PRODUCTIVITY MANAGEMENT (BEYOND MANAGEMENT)
Year:2021 | Volume:15 | Issue:3 (58)|Papers Count:10

Emerging research findings underscore the competitive nature of attracting and maintaining knowledge workers in information technology industry and the knowledge workers’,propensity to find an appropriate workplace with fun as a distinctive feature attributed to it. This study investigated knowledge workers’,feeling of organizational attachment in relation to the fun they experienced in their workplace and with regard to the attitude they held toward workplace fun. The research population comprised 437 employees in the information technology industrial companies in Mazandaran Province, Iran. The data collection instruments included three standardized questionnaires measuring the amount of experienced fun, organizational attachment and attitude toward fun that were administered to a stratified sample of 212 participants. The collected data were analyzed statistically and revealed that the fun knowledge workers experienced in their workplace, with an impact factor of 0. 441, was significantly correlated with their organizational attachment. In addition, the moderating role of attitude toward workplace fun, with an impact factor of 0. 262, was approved. Scrutiny of fun activities indicated that celebration of work achievement and success was of paramount importance for knowledge workers.

The purpose of this applied descriptive survey was to measure the productivity of higher education. The research population consisted of first level different university faculty members and assistants from whom a cluster sample of 34 participants from Allameh Tabataba'I University, Tehran University and Sharif Industrial universities were randomly selected to partake in the study. The research data were collected employing a researcher-made productivity measurement questionnaire comprising four factors tapping quality, value added, efficiency and effectiveness. Smart-PLS software was employed to confirm the validity and reliability of the questionnaire and the structural and general fitting of the proposed model. The research data were analyzed via SPSS software and dependent samples t-test to answer the research questions. The findings demonstrated that overall productivity of higher education was below expectations and that higher education productivity facets including quality, value added, efficiency and effectiveness were far below favoured averages. The findings accentuate consistent measurement, causal scrutiny and planning as prerequisites for productivity enhancement of higher education.

Nowadays, competition affects all stages involved in producing and supplying products so greatly that most material manufacturers and suppliers can hardly hold their market shares unless they attempt to promote product quality and reduce prices. Hence, the current study scrutinized the effect competition among raw material suppliers can exert on the supply and procurement costs in a multi-product Green closed loop supply chain. Initially, competitive modeling among raw material suppliers in different groups in the supply process is undertaken,Then, the equilibrium point of competition among each group of chain suppliers is established by estimating the demand for each of the chain products, setting the demand rate parameters of each product and the rate of return flow in the competitive model based on the principles of game theory. Finally, decisions can be made by comparing the fluctuation patterns in supply and procurement costs for manufacturers and raw material supply chains under competitive and noncompetitive conditions.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of high-performance work practices on organizational performance of Companies located in Jey Industrial City, Isfahan with regard to the mediating role of E-human resource management. The research population comprised all managers and employees working in human resource management sectors of the target companies from whom a convenience sample of 342 participants was selected based on structural equation principles. The research data were collected employing the High-Performance Workplace Questionnaire (Flood et al., 2008) with 9 items, the Organizational Performance Questionnaire (Katkar & Satt, 2009), with 5 items, and Electronic Human Resource Management Questionnaire (Hooi, 2006), with 9 items. The Cronbach's alpha measures of the the questionnaires were calculated and found to be 0. 882, 0. 823 and 0. 823, respectively. Sstructural Equation Modeling (SEM) was utilized to test the research hypotheses using PLS software. The findings confirmed that organizational performance of Jay Industrial City companies was significantly and positively influenced by high-performance work practices and E-human resource management, however, E-human resource management did not significantly mediate relationship between high-performance work practices and organizational performance.

The present qualitative research set out to design a model for invisible employee control in public organizations. The research sample included managers at various universities and educational institutes in Ilam selected based on snowball sampling. A semi-structured interview was conducted with the participants to collect the research data which were further analyzed based on Grounded Theory. The findings indicated that three sets of causal, contextual and intervening factors can influence invisible employee control. Causal factors include efficient evaluation system, adequate organizational supportive atmosphere, efficient supervision and control system and fair and unbiased employee promotion. Contextual factors comprise appreciating and rewarding effective services, taking personality characteristics into account and managers’,ethical supportive behavior towards employees. Intervening factors were found to be maintaining rule-orientation, reducing hidden powers and existence of clear specific control plans. Control pattern strategies were found to include empowering managers, developing human resources, promoting organizational intimacy, matching jobs with employees’,capabilities and adequate employment system. Finally, invisible employee control was construed as leading to organizational efficiency, customer satisfaction, promoting organizational accountability, and boosting employees’,participation and commitment.

