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Purpose The purpose of this study is to explain the components of competitive priorities of Indian service firms, to find out the competitive priorities of different service industries in India and to find out how these competitive priorities change across low- and high-performing service firms. Design/methodology/approach An empirical study of 166 firms from five different service industries is undertaken in New Delhi and its surroundings. Findings The results reveal the presence of three competitive priorities in the services sector in India: cost, flexibility and quality/delivery, with quality/delivery being the most distinctive competitive priority. Hotel and auto-repair industries are found to be focused on controlling costs, while hospitals, banks and private colleges prioritized quality/delivery. For high-performing firms, cost is the top most competitive priority, followed by quality/delivery and flexibility, while for low-performing firms, quality/delivery remains the top most competitive priority, followed by flexibility and cost. Originality/value The paper enhances the understanding of competitive priorities in the Indian services sector. The identification of competitive priorities of different service industries in India and their dynamics across different industries add value to the current literature and fill an important research gap. Additionally, surveying diverse industries in this paper reveals a holistic picture of the Indian service industry and helps achieve some degree of cross-industry perspective.

PurposeMost of the past studies related to organisational justice focussed on different types of justice, such as procedural justice, distributive justice and interactional justice either separately or collectively. Still, further investigation on the overall concept of fairness is required to extend theoretical generalisability. Moreover, researchers argued that overall fairness rather than a specific type represents more concrete situation about employees’ perception of fairness within an organisation. Considering this, the purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating effect of overall fairness perception (OFP) in relation to workplace outcome as well as its predictive ability on employees’ attitude and behaviour in term of psychological ownership and citizenship behaviour.Design/methodology/approachA total of 250 questionnaires were distributed among the employees of financial institutions in Malaysia, which yielded 150 completed usable responses. Smart PLS (version 3) software and SPSS were utilised in order to analyse the data.FindingsThe results revealed that overall fairness plays a crucial role as a mediator as well as a predictor. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed.Practical implicationsThis study provides useful insights for the mangers of financial institutions. It also suggests strategies about how to manage justice and workplace outcomes at workplace.Originality/valueThis paper is among the pioneers to address the mediating role of OFP in relations to workplace attitude and behaviour in non-western context.

This study aims to examine how small and medium enterprises manage the tensions between organizational agility and efficiency. Organizational agility is a multidimensional concept where each of its components can interact differently with efficiency. The tensions between other capabilities have been explored in many previous studies, yet there is a lack of research exploring the roots of the tensions between organizational agility and efficiency, how the actors interpret these tensions and what dimensions of organizational agility are causing the tensions. A multiple case study research design with an inductive approach was used to explore how two SMEs manage the tensions between organizational agility and efficiency to serve customers from abroad. Despite the relationship between the agility and efficiency seeming contradictory, our analysis demonstrated that the interaction between the two concepts is complex, depending on the object of the tensions, the actors involved and the context. In fact, two actors at the same level of the organizational hierarchy can have identical perceptions about a tension, but they can arise from different logical reasoning. Moreover, due to the multidimensionality of organizational agility, a meta-capability of organizational agility is more likely to dominate the interaction with efficiency. This study contributes to the limited empirical evidence on how actors in SMEs perceive and manage the various tensions emerging from organizational agility and efficiency.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between Islamic work ethic (IWE) and employees’ attitude and behaviour in term of perceived organisational justice, psychological ownership (PSY), and employees’ performance in the Islamic financial institutions in Malaysia.Design/methodology/approachThis study used a sample of 301 employees of Islamic financial institutions and employed structural equation modelling-partial least square technique in order to analyse the data.FindingsThe findings demonstrated that IWE has both direct and indirect effects on attitudinal as well as behavioural outcomes.Practical implicationsManagers who want to enhance their employees’ attitude and behaviour are strongly advised to give proper attention to the concept work ethic. Moreover, they need to conduct training programs to instil these values and to emphasise its crucial role in enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of the organisation.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the body of knowledge on IWE by: testing its ability to predict employees’ performance, their perception of organisational justice, and their feeling of PSY, and examining the mediating effect of perceived organisational justice and PSY between IWE and employees’ performance.

Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) is a control system in the effort to prevent problems that are based on the identification of critical points in the handling and production stages. HACCP is a form of risk management that was created to guarantee food safety with a preventive methodology which is considered to provide guarantees in producing food that is safe for consumers. The purpose of this study was to determine the application and effectiveness of HACCP from fresh milk and its derivative products in the form of cheese at PT. G, so that a system that is truly capable of guaranteeing the product is produced. In the milk production process there are many aspects that need to be considered, starting from the initial stage of quality control of raw materials to the final product of the production process which is then stored in a warehouse. The method used is the elaboration of the Codex Alimentarius Commission in the European Committee for Standardization 2004 Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system. Based on the analysis of the flow diagram shows that there are critical control points both for microbiological, chemical and physical quality in the process of receiving raw materials (fresh milk) and at the production of critical points.

The need for sustainable performance in the healthcare supply chain is becoming acute. The healthcare industry currently has to contend with multiple competing pressures alongside the new challenges of sustainable performance. The aim of this research is to explore the challenging factors of green supply chain initiatives from the view of the institution theory. This research tries to assess the actual sustainable performance resulting from the adoption of green supply chain initiatives in healthcare industries. As part of the research, the explanatory frameworks based on the institution theory are explored and discussed. Interviews with healthcare industry experts in Malaysia through the four case studies were conducted. The results provide in-depth insight and strong empirical evidence on how the institution pressure for green supply chain initiatives that contributes to the sustainable performance in healthcare industries. The findings of this research are intended to be used: a) to identify the green supply chain initiatives in healthcare industries; b) to build on a comprehensive picture of what challengers' factors for green supply chain initiatives in healthcare industries, as perceived by institution pressure. Additionally, the research offers propositions on how green supply chain initiatives could be better achieved through a range of institution perspective.

This article discusses simplicity and discipline, the two elements of rigid flexibility model to explain strategic outcomes using an important historical event. The objective is to strengthen the validity of the model and provide constructive arguments for the model to be applied in a new setting. In theory refinement, the richness and in-depth descriptions of constructs under consideration are highly sought. A historical event called the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah is portrayed; with decisions and actions that came out of the treaty are explained using the rigid flexibility framework. Analyzing this historical case, we proposed that there are related concepts, important practices and procedures that match the concepts of simplicity and discipline comparatively. It shows that the strategic outcomes could be realized using concepts and practices such as tolerance, consultations, giving preference for strategic outcomes, discipline in following order, simplified and easy-to-understand communication approach and emphasis on standard performances. Keywords: Operations management; organizational flexibility; historical case; Treaty of Hudaybiyyah ABSTRAK Artikel ini membincangkan simplisiti dan disiplin, dua elemen model keluwesan tegar untuk menerangkan keberhasilan strategik sebuah peristiwa bersejarah yang penting. Objektif artikel in adalah untuk menguatkan kesahihan model dan menawarkan hujah yang membina supaya model ini dapat diapplikasikan pada persekitaran yang baru. Untuk memperelokkan sesuatu teori, penelitian mendalam sesuatu konstruk perlu dibuat. Sebuah peritiwa penting yang digelar Perjanjian Hudaybiyyah telah dipaparkan dengan mengambilkira keputusan dan aksi yang berlaku yang dianalisa dengan menggunakan rangkakerja model ini. Daripada analisa peristiwa ini, kami mencadangkan bahwa terdapat konsep-konsep yang berkaitan, amalan dan prosedur penting yang serupa dengan konsep simplisiti dan disiplin. Ia menunjukkan keberhasilan strategik dapat direalisasikan dengan mengamalkan konsep dan amalan tertentu seperti toleransi, perundingan, mengutamakan keberkasilan yang strategik, diikuti dengan disiplin untuk mematuhi perintah, pendekatan komunikasi yang ringkas dan mudah difahami, dan penekanan kepada piawai prestasi. Kata kunci: Pengurusan operasi; keluwesan organisasi; kes bersejarah; Perjanjian Hudaybiyyah

