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Healthcare service quality in the USA has gained importance under value-based payment models. Providing feedback to front-line staff is a vital component of managing service performance, but complex organizational dynamics can prevent effective communication. This work explored the performance management of appointment desk staff at Mayo Clinic Arizona, identified barriers to effective management and sought to standardize the process for monitoring service performance.

Multiple data sources, including qualitative inquiry with 31 employees from the primary care and surgery departments, were used. The research was conducted in two phases – facilitated roundtable discussions with supervisors and semi-structured interviews with supervisors and staff six months after implementation of service standards. Participants were probed for attitudes about the service standards and supervisor feedback after implementation.

While all staff indicated a positive work environment, there was an unexpected and pervasive negative stigma surrounding individual feedback from one’s supervisor. Half the participants indicated there had been no individual feedback regarding the service standards from the supervisor. Presenting service standards in a simple, one-page format, signed by both supervisor and the patient service representative (PSR), was well received.

Combining rapid-cycle quality improvement methodology with qualitative inquiry allowed efficient development of role-specific service standards and quick evaluation of their implementation. This unique approach for improving healthcare service quality and identifying barriers to providing individual feedback may be useful to organizations navigating a more value- and consumer-driven healthcare market.

The term “competency” has not been clearly defined in the literature. Two main meanings of the term have been identified, one referring to the outputs, or results of training – that is, competent performance. The other definition referring to the inputs, or underlying attributes, required of a person to achieve competent performance. Each definition has been used to describe both individual and organisational competencies. A typology of the meanings of competency has been developed to show that the term has several meanings depending on the purpose for which it is used. The implications developed in this paper are directed toward reducing the confusion over the meaning of the term competency.

Introduces a new guarantee type termed “combined guarantee”, which combines the wide scope of the full satisfaction guarantee with the specific performance standards of the attribute‐specific guarantee. Should the consumer be dissatisfied with any element of the service, the full satisfaction coverage of the combined guarantee applies. Specific performance standards are added to communicate minimum performance levels covered by the guarantee, which reduce customer uncertainty about the intended scope of the guarantee. Proposes that such combined guarantees would be superior to the pure designs, as they combine the wide scope of full satisfaction guarantees with the low uncertainty of attribute‐specific guarantees. Two experimental studies were conducted to examine consumers’ perceptions of the alternative guarantee designs. The findings show that the combined guarantee outperformed all other designs and, therefore, demonstrate that firms can design better guarantees than merely promising full satisfaction.

Reports findings from a survey designed to measure the consistency and congruity of HR performance evaluation systems with quality management precepts in UK‐based quality‐focused organisations. Twelve a priori features of HR performance evaluation were used to measure HR performance evaluation systems. Since a fundamental reason for the purported incompatibility between TQM and HR performance evaluation is the assertion that most variance in performance is caused by system factors, and due to indications from various sources that HR performance evaluation focuses managerial attention on person factors rather than on system factors, the survey was also developed with the intention of discovering the extent to which these system criteria are used for measuring employee performance. The findings confirm that most HR performance evaluation systems fail to meet quality management expectations and contradict TQM assumptions about individual and system performance.

This paper describes the implementation of performance-based program budgeting in the state of Florida. Obstacles to implementing this budget reform, such as multiple agency program structures, lack of program cost accounting information, and problems in performance measurement and goal setting are described. Recent attempts to overcome these issues and overall conclusions on the future of the budget reform are provided.

Integrated design is a strategy to develop sustainable architecture projects incorporating multidisciplinary work and environmental performance assessments, which has provided significant advancement to public buildings in developed countries. This paper presents a review of some aspects of integrated design for the planning and construction of energy efficient housing in the south of Chile, as part of the reconstruction process following the earthquake on 27th February 2010. Firstly, a synthesis is made of the characteristics, implicit conditions, participants, steps, resources and expected results of an integrated design approach according to existing references. This is then contrasted with normal housing design practice in Chile according to current building regulations and interviews with professionals in the field. The design processes of experimental houses and housing projects that place specific focus on energy performance are then analysed, with follow-ups and interviews to review significant aspects. After examining those experiences, the authors identify some particular features and resources of integrated design that promote environmental improvements.

