In a competitive environment many companies usually outsource their logistics functions to the Third Party Logistics (TPL) providers to focus on their core businesses. However, the selection of proper TPL provider is not an easy task because of conflicting quantitative and qualitative criteria. This study presents an integrated model based on three well-known methods Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL), Analytical Network Process (ANP) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) for the evaluation and selection of TPL providers. DEMATEL computes the effects between selection criteria while ANP derives the weights of each criterion related with TPL providers’ selection problem. Finally DEA presents a mathematical model for ranking TPL providers alternatives with respect to various criteria. The application of integrated model is demonstrated with a case study. The novelty of this study comes from the fact that there is no research in the literature integrating DEMATEL, ANP and DEA for the TPL selection problems.

This paper aims to examine the role of spirituality and ethics in higher education quality improvement. Two questionnaires were made by the researchers, the first one was completed by heads of departments of Islamic Azad University, Science & Research Campus, Tehran, Iran (N1=n1=200) to determine the components of spirituality, ethics and quality improvement (Cronbach’s alpha=0.82). The second one was completed by PhD students (N2=1475 & n2=206) in order to find out whether or not there are positive correlations among spirituality, ethics and higher education quality improvement and to determine the role of spirituality and ethics in higher education quality improvement (Cronbach’s alpha= 0.85). To ensure the validity of measurement instruments, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were applied. Findings of the research indicated there was a positive correlation among spirituality, ethics and higher education quality improvement.

Selection of the qualified and the most appropriate employee plays crucial role for the success of the businesses. The selection process is complex and contains both subjective and objective criteria to be considered. For this reason, in this paper, Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) is proposed for employee selection. To illustrate the applicability of the proposed method, the most appropriate software engineer is selected for a technology firm. By this way, a scientific multi criteria decision making (MCDM) method is proposed to the firm that determines the best candidate intuitively with traditional methods.

In the light of recent excess of reported crimes in various states and union territories (UTs) of India, it becomes imperative to evaluate the police performance of different states/UTs in order to identify the poor/under-performing ones requiring immediate attention. Although, a limited amount of research work has been carried out in this area, mainly employing data envelopment analysis approach, a definitive ranking of Indian states/UTs with respect to their police performance has never been derived using any of the multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) techniques. Thus, the aim of this paper is focused on evaluating and ranking of all the Indian states/UTs with respect to their performance in minimizing criminal activities while employing additive ratio assessment (ARAS) method as a simplistic MCDM tool. It is revealed that Chandigarh evolves out as the best performer amongst all the 35 Indian states/UTs, while West Bengal comes out as the worst performer. A detailed analysis of the results is also carried out to identify those Indian states/UTs where substantial improvement can be brought in.

In the current world, all human beings are forced to work for the living to provide their living requirements. Meeting these needs faced human with numerous psychological problems. One of the psychological problems of humanity in the current world is associated with stress caused by working conditions that human are daily forced to face with them. Finding the right solution for management of unconventional stress requires understanding the capabilities of individuals and strategies to face with them in stressful situations. This paper presents a survey to study the quality of working life and social support by considering the mediating role of resiliency. The study has accomplished among all 215 environmental guards of Mazandaran province, Iran. The results of this survey indicate that enhancing the social support of environmental guards by the relevant institutions especially communication and supporting them by friends played an important role for increasing their resilience.

Nowadays, due to the transition from the old economic model to the global village constituting patterns, different functional requirements are needed. In other words, for success in the modern production management, strategic decisions must create the conditions for taking new systems for enterprises and create conditions for the competitiveness of manufacturing firms. This paper presents a survey on diagnosing barriers to make strategic decisions in a manufacturing firm named Pakshoo company in city of Tehran, Iran. The study tries to find the obstacles for the implementation of strategic decisions in this firm. The study determines 14 different factors influencing on the development of strategic planning and using analytical hierarchy process, prioritize them, accordingly. In our survey, behavioral factors are considered as the most important factors followed by structural and context issues.