collective
competence identified is the ability to
develop joint solutions, where employees end up jointly getting involved in
the discussion and analysis of actions to solve problems experienced by the
teams in their work environment. This one also presents the collective memory
attributes, subjective engagement, and common reference of frame. According to
Silva and Ruas (2016), this collective competence
allows the development of projects and programs developed in partnership with
other areas of the company.

4.3 The relationship
between HRM practices and collective competencies

We observed that the
HRM area mobilized four factors in their practices (communication, training and
development, relationship, and incentives). These practices are related to
collective competencies since they allow employees to develop collective
interactions, knowledge sharing, collective reflections, and team commitment.

Silva e Ruas (2014) understand that communication practices are
related to collective competencies, since information shared minimizes the
noise, and knowledge and participation of employees is maximized. At Okena, we verify that this relationship occurs to the
extent that the company seeks to align its needs with the employees' needs. In
the examples in Chart 3, the importance of communication is perceived in the
collective work development and, consequently, of the collective competencies
identified. For Lima and Silva (2015), communication enables the dissemination
of individual knowledge and the sharing of social experiences, being decisive
for the development of collective competencies.

According to Silva
& Ruas (2014), training and development practices
stimulate the awareness of the factors that lead to the employees' growth and
development, enabling them a greater knowledge about the topics that can be
used and implemented in the organization. At Okena,
we perceived the relationship by these practices to allow employees to a better
professional qualification, enabling the sharing of knowledge to modify or
acquire new ways of performing work (such as the examples mentioned in Chart
3), as well as improving the ability to develop solutions for joint actions.

Relationship
practices mobilize the collective competencies configuration, combining events
and actions aimed at integration and cooperation of the individual work.
Relationships with greater involvement and people identification with their
colleagues and job bring them closer to collective competencies (Silva & Ruas, 2014). We observed in Okena
the association between relationship practices and social responsibility, one
of main focus of the Certified B companies. Through these practices promoted by
the company, employees are involved in socialization, which encourages
collective identification and social interaction. According to Sandberg (2000),
the development of collective competence comes from socialization, which
develops the understanding of the work process and the sharing of knowledge by
team members.

Finally, incentive
practices are related to collective competencies, as they allow the
valorization and recognition for the employees' efforts and, consequently, a
better individual and collective performance (Silva, 2013). At Okena, through the reports obtained in the interviews
conducted, we not identified that these HRM practices encourage collective
configurations among employees.

5 FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

This study sought to
analyze the relationship between the practices carried out by the HRM area of
the company Okena with the collective competencies,
identifying those that contribute to the collective development of competencies.
Due to the certification requirements that Company B goes through,
we understand that they are companies that have differentiated human resources
practices because of the evaluation process they are submitted to.

Based on the
empirical evidence presented, we can highlight some contributions. Firstly, we
identified the practices carried out by the HRM area with their respective
mobilizing factors (communication, training and development, relationship, and
incentives). Some of these factors were essential to mobilize collective work
configurations. Communication, allowing the sharing of knowledge and
information because the managers heard the suggestions and ideas, maximizing
employees' participation. Training and development, enabling employees to apply
new ideas, develop their competencies, and share new knowledge with the team.
And the relationship, enabling interactions and sharing of knowledge, allowing
teams to establish social relationships so that the integration between their
members takes place.

Subsequently, we
identified in the study collective actions evidence, which resulted in two
collective competencies: relationship and collaboration, and the ability to
develop joint solutions. We perceived the importance of the attributes (common
reference of frame, collective memory, and subjective engagement) in the
collective competence formation and development. Based on the examples of
collective actions shown (chart 3), these collective competencies are necessary
for a context in which collective work is essential for teams to develop their
activities.

From the analysis,
we can conclude that the communication practices, relationships, and training
and development were related to collective competencies. However, we did not
perceive the incentive practice as a factor that mobilizes collective
competencies in this study. We observed that HRM practices contribute to
actions that foster the cooperative relationship and the employees'
identification with their team and organization, stimulating collective effort
and teamwork, bringing them closer to develop collective competencies. Thus, it
is up to organizations to seek the best HRM practices that allow them to form
and improve the collective activities involvement among their employees.

This study provided
evidence to complement the research by Silva and Ruas
(2014, 2016), demonstrating other mobilizing factors that contribute to the
formation and development of collective competencies, although with the
limitation of being a single case study, making it impossible to compare with
other also certified companies.

Since there is no consensus
on the definition of collective competencies or even how to identify them
(Dutra, 2017), we suggest that future studies focus on collective competencies
identification and mapping, intending to contribute to a better understanding
of this dimension. This dimension is still little explored in the literature
and neglected by the studies in the individual and organizational dimensions.
In addition to these, other researches can also quantitatively measure the
relationship between HRM practices and collective competencies, as well as
involving several Companies B allowing to obtain a better set of evidence for
analysis.

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