This study investigates the effect of direct political connection on the firm value of Malaysia’s top richest tycoon companies. We hypothesize that the wealthiest people are likely to hedge their political bets and are poorly related to direct political connections, which in turn conceal the direct political effect on firm value. The empirical evidence provides credence to this idea; in cases where the majority of the shares are controlled by “peripheral capitalism,” only government ownership has a positive and highly significant effect on the financial value of a firm. Meanwhile, the presence of politicians on board has a negative and low significant effect on the financial value of a firm. Results suggest the possibility of an indirect political connection among Malaysia’s top richest tycoon companies; the results also fit into the ongoing debate on estimating the value of political connection.

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to identify and validate a measurement model for assessing the quality management practices among small and medium-sized enterprises, specifically for the food processing industry in developing countries such as Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach – A survey was initially conducted among SMEs using a questionnaire mailed to the managing director of companies selected from the SMECorp directory. A total of 207 respondents from SMEs were used for further analysis. Two steps of analysis were undertaken to validate the measurement model of critical success factors: principal component analysis and confirmatory analysis. Findings – Eight critical success factors of quality management practices are proposed for assessing quality management practices among SMEs in the food processing industry in Malaysia. A measurement model was then developed. PCA with Varimax rotation revealed 13 components, eight of which were retained for further analysis. First- and second-order CFAs identified the CSF measurement model along with the goodness-of-fit index. Thus, the findings also reveal the status of quality management practices among food processing SMEs in Malaysia. Research limitations/implications – This paper is to evaluate only the CSFs; therefore, further work is needed to evaluate the relationship between CSFs and organisational performance of SMEs in the food processing industry in Malaysia. Originality/value – There are various papers regarding the assessment of quality management, especially on TQM practices in various industries. However, few assessments of the critical success factors of quality management practices of SMEs in the food processing industry, especially in developing countries like Malaysia, have been found to date. The findings of this paper will help the industry to identify its current quality management practice to focus on improving its performance.

Purpose – The research aims to find and highlight the process, procedures, and practices at AirAsia that deem to fit the characteristics of simplicity and discipline in the original model for creating value in the forms of lower operations costs, which ultimately translates into lower ticket price for Airasia's customers. Design/methodology/approach – A case study method is used in this study. It is appropriate as; the model has not been applied to a service organization. In exploring the concept of simplicity and discipline and how they create values, at a set of the best practices and procedures utilized by AirAsia are being scrutinized. Four employees at the executive and managerial level were interviewed. The author spent approximately two hours with the senior manager of Network Management Centre as all operations fall under his jurisdiction. Besides him, this study also took information from a technical service manager and two executives. The information collected from the staff is complementary to each other, ensuring the internal validity of the method. The secondary information was taken primarily from AirAsia's website: AirAsia.com. Findings – It is suggested that excellent practices and procedures done at Airasia characterize both concepts of simplicity and discipline, which in return help AsiaAsia in creating value for its customers. For example, the company decision to use one type of aircraft ensures its easy maintenance and training of staffs. The use of IT at the company helps the company plan the unplanned changes. The clever use of IT has enabled the control filter, as specified by Correa and Gianesi to function properly. It simplifies the booking, sales and checking-in procedures. Furthermore, the company has locked a partnership with its IT vendors for mutual benefits where AirAsia can constantly improve their system while the IT vendor learns to create innovative products according to customer requirements. Research limitations/implications – The result does not indicate that that Airasia's operational success is due to these concepts. Rather this article suggests that the concepts of simplicity and discipline, as proven to be successfully applied to manufacturing sector, could also be potentially applied to service organizations to helps firms create value, in this company in the form of low price ticket for affordable travel. Practical implications – Managers in a similar service industry could use the principles and practices proposed to potentially enhance its operations flexibility. Originality/value – This research is important as for one to understand the main topics of operations flexibility in services sector.