Methods of clustering in data mining have dramatically developed in recent years as a result of the crucial need to categorize data leading to the expansion of data mining techniques and enhanced productivity of clustering methods in management and decision making. Whale optimization algorithm is a new stochastic global optimization method employed to resolve various problems. We already presented a data clustering method based on Whale optimization algorithm in which the initial solutions are randomly selected. What has made K-mean algorithm a highly popular clustering approaches appealing to many researchers is the simplicity and brevity of the stages involved in the process. The present enquiry aimed at employing K-mean algorithm to improve the capability of Whale optimization clustering and proposing the hybrid KWOA algorithm which can find more accurate clusters. The computational results of running the newly proposed algorithm, along with some well-known clustering algorithms, on real data sets from a well-known machine learning repository underscored the promising performance of the proposed algorithm in terms of the quality and standard deviation of the final solutions.

This mixed-methods research was conducted to identify and design the dimensions, components and factors of an excellence organizational climate and validate it. The qualitative phase of the study was based on the grounded theory and MAXQDA software while the quantitative stage was conducted using SPSS software. The research population comprised Iranian private banks from which a convenient sample was selected based on theoretical adequacy and availability during the qualitative phase. Interviews were run with the sample to reach the theoretical saturation. Further, the quantitative phase of the study started with a sample of 318 participants who had been selected based on a multi-stage cluster sampling procedure from 1815 employees using the Cochran formula. The reliability and validity of the qualitative and quantitative phases of the research were checked through Lincoln and Guba evaluation and Cronbach's alpha, respectively. The collected data were analyzed to explain the paradigmatic model of the excellent organizational climate that was then validated via Wilcoxon test. The findings indicated that the main dimensions of the excellence organizational climate include "employee credibility", "employee and management mutual respect" and "employees’,honoring the job and the organization" and that this model can promote organizational efficiency and profits, productivity, quality of professional life and organizational culture, branding and more willingness to work in a competitive environment.

This applied descriptive mixed-methods research set out to propose a productivity-oriented model to enhance professional credentials of faculty members at Tehran Science and Research Branch of Islamic Azad University. The research population comprised all faculty members of the Science and Research Branch of the Azad University. Initially, the indicators of faculty members’,professional efficacy enhancement model were qualitatively specified via the Delphi technique. Having verified the content validity of the proposed questionnaire, it was subsequently piloted by distributing it among a larger sample and its reliability was confirmed through z test and Cronbach's alpha, respectively. The collected research data were analyzed using t and z tests, Structural Equational Modelling (SEM), Friedman, Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Bartlett, KMO and factor analysis. The findings revealed that the participants had identified 6 types of educational, technological, research and specialized services credentials like individual and value, organizational and perceptual competencies, all of which were confirmed in the final model. Moreover, the findings underscored the unsatisfactory level of these credentials in both the existing and desirable situations and the need to improve them.

The pace of advances in science and technology, human resources are construed as the fundamental capital and driving force of any change in the organization in today's competitive world where organizational survival relies heavily on the extent to which the vital and strategic role of human resources is perceived and novel managerial methods and techniques are employed to promote the employees’,motivation, satisfaction, organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior. Hence, a key task involved in human resources management is the implementation of performance evaluation systems. Therefore, the present study commenced with an initial library research to explore the necessity of evaluating employees’,performance, its functions and modern methods. The aim of this applied descriptive correlational study was to investigate the effect of employees' perception of financial and nonfinancial evaluative measures on their motivation, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and organizational citizenship behavior. The research population comprised 1, 300 employees of Water and Sewerage Company in Ahwaz, Iran from whom a convenience stratified sample of 299 participants were randomly selected. The research data were collected via questionnaires that were piloted to assess their face validity and Cranach’, s alpha reliability. The research hypotheses were tested via correlation coefficient and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using the SPSS22 and AMOS18 software. The findings indicated that financial measures had a significant effect on intrinsic motivation while nonfinancial measures had a significant effect on intrinsic motivation. Both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation were found to have significant effects on job satisfaction, organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior.

Population growth and the subsequent surge in urbanization has drastically increased the number of construction projects in metropolitan cities implementation and management of which may involve numerous ambiguous and unknown issues or risks that can impact project objectives depending on the specific project characteristics and municipal conditions. Thus, the purpose of the current applied descriptive correlational survey was to examine the extent to which components of risk failure structure can impact the goals of municipal construction projects including citizen satisfaction, cost, time, quality, range and safety using Bayesian Belief Network (BBN). The purposeful research sample comprised 45 managers, deputies, relevant officials and experts in Isfahan municipality who were consulted to identify the project risk dimensions during 2016 and 2018. A questionnaire was employed to collect the research data which were further analyzed using the project risk structure breakdown to classify and identify risks and matrices. Partial Least Squares Method of Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was employed to validate the questionnaire data. The simultaneous impact of risk dimensions on project goals was investigated using probable cause and effect modeling based on Bayesian Belief Model. The findings verified the significant positive impact of project risk components on the project objectives. The innovative characteristic of the current study was the integration of SEM and Bayesian BBN and application of error state analysis technique and risk effects in risk failure structure which can establish certainty concerning the analysis of risk dimensions and their relationship with precision of priorities in risk management process.