...Process Improvement Plan University of Phoenix OPS 571 February 10, 2012 Christine Thigpen Process Improvement Plan An inherent part of the service experience is that customers dislike waiting and this waiting influences the customer evaluation of service (Taylor, 1994). Kaiser Permanente’s business office is working on improving their customer service process time for financial aid applications. Currently the average completion time that a customer spends in the office is about 23 – 38 minutes from start to finish. The business office team made minor changes in their process flow to decrease bottlenecks in the process flow. The goal is that these improvements decrease the average wait time to 16 – 22 minutes. Over the past few weeks time studies have taken place to analyze if the process improvements that have been put in place have had a positive impact to the patients and staff. Before changing the process flow the business office observed the current workflow to establish the current confidence interval. The observations were random including both peak and non peak service times. In addition, the same amounts of observations were made on each day of the work week. In total 25 observations were performed with the time noted for each case. The average observation time prior to the change is 30 minutes. This 30 minute time is the baseline service time that the business office...
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...Which Elements are Important to Customers in Fast Food Restaurants: Food quality, Time, and Price. Introduction A phenomenon anyone can easily observe is that people eat more meals outside their home than before(Kara, Kaynak, & Kucukemiroglu, 1997), and fast-food has increasingly become popular over the past decades (Pereira et al., 2005). When people are short of time, sick and tired of preparing for meals at home, or hatred to waiting, they willingly go out and eat meals. According to some authors (French, Story, Neumark-Sztainer, Fulkerson, & Hannan, 2001), between 1977 and 1995 the fast-food industry had experienced 200% rapid growth whereas other restaurant industry had been grown only by 150%. Adolescents visit a fast food restaurant more than twice every week on average, indicating that out of at least two-and-a-half of the away-from-home meals are eaten by them, and this trend is expected to continue in the future (French, et al., 2001). According to Namkung and Jang (2007), the very first objective of business is to satisfy customers, and in turn, have them repurchase. Food quality is one of the most important reasons that we repeatedly patronize a certain restaurant because after all is said and done, the fundamental reason of going to restaurants is to have meals. Therefore, food quality has received by far more attention from researchers than any other elements of restaurants (Jang, Ha, & Silkes, 2009), and their efforts have been continued on...
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...introducing our topic “Managing Demand and Capacity” through papers - “Managing the Tug of War between supply and demand in services industries” by “Gabriel Bitran” and “Susana Mondschein” and “Managing Service Organizations” by John Bowen and Robert C Ford. These papers explains the general challenges faced by services firms in managing capacity, demand and also describes generalized solution to solve those issues. After introducing our topic, we will delve in to specifics of “Managing Demand” and “Managing Capacity” through different research papers. Under the topic “Managing demand”, we have discussed two research papers- “Strategies for Managing Demand in Capacity-Constrained Services Organizations” by “Christopher H. Lovelock” and “Impact of demand management on the service system performance” by “David M Rhyne”. Under capacity management, we have discussed 2 research papers – “Capacity Management in Services Organizations” by Hans Corsten and Stephan Stuhlmann and “Capacity as a Strategic Marketing Variable” by Steven M. Shugan. .After this, we have discussed papers based on the solutions to manage both demand and capacity. We reviewed research papers “Optimum service capacity and demand management with price incentives “ by Özgür Özlük, Abdelghani A. Elimam, Eduardo Interaminense, and “Demand and capacity management decisions in services”, by Kenneth J. Klassen and Thomas R. Rohlede. In the end, we have picked up a specific service sector industry and explored research...
