WPOM-Working Papers on Operations Management

Protocol paper: Needs analysis for the development of innovation competence in higher education remote learning environments

Juan A. Marin-Garcia — 2023-04-06

This work adheres to the recommendations for publication in three steps (Marin-Garcia, 2021). We propose a protocol to develop research the objective of which is to analyze the needs and challenges, as perceived by university lecturers, related to teaching, learning, or assessing competencies related to the innovative capacity of students in an array of digital remote teaching contexts. In this sense, we want to consider situations where teachers watch their students interact with each other. The interaction between students can occur face-to-face or remotely and, in the latter case, either synchronous or asynchronous. In addition, teacher observation can be done synchronously (face-to-face or remotely) or by watching a previously recorded video.

Automation of Post-Order Costing Analysis By Using Visual Basic For Applications In Microsoft Excel: A Case Study

Muhammad Ahmed Kalwar — 2023-06-27

Microsoft Excel is used to carry out reporting tasks in small and medium companies across the globe. Most people make reports manually in Microsoft Excel and the manual work takes a tremendous amount of time. The manual work can be easily automated with some effort in Microsoft Excel. This research is about the automation of report that was used to be made manually in Microsoft Excel.The present research is an extension of the previously conducted research (Kalwar, Shahzad, et al., 2022). The manual process to make the post-order costing analysis report in MS excel requires a lot of user time (22.80 minutes, just if there is a single order of only one article with one color), with the greater possibility of human error. Employees in ananonymous footwear company in Lahore used to generate the post-order costing report manually in Excel.Due to the above-mentioned reasons, it was proposedto automate the report using visual basic for applications (VBA) in Microsoft Excel.The planning and costing departmentof the company provided every single step required to make the report manually. A time study was conducted for each stepof report preparation using the stopwatch. VBA macros were programmed for automating all manual report-related processes in excel andthe accuracy of the report was also verified. After the report was automated, the time study was again conducted to measure the execution time after each click. A comparison of both methods indicated that the report automation saved 83.18% of employees' time Additionally, the automated method resulted in an error-free report, and the employee`sworkload was reducedas well.

A noise audit of the peer review of a scientific article: a WPOM journal case study

Tomas Bonavia — 2023-07-17

This study aims to be one of the first to analyse the noise level in the peer review process of scientific articles. Noise is defined as the undesired variability in the judgements made by professionals on the same topic or subject. We refer to evaluative judgements in which experts are expected to agree. This is what happens when we try to judge the quality of a scientific work. To measure noise, the only information needed is to have several judgements made by different people on the same case to analyse their dispersion (what Kahneman et al. call a noise audit). This was the procedure followed in this research. We asked a set of reviewers from the journal WPOM (Working Papers on Operations Management) to review the same manuscript which had been previously accepted for publication in this journal, although the reviewers were unaware of that fact. The results indicated that if two reviewers were used, the probability of this manuscript not being published would be close to 8%, while the probability of it having an uncertain future would be 40% (one favorable opinion and one unfavorable opinion or both suggesting substantial changes). In the case of employing only one reviewer, in 25% of the cases, the audited work would have encountered significant challenges for publication. The great advantage of measuring noise is, once measured, it is usually possible to reduce it. This article concludes by outlining some of the measures which can be put in place by scientific journals to improve their peer review processes.