W. Patrick Neumann and Jan Dul
The purpose of this paper is to examine the claim that the application of human factors (HF) knowledge can improve both human well‐being and operations system (OS) performance.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the claim that the application of human factors (HF) knowledge can improve both human well‐being and operations system (OS) performance.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic review was conducted using a general and two specialist databases to identify empirical studies addressing both human and OS effects in examining manufacturing OS design aspects.
Findings
A total of 45 empirical studies were found, addressing both the human and system effects of OS (re)design. Of those studies providing clear directional effects, 95 percent showed a convergence between human effects and system effects (+, + or −,−), 5 percent showed a divergence of human and system effects (+,− or −,+). System effects included quality, productivity, implementation performance of new technologies, and also more “intangible” effects in terms of improved communication and co‐operation. Human effects included employee health, attitudes, physical workload, and “quality of working life”.
Research limitations/implications
Future research should attend to both human and system outcomes in trying to determine optimal configurations for OSs as this appears to be a complex relationship with potential long‐term impact on operational performance.
Practical implications
The application of HF in OS design can support improvement in both employee well‐being and system performance in a number of manufacturing domains.
Originality/value
The paper outlines and documents a research and practice gap between the fields of HF and operations management research that has not been previously discussed in the management literature. This gap may be inhibiting the design of OSs with superior long‐term performance.
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Vimal Kumar, Pratima Verma, Sachin Kumar Mangla, Atul Mishra, Dababrata Chowdhary, Chi Hsu Sung and Kuei Kuei Lai
The paper aims to identify key human and operational focused barriers to the implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM). It develops a comprehensive structural relationship…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to identify key human and operational focused barriers to the implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM). It develops a comprehensive structural relationship between various barriers to successfully implement TQM for sustainability in Indian organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
With the help of expert opinions and extant literature review, we identified the case of TQM failure companies and barriers to implement TQM effectively. Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) and fuzzy MICMAC techniques are employed to develop a structural model and the identified barriers are categorized based on their dependence and driving power in the various categories.
Findings
From the intensive case analysis, we identify fourteen barriers that constrain the successful implementation of TQM. The findings also provide a hierarchy of barriers in which the absence of top management involvement and ineffective leadership are the human barriers having the highest dependence.
Research limitations/implications
The critical inputs show the implementation of TQM in the firms being more proactive and well prepared in the selected five companies. The study's emphasis on barriers will help organizations in implementing TQM for better sustainability in an organizational context.
Originality/value
In the successful implementation of TQM, barriers need to be identified because failure has often eliminated the organizations from the market. Thus, TQM is the source of strength to achieve higher productivity, profitability, and sustainable business performance. The barriers must be identified to improve organizational performance to contribute to sustainable development.
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Manh-Hoang Do, Yung-Fu Huang and Thi-Nga Do
This article aims to evaluate total quality management (TQM)-enabling factors' impact on corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and business performance through evidence…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to evaluate total quality management (TQM)-enabling factors' impact on corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and business performance through evidence from Vietnamese coffee firms.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on collecting data via in-depth face-to-face interviews with employees, who are working in the Vietnamese coffee companies. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach has been employed to investigate the relationship among the TQM-enabling factors, corporate social performance (CSP) and business performance.
Findings
A total of 13 TQM-enabling factors have been identified and divided into two categories, namely human and functional. The statistical results revealed a positive signal to remarkably enhance CSP and business performance by adopting those TQM-enabling factors into Vietnamese coffee firms.
Research limitations/implications
The framework model of this research should be evaluated in different contexts worldwide or in another sector that can further identify the TQM-enabling factor and the correlation among these constructs.
Practical implications
This article provides top managers of Vietnamese coffee firms with knowledge of TQM-enabling factors that may enable them to meet superior performance, including CSP, finance and reputation.
Originality/value
This is a unique study to employ the approach into the Vietnamese coffee industry context up-to-date, which is one of the essential sectors affecting Vietnam's sustainable development.
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Karen Landay and Rachel E. Frieder
Stress and the military go hand-in-hand, particularly in combat environments. While some personality traits or types weaken relationships between stress and performance, others…
Abstract
Stress and the military go hand-in-hand, particularly in combat environments. While some personality traits or types weaken relationships between stress and performance, others, such as psychopathy, may strengthen them. In the present chapter, we consider the ramifications of individuals with high levels of psychopathy or psychopathic tendencies in the military with regard to both their own stress and performance and that of those around them. We discuss different reactions to psychological and physical stress, as well as the implications of psychopathic tendencies as they relate to current military issues, including gender, leadership, teamwork, turnover, post-traumatic stress disorder, and suicide. By juxtaposing relevant research findings on stress and psychopathy, we conclude that psychopathic tendencies should have neither uniformly negative nor positive effects on stress and performance in the military. Rather, effects on such individuals and the peripheral others with whom they interact will likely vary greatly depending on numerous factors.
