Workload control theory seeks to align capacity and demand to improve delivery performance. However, workload control researchers mainly focused on input control, which regulates the input of work to the production system, thereby neglecting output control, which uses capacity adjustments to regulate the outflow of the work. Moreover, few existing studies on output control investigate a temporarily increase in capacity. This paper introduces a new search direction for output control which does not require an increase in capacity – labour flexibility. Idle operators can move from their workstation to another, thus temporarily increasing the output of that workstation without extra capacity. Using simulation of a five workstations flow shop line, we highlight the positive performance effect of labour flexibility. However, this comes at the cost of high labour movement. Introducing a load-based constraint on when workers are allowed to significantly reduces labour movement, while realizing most of the performance improvement observed for unconstrained labour movement. This has important implications for future research and practice.

The Medical System of Transportation deals with two online real-time decisions: ambulance dispatching and relocation. Dispatching consists of selecting which ambulance to send to an emergency call; relocation consists of determining how to modify the location of available ambulances in response to changes in the system’s state. Although the literature regarding this problem is extensive, only a limited number of online real-time approaches for ambulance management have been proposed, much less one taking into consideration different types of emergencies and vehicles. This paper proposes an online real-time matheuristic algorithm that combines: i) a new preparedness index defined as the availability probability of a multi-server queue model which is used as an optimization objective and as a control variable for relocation strategies, ii) two mathematical models to solve the relocation problem, one oriented to the maximization of coverage and other to the minimization of the maximum relocation time, and iii) two heuristic algorithms oriented to the maximization of the preparedness level, one to solve the dispatch problem and other to solve the location problem of one ambulance. The computational experiments, based on discrete event simulation and historical data of Bogotá, Colombia, have shown their capability to adequately respond to the necessities of real-time operation.

In this paper, the flow shop with blocking and sequence and machine dependent setup time problem aiming to minimize the makespan is studied. Two mixed-integer programming models are proposed (TNZBS1 and TNZBS2) and two other mixed-integer programming models, originally proposed for the no setup problem, are adapted to the problem. Furthermore, an Iterated Greedy algorithm is proposed for the problem. The permutation flow shop with blocking and sequence and machine dependent setup time is an underexplored problem and the authors did not find the use of mixed-integer programming models for the problem in any other work. To compare the models, a database of 80 problems was generated, which vary in number of machines and jobs. For the small sized problems, the adapted MILP model obtained the best results. However, for bigger problems, both proposed MILP models obtained significantly better results compared to the adapted models, proving the efficiency of the new models. When comparing the Iterated Greedy algorithm with the MILP models, the former outperformed the latter.

This paper presents a case study on how Six Sigma methodology can be used to improve student academic performance in three main subjects (Math, Arabic, and English) in a private secondary school located in the Middle East. The Six Sigma methodology of Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control (DMAIC) was used to improve student performance along with several improvement tools such as Fishbone diagram, Pareto charts, and Critical-To-Quality (CTQ) tree. Introducing quality improvement concepts and tools resulted in a series of improvements leading to an increase in student academic achievement quantified by Sigma Quality Level (SQL). The SQL improved in Math from (2.01) to (2.37) and in Arabic from (1.86) to (2.38). On the other hand, English grades did not increase from baseline. The results of this study provide a clear, step-by-step approach to systematically approaching and solving educational problems using the DMAIC model. Practically speaking, the results of this study provides clear evidence that the DMAIC can be used in the educational sector by school administrators and teachers to improve student grades.

Educational institutions are adopting learning management systems (LMS) to facilitate teaching and learning processes. During the last few years, many Universities have started upgrading their existing LMS by shifting to advance LMS. This shift requires students, academic as well as administrative staff to get acquainted with the functioning of the new system at the earliest, as any change in the system may impact their performance. The transition from old to new LMS requires time and affects the performance of users, especially administrative staff performance. The present study tries to investigate the effect of the transition on the performance of the administrative staff. The task-technology fit (TTF) model was adopted as the theoretical framework for the study. The data analysis was done using the PLS-SEM, to test the hypothesized relationships. The findings of the study confirm that mere usage of the new technology did not improve the performance rather, the task and technology characteristics need to be coordinated appropriately.

