A Content Analysis of the Mission Statements of Iranian Joint Stock Firms in Four Industries: A further research to explore the implications of Peyrefitte & David (2006) findings

The actual purpose of mission statements has been subject to much debate in the academic literature. Some authors (e.g. Wright, 2002) argue that the mission statement is primarily used as a ‘public relations statement,’ and therefore mission statements do not reflect reality. However, authors with a less cynical view to mission statements claim that mission statements are useful tools for internal purposes, such as the development of company strategy, providing leadership, and performance evaluation (e.g. Drucker, 1977; Klemm et al., 1991). For example, Drucker stressed the strategic importance of the company mission (Drucker, 1977, p. 66): “Only a clear definition of the mission and purpose of the business makes possible clear and realistic business objectives. It is the foundation for priorities, strategies, plans, and work assignments.” Others have stressed the importance of mission statements for external communication purposes, for example to influence the perceptions of stakeholders (e.g. Campbell, 1997; Bartkus et al., 2000). This study through a content analysis tries to suggest that mission statements may be written to illustrate organizational objectives and values consistent with key stakeholders rather than to reveal organizational distinctiveness (Ashforth & Gibbs, 1990; Wright, 2002; Campbell et al. 2001; Peyrefitte & David 2006). This study along side of other studies may help to explain why some mission statements fail to provide direction and specificity (Bart, 1997; Leuthesser & Kohli, 1997), and why there have been few direct associations between mission content and performance (Bart, Bontis, & Taggar, 2001)

The relationship between undergraduate education system and postgraduate achievement in statistics

The present study focuses on the relationship between undergraduate education system and the students’ achievement in statistics. The data was collected from 34 master students in Management Sciences who took an “inferential statistics” course. The history of their past education (long distance vs traditional), the type of exam questions and their mark on “inferential statistics” course were the important variables studied. The results showed a significant difference in achievements between those with long distance undergraduate education and those with traditional system (P<0.05). After doing analysis of covariance, using the pre-term evaluation mark, it still showed a significant difference between statistics achievement in two groups (P<0.05).The present study focuses on the relationship between undergraduate education system and the students’ achievement in statistics. The data was collected from 34 master students in Management Sciences who took an “inferential statistics” course. The history of their past education (long distance vs traditional), the type of exam questions and their mark on “inferential statistics” course were the important variables studied. The results showed a significant difference in achievements between those with long distance undergraduate education and those with traditional system (P<0.05). After doing analysis of covariance, using the pre-term evaluation mark, it still showed a significant difference between statistics achievement in two groups (P<0.05)

Identifying and Developing Scientific and Performance Standards for Educational Administrators of Tehran’s High Schools and Providing an Appropriate Model

Nowadays, the necessity of continuous and permanent attendance of standard is felt in various fields of human life in general and in training and education field in particular because that standard is a ground for similar performance and an indicator for identifying the rate of individuals’ success in designated works. (Nilly Ahamad Abadi, 2003). Generally, one can study human resource standards in three aspects of knowledge, function and behavior. Knowledge standards consist of the knowledge expected to be possessed by the individuals. In fact, they define scientific issues that should be learned by individuals. Performance standards consist of a qualitative performance shown by the individual in order to perform his/her duties and to provide expected services (Rahimi, 2003). Behavioral standards belonged to individual’s values, beliefs and habits which can be derived from both scientific and performance aspects

Rate of validity, reliability and difficulty indices for teacher-designed exam questions in first year high school

The purpose of the research is to determine high school teachers’ skill rate in designing exam questions in mathematics subject. The statistical population was all of mathematics exam shits for two semesters in one school year from which a sample of 364 exam shits was drawn using multistage cluster sampling. Two experts assessed the shits and by using appropriate indices and z-test and chi-squared test the analysis of the data was done. We found that the designed exams have suitable coefficients of validity and reliability. The level of difficulty of exams was high. No significant relationship was found between male and female teachers in terms of the coefficient of validity and reliability but a significant difference between the difficulty level in male and female teachers was found (P<.001). It means that female teachers had designed more difficult questions. We did not find any significant relationship between the teachers’ gender and the coefficient of discrimination of the exams.The purpose of the research is to determine high school teachers’ skill rate in designing exam questions in mathematics subject. The statistical population was all of mathematics exam shits for two semesters in one school year from which a sample of 364 exam shits was drawn using multistage cluster sampling. Two experts assessed the shits and by using appropriate indices and z-test and chi-squared test the analysis of the data was done. We found that the designed exams have suitable coefficients of validity and reliability. The level of difficulty of exams was high. No significant relationship was found between male and female teachers in terms of the coefficient of validity and reliability but a significant difference between the difficulty level in male and female teachers was found (P<.001). It means that female teachers had designed more difficult questions. We did not find any significant relationship between the teachers’ gender and the coefficient of discrimination of the exams

