L. Drew Rosen and Kirk R. Karwan
Much of the earlier empirical work in service management has suggestedthat the dimensions of service quality may be stable in terms of theirrelative importance. In particular, the…
Abstract
Much of the earlier empirical work in service management has suggested that the dimensions of service quality may be stable in terms of their relative importance. In particular, the works of Zeithaml et al. postulate that service reliability matters most to customers and that empathy and the tangible aspects of services matter the least. Shows arguments, both conceptually and empirically, so that this observation is not based on strategic thinking nor on a particularly sound set of experiments. The relative priorities of service organizations must be established through the strategy formulation process and are likely to vary, quite logically, according to market choices and operations process characteristics.
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Cem Canel, Drew Rosen and Elizabeth A. Anderson
Confronting the challenges of global competition, companies are focusing more on the needs of customers to improve product quality and customer service. The manufacturing sector…
Abstract
Confronting the challenges of global competition, companies are focusing more on the needs of customers to improve product quality and customer service. The manufacturing sector has long been aware of the need to reduce waste as a means to reduce costs and improve product quality. Just‐in‐time (JIT), the formalized process of waste reduction, has achieved a strong foothold in the manufacturing sector. The service sector, however, has not been as quick to recognize the benefits of JIT. Services are much like manufacturing in that both employ processes that add value to the basic inputs used to create the end product. JIT focuses on the process, not the product. It can, therefore, be applied to any process within manufacturing or service operations. This paper provides a framework for applying JIT to processes in the service sector, with the goal of investigating how JIT principles can be implemented in services.
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Cem Canel, Steve Mahar, Drew Rosen and John Taylor
Healthcare providers need the information contained in patient records to provide high‐quality services. To be effective, patient record assembly must be completed in a timely…
Abstract
Purpose
Healthcare providers need the information contained in patient records to provide high‐quality services. To be effective, patient record assembly must be completed in a timely manner. This study aims to analyse the medical records assembly process for a hospital in Southeastern United States having difficulty meeting standard completion times established by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organization.
Design/methodology/approach
Several quality improvement tools were used to evaluate and improve the assembly process.
Findings
As a result of the study, a new procedure was implemented. Consequently, the hospital reduced the time required to assemble medical records, thereby improving efficiency and effectiveness. There are hopes to further improve the process.
Research limitations/implications
The study provides guidance on how statistical process control techniques can be applied to improve hospital services. The techniques employed can be used to analyze and improve any process. However, results are limited to improving medical record assembly processes at one particular hospital.
Originality/value
Past studies considered the application of various statistical process control techniques for improving healthcare quality. The study extends research by employing process improvement efforts to understand and develop medical record assembly in a regional hospital via process flow diagramming and control charts.
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It could be argued that the sign of ‘maturity’ of an academic paradigm is when it moves to some kind of integration with existing theories or re-engages with elements which may…
Abstract
It could be argued that the sign of ‘maturity’ of an academic paradigm is when it moves to some kind of integration with existing theories or re-engages with elements which may initially have been perceived as ‘dangerous’ or antithetical to the original demarcation of the area. As with the re-integration of feminism and reproduction, and disability and embodiment, so perhaps also for the social study of childhood and family research. The necessary political emphasis on the agency and voice of the child in the emerging social study of childhood research may well have been overstating the case (Seymour & McNamee, 2012) and ignoring significant structural and generational impediments in children’s relationships and interactions particularly in domestic spaces. To redress this, as occurred with feminist and disability studies, a contemporary standpoint is required which merges an emancipatory agentic approach to the subject of study with conceptual developments from the previously separated substantive area. This chapter will outline the development of the return of children ‘back into the families’ which has occurred in the last decade. It will show how approaches using family practices, personal lives, family display and generagency can be combined with privileging children’s perspectives and voices at home.