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...in Chicago, Illinois. It is generally regarded as the world's first business jet airline. It was founded in 1997 by aviation veteran and University of Chicago graduate Matt Anderson business executive and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University alumnus John N. Fenton and McKinsey consultant and MIT PhD Tom Svrcek. Its headquarters were first located in Chicago's Near North Side, and later at Chicago Midway Airport WINING STRATEGY OF INDIGO AIRLINES: Consumer response to Indigo was strong. The company held a perfect[clarification needed] safety record and delivered unusually[clarification needed] high on-time and flight completion performance. Its passenger repeat rate was nearly 100% and its revenue per passenger mile or yield, over $1.00. The company was actively followed by major media including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, the Financial Times, Fortune, Time, USA Today, CNN, CBS and ABC television and was featured in a 2001 Pulitzer Prize winning article in the Chicago Tribune.[citation needed] Indigo also became the object of organized lobbying from Congressman Steven Rothman of New Jersey (D-NJ9), who felt that Indigo represented unwelcome expansion at New Jersey's Teterboro Airport.[citation needed] Other parties including Senator Jon Corzine (D-NJ) and Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) joined in an effort to persuade Department of Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta that Indigo's public charter flights demanded of the Teterboro Airport, part of a group...
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...Organizational Leadership & Inter-Professional Team Development Betty Cochrane Western Governors University June 5, 2014 Organizational Leadership & Inter-professional Team Development I. Introduction Patient and Family Centered care evolved a relationship that involved the patient and the family in the treatment, decisions and potential outcomes in their medical plans and care. The patient is encouraged to take part in every aspect of their treatment and is empirically empowered through education and understanding to make the best decisions possible in their care and management of their disease process. This evolution has moved the health professional into an open, honest, communicative relationship with the patient and empowered them with a tool that had, until recently, been devoid; they have been given choices. The patient-centered care model addresses the patient's concerns by providing resources and communication concerning the options available to them, and to evaluate their understanding of their diagnosis and how to utilize these resources and understanding to meet their needs. II. Self-Assessment Tool III. Setting Description The present setting where I am employed is a 300 bed academic Level One Trauma Center residing in the heart of the city. We provide many specialties of care which include trauma, stroke--being in the minority as a comprehensive stroke center--high risk obstetric and a...
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...EXPERIENCE DesigningWaitsThatWork Designers at restaurants, theme parks and elsewhere have investigated how to make waiting in line more pleasant. What they have learned has profound implications for all managers. BY DONALD A. NORMAN THE LEADING QUESTION AT SOME POINT, every manager has had to tell someone to wait. We all have to wait sometimes. It’s a simple matter of timing and resources. Whenever two systems interact, one is invariably ready before the other. In the factory, this disparity can lead to stockpiles of goods or bottlenecks. When people are involved, it can give rise to inefficiency and anger. This is no good for customers or employees. But the psychological impact of waits can be managed, and studies in design show us how to do it. My introduction to design started with my studies of fundamental principles of interaction to enhance the use of technology.1 Now, as I teach and consult on the applications of these principles to business, I apply them to many aspects of customer experience. In places where waits are required, these principles can not only make waiting more pleasant but can also make it feel like not waiting at all. Sometimes inducing a wait can improve the customer experience. When waits are inevitable, the research shows, the goal should be to optimize the experience for both customers and employees, thereby enhancing customer satisfaction and reducing employee stress and turnover. What this research has revealed can help managers in ...
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...retaining of the customers.This research study particularly investigated the causes of customer switching behavior.A prolific way to gain the knowledge about the switching behavior of customers is basically to examine the various factors that play imtegral role in switching behavior. This qualitative research study has offered new insights by defining and identifying the customer’s rationale to switch from one service provider to another. The model is estimated using the data set on the number of switching behavior. A total of 100 respondents were surveyed to identify the factors that have a greater effect on the customer satisfaction.The data were analyzed by the Optimal Scaling (Categorical Regression)to test the hypothesis. The model identified that… CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION This research tried to find out the underlying factors that made the customer to switchover to another service provider in telecom industry. The telecommunication industry is one of the most important industries of the world. In order to gain competitive advantage as competition is getting more and more intense, the companies are compelled to innovate and do their best for the customer satisfaction. As in the telecom industry the customers have multiple choices to select among service providers and actively seek their rights of switching from one telecom service provider to another. In this ferocious competition customers requires better services at reasonable prices, while service providers concentrating...
