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The paper aims describing a collaborative international initiative of four European universities to develop a training program for supporting university staff in creating and using multimedia resources effectively. Thus, teaching, researcher and administrative staff from higher education institutions will develop their digital skills to create more realistic and attractive content that should improve university prestige through a better communication process with the stakeholders. We relate the presented approach to MUST project (Multimedia Competencies for University Staff to Empower University - Community Collaborations, 2020-1-RO01-KA203-080399), that aims develop and implement a new multimedia curriculum and training program. The training curriculum and the created educational resources make up a dedicated service offered by universities through DigiCoaches who will provide training to other internal/external users/trainees in creating-using multimedia technologies effectively.

The descriptive analysis (based on a longitudinal analysis of the available data from four surveys developed in 2009-2019) aims characterize the customers’ perception on social responsibility dimensions in the case of the water company Aquatim of Timisoara, Romania. This is the basis for the communication strategy definition for its efficiency increasing from both perspectives: (1) customers, community, and (2) company. The theoretical and experimental approach characterizes aspects of customers’ ecological awareness and satisfaction that have impact on redefining social responsibility policies of the company.

The paper presents a debate on the implications of the ISO 45001 framework for management systems addressing occupational health and safety. The aim is to provide a comprehensive approach based on the ISO 45001 on safety culture and much more, for the nurture and development of the preventive one. First, the paper establishes a theoretical foundation for this initiative together with some practical considerations for implementation. Second, there will be presented an early feedback collected through a survey developed with managers from different companies located in the West Region of Romania about ISO 45001 implementation. The research conclusions underline that there is a lot of wisdom tucked away in the standard and that have been not yet understood and valorised; the results identify a new approach of what should be considered for the quality safety program and culture (as training and consultancy activities).

The paper describes a propose interdisciplinary approach for improving working conditions in production systems. The proposed approach has been customized and apply in the case of a lean production system in order to demonstrate its efficiency and effectiveness. The research approach and its associated methodology consists of three stages: (1) a qualitative research using the Grounded Theory, which provide a theoretical model on the the employees behavior within the analyzed lean production system; (2) a quantitative research, survey based on a designed questionnaire, for the investigation of the motivation – satisfaction relation; (3) a quantitative research for the ergonomic risk assessment associated with repetitive upper limb movements (that are dominant in the case of the assembly line that has been studied) using the OCRA method for the improvement of the workers stress. The research results contribute to the knowledge development and to the the diminishing of the occupational hazards and generating workplace wellbeing.

The goal of this paper is to explore the dimension of sustainability in project management through a systematic literature review; more specifically, the article aims at reviewing the approaches to ensure the performance of urban projects performance targeting sustainable objectives. An attempt to explore the way the two fields intersect by means of exchanging both strengths: project management know-how areas, on the one hand, and sustainability tools, a win–win for improving the efficiency of implementing sustenability in every project. The research objective is to define concepts, terminology and conceptual clarifications on the management of sustainable urban development projects, the bibliographic reference, which will present the historical evolution and the current state of knowledge in the field (theories, studies and relationships, good practices, definitions). The scope of this effort is to dive into the maze of a literature review in order to identify the link between project management and sustainability and the transition paved by unique and challenging experiences which shifts towards a green and inclusive future.

Lack of appropriate warehouse ergonomics is one of the leading causes of worker injuries in industry environments. As management teams are trying to reduce the cost of doing business, they look to worker’s health statistics and realize they must improve their way of operating. The paper presents a warehouse analysis done at the request of the management team of a Belgian manufacturing plant. The factory’s warehouse was audited with focus on Kanban bin weight, storage rack height and rack width to assess the ergonomic strain it causes on workers. The paper then presents possible automation options in order to find the best fit to reduce ergonomic impact, while also optimizing the total investment cost.

The current pandemic conditions generated new ways of working and learning by shifting from face-to-face to remote and online working environment. From an ergonomics perspective, this change involved a large variety of adaptations to ‘the new normal’, especially inappropriate furniture, and inadequate social and physical environment conditions. Therefore, the paper aims to provide a deeper understanding on the role of education in ergonomics on the basis of a study on students at Politehnica University of Timisoara. There is little to no information available on ergonomic conditions in which students attend online classes and prepare their projects. The study involved several steps: (1) attendance to an educational session where they were informed on how to sit and organise their working space; (2) presentation of their current and wished working space; and (3) response to a detailed checklist targeted at understanding both their perception and effects on their health regarding online schooling. The results were, to an extent, predicted by the authors: students do not have adequate furniture and lighting conditions; furthermore, the effects on their health are already visible, although not severe.

The continuous optimization of business processes is still a challenge for companies. In times of digital transformation, faster changing internal and external framework conditions and new customer expectations for fastest delivery and best quality of goods and many more, companies should set up their internal process at the best way. But what to do if framework conditions changed unexpectedly? The purpose of the paper is to analyse how the digital transformation will impact the Business Process Management (BPM) while using methods like machine learning or artificial intelligence. Therefore, the core components will be explained, compared and set up in relation. To identify application areas interviews and analysis will be held up with digital companies. The finding of the paper will be recommendation for action in the field of BPM and process optimization through machine learning and artificial intelligence. The Approach of optimizing and management processes via machine learning and artificial intelligence will support companies to decide which tool will be the best for automated BPM.

Education for sustainable development in an intense subject and dissemination of good practices are of tremendous need for actors of academia and for those of vocational education, too. Managers and employees must extend their current skills related to sustainability and become leaders in the field. The article presents the last years’ experience on the development of a skills development schema on leadership in sustainability and teaching and educating sustainability. These two training skills and the related training materials have been developed through two international projects and partnerships at the European level: (1) LeadSUS - Leadership in sustainability – Sustainability Manager, (2013-1-RO1-LEO05 – 28771) developed from 2013 to 2016 and having impact on a target group consisting of companies’ employees (most of them managers); (2) TeachSUS - Teaching and educating for Sustainability, (2018-1-R001-KA204-049253) that will be develop from 2018 to 2020 and that will target vocational education and training (VET) actors. After a brief presentation of developed skill cards related to educational programs in sustainable development filed, a critical analysis of the implementation potential will underline the strengths and weakness of the actual educational system of higher education to assimilate and implement the proposals (tested and validated with a significant group of trainees).

ISO 9241-11 and ISO 13407 are recognized as important standards related to usability. ISO 9241-11 suggests that usability measures should cover: effectiveness (the ability of users to complete tasks using the system, and the quality of the output of those tasks), efficiency (the level of resource consumed in performing tasks) and users’ satisfaction (subjective perception when using the product, process or system). Based on these basic knowledge on usability concept the article aims to describe a proposed methodology for the global assessments of the ergonomics interventions in the case of industrial system. The research scenario consists in a survey based on a developed questionnaire that evaluate the ergonomics interventions, in terms of usability. In addition, the results of an experimental research demonstrate the testing and validation of the proposed approach. The method could be seen as an ergonomics continuous improvement one.