Modeling staffing flexibility: A case of China

This paper presents a multi-skilled staff planning model that considers staff flexibility. The primary purpose of this research is to develop a representative staff planning model which captures the balance of cost and benefits of staff flexibility for a service facility. Multiple objective goal programming (GP) method has been applied to analyze several diversified goals. The model has general applications in many service organizations. An example case of a Chinese clinic has been analyzed and a simulation experiment has been designed to investigate managerial insights of staff flexibility. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.