Abstract Purpose: Errors are inevitable, resulting from the human condition itself, system failures and the interaction of both. It is essential to know how to deal with their occurrence, managing them. However, the negative tone associated with them makes it difficult for most organizations to talk about mistakes clearly and transparently, for fear of being harmed, preventing their detection, treatment and recovery. Consequently, errors are not managed, remaining accumulated in the system, turning into successive failures. Organizations need to recognize the inevitability of errors, making the system robust, through leadership and an organizational culture of error management. This study aims to understand the role of these influencing variables in an error management approach. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper methodology of a quantitative nature based on a questionnaire survey that analyses error management, leadership and the organizational culture of error management of 380 workers in Portuguese companies. Findings: The results demonstrate that leadership directly influences error management and indirectly through the organizational culture of error management, giving this last variable a mediating role. Originality/value: The study covers companies from different sectors of activity on a topic that is little explored in Portugal, but part of the daily life of organizations, which should deserve greater attention from directors and managers, as they assume a privileged position to promote and develop error management mechanisms. Error management must be the daily work of leaders. This study contributes to theoretical knowledge and business practice on error management.

RESUMO O objetivo deste estudo é analisar a eficiência dos clubes desportivos sem fins lucrativos e identificar as percepções de seus diretores com relação aos stakeholders que exercem maior influência sobre os níveis de eficiência do clube. A fim de analisar a eficiência desses clubes, recorreu-se ao método de Análise por Envoltória de Dados (Data Envelopment Analysis - DEA). O teste de Mann-Whitney também foi aplicado para identificar se existem diferenças significantes entre os clubes eficientes e não eficientes no que diz respeito à influência realizada por seus stakeholders. Desta forma, relata-se que a maioria dos clubes operam de forma eficaz.Tanto os clubes eficientes quanto os não eficientes classificam os gestores do clube, membros, patrocinadores, torcedores e atletas como os stakeholders mais importantes para seus níveis de eficiência. Os resultados mostram não existirem diferenças significantes dentre as percepções da equipe administrativa sobre o papel dos stakeholders na obtenção da eficiência do clube. O estudo também detalha os procedimentos que os clubes ineficientes devem adotar a fim de se aproximarem da fronteira de eficiência.

ABSTRACT The objective of this study is to analyse the efficiency of non-profit sports clubs and identify the perceptions of their directors with regards to the stakeholders that exert the greatest influence over club efficiency levels. In order to analyse the efficiency of these clubs, we made recourse to the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. We also applied the Mann-Whitney test, to identify whether there are significant differences between efficient and non-efficient clubs with regards to the influence held by their stakeholders. We thus report that the majority of clubs operate efficiently. Both the efficient and the non-efficient clubs classify the club managers, members, sponsors, fans and athletes as the most important stakeholders to their efficiency levels. The results convey how there are no significant differences among the management team perceptions on the role of stakeholders in attaining club efficiency. The study also details the respective procedures that inefficient clubs should adopt in order to approximate the efficiency frontier.