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While digital media changed the nature of communication in service contexts, often allowing customers to interact instantly with service providers, the implications and opportunities for managing service employees are widely unknown. This is surprising, given that service employees are an important determinant of service firms’ success. This article examines the effects of real-time performance feedback on employees’ service performance and investigates both how and under what conditions timely feedback encourages employees’ engagement.

Two experiments test the conceptual model and the proposed hypotheses. A field experiment uses real customer feedback gathered after interaction with the app-chat of a large telecommunications provider. It tests the effect of feedback timing on service employees’ performance and also examines the effect of feedback timing on their engagement. A subsequent scenario-based experiment then investigates the influence of selected moderators on the feedback timing–engagement relationship.

This article finds that real-time feedback leads to greater service performance than subsequent feedback. Furthermore, real-time feedback positively affects service employee engagement through the perceived controllability of the feedback and the service situation. Finally, feedback valence, task goals, individuals’ need for closure (NCL), and gender interact with feedback timing to influence employee engagement.

This research investigates the potential of real-time performance feedback for service firms, combines and extends a variety of literature streams, and provides recommendations for the future management of service employees.

Simulation games have long been used as a teaching tool in the classroom environment mainly due to the high level of participation and engagement that students are able to generate from these, making the learning process more enjoyable and capable to replicate real-life scenarios. Feedback given during the simulation helps to motivate students to find better solutions to the problems being presented in the games and thus enhance their hands-on knowledge on particular subjects. The purpose of this research is to provide empirical evidence of interrelations and impacts that exist between real-time continuous feedback and simulation game performance as well as the interrelations and impacts that exist between real-time continuous feedback and both students' attitude and engagement towards learning.

The research focused on 60 undergraduate students enrolled at the Centre of Commerce at RMIT University Vietnam who had taken at least three semesters at various programmes. For test purposes, the research employed a 3D IBM business process management (BPM) simulation game, INNOV8 developed by the IBM Academic Initiative (more information about the game is available at: www-01.ibm.com/software/solutions/soa/innov8/index.html). A web-based survey followed at the university grounds for the collection of data.

Students showed a favourable attitude towards learning through the simulation game. In addition, the real-time continuous feedback given during the simulation game had a positive impact on the students' cognitive learning outcomes.

The sample size used was relatively small with 60 participants, most unfamiliar with the theories of BPM.

The originality of this research stems from the real-time and continuous nature of the feedback being given to students during the gameplay of a computer-based simulation game, and how this type of feedback could positively impact the students' learning outcomes.

The majority of research on energy feedback has been conducted in residential households; in this study, the authors aim to examine the effectiveness of similar initiatives in a college environment. The our goal was to see how much additional electricity savings could be induced using feedback beyond average savings achieved by goal-setting and to provide students information on how to conserve.

All participants set goals related to personal environmental behavior and received electricity-saving tips. Half of the participants were exposed to real-time, group-level, ambient and direct feedback of electric use for their dormitory floor through an iPad display. The control group received no feedback.

The group that received the real-time feedback reduced its consumption, whereas the control group did not. The feedback group’s change in consumption was significantly greater than the control group’s. The results are discussed in the context of injunctive norms, reminders, ambient feedback and numerical feedback, as well as the theory of planned behavior.

Further research could test for long-term effects, whether the interventions applied in this study would be effective in other university contexts and whether the interventions would influence other environmental habits apart from electricity consumption on campuses.

This is one of the first energy feedback studies to demonstrate the effectiveness of group-level data, let alone specifically in a college dormitory and has implications for influencing conservation behavior of residential college students worldwide.

To help workers make the right decision, over the years, technological solutions and workplace learning analytics systems have been designed to aid this process (Ruiz-Calleja et al., 2019). Recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI) have the potential to further revolutionise the integration of human and artificial learning and will impact human and machine collaboration during team work (Seeber et al., 2020).

Complex problem-solving has been identified as one of the key skills for the future workforce (Hager and Beckett, 2019). Problems faced by today's workforce emerge in situ and everyday workplace learning is seen as an effective way to develop the skills and experience workers need to embrace these problems (Campbell, 2005; Jonassen et al., 2006).

In this commentary the authors argue that the increased digitization of work and social interaction, combined with recent research on workplace learning analytics and AI opens up the possibility for designing automated real-time feedback systems capable of just-in-time, just-in-place support during complex problem-solving at work. As such, these systems can support augmented learning and professional development in situ.

