Search results
1 – 10 of over 20000Ching‐Chow Yang, King Jang Yang and Lai‐Yu Cheng
The purpose of this paper is to establish an integrated model of a service‐delivery system, customer relationship management (CRM), and customer satisfaction evaluation. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to establish an integrated model of a service‐delivery system, customer relationship management (CRM), and customer satisfaction evaluation. The strategic objectives, such as the pursuit of key performances, the retention of customers, the provision of new services, can be realized through this integrated model. The paper then uses the “strategy map” of the balanced scorecard (BSC) to develop and deploy these strategies and the related objective performance indices.
Design/methodology/approach
The establishment of a conceptually integrated model based on the literature review, holistic thinking, and the researchers' consultant experience. The development of strategy map and the related performance indicators based on the integrated model.
Findings
The analysis presented by this paper shows that the perspectives of the BSC and the stages in CRM have good correspondence in the development of an integrated model.
Originality/value
The integrated model, strategy map, and related performance indicators' presented in this paper offer useful guidance for service organizations to having a holistic view of their operational systems.
Details
Keywords
Following serious case review, the Transforming Care agenda (DH, 2015) highlights the need for adults with learning disabilities, autism, mental health issues or behaviors that…
Abstract
Purpose
Following serious case review, the Transforming Care agenda (DH, 2015) highlights the need for adults with learning disabilities, autism, mental health issues or behaviors that challenge to be supported within communities rather than hospitals. Poor or absent leadership has been identified as contributing to serious cases of abuse in health-care settings [Department of Health (DH), 2012]. This paper aims to focus on identifying the elements required for good leadership and service delivery in community forensic services (CFS).
Design/methodology/approach
The perspectives of 12 support workers working in CFS were obtained through semi-structured interviews.
Findings
Thematic analysis identified two predominant themes, namely, authentic leadership and effective team practice. A culture of trust and learning occurs when teams are well led. This culture leads to consistent practice which benefits services users and reduces risk of poor practice. Analysis suggests a framework for service delivery which is complimented by aspects of the Total Attachment model.
Research limitations/implications
The data set was collected from the same organisation and views may have been aligned to existing organisational policy. However, the sample was taken across different teams and geographical locations to collate more generalised experiences of team dynamics. The lead researcher works for the organisation and this dual role may have affected the candour with which individuals shared information during interviews.
Practical implications
Using a model to understand the functional dynamics of teams within CFS may support leaders and practitioners to improve service delivery.
Social implications
Improving service delivery within CFS may increase opportunity to meet the Transforming Care Agenda.
Originality/value
This paper examines staff perspectives and the application of theoretical frameworks to propose a unique service delivery model for supported living within CFS.
Details
Keywords
Sabina De Rosis, Chiara Barchielli, Milena Vainieri and Nicola Bellé
User experience is key for measuring and improving the quality of services, especially in high personal and relation-intensive sectors, such as healthcare. However, evidence on…
Abstract
Purpose
User experience is key for measuring and improving the quality of services, especially in high personal and relation-intensive sectors, such as healthcare. However, evidence on whether and how the organizational model of healthcare service delivery can affect the patient experience is at an early stage. This study investigates the relationship between healthcare service provision models and patient experience by focusing on the nursing care delivery.
Design/methodology/approach
65 nurses' coordinators were involved to map the nursing models adopted in the healthcare organizations of in an Italian region, Tuscany. This dataset was merged with patient experience measures reported by 9,393 individuals discharged by the same organizations and collected through a Patient-Reported Experience Measures Observatory. The authors run a series of logistic regression models to test the relationships among variables.
Findings
Patients appreciate those characteristics of care delivery related to a specific professional nurse. Having someone who is in charge of the patient, both the reference nurse and the supervisor, makes a real difference. Purely organizational features, for instance those referring to the team working, do not significantly predict an excellent experience with healthcare services.
Research limitations/implications
Different features referring to different nursing models make the difference in producing an excellent user experience with the service.
Practical implications
These findings can support managers and practitioners in taking decisions on the service delivery models to adopt. Instead of applying monolithic pure models, mixing features of different models into a hybrid one seems more effective in meeting users' expectations.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies on the relationship between provision models of high-contact and relational-intensive services (the healthcare services) and users' experience. This research contributes to the literature on healthcare service management suggesting to acknowledge the importance of hybridization of features from different, purely theoretical service delivery models, in order to fit with providers' practice and users' expectations.
Highlights
This is one of the first studies on the relationship between provision models of nursing care and patient experience.
Healthcare services' users appreciate service delivery characteristics identified with “be cared by,” or in other words with having a reference nurse.
Nursing models' features that relate to the organizations and that providers tend to judge as professionalizing and evolutive, such as team working, appear not key in relation to patient experience.
Pure models of service delivery are theoretically useful, but hybrid models can better meet users' expectations.
This is one of the first studies on the relationship between provision models of nursing care and patient experience.
Healthcare services' users appreciate service delivery characteristics identified with “be cared by,” or in other words with having a reference nurse.
Nursing models' features that relate to the organizations and that providers tend to judge as professionalizing and evolutive, such as team working, appear not key in relation to patient experience.
Pure models of service delivery are theoretically useful, but hybrid models can better meet users' expectations.
Details
Keywords
Siti Uzairiah Mohd Tobi, Dilanthi Amaratunga and Nazali Mohd Noor
The paper seeks to build a theoretical argument on social enterprise applications in an urban facilities management (urban FM) setting, by exploring the concepts of urban FM and…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper seeks to build a theoretical argument on social enterprise applications in an urban facilities management (urban FM) setting, by exploring the concepts of urban FM and its underlying philosophy.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on an extensive literature review within and around the concept of urban FM and its relationship with social enterprise principles, forming a basis for further research in this area.
Findings
Urban FM could be used as a mechanism to develop the sustainable design and management of community facilities operations by taking social enterprise as an approach to seek a new service delivery model.
Research limitations/implications
There is limited literature relating to urban FM, and it is one of the new critical alignments in FM that is waiting to be explored further. However, within this new exploration of urban FM knowledge, the paper considers a sustainable way of managing community facilities, raising important social implications for the FM industry,
Originality/value
The paper argues that the concept of urban FM and social enterprise principles can be applied in their relationship towards managing community facilities in a sustainable way.
Details
Keywords
Ed Carson, Donna Chung and Andrew Day
The purpose of this paper is to assess the applicability of relational contract theory in situations where government departments contract with non‐government welfare…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the applicability of relational contract theory in situations where government departments contract with non‐government welfare organisations to deliver human service programmes. Its limits are highlighted by an assessment of programmes for domestically violent men that epitomise “management of incomplete contracts” central to the theory.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on an evaluation of contracted‐out programmes for perpetrators of domestic violence in Australia that set out to compare and contrast distinct models of service delivery by documenting programme logic, service delivery effectiveness and effects on programme participants. It reflects on the difficulties of monitoring such programmes and considers the implications of this for contracting theory and for human service practice.
Findings
In contrast to critiques of contracting‐out in a neo‐liberal environment that emphasise how accountability and reporting requirements limit the autonomy of contracted agencies, this paper highlights considerable variation in how programmes were managed and delivered despite standardised service delivery contracts developed by the government department funding the programmes. This leads to a consideration of “incomplete contracts” where service delivery outcomes are hard to measure or there is limited knowledge of the contracted agencies by the contracting government department.
Originality/value
The paper highlights a situation in which the recommendations of relational contracting theory can exacerbate the difficulties of quality assurance rather than minimise them. It then argues a need for workforce development in the government departments and the contracted agencies, to enable a nuanced monitoring of the programmes' service delivery and promotion of quality assurance processes.
Details
Keywords
This paper aims to present a meta‐model for electronic government (e‐government) which takes account of the broad nature of this contemporary socio‐technical phenomenon. As such…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present a meta‐model for electronic government (e‐government) which takes account of the broad nature of this contemporary socio‐technical phenomenon. As such it contains within it a number of possible “business models” for the development of e‐government – strategies for e‐government focused around key business processes and information systems.
Design/methodology/approach
This meta‐model is built from literature taken from the domains of informatics, business and public administration. It is also built on established academic, policy and practitioner literature from the domain of e‐government itself.
Findings
The paper demonstrates and validates the use of this meta‐model in three ways. First, it is used as an explanatory tool to help review the contemporary experience of e‐government in the UK. To help in this process we position specific case examples of e‐government against the model from this experience. Second, it is used to evaluate a number of existing models of e‐government, particularly those which provide an explicit framework of e‐government progress. A number of deficiencies in such models are identified from this evaluation. Third, the meta‐model is proposed as a framework for evaluating and potentially benchmarking e‐government. The intention is to raise the perspective of evaluation and benchmarking in this area beyond its contemporary focus on electronic service delivery.
Originality/value
To demonstrate the worth of this approach, the paper describes the application of elements of this meta‐model in two evaluation/benchmarking exercises undertaken by the author in the context of regional e‐government.
Details
Keywords
The paper aims to describe the application of two key service quality frameworks for improving the delivery of postgraduate research supervision. The services quality frameworks…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to describe the application of two key service quality frameworks for improving the delivery of postgraduate research supervision. The services quality frameworks are used to identify key areas of overlap between services marketing practice and postgraduate supervision that can be used by the supervisor to improve research supervision outcomes for the student.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is a conceptual and theoretical examination of the two streams of literature that proposes a supervision gap model based on the services gap literature, and the application of services delivery frameworks of co‐creation and service quality.