Despite their significant importance, competitive priorities in the developing world have hardly been studied. Whatever attention has been devoted to competitive priorities has been given with reference to the manufacturing industry. Malaysian service industry stands no exception to this. Once a slowly-growing economy, Malaysia in the last few decades has grown consistently and is now one of the "tiger economies'' with impressive growth rate. This growth rate is noticeable both in the manufacturing and services sectors. The services sector represents about 50 percent of the GDP of Malaysia. However, there is hardly a study about competitive priorities of service industries in Malaysia that too despite the important role of service industry in Malaysian economy. Knowing about the Malaysian service industry and the competitive priorities of different industries within it is thus interesting. There is a big gap in the present literature with regard to service industry in Malaysia and it is a big shortcoming given the economic stature of Malaysia in the South-east Asian region. To fill this void in the literature, this study makes a modest attempt to: a. explain the components of competitive priorities of Malaysian service firms; b. find out the competitive priorities of different service industries in Malaysia; and c. find out how competitive priorities change across "low performance'' and "high performance'' service industries. This paper reports findings based on the data collected from nine diverse service industries in Malaysia: Fast food, Hospital, Retails store, Bank, Private college, Accountant, Hotel, Auto-repair and Architect. Such diverse industries have been surveyed to get a holistic picture of the Malaysian service industry and achieve some degree of cross-industry perspective.

This article presents a conceptual framework for the development of a value-based total performance excellence model (VBTPEM) in organisations. This model signifies core values as a strategic component for an organisation to achieve total performance excellence. The VBTPEM is an extension of the earlier version of the TPEM proposed by Husain et al. [Husain, N., Abdullah, M., Idris, F., & Sagir, R.M. (2001). The Malaysian total performance excellence model: A conceptual framework. Total Quality Management, 12(7&8), 926–931] and Abdullah et al. [Abdullah, M., Husain, N., & Nik Hassan, N.M. (2008). Guidelines for implementing value-based total performance excellence model in business organizations. Presentations at the The Islamic Perspective Forum, Manila, Philippines]. This extension integrates the intangible parts of performance measurement that have become a pivotal issue in many organisations. Hence, this paper discussed the core values associated with each of the criteria in the TPEM framework. The sig...

The purpose of this article is to construct-validate an instrument of value-based performance excellence measurement for higher education institution (HEI) in Malaysia. The HEI performance is measured using 6 value indicators of leadership, culture, productivity, employee, stakeholders and overall performance. 1,100 questionnaires were distributed and 275 questionnaires were used for analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) approach was deployed by using analysis of moment structures software. The results for the hypothesised CFA model revealed the fit statistics of CFI = 0.944, TLI = 0.939 and RMSEA = 0.075. In conclusion, the CFA model fitted the data well. Implications of the study was significant to HEI to consider and adapt the value-based assessment approach in university assessment for total excellence.

Total quality management (TQM) and operational flexibility are powerful and evolving management tools that are being implemented in many organisations worldwide, particularly in healthcare services. However, such implementation is yet to be seen in developing nations, particularly in health care. In an attempted response to such a gap, this paper provides a literature review on the principles and scope of TQM and operational flexibility in the healthcare industry and proposes a mathematical model, employing artificial neural networks, to study and analyse the implementation of TQM and operational flexibility dimensions towards improving hospital performance and reducing costs and medical errors. This study is the first of its kind in the field. The results yielded a very high degree of accuracy (more than 99.2%) in relating TQM variables and operational flexibility dimensions (inputs) to hospital performance (output), implying a highly accurate and strong model that can exactly determine the weaknesses in...