The commentary reflects on the benefits of automated real-time feedback systems and argues for the need of shared research agenda to cohere research in the direction of AI-enabled workplace analytics and real-time feedback to support learning and development in the workplace.

The purpose of this study is to develop a robotic training system for the hand movements during manual welding. The system provides real-time notice-feedback with sound or light alarms, whenever the welding hand vibrates beyond the nominal level observed with professional welders.

The large variations of hand movements are detected by monitoring the deviation of the tool position from a smooth curve estimated in real time by a Kalman filter. An alarm is generated in the form of a flashing light or beep sound whenever the deviations exceed a predetermined threshold. The performance of hand movements is measured in terms of the variations of the position data. Twelve novice and five professional welders took part in the experiments and answered a questionnaire that assessed the usability and work load of the system.

Compared to the sound alarms, the light alarms resulted in a larger and statistically significant decrease in the variation of hand movements of the novice welders and brought the level of variation close to that of the professional welders. The alarms did not result in a significant decrease in the variation of hand movements of the professional welders. The responses to the questionnaire indicated that both professional and novice welders found the system useful and they did not experience any significant work load.

The system developed in this study can ease the training of novice welders, by speeding up the learning and reducing the need for human tutors.

This study is first to provide real-time notice-feedback for training while manual welding, based on a comparison of the performances of novice and professional welders.

The usage of additive manufacturing (AM) technology in industries has reached up to 50 per cent as prototype or end-product. However, for AM products to be directly used as final products, AM product should be produced through advanced quality control process, which has a capability to be able to prove and reach their desire repeatability, reproducibility, reliability and preciseness. Therefore, there is a need to review quality-related research in terms of AM technology and guide AM industry in the future direction of AM development.

This paper overviews research progress regarding the QC in AM technology. The focus of the study is on manufacturing quality issues and needs that are to be developed and optimized, and further suggests ideas and directions toward the quality improvement for future AM technology. This paper is organized as follows. Section 2 starts by conducting a comprehensive review of the literature studies on progress of quality control, issues and challenges regarding quality improvement in seven different AM techniques. Next, Section 3 provides classification of the research findings, and lastly, Section 4 discusses the challenges and future trends.

This paper presents a review on quality control in seven different techniques in AM technology and provides detailed discussions in each quality process stage. Most of the AM techniques have a trend using in-situ sensors and cameras to acquire process data for real-time monitoring and quality analysis. Procedures such as extrusion-based processes (EBP) have further advanced in data analytics and predictive algorithms-based research regarding mechanical properties and optimal printing parameters. Moreover, compared to others, the material jetting progresses technique has advanced in a system integrated with closed-feedback loop, machine vision and image processing to minimize quality issues during printing process.

This paper is limited to reviewing of only seven techniques of AM technology, which includes photopolymer vat processes, material jetting processes, binder jetting processes, extrusion-based processes, powder bed fusion processes, directed energy deposition processes and sheet lamination processes. This paper would impact on the improvement of quality control in AM industries such as industrial, automotive, medical, aerospace and military production.

Additive manufacturing technology, in terms of quality control has yet to be reviewed.

This paper aims to explore patient to care provider reverse exchanges to improve the care processes and service supply chain using an online feedback platform. This paper demonstrates how a better understanding of timely and unsolicited feedback (“voice of the patient as a customer”) stimulates local interventions to improve service delivery and enact the essential characteristics of highly reliable organisations (HRO).

A realist approach involving an exploratory hospital case study using user feedback from an IT patient feedback platform. The methodology included interviews, secondary data and access to thousands of patient feedback narratives.

The findings show that a systems approach to the supply chain, using real-time feedback to enact process improvement is beneficial and a fruitful source of innovation for professional services staff. The setting of the improvement focusses on a true “voice of the customer” rather than attempting to improve arbitrarily internal process efficiency has major benefits for staff and their engagement with the right interventions to support higher performance.

The findings show major positive benefits for the adaptation and constant reflection of staff on the service provided to patients. The approach provides a means of reflecting as to whether the current supply chain and service provision are fit for purpose, as well as reliable, efficient and of value to the consumer.

This study is one of a few that adopt the consumer orientation needed to fully exploit the concepts of patient-centric improvement by including dynamic feedback in the supply chain and systems approach to care.