Findings
Services marketing literature can inform the process of designing and delivering postgraduate research supervision by clarifying student supervisor roles, setting parameters and using quality assurance frameworks for supervision delivery. The five services quality indicators can be used to examine overlooked areas of supervision delivery, and the co‐creation approach of services marketing can be used to empower student design and engaged in the quality of the supervision experience.
Research limitations/implications
As a conceptual paper based on developing a theoretical structure for applying services marketing theory into the research supervision context, the paper is limited to suggesting potential applications. Further research studies will be necessary to test the field implementation of the approach.
Practical implications
The practical implications of the paper include implementation suggestions for applying the supervisor gaps for assessing areas of potential breakdown in the supervision arrangement.
Originality/value
The paper draws on two diverse areas of theoretical work to integrate the experience, knowledge and frameworks of commercial services marketing into the postgraduate research supervision literature.
Details
Keywords
In many ways the state of affairs for students, service delivery personnel, and researchers in the field of college students with learning disabilities (LD) has remained largely…
Abstract
In many ways the state of affairs for students, service delivery personnel, and researchers in the field of college students with learning disabilities (LD) has remained largely unchanged over the past 25 years. Many of the same barriers to student success that we have seen over the past three decades remain today. In this chapter, I review issues related to success for college students with LD, explore current service delivery models, and discuss potential areas of future research that could lead to improved outcomes for college students with LD. Additionally, I explore the possible need to reconceptualize service delivery models on college campuses.
Roberta Julian, Isabelle Bartkowiak-Théron, Jackie Hallam and Clarissa Hughes
The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential benefits as well as some of the practical barriers to the implementation of a collective impact initiative in law enforcement…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential benefits as well as some of the practical barriers to the implementation of a collective impact initiative in law enforcement and public health (LEPH) in Tasmania, Australia.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on a review of programs, agencies and initiatives that are at the intersection of LEPH in Tasmania, through an analysis of the findings in evaluation reports, and the views of practitioners identified at a workshop on LEPH held at a national AOD conference and facilitated by the authors.
Findings
The strengths of collective impact initiatives, particularly in LEPH, are presented and some weaknesses identified. Some major obstacles to the consolidation of LEPH initiatives include siloed ways of working and budgets, lack of leadership and political will. Some progress has been made in addressing these weaknesses, although addressing complex social problems by moving beyond inter-agency collaboration toward an integrated model of service provision remains challenging.
Practical implications
The authors argue that there are practical benefits to the adoption of a collective impact model to address problems in Tasmania that lie at the nexus between LEPH. In reviewing existing collaborations, the authors demonstrate the value of a structural mapping process to identify ways forward for government and non-government agencies that are inclined to go further in merging the two disciplinary areas. The authors offer some suggestions with respect to identifying the preconditions for a collective impact model and how to build on these to initiate action.
Originality/value
A significant proportion of the literature on LEPH remains at a conceptual and theoretical level. This contribution highlights some practical issues while looking at existing examples of collaboration across LEPH at a state level in Australia, and starts mapping a way forward for constructing more integrative LEPH initiatives.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to assess the channels of education financing as they exist currently in Iraq. It argues that the current model of financing is highly centralized and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the channels of education financing as they exist currently in Iraq. It argues that the current model of financing is highly centralized and in order to encourage a school-based management and better school outcomes, there needs to be decentralization of financing. The paper considers block grants as a mechanism for decentralization and explores other country experiences in this area.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper opts for both an analytical and exploratory study of the financing channels in the education sector in Iraq based on both primary field-based surveys and secondary sources of information such as World Bank and UN documents. For understanding other country experience of school block grant provision, the paper reviews literature and attempts to find learnings for Iraq.
Findings
The paper provides a detailed insight into the service delivery modal and channels of education financing in Iraq across multiple tiers. It argues that the centralized model of education financing is one of the factors that contribute to weak school governance and school performance indicators. It explores the idea of school block grants as a model of decentralized financing and a review of other country experiences on provision of school block grants gives some interesting insights into what might work for Iraq.
Research limitations/implications
Economic wars, sanctions and conflict have severely affected the country and as a consequence there are very limited data and information available and this has impacted the study. Furthermore, though the country has been liberated from ISIS, the peace is fragile and any research findings have to be seen in this background.
Practical implications
The paper does not stop at identifying the problem, i.e. centralization of financing but attempts to explore and provide a way to get around this in the form of provision of school block grants.
Originality/value
There are very few studies that explore the service delivery model and financing channels in the education sector in Iraq and therefore this paper should add value to any discussion on post-conflict reconstruction.
Details