Service Completion Estimates for Cross‐trained Workforce Schedules under Uncertain Attendance and Demand

Although cross‐trained workers offer numerous operational advantages for extended‐hour service businesses, they must first be scheduled for duty. The outcome from those decisions, usually made a week or more in advance, varies with realized service demand, worker attendance, and the way available cross‐trained workers are deployed once the demands for service are known. By ignoring the joint variability of attendance and demand, we show that existing workforce scheduling models tend to overstate expected schedule performance and systematically undervalue the benefits of cross‐training. We propose a two‐stage stochastic program for profit‐oriented cross‐trained workforce scheduling and allocation decisions that is driven by service completion estimates obtained from the convolution of the employee attendance and service demand distributions. Those estimates, reflecting optimal worker allocation decisions over all plausible realizations of attendance and demand, provide the gradient information used to guide workforce scheduling decisions. Comparing the performance of workforce scheduling decisions for hundreds of different hypothetical service environments, we find that solutions based on convolution estimates are more profitable, favor proportionately more cross‐trained workers and fewer specialists, and tend to recommend significantly larger (smaller) staffing levels for services under high (low) contribution margins than workforce schedules developed with independent expectations of attendance and demand.     

Comparing Toxicologic and Epidemiologic Studies: Methylene Chloride-A Case Study

Exposure to methylene chloride induces lung and liver cancers in mice. The mouse bioassay data have been used as the basis for several cancer risk assessments. ^(1,2) The results from epidemiologic studies of workers exposed to methylene chloride have been mixed with respect to demonstrating an increased cancer risk. The results from a negative epidemiologic study of Kodak workers have been used by two groups of investigators to test the predictions from the EPA risk assessment models.^(3,4) These two groups used very different approaches to this problem, which resulted in opposite conclusions regarding the consistency between the animal model predictions and the Kodak study results. The results from the Kodak study are used to test the predictions from OSHA's multistage models of liver and lung cancer risk. Confidence intervals for the standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) from the Kodak study are compared with the predicted confidence intervals derived from OSHA's risk assessment models. Adjustments for the "healthy worker effect," differences in length of follow-up, and dosimetry between animals and humans were incorporated into these comparisons. Based on these comparisons, we conclude that the negative results from the Kodak study are not inconsistent with the predictions from OSHA's risk assessment model.     

Well-being and organizational performance: An organizational-level test of the happy-productive worker hypothesis

Abstract

It is often assumed that happy workers are also productive workers. Although this reasoning has frequently been supported at the individual level, it is still unclear what these findings imply for organizational performance. Controlling for relevant work characteristics, this study presents a large-scale organizational-level test of the happy-productive worker hypothesis, assuming that high individual well-being leads to high individual-level performance, which should translate into high organizational performance (such as high efficiency and productivity). Job-specific employee well-being was measured as job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion. Using data from 66 Dutch home care organizations, the relationships among aggregated levels of demands, control, support, emotional exhaustion and satisfaction on the one hand, and organizational performance on the other, were examined using regression analysis. The hypotheses were partly confirmed, especially high aggregated levels of emotional exhaustion were related to low organizational performance. Although these findings support the reasoning that happy organizations are indeed productive organizations, more theorizing and more longitudinal research on the associations between individual-level well-being and organizational performance is imperative to improve understanding of these relationships. The findings underline the importance of improving worker well-being: this is not only important for individual workers, but may also have positive consequences for organizations and their clients.     

Dynamic work hour optimization for casual workers

An original online problem named the work-break problem is proposed to optimize the work hours of casual workers. The algorithm for our problem has to answer for a casual worker about when he should have a break for his efficiency declines with the growing duration of current work period. We consider the online uncertainty of the work efficiency and present a periodic algorithm for the problem. Then our algorithm is proved to be 2-competitive by a novel form of competitive analysis.     

