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Article
Publication date: 1 April 2014

Sarel Lavy, John A. Garcia and Manish K. Dixit

The purpose of this paper is to synthesize the previously established list of key performance indicators (KPIs), to identify and categorize the core performance indicators that…

2818

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to synthesize the previously established list of key performance indicators (KPIs), to identify and categorize the core performance indicators that are measurable and quantifiable.

Design/methodology/approach

A literature-based qualitative approach is adopted for accumulating desired information on identifying and categorizing the core indicators. The list of KPIs established in an earlier paper is narrowed down considering the future research needs suggested by the literature.

Findings

The quantifiable and measurable core indicators are identified and categorized in the form of a list. The core indicators are defined and the variables required to quantify them are described by citing peer-reviewed literature.

Research limitations/implications

This paper represents the first step toward establishing a relevant list of quantifiable and measurable core KPIs. Future research papers could emphasize derivation of mathematical expressions for determining the identified core KPIs and validating these KPIs using simulation of real building data.

Practical implications

The need to establish a concise and relevant list of quantifiable and measurable KPIs that could express more than one type of information about a facility's performance is identified in this paper. This paper presents and describes a narrowed down list of core KPIs, which could be utilized by facility management industry professionals while performing a holistic performance assessment.

Originality/value

This paper provides a list of core KPIs that could express more than one aspect of a facility's performance and that is measurable and quantifiable.

Details

Facilities, vol. 32 no. 5/6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-2772

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 November 2011

Hengameh Hosseini

As a result of the aging of American society, health care costs have been and will continue to rise, to the extent that they are not sustainable. Obviously, this trend will…

Abstract

Purpose

As a result of the aging of American society, health care costs have been and will continue to rise, to the extent that they are not sustainable. Obviously, this trend will continue in spite of the 2010 health care reform. As a result of this uncontrollable problem, writers such as Daniel Callahan have proposed age‐based rationing of health care while utilizing the utilitarian notions of ethics and justice. However, other writers, utilizing more egalitarian notions of justice, have opposed this. This suggests an ethical dilemma, which has to be debated in the future. The author believes professors teaching health care related courses will be instrumental in this debate, explaining why she decided to seek the opinion of a sample of 18 professors regarding this issue. The purpose of this paper is to report on the results of this research.

Design/methodology/approach

Qualitative methodology, specially grounded theory, was used in this study that sought to explore the views of 18 full‐time professors who teach health care policy and administration in Northeast Pennsylvania about age‐based rationing of health care. Qualitative research is very useful uncovering the views of individuals as they relate to their experiences. In the study, professors were asked 14 questions by the author, four of these being demographic. The remaining ten questions, open ended ones, sought the opinions of these professors about their support or opposition to age‐based rationing.

Findings

The author's interviews of those 18 professors and the analysis of the responses, which revealed the complexity and multidimensional nature of the issue, led to the emergence of eight different themes.

Originality/value

The author used a qualitative method of research, interviewing 18 professors, to uncover personal views not previously published.

Article
Publication date: 4 March 2020

Iris Levin and Kathy Arthurson

The purpose of this paper is to examine the causes, the nature and the extent of unneighbourly relations between neighbours living in small multi-owned residential buildings…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the causes, the nature and the extent of unneighbourly relations between neighbours living in small multi-owned residential buildings (MOBs, sometimes called strata) in Australian cities, and the effect of these relations on the health and wellbeing of residents. The impact of neighbour relations and conflicts on residents' health and wellbeing has not been explored before in the context of small MOBs in Australia (under 12 units).

Design/methodology/approach

The research involved an analysis of secondary data on common problems experienced in MOBs between neighbours, in-depth face-to-face interviews with twenty-six residents and interviews with five managers of management agencies in metropolitan Melbourne (Victoria) and Adelaide (South Australia), Australia.

Findings

When strata processes and management worked well residents were positive about living in such an arrangement. However, when the strata group was less harmonious residents reported that it impacted negatively on their health and wellbeing.

Research limitations/implications

The study's findings are subject to the widely acknowledged limitations of small sample-based interview research. Findings indicate that there is a need to explore the benefits and disadvantages of living in small multi-owned residential buildings in Australia on a larger scale.

Practical implications

There are three policy implications from the findings: a need for better education of prospective buyers regarding the nature of strata living; tighter regulation of rules for small multi-owned apartment buildings is required, (in a similar way to how the regulations operate in large apartment buildings); and a need to include private rental tenants living in strata in the everyday life around the management of the building.

Originality/value

The impact of neighbourly relations and conflicts on the health and wellbeing of residents living in MOBs, particularly small ones, has not been studied adequately, as current research focuses on large apartment buildings. This research addresses a gap in the literature in the study of small living arrangements (town houses, apartment buildings, terraces), with 12 or less apartments, with a focus on residents' health and wellbeing.

Details

Property Management, vol. 38 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-7472

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 14 April 2023

Christopher Raymond and Paul R. Ward

This chapter explores theory and local context of socially constructed pandemic fears during COVID-19; how material and non-material fear objects are construed, interpreted and…

Abstract

This chapter explores theory and local context of socially constructed pandemic fears during COVID-19; how material and non-material fear objects are construed, interpreted and understood by communities, and how fears disrupt social norms and influence pandemic behavioural responses. We aimed to understand the lived experiences of pandemic-induced fears in socioculturally diverse communities in eastern Indonesia in the context of onto-epistemological disjunctures between biomedically derived public health interventions, local world views and causal-remedial explanations for the crisis. Ethnographic research conducted among several communities in East Nusa Tenggara province in Indonesia provided the data and analyses presented in this chapter, delineating the extent to which fear played a decisive role in both internal, felt experience and social relations. Results illustrate how fear emotions are constructed and acted upon during times of crisis, arising from misinformation, rumour, socioreligious influence, long-standing tradition and community understandings of modernity, power and biomedicine. The chapter outlines several sociological theories on fear and emotion and interrogates a post-pandemic future.

Details

The Emerald Handbook of the Sociology of Emotions for a Post-Pandemic World
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80382-324-9

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 October 2018

Sidney Anderson, Steven W. Rayburn and Jeremy J. Sierra

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how, using a futures studies perspective, marketing is uniquely positioned to address future challenges facing health-care service systems.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how, using a futures studies perspective, marketing is uniquely positioned to address future challenges facing health-care service systems.

Design/methodology/approach

The futures studies perspective involves predicting probable, preferable and possible futures. Using digital and face-to-face data collection methods, health-care professionals, academics and patients were asked about their perspectives and expectations of health care’s future. Using grounded theory, responses were analyzed to a point of thematic saturation to expose the immediate probable future and a preferred future of health care.

Findings

Patients expressed a desire to participate in health-care delivery, impacting caregivers’ roles. Thus, co-creation of value in this context is contingent on the relationship among stakeholders: patients, patients’ families, caregivers and health-care organizations. Concordance, a type of value co-creation, is an effective way for physicians and patients to ameliorate health outcomes.

Research limitations/implications

Although a more diverse sample would be ideal, insight from health-care professionals, academics and patients across global regions was obtained.

Practical implications

To achieve a preferred future in health care, practitioners should implement a three-pronged approach, which includes health promotion and prevention, appropriate use of technology in health care and concordance.

Originality/value

Using patients, health-care professionals and academics, this research broadens the concept of value co-creation in health care. Additionally, paths (i.e. promotion and prevention, technology use and concordance) to a preferred health-care future are uncovered.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 53 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 January 2010

Sameer Kumar

For 15 years general hospital managers faced new competition from for‐profit specialty hospitals that operate on a “focused factory” model, which threaten to siphon‐off the most…

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Abstract

Purpose

For 15 years general hospital managers faced new competition from for‐profit specialty hospitals that operate on a “focused factory” model, which threaten to siphon‐off the most profitable patients. This paper aims to discuss North American specialty hospitals and to review rising costs impact on general hospital operations. The focus is to discover whether specialty hospitals are more efficient than general hospitals; if so, how significant is the difference and also what can general hospitals do in light of the rising specialty hospitals.

Design/methodology/approach

The case study involves stochastic frontier regression analysis using Cobb‐Douglas and Translog cost functions to compare Minnesota general and specialty hospital efficiency. Analysis is based on data from 117 general and 19 specialty hospitals.

Findings

The results suggest that specialty hospitals are significantly more efficient than general hospitals. Overall, general hospitals were found to be more than twice as inefficient compared with specialty hospitals in the sample. Some cost‐cutting factors highlighted can be implemented to trim rising costs.

Practical implications

The case study highlights some managerial levers that general hospital operational managers might use to control rising costs. This also helps them compete with specialty hospitals by reducing overheads and other major costs.

Originality/value

The study is based on empirical modeling for an important healthcare operational challenge and provides additional in‐depth information that has health policy implications. The analysis and findings enable healthcare managers to guide their institutions in a new direction during a time of change within the industry.

Details

International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, vol. 23 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0952-6862

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 May 2003

Susan Holmes and Douglas Maclnnes

It is often assumed that prison staff are particularly stressed due to their frequent exposure to traumatic events, which may damage not only individuals but also prisons and…

Abstract

It is often assumed that prison staff are particularly stressed due to their frequent exposure to traumatic events, which may damage not only individuals but also prisons and prisoners. While the impact of such stress may be recognised, the factors contributing to its development are unclear.The work reported here is part of a larger investigation of health care provision in a Greater London prison. Qualitative approaches were used to access the understandings of staff and key informants of the difficulties associated with their working environment. This enabled us to accommodate different working contexts, ensuring that the findings were grounded in the reality of the work undertaken by the participants.The data revealed that lack of training contributed significantly to the development of stress, reducing confidence in dealing with the many traumatic situations encountered. However, interpersonal relationships provided mutual support during crises. General working conditions, including workload and staff redeployment, were also important contributors to high levels of sickness‐absence which, in turn, exacerbated stress. Poor management practices, combined with a perceived lack of support, further aggravated stress.While it may be tempting to blame individuals for their inability to cope, all organisations have a duty of care to their employees and must take steps, at both the individual and organisational level, to prevent and manage work‐related stress.

Details

The British Journal of Forensic Practice, vol. 5 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-6646

Article
Publication date: 1 June 2006

Douglas Kelbaugh

As an architect and educator I worry about the intellectual and pragmatic challenges that currently bedevil architectural practice and pedagogy. There are at least seven design…

Abstract

As an architect and educator I worry about the intellectual and pragmatic challenges that currently bedevil architectural practice and pedagogy. There are at least seven design fallacies that in various combinations permeate professional practice and studio culture at most schools of architecture. Some are self-imposed and tractable; others are less easily addressed because they are externally driven by the media, technology, globalization and capital. Some are about form-making; others are about social equity and environmental sustainability. All seven are deeply embedded in our architectural psyches. Changing them will not be easy, but change them we must if we want to recuperate architecture and urbanism, as well as invigorate them as a more positive and progressive force in the world.

Details

Open House International, vol. 31 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0168-2601

Keywords

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 22 April 2024

Rob Noonan

Abstract

Details

Capitalism, Health and Wellbeing
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83797-897-7

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