A key challenge for cost-effective Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) is the ability to create generalizable domain, learner, and pedagogical models so they can be re-used many times over. Investment in this technology will be needed to succeed in developing ITSs for team training. The purpose of this chapter is to propose an instructional framework for guiding team ITS researchers in their development of these models for reuse. We establish a foundation for the framework with three propositions. First, we propose that understanding how teams develop is needed to establish a science-based foundation for modeling. Toward this end, we conduct a detailed exploration of the Kozlowski, Watola, Jensen, Kim, and Botero (2009) theory of team development and leadership, and describe a use case example to demonstrate how team training was developed for a specific stage in their model. Next, we propose that understanding measures of learning and performance will inform learner modeling requirements for each stage of team development. We describe measures developed for the use case and how they were used to understand teamwork skill development. We then discuss effective team training strategies and explain how they were implemented in the use case to understand their implications for pedagogical modeling. From this exploration, we describe a generic instructional framework recommending effective training strategies for each stage of team development. To inform the development of reusable models, we recommend selecting different team task domains and varying team size to begin researching commonalities and differences in the instructional framework.

With the implementation of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education since April 2010, the responsibility and role of the teachers in Indian school has been changed. Once again, the teacher quality in Indian schools has taken a center stage in nation-wide debate. The discussion on teacher quality has reappeared in submitted report as Draft National Education Policy (DNEP) on May 31, 2019, that gets endorsement in cabinet approved NEP 2020. The evaluation, as a process and system, starts with the very moment when a teacher assumes its duties in K-12 schools. This chapter addresses the main research questions as: what is the status of teacher evaluation in Indian schools as mentioned in various Commission reports, policies, and draft regulations? How does teacher evaluation could be reframed for local setting based on global standards laid in international and multinational context? This chapter employs qualitative research through review of policies, draft regulations, research, articles, and government documents as data analysis and frames hypotheses through comparative analysis. The objectives of this chapter are to frame hypotheses regarding policies and recommendations for: teacher quality; teacher appraisal process; teacher appraisal in local, regional, and national settings; and teacher appraisal in multinational context.

Describes a methodology, called CUTE, after the ESPRIT‐project CUTE (Continuous Improvement using Information Technology towards Excellence) which was aimed at the development of a software‐aided tool to support companies, in particular small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) with the development of a sustained CI process. CUTE is based on a variety of hitherto mostly separate disciplines, in particular organisation design, operations management, innovation management and information technology. The methodology guides the user through a number of steps in which causes of poor performance are revealed, ways to develop improvement suggestions are generated, and the company’s capabilities to further develop and implement those suggestions are assessed. Through the ongoing development, implementation and evaluation of improvements both the company’s performance and its CI capabilities are improved continuously. A first test of the methodology has shown that CUTE helps users to increase their understanding of their operations and performance, and that the methodology provides a stimulus for starting focused improvement activities.

Seeks to summarize the findings of research undertaken by the Shell Group to better understand the business relevance, parameters, status and tools and approaches to manage social performance.

The paper is based on four detailed case studies that combined qualitative and quantitative research methodologies and included distinct operational, business and socio‐economic contexts. The paper seeks to build theory around the concept of social performance.

Key findings include that: there exists a strong business case for social performance; good social performance is fundamentally concerned with the identification and management of core business impacts; social issues can be identified and managed in a systematic manner; and The Shell Group is developing and implementing a range of tools and approaches to assist effective management of social issues.

The research is based on a limited number of cases from within Shell; further validation of findings could be achieved through similar research in other industrial sectors.

Research has highlighted the business case for social performance, key “ingredients” of social performance and provides a specific framework and tools for more effective management of social issues.

First time such research has been undertaken within the Shell Group and perhaps similar companies. Paper should be of potential interest value to practitioners (e.g. social performance and CSR managers), academics, policy makers and non‐governmental organizations.