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To date, higher education frameworks for teaching and learning are not designed to focus on interdisciplinary subject matters like sustainability. Consequently, based on an…
Abstract
To date, higher education frameworks for teaching and learning are not designed to focus on interdisciplinary subject matters like sustainability. Consequently, based on an in-depth literature review, this chapter presents a theoretical framework for teaching and learning about sustainability. Within this framework, it is posited that opportunity to learn (OTL) about sustainability can directly influence promising practices of teaching and learning about sustainability (including both cognitively responsive teaching and teaching for sustainability) along with transformative sustainability learning outcomes. Additionally, it is posited that OTL can indirectly affect transformative sustainability learning outcomes by directly influencing promising practices of teaching and learning about sustainability. This in turn directly influences transformative sustainability learning outcomes. Implications from this framework offer a distinctive way to frame sustainability-specific subject matter and teaching practices. With respect to practice, this framework can provide critical information to instructors about how to teach sustainability. With regards to conceptual contributions, this framework can guide further research through this precise framing of discussions, as well as guiding data collection and analyses. Also, scholars can continue to examine the framework for facets that are most important, and continue to fine-tune it as it further develops and demonstrates its viability.
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Investments in faculty development have been shown to lead to robust improvements in research innovation, faculty quality of life, and discussion and dialogue across disciplines…
Abstract
Investments in faculty development have been shown to lead to robust improvements in research innovation, faculty quality of life, and discussion and dialogue across disciplines. Traditional faculty development usually takes a university-centered approach, focusing on one-size-fits-all and large-group structures such as webinars and workshops. This chapter suggests that attending to faculty wellbeing might be improved through a coaching program for individual faculty that meets the needs of faculty where they are and helps them to make progress in their work, including tailoring supports to specific university cultures as well as creating a space for encouraging cohort coaching in order to provide support across faculty. This chapter introduces processes needed for the development of one’s academic identity – agency, belonging, and competencies (ABC). This ABC framework is derived from empirical research examining the developmental processes of becoming a change agent and serves as the foundation for achieving wellbeing and fulfillment for a faculty member.
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Presents the scientific methodology from the enlarged cybernetical perspective that recognizes the anisotropy of time, the probabilistic character of natural laws, and the entry…
Abstract
Presents the scientific methodology from the enlarged cybernetical perspective that recognizes the anisotropy of time, the probabilistic character of natural laws, and the entry that the incomplete determinism in Nature opens to the occurrence of innovation, growth, organization, teleology communication, control, contest and freedom. The new tier to the methodological edifice that cybernetics provides stands on the earlier tiers, which go back to the Ionians (c. 500 BC). However, the new insights reveal flaws in the earlier tiers, and their removal strengthens the entire edifice. The new concepts of teleological activity and contest allow the clear demarcation of the military sciences as those whose subject matter is teleological activity involving contest. The paramount question “what ought to be done”, outside the empirical realm, is embraced by the scientific methodology. It also embraces the cognitive sciences that ask how the human mind is able to discover, and how the sequence of discoveries might converge to a true description of reality.
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Lalaina Rakotondrainibe, Grégoire Allaire and Patrick Orval
This paper is devoted to the theoretical and numerical study of a new topological sensitivity concerning the insertion of a small bolt connecting two parts in a mechanical…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper is devoted to the theoretical and numerical study of a new topological sensitivity concerning the insertion of a small bolt connecting two parts in a mechanical structure. First, an idealized model of bolt is proposed which relies on a non-local interaction between the two ends of the bolt (head and threads) and possibly featuring a pre-stressed state. Second, a formula for the topological sensitivity of such an idealized bolt is rigorously derived for a large class of objective functions. Third, numerical tests are performed in 2D and 3D to assess the efficiency of the bolt topological sensitivity in the case of no pre-stress. In particular, the placement of bolts (acting then as springs) is coupled to the further optimization of their location and to the shape and topology of the structure for volume minimization under compliance constraint.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology relies on the adjoint method and the variational formulation of the linearized elasticity equations in order to establish the topological sensitivity.
Findings
The numerical results prove the influence of the number and locations of the bolts which strongly influence the final optimized design of the structure.
Originality/value
This paper is the first one to study the topology optimization of bolted systems without a fixed prescribed number of bolts.
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Joshua V. White, Sanjay Chaudhary and Vishal K. Gupta
The concept of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) attracts considerable attention in the organizational literature. Focusing on issues related to measurement of EO and using a…
Abstract
The concept of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) attracts considerable attention in the organizational literature. Focusing on issues related to measurement of EO and using a three-pronged framework to organize the growing diversity of EO measures, the authors conduct a systematic literature review on how EO is captured and assessed in the empirical literature. Specifically, the authors classify 551 empirical works according to the approach to measurement (i.e., managerial perceptions, content analysis, and resource allocations) which allows the authors to document and critically analyze prevalent measurement practices within the literature. Based on the synthesis, the authors identify key measurement-related tensions that may inhibit cumulative knowledge development in the area of EO, such as ad hoc modification of seminal scales and lack of theoretical clarity with respect to measurement. Additionally, the authors find that research into the antecedents of EO as well as causality and temporality of the phenomenon is underdeveloped, which the authors attribute to scarce use of mixed methods. The authors conclude chapter by discussing the challenges involved in measuring EO and offering possible recommendations for future inquiry.