While some organizations realize the important role of strategic planning (SP) and leadership in influencing their business performance, it is unknown what SP dimensions and leadership style are required to improve the performance of banking institutions. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of transformational leadership (TL) style and SP dimensions (strategic planning level, implementation and barriers) on organizational performance. To this end, a self-administered questionnaire is distributed to a sample of 246 managerial employees from private banks in Yemen. The analysis with structural equation modelling using partial least squares indicates that TL style and SP dimensions significantly influence the performance of Yemeni banks. The results reveal that TL and SP dimensions are profoundly needed to enable Yemeni banks to propel to improved bank performance. The results draw several pertinent implications for decision makers that will help enhance the performance of the banking sector. Limitations from the findings and recommendations for further research are put forward.

This paper studies the effects of financial and non-financial incentives on job tenure of academics in Jordanian universities. The purpose of this research is to help Jordanian universities find solutions to the job tenure challenge that they face and to explore the role of incentives in job tenure. The study follows the incentives typology of Buchan and incentives are divided into two categories; financial incentive, including salary, other direct financial incentives, and indirect financial incentives, and non-financial incentives including training and education, recreational facilities, occupational health, and flexible working hours, breaks, and sabbatical. Job tenure is measured by the period that the questionnaire respondents were working with the current employers. The study considers two hypotheses and two questions to test the effect of incentives on job tenure. Results show that financial and non-financial incentives had positive significant effects on job tenure. The study recommends universities in Jordan to pay more attention to incentive given to their academics when they aim to increase job tenure.

This study intends to distinguish the green productivity concepts, its strategy and the roadmap of its implementation throughout the adaption of green products, green production, and green innovation process dimensions. Further, it studies the impact of green productivity on environmental sustainability by identifying the mediating role of the management support to these green practices in the Jordanian factories. Methodology population of this study en-tails industry mining firms listed in the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE). A purposive sample was adapted in this study and consisted of specialized employees in terms of operating factories in general and in green production specifically. 100 questionnaires were precisely collected and analyzed via Smart Partial Least Square (PLS) statistics in order to analysis the mediation role. The study results point out a statistically significant impact of the independent variables, namely, the green productivity on environmental sustainability as a dependent variable in the existence of the mediating variable. Further, the results demonstrate the partial mediating effect of the dependent variable. However, there is no mediating effect of the independent to the mediator variable. Accordingly, the study recommends companies to concentrate on the roles played by the top management in the efforts towards green productivity adoption and strategic implementation in the Jordanian environment. The implementation of green productivity is considered at the early stages in Jordan. Thus, the value of the study lies in the search for issues that are eco-friendly practices.

This study aims to investigate the impact of the family factors on scholastic achievements of students in high schools and universities in Vietnam. The primary data is collected from the 538 students through an online questionnaire. We apply one empirical model with the support of SPSS and STATA to test the family determinants of academic attainments-GPA. We find that there are three factors which impact on GPA of these: Age gap, Income of the families, Negative reactions of parents to their child’s low-performed results in academic performance. The research results show that all three factors can explain for 8% with the changes in GPA of learners. While the age gap between parents and their children has minor positive effects on academic performances, family income is significantly and positively correlated to GPA. This is the reason why students from opulent families often perform better than those of more meager families.

This research intends to figure the antecedents of Green Management and its implementation in manufacturing sector companies in UAE. The study also intends to explore the relationship between the implementation of green management and sustainable performance as measured by complied scale of social, economic and environmental performance. Quantitative research methods are used and the necessary data are collected from 134 companies by using google form survey sent to participants. Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 22 is used to analyze the data. The findings of this research reveal that managers’ environmental knowledge and managers’ green product awareness were positively and significantly associated with green management and that green management was also positively and significantly associated with sustainable performance.