Percepções dos usuários externos do Tribunal de Contas do Estado da Paraíba acerca da implantação do processo eletrônico, quanto à comunicação, à luz da gestão do conhecimento

Abstract

With the publication of the Federal Constitution of 1988 and Brazil s democratization process, the agencies of Public Administration needed to carry out changes so as to meet, kindly and rapidly, social demands aiming at accomplishing their legal attributions. Therefore, the Tribunal de Contas of the State of Paraíba (TCE-PB), as an agency responsible for the external control in the State of Paraíba, started its modernization process, including the physical facilities, by hiring new employees, broadening all technological apparatus, culminating in the establishment of the electronic process. In this perspective, the current research aimed at investigating the aspects in the process of organizational knowledge that are perceptible in the external users´ viewpoint in the communication between these and the TCE-PB, as result of the electronic process implementation, having as basis the guiding principles of knowledge management. The qualitative approach with descriptive focus was used. The bibliographical, documental and field pieces of research were used as technical procedures. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire answered by external users of the researched agency; these were public managers, accountants, lawyers and technical employees registered in the electronic system and they were chosen in a non-probabilistic intentional form. The study pointed out that the implementation of the electronic process in the TCE-PB boosted the accessibility of the available information in this agency. Furthermore, the fulfilled trainings have not contributed to improving the performance of the jurisdiction and, in spite of having a sophisticated system of information technology, the TCE-PB has not implemented more interactive forms of communication with the jurisdiction yet, such as networks of better practices, virtual communities and/or chats. These have been considered important for enhancing communication and increasing the information flow related to the public managers of the State of Paraíba.