Search results

This paper aims to explore the relationship between job characteristics (JC) and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) moderated by job satisfaction (JS) among educators in the higher education institutions in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Oman, taking into consideration that most educators at the higher education institutions in this area are expatriates.

A sample of 157 faculty members and instructors was used. Five job characteristics (skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback) and five OCB behaviors (altruism, civic virtue, courtesy, conscientiousness, and sportsmanship) were studied. The overall job satisfaction was measured with seven general items adopted from Al-Damour and Awamleh (2002). Data were collected voluntarily using social media network announcements and pencil and paper. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis was used in testing this moderation relationship.

Results showed that job satisfaction plays a significant moderating effect in enhancing the relationship between four out of the five job characteristics (feedback, skill variety, task identity and autonomy) and only two out of five OCB behaviors, namely, altruism and courtesy. Also, culture showed no significant impact on results.

Using a self-reporting tool, the respondents could give biased responses that might influence results. In addition, the use a complex relationship to establish a causality relationship among many variables measured with many items did make it difficult and sometimes errored out using SEM analysis.

This study delivers important suggestions to the management of these institutions as well as higher education administration about how to enhance their educators’ OCBs as a source of competitive advantage taking into consideration that expatriates work within certain legal and social contexts.

With very limited related research covering this region, this study provides an insight into how educators’ OCBs can be enhanced within unique employment structures and policies designed for expatriate educators in the GCC countries.

Several examples of successful expert systems applications are presented. Examples of expert systems as applied in process planning, operations planning, inventory control, process design, quality control and scheduling are covered, and the performance of these expert systems is described. Expert systems will become an essential part of computer‐integrated manufacturing (CIM) and flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) because they can perform several of the tasks mentioned above.

The impact of participation in a self‐managed teams program on employee quality of work life attitudes, and on productivity and quality was studied among employees in a manufacturing firm located in the mid‐western United States. Employee productivity and quality changes were measured by collecting and analyzing actual organizational data, for a thirty‐six month period. The attitudinal results indicate that self‐managed teams improved participants’ quality of work life. The performance results document a positive and substantial impact of self‐managed teams program on employee productivity, efficiency and quality. However, implementation of self‐managing teams is a complex task that requires time and commitment of resources to reap potential rewards.

Quality control of banks is discussed in the light of the recession in banking in the early 1980s. The failure of banks has been seen to be due more to poor management and control than to adverse economic conditions. Therefore the quality of institutions must be measured not simply by profitability but also by customer service, key financial ratios and analysis, especially the loan portfolio. It is also imperative that banking laws and government regulations should be fully observed. Finally, in an age of widespread computer and other types of fraud it is essential that job applicants be rigorously screened for trust worthiness.

The use of robots to supplant direct labor, automated materials handling, computer controlled flexible manufacturing systems which are capable of producing a number of products within the same product line, and just‐in‐time production and distribution are creating a new manufacturing environment. As in the past, the need for assignment and control of direct material costs remains; however, the allocation and control of conversion costs can no longer be based on direct labor hours or labor costs. Further, since different products are produced in the same assembly line, the allocation and control of conversion costs, based on the materials used or units produced, is not possible. A machine cost per minute is, therefore, developed in order to allocate conversion costs to products and effectuate control over such costs.

The Japanese practice of Kanban (Just‐in‐time — JIT), has won a lot of converts in recent times in the US and elsewhere. Literature is rife with success stories, though mostly from the users' side. The strategic implications of this emerging management philosophy on the large number of suppliers on whom depends the very survival of hundreds of JIT buyers are examined.

According to John Naisbitt, author of Megatrends, the United States is moving from an industrial to an information society. This is evident in the rapidly growing service industry. From 1969 to 1976, ninety percent of the newly created jobs were white collar or service oriented positions. In 1981, almost seventy percent of all jobs were in the service industry. This percentage is expected to increase to near ninety percent by 1990. The Coalition of Service Industries, Inc. estimates that service industries generate two‐thirds of the United States Gross National Product, and service industries employ three out of four working Americans. Another reason for the increase in concern for service quality is the rise of the “get my money's worth” consumer, a value‐seeking shopper who thinks in terms of total use cost rather than just initial acquisition cost.

The Japanese practice of Kanban (Just‐in‐time – JIT), has won a lot of converts in recent times in the US and elsewhere. Literature is rife with success stories, though, mostly from the users′ side. The strategic implications of this emerging management philosophy on the large number of suppliers on whom depends the very survival of hundreds of JIT buyers are examined.

Dramatic increase in international trade during the past two decades and increasing political instability of the third world countries have forced the multinational firms to devote more time and resources to risk assessment. In the past decade we have witnessed that international business can be affected by wars, revolutions, coup d'etats, social unrest, third world debt crisis, and terrorism. Some firms have been forced out of the third world countries without a reasonable compensation.