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Agile vs. Traditional Project Management: Measuring the Impact on Job Satisfaction in Organizations in Aruba
No full textThis study aims to investigate how Agile and Traditional project management methodologies influence job satisfaction among employees in Aruba, focusing on three indicators: workload, teamwork, and work-life balance. While Agile has been widely studied internationally, little is known about its impact in the Aruban context, where organizations still predominantly use traditional methods. To address this gap, the research applied a qualitative approach based on ten semi-structured interviews with professionals working in Agile, Traditional, and Hybrid project environments. The findings reveal that Agile generally fosters higher job satisfaction through improved workload management, stronger collaboration, and greater flexibility, though stress can increase during critical phases such as go-lives. Traditional methodologies were valued for their structure and predictability, but their inflexibility sometimes lowered satisfaction.
Interestingly, several organizations combined Agile and Traditional practices, creating Hybrid approaches that balanced flexibility with stability. The study concludes that there is no one-size-fits-all methodology. Job satisfaction is best supported when organizations select or combine approaches in alignment with project requirements, and organizational culture. These insights provide valuable guidance for Aruban organizations seeking to improve project outcomes while supporting job satisfaction
UARC Dialogue Session: Proposal Panic!
No full textOn the 16th of September the University of Aruba Research Center organized a session on sharing experiences around working on and submitting research proposals, initiated by Benedicta Deogratias.
The slides summarize the challenges and tips shared by the five presenters.
Based on the discussions and questions during the session. The UARC will follow up with the following
- For the NWO PhD call: suggest to NWO to provide options to share the information from the statements of intent from the PhD candidates more widely so that supervisors with the relevant expertise can reach out to these candidates. A lot of PhD candidates struggled with setting up their supervisory team for this call.
- Based on the questions and interest around this session, we expect to organize a more practical/how to workshop on research proposals in early 2026, aligned with the NWO PhD Caribbean call.
- Look into the possibilities of working with a team on shared documents (in collaboration with IT)
- The Research Center can help with suggestions for supervisors and help with reaching out to them, but we may not have the expertise or connections for your research field. The Research Center can set up a database with potential supervisors who have already reached out to see if there are collaboration opportunities.
- The Research Center can help with setting up budgets for research proposal. We will also set up information for research calls in Stone in a more transparent manner.
- The Research Center will set up a database of potential supervisors that have already been in contact with the UA about being open to collaborate
Navigating Identity and Nation-building in the Dutch Caribbean in the Wake of Hurricanes
No full textMigration, nation-building, belongingness, and identity are common research themes in the Dutch Caribbean. Studies in these areas generally focus on identity and belongingness for the Islanders who move to the metropole or on immigration to the periphery and the related socio-economic dynamics. In the case of identity themes, these studies often focus on the recurring debate between who is “yiu di tera” (a child of the soil/native) and who is not. That which is seldom considered is the intraregional migration from Dutch Leeward Islanders to Aruba or Curacao and possible identity formation issues. This study, which is part of a broader research on nation-building called Navigating Identities, will focus on the influence of the governance structure and constitutional arrangement of the Dutch Caribbean on national identity formation dynamics and nation-building. It grapples with questions on how the Dutch English-speaking intra-regional migrants self-identify and what are the characteristics of identity formation playing field due to the governance structures, a colonial history, and nation-building processes based on the one-nation notion.
Acknowledging that climate change has an impact on cultural heritage, discourses of citizens and politicians centering the message of one-ness with “our people” after hurricanes Luis (1995), Irma, and Maria (2017) are analyzed. This discursive oneness and reimagination of borders illustrate the potential to unveil the fluidity of the islanders' identity, even while insularism is often highlighted as an omnipresent source of dysfunctionality between the islands and an impediment to structural administrative collaboration
Talenbeleid en taalpraktijk in het hoger onderwijs van de Benedenwindse eilanden: institutionele en praktische dilemma's uit de Caribische meertalige praktijk
No full textIn het Caribisch gebied verschillen discussies over talenbeleid in het
hoger onderwijs fundamenteel van die in Nederland en Vlaanderen. Met
name in Aruba en Curaçao - waar de samenlevingen viertalig
functioneren - zijn taalkeuzes in het hoger onderwijs niet voor de
hand liggend. Hoe kom je tegemoet aan de (talige) noden van een
samenleving waarvan de meerderheid een creooltaal – Papiaments –
spreekt, Engels en Spaans dominant aanwezig zijn in handel en cultuur,
en Nederlands, als onderwijs- en rechtstaal aanwezig blijft.
De uitdagingen voor het ontwikkelen van een adequaat talenbeleid zijn
in deze context groot. Het gaat niet alleen om taalkeuze(s),
normstelling en het aanbieden van taalvakken in het curriculum van de
verschillende opleidingen. Ook het institutionele talenbeleid speelt
een belangrijke rol: welke knelpunten spelen daar en welke
benaderingen worden daarvoor gekozen? Internationalisering van deze
instituten, Engelstalige bronnen, in combinatie met een groeiend
respect voor de waarde en het belang van communicatie in het
Papiaments en in het Spaans vormen een interessante maar noodzakelijke
institutionele uitdaging.
Talenbeleid voor inclusieve meertaligheid in deze context is een
puzzel, en elke keuze die daarin gemaakt wordt is bepalend voor de
toekomst van de studenten, de instituten en de samenlevingen waar zij
deel van uitmaken. In deze bijdrage worden het talenbeleid van de drie
publieke hoger onderwijsinstellingen in de zuidelijk Caraïben, en de
implicaties daarvan op verschillende niveaus toegelicht.
https://web.archive.org/web/20250904180031/https://www.de-lage-landen.com/article/op-haar-wereldcongres-gooide-de-neerlandistiek-de-luiken-open/
https://www.de-lage-landen.com/article/op-haar-wereldcongres-gooide-de-neerlandistiek-de-luiken-open
Reimagining Child Maltreatment: A Human Development Capability Approach
No full textLink to the flipbook: https://books.ipskampprinting.nl/thesis/59573-eugene/
The thesis and defense received international coverage:
6 May 2025, STARE NEWS, Suriname - https://www.starnieuws.com/index.php/welcome/index/nieuwsitem/86244 (https://web.archive.org/web/20250506175717/https://www.starnieuws.com/index.php/welcome/index/nieuwsitem/86244)
8 May 2025 https://dwtonline.com/promotieonderzoek-legt-verband-tussen-mishandeling-en-ontwikkelingskansen-kinderen/ (https://web.archive.org/web/20250507151948/https://dwtonline.com/promotieonderzoek-legt-verband-tussen-mishandeling-en-ontwikkelingskansen-kinderen/)
St. Lucia Daily Post: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15xJYN674S/?mibextid=wwXIf
Seagrass Monitoring Initiative in Collaboration with Oregon State University
No full textAs a local continuation of the CARICAS (Caribbean Carbon Accounting In Seagrass) project, seagrass monitoring efforts have been initiated in Aruba. This initiative began in March 2024 as a collaborative effort between the University of Aruba, represented by Tatiana Becker, and Oregon State University (OSU), represented by Itchung Cheung and Dwayne Plaza. OSU students are trained in seagrass field data collection following the CARICAS protocol for Seagrass Quadrat Surveys, developed by Florida International University (FIU). Under supervision, students manually collect data and photographic evidence, which supports data validation and ensures quality control. The resulting dataset will be updated annually to reflect ongoing monitoring efforts. Ultimately, this collaboration aims to bridge local environmental data gaps while providing OSU students with meaningful experiential learning opportunities in marine science.Oregon State Universit
