Fairness In Assignment Research Articles

Multi-stage incentive contract design of aviation complex product multi-task delivery strategy

The increasing demand for aviation complex products makes complex product manufacturers pay more attention to delivery efficiency, and the efficiency and effect of delivery problems are the key factors that restrict delivery efficiency. A series of delivery strategy combinations of delivery subjects will affect delivery output and delivery efficiency. This study aims to design a long-term effective incentive contract, which stimulates the subjective initiative of the subject and then investigates the effect of the incentive contract on delivery efficiency under different combinations of delivery strategies. We consider the behavioral characteristics of each technical business department to expand the benchmark incentive model, such as the degree of perceived revenue fairness, the variation of the three relationships (neutrality, competition, and cooperation), and the level of technological transformation capability. The multi-stage incentive mechanism which combines explicit incentives and implicit incentives is developed to explore the optimal delivery strategies based on a benchmark model. The results show that incentive contracts can improve delivery efficiency and benefit delivery centers and technical business departments. The delivery decisions of the department are influenced by the closeness of department relationships and the fairness of assignment, and the departments tend to pay more effort in tasks with high relative importance and low effort cost. When the relative importance of tasks is equal to the ratio of marginal cost, a weak incentive zone in the delivery incentive contract exists. The incentive effect of reputation effect is obvious except for the last stage. Based on the designed incentive contracts, the subjective initiative of the participants can be effectively stimulated to empower complex product delivery.

A National Survey of Perceptions Around Conditions Associated With Pharmacy Faculty Workload Equity

ObjectiveTo assess pharmacy faculty members’ perceptions of conditions associated with workload equity and factors that can improve workload equity. MethodsA 26-item survey instrument was developed and distributed via email to members of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Council of Faculties. Questions pertained to the workload distribution, fairness in assignment, and perception of the conditions associated with workload equity (transparency, context, credit, clarity, norms, and accountability) as well as institutional and individual demographics. ResultsA total of 662 responses were obtained (response rate 15.9%). Respondents’ demographics were comparable to available national data. Approximately 41% of respondents reported their institutions did not have a written faculty workload policy. Most respondents reported their workload assignment was fair (highest with research/scholarship) but reported only moderate alignment between assigned and actual workloads. The rating level for what domains the primary decision maker uses to assign workload was highest for context, followed by credit, clarity, and transparency. Transparency was reported as the most needed condition to improve faculty perception of workload equity. Respondents also rated increasing trust between leadership and faculty and increasing productivity and accountability as the most important reasons to minimize workload inequities. ConclusionThis was the first national survey of pharmacy faculty perceptions around the conditions associated with workload equity. Though additional research is needed in this area, programs can work to implement strategies associated with all of the conditions, particularly transparency, to improve faculty perceptions of equity.

Optimization of multi-objective airport gate assignment problem: considering fairness between airlines

The Airport Gate Assignment Problem (AGAP) deals with assigning a set of aircraft to the gates at airports with respect to several operational and commercial constraints. In this study, we model the AGAP as a multi-objective optimization problem that minimizes the aircraft taxiing costs and passenger walking distance. An additional consideration is taken regarding the fairness of assignment among different airlines. To solve this problem, we propose the NSGA-II-LNS algorithm which builds upon the NSGA-II framework and incorporates the advantages of Large Neighborhood Search (LNS) for refining the solution quality. Two search operators are designed within LNS tailored to different senses of fairness coefficients. A numerical study at Nanjing Lukou International Airport indicates that the proposed algorithm significantly outperforms the previously published algorithms in terms of both solution convergence and diversity. Moreover, acceptable computing time implies the practical potential of our model.

GUARDING AGAINST WOMEN?

Based on in-depth interview questions with security guards and their wives in the U.S. Air Force, this article looks at attitudes toward women's integration into a male career field prior to the occurrence. For men, the impending integration of women into this work setting poses two challenges: one threatens the solidarity of the work culture where the influx of outsiders would dilute, if not eradicate, the trust and camaraderie that helps the men get through the shift; the other threatens the content of the culture, especially a distinct orientation to an alliance of equality (among men) and dominance (of men over women). Although wives shared with their husbands a concern about the effects of women's integration on job equity—especially fairness of assignment and safety, wives' concerns went beyond the workplace. They feared that women's integration crossed not only an occupational boundary but a temporal one in that their husbands would be working night shifts with other women. The possibility of challenges to sexual fidelity in marriage was a major concern for wives. The perception of a threat to a traditional gender division of labor not only devalued men's work; wives also became advocates for defending the gendering of the job.