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Service employees in subordinate service roles are crucial for operational efficiency and service quality. However, the stressful nature of these roles, inappropriate hire selection, and the proliferation of job boards have created massive recruitment problems for HR departments. The purpose of this paper is to highlights the growing costs of recruiting the right candidates for service roles while offering an alternative approach to recruitment that is more efficient and effective than the traditional approach.

The study offers empirical evidence of five instances in which the use of psychometric sifting procedures reduced recruitment costs, while improving the quality of the resultant hires.

By standing the traditional recruitment process “on its head” and using psychometric tests at the start of the selection process, the recruitment process can be significantly improved. Such tests efficiently weed out unsuitable candidates before they even enter the recruitment process, leaving a smaller, better-qualified pool for possible recruitment.

Firms can safely use the psychometric sifts to select applicants according to their operational efficiency, customer orientation, and overall performance. This paper illustrates the use of both traditional questionnaire measures and situational judgment tests to remove unsuitable applicants at the start of the selection process. A real-life case study suggests that such an approach increases the hiring success rate from 6:1 to 2:1. In the opening of a new supermarket by a UK group, this process saved 73,000 hours of managers’ time, representing $1.8 million savings in opening costs.

The paper offers a viable cost-saving alternative to a growing problem for HR departments in service firms and provides directions for further research.

This study is a systematic literature review of the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in safety-critical systems. The authors aim to present the current application status according to different AI techniques and propose some research directions and insights to promote its wider application.

A total of 92 articles were selected for this review through a systematic literature review along with a thematic analysis.

The literature is divided into three themes: interpretable method, explain model behavior and reinforcement of safe learning. Among AI techniques, the most widely used are Bayesian networks (BNs) and deep neural networks. In addition, given the huge potential in this field, four future research directions were also proposed.

This study is of vital interest to industry practitioners and regulators in safety-critical domain, as it provided a clear picture of the current status and pointed out that some AI techniques have great application potential. For those that are inherently appropriate for use in safety-critical systems, regulators can conduct in-depth studies to validate and encourage their use in the industry.

This is the first review of the application of AI in safety-critical systems in the literature. It marks the first step toward advancing AI in safety-critical domain. The paper has potential values to promote the use of the term “safety-critical” and to improve the phenomenon of literature fragmentation.

In order to succeed in an action under the Equal Pay Act 1970, should the woman and the man be employed by the same employer on like work at the same time or would the woman still be covered by the Act if she were employed on like work in succession to the man? This is the question which had to be solved in Macarthys Ltd v. Smith. Unfortunately it was not. Their Lordships interpreted the relevant section in different ways and since Article 119 of the Treaty of Rome was also subject to different interpretations, the case has been referred to the European Court of Justice.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the critical opportunities for design for safety (DFS), the potential statutory (and non-statutory) health and safety (H&S) responsibilities of designers including DFS and its workability in developing countries.

Interviews were conducted among 28 multi-designers including Architects, Civil Engineers and Builders and the data was analysed thematically.

The study revealed that the likelihood of designers, clients, etc. inclining to change because of the infancy stage of H&S in developing countries, making it “fallow” for H&S was a barrier. The opportunities for DFS include the willingness of designers to develop DFS skills and knowledge, which results in a welcoming attitude towards DFS. Further, the success recorded by professional bodies on other regulatory matters and designers' greater inclination to comply with DFS when professional bodies are involved in the regulatory process of DFS remain key opportunities for DFS.

For statutory-backed DFS to achieve the objective at the optimum level, the role of professional bodies in the regulatory and sensitisation processes, geographic differences in DFS legislation enforcement, nuanced and strategic design and enforcement of any legislation that will support DFS should be taken into consideration.

A grassroots collaborative approach to developing and implementing DFS in the country and the exploitation of the zeal of designers to have DFS-related knowledge, is recommended.

To the knowledge of the authors, this is the first study that examines the opportunities for DFS in developing countries when it is (or not) supported by statute and the need to advance the understanding of DFS in developing countries through qualitative enquiry.

To explore the perceptions of surgical team members in a tertiary hospital in Jordan toward the factors influencing patient safety culture (PSC).

This was a qualitative descriptive study intended to characterize the factors that influence PSC. Interviews were conducted with health-care providers in the operation room (OR) in a tertiary Jordanian hospital. Participants included surgeons, anesthetists, nurses and senior surgical residents who had worked for three years minimum in the OR. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data.

A total of 33 interviews were conducted. Thematic analysis of the content yielded four major themes: (1) operational factors, (2) organizational factors, (3) health-care professionals factors and (4) patient factors. The respondents emphasized the role of the physical layout of the OR, implementing new techniques and new equipment, and management support to establish a safety culture in the operating room setting.

The present research study will have implications for hospitals and health-care providers in Jordan for developing organizational strategies to eliminate or decrease the occurrence of adverse events and improve patient safety in the OR.

