نشریه مدیریت بهره وری
پیاپی 20 (بهار 1391)

Nowadays, the systematic transfer of customers, demands and comments and converting them to practical measures in line with the modification or correction of the product have become of immense importance for the companies in order to achieve success and competitive primacy . In this regard, companies have proceeded to seek higher levels of quality for their products and services as well as to improve them continually in order to keep up with the rapid pace of progress and change all over the world. The present survey attempts to present a mathematical model for quality function development (QFD) based on fuzzy approach which can consider customers demands and comments. For this purpose, first the demand and desired technical properties were identified by using QFD method. Then, by ANP method, we specified the demands and weighed technical properties as well as the rate of thecorrelation of demand and technical properties. Finally, the idealistic programming model was presented which includes different level of importance of technical needs through the use Fuzzy ANP method, such as limitation of financial resource, rate of feasibility, and degree of competitiveness, which should be considered in the designing phase. In conclusion, in order to test the presented model, we have shown the result of applying the model in a case study related to the production line of “Axel” in “X” industrial manufacturing company.

Today, meritocracy, as well as employing efficient work forces, is one of the main principles and success factors of organizations for moving towards dynamism and evolution. It, on the one hand, is the requirement and success key of reformations and a condition of survival and durability of political systems and, on the other hand, is one of the basic elements of empowerment of governments, knowledge promotion and management proficiency of every country. The present study, which aims to present a meritocracy system promotion model for govermental organizations of Iran, has been conducted by a descriptive-survey method using questionnaires and semi-structured interview among managers and staff of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education. After studying theoretical fundamentals and getting acquainted with meritocracy subject, we prepared an open questionnaire in order to recognize government organizations with regard to meritocracy system situation and to identify its effective factors. The results of the conducted theme analysis with the obtained answers led to the formation of the conceptual model. In the next step, the second questionnaire was designed in order to extract relations among the variables, determine weight coefficients of indexes, and present the research model. After confirming the validity and reliability of the questionnaire, it was distributed among 54 experts who were chosen under certain conditions and through a judgmental method. The results were analyzed based on decision making structure with multiple criteria and lexicographic model. The results indicated that in organizations with a competitive strategy, partnership leadership style, responsive organizational culture, organizational goal of human resource management system, and a semi-centralized decision making method, a more ideal background is provided for the promotion of meritocracy system. Also, organizations that involve participation in the formulation of values and norms, accept meritocracy in public opinion, consider competence as the main standard for the selection of people and dictate employment terms with an equal opportunity will provide a better background for the promotion of meritocracy system.

This study examined the underlying dimensions of brand equity in the chocolate industry. For this purpose, the researcher developed a model to identify which factors are influential in building brand equity. The second purpose was to assess the effect of brand image on mediating between brand attitudes, brand personality and brand equity. This research is an applied research and its strategy is causal. The standard questionnaire was used for collecting data. The study employed structural equation modeling to investigate the causal relationships between the dimensions of brand equity and brand equity itself. It specifically measured the way in which consumers’ perceptions of the dimensions of brand equity affected the overall brand equity evaluations. The data were collected from a sample of consumers of chocolate industry in Iran. The results of this empirical study indicate that brand image is an important component of brand equity in this industry. Moreover, the role of brand image as a mediating factor in the formation of brand equity is supported. The present research enriched brand equity building by incorporating the brand personality and brand image, as recommended by previous researchers. Moreover, creating the brand equity index particularly in the chocolate industry of Iran is novel.

The main goal in this research is to study and discover the characteristics and features of job creativity among Iranian university students and to assess their tendency toward enterpreneurship through the comparison of the students with high tendency and the students with low tendency toward job creation. The research sample consists of the students of three universities in Iran, who were selected by simple random sampling technique. After isolating the creative students from the less creative ones, we studied the characteristics of the two groups and compared them. The results show that except for self-reliance and ambiguity tolerance, in all other characteristics, the students with job creation tendency had higher scores. This research provides some insight into enterpreneurship education, e.g., which characteristics should be developed to achieve better job creativity.