Segmentation of life insurance customers based on their profile using fuzzy clustering

In the current competitive environment, companies will be able to adjust business strategies, they use market segmentation based on practical ways rather than using traditional approaches or incomplete and impractical mass marketing. In recent years, mining has gained attention and popularity in the business world. The goal of data mining projects is to convert the raw data into useful information. Clustering can also be used to explore differences in attitudes and intentions of the clients. In this study, we used fuzzy clustering on 1071 life insurance customers during March to October 2014. Results show that the optimal number of clusters was 2 which were named as "investment" and "life safety". Some suggestions are presented to improve the performance of the insurance company

A framework for identifying the competencies of senior production managers of holding companies (the case of Golrang industrial group)

Today the need of identify ways for increasing competitive advantage is more tangible because the business world have been increasingly changed. A successful organization is an organization where human resources have the required competencies to achieve business success and the strategic objectives of the organization. so the competency-based human resource management becomes important.The first step in this area is to identify key competencies of managers .Many studies have been done in this area to provide a human resource competency model for organization. National prospect of Iran is having important goals, such as becoming the first power of economic, science and technology in the region and to engage constructively and effectively in international relations, for achieving these goals we requires competent managers in the public and private sector organizations.Competency models, which should be designed for all key positions in the company, show what competencies are necessary for individual position(s). The question is what the key competencies for each position are. Main objective of this paper is to offers a framework to identify and prioritize Senior Product Managers competencies at Golrang Industrial Group

Market-Orientation and Its Impact on the Performance of Asia Insurance Company in Kerman Province

The key of successes by service providers can be found in their market-orientation. These are organizations which pay more attention to customers and rivals and attempt to provide services with the highest quality. Present paper has studied experimentally the relationship between market-orientation and performance of agencies and brokers of Asia Insurance Company in Kerman province. Here, the scale of market-orientation in service sector is applied. The methodology is field study and the tool to gather information is questionnaire. Factors analysis shows that there are four hidden aspects in the title of market-orientation: customer-orientation, rival-orientation, organizational responsiveness, propensity to customer satisfaction. Findings suggest that customer–orientation and propensity to customer satisfaction have remarkable impacts on performance relative to other aspects. Rival-orientation has lower impact on performance and organizational responsive has an inconsistency relationship with performance

Comparing the quality of services by public and private banks in the view of customers

Present paper aims at studying and comparing the quality of services by public and private banks of Qom Province in the view of customers. This is an applied study and it is a descriptive survey in terms of data collection method. Its population consists of customers of Qom Province public and private banks, SERVQUAL standard model is used in present study. It includes five aspects: Reliability, Tangibility, Responsiveness, Assurance and Empathy. To study the quality of services and their aspects in public and private banks, single population average test is used while two - population average test is utilized to compare the quality of services in private and public banks. The results from single population average tests indicate that the status of service quality and the aspects of SERVQUAL are desired in both Qom Province private and public banks. Likewise, the results for two - population average tests reveal that provided services by both public and private banks have similar quality and there is no difference between them in this regard. Concerning the SERVQUAL model, the findings indicate that physical environment of private banks is better than public peers. However, there is no difference between them in other aspects

Clarifying the impacts of Professors' narcissism variables on effective performance

Universities are one of the major factors in improvement of countries and their performance hasa key role in scientific enhancement in national and international level. There is an effect in topuniversities to join first 500 universities in global level. Iran is going to obtain the first scientificranking the region at 1404. The main goal of this article is recognizing the impact of narcissism onfaculty member's performance. Obtaining the first rank is depends on faculty members' effort. In thisresearch we investigate the narcissism in faculty members that influence learning and eventuallyperformance. We took advantages the quantitative method and used survey to collect the data among300 faculty members. The results exhibit that narcissism traits play a meaningful role in learning anddecrease performance and should consider in faculty members selection

The relationship between organizational culture and sovereignty of merit principle in Iran National Company of petrochemical industry

It is needed in new world today that organization for their survival should search for new ways. One of these factors which help the organization in this aim is meritocracy. This happening is not accomplished in vacuumed. Other factors also have roles in this process; especially the culture of every organization may make the basic of sovereignty of merit principle because the unique culture of every organization shows the way of understanding and give meaning to event for individual