Papers by John F Dalrymple
The call centre industry relies upon technology; the conventional speech telephone, to serve cust... more The call centre industry relies upon technology; the conventional speech telephone, to serve customers. Call centres do not exist for the customer to physically interact with, apart from via the telephone, and are in effect virtual organizations. Hence, the criteria used to assess the service is different from a face-to-face service encounter. Whilst call centres have benefited customers, by increasing the time period that services are available, there is also evidence that it has frustrated them. This research aims to explore the contribution technology has made to service improvement in this emerging virtual servicescape.
Quality Assurance in Education, 2007
Studies in health technology and informatics, 2005
Medication error is a major source of preventable harm to patients in hospitals and is an area in... more Medication error is a major source of preventable harm to patients in hospitals and is an area in which, it is suggested, information technology will have a positive impact. This paper presents findings from part of a study that examined current information utilisation patterns during nursing medication rounds. Nursing working patterns in medication administration are poorly understood despite being one of the most likely sources of medication error. Methods used were drawn from principles of Human Computer Interaction (HCI), using a semi-structured observational tool for analysing system requirements and data elements. Results from this study indicated that clinical and contextual factors impact on nursing patterns of information handling in many ways, including documentation quality, location of information sources and current patterns of computer utilization. Numerous extraneous interruptions also impact on the ability of nurses to assimilate and use clinical information effectiv...
Uncertainty about the cost of tendering has led to research being conducted to understand the cos... more Uncertainty about the cost of tendering has led to research being conducted to understand the cost of tendering within the Australian construction industry. This has involved reviewing work done in Australia and overseas as well as exploring the efforts within the construction industry to collect cost of tendering information. While there is currently awareness of the cost of tendering and that efforts should be taken to minimise this cost, there is little precise understanding of it in terms of value or how it happens. This paper explores the barriers to understanding the cost of tendering. Throughout the worldwide construction industry tendering is acknowledged to be complicated, adding considerable cost to construction. Efforts to understand the cost of tendering are confounded by issues that are both visible and invisible to formal accounting of the construction process. This paper intends to demonstrate the problems and their causes. Anecdotes are derived from the literature, observations of construction purchases, and interview data to demonstrate the barriers to understanding the cost of tendering. This is augmented by corresponding observations of other major purchases. Problems and causes are described in terms of these anecdotes. Because of the diverse activities undertaken by constructors and limitations of accounting categories, expenses associated with tendering are difficult to capture and quantify. These problems are explained through examples. Even in those cases where there are genuine intentions to capture costs of tendering there is a failure to do so. It appears that implementation difficulties are so insurmountable that either people do not bother or management redirects effort from collecting cost of tendering data. It is also shown that the expense of tendering and uncertainty of outcomes leads tenderers to engage in concealed behaviour to reduce the uncertainty and cost associated with tendering. That is, collusion. For this reason especially, it is concluded that tendering and associated costs need to be understood in greater detail.
Springer eBooks, 1995
This paper seeks to explore the relationship between the Prevention-Appraisal-Failure Model outli... more This paper seeks to explore the relationship between the Prevention-Appraisal-Failure Model outlined in BS 6143:Part 2[1] and the Process Cost Model presented in BS 6143:Part 1[2] and attempts to determine whether or not these are compatible standards. The simplicity of the PAF model, which emerged from early work by Juran[3], Feigenbaum[4], and Masser(5] among others, often presents real difficulties in implementation for organisations. For example, in identifying costs, in determining which costs to measure, and how to report these costs [6J. The Process Model is presented in a deceptively simple manner in the British Standard The model is seen by some as a step forward as it gets people to examine processes in more detail[7]. However, questions arise as to its appropriateness in coping with systems in a state of change, in the knowledge and expertise required to operate the model, and reporting mechanisms which will aid the TQM programme or initiative BS 6143 pt1 makes it quite clear that Total Quality Management requires not only the management of processes, but also an identification of an aim for the outputs from the process It is stressed that the management of processes is fundamental to improving quality in either manufacturing or service industries. Further, it is brought home that every person contributes to, and operates within, a process. From experience, it is clear to the authors that every process should have an owner and this is emphasised within the standard. The idea that people should own the process’ implies that any problems associated with the process will be dealt with and brought to a swift conclusion by the owners.
Springer eBooks, 1996
This paper builds on the findings of research into the applicability and portability of the SERVQ... more This paper builds on the findings of research into the applicability and portability of the SERVQUAL Scale to Local Government service provision. It outlines criteria for judging the applicability of the method, suggests boundaries to the validity of the SERVQUAL approach, and recommends the development of a service taxonomy based on the extent of customisation needed for it to be used with confidence. Exploratory factor analysis of data from four case studies are presented which lead to a revised critique of the Gap 5 dimensions and the associated instrument items. Conclusions are drawn which will assist in the development of appropriate mechanisms to measure and monitor the quality of community services provided by local authorities either directly or through agency partnerships.
Asia-Pacific journal of accounting & economics, May 14, 2019
Measurement of public sector enterprises' performance, especially efficiency measurement by way o... more Measurement of public sector enterprises' performance, especially efficiency measurement by way of a DEA model, has gained prominence in recent years among academics and practitioners. However, the different sources of input and output chosen to be used in the DEA model would produce different results for the assessor. The current research uses a closed-ended questionnaire aiming to explore suitable sources of input and output for use in a data envelopment analysis (DEA) model to assess the efficiency of public sector commercial banks (PSCBs) in Vietnam. The data is subsequently analysed quantitatively using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with the AMOS program. The results show five sources of input and five sources of output suitable for inclusion in the DEA model. This paper provides a reliable basis for policy analysts and performance assessors to use DEA to analyse efficiency and effectiveness in PSCBs and might trigger future research on efficiency evaluation of PSCBs using DEA in the context of Vietnam.
This paper focuses on performance measurement and improvement within SME construction industry su... more This paper focuses on performance measurement and improvement within SME construction industry subcontractors. It commences with a literature review of tools and techniques such as quality assurance and certification, total quality management, quality awards and business excellence frameworks and benchmarking traditionally used to measure performance and improvement in a wide range of enterprises. Many of these approaches have reached maturity in manufacturing companies and many have been adopted in service companies. However, the construction industry has largely been untouched by these developments. The paper explores the potential of an International Business Profile Benchmarking instrument within the construction industry by applying it to a firm in the construction supply chain. This world-class approach has been widely used in Europe and has enabled significant sectoral supply chain developments
Total Quality Management, 1995
This paper explores some of the issues that managers in the public sector, and local government i... more This paper explores some of the issues that managers in the public sector, and local government in particular, will face when attempting to use the SERVQUAL Scale to measure the quality of service provision under their control. A brief background to the environment within which local government operates provides a platform for the discussion of key factors which must be addressed if the SERVQUAL approach is to be successfully transferred from the private to the public sector.
Crosby explains the benefits of determining from the operators on the shop floor "what the p... more Crosby explains the benefits of determining from the operators on the shop floor "what the problem really is" (1979). Taking the time and effort to listen to the people doing the job can lead to valuable insights. Under the sub-heading of ‘Error-Cause Removal’, Crosby highlights a number of difficulties relating to communication between the shop-floor operators and management The phrase, 'Quality is Free' (Crosby, 1979), refers to the costs which can be saved on quality improvement whilst covering the costs of making the improvements. This paper seeks to illustrate some of the issues which emerged from a longitudinal study in a manufacturing environment. Key findings have been selected to illustrate the changes made throughout the study and the main conclusions of the research. These include: evidence of a growing awareness of the importance of the "customer", internal as well external (Schonberger, 1990); the study showed that changes made had improved t...
The quality movement internationally has been subject to criticism on the basis that it has promi... more The quality movement internationally has been subject to criticism on the basis that it has promised much more than it has delivered. However, the literature is more densely populated with success stories than with rigorously analysed cases where the successes were less complete than had been hoped, or indeed promised. There is some evidence that the small and medium-sized enterprises have been particularly poorly served by the various ‘quality drives’, ‘quality initiatives’, ‘quality improvement programs’ and other offerings which have attracted the word ‘quality’ to their title. This paper seeks to explore some of the issues surrounding quality in the SME sector and presents the results of an exploratory study of the use of an international business profile benchmarking tool. This instrument has the potential to identify the relative strengths and weaknesses of small and medium sized companies by comparison with their international counterparts of a similar size, turnover, number of employees and industry sector. However, it is an instrument that was developed for the United Kingdom environment and one of the key questions to be addressed is whether this instrument is valid and reliable in the Australian business, fiscal and cultural
This paper seeks to explore the relationship between the Prevention-Appraisal-Failure Model outli... more This paper seeks to explore the relationship between the Prevention-Appraisal-Failure Model outlined in BS 6143:Part 2[1] and the Process Cost Model presented in BS 6143:Part 1[2] and attempts to determine whether or not these are compatible standards. The simplicity of the PAF model, which emerged from early work by Juran[3], Feigenbaum[4], and Masser(5] among others, often presents real difficulties in implementation for organisations. For example, in identifying costs, in determining which costs to measure, and how to report these costs [6J. The Process Model is presented in a deceptively simple manner in the British Standard The model is seen by some as a step forward as it gets people to examine processes in more detail[7]. However, questions arise as to its appropriateness in coping with systems in a state of change, in the knowledge and expertise required to operate the model, and reporting mechanisms which will aid the TQM programme or initiative BS 6143 pt1 makes it quite c...
Technology Innovation Management Review, 2019
Geoderma, 1993
... 9. Thermal analyses of ground samples of manually separated illuviation cutans, void in-filli... more ... 9. Thermal analyses of ground samples of manually separated illuviation cutans, void in-fillings and concentrations from ped interiors rich in calcium carbonate from the calcic ... England, (B) the Calcixerollic Xerochrept, southern Iran and (C) the Xerollic Calciorthid, lower Egypt. ...
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Papers by John F Dalrymple