Risk Aversion and the Efficiency Wage Contract

Abstract. The efficiency wage model of Shapiro and Stiglitz (American Economic Review 74: 433–444, 1984) has not always been confirmed by empirical investigations. This could be due to informational problems. Reformulating the Shapiro and Stiglitz model as a sequential game, this paper examines the relations between the terms of the efficiency wage contract offered by a firm and the responses of a worker, under incomplete information about the degree of risk aversion of the firm and the worker. It shows that under incomplete information about the degree of risk aversion of the worker, shirking can emerge as an equilibrium phenomenon. For any efficiency wage contract, a worker will shirk if the degree of risk aversion of the worker is less than that corresponding to the contract.     

Lean and green in the transport and logistics sector – a case study of simultaneous deployment

The transport and logistics sector is of vital importance for the stimulation of trade and hence the economic development of nations. However, over the last few years, this sector has taken central stage in the green agenda due to the negative environmental effects derived from its operations. Several disciplines including operations research and sub-areas of supply chain management such as green supply chains, green logistics and reverse logistics have tried to address this problem. However, despite the work undertaken through these disciplines, theoretical or empirical research into the sequential or simultaneous deployment of the lean and green paradigms, particularly, in the road transport and logistics sector is limited. This paper presents a case study where both paradigms have been combined to improve the transport operations of a world leader logistics organisation in the metropolitan area of Monterrey, Mexico. To do this, a systematic methodology and a novel tool called Sustainable Transportation Value Stream Map (STVSM) were proposed. The results obtained from the case study indicate that the concurrent deployment of the green and lean paradigms through such methodology and the STVSM tool is an effective approach to improve both operational efficiency and environmental performance of road transport operations. The paper can be used as a guiding reference for transport and logistics organisations to undertake improvement projects similar to the one presented in this paper. Additionally, this research also intends to stimulate scholarly research into the application of lean and green paradigms in the transport and logistics sector to expand the limited research pursued in this area.     

基于人力资本产权的知识型员工激励机制研究

分析了知识型员工的人力资本特征,利用多任务委托代理框架,建立了努力工作和努力学习双任务、业绩激励和产权激励共同作用的委托代理模型,讨论了产权激励与业绩激励的相互作用,分析了努力工作与努力学习行为.研究表明,产权激励可以促进知识型员工努力工作和努力学习,并优化业绩激励;员工拥有其创造的全部剩余收益时具有最优效率,但产权激励需与业绩激励匹配、且产权激励强度越大激励效果越好;作为长期激励的产权激励加强时,员工倾向于努力学习,作为短期激励的业绩激励加强时,员工倾向于努力工作;当缺少产权激励时,员工变得不好学习或倾向于加强外部学习.     

高校知识工作者胜任力要素与个人业绩关系的实证研究

对高校知识工作者胜任力要素与个人业绩的关系进行了实证研究。结果表明,从高校知识工作者胜任力模型中提出的3族36项胜任力要素与个人业绩有紧密的正相关关系。该研究结果通过比较不同的胜任力要素与业绩相关强度的大小,为高校组织和高校知识工作者个人在实践中更加有目的、有步骤地提高胜任力提供了一些启示。     

Fit between sourcing capabilities and organisational structure on IT outsourcing performance

Thus far, relatively few studies on the supplier side of Information Technology (IT) outsourcing arrangements have been based on empirical quantitative research. Previous research identified a recurring supplier problem, a lack of sustainability in IT performance. The literature revealed that a supplier's capabilities and organisational structure affect the supplier performance. We hypothesise that realising a fit between the necessary sourcing capabilities and organisational structure on the IT supplier side will result in a sustainable sourcing performance. We executed a survey research among employees involved in sourcing activities of three different IT outsourcing suppliers (N?=?135). The results from our analysis provide evidence that these constructs can be used to analyse differences between the three types of service suppliers. Results indicate that suppliers who focus on establishing a fit are more willing or able to monitor if they achieve a sustainable performance.     

Lean implementation in a service factory: views from the front-line

The deployment of Lean methods in service work is increasingly viewed as a legitimate response more efficient front-line service delivery. However, there are mixed results with process efficiency gains frequently marginalised by losses in employee satisfaction and customer focus. It is suggested that these sub-optimal outcomes result from partial adoptions of Lean with emphasis on process efficiency neglecting employee and customer outcomes. Utilising Action Research this paper investigates a Lean implementation within a UK call centre. This research finds that Lean when implemented properly can lead to improved process efficiency, a better customer experience and increased employee satisfaction. It suggests that to achieve these optimum outcomes Lean implementations must as a priority be focused on creating customer satisfaction and be customised to fit with particular contingencies in the organisational context such as the nature of the interface between the front-line worker and the customer.     

绩效考核对员工反伦理行为的影响:研究综述与未来展望

绩效考核作为一种有效的管理方法一直受到组织高度重视,但各种组织都不同程度的存在着因绩效考核引起的管理伦理问题,而且它们是相互影响的。国外对这方面的研究已有几十年的积累,而国内的相关研究才刚刚起步。本文首先回顾了国内外有关绩效考核对员工反伦理行为影响的相关研究,然后就未来的研究方向提出了看法和建议。     

Shop Floor Control When Tacit Worker Knowledge is Important

We investigate a shop where the workers and supervisors have tacit knowledge of how to operate efficiently and where efficiency is important to providing capacity to meet demand. This tacit knowledge includes setup dependencies between products as well as which worker or machine is best suited for a particular product. We discuss a real‐world shop where this is the case. Management expects workers and supervisors to use their knowledge to schedule efficiently by monitoring their performance based on standards. The question that we explore is how management should control for due date performance in light of the discretion given to the workers and supervisors to sequence jobs on the basis of efficiency. We explore management control of due date performance through the use of order review and release (ORR) and management expediting. We find that although ORR is quite effective at reducing work‐in‐process (WIP) inventories, it may foster very late deliveries in a shop such as this. In fact, under such conditions, deftly executed expediting with no ORR at all can be far more effective at supporting all deliveries. Even improving ORR into a hybrid by actively updating path efficiencies (observed from supervisor/worker scheduling) did not support a change to this conclusion. Conversely, when conditions are created where tacit knowledge plays a reduced role or utilization is decreased, ORR delivers in a timely manner. The interaction between utilization, WIP levels, and worker knowledge all help dictate the appropriate control methodology.     

Assembly Line Balancing with Resource Dependent Task Times*

Paced assembly lines are widely used in repetitive manufacturing applications. Most previous research on the design of paced lines has assumed that each task along the line can be performed by only one worker (or a fixed number of workers). In many cases, however, task duration times may be reduced by increasing the number of workers or changing the equipment assigned to work stations. Thus, the problem becomes one of assigning resource alternatives (e.g., workers and/or equipment) and tasks to work stations to minimize total cost for a desired production rate. For this problem, we present three procedures. The first formulates the problem as a shortest path problem and guarantees optimality. The second and third are heuristic adaptations of the shortest path procedure that are capable of solving large problems. The procedures are compared in terms of solution quality and computation time on a set of 128 randomly generated problems for which optimal solutions could be found. Our simulation results indicate that the choice of procedure depends on problem complexity and resource costs.     

独立董事连锁对内部控制的影响机理: 基于声誉效应与学习效应的实证研究

本文首次从独立董事连锁的声誉效应和学习效应视角,运用匹配(1:1 Pairing)+双重差分(DID)法研究独立董事连锁对企业内部控制质量的影响机理。研究发现:在声誉效应视角,独立董事连锁能显著提高企业的内部控制质量,且兼任公司家数较多的连锁独立董事对内部控制质量的提高作用更明显;在学习效应视角,独立董事连锁能显著提高其董事会出席率,且该种效应主要出现在高学历的连锁独立董事身上。此外,本研究首次发现了独立董事连锁对企业内部控制质量的传导机制,即通过提高连锁独立董事的董事会出席率进而提升了企业的内部控制质量。本文的结果表明,我国监管部门和上市公司应当重视独立董事连锁的作用,这对公司治理与内部控制相关政策的制定具有重要的启发意义。     