A Summary by Dr. Alexander Klemin of the Papers Presented Before the Fourteenth Meeting of the Institute held at Columbia University, New York, on January 29–31, 1946. AERODYNAMICS IN spite of increased wing loadings, the use of full span wing flaps has been delayed, because of inability to find a suitable aileron. The Development of a Lateral‐Control System for use with Large‐Span Flaps by I. L. Ashkenas (Northrop Aircraft), outlines the various steps in the aerodynamic development of a retractable aileron system well adapted to the full span flap and successfully employed on the Northrop P‐61. Included is a discussion of the basic data used, the design calculations made, and the effect of structural and mechanical considerations. Changes made as a result of preliminary flight tests are discussed and the final flight‐test results are presented. It is concluded that the use of this retractable aileron system has, in addition to the basic advantage of increased flap span, the following desirable control characteristics: (a) favourable yawing moments, (b) low wing‐torsional loads, (c) small pilot forces, even at high speed.

In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.

This study aims to investigate tourists’ intentions to use hotel service robots with a focus on safety and hygiene. It examines the impact of perceived safety, health awareness and service assurance on consumer engagement and robot usage.

Survey data from 275 participants with experience in robotic service were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The study used purposive sampling and collected data via the Prolific platform, using SEM and SmartPLS Ver. 3.0 for analysis.

Results indicate customers prioritize safety and hygiene, valuing effective service responses and cleanliness. Perceived robotic safety and service assurance positively influence personal engagement, with a preference for service robots among female guests.

While emphasizing the importance of safety and service assurance in hotel robotics, the study acknowledges limitations in personalization and conclusive use of service robots.

This research contributes to understanding the role of perceived safety in service robot usage, highlighting the significance of user trust and comfort in human–robot interactions. It also explores the novel connection between service assurance and service robots, offering insights into robotic performance reliability in user-centric contexts.

This paper aims to find out the impact of seven important factors towards behavior intention on various health-care applications in India. The spectacular rise of uses of smart phones in India has introduced various mobile applications in the market. The mobile applications have become very useful and popular amongst the urban consumers due to several reasons such as reducing time, effort, money, etc. Health-care applications which are used in various smart phones are still in an infancy stage in India. Health-care applications have several advantages and facilities and consumers receive few alerts or suggestions for free. Though the health-care applications have various benefits for everyone, still people are less aware of the services they provide. Fewer studies have been done on this particular subject, and people may find the apps interesting if they understand the benefits of these applications.

This study aims to find out the impact of seven factors towards behavior intention on various health-care applications in India. The 331 samples have been chosen with the help of a structured questionnaire. The researcher has used stratified random sampling to collect the data for conducting the study, and the samples have been collected from four metro cities of India, namely, Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai. Exploratory factor analysis and multiple regression analysis have been conducted to find out the most influencing factor towards intention with SPSS v 21.

The result reveals that out of seven factors, perceived usefulness, enjoyment and time are the most influencing and significant factors towards utilization expectation. The other four variables, namely, cost, increased dependability, perceived ease of use and increased protection do not have a significant impact on the dependent variable. The paper has also revealed that marketers need to penetrate the market with some innovative marketing strategies. The findings of the study is providing the hint for implementing the strategies.

The study is unique in the context of a country like India where no such studies on this subject have been conducted before.

Given the complexities in improving safety in the construction industry globally, which is exacerbated by the complex safety environment in developing countries (DCs), prevention through design (PtD) has been established to improve occupational safety and health (OSH) where applied. However, it has received very little attention in DCs and the extant literature with limitations. Using Nigeria as a case study, the current study advances the understanding of PtD in DCs by investigating the critical barriers to PtD and other potential OSH responsibilities of designers in the construction industry.

Twenty-eight semi-structured interviews and e-interviews of architects, builders and civil engineers in Nigeria were analysed using the six-phase thematic analysis. To improve the trustworthiness of the research, triangulation, peer-debriefing, refining the interview protocol and thick detailed description were done.

The study's findings question the extant general knowledge and understanding of PtD among clients and designers and its technical aspect among designers where it is skewed to structural safety and omitted in universities' curricula. This explains the inconclusive findings of existing studies on why there is a high level of awareness of PtD but a low level of implementation. There is little client support for PtD, and designers have limited influence on clients in terms of it. The fear of liability from PtD is exacerbated by the limited legal system and lack of adequate legislation in the country. The demotivating attitudes of clients and contractors towards designers in terms of PtD are also reported, just as there are project delivery barriers such as traditional procurement not supporting PtD as design and build procurement does.

For the sustainable growth in the practice of PtD, the increased and improved quality of education and awareness of PtD is needed but this must focus on instilling a robust understanding of it among designers based on the local context. This educational requirement can be supported by statute.

Through qualitative data, the findings explain and offer insight into the inconclusive findings in the extant studies on PtD in Nigeria. Also, it contributes to improving health and safety by advancing the understanding of the critical barriers to PtD and other potential OSH responsibilities of designers in D Nigeria's construction using qualitative data.