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The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the potential of importance‐performance (IP) analysis as a decision‐making tool for service management, employing IP analysis to assess…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the potential of importance‐performance (IP) analysis as a decision‐making tool for service management, employing IP analysis to assess the performance of Greek insurance in delivering quality services.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected in a two‐stage survey. In both stages, respondents were asked to provide importance and performance scores, in identical seven‐point Likert scales, for the 25 service attributes identified for Greek insurance. In order to qualify for the sample, individuals had to be over the age of 25 and have at least one insurance policy and one service encounter with their insurers within the previous three months. The two methodological streams of IP analysis, “gap analysis” and IP maps, were employed to analyse the data.
Findings
The value of importance‐performance analysis as a tool for managerial decision making in services was reaffirmed. Contrary to previous findings on insurers' reluctance to respond to their customers' quality requests, Greek insurance was found to have adequate reflexes in this respect. In stage one, the dimensions Responsiveness and Assurance were positioned in the “keep up the good work”, Reliability in the “concentrate”, Empathy in the “low priority” and Tangibles in the “possible overkill” quadrants of the importance‐performance map. In stage two, the industry was found to have taken actions towards keeping‐up with its customers' requirements.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitations of this study are that it was based on a single service industry and that convenience sampling was used. However, its methodology and results are valid for various industries in the service sector and provide a solid basis for future research.
Originality/value
Service managers can exploit the approach taken by this study to improve service management. Greek insurers have to keep considering the needs and wants of their customers regarding service delivery.
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Discusses a hyperspecialization in science, with axiological tendencies that put science higher than art or the myths. Considers that from a cybernetic point of view science as…
Abstract
Discusses a hyperspecialization in science, with axiological tendencies that put science higher than art or the myths. Considers that from a cybernetic point of view science as well as art or even myths are the creations of the human mind via an informational process. In the search for a complete axiomization, science has reached a limit where even in arithmetic there are said to be some undecidable affirmations. Argues that it should seem normal to accept a transdisciplinary point of view that would entail a global approach which would allow the sciences to communicate with art, poetry and inner experience, all through the cybernetic process. Discusses the First World Congress on Transdisciplinarity, held in 1994 in Portugal, and the adoption of a Charter of Transdisciplinarity.
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Zyad M. Alzaydi, Ali Al-Hajla, Bang Nguyen and Chanaka Jayawardhena
The purpose of this paper is to provide researchers with an overview of the service quality and delivery domain, focussing on the inclusion of customer co-production and customer…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide researchers with an overview of the service quality and delivery domain, focussing on the inclusion of customer co-production and customer integration. Specifically, this paper concentrates on service quality (including quality measurement), the service environment, controls and their consequences.
Design/methodology/approach
A comprehensive review of the literature is conducted, analysed and presented.
Findings
The review shows that service delivery is both complex and challenging, particularly when considering the unique characteristics of services and the high level of customer involvement in their creation. The facilitation, transformation and usage framework identifies how failures can occur at each stage of service delivery, beginning with the characteristics of the service environment, while control theory offers insights into the formal and informal controls that may be applied in the facilitation and transformation stages, which may reduce the likelihood or extent of such failures.
Originality/value
Despite the fact that it is widely accepted that service quality is an antecedent to customer satisfaction, it is surprising that this customer co-creation aspect has been largely neglected in the extant literature. As such, the role that customer co-production plays in service quality performance has been examined in this paper. It is hoped that this examination will enhance both theoretical and practical understanding of service quality. It would be useful to find modern tools that can help in improving service quality performance.
