Modelos mentais dos empreendedores e sua relação com o desempenho organizacional : um estudo no setor metal mecânico de Caxias do Sul

Abstract

The concept of mental model is used in areas of knowledge to study the representations of systems, behavioral events and the content of these representations. This paper discusses the influence of these representations in organizational performance, the assumptions involved in the mental models and identifies the different dimensions and their impact on organizational performance. Thus, from the theoretical analysis it was found that the performance of mainly small and medium organizations can be directly related to mental models of entrepreneurs. Since these models are composed of the following dimensions: Knowledge, Skills, Emotional, Mind Linear Relationship, Mission and Strategy, Creativity and Innovation and Vocation. The methodology was first, exploratory qualitative through interviews with content analysis to identify variables and aggregate on the theoretical proposal with open questions and then quantitative descriptive proposition from the questions in quantitative research to measure the mental models of entrepreneurs. The dimensions of Relationship, Creativity and Innovation and Knowledge were the most impacted organizational performance and the results in 27.4% of explaining the significance of the proposed dimensions of mental models. This study makes an important contribution towards better understanding the formation of mental models of entrepreneurs and their relationship to organizational performance.