Repositório Institucional
Repositório de Publicações Científicas
Preservar, Divulgar e Dar Acesso à Produção Intelectual
DA UNIVERSIDADE PORTUCALENSE
Entradas recentes
Agentic AI Architecture for Multi-Criteria Decision-Making: A Collaborative Human-AI Framework
2026-06-04 - Ferreira, Rui; Araújo, Marco; Tereso, Anabela; Novais , Paulo
Group decision-making and negotiation increasingly take place in settings where stakeholders hold divergent objectives, values, and interpretations of evidence. However, Large Language Models (LLMs) integration in collective decision processes remains constrained by limited traceability, weak procedural control, and ambiguity regarding the role of human judgment. This conceptual paper proposes a reference architecture for agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Group Decision and Negotiation (GDN) that integrates language-based reasoning with formal Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) procedures. The architecture assigns two complementary classes of specialized agents to discrete stages of the process: generative agents, responsible for interpretative tasks such as problem structuring, criteria definition, and preference elicitation, and logical agents, responsible for deterministic operations including weighting, aggregation, and ranking. A human-in-the-loop (HITL) governance layer supervises tasks requiring subjective judgment or domain expertise, ensuring consistency, transparency, and auditability throughout the decision workflow. The primary contribution is a modular reference architecture, grounded in design science principles, that decouples generative interpretation from formal evaluation within a unified and auditable decision pipeline. The framework is illustrated through a representative multi-stakeholder scenario demonstrating the coordination of agents and human oversight across all stages of the MCDM process.
Beyond the owner-manager: Exploring employee-LED learning practices in SMEs during volatile times
2026-06-09 - Barbosa, Isabel Cristina Pereira; Real, Elizabeth
Purpose
This study aims to investigate how employees in small- and medium-enterprises (SMEs) actively initiate and sustain learning processes within disruptive and resource-constrained environments. Specifically, it explores how employee agency shapes knowledge sharing, adaptability and organizational resilience in volatile contexts, moving beyond dominant owner-manager-centric accounts of SME learning.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a qualitative interpretive design, the study draws on semi-structured interviews and focus groups with employees across 13 SMEs in high-disruption sectors. The research questions focus on identifying distinct employee-led informal learning practices in the context of volatility and on understanding how these contribute to SME resilience over time, analyzed through an integrated theoretical lens combining Communities of Practice and distributed agency.
Findings
Three dominant employee-led learning patterns are identified: peer learning networks that foster collective knowledge exchange; improvization as a situated form of adaptation to volatility; and resilience as a dynamic outcome of shared learning and social support. These patterns reveal employees as “learning entrepreneurs” who initiate, sustain and orchestrate learning ecosystems when formal training and structured learning are limited or absent, with emotional and relational dynamics playing a central role in how resilience is constructed.
Originality/value
This research challenges dominant narratives that depict SME learning as either top-down or merely scaled-down versions of large firms by foregrounding distributed employee agency under conditions of volatility. It offers a novel, empirically grounded perspective that conceptualizes employee agency as “learning entrepreneurship,” focusing on how employees initiate and sustain informal learning over time across heterogeneous SME contexts, and integrates CoPswith distributed agency to explain these processes. Practically, it highlights concrete pathways for SME leaders to recognize, cultivate and leverage employee-led learning mechanisms, such as peer networks, improvizational spaces and resilience-building practices, to enhance organizational agility, innovation and long-term resilience.
A justiça preventiva no Estado de Direito contemporâneo: o papel das serventias extrajudiciais na experiência comparada Brasil-Portugal
2026-06-08 - Cunha, Ricardo Henrique Alvarenga
A presente dissertação, intitulada “A justiça preventiva no Estado
de Direito contemporâneo: o papel das serventias extrajudiciais
na experiência comparada Brasil–Portugal”, analisa a justiça
preventiva e o papel dos serviços extrajudiciais no Brasil, em
diálogo comparado com a experiência portuguesa, no contexto
da crise da justiça estatal e da crescente judicialização das
relações sociais. O tema insere-se no debate contemporâneo
sobre a necessidade de reconfiguração do sistema de justiça,
com superação da centralidade exclusiva do processo judicial.
O objetivo do trabalho é demonstrar que a justiça preventiva
constitui eixo estruturante de um sistema de justiça moderno,
apto a atuar no momento pré-conflitual, promovendo segurança
jurídica, estabilidade das relações privadas e pacificação social,
especialmente no âmbito do Direito Civil. A metodologia adotada
é qualitativa, baseada em análise bibliográfica, doutrinária e
normativa, aliada ao estudo comparado de experiências de
desjudicialização no Brasil e em Portugal.
Os resultados indicam que o Brasil desenvolveu um modelo mais
integrado de justiça preventiva por meio das serventias
extrajudiciais, enquanto Portugal adotou soluções mais
fragmentadas. Conclui-se que a justiça preventiva deve ser
concebida como política de Estado, centrada na pessoa e
orientada à prevenção de conflitos.