Search results

Gulf Bank’s service excellence “scorecard” was developed to support the Bank’s delivery of superior service in its market sector. The “scorecard” provides focus for a “service excellence” program, setting standards and measuring performance against customer focused objectives. The approach identified the “drivers” of customer satisfaction, related these to the Bank’s service delivery channels, set performance standards, and implemented measurement and reporting systems embracing external customer feedback and internal process measurements. Performance was measured against 16 key “drivers” of customer satisfaction identified independently by the local industry institute and related to the Bank’s delivery channels (branches, ATMs, telephone, Internet). Key measures were: customer satisfaction, complaints, comments and attrition, plus internal process delivery performance for critical products (consumer loans and credit card services). Reports were produced weekly and monthly with “drill downs” from bank to individual branch and/or employee levels. Reports are reviewed by management from chairman down to branch manager level. Results are incorporated in business KPIs and have become factors in employee incentive schemes. The approach adopted by the bank demonstrated that a practical, comprehensive service quality management system could be implemented and used to drive service improvement. The approach can be adopted by other banks and financial institutions and adapted to the needs of other service industries. The process implemented by Gulf Bank is believed to be unique in the Kuwait banking community and has scope for application in many similar environments outside the local area.

This paper begins with a comprehensive review of the management literature on culture, and demonstrates close parallels with research and writings on organisational climate and values. The paper then reports the findings from an empirical investigation into the relationship between the organisational culture, climate, and managerial values of a large Australian public sector agency. The relative strengths of four dimensions of culture in this organisation were measured using Hofstede’s instrument. Added to this were items from a questionnaire developed by Ryder and Southey, derived from the Jones and James instrument measuring psychological climate and providing scores across six specific dimensions of organisational climate. Measures of managerial values, drawn from a questionnaire by Flowers and Hughes, were also incorporated. Results show that levels of culture within this particular organisation are at variance with those reported by Hofstede from his Australian data. Findings indicate a strong link between specific organisational climate items and a number of managerial values dimensions. Additional relationships between particular dimensions of culture, climate and managerial values are also reported. From this, a hypothesised, predictive model of linkages between the constructs is presented.

Current issues of Publishers' Weekly are reporting serious shortages of paper, binders board, cloth, and other essential book manufacturing materials. Let us assure you these shortages are very real and quite severe.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.

This paper aims to present recently published resources on information literacy and library instruction through an extensive annotated bibliography of publications covering all library types.

This paper annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs, dissertations and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2017 in over 200 journals, magazines, books and other sources.

The paper provides a brief description for all 590 sources.

The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.

Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).

IN order to be able to discriminate with certainty between butter and such margarine as is sold in England, it is necessary to carry out two or three elaborate and delicate chemical processes. But there has always been a craving by the public for some simple method of determining the genuineness of butter by means of which the necessary trouble could be dispensed with. It has been suggested that such easy detection would be possible if all margarine bought and sold in England were to be manufactured with some distinctive colouring added—light‐blue, for instance—or were to contain a small amount of phenolphthalein, so that the addition of a drop of a solution of caustic potash to a suspected sample would cause it to become pink if it were margarine, while nothing would occur if it were genuine butter. These methods, which have been put forward seriously, will be found on consideration to be unnecessary, and, indeed, absurd.

This paper aims to identify a variety of titles and resources to offer both public and academic librarians guidance in establishing and maintaining a definitive core collection of past and present materials.

The annotated bibliography includes CD recordings, films, documentaries, serials, monographs and web sites on rap music and hip‐hop culture. The entries chosen were culled from rap music periodicals, reference works, catalogs and journals.

These resources showcase the innovation of rap's formative years. They trace the broad scope of rap musical styles and document and critique hip‐hop culture.

These selected titles capture distinctive periods in hip‐hop history and help librarians stay current and conscious of what to include in their collections as rap becomes more mainstream and more respectable.