About the Postgraduate Business Administration Program

• Program Background

  The Programa de Pós-Graduação em Administração (PPGA, Postgraduate Business Administration Program) was started in 2007, after recommendation by CAPES. This achievement resulted from the work of a group of professors selected by the University of South Santa Catarina (UNISUL), who were members of the institution’s faculty. The Program was also supported by investments made in training and steering of scientific research, complementary to those faculty teaching and extension activities. Gradually and smoothly, the Program acquired maturity and consolidated itself as a reference in the Institution and in the regional scope in which it operated, achieving a differentiated position compared to other programs implemented in the State.

  UNISUL aims to maintain and enhance its Stricto Sensu Postgraduate Courses, including the Masters’ degree and Doctorate degree courses in Business Administration, which contribute positively to the development of professionals, both qualifying teachers to work in higher education, as well as, providing more qualified professionals to meet the demanding requirements of the diversified and advanced economy of the State of Santa Catarina, which is the sixth largest state in this country, with the highest HDI among Brazilian states.

  PPGA UNISUL’s Major Area is PERFORMANCE AND INNOVATION OF ORGANIZATIONS, which is aligned with the faculty’s profile, with the market demands and with the University’s PDI (Institutional Development Program).

  The Program has deliberative and consultative bodies, represented as follows: by the Course’s Collegiate Board, formed by permanent professors and collaborators, with student representation, who ordinarily meet every first Tuesday of the month; by the CAPES Criteria Planning and Monitoring Committee, composed of three professors; by the Permanent Student Selection Committee formed by three professors; by the Scholarship Selection and Monitoring Committee, also composed of three professors; by the Re-accreditation Commission; by the PPGA Website Monitoring Committee and by the leaders of the Research Groups. Each line of research has a professor responsible to support the Coordination and the Collegiate of the Course in discussions concerning disciplines and curriculum structure. The integration and interaction of these instances have contributed to the improvement of the Program.

  The CAPES Criteria Planning and Monitoring Committee plays an essential role in the discussion and conveyance, to the Board, of the criteria and metrics used in the evaluation process. From these discussions, the Planning Strategic Program was built in the Collegiate Board, with specific actions in the items/indicators that presented improvement opportunities, in the light of the annual self-assessment process. The process of self-assessment and planning monitoring takes place continuously, with reviews, adjustments and feedback given at collegiate meetings.

  The Permanent Student Selection Committee has improved the selection process and monitored the performance of students. Keeping the same members on the Committee generated learning and experience with their members, contributing to the selection of candidates with a profile more aligned with the stricto sensu concepts and the needs of the PPGA. In addition, a more cohesive and consistent selection process has developed, with regard to the public notices procedures and the execution of the process as a whole. New dissemination practices were sought in addition to those already existing. More targeted contacts with Higher Education institutions added to the program candidates who work in these institutions, which allows the PPGA to contribute to the training of professionals for the labor market.

  The PPGA Website Monitoring Committee seeks to keep all information which is of interest to the students and the external public up to date, based on CAPES guidelines, contained in the Assessment Form, which establishes transparency and visibility practices for the Program.

  In recent years, the program has gained greater visibility, attracting students from other regions and states, in addition to an internal process of greater participation and involvement of the Collegiate Board in the decisions inherent to the course.

  The Permanent Committee for Selection and Monitoring of Scholarship holders plays a prominent role, with actions that include the process of scholarships award and also monitoring the development of all activities of the scholarship recipients in the Program. The standardization of criteria, transparency and continuous evaluation of the activities carried out by the scholarship holders ensure improvements in the performance of the PPGA.

  Another practical action that has produced very good results is the appointment of an academic advisor at the beginning of the student’s entry into the Program, who assumes the role of responsible for monitoring and supervising the students. The challenge is that each student, especially doctoral students, publishes at least one article in a qualified journal, annually.

  PPGA has been addressed since 2012, with the Collegiate Resolution 03, dated 12/17/2012, which defines the PPGA TEACHER ACCREDITATION and renewal, with well-defined criteria, which made this practice more objective and transparent for the recomposition of the teaching staff, when necessary. The Resolution also became a guiding reference for the group of professors that make up the Program. This policy foresees criteria for the accreditation of collaborating professors from the Institution itself, the migration from collaborating professor to permanent professor and the maintenance and/or de-accreditation of permanent professors. At the beginning of the year, there is a process of re-accreditation of the Program’s permanent teachers, following the Resolution´s provisions. Resolution 03/2012 is being revised and updated by an internal PPGA committee and should go through the approval process.

  The renewal of the Faculty involves accreditation strategies for newly graduated Doctors who are part of the UNISUL faculty, in addition to the possible use of professors who carry out post-doctoral studies at the PPGA, through an external selection process. Once these possibilities are exhausted, a Public Notice for external professors´ retention is issued.

  Revista Eletrônica de Estratégia & Negócios (REEN)

  The Program also publishes the Electronic Strategy & Business Magazine (REEN), first issued in 2008, classified in the A3 Stratum of Qualis/CAPES (new version dated 2019). REEN has an Editorial Board composed of renowned researchers from several countries. The journal is issued quarterly and its editorial policy is in line with the Good Scientific Publication Practices of the National Association of Graduate Studies and Research in Administration (ANPAD). Over the past few years, several improvements have been brought to the Journal, mainly aiming at its internationalization. REEN is part of the Web of Science: Emerging Sources Citation Index by Thomson Reuters. Classification in the Stratum A3 demonstrates that the efforts and improvements implemented have been generating results.

• Objectives

  UNISUL’s Graduate Program in Administration’s (PPGA/UNISUL) general objective is the development of professors and researchers focused on high-level educational and professional action, in addition to the production of knowledge in the area of Business Administration through research that contribute to the qualification of the private, public and third sector organizational universe. The aim is to train entrepreneurial and innovative administrators who add value to the institutions and companies they work for.

  The Program gives priority to proficiency in organizational performance theories, methods and techniques, whether from the perspective of innovative and strategic processes, or from the perspective of evaluating operational performance. The focus, therefore, is the training of highly qualified personnel for teaching, research and professional work in organizations. In this connection, the course intends to develop the Master’s degree students’ potential to understand the complexity inherent to contexts of change that are characteristic of this new age. In addition, the aim is to develop the ability to formulate and develop strategies in order to enable organizations to obtain the best performance in their areas of expertise; generate scientific and technological knowledge and professional practice; develop basic and applied research; improve innovations in pedagogical and research methodologies; spread the knowledge acquired through staff training and scientific publications; qualify professionals to manage organizations; maintain a critical mind and test research theories, methods and techniques; deepen knowledge in the major areas and lines of research; develop and disseminate good academic practices with ethics and solidarity; form research groups and consolidate them through scientific production in the Program’s research lines, both nationally and internationally; seek to follow the guidelines of the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) and other regulatory bodies of stricto sensu activity, maintaining university autonomy.

  Clearly, the qualification “performance” induces the program towards a more focused view of applied sciences, within the organizational reality of this country, without straying from advanced theories in terms of innovation and organizational strategy. As the innovation process becomes one of the most relevant elements for measuring organizational performance, the major area has incorporated this dimension as one of the fundamentals of the Program. Thus, the major area of the PPGA has been named “Performance and Innovation of Organizations”.

• Major Area

  The Master’s Degree in Business Administration has a major in Performance and Innovation of Organizations, which expresses the vocation and history of the Master’s degree program and indicates the area of ​​knowledge, the contours of the specialty in the production of knowledge and in the training of students.

  The major focuses on the study of business administration as an analytical, systemic and evolutionary process from the perspectives of organizational performance and innovation. It is based on established organizational theories and contemporary management methods/techniques. It involves evaluating the performance of organizations and the dynamics of innovations in their manifestations in technology, organizations, marketing, sustainability and the social area.

  Adopting an interdisciplinary and critical view, Unisul’s PPGA has defined its Major without any bonds with innovative organization or performance metrics of a particular model of interpretation. There is an understanding that these research objects demand a complex, diversified activity, in which several components interact, creating a wide space of issues to be investigated, albeit within defined lines.