Turnover and Excess Worker Reallocation. The Veneto Labour Market between 1982 and 1996

This research exploits a large matched employer–employee data set for an Italian region, the Veneto, that is presented here for the first time, in order to analyse job and worker flows. In a first part, the paper computes worker turnover, job turnover, and excess worker reallocation over a time span of 14 years. The results are discussed, and comparisons are made between the quantitative features of the labour market in the Veneto region and those of other labour markets. In a second part, turnover and excess worker reallocation are related to search costs, and new empirical evidence is presented that helps in understanding the connections between search activity, unemployment, and the economic cycle.     

Solving a process engineer's manpower-planning problem using analytic hierarchy process

The role of a process engineer (PE) is vital in a high-technology organization. Generic manpower-planning approaches, such as regression or mathematical programming methods, are difficult to apply to PE manpower-planning problem. A simple production-volume to staffing-level ratio did not properly reflect the required PE staffing needs. This research considered both production volume and complexity to plan the required PE staffing level. Production complexity is an indicator of the amount of PE attendance time, and this is innovatively evaluated in the present study using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). A case study is used to illustrate the proposed methodology.     

Use of risk assessment and life cycle assessment in decision making: a common policy research agenda.

Quantitative risk assessment (RA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) are both analytical tools used to support decision making in environmental management. They have been developed and used by largely separate groups of specialists, and it is worth considering whether there is a common research agenda that may increase the relevance of these tools in decision-making processes. The validity of drawing comparisons between use of the tools is established through examining key aspects of the two approaches for their similarities and differences, including the nature of each approach and contextual and methodological aspects. Six case studies involving use of each approach in public decision making are described and used to draw out concerns about using RA and LCA in this context. The following categories of concern can be distinguished: philosophical approach of the tools; quantitative versus qualitative assessment; stakeholder participation; the nature of the results; and the usefulness of the results in relation to time and financial resource requirements. These can be distilled into a common policy research agenda focusing on: the legitimacy of using tools built on a particular perspective in decision making; recognition and role of value judgments in RA and LCA; treatment of uncertainty and variability; the influence of analytical tools in focusing attention on particular aspects of a decision-making situation; and understandability of the results for nonspecialists. It is concluded that it is time to bring together the experiences of RA and LCA specialists and benefit from cross-fertilization of ideas.     

Comparisons of Performance and Job Insecurity in Union and Nonunion Sites of a Manufacturing Company

Layoffs and employment changes caused by current economic conditions have significant effects on employee work behavior and emotions as well as organizational outcomes. We examined the relationships between measures of job insecurity, organizational commitment, turnover, absenteeism, and worker performance within a manufacturer in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. A positive relationship was found between job insecurity and intentions to turnover, and a small negative correlation was found between measures of job insecurity and organizational commitment. Unobtrusive observations of union and nonunion performance over 4 months showed that nonunion production workers were on-task more frequently, although on-task behavior was high for both. Productivity and quality measures of different factories favored nonunion locations. Although comparisons between sites were constrained by a quasi-experimental design, repeated behavioral and outcome measures within sites showed differential effects when the company announced a plant closing in another state. Job insecurity appeared to be an establishing operation that produced differential effects between union and nonunion sites as well as among individual employees within sites.     

一人多机的动态配置模型及其解法

本文以机械企业为背景,探讨了一人多机看管问题中的人员配置问题,并采用层次序列法对人员配置数学模型进行了求解,给出了启发式解法,指出了进一步研究的方向。     

The accountant's contribution to operational research

The paper discusses the provision of data by accountants for use in operational research (O.R.) models. It explores the reasons why accountants are criticized by O.R. workers for failing to provide relevant incremental cost and opportunity cost data in a desired form. The changes that need to be made to many accounting systems to meet the O.R. workers requirements are examined. It is suggested that in some situations the onus is upon the O.R. worker to put forward a convincing case for generating additional information. A communications gap between accountants and O.R. workers is recognized, and an educational problem identified.