International Journal of Industrial Engineering & Production Research

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  Improving knowledge worker productivity has been one of the most important tasks of the century. However, we have few measures or management interventions to make such improvement possible, and it is difficult to identify patterns that should be followed by knowledge workers because systems and processes in an organization are often regarded as a death blow to creativity. In this paper, we seek to present a method for prediction of Knowledge worker productivity (KWP) that it must be capable of predicting the productivity of the knowledge workers in a one year period of time based on the Fuzzy cognitive maps (FCM) technique Based on Real Coded Genetic Algorithm (RCGA) , as well as presenting the best option from among different options as the knowledge workers’ productivity improving strategy (suggesting solution), based on the results gained from this and the previous section and depending on the requirements. The validity of the suggested model will be tested in an Iranian Company .

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Community college computer instructors provide a valuable service by preparing students for challenging careers. At the same time, they face many challenges to stay current in their field and to maintain industry certifications. Therefore, community college administrators need to determine what perceptions are held by computer instructors, address any negative perceptions, and determine if instructors are satisfied with their job. To address this need, a study of North Carolina community college computer instructors’ job satisfaction was conducted using the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) Short Form. The MSQ Short Form is a 20 question survey developed by researchers at the University of Minnesota to study job satisfaction among workers. Although, the majority of the 182 respondents reported they were satisfied with their job and hold positive perceptions of their supervisors, only slightly over half of the respondents reported being either satisfied or very satisfied with the way policies are implemented within their organization, indicating for the first time that a significant percentage of computer instructors in North Carolina perceive a problem exists within this area. The results of this study should encourage academic institutions to find better ways to implement policies in ways that don’t negatively affect job satisfaction and worker productivity .

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New home buyers in United States are becoming more discriminating in their home buying decision. They are demanding quality construction at reasonable prices. The current state of construction market also gives construction buyers more ammunition to be more discriminate when they choose to purchase homes.  To be competitive and remain in business, housing contractors and developers must meet the growing quality demands of the customers. Thus, the competition to meet the buyers’ quality demand has forced many of them to rethink the ways they build their homes. The improved designs, and construction methods and practices have resulted into award-winning quality-built homes for many of these contractors. This study was conducted to examine the quality improvement characteristics of selected award-winning residential builders and housing developers in selected counties in North Carolina, U.S.A.  Through a structured questionnaire, the researchers collected information relative to their common quality characteristics, organizational culture and overall business practices. Data analysis was performed using basic descriptive statistics. The results show that regular inspection of work in progress, feedback from customers, and immediate attention to punch list items, were highly ranked among the quality characteristics evaluated.

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So far, numerous studies have been developed to evaluate the performance of “Decision-Making Units (DMUs)” through “Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)” and “Network Data Envelopment Analysis (NDEA)” models in different places, but most of these studies have measured the performance of DMUs by efficiency criteria. The productivity is considered as a key factor in the success and development of DMUs and its evaluation is more comprehensive than efficiency evaluation. Recently, studies have been developed to evaluate the productivity of DMUs through the mentioned models but firstly, the number of these studies especially in NDEA models is scarce, and secondly, productivity in these studies is often evaluated through the “productivity indexes”. These indexes require at least two time periods and also the two important elements of efficiency and effectiveness in these studies are not significantly evident. So, the purpose of this study is to develop a new approach in the NDEA models using “Multi-Objective Programming (MOP)” method in order to measure productivity of DMUs through efficiency and effectiveness “simultaneously, in one stage, in a period, and interdependently”. “Simultaneous and single-stage” study provides the advantage of sensitivity analysis in the model. One case study demonstrates application of the proposed approach in the branches of a Bank. Using proposed approach revealed that it is possible for a branch to be efficient by considering its subdivisions separately but not be efficient by considering the conjunction between its subdivisions. In addition, a branch may be efficient by considering the conjunction between its subdivisions but not be productive. Efficient branches are not necessarily productive, but productive branches are also efficient.
 

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Productivity growth and efficiency improvements are the major sources of economic development. Pure efficiency, scale efficiency, and technology are basic factors, and rules and regulations and balance are recently known factors affecting the Malmquist productivity index. In this paper, we focus on the role of physical space facilities of bank branches as a factor affecting the decomposition of Malmquist productivity index. First, we propose a new model applying weight restrictions in basic DEA models for constant returns to scale technologies. The weight restrictions increase the discrimination power of basic DEA models. Then the new model is used to develop an extended Malmquist index, which gives a novel decomposition describing the roll of bank branch facilities on productivity growth or decline. The validity of proposed method is confirmed with a real data of 74 commercial bank branches in two time periods 2017 and 2018 and the results for both traditional and extended Malmquist index are analyzed.

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Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) is a very powerful indicator for the performance evaluation of a manufacturing organization. However, determining the OEE target remains subjective and it’s usually based on the decision of concerned managers. In this paper, we tested the OEE target determination model based on the measured OEE. Such a method is based on the fuzzy logic principle and on two other decision-making support methods. To do this, we began with a literature review on OEE and its constituents. Then, a detailed description of the research methodology and the proposed model is provided. Thus, a case study in a manufacturing agri-food organization was conducted to test the proposed model and validate the obtained results.

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