PurposeThe importance of total quality management (TQM) to organizational achievement and performance has been established by many studies. Nevertheless, studies on the implementation of TQM and its relationship to operational flexibility have been limited, particularly in the developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap by exploring the extent of the application of TQM and its influence on operational flexibility in Jordanian hospitals.Design/methodology/approachThe study covers both public (King Abdullah University Hospital) and private (Jordan Hospital and Medical Center) health care services. A survey was conducted using a quantitative approach where the researchers distributed 400 questionnaires to selected respondents. The response rate was 57 percent out of the total questionnaires distributed. TQM is an independent variable which consists of eight principles, namely, leadership, employee management, information analysis, training, customer focus, continuous improvement, process management, and supplier management was examined in relation to operational flexibility as a dependent variable which comprises external flexibility and internal robustness.FindingsThe findings reveal that there is a significant positive relationship between TQM and operational flexibility. The authors conclude that TQM practices significantly influence the intensity of operational flexibility in Jordanian hospitals.Originality/valueThe significant impact of TQM on operational flexibility has been argued to be positive. The value of the paper is that it points out the influence of TQM on operational flexibility in Jordanian hospitals in order to improve hospital performance and efficiency.

All organisations is unique and thus practise different cultural values in the context of an organisation. Determination of values that constitute to the organisation is of challenging task. Therefore, this paper expounds the value-based culture that is related to the performance of the organisation based on the literature review and expert’s view. This study aimed at testing the psychometric properties of the questionnaire of value-based culture items of performance measurement based on the value-based total performance excellence model. 400 questionnaires were distributed to the selected Institution of Higher Learning (IHL) i.e, the public university of Malaysia. The data collected was analysed using predictive analytics software and analysis of moment structures software, both version 18. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) technique i.e., the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) approach was employed to test the 6-factor hypothesized model of the value-based cultures which consisted values of citizenship, consultation, caring, trust, respect and quality. The result suggested that 2 core values i.e., consultation and trust that dominantly explained the university’s culture in the selected university from the proposed of 6 core values in the hypothesized model. The findings also paved the way forward for empowering value-based cultures especially at the IHL. However, future research should be conducted to reaffirm this model to represent the values embraced by the universities in Malaysia.

Leadership is a critical element in ensuring the sustainability of an organization. Research in the field of leadership has never been saturated with theoretical and conceptual quests for leadership styles that work with any situation and followers’ condition. Bernard Bass, for instance has adopted the political leadership paradigm of transactional and transformational leadership styles introduced by Burn to the social science fields. Efforts by Bass were well accepted by other researchers and enormous studies have been done to test the applicability of the leadership paradigm in many sub-fields of social sciences for the past 30 years. Studies have found that transformational leadership style leads to increased productivity, employee morale, job satisfaction, organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior. The findings also suggest that the latter compliments the transactional leadership style. However, recently scepticism was raised on the ability of the transformational leadership style to effectively fulfil follower’s inner need and with respect to the lack of spiritual element in the ethical conduct of leaders. Hence, this brings interest in research on a new leadership paradigm which takes into account the spiritual element in leadership. In spiritual leadership, questions are raised about what it means to be human, what we really mean by growth and what value and power distributions are needed to enhance both organizations and society as a whole. This paper attempts to investigate further these questions in the context of the various leadership styles mentioned. In due course, the results of a pilot study will be offered to support the argument

Many of the organisations competing in the fast-changing business environment are in a constant search for a robust strategy to help survive the new global economic order, making achieving improved performance continuously imperative. The ability to change and adapt to the new business rules demand that organisations acquire critical capabilities. This means the foci of organisational capabilities must hinge on the ability to direct resources on learning leadership style that could drive performance. Leadership capability in the form of transformational style combined with the best practice capability is the key determinants to organisational success. This paper conceptualises these variables and tests their structural linkages to company performance. The findings show that transformational leadership is significantly related to financial performance, and best practice management has mediated their relationship. The study implies that an effective management approach is the one that nurtures organisationa...

