Thesis (M.Arch. (Research))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, 2012. / Abstract: The on-campus learning environment often falls far short of the expectations of architecture students. One reason is that these students are seldom given a voice in how their schools are designed, or how the facilities are managed. This study tested the use of Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE), and Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) as a strategic method of addressing this shortcoming. To do this research, a POE questionnaire was developed, based on the theoretical underpinnings of good design of places for adult learning, questionnaire design, POE, and IPA. After implementation of the questionnaire at four South African schools of architecture, the collected data were processed using standard spreadsheet software. Once the results were presented in an IPA matrix format, it was clear that there are several commonalities in the needs and desires of architecture students from the different schools. Some requirements, such as that for well-equipped computer laboratories were not surprising. Others, such as a universal need for quiet, separate spaces in which to work; and outdoor places where they can gather to work or ‘chill’ away from their studios and classrooms were less expected outcomes. The typically poor quality of indoor environmental conditions was exposed as one of the main reasons why architecture students now often prefer to make use of alternative, off-campus ways of working, and of communicating with each other and with their teachers. The implication of these findings is that by combining POE and IPA, it is possible to identify and monitor the attributes that are necessary for a satisfactory on-campus learning environment. Where shortcomings are identified with POE, strategic responses can easily be devised using IPA. The dissertation is concluded with suggestions for future applications of the proposed questionnaire and data analysis method, to enable benchmarking at schools of architecture and improve the on-campus environment of students of architecture.

In recent years, the service industries such as restaurants, hotels & finance have treated consumers and satisfying their needs as their first priority. This kind of service concept is also greatly valued and practiced by the medical industry. While the national health insurance system reduces the financial strain and increases more medicare choices for people, the environment of operating a hospital has become more challenged and competitive. The increase of income and the high service quality provided by Starbucks and Wang Steak both have significantly impact on people's expectation for receiving higher service quality. By recognizing the demand of public, hospital management can then provide service quality that's within or even beyond expectation. This research will exam the importance and satisfaction of hospital service quality to people, as well as compare people's loyalty level toward hospitals and doctors. This research takes Kaohsiung residents as example and the total number of effective example is 351. The questionnaire is created based on SERVQUAL and the patient's satisfaction questionnaire of THIS. The result is analyzed by statistic software SPSS 17.0 and Importance Performance Analysis. The research result: 1. The importance level of hospital service quality measures from high to low is professional abilities of doctors and nurses, medical equipments in hospitals, communication and interaction with doctors and nurses, facilities and convenient access to hospitals, attitude of medical staffs, waiting time. 2. Professional abilities of doctors and nurses, medical equipments in hospitals belong in the keep up the good work category. Attitude of medical staffs and waiting time belong in the lower priority category. Communication and interaction with doctors and nurses, facilities and convenient access to hospitals belong in the possible overkill category. No item for concentrate here category. 3. Interviewees show more loyalty toward doctors rather than hospitals and their attitude is consistent with their behavior.

abstract: Currently, show management for convention centers have several resources to help determine where to place their efforts in facility services for exhibitors, one of which is to use research results from an importance-performance analysis study. In order to help show management refine their understanding of the needs of exhibitors before a trade show, this study explores the relationship between the exhibitor’s ranking of importance placed on facility services through the Importance-Performance Analysis, and the goals exhibitors have for the trade show. A survey was conducted at three different trade shows taking place in two convention centers. Using a sample of 115 exhibitors, the underlying factors were determined for the importance exhibitors placed on facility attributes and their goals. The findings from the research show that the correlations between importance factors and goals are statistically weak, albeit some notable correlations were made. The importance performance analysis remains a strong and useful tool for show management to use and implementing the iso-rating line provides more detail for a show manager to work with. The finding of this study offer insights into the factor analysis of facility attributes as well as the importance-goals analysis conducted. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Community Resources and Development 2017

This study assesses the relative strengths and weaknesses of a hotel, Holiday Inn, as viewed by two customer segments: business travelers and vacationers. The evaluation is based on the analytical framework of importance-performance analysis using 28 hotel attributes. Despite some differences, there are a number of similarities between the two segments in terms of the attributes they rely on when choosing a hotel and how they evaluate Holiday Inn on these attributes. These insights are important to the management in designing pointed strategies to better serve the needs of their guests.

The changing and highly competitive job market is putting pressure on both the private and public sectors to maintain and prepare an educated and well-trained human resource. In this context, a well-integrated educational and training strategy must be formulated and implemented, jointly, by the public and private sectors. This study presents the effort of Portugal in this direction. It emphasises a process orientation to achieve the goal of upgrading the educational skills of Portuguese employees, part of whom are entrepreneurs. For the purpose of this study cluster analysis, regression analysis and the important performance analysis were used. Based on the findings, the implications of the cooperation between the public and private sectors are discussed and a conceptual framework to aid policymakers, decision makers, and future researchers is offered. The benchmarking implications of this process are underscored.

The dissemination of project management practices is consolidating project as a great mean of achieving an organization's strategic plan (PMI, 2008, p. 10). But there are no resources and funds available to all, and competition among alternative projects is increasing. Funding institutions, government agencies, and credit rating organizations started considering project risk in project evaluation, instead of only using financial metrics such as ROI (Return on Investment) or NPV (Net Present Value). In order to obtain resources needed to implement projects, and thus contribute to an organization's objectives, it is necessary to identify the risks that have greater influence on project approval. This study applied the Importance-Performance Analysis (Martilla & James, 1977) to identify the main risk identification deficiencies for Information Technology (IT) project managers who apply for resources or funding approval. The identification was made possible by measuring IT project managers' perceptions of (1) the level of importance, or positive influence, which different risk categories have in project approval; (2) the level of performance they believe to have in the identification of these risks, meaning prior detection and registering; and (3) the gap between the measured levels of importance and performance. A survey listing 28 risk categories belonging to a validated risk taxonomy and 5-point Likert scales with different levels of importance and performance were presented to IT project managers from the central Illinois area. A total of 38 professionals answered the survey instrument, and verification of exclusion criteria resulted in an adjusted sample of 32 subjects. Descriptive statistics were used to compare mean values for each category, determining the gap between importance and performance levels for every category. The risk categories that presented the top three scores for importance were Scope uncertainty, Legal/regulatory, and Financial. The risk categories that represented the three greatest deficiencies or gaps (importance versus performance) for IT project approval were Contractual, Complexity, and Scope uncertainty.

The potential of the Chinese outbound tourism market is substantial; however, research on this market to Canada is limited. This may be due, in part, to the lack of Approved Destination Status (ADS). This study examined the possible perceived image of Canada obtained by potential Chinese tourists, and to compare to the marketing position of Canada by CTC China Division-in effect, to conduct a product-market match between two concepts. Content analysis and an importance and performance analysis were used in the study. A questionnaire distributed at the Beijing Capital International Airport solicited perceptions of tourism in Canada, importance of selected attributes in travel decision making, performance of selected attributes on Canada, and trip preferences. The marketing position of Canada was examined through a content analysis of the promotional materials circulated from CTC China Division in Beijing, China. The coherences and gaps between perceived image of Canada and marketing position of Canada provide some marketing implications. This study concludes that the general tourism image of Canada is vague but positive, which is probably derived from the historically favorable image of Canada in china. Potential Chinese tourists had little knowledge on specific tourism sights; however, they recognized star attractions of Vancouver, Niagara Falls, and Toronto. Potential Chinese tourists prefer slow-paced trips; group tours; two weeks in length; in fall season; featuring mid-budget accommodation, preferably bed-and-breakfasts; on motor coach; visiting nature based sights at majority; and providing foods of various cultures. The current marketing position of Canada reflected through promotional materials by CTC and its partners has coherences in promoting tourism attractions in Canada to the image of Canada. Gaps exist on the promotion of travel issues and unconventional attractions, which inspires the marketing implications. Promotional resources should be allocate to unconventional tourism attractions with consideration rather than the presence of Chinese and mandarin speaking environment in Canada because of Chinese tourists’ demand for culture diversity. Promotion should include more information about travel expense and visas to establish reasonable consumer expectations.

The potential of the Chinese outbound tourism market is substantial; however, research on this market to Canada is limited. This may be due, in part, to the lack of Approved Destination Status (ADS). This study examined the possible perceived image of Canada obtained by potential Chinese tourists, and to compare to the marketing position of Canada by CTC China Division-in effect, to conduct a product-market match between two concepts. Content analysis and an importance and performance analysis were used in the study. A questionnaire distributed at the Beijing Capital International Airport solicited perceptions of tourism in Canada, importance of selected attributes in travel decision making, performance of selected attributes on Canada, and trip preferences. The marketing position of Canada was examined through a content analysis of the promotional materials circulated from CTC China Division in Beijing, China. The coherences and gaps between perceived image of Canada and marketing position of Canada provide some marketing implications. This study concludes that the general tourism image of Canada is vague but positive, which is probably derived from the historically favorable image of Canada in china. Potential Chinese tourists had little knowledge on specific tourism sights; however, they recognized star attractions of Vancouver, Niagara Falls, and Toronto. Potential Chinese tourists prefer slow-paced trips; group tours; two weeks in length; in fall season; featuring mid-budget accommodation, preferably bed-and-breakfasts; on motor coach; visiting nature based sights at majority; and providing foods of various cultures. The current marketing position of Canada reflected through promotional materials by CTC and its partners has coherences in promoting tourism attractions in Canada to the image of Canada. Gaps exist on the promotion of travel issues and unconventional attractions, which inspires the marketing implications. Promotional resources should be allocate to unconventional tourism attractions with consideration rather than the presence of Chinese and mandarin speaking environment in Canada because of Chinese tourists’ demand for culture diversity. Promotion should include more information about travel expense and visas to establish reasonable consumer expectations.

This study firstly aims to identify facility features of the convention centers and then propose a method in order to identify users&rsquo / priorities and evaluate what extent these were provided by the convention centre. Data has been collected using self-administered questionnaires from three group of users / attendees, employees and meeting planners. The study has been conducted in istanbul L&uuml / tfi Kirdar Convention and Exhibition Center as a case, because of being the most remarkable convention center of Turkey. Each participant will be required to assess this convention center in terms of their priorities of expectations and features provided. The results have been evaluated statistically, and significant differences between the level of importance and performance of the facility features have been presented. This research is expected to be useful for constitution of design criteria of convention centers and effective management of the facilities, in terms of both identifying the features of convention centers and providing a method evaluating the performance of the facilities from the users&rsquo / perspective.

This essay, which is at once a literary critical examination and a theological exploration of the Hebraic scriptural book of Lamentations in relation to ancient Sumerian lament, employs a mixed critical approach (e.g., form, feminist, postmodern, reader response), to address various lyrical, contextual, and thematic elements common to both the biblical Lamentