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As customer expectations expand and as product offerings hardly differ from each other, service excellence has gained in importance as a means of enhancing customer loyalty. The aim of this paper is to focus on expanding and extending what companies can do to achieve service excellence by comparing and evaluating three popular approaches to excellence.

The authors compare three of the most commonly used excellence models, Johnston's conceptualisation of service excellence, the EFQM Model as a representative of national quality award models and the Kano model, and their respective applicability and specific perspective on service excellence. The evaluation is based on theoretical arguments, criteria and on a qualitative expert study.

Combining the selected models provides a comprehensive approach to service excellence. Since all models are compatible and complementary with each other, the analysis provides an enhanced understanding of service excellence and also explains in which context it is most feasible to apply any of the respective approaches. Furthermore, the requirement for a genuine service excellence model becomes evident.

By focusing on three specific excellence models, others such as the Canadian Quality Award and the Australian Quality Award are not considered. Furthermore, a study across industries could reveal how service excellence is achieved in each industry to then transfer this knowledge into other sectors.

By comparing the selected models, benefits of merging the individual approaches are identified. The resulting combined perspectives offered by the individual models present a more detailed insight into what management can undertake to ensure service excellence.

As no prior research has examined the relationship between the selected excellence models and their implications for providing service excellence, this present research offers an innovative approach and thus yields new insights into the conceptualisation of service excellence.

This empirical study aims to explore how actors in specific human resource practices (HRPs) such as line managers (LMs) impact employee productivity measures in the context of financial institutions (FI) banks.

This cross-country study adopted a qualitative methodology. It employed semi-structured interviews to collect data from purposefully selected 12 business facing directors (BFDs) working in the top 10 banks in Nigeria and the UK. The data collected were analysed with the help of the trans-positional cognition approach (TPCA) phenomenological method.

The findings of a TPCA analytical process imply that in the UK and Nigeria’s FIs, the BFDs line managers’ human resources practices (LMHRPs) resulted in a highly regulated workplace, knowledge gap, service operations challenges and subjective quantitatively driven key performance indicators, considered service productivity paradoxical elements. Although the practices in the UK and Nigerian FIs had similar labels, their aggregates were underpinned by different contextual issues.

To support LMs in better understanding and managing FIs BFDs productivity measures and outcomes, we propose the Managerial Employee Productivity Operational Definition framework as part of their toolkit. This study will be helpful for banking sectors, their regulators, policymakers, other FIs’ industry stakeholders and future researchers in the field.

Within the context of the UK and Nigeria’s FIs, this study is the first attempt to understand how LMHRPs impact BFDs productivity in this manner. It confirms that LMHRPs result in service productivity paradoxical elements with perceived or lost productivity implications.

Diabetes is one of the major healthcare challenges in India. The chronic nature of the disease makes the lifetime cost of the treatment exorbitantly high. The medicine cost contributes a major size of expense in diabetes management. To make healthcare available to poorest of the poor, it is imperative to control the rising cost of diabetes treatment. The earlier research works done in this area focuses more on inventory management techniques to control the cost of healthcare. Less interest is shown in the role of better supply chain partnership (SCP) in reducing the cost of procurement of medicine. The purpose of this paper is to develop and use the SCP assessment framework for a diabetes clinic. The approach is generalized enough to be adopted for other similar organization.

This paper adopts self-assessment criteria of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) business excellence model for analysis of SCP in the supply chain of a private diabetes clinic in Varanasi. The paper uses analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method for calculation of weights of criteria.

The EFQM-based framework can be adopted as easy-to-use tool to make an objective assessment of the SCP. The proposed model in the study is a balanced model between enablers and results, which includes multiple assessment dimensions. The supply chain performance score of the diabetes clinic under study was found as the Tool Pusher, which means the effort in direction of SCP is not too good. The organization needs to clearly define the SCP goal and analyze the results to identify the gap areas.

The study is first of its kind and contributes to the literature by providing non-prescriptive and easy-to-use SCP assessment framework, for chronic disease care. The case study approach provides a procedure for the healthcare organization willing to adopt this approach.

The purpose of this paper is to outline the anatomy of firms which adopt comprehensive performance measurement (PM) systems in order to gain an understanding of how internal (organisational capabilities) and external (perceived environmental uncertainties) factors shape performance measurement practices.

This paper hypothesises that firms dominated by organic capabilities and operating in unpredictable markets are more likely to adopt comprehensive PM systems. The statistical test of these hypotheses is based on a 2008 survey of 299 Danish firms.