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...organisations whose outstanding people management capability has contributed significantly to business excellence. | Innovation Award (I-Award) | The I-Award recognizes and celebrates organisations whose outstanding innovation capability development approach has contributed significantly to business excellence. | Service Excellence Award | The Service Excellence Award is the highest accolade for service excellence. It recognizes the best of the best with a total approach to developing their service capability to enhance service leadership, service agility, customer delight, and customer experience.Benefits: * Organization will be able to use Service Excellence Award logo on all its materials as marketing tool. (Leveraging on the service excellence logo for marketing purposes) * Consistently delights customers * Delivers unparalleled customer experiences * Creates business value through customer service(E.g.: SMS customers when cars are ready for collection after repairs, providing essential information such as actual cost of repairs) | Service Operations: An Open Systems View The open systems view forms a...
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...Leadership Social Loafing * A phenomenon that occurs in groups whereby group members exert less effort than when working independently Causes: * Equitable contribution (fairness, equal input among members) * Lack of group cohesion (likely to loaf if not good friends) * Lessened relationship between input and outcome Bandura’s Theory of Moral disengagement * Advantageous Comparison- comparing our actions to others, judging ourselves to other bad things that others are doing to make yourself feel better * Displacement of Responsibility- attributing responsibility to some one else, blaming other party * Diffusion of Responsibility- This is when the services of many people, where each performs a task that seems harmless in itself, can enable people to behave inhumanely collectively, because no single person feels responsible. The responsibility is spread out, not just sitting on a on one team member, therefore a group decision where everyone is responsible yet no individual feels personally responsible * Disregard of Consequences- harm to others are denied or minimized Emotional intelligience 1. Self awareness- ability to identify habits and reactions, own feelings affect performance, when under pressure.. I tend to, Im stubborn when… 2. Self control- ability yot manage one’s emotion, especially disruptive ones, ability to stay calm and focused, think before react 3. Motivation, what drives you?, INtrintic motivation, strive continuous...
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...lecture slides, one needs to understand the purpose and impacts of the change. We should also understand who is going to be involved with the change. Furthermore, understanding the environment, situation and circumstances where the change is being applied is also important. Now coming to the reading, the study discussed about ERP systems success from different perspectives of business manager and IT professionals. The study aimed to determine how the ERP success measures and dimensions are prioritized by the business managers and IT professionals and whether differences exist between them. The ERP systems are business IT suites designed to integrate business processes and functions. They present a holistic view of a business by permitting the sharing of common data and practices in a real – time environment. Organisations adopt ERP for a number of reasons. Some of them include the replacement of legacy systems and cost reductions. ERP success refers to the utilisation of systems to enhance organisational effectiveness. The six dimensions of ERP success include information quality, system quality, individual impact, organisational impact, vendor/consultant quality and workgroup impact. According to this case study out of the six dimensions, vendor quality was rated very high by the business managers whereas it was rated comparatively less by the IT managers. This is because of the difference in occupational culture and perception of value. Business managers and IT managers have different...
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...indicator of MPA. Results show that how TQM and Six Sigma is being applied to improve the key performance of the MPA. Using SERVQUAL is an effective approach it’s can analysis of the difference between customer expectations and perceptions has been highlighted with support of an example. In the SERVQUAL instrument can measure the performance across these five dimensions, such tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy as using a seven point like scale measuring both customer expectations and perceptions. Research for this report included a review of current literature on applying MPA website, TQM and Six Sigma journals, and others journal. The research findings in TQM show that reducing customer’s waiting time would increase the service quality. The reliability in TQM would be focusing on the port defects which would affect customers trust to the port. Six Sigma show that the reducing of processes in the port to increases the quality of service through operation. The research findings indicate the environmental, economic and social sustain issues. And the approaches of sustainable will actually help to sustain it. This report recommends that TQM and Six Sigma are beneficial to keep MPA improving the customer satisfaction and also leads to quality improvements to keep the machine functioning in a good way to operate port business. Table of Contents Page ...
