Έρευνα για την αναγκαιότητα δημιουργίας ενός Πληροφοριακού Συστήματος καταγραφής εξοπλισμού Εργαστηριακού Κέντρου

Abstract

In this paper we describe the research on the necessity of creating an innovative Information Management System for the inventory and deletion of materials and equipment of the Laboratory Centers. Laboratories Centers (LCs) manage educational staff, vocational high school students and a vast array of equipment distributed in the specialized training workshops. The need to investigate the creation of a structured Information System adapted to the requirements of a Laboratory Center results from the lack of any such system from the existing administrative structure in Greece. So far, the inventory and deletion of the materials and equipment in various LCs has been done handwritten or even in an electronic mode.

The research aimed at investigating aspects of the problem based on the existing knowledge of the organization of workshops in secondary education, taking into account the facts of today's educational reality. A descriptive investigation into the way equipment and materials are registered in the Greek LC took place. Due to the nature of the queries and the kind of data required, a primary research is required with the data collected by the researcher. It is also an applied action research to make its findings use as a tool for developing an Information System for the LC. The research was quantitative.

As far as the sampling is concerned, the research concerns all teachers and EC-EPAL executives, SDEs, Secondary Education Directorates with a geographical area all over Greece. The sample used refers to a percentage of the population. According to the Ministry of Education, there are 538 EPAL and EC. The number of teachers in these schools is unknown. Due to this limitation, the sampling method used multi-stage sampling. This method belongs to the set of probability sampling methods.

The questionnaire records all the existing ways of recording the equipment of the school laboratories involved in the purposes of this research in a credible and authoritative manner, seeking the extrapolation of accurate information. It contains a series of closed questions accompanied by a series of responses using the 6-step Likert scale. The questionnaire was shared via the Internet and mail. The language of the questionnaire is simple and clearly distinguishable, while the questions are formulated shortly and do not have a complex structure. It does not contain ambiguous questions or double refusal questions, nor does it attempt to guide the answers.

The survey responded to 140 teachers from different regions and schools of Greece. 41 were women (29.29%) and 99 men (70.71%). Most of them were permanent teachers 131 (93.57%) and only 9 (6.43%) were substitutes teachers.

The results show teachers' tendency to prefer an online solution to the problem of recording equipment from the standard and widespread of handwriting mode. This is a trigger for the creation of an Information System that incorporates all the procedures prescribed by the law, ie inventory and destruction of the equipment.

Moving from the handwritten or electronic process to creating an Information System (IS) that manages and supervises all processes, such as inventories, supplies and disasters, is in itself a management innovation, and it fully approaches the superstitious view that innovation is the result of how an organization manages its resources and develops abilities. The creation of the IS will result in the flexibility of the process which allows rapid adaptation of the LC to any educational changes, the improvement of the quality of the services and processes provided, the reduction of costs due to the control of equipment duplications, the adaptation of the process to modern quality control and standards, and greater responsiveness to the response to LC suppliers (Omachonu & Einspruch, 2010; Haner, 2002).

With the IS, a new organizational method will be created that will be related to the LC's business practices, thus creating an organizational innovation (Johnson et al, 2014; Samaras et al., 2013). The management of the specific knowledge of the equipment will be an optimal operational practice and will help to improve the internal organization and administration procedures of the LC as well as to design the LC's external relations with its customers and suppliers (Samaras et al., 2018). The IS will lead to an increase in management performance, a reduction in administrative transaction costs, an improvement in the satisfaction of administrative staff in their workplace, and thus productivity gains.