Ali Anjomshoae

Supplier Selection: A Fuzzy-ANP Approach

The main goal of this paper is to develop a framework to support the supplier selection process in an Iranian automotive industry. Although numerous criteria are being used for the selection of suitable supplier, selection of the critical factors in conformance to the specification of the automotive industries is less investigated. In order to fill this gap, this research was carried out to systematically propose a framework comprising of the most critical factors for the aim of supplier selection. A literature survey was conducted and measures for assessing the suppliers were extracted. Nominated Group Technique (NGT) was deployed to extract the most critical performance measures from the initial list. Seven measures were found to be proper for the supplier selection process. A Fuzzy Analytical Network Process (FANP) was then proposed to weight the extracted measures and determine their importance level. The model was then implemented to assist an automotive company for the aim of its supplier selection.

Toward a dynamic balanced scorecard model for humanitarian relief organizations’ performance management

Purpose In recent years, the balanced scorecard (BSC) has received considerable interest among practitioners for managing their organization’s performance. Unfortunately existing BSC frameworks, particularly for humanitarian supply chains, lack causal relationships among performance indicators, actions, and outcomes. They are not able to provide a dynamic perspective of the organization with factors that drive the organization’s behavior toward its mission. Lack of conceptual references seems to hinder the development of a performance measurement system toward this direction. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach The authors formulate the interdependencies among key performance indicators (KPIs) in terms of cause-and-effect relationships based on published case studies reported in international journals from 1996 to 2017. Findings This paper aims to identify the conceptual interdependencies among KPIs and represent them in the form of a conceptual model. Research limitations/implications The study was solely based on relevant existing literature. Therefore further practical research is needed to validate the interdependencies of performance indicators in the strategy map. Practical implications The proposed conceptual model provides the structure of a dynamic balanced scorecard (DBSC) in the humanitarian supply chain and should serve as a starting reference for the development of a practical DBSC model. The conceptual framework proposed in this paper aims to facilitate further research in developing a DBSC for humanitarian organizations (HOs). Originality/value Existing BSC frameworks do not provide a dynamic perspective of the organization. The proposed conceptual framework is a useful reference for further work in developing a DBSC for HOs.

Assessment of musculoskeletal discomfort and psychosocial work factors among Malaysian bus drivers

There have been many reports on the physical factors contributed to the development of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD) which have a negative influence on the health of employee across different occupations including bus drivers. But few studies considered the effect of psychosocial factors on their research. Therefore this study focuses on the assessment of musculoskeletal disorders as well as psychosocial work factors among bus drivers in Malaysia. Furthermore the association between psychosocial work factors and MSDs is also investigated. This research is based on questionnaires extracted from the standard Nordic questionnaire for assessment of MSDs and psychosocial work factors. The questionnaires were translated into the Malay language, and a pilot study is carried out to determine the reliability of the questionnaires. The MSDs symptoms of shoulder, neck, and upper back were found to be significant. The recent researches reported that the psychosocial work factors are significantly associated with the development of MSDs, Hence, Control at work, Job-demand, Work Motivation, and Role Expectation were selected. The association of psychosocial work factors and prevalence of MSDs is determined via Pearson Chi-square test. Significant relations were found between the job demand and control at work, in the development of MSDs.

A Review of Ergonomics and Simulation Modeling in Healthcare Delivery System

This paper is an overview of recent issues in determining healthcare delivery systems and aims to explain how Human Factor and Ergonomics (HFE) and simulation modeling can contribute to the quality of patient safety and healthcare delivery. It has been found that the layout of the patient unit and resources are significant factors that influence the amount of medication errors and therefore should be included in any description of the research context. Therefore current trends and applications of HFE as well as simulation modeling and how they can contribute to provide safe, efficient, and effective service to the patients are discussed. This review provides previous work of researchers to identify relationships between these two areas of research, particularly in patient safety. The review suggests that, high rate of medication administration error is due to inefficient healthcare delivery system and highlights the efficiency of simulation modeling versus ergonomics in analyzing the root cause of problems in clinical performance.