The general objective of this study is to validate the multi-level concept of competitive priorities using reflective-formative model at a higher order for service industries. An empirical study of 228 firms from 9 different service industries is conducted to answer the objective of this study. Partial least square analysis with SmartPLS 2.0 was used to perform the analysis. Finding revealed six priorities: cost, flexibility, delivery, quality talent management, quality tangibility, and innovativeness. It emerges that quality are expanded into two types; one is related to managing talent for process improvement and the second one is the physical appearance and tangibility of the service quality. This study has confirmed competitive priorities as formative second-order hierarchical latent construct by using rigorous empirical evidence. Implications, limitation and suggestion for future research are accordingly discussed in this paper.

The growing interest in total performance excellence measurement (TPEM) has led to the emergence of a number of frameworks such as the European Quality Awards (EQA) model, Malcolm Baldrige, Kanji's model and several others. However, these models are based on enablers that are restricted to quality management perspectives. There are other enablers that are deemed to affect performance, as found in other studies outside the total quality management framework (see Flynn et al., 1994, Journal of Operation Management, 11, pp. 339–366; Larrache (2000), http://www.insead.fr/Research/compfit). This paper presents a new framework for TPEM for organizations in Malaysia. The framework consists of a set of dimensions that focuses on, among other things, organizational values and culture, change management, best practices, innovation and productivity. Other dimensions, typical to those in the EQA, Malcolm Baldrige and Kanji's models, are also incorporated in the TPEM framework. These include leadership, policy and str...

This exploratory study examined how leadership values affect innovation through organizational culture in organisations. A model of these relationships was created based on earlier research on value-based leadership and culture and a sample of 390 managers and personnel of Government-link companies in Malaysia. The model was assessed using Partial Least Squares (PLS) based Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Analyses with the PLS technique confirmed all the hypotheses concerned. The results generally support significant relationships between leadership values, organisational culture and innovation. The study also confirmed the mediating role of organizational culture for the relationship between leadership values and innovation in organisations. The role of organizational culture is important for understanding how leadership values and innovation are related. The results of the study also suggest several aspects that may help organisations create conducive working environment supportive of innovation.

Measurement of quality management practices is becoming more important in enhancing the holistic competitiveness in today’s challenging market. Malaysia’s food processing industry is rapidly growing and has contributed to the country’s economic development. Malaysia is aiming towards the achievement to be world halal-hub as its potential has been identified. However, literature’s on quality management practices and performance in this industry has indicated that, most of previous studies are focuses to the automotive and electrical industries. Thus, the research question on quality management practices and performance among these industry players in Malaysia are still unanswered. Questionnaires are used to gather information from SMEs in Malaysia’s food processing industries through multistage sampling technique and a total of 221 questionnaires are returned. SPSS and AMOS 5.0 are used to analyze the relationship between this two latent constructs. The finding demonstrates the measured quality management practices are significant to the SMEs’ organizational performance. The findings has highlighted the important factors of quality management practices and suggesting factors that need to be given attention by the food processing SMEs in order to gain excellence performance and be more competitive. Nevertheless, future studies are necessary to set forth and examine various factors that may affect the performance of SMEs in this industry.

Culture and employee-focused criteria are important factors for the success of any organization. These factors have to be aligned with the productivity initiatives in the organization in order to gear ahead for excellence. Therefore, this article investigated the impact of culture and employee-focused criteria on productivity in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Malaysia using intangible indicators through core values. The hypothesized relationship was tested using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with the PLS estimation technique. 429 questionnaires were returned from the target population. The results of the modelling revealed that the PLS estimation confirmed all the hypotheses tested as in the hypothesized model. The results generally support significant relationships between culture values, employee-focused values and productivity-focused values. The study also confirmed the mediating role of employee-focused values for the relationship between culture values and productivity-focused values. In conclusion, the empirically validated results supported the adequacy of the hypothezised model of the impact of culture and employee-focused criteria on productivity in HEI through value-based indicators.

