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Article
Publication date: 5 October 2021

G. Rejikumar, Asokan-Ajitha Aswathy, Ajay Jose and Mathew Sonia

Innovative restaurant service designs impart food wellbeing to diners. This research comprehends customer aspirations and concerns in a restaurant-dining experience to develop a…

1172

Abstract

Purpose

Innovative restaurant service designs impart food wellbeing to diners. This research comprehends customer aspirations and concerns in a restaurant-dining experience to develop a service design that enhances the dining experience using the design thinking approach and evaluates its efficiency using the Taguchi method of robust design.

Design/methodology/approach

The sequential incidence technique defines diners' needs, which, followed by brainstorming sessions, helped create multiple service designs with important attributes. Prototype narration, as a scenario, acted as the stimulus for evaluators to respond to the WHO-5 wellbeing index scale. Scenario-based Taguchi experiment with nine foodservice attributes in two levels and the wellbeing score as the response variable helped identify levels of critical factors that develop better FWB.

Findings

The study identified the best combination of factors and their preferred levels to maximize FWB in a restaurant. Food serving hygiene, followed by information about cuisine specification, and food movement in the restaurant, were important to FWB. The experiment revealed that hygiene perceptions are critical to FWB, and service designs have a significant role in it. Consumers prefer detailed information about the ingredients and recipe of the food they eat; being confident that there will be no unacceptable ingredients added to the food inspires their FWB.

Research limitations/implications

Theoretically, this study contributes to the growing body of literature on design thinking and transformative service research, especially in the food industry.

Practical implications

This paper details a simple method to identify and evaluate important factors that optimize FWB in a restaurant. The proposed methodology will help service designers and technology experts devise settings that consider customer priorities and contribute to their experience.

Originality/value

This study helps to understand the application of design thinking and the Taguchi approach for creating robust service designs that optimize FWB.

Details

Journal of Service Theory and Practice, vol. 32 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2055-6225

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 1979

In years past, when life seemed simpler and the Law much less complicated, jurists were fond of quoting the age‐old saying: “All men are equal before the Law.” It was never…

Abstract

In years past, when life seemed simpler and the Law much less complicated, jurists were fond of quoting the age‐old saying: “All men are equal before the Law.” It was never completely true; there were important exemptions when strict legal enforcement would have been against the public interests. A classic example was Crown immunity, evolved from the historical principle that “The King can do no wrong”. With the growth of government, the multiplicity of government agencies and the enormous amount of secondary legislation, the statutes being merely enabling Acts, this immunity revealed itself as being used largely against public interests. Statutory instruments were being drafted within Ministerial departments largely by as many as 300 officers of those departments authorized to sign such measures, affecting the rights of the people without any real Parliamentary control. Those who suffered and lost in their enforcement had no remedy; Crown immunity protected all those acting as servants of the Crown and the principle came to be an officials' charter with no connection whatever with the Crown. Parliament, custodian of the national conscience, removed much of this socially unacceptable privilege in the Crown Proceedings Act, 1947, which enabled injured parties within limit to sue central departments and their officers. The more recent system of Commissioners—Parliamentary, Local Authority, Health Service—with power to enquire into allegations of injustice, maladministration, malpractice to individuals extra‐legally, has extended the rights of the suffering citizen.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 81 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Article
Publication date: 1 August 2003

L'ubica Sobotová, Tanˇa Nosková, Janka Voleková and L'ubica Ághová

A hospital represents a special environment, serving health care to patients, and as a work environment for medical and other staff. The problems of the hospital environment, its…

Abstract

A hospital represents a special environment, serving health care to patients, and as a work environment for medical and other staff. The problems of the hospital environment, its risks and the prevention of nosocomial infections have become an important topic in activities concerning the environmental education of medical students at the Institute of Hygiene, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovak Republic. Educational objectives were different, regarding knowledge, behaviour, attitude and social action. The hygienic level of the hospital ward was observed by students themselves, including microclimate assessment and evaluations. Microbial contamination and acoustic well‐being of the indoor air in a hospital ward were also assessed. Results from environmental investigations performed in several hospitals have shown improvement of microbial contamination in internal, surgical and neurological departments. We believe that if educational objectives targeted at the beginning of practical sessions are fulfilled then medical students will think and behave more pro‐environmentally.

Details

Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, vol. 14 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-7835

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 January 2007

Satu Salo and Gun Wirtanen

The purpose of these studies was to investigate the cleaning and hygiene of plastic cheese moulds and plastic transportation crates and to assess the suitability of…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of these studies was to investigate the cleaning and hygiene of plastic cheese moulds and plastic transportation crates and to assess the suitability of ultrasonication for cleaning these dairy devices on a pilot scale and to optimise these cleaning procedures.

