UFRN MANAGEMENT REPORT IN THE INTEGRATED REPORT FORMAT: PROPOSALS FOR IMPROVING THE INFORMATION FLOW AND GENERATION OF INFORMATION PRODUCTS IN THE LIGHT OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT.
accountability; informational products; information management; integrated reporting; informational flows
In the current context of the information society characterized by the intensive use of information technology and an excess of information, information is understood as an important strategic resource, both for decision-making by managers and also for a process of transparency for supervisory bodies and to society. The Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) has an annual accountability process, the main part of which is the Management Report in the Integrated Report format, which aims to communicate the main actions carried out throughout the year around various strategic themes for the University. This research had the general objective of proposing improvements in the flows and informational products of the UFRN Management Report (RG) preparation process in the light of Information Management, making it more agile, assertive and widespread among stakeholders. As specific objectives, the following were established: a) Map the elaboration process of UFRN's RG and identify the informational flows; b) identify whether the information described in the UFRN RG is in line with the information needs of the managers and on the part of the TCU for accountability purposes in the Integrated Report format; c) propose improvements in the collection and processing of information for the preparation of the UFRN RG based on the proposal of an Annual Activity Report Model in the Integrated Report format; d) Identify, evaluate and/or propose new informational products related to the elaboration process of UFRN's RG. This research is applied and descriptive and is classified by the approach as a quali-quantitative research and by the procedure as a comparative and single case study. In order to fulfill the objectives, documental research, bibliographical research, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used as instruments. For the analysis and interpretation of data, the research was based on Creswell (2010), a linear hierarchical approach from bottom to top comprising five steps, in addition to data triangulation. As a result, the research pointed to improvements in the process of preparing the Management Report in the light of Information Management, through the proposition of informational products that will bring better communication and transparency of the actions developed by the University to the stakeholders. Finally, a model of the Annual Activity Report (RAA) of the Units that provide information for the preparation of the RG of UFRN was prepared.