Dewasa ini, kebanyakan organisasi bersaing demi kelangsungannya. Oleh yang demikian, pelbagai sistem pengurusan prestasi yang sesuai diambil untuk diaplikasikan ke dalam organisasi. Terdapat banyak model kecemerlangan prestasi yang hanya tertumpu kepada pengukuran yang melibatkan aspek lahiriah sahaja seperti Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award (MBNQA), European Quality Award (EQA), Deming Prize dan Model Kanji. Walau bagaimanapun, pengukuran aspek bukan lahiriah atau intangibles juga penting dan perlu diberi perhatian dalam meningkatkan prestasi organisasi. Kertas kerja ini membincangkan nilai–nilai teras dalam VBTPEM dan mengenal pasti nilai–nilai teras sedia ada di universiti–universiti di Malaysia. Model ini memberikan output kedudukan keseluruhan dan pencapaian universiti berdasarkan nilai teras yang diukur dan mengenal pasti proses penambahbaikan yang perlu dilakukan berdasarkan petunjuk nilai teras. Kata kunci: Sistem pengurusan prestasi; Model Pengukuran Prestasi Berasaskan Nilai Teras (VBTPEM) Today, organizations are competing for the survival. They adopt various performance management systems that best suit their undertakings. There are many performance models which lean towards measuring tangible aspects such as Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award (MBNQA), European Quality Award (EQA), Deming Prize and Kanji’s Model. However, the measurements of intangible aspects are also important and should be heeded to optimize the organizational performance. This paper discusses the preliminary implementation of the Performance Measurement System (PMS) which showcases an overview of intangible aspects i.e. organizational core values through Value–Based Total Performance Excellence Model (VBTPEM) and identification of existing core values in Malaysian universities. This model will reveal overall standings and achievements of the public universities and indicate opportunities for further improvements based on the value–based indicators. Key words: Performance management system; Value–Based Total Performance Excellence Model (VBTPEM)

Employees are an asset to the organisation and therefore, values that surround them have to be empowered for the benefit of the organisation. This article examines the factor structure of employee values which are fairness, consultative, mutual trust, acknowledgement, altruism and empowerment. Questionnaires were distributed to staff at the selected Higher Education Institution (HEI) in the east coast of Malaysia. The data collected was analysed using confirmatory factor analytic (CFA) approach in order to test the 6-factor hypothesized model of employee values. The revised hypothesized CFA model yielded a p-value of 0.180, normed chi-square of 1.329, CFI of 0.995, TLI of 0.990, GFI of 0.960 and RMSEA of 0.054 that suggested 4 core values, that is, fairness, consultative, mutual trust and altruism that dominantly explained the university’s employee values in the selected university. Besides, Bayesian estimation was then employed to cross-validate and support the modeling result obtained from the maximum likelihood (ML) estimation. Both Bayesian and ML estimation results are comparatively agreed to each other. The findings may pave the way forward for empowering values adoption and embracement for employees especially at the HEI in Malaysia. Key words: Fairness, consultative, mutual trust, acknowledgement, altruism, empowerment.

Studies on the implementation of operational flexibility have been limited, particularly in the developing countries. This research attempts to address this gap, explores the extent of the impact of applying operational flexibility on hospital performance in Jordanian hospitals. The study included two health sectors: public sector (King Abdullah University Hospital) and private sector (Jordan Hospital and Medical Centre). The researcher distributed 400 questionnaires among a convenient sample in order to collect data, and the response rate is 57%. Operational flexibility dimensions (external flexibility and internal robustness as independent variable), and hospital performance as dependant variable were taken. Therefore, this paper identifies the implementations of operation flexibility in Jordanian hospital, and the impact of operational flexibility on hospital performance. This study aims at studying and analysing the relationships between the independent variables (operational flexibility) and dependant variable (hospital performance). The finding found that the frequency of operational flexibility level respondents was high and the frequency of level hospital performance respondents, medium .Based on a correlation test results there is strong relationship between operational flexibility with hospital performance. Where the value of r= .836** with p