Design/methodology/approach

The contamination load in the various process lines was monitored by use of chemical methods, i.e. EDTA titration and COD measurement for organic residues and various microbiological techniques for microbial contaminants. Ultrasonication cleaning procedures for cheese moulds were planned among parameters applicable to the process environment. The Taguchi method design of experiments was also used for the cleaning of milk transportation crates.

Findings

Ultrasonication was found to be a suitable cleaning method for both cheese moulds and transportation crates. Acceptable cleaning results were achieved using short cleaning procedures with a temperature under 60°C. Various types of cleaning agents can be used together with ultrasonication and the plastic materials in the utensils tolerated ultrasonication. The quality and the efficacy of the cleaning liquid used in the ultrasonic bath in the dairy plant were rapidly diluted due to the accumulation of organic soil. To ensure the effectiveness of cleaning, the quality of cleaning liquid should be measured frequently and threshold limits for changing the cleaning liquid should be set. The COD measurement proved to be practical for monitoring the organic load of the cleaning liquid and traditional culturing, as well as commercial culturing applications, e.g. Petrifilm™ AC and DryCult® TPC can easily be used for monitoring the level of microbial contamination.

Research limitations/implications

No major limitations, apart from the required investments, were found for applying the ultrasonication in the cleaning of dairy devices, e.g. plastic cheese moulds and plastic milk transportation crates.

Originality/value

The work is of value in highlighting the potential use for ultrasonication in improving the cleaning procedure of returnable milk transportation crates made of plastic.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 109 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 July 2012

Anja Gerhardts, Helmut Mucha and Dirk Höfer

Disinfecting laundry processes are essential to avoid contamination of laundering machines and linen during commercial laundry reprocessing in the health care sector. Recently a…

309

Abstract

Purpose

Disinfecting laundry processes are essential to avoid contamination of laundering machines and linen during commercial laundry reprocessing in the health care sector. Recently a bacteriophage‐charged bioindicator has been developed using MS2 as surrogate virus for testing of low‐temperature disinfecting laundry processing on efficacy against viruses related to practice. This paper therefore aims to investigate application of MS2‐bioindicators in chemothermal processes under practical conditions (phase 2/step 2) and in practice (phase 3).

Design/methodology/approach

The experimental design was developed and modified according to the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology (DGHM) Standard Methods for Testing Chemical Disinfection Processes. Tests under practical conditions were performed at 60°C and 70°C. Additional tests in tunnel washers were carried out at 60°C and 70°C. In all experiments validated disinfecting laundry processes, recommended for bactericidal and virucidal performance (categories A and B), were applied.

Findings

The results show a temperature‐dependent gradual efficacy against the test virus MS2 up to reduction values of more than 8 log10‐steps. Therefore MS2‐bioindicators prove to be suitable as a tool to determine the performance of disinfection procedures against viruses in practice.

Originality/value

Phage‐charged bioindicators may be a tool to provide further insights into the reliability of antiviral laundry processes for health care quality management and for infection control.

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1996

Uri Miller

The Sport Database is one of the most deservedly popular information tools in the field of physical activity and sport. One reason for its popularity is that the documents…

1448

Abstract

The Sport Database is one of the most deservedly popular information tools in the field of physical activity and sport. One reason for its popularity is that the documents contained in it are received from throughout the world. But, as often happens, our deficiencies are the consequence of our merits. Precisely this wide geographical scope and the database's constant growth, combined with the isolation of indexers and the weak coordination of their work, can make problems for the database's constructors as well as users. Under such circumstances the quality of its main indexing and searching instrument — the Sport Thesaurus — acquires great significance. It must be noted that this tool exists both in printed form (Sport Thesaurus 1994 Edition) and on optical disc (Sport Discus 1975‐June 1995), and the differences between these two versions of the same thing are often substantial. One would like to hope that their constant improvement is the main reason for this situation, but some examples make one doubt it. From now on the printed version will be called ‘edition’ and the CDROM version ‘disc’. The insertion of the huge database SIRLS into the Sport Database, which took place some time ago without changing the database's specific indexing, was taken into account in all calculations. In this paper I want not only to analyse some basic deficiencies of this thesaurus and to trace their manifestations in the database, but to propose some ways it could be improved. I hope that they will be helpful for the users of the Sport Database as well as other databases on optical discs.

Details

Online and CD-Rom Review, vol. 20 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1353-2642

Article
Publication date: 30 May 2023

Hung M. Nguyen and Pascal Dey

That social franchising programs induce favorable outcomes is readily taken for granted, albeit lacking robust empirical support. Addressing this situation, this paper takes a…

Abstract

Purpose

That social franchising programs induce favorable outcomes is readily taken for granted, albeit lacking robust empirical support. Addressing this situation, this paper takes a closer look at a fractional social franchising program in the public health-care sector in Vietnam to better understand how such programs work. This paper aims to expand the nascent body of empirical research that has examined the inner workings of social franchising programs from the perspective of clients by focusing on the health professionals who work there.

Design/methodology/approach

Using an exploratory qualitative research design, the authors conducted 25 semistructured interviews with health professionals of a fractional franchising program called Sisterhood, which introduced reproductive health and family planning services into existing health facilities in Vietnam. Interviews were triangulated with Sisterhood’s internal documents as well as with publicly available reports.

Findings

The analysis highlights two pathways through which the social franchising program brought about positive change. On the one hand, the analysis suggests that many of the positive outcomes reported by public health professionals were consistent with the stated goals and measures used by the Sisterhood program, providing evidence that improving the quality of health care for disadvantaged communities can be achieved through careful design and execution. On the other hand, the analysis revealed beneficial outcomes that were outside the scope of the Sisterhood program and, in this sense, “unexpected.” Specifically, the paper sheds light on unintended knowledge spillover effects in which nonfranchised health professionals began to adopt new practices and principles introduced by the social franchising program.

Originality/value

The paper taps into a largely under-researched phenomenon – fractional social franchising – from the perspective of health professionals. Unpacking how the social franchising program created favorable outcomes, some by design and others by accident, the paper opens new empirical and policy insights into how social franchising can improve public health in hard-to-reach communities in the global South. Based on the findings, the authors argue for the intentional promotion and institutionalization of knowledge transfers from franchised to nonfranchised health facilities to reinforce and scale up the positive impact of social franchising. The authors conclude by emphasizing the need for future research to adopt a complexity-sensitive approach that accounts for the dynamic, nonlinear adoption pathways social franchising can take. Such an approach is essential to uncover the beneficial outcomes that can result from social franchising programs but cannot be readily predicted by program design.

Details

Social Enterprise Journal, vol. 19 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-8614

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 2008

K.M. Kassak, A. Mohammad Ali, Mitra Tauk and A.M. Abdallah

Many developing countries have at some point in their quest for health reform considered decentralization as a strategy. A search of Lebanese health policy texts revealed a call…

Abstract

Many developing countries have at some point in their quest for health reform considered decentralization as a strategy. A search of Lebanese health policy texts revealed a call for some form of decentralization in the mid eighties through Decree 159. This paper highlights the experience of health centers in Lebanon and discusses the importance of implementing an incremental decentralization of the system by highlighting the importance of ensuring political commitment as well as building the capacity of administrative and clinical staff as prerequisites for the implementation of a fully decentralized system.

Details

Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, vol. 20 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1096-3367

Article
Publication date: 1 March 2007

K.M. Kassak, A. Mohammad Ali, Mitra Tauk and A.M. Abdallah

Many developing countries have at some point in their quest for health reform considered decentralization as a strategy. A search of Lebanese health policy texts revealed a call…

Abstract

Many developing countries have at some point in their quest for health reform considered decentralization as a strategy. A search of Lebanese health policy texts revealed a call for some form of decentralization in the mid eighties through Decree 159. This paper highlights the experience of health centers in Lebanon and discusses the importance of implementing an incremental decentralization of the system by highlighting the importance of ensuring political commitment as well as building the capacity of administrative and clinical staff as prerequisites for the implementation of a fully decentralized system.

Details

Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, vol. 19 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1096-3367

Article
Publication date: 1 March 1976

Simon Beresford

There are two approved and recognised methods of entry to professional hairdressing. The first of these is the apprenticeship. This method has been in existence for many years…

Abstract

There are two approved and recognised methods of entry to professional hairdressing. The first of these is the apprenticeship. This method has been in existence for many years, the basic principle being that a school leaver finds a salon willing to accept him/her as an apprentice to be taught the skills of hairdressing. The duration of apprenticeship is three years — with a probationary period of three months. This period of time is allowed as a “sampling” for both parties. For the employer it is a period in which he must assess the suitability of the probationer as an entrant to hairdressing, and as a future member of his staff fitting in with all other employees. It can well be that the apprentice, although suitable to hairdressing, is just not compatible in that particular salon.

Details

Education + Training, vol. 18 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0040-0912

1 – 10 of 396