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The topic of company unions – employee associations sponsored and organized by management – has generated strong feelings. For many years, conventional labor unions have been…
Abstract
The topic of company unions – employee associations sponsored and organized by management – has generated strong feelings. For many years, conventional labor unions have been vehemently opposed to worker representation through company unions.1 Conventional labor unions have viewed company unions as devices by management to forestall or thwart independent unionism (i.e. unions organized by workers).2 According to this interpretation, a company union would give the appearance of providing employees with representation and induce workers to temper their demands for genuine collective bargaining. Thus, at their Annual Convention of 1919, the American Federation of Labor described company unions as “…a delusion and a snare, set up by the companies for the express purpose of deluding the workers into the belief that they have some protection and thus have no need for trade union organization: therefore be it Resolved, That we disapprove and condemn all such company unions and advise our membership to have nothing to do with them…” (Quoted in Douglas, 1919, p. 103).
When coping with complex, but also possibly disruptive and open‐ended social dynamics, the anticipatory system idea, which was developed by Rosen in the realm of physical and…
Abstract
Purpose
When coping with complex, but also possibly disruptive and open‐ended social dynamics, the anticipatory system idea, which was developed by Rosen in the realm of physical and biological system observation, remains a reference framework, but one that may need to be reinforced by other theoretical considerations. This paper aims at using a debate that took place in a specific foresight discussion arena on early detection and weak signal analysis, as a constructive epistemic detour to eventually contribute to such a reinforcement of Rosen's anticipatory system proposal.
Design/methodology/approach
The author aims at revisiting Rosen's framework with stimulating inputs drawing upon the early detection debates, by first assessing the original concepts brought up by Ansoff in the 1970s and 1980s and its further enhancements by contemporary scholars. A rather constructivist approach is then developed to weak signal analysis, aiming at emphasising the need, in analytical situations involving social system features, for reflexive stages and capacities. Bearing this requirement in mind, the productive value of the “framing” and “meta‐framing” notions is explored, in order to apply them to Rosen's anticipatory systems and possibly contribute to enriching his original concept.
Findings
How effective the framing and meta‐framing couple can be for a series of anticipatory issues is described in a detailed manner and, then more specifically, Rosen's anticipatory system concept is revisited in the light of those inputs, aiming at putting into perspective new options for research and anticipation activities in general.
Research limitations/implications
The paper is essentially conceptual and based on a rich but disputable detour by early detection and weak analysis issues so as to emphasise key reflexive references and method. However, most of this material is taken from domains rather untypical of Rosennean debates and in addition would need to be completed by a series of supportive cases, but that is beyond the scope and scale of this paper.
Practical implications
The paper sets clear distinctions and boundaries for when and when not to apply reflexive steps in a foresight exercise, including in the context of rolling out a Rosen type of approach. Research decision making both in the corporate and policy‐making contexts can benefit from such clues and supportive framework conditions.
Social implications
Social systems are typically complex and involve multiple perspectives and viewpoints; they concern a series of major challenges to be coped with locally or more globally, at environmental, political, cultural or technological level, and in that category of anticipatory endeavor, the framing/meta‐framing epistemic couple may be of great usefulness.
Originality/value
Although rather conceptual, the detour proposed by the paper aims at creating a reflexive distance and enriched capability to evaluate one's potential biases and blind spots in anticipatory modelling activities.
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This article sets out to describe the challenges and opportunities created by the presentation of a number of special collections to the library service of Waterford Institute of…
Abstract
Purpose
This article sets out to describe the challenges and opportunities created by the presentation of a number of special collections to the library service of Waterford Institute of Technology. It aims to focus on the work done with the collections to date and plans for the future.
Design/methodology/approach
This case study reports on the collections presented to WIT Library Service and the approach taken to their conservation and display. It also discusses the ongoing issues involved in special collections management in a modern academic library setting.
Findings
The paper concludes that there is a delicate balancing act involved in accepting and managing special collections in contemporary academic libraries. Key factors to consider are expense, staff time and skills, and potential benefits to the library and its users.
Research limitations/implications
The project is still in development. The study provides a view on one medium‐sized academic library's experience of handling special collections.
Practical implications
This account is likely to be useful for organisations in a similar position, faced with similar challenges of comparable scale.
Originality/value
The paper offers practical insights for libraries in similar positions.