Without compromising the business size and nature, implementation of quality management in organizations are importance to success in market with good quality products, stimulate company competitiveness availability and vital for business survives. However, literatures show a research gap in relationship of quality management practice between organizational performance in small and medium enterprises especially in food industry. The purpose of this study is to develop a proposed conceptual model framework for in order to evaluate their relationship among variables and organizational performance. Total quality management philosophy and approaches has been considered when develop and identifying the model constructs. Then the proposed model for business excellence is develops purposely for SME in Malaysian food industry will be empirically studied.

The bulk of previous studies have examined the effect of Protestant work ethic on organisational citizenship behaviour. However, little is known about this relationship from an Islamic perspective. Based on other orientation theory, this study aims to examine the relationships between Islamic work ethic and two dimensions of organisational citizenship behaviour. Furthermore, this study investigates whether the hypothesised relationships vary across the demographic variables in Islamic financial organisations. A sample of 273 employees from Islamic financial institutions in Malaysia participated in this study. Partial least square (PLS) technique and ANOVA were utilised to test the hypothesised relationships. The results of this study reveal that Islamic work ethic positively and significantly affects both dimensions of organisational citizenship behaviour. Additionally, the findings of this study demonstrate that the relationship between Islamic work ethic and organisational citizenship behaviour directed towards organisation varies depending on employees' gender, age, education level, tenure, experience and income. Nevertheless, the relationship between Islamic work ethic and organisational citizenship behaviour directed towards individuals does not vary across the demographic variables. Limitations and implications of the study are discussed along with suggestions for future research.

The study aims is to determine the impact of total quality management (TQM) and operational flexibility (OF) on a hospital’s performance. A model is proposed that links TQM and OF constructs to the hospital’s performance construct. The underlying dimensions of TQM, OF and hospital’s performance were empirically verified and validated through the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), the reliability analysis procedure, and the construct validity procedures. A structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to test the model, drawing on a sample of 231 medical leaders. Data analysis revealed that, the TQM has a significant impact on the extent of the OF, and on the hospital’s performance. A significant relationship was also found between the level of the OF and the hospital’s performance results. Further, the TQM’s significant impact on the hospital’s performance was determined to be realised through the mediating role of the OF. The significant impact of the TQM on the operational flexibility and the hospital’s performance has been argued to be positive.

The main objective of this study was to examine the dimensions of operations flexibility in Malaysian service sectors by adopting the confirmatory factor analytics approach. Through this approach, a model comprising two dimensions of operations flexibility: external flexibility and internal robustness was constructed and an instrument to measure operations flexibility elements in service sectors was developed. To validate the instrument, a survey which involved operations managers from various service sectors in Malaysia was carried out. The convergent and discriminant validity of the constructs were estimated through average variance extraction (AVE) and shared variance (SV). Structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to test the goodness of fit of the model. Drawing on a sample of 254 respondents, the survey findings confirm the proposed model. Practically, this research contributes to enhancing the understanding of operations flexibility in the service sector.

The research reported in this article has been carried out to identify the constructs and indicators for enhancing the performance in manufacturing system and their effect on business objectives of the organisation in supply chain environment prevailing in Indian textile organisations. This paper is based on the data collected from a survey of 66 Indian textile-related organisations, carried out to ascertain issues related to business objectives of the organisations and factors responsible for improvement in performance of manufacturing system of these organisations. The potential benefits of supply chain implementation are not in doubt. However, the art of designing the right supply chain for Indian textile industry is debatable. Therefore, issues related to these concerns are worthy of future research. This study is a modest contribution toward that end.