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The Learning Organization, vol. 26 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-6474

Article
Publication date: 5 April 2022

Ernest Afene Fiakpa, Thu-Huong Nguyen and Anona Armstrong

This study aims to examine service quality in Nigerian general hospitals and determines possible differences in service quality perceptions between employees and patients.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to examine service quality in Nigerian general hospitals and determines possible differences in service quality perceptions between employees and patients.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the Servqual scale, data was collected from 328 employees and patients of two government hospitals in Abuja and Delta states. Analysis was carried out using SPSS 26 package for constructs reliability frequency, mean, standard deviation and t-statistics.

Findings

The study found significant differences in the perception of service quality between employees and patients of the Nigerian general hospitals. While employees gave a high rating to empathy, patients rated it low. Also, the patients’ poor perception of tangible did not match the employees’ high perception. Other specific findings are patients’ unfavourable assessment of the physical facilities and judged the staff to lack professional dressing. Patients felt the hospitals could not provide necessary equipment for their procedures and thus considered their services unreliable.

Practical implications

Reliability was perceived as a significant problem in this study; therefore, the hospitals management should ensure correct diagnoses and treatment results of the highest quality and timely services. Also, the management should invoke strong relationships between the employees and patients to earn patients’ trust. Employees should ensure to listen to patients’ complaints and find solutions promptly. Patients need health-care workers’ support and rely on their abilities; Therefore, health-care workers should be highly dependable and show empathic behaviour in discharging their duties. Health-care managers must access employees‘ and patients’ particular perceptual gaps and reconcile the difference before further quality improvement initiatives.

Originality/value

The findings in this study strengthen the clamour for assessing service quality from both employees and patients’ views in public hospitals. Hospital service quality is complex and primarily judged from the patients’ perspective. This study showed that health-care quality means different things to all stakeholders.

Article
Publication date: 1 April 2003

Anona Armstrong and Patrick Foley

This paper outlines the results of research currently being carried out at Victoria University, Australia, into what is a learning organization, how organizations learn, and how…

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Abstract

This paper outlines the results of research currently being carried out at Victoria University, Australia, into what is a learning organization, how organizations learn, and how to develop a learning organization. The objective of the present study was to identify the components that underpin the development and operation of a learning organization, i.e. the foundations, or organizational learning mechanisms, that support the development and maintenance of a learning organization. The study identified four facilitating mechanisms: the learning environment, identifying learning and development needs, meeting learning and development needs and applying learning in the workplace. Factor analysis of the learning environment questionnaire identified 12 scales that supported the structural hypotheses, 11 of which had minimum reliability coefficients of 0.70 and above. This research provides an instrument for systematically measuring and monitoring progress towards achieving a learning organization.

Details

The Learning Organization, vol. 10 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-6474

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 12 November 2018

Bernice Davies, Anona Armstrong and Maree Fitzpatrick

In 2013, the National Mutual Acceptance (NMA) of single ethical review was introduced into the Australian public health sector to address the timeliness of multisite clinical…

Abstract

In 2013, the National Mutual Acceptance (NMA) of single ethical review was introduced into the Australian public health sector to address the timeliness of multisite clinical trials. A clinical trial is usually designed to test the effects of an experimental therapeutic product. While all research involving humans must comply with ethical guidelines, clinical trials testing products in Australia are also subject to stringent regulatory controls making the need to meet trial milestones critically import. Commercial clinical trials offer participating research sites substantial financial and clinical advantages. Concerns that bureaucratic processes have impeded commercial investment have influenced countries, including Australia, to introduce single ethical review, where one ethics review is accepted at multiple sites participating in the same research project. Although a central tenet of the NMA is the standardization of the behaviors and procedures of research review, concerns of inconsistency remain. This raises the question of whether the NMA does lead public healthcare agencies to adopt similar research governance practices.

A questionnaire survey was undertaken to explore the current experiences (n = 149) of the NMA in Victorian public health agencies, and 21 semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore expectations of the future of the NMA. The findings indicated that, while there was conformity to many of the process requirements of the NMA, a persistent focus on the needs of each individual healthcare agency rather than on complying with the national system weakened pressure on agencies to adopt standardization.

The NMA has the capacity to be a powerful tool in delivering quality clinical trial outcomes, maximize research resources and create dependable performance metrics if consistent policies and governance are followed.

Details

Applied Ethics in the Fractured State
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78769-600-6

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 October 2011

Ronald D. Francis and Anona Armstrong

The purpose of this paper is to address issues of corruption and governance for international humanitarian organisations (such as Red Cross, Greenpeace, the Salvation Army, and…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to address issues of corruption and governance for international humanitarian organisations (such as Red Cross, Greenpeace, the Salvation Army, and Médecins Sans Frontières). Any such corruption may be both an issue of governance within an organisation as well as an external issue, such as political corruption, with which such organisations must deal in relationships with stakeholders.

Design/methodology/approach

The analysis is derived from annual reports, news reports, and published articles.

Findings

A moral basis for operations is based on analysis, information, measuring and reporting.

Research limitations/implications

In‐depth investigations of the ethical performance of humanitarian organisations are required.

Practical implications

The paper addresses issues of analyses of problems, the measurement of effectiveness, the moral dilemmas incurred by aid agencies, and offers some suggestions for improvement.

Social implications

Transparency would encourage greater contributions to the important work undertaken by these organisations.

Originality/value

The moral obligations of humanitarian organisations are usually assessed in terms of their social impacts. This paper suggests that their future viability may also rest on their ability to demonstrate an ethical approach to their operations.

Details

Journal of Financial Crime, vol. 18 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1359-0790

Keywords

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 12 November 2018

Abstract

Details

Applied Ethics in the Fractured State
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78769-600-6

Content available
Article
Publication date: 8 January 2018

130

Abstract

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The Learning Organization, vol. 25 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-6474

Content available
Article
Publication date: 9 September 2019

Anders Örtenblad

157

Abstract

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The Learning Organization, vol. 26 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-6474

Abstract

Details

Applied Ethics in the Fractured State
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78769-600-6

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