• Research Lines

  Stricto sensu, the research lines express the specificity of the production of knowledge of the program/course within its Major area. They are supported by the Program’s permanent faculty and researchers.

  The Master’s degree in Business Administration offers two main lines of research:

  Organizational Performance: this line investigates organizational performance through the application and improvement of metrics and assessment measures, standardized or not, compulsory or voluntary, which phenomenize variations in the organizations’ trajectories.

  It includes analysis and evaluation, episteme and diverse methodologies applied to organizational contexts, which show results based on evaluation processes involving themes such as: decision-making, competitiveness, operational and financial performance, including tangible and intangible assets, such as information and the explicit or tacit knowledge of the organization.

  Innovation and Society: this line comprises investigations of an epistemological, theoretical and empirical nature on economic and social factors and practices that represent the different manifestations of innovation management and its diffusion process in society.

  This interdisciplinary perspective allows dialog opportunities and interactivity in society and organizations dimensions, with an emphasis on the fields of innovation and their spin off in the technological, organizational, marketing, sustainability, organizational culture, governance and social innovation areas. These are topics covered by the research faculty projects and by the disciplinary grid, all with the effective participation of professors from PPGA/Unisul.

• Student and Alumni Profile

  The profile of graduates by PPGA/UNISUL is linked to actions in the Major area ​​and lines of research, to the formation of a set of competencies in which knowledge, thinking and acting are articulated. The profile stands out for its combination of skills aimed at scientific research, management practices and professional attitude.

  PPGA graduates are able to work in teaching and research and in adequate conditions to: assess and program the implementation of organizational innovation processes; identify, propose, select and trigger more efficient and competitive processes; formulate sustainable differences in the face of transformations derived from modernity; monitor results obtained by organizations via performance evaluation tools and methods; provide feedback to the processes based on the performance assessment; and researching and coordinating activities and programs aimed at creative and entrepreneurial improvements.

  All of this implies conceptual mastery, in addition to the skills required in research, such as the ability to analyze contexts and valuing the pursuit of knowledge, as well as skills required in the teaching domain, such as relationship capacity, planning capacity and ability to mediate appropriation knowledge, by encouraging the development of communication skills, teamwork, presentation of papers and discussions during the course of disciplines and teaching internship activities.

  Obviously for the Doctoral Course, implemented in 2019, the graduate’s profile will have a greater level of detail, configuring a more consistent training in research methods and theoretical advances, in addition to the more frequent practice in writing articles stemming from scientific research.

• Master's Degree Course

  The Master’s Degree in Business Administration (Stricto Sensu) is part of Unisul’s Graduate Program in Administration (PPGA). It trains teachers and researchers focused on educational action, prepared to guide new, entrepreneurial and innovative administrators, and to produce knowledge in the area of ​​administration through research that contributes to the qualification of the business universe and public bodies.

  Classes are held at the Pedra Branca Campus and priority is given to proficiency in Performance and Innovation from the perspective of evaluating organizational performance, with a focus on teaching, research and professional activity of excellence.

  The course aims to develop students’ potential to understand the complexity inherent to changing contexts characteristic of the new age, as well as to develop the ability to formulate and develop strategies in order to enable organizations to obtain the best performance in their areas of expertise.

  For more information please contact us via e-mail [email protected].

• Doctor’s Degree Course

  The Doctorate in Business Administration is part of the Unisul Business Administration Graduate Program. The program trains professors, researchers and professionals interested in administrative.

  The course’s concentration area is Organizational Performance and Innovation and the research lines are Organizational Performance and Innovation and Society.

  The PPGA is rated 4 by Capes and was authorized to offer the Doctorate course in 2018.

  The faculty is made up of professors with degrees from renowned educational institutions in the country and abroad, who act as journals’ peer-reviewers, assessing scientific events and development agencies, developing research projects in partnership with national and international institutions.

  Classes are given at the Pedra Branca Campus; the course has a minimum duration of 36 months and a maximum of 48 months, and this period can be extended for a maximum of six months with the approval of the University Collegiate Board. Selection of new students takes place annually and usually at the beginning of the year.

  For more information please contact us via e-mail [email protected].