This paper concludes that a limited number of internal and external factors have a significant influence on the adoption of PM systems. There is no consistent pattern, however, between the different sub‐categories of organisational capabilities/perceived environmental uncertainties and PM adoption.

Much has been said about how changes in the environment and business structure require firms to develop new ways to measure performance. Less has been done to study whether firms adopting comprehensive PM systems actually match the characteristics of the “new economy”. The findings from this study indicate that the relationship between PM adoption and the organisational characteristics/external environment is more complicated than anticipated.

The purpose of this paper is to present a holistic approach regarding evaluation of knowledge management (KM) practices on organizational performance. The effects of seven critical success factors (CSFs), namely leadership role, organizational culture, KM strategy, processes and activities, training and education, information technology, and motivation and rewarding system, on organizational performance in the framework of four perspectives of balance scored card (BSC) approach were surveyed.

The research hypotheses were raised based on the four perspectives of this approach, namely, growth and learning, internal processes, customer and financial. By literature review, CSFs of KM and organizational performance along with their items were identified in the framework of BSC’s perspectives. Based on these constructs and their items an instrument was designed and distributed among managers and employees of the subsidiary firms of Iran National Petrochemical Company (INPC). Reliability of the instrument was calculated by Chronbach’s α for the two sections of the instrument i.e. KM practices and organizational performance. Also, using factor analysis the construct validity of the questionnaire was approved. Finally, based on the hypotheses of the study and using structural equation modeling the impacts of KM practices on organizational performance were investigated.

The results revealed that KM practices positively and meaningfully (though weak) impact overall organizational performance. This impact is significant only regarding growth and learning dimension and on the other dimensions is insignificant. Also, as customer and financial constructs were loaded on one factor based on the entity of their indicators we considered these two constructs as stakeholders construct. In addition, among the above mentioned seven CSFs, motivation and rewarding system obtained the lowest rank among the survey organizations.

The sample is restricted to only three companies, so gathering data from various parts of Iran including both manufacturing and service industries could increase the generalizability of the results obtained. Also, as in this study the data gathered were cross-sectional, a longitudinal study could help gain deeper understanding of the cause-and-effect relationship among the variables.

The most significant gap in the literature is the lack of enough application of statistical and comprehensive methods like BSC that KM makes a difference to organizational performance. This study contributes to the field of KM by empirically investigating the impact of KM practices on various measures of organizational performance in order to prove the suitability of a comprehensive approach like BSC.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an integrated conceptual framework of total quality management and corporate social responsibility.

This study is based on stakeholder theory, which stresses the satisfaction of all stakeholders. Therefore, companies generate profit for their shareholders by producing high quality products and services to emphasize human dignity and to satisfy their employees without harming people and the natural environment.

The results of the study suggest an integrated conceptual framework by identifying the critical factors that are parallel between quality management and social responsibility to satisfy key stakeholders’ demands.

This study is conceptual in nature, and empirical research is needed to identify the critical factors that promote the application of TQM and CSR practices, which are limited.

The proposed conceptual framework may facilitate the management of an organization to evaluate its quality and social programs and will highlight problem areas that can be improved. This study contributes to the literature on TQM and CSR and captures the important factors for effective TQM and CSR practices. The conceptual framework will help researchers and firms to recognize TQM and CSR initiatives and establish a strengthened relationship between corporate strategy and social conditions.

Previous studies have been conducted separately in the areas of TQM and CSR, and there are still not sufficient number of studies to simultaneously integrate quality management and social responsibility. Thus, there is a critical research gap, which raises the question of how the integration of TQM and CSR practices can be developed. There is a need to recognize the mechanism through which the specific element of CSR would be included as an implicit and/or explicit aspect or whether it should be addressed along with TQM. Therefore, this study proposes an integrated conceptual framework that can be applied to the broader issues of responsibility rather than just quality.

The decision-making styles and strategies of organisations play significant roles in their competitive advantage and the achievement of superior performance. The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of decision-making styles on the strength of the relationship between competitive strategy and organisational performance among large construction organisations based in South Africa.

The study focuses on large construction organisations in South Africa using a questionnaire survey to elicit information. The sample consists of 72 large construction organisations, and the measures of decision-making styles, competitive strategies and organisational performance used for the instrument utilised to elicit information were derived from the literature. Descriptive, parametric and multiple regression analyses were used to determine the effect of decision-making styles and competitive strategies on the organisations’ performance.

The results of the study show that organisations utilize all types of decision-making styles, but the most significantly adopted styles are analytical and directive. The study found that decision-making styles influence organisational performance through competitive strategies.

The research considered large construction organisations based in South Africa and operating in three provinces, where almost 75 per cent of all public projects are being implemented. The findings can be generalised to other large construction organisations functioning within the South African industry, because most of the organisations surveyed operate nationally. However, the findings may not be generalizable to the entire industry. Small and medium-sized organisations vary in terms of structure in relation to large organisations; hence, their decision-making styles may be different.

The study makes explicit the need to consider the role of different decision-making styles being practiced within organisations and how their moderating effect influences organisational performance beyond rational processes. A better understanding of this will enable organisations to achieve the total commitment of their staff to achieve superior performance.

The study contributes to the existing literature and body of knowledge on the strategic management of organisations. It underpins the assertion that decision-making styles and competitive strategies can influence organisational performance, and this is validated within the construction industry. Knowledge of the relationships between the variables measured in this paper will be beneficial to both owners and managers of construction organisations, because they provide the necessary information on how strategic decision-making styles influence the strategy adopted and, in turn, the organisational performance.

There is an old adage that has some resonance with “the TQM journey”: a traveller asked for directions to their destination and got the reply, “Well, if I were you I would not start from here”. The purpose of this paper is to examine the preparedness of a case study organisation in relation to the selective critical success factors (leadership approach and continuous improvement) that are widely acknowledged as being crucial for the successful implementation of total quality management (TQM) regardless of the type of organisation. The case study is a not‐for‐profit organisation in Saudi Arabia, although the findings would assist any organisation in its TQM journey.

A conceptual framework was derived from the literature review. A survey was developed and distributed to a sample population in the organisation. Follow‐up interviews were carried out with key management staff.

It was found that the selected TQM pre‐requisites and the current state within the organisation are not aligned. Recommendations are made to address these shortcomings.

Future research could examine the influence of national culture and religion in adopting TQM practices in Arab countries.

Much has been written about TQM in the academic literature. The paper investigates how that theory stands up in the workplace.

The paper adds to the body of knowledge about organisations in Saudi Arabia and their efforts to adopt modern business approaches and TQM in particular. Quality professionals and researchers alike will gain insights into some of the obstacles to the successful implementation of TQM.

This paper aims to propose a new framework to define relevant and meaningful indicators for monitoring and assessing environmental performance to improve health-care systems and operations.

A comprehensive literature review followed by field studies conducted with ten hospitals in the southern region of Brazil underlined the scarcity of consistent frameworks applied in practice to measure, monitor and improve environmental performance. A new framework was developed and proposed to address this issue. The proposed framework is operationalized through a “process approach” and evaluated in terms of feasibility (Can the process be followed?), usability (Is the approach easily followed?) and utility (Are the results useful for managers?).

The paper proposes a framework and a process to evaluate the environmental performance in hospitals.

The proposed framework represents meaningful guidance to managers for strategy formalization, goal setting and environmental performance assessment and monitoring.

The paper proposes a systematic framework for measuring environmental performance in hospitals drawn from the literature review, current legislation and best practices reported in literature.

Facilities management (FM) plays a vital role toward creating the hospitable environment that supports the core clinical business of rendering quality health care. To ensure optimal performance of FM, public hospitals require a performance measurement (PM) framework that could guide and assist facilities managers in their operations. This paper aims to respond to this need by developing a performance measurement framework useful to improve FM performance within the context of developing countries hospital FM services delivery.

The paper synthesizes knowledge from a comprehensive review of FM performance measurement literature and the results of an earlier PhD research on FM performance measurement in Ghana’s public hospitals.

The paper presents a simplified performance measurement framework which demonstrates four key performance measurement tasks: establishing performance goals; measuring the FM service delivery; evaluating FM outcomes; and performance review and reporting. The study suggests the establishment of a central coordination point to enhance performance measurement activities of public hospitals’ FM practices.

Although reference is made to research on key performance indicators (KPIs), future study is recommended to develop appropriate methodology for selecting relevant KPIs. The author also intends to pilot the framework to a health facility in Ghana to leverage its usefulness, given the fact that it has not been tested empirically.

The application of the framework is expected to lead to the identification of performance gaps and weakness which when acted upon could lead to operational effectiveness and efficiency of the FM process, ultimately leading to improved FM performance.

The paper develops a novel performance measurement framework useful within the context of the nascent FM industry in the developing world.