Assessment and improvement of employee job-satisfaction: a full-scale implementation of MUSA methodology on newly recruited personnel in a major French organisation

During the last 20 years, a large number of studies have investigated the relationship between employee satisfaction and specific job characteristics, with often contradictory results. The aim of this paper is the assessment of job satisfaction of recent recruits in a large French company. The approach adopted here is to view employees as internal customers of an organization, and their satisfaction as an important driver for business success. Using the MUSA multicriteria methodology for customer satisfaction evaluation, the study aimed (1) to identify and measure satisfaction criteria of newly recruited personnel, and (2) to determine new organisational policies based on the findings.     

Class clustering destroys delay differentiation in priority queues

This paper considers a discrete-time priority queueing model with one server and two types (classes) of customers. Class-1 customers have absolute (service) priority over class-2 customers. New customer batches enter the system at the rate of one batch per slot, according to a general independent arrival process, i.e., the batch sizes (total numbers of arrivals) during consecutive time slots are i.i.d. random variables with arbitrary distribution. All customers entering the system during the same time slot (i.e., belonging to the same arrival batch) are of the same type, but customer types may change from slot to slot, i.e., from batch to batch. Specifically, the types of consecutive customer batches are correlated in a Markovian way, i.e., the probability that any batch of customers has type 1 or 2, respectively, depends on the type of the previous customer batch that has entered the system. Such an arrival model allows to vary not only the relative loads of both customer types in the arrival stream, but also the amount of correlation between the types of consecutive arrival batches. The results reveal that the amount of delay differentiation between the two customer classes that can be achieved by the priority mechanism strongly depends on the amount of such interclass correlation (or, class clustering) in the arrival stream. We believe that this phenomenon has been largely overlooked in the priority-scheduling literature.     

A mixed priority retrial queue with negative arrivals,unreliable server and multiple vacations

A retrial queue accepting two types of positive customers and negative arrivals, mixed priorities, unreliable server and multiple vacations is considered. In case of blocking the first type customers can be queued whereas the second type customers leave the system and try their luck again after a random time period. When a first type customer arrives during the service of a second type customer, he either pushes the customer in service in orbit (preemptive) or he joins the queue waiting to be served (non-preemptive). Moreover negative arrivals eliminate the customer in service and cause server’s abnormal breakdown, while in addition normal breakdowns may also occur. In both cases the server is sent immediately for repair. When, upon a service or repair completion, the server finds no first type customers waiting in queue remains idle and activates a timer. If timer expires before an arrival of a positive customer the server departs for multiple vacations. For such a system the stability conditions and the system state probabilities are investigated both in a transient and in a steady state. A stochastic decomposition result is also presented. Interesting applications are also discussed. Numerical results are finally obtained and used to investigate system performance.     

快件配送地址变化的干扰管理模型研究

快件配送过程中客户的配送地址发生变化后,继续按初始方案进行配送将不再最优甚至不可行,此时如何快速产生应对扰动的新方案,是当前研究的难点。结合客户消费行为的相关研究手段,将客户分为敏感型客户、容忍型客户和抱怨型客户,在考虑每类客户特点的基础上,将问题的处理分为两个阶段;采用干扰管理和运筹学的相关理论与方法,在每一阶段构建干扰管理子模型并进行求解。算例实验表明:在考虑客户行为及偏好的情况下,与其他重调度方法相比,本文方法生成的应对方案更为有效。     

G-networks with multiple classes of signals and positive customers

G-networks are queueing models in which the types of customers one usually deals with in queues are enriched in several ways. In Gnetworks, positive customers are those that are ordinarily found in queueing systems; they queue up and wait for service, obtain service and then leave or go to some other queue. Negative customers have the specific function of destroying ordinary or positive customers. Finally triggers simply move an ordinary customer from one queue to the other. The term “signal” is used to cover negative customers and triggers. G-networks contain these three type of entities with certain restrictions; positive customers can move from one queue to another, and they can change into negative customers or into triggers when they leave a queue. On the other hand, signals (i.e. negative customers and triggers) do not queue up for service and simply disappear after having joined a queue and having destroyed or moved a negative customer. This paper considers this class of networks with multiple classes of positive customers and of signals. We show that with appropriate assumptions on service times, service disciplines, and triggering or destruction rules on the part of signals, these networks have a product form solution, extending earlier results.     