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...The impact of corporate image and reputation on service quality, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty: testing the mediating role. Case analysis in an international service company Eman Mohamed Abd-El-Salam, Ayman Yehia Shawky and Tawfik El-Nahas Arab Academy for Science and Technology and Maritime Transport, College of Management and Technology, Alexandria, Egypt Keywords Corporate image, Service quality, Customer satisfaction, Customer loyalty, Egypt. Abstract The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship among corporate image and reputation, service quality, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty through a case analysis on one of the biggest Egyptian company. A structured questionnaire was developed. The hypotheses were simultaneously tested on a sample of 650 customers out of 800 distributed, giving a response rate of 81.25 per cent. Several analytical techniques were used to assess the relationships among the variables under investigation such as Pearson correlation, chi-square, and multiple linear regressions. Hierarchical regression was used to assess the mediating role. The findings of this study have shown significant relationships among the variables under investigation. It is imperative to explore how an international company can effectively and efficiently work in the Egyptian culture gaining their customers satisfaction and loyalty. The research was limited to one of the biggest international company that is working in Egypt. Also the...
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...management, marketing, and customer relation strategies, and Haier still faces challenges in improving its brand name especially in international markets, expanding its market share, and building effective channels in its new markets. However, what I’m pretty interested in is Haier’s HR strategy. Self-managed team is not a new term in organizational behavior, but Haier may be the first company that brings the term to live in China. It is an exciting sign for shifting trends in China. Session 2: Facts in Haier self-managed team implementation Chinese culture of hierarchy influences organizations profoundly, and Haier is absolutely a pioneer that breaks the traditional hierarchy-oriented organizational structure. * Self-managed team structure changes employees’ perception “I am my own CEO, and everything that I do can make a difference to the organization.” Feng Zhao, a leader of Haier’s self-managed team said. This is a valuable change of employee’s perception. Many research shows that employees’ perception can change their behavior, thus greatly influence their performance, which will ultimately make a difference in organizational effectiveness. In traditional Chinese organizations, especially in which hierarchy plays an important role, entry employees find it’s difficult to be motivated because of strict chain of command and ambiguous job description. But here in self-managed teams, everyone plays an important role that can bring significant changes to the team. They...
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...those of competitors. To interpret the perception of the company people usually developed knowledge systems (i.e schemas) Corporate Image believed to have identical characteristics as self-schema (Markus,1977) with consideration to persuade the buyer’s purchasing decision i.e good image of corporate encourages purchase from one company by abridge decision rules. (Bateson 1995) stated that the service quality is generally conceptualized as an attitude, the evaluation of the service offered. Quality is basically made up from a series of evaluated experiences and are usually fluctuates less comparatively than attitudes built from the satisfaction emotions. Parasuraman et al. (1988) stated that the customers judge the service quality on the basis of overall firm’s superiority and excellence. According to (Gronroos, 2000) the evaluation of service quality by customers could be judge through the interaction process that exactly happens or perceived by customers leave a critical impacts on customers. (Parasuraman et al., 1988; Aydin and Özer, 2005; Ismail et al., 2006; etc.) If service is high in quality it is regarded as a key to succeed in most competitive service markets. Many researchers have indicated that the customer satisfaction and the customer’s trust in that service firm is directly influence by the service quality being provided. The pre-purchase expectations if fulfilled with the kind of service quality being provided the customers might be satisfied. The telecom industry...
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...Chapter 4 Product and service design It is the major factor in - Cost - Customer satisfaction - Quality - Competitive advantage - Time-to-market Objectives of Product and Service Design Main focus - Customer satisfaction - Understand what the customer wants Secondary focus - Function of product/service - Appearance - Cost/profit - Ease of production/assembly - Quality - Ease of maintenance/service Product or Service Design Activities 1. Translate customer wants and needs into product and service requirements 2. Refine existing products and services 3. Develop new products and services 4. Formulate quality goals 5. Formulate cost targets 6. Construct and test prototypes 7. Document specifications Reasons Design or Re-Design : The driving forces for product and service design or redesign are market opportunities or threats: - Economic - Competitive - Social and Demographic - Cost or Availability - Political, Liability, or Legal - Technological Regulations and Legal Considerations Product Liability : A manufacturer is liable for any injuries or damages caused by a faulty product. Uniform Commercial Code : Products carry an implication of merchantability and fitness. Designers Adhere to Guidelines - Produce designs that are consistent with the goals of the company - Give customers the value they expect - Make health and safety a primary concern - Consider potential harm to the environment Other...
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