PIECING TOGETHER SERVICE QUALITY: A FRAMEWORK FOR ROBUST SERVICE*

This paper addresses the issue of service design, specifically that of designing the service encounter for improved quality. We introduce a framework based on the three T's of task, treatment, and tangibles as a means of organizing the application of the diverse and growing body of service quality literature to encounter design. The framework is consistent with how successful service managers disaggregate the design problem. More importantly, we show that mutually supportive interrelationships between the three T's produce an opportunity for designing in a robustness to service failure. The framework is supported by case based evidence.     

Post‐return experiences and transnational belonging of return migrants: a Dutch—Moroccan case study

In this article we explore the links between return migration, belonging and transnationalism among migrants who returned from the Netherlands to northeast Morocco. While transnationalism is commonly discussed from the perspective of a receiving country, this study shows that transnationalism also plays a vital role in reconstructing post‐return belonging. Return migration is not simply a matter of ‘going home’, as feelings of belonging need to be renegotiated upon return. While returnees generally feel a strong need to maintain various transnational practices, the meanings they attach to these practices depend on motivations for return, gender and age. For former (male) labour migrants, transnational practices are essential for establishing post‐return belonging, whereas such practices are less important for their spouses. Those who returned as children generally feel uprooted, notwithstanding the transnational practices they maintain. The amount of agency migrants are able to exert in the return decision‐making process is a key factor in determining the extent to which returnees can create a post‐return transnational sense of home.     

THE HUMAN SIDE OF MISTAKE‐PROOFING

Poka‐yoke (mistake‐proofing) is a powerful quality improvement approach, which usually employs relatively simple devices to achieve marked improvements. Inexpensive jigs, fixtures, switches, and gauges act as obvious environmental cues to signal mistake detection. Poka‐yoke has been largely ignored as an avenue for serious academic research. This paper provides scientific underpinning to the largely anecdotal mistake‐proofing literature, by drawing upon research from psychology and cognitive science concerning human error. We delineate areas where additional research would be worthwhile, and guide practitioners in understanding what they are trying to accomplish and how poka‐yoke devices attain this end.     

Sponsored Places: The Use of Independent Day-Care Services to Support Children in Need

Correspondence to: Dr June Statham, Project Director, Thomas Coram Research Unit, 27-28 Woburn Square, London WC1H OAA Summary The implementation of the Children Act 1989, with its emphasison family support through the provision of non-stigmatizinglocal services and on local authorities working in partnershipwith voluntary and private service providers, has given a newfocus to the use of independent day-care services to supportchildren in need and their families. This article uses datafrom research in England and Wales on the implementation ofthe Children Act as it affects early years services, to considerthe extent of sponsored day-care, the circumstances in whichit is used, and the issues it raises for local authorities,independent day-care providers and the children themselves.     

The Cause-Deleted Index: Estimating Cause of Death Contributions to Mortality

Causes underlying mortality disparities are often determined by causal decomposition. This method is based on the decomposition of differences in mortality or life expectancy into parameters representing the contribution of underlying causes. It quantifies disparities as differences in mortality rates and does not account for the fact that many underprivileged groups are more likely to die from nearly all causes. Results are driven by the frequency of cause of death. Alternatively, the cause deleted index quantifies the role of underlying causes in mortality disparities as the change in the relative risk of dying that is related to deleting a specific cause. The consistency between the methods in estimating cause of death contributions is analyzed using 2000 U.S. mortality data and simulated mortality profiles. The two methods often produce divergent results because causal decomposition relies on the prevalence of causes of death.     

Selecting Students for Social Work Training

Summary Research into the interview as an instrument of selection isconsidered and its use in relation to selection for social worktraining examined. An account is given of a research projectundertaken to compare selection decisions made on the basisof written applications with those reached after additionalinterviews. It was found that in the majority of cases the additionalinformation from interviews did not materially affect the decisionsmade. The implications of these findings are discussed     

Differing Conceptions of a Child's Needs: Some Implications for Social Work with West African Children and their Parents

Summary The 1975 Children Act implies an increased statutory involvementof local authority social workers with West African childrenwho are fostered, and with their parents. The Act gives a newurgency to the need for a greater understanding of West Africanculture if effective social work help is to be given and suchwork should help to prevent legal disputes concerning the custodyof these foster children. A general discussion of variablesthat influence child-training is followed by a more specificconsideration of West African and British approaches. Importantdifferences are noted and areas of possible misunderstandingindicated. The mediating role that the social worker could playin this cross-cultural fostering is emphasized. Attention isdrawn to limitations in our present knowledge and the need forfurther research is stressed. Not only would this have practicalvalue but, it is suggested, it could increase our knowledgeof socialization processes in general.     

A bereavement model for working with families of handicapped children

SUMMARY. This paper presents a model for counselling families of young handicapped children. It is argued that the process that parents go through following the birth of a handicapped child is akin to bereavement following loss. Therefore, professionals on a wide range of disciplines should be sensitive to the grief that parents are experiencing. The authors have used Le Poidevin s theory of adjustment to loss to structure their own theories and to devise a checklist to aid other professionals. Their experience indicates that the birth of the handicapped child may act as a catalyst for psychological growth in parents—mast particularly mothers.     

Gender and Promotion at Canadian Universities*

De 1984 à 1999, pour tous les professeurs à plein temps des universités canadiennes, les modèles de temps de défaillance accéléré démontrent que le temps médian de promotion de professeur adjoint à professeur agrégé est de 0,4 année plus long pour les femmes. Il n'y a pas de pic correspondant au refus de titularisation après cinq à sept ans de service, et les augmentations salariales des promotions sont stables avec le temps. Le temps médian de promotion de professeur agrégéà professeur titulaire est d'un an plus long pour les femmes que le temps médian pour les hommes, soit 8,3 années. Les différences entre les disciplines et entre les institutions n'ont qu'un petit impact sur les évaluations des différences entre les genres dans les promotions. From 1984 to 1999, for all full‐time faculty members at Canadian universities, accelerated failure time models show that the median time to promotion from assistant to associate professor is 0.4 years longer for women. There is no peak corresponding to denial of tenure after five to seven years of service and rates of promotion are stable over time. Women's median time for promotion from associate to full professor is one year longer than the median for men, 8.3 years. Variation between disciplines and between institutions has little impact on estimates of gender differences in promotion.