基于改进轮廓系数法的航空公司客户分群研究

鉴于航空公司在客户聚类分群中对聚类效果进行评价并确定最佳k值的轮廓系数法存在时间复杂度过高O(n2)以及准确率较低问题,文章首先采用对象与同簇或不同簇中心间距离计算来替换同类或异类对象间的距离计算,并通过聚类效果变化率确定轮廓系数调节位置及调节权重,提出一种改进的轮廓系数法;其次,基于预处理且特征选择后真实航空公司客户数据构建聚类模型,借助改进轮廓系数法确定最优客户分群,并构建用户画像;最后,针对不同航空公司分群客户进行特征描述并提出相应个性化服务措施,辅助航空公司为客户提供个性化产品与服务。实证研究结果表明:不同样本量下改进轮廓系数法的精确率和运行效率均有所提升;基于改进轮廓系数法的航空公司客户分群结果符合客观实际,所提服务措施为航空公司最大化客户需求、提高客户满意度提供借鉴。     

Optimal balking strategies and pricing for the single server Markovian queue with compartmented waiting space

We consider the single server Markovian queue and we assume that arriving customers decide whether to enter the system or balk based on a natural reward-cost structure, which incorporates their desire for service as well as their unwillingness to wait. We suppose that the waiting space of the system is partitioned in compartments of fixed capacity for a customers. Before making his decision, a customer may or may not know the compartment in which he will enter and/or the position within the compartment in which he will enter. Thus, denoting by n the number of customers found by an arriving customer, he may or may not know ? n/a ?+1 and/or (n mod a)+1. We examine customers’ behavior under the various levels of information regarding the system state and we identify equilibrium threshold strategies. We also study the corresponding social and profit maximization problems.     

Analysis of queueing systems with customer interjections

In this paper we study queueing systems with customer interjections. Customers are distinguished into normal customers and interjecting customers. All customers join a single queue waiting for service. A normal customer joins the queue at the end and an interjecting customer tries to cut in the queue. The waiting times of normal customers and interjecting customers are studied. Two parameters are introduced to describe the interjection behavior: the percentage of customers interjecting and the tolerance level of interjection by individual customers. The relationship between the two parameters and the mean and variance of waiting times is characterized analytically and numerically.     

基于模糊聚类算法的客户细分研究

以客户关系为导向的服务经济时代,客户细分是企业判断具有相似特征的客户,并以此为基础有针对性的提供产品及服务的最为有效的手段.利用数据挖掘技术,将模糊聚类算法应用于客户细分中,以此寻找具有相似特征及价值的客户,并在电信行业中进行实证应用.     

A data mining framework for product and service migration analysis

With new technologies or products invented, customers migrate from a legacy product to a new product from time to time. This paper discusses a time series data mining framework for product and service migration analysis. In order to identify who migrate, how migrations look like, and the relationship between the legacy product and the new product, we first discuss certain characteristics of customer spending data associated with product migration. By exploring interesting patterns and defining a number of features that capture the associations between the spending time series, we develop a co-integration-based classifier to identify customers associated with migration and summarize their time series patterns before, during and after the migration. Customers can then be scored based on the migration index that integrates the statistical significance and business impact of migration customers. We illustrate the research through a case study of internet protocol (IP) migration in telecommunications and compare it with likelihood-ratio-based tests for change point detections.     

具有插队和止步行为的M/M/c 排队系统

研究了具有插队和止步行为的M/M/c排队系统. 将到达顾客分为常规顾客和插队顾客, 常规顾客在队尾排队等待服务, 插队顾客总是尽可能的靠近队首插队等待服务. 插队行为由到达顾客的插队概率和队列中等待顾客对插队行为的容忍来描述. 利用负指数分布的性质、Laplace-Stieltjes变换和全概率公式, 给出了处于等待队列位置n的顾客、任意一个常规顾客和任意一个插队顾客的等待时间的表达式. 在此基础上, 讨论了系统相关指标随系统参数的变化情况.     

Analysis of the BMAP/G/1 retrial system with search of customers from the orbit

We consider a single server retrial queuing model in which customers arrive according to a batch Markovian arrival process. Any arriving batch finding the server busy enters into an orbit. Otherwise one customer from the arriving batch enters into service immediately while the rest join the orbit. The customers from the orbit try to reach the service later and the inter-retrial times are exponentially distributed with intensity depending (generally speaking) on the number of customers on the orbit. Additionally, the search mechanism can be switched-on at the service completion epoch with a known probability (probably depending on the number of customers on the orbit). The duration of the search is random and also probably depending on the number of customers in the orbit. The customer, which is found as the result of the search, enters the service immediately if the server is still idle. Assuming that the service times of the primary and repeated customers are generally distributed (with possibly different distributions), we perform the steady state analysis of the queueing model.     

带有负顾客且具有Bernoulli反馈的M/M/1工作休假排队

本文研究带反馈的具有正、负两类顾客的M/M/1工作休假排队模型.工作休假策略为空竭服务多重工作休假.负顾客一对一抵消队尾的正顾客(若有),若系统中无正顾客时,到达的负顾客自动消失,负顾客不接受服务.完成服务的正顾客以概率p(0相似文献   

When should service firms provide free experience service?