This article has investigated the effect of information and communication technology (ICT) on the production and total factor productivity by using the analysis of the panel data. To perform this, the analysis was done through the application of the statistical data received from the industrial firms related to Iran's StatisticsCenter using a panel data model to the firm level, based on the latest published information (2006-2007). The study has been conducted with two approaches. In the first one, the effects of information and communication technology on the production through estimating the expanded function of Cobb Douglas, regarding the largeness of the agency and the type of the industry have been noted. Six measuring characteristics related to the amount of implementing information and communication technology in Iranian Industry, within the scope of agencies, have been taken into account. In the second approach, the extended production function of Cobb Douglas has been estimated for the two groups of agencies. The groups included those which applied computers in doing the tasks and those which did not. Then, the amounts of the productivity of total production factors were compared. Accordingly, the effect of ICT on production in the first approach, and its effect on total factor productivity in the second one have been considered. The results indicate that most ICT characteristics confirm the positive effects of the information and communication technology on the productivity to the firm level. Also, the results of the second approach validate the undeniable impact of the so-called technologies on the total factor productivity.

The purpose of the present study was to identify and assess some factors affecting the development of Women's Sports marketing in WestAzerbaijanProvince from the viewpoint of the managers of Women's Sport clubs as well as the experts and managers of the physical education offices in WestAzarbaijanProvince.
The statistical population consisted of the managers and coaches of Women's sports clubs (60 people) and managers and experts of the physical education offices in WestAzarbaijan Province(50 people), (N=110). The research tools was a questionnaire comprising 45 closed questions, the validity and reliability of which had already been confirmed (α=0.95). The results of factor analysis of the data indicated that 11 factors (sponsorship, place management and distribution channels, product management, process management, pricing management, the powers governing the markets and media, physical evidence, public relations management, motivational factors, the expectations of spectators and fans, and validation of teams) were the most important factors affecting the development of women's sports marketing in West Azerbaijan Province. It is necessary that the attention and investment of the head office of physical department as well as the managers of women's sports clubs and sports marketers of the province by focused on these areas.

Preliminary researche on job path and job progress has been typically in relation with examining demographic and individual factors and job achievement. For example, demographic factors like age and marital status, and individual factors like education and experience were recognized as strong job achievement determinants. Recent experimental evidence also supports that social-demographic features (age, gender) are the basic or strong predictors of job achievement.In this respect, the issue of emotional intelligence has also been recognized as another factor in this field. For this purpose, a questionnaire was used, whose validity and reliability were confirmed. A sample of 100 people from the. Staff of Islamic Azad University of Tabriz was selected, whose objective and subjective job achievements were examined. The results of these examinations were as follows: 1) There is no significant and direct correlation between emotional intelligence and subjective job achievement, 2)There is a significant and direct correlation between emotional intelligence and objective job achievement, 3)There is no significant correlation between age and objective job achievements, 4) There is no significant correlation between age and subjective job achievements, 5)Score difference of objective job achievement based on gender is significant, and 6) Score difference of subjective job achievement based on gender is insignificant.

This study tries to investigate the relationship between Conflicting Management Styles and the Personnel Preativity in the Islamic Azad University of Tabriz in the year 2012. It takes a descriptive and cooperative method of analysis aiming at the applicable aspects. The population of the present study includes administrators of Islamic Azad University of Tabriz, namely, faculty adminstrators, vice presidents and the heads of educational boards. This population covers 32 members of the mentioned adminstrators and 699 personnel of the university. The sampling method of the study for adminstrators is all-enclusive [32] while covering a number of 248 random personnels. The tools for the data analysis includes 2 standard and authentic questionnairs for conflicting management. The conflicting management questinnaire contains 30 questions to identify Conflicting Management Styles of the these adminstrators (competing style, accomodating style, avoiding style, cooperation style, and compromising style). İn addition, the creativity questionnaire includes 50 creativity questions to identify the creativity amount of the personnel. To analyze the data Pearson correlation test and T-test have been applied. The results indicate that there is a meaningful reverse statistical correlation between the adminstrators’ competeng style and the creativity of the personnel. There is also a meaningful positive correlation between accomodating style, compromising style, educational levels and the working experiences of the personnel. There is no meaningful correlation between avoiding style and cooperation style of the adminstrators and the creativity of the personnel. Moreover, conflicting management styles of the adminstrators of the Islamic Azad University of Tabriz are not different from each other based on the genders of the adminstrators.