The purpose of this paper is to study business models (BMs) for smart meters (SMs) and discuss related issues in the French institutional context. Because SM introduce deregulation on both the demand and supply sides, the authors argue that they represent an opportunity to “unlock” the system by enabling feedback to consumers. The authors discuss the empirical findings from the TICELEC (Technologies de l’Information pour une Consommation Electrique – Information Technology for Sustainable Electricity Consumption Behaviors) project which is an experimental initiative to measure potential energy savings through the implementation of SM, and to test behavioral change.

The empirical data are from the TICELEC project and refer to a municipality in southern France. The project was designed to show the qualitative changes deriving from a new technology, and the quantitative changes in the form of real reductions in residential electricity consumption in the short and medium terms. The authors discuss these changes and their potential replication, and examine the nature of the feedback provided to users and the implications for SM BMs for France and for smart cities more generally.

The authors suggest that the opportunities provided by SM have to be compared with other kinds of intervention such as self-monitoring procedures. The results show that any intervention is important for moderating the sole impact of SM. The findings on the importance of changes to “energy habits” relate mainly to “curtailment” and “low efficiency” behaviors, which represent less costly changes. The lessons learned for BM developments linked to SM include incentive systems, smart tariffs, and technologies to increase potential behavior changes and energy savings in this field.

The authors’ analysis of the content of behavioral change shows that curtailment behavior and low-efficiency behavior remain dominant when SMs are implemented. Promoting high-efficiency behaviors is always difficult for reasons of cost. Thus, SM should be combined with other measures such as incentives systems, e.g. “smart tariffication,” and new services to increase their impact.

A proper combination of smart tariffs and SMs to reduce peaks in demand would appear to be critical to boost SM development. It will also be important to integrate SMs with smart grids to improve energy efficiency and exploit renewables and energy storage in electricity networks.

SMs are important but any interventions that motivate households to change their energy habits also help in the French context. SMs enable households to try to reduce their energy consumption but they are not the solution.

There are no detailed results published for France. Utilities such as Electricite Reseau Distribution France, have introduced R & D programs oriented to the deployment of SM which have been tested since 2009 (e.g. see the local LINKY meter projects in Lyon and Touraine). The empirical data are from the TICELEC project and refer to a municipality in southern France. The project was designed to show the qualitative changes deriving from a new technology, and the quantitative changes in the form of real reductions in residential electricity consumption in the short and medium terms. The authors discuss these changes and their potential replication, and examine the nature of the feedback provided to users and the implications for SM BMs for France and for smart cities more generally.

In recent years, practitioners have identified a number of problems with traditional performance management (PM) systems, arguing that PM is broken and needs to be fixed. In this chapter, we review criticisms of traditional PM practices that have been mentioned by journalists and practitioners and we consider the solutions that they have presented for addressing these concerns. We then consider these problems and solutions within the context of extant scholarly research and identify (a) what organizations should do going forward to improve PM practices (i.e., focus on feedback processes, ensure accountability throughout the PM system, and align the PM system with organizational strategy) and (b) what scholars should focus research attention on (i.e., technology, strategic alignment, and peer-to-peer accountability) in order to reduce the science-practice gap in this domain.

Integrating interdisciplinary studies with Human Capital Management Accounting (HCMA) refers to the dynamics of organized interdisciplinary action that are transversal or cross-cutting. This approach requires the mastery of a certain number of technical skills and disciplines, as well as the capacity to use them in a process to solve problems of financial performance. This is accomplished through the specific interaction tasks that are performed by each management function and operational unit, which act in real time with others, in the same direction as an organizational team, using a selected risk appetite threshold base.

Putting business fields side by side, (i.e., business disciplines silos, as is normally the case in MBA programs), is not enough to create the transversal interaction dynamic needed for firms to achieve expected financial performance goals. As a result, few graduates today have the cross-cutting or vertical skills required to act, in real time, from their workstation in accordance with the pyramid shape of the organization chart in order to create value.

This chapter presents the results of the interface established by a faculty member in the Accounting Department of the University of San Francisco with a “seasoned leader in the FinTech industry.” It proposes a single portal for employers and HRMs to which the continuing education services of professional training associations, executive education departments of colleges, and MBA schools and universities, can connect to issue the HCMA certificate supplementing their training offerings focused on “Leadership Development”.