By providing a free experience service, a service firm can attract more uninformed customers. However, it could reversely effect the delay-sensitive, informed customers’ decision. In this paper, we study a priority queueing system with free experience services. We study the customer behavior in equilibrium after we derive the expected customer waiting time. We then construct the service firm’s revenue function and obtain an optimal strategy for the service firm. Our results suggest that when the market size of informed customers is relatively small, the firm should consider providing free experience services for uninformed customers. Conversely, if the demand rate of potential informed customers is quite high, the firm should ignore uninformed customers.     

Economies of scale,competitiveness, and trade patterns within the European community: Clarendon Press,Oxford, 1983, 193 pages, £20.00

We consider two queues in series with input to each queue, which can be controlled by accepting or rejecting arriving customers. The objective is to maximize the discounted or average expected net benefit over a finite or infinite horizon, where net benefit is composed of (random) rewards for entering customers minus holding costs assessed against the customers at each queue. Provided that it costs more to hold a customer at the first queue than at the second, we show that an optimal policy is monotonic in the following senses: Adding a customer to either queue makes it less likely that we will accept a new customer into either queue; moreover moving a customer from the first queue to the second makes it more (less) likely that we will accept a new customer into the first (second) queue. Our model has policy implications for flow control in communication systems, industrial job shops, and traffic-flow systems. We comment on the relation between the control policies implied by our model and those proposed in the communicationa literature.     

Metaheuristics for the team orienteering problem

The Team Orienteering Problem (TOP) is the generalization to the case of multiple tours of the Orienteering Problem, known also as Selective Traveling Salesman Problem. A set of potential customers is available and a profit is collected from the visit to each customer. A fleet of vehicles is available to visit the customers, within a given time limit. The profit of a customer can be collected by one vehicle at most. The objective is to identify the customers which maximize the total collected profit while satisfying the given time limit for each vehicle. We propose two variants of a generalized tabu search algorithm and a variable neighborhood search algorithm for the solution of the TOP and show that each of these algorithms beats the already known heuristics. Computational experiments are made on standard instances.     

Single line queue with repeated demands

We analyze a model of a queueing system in which customers can only call in to request service: if the server is free, the customer enters service immediately, but if the service system is occupied, the unsatisfied customer must break contact and reinitiate his request later. Such a customer is said to be in “orbit”. In this paper we consider three models characterized by the discipline governing the order of re-request of service from orbit. First, all customers in orbit can reapply, but are discouraged and reduce their rate of demand as more customers join the orbit. Secondly, the FCFS discipline operates for the unsatisfied customers in orbit. Finally, the LCFS discipline governs the customers in orbit and the server takes an exponentially distributed vacation after each service is completed. We calculate several characteristics quantities of such systems, assuming a general service-time distribution and different exponential distributions for the times between arrivals of first and repeat requests.     

基于Kano模型的产品定制属性识别分析及应用

识别对顾客有效的定制属性是定制化生产需要首先解决的一个重要问题.采用Kano问卷方法探求影响顾客满意的三类重要质量特性:迷人质量、期望质量和当然质量,并结合Kano影响图分析和属性重要度分析方法识别顾客希望定制的产品属性,最大程度地提高顾客的满意度.以笔记本电脑装配定制为例开展了详细的应用研究.     

A queueing model for crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing is getting popular after a number of industries such as food, consumer products, hotels, electronics, and other large retailers bought into this idea of serving customers. In this paper, we introduce a multi-server queueing model in the context of crowdsourcing. We assume that two types, say, Type 1 and Type 2, of customers arrive to a c-server queueing system. A Type 1 customer has to receive service by one of c servers while a Type 2 customer may be served by a Type 1 customer who is available to act as a server soon after getting a service or by one of c servers. We assume that a Type 1 customer will be available for serving a Type 2 customer (provided there is at least one Type 2 customer waiting in the queue at the time of the service completion of that Type 1 customer) with probability \(p, 0 \le p \le 1\). With probability \(q = 1 - p\), a Type 1 customer will opt out of serving a Type 2 customer provided there is at least one Type 2 customer waiting in the system. Upon completion of a service a free server will offer service to a Type 1 customer on an FCFS basis; however, if there are no Type 1 customers waiting in the system, the server will serve a Type 2 customer if there is one present in the queue. If a Type 1 customer decides to serve a Type 2 customer, for our analysis purposes that Type 2 customer will be removed from the system as Type 1 customer will leave the system with that Type 2 customer. Under the assumption of exponential services for both types of customers we study the model in steady state using matrix analytic methods and establish some results including explicit ones for the waiting time distributions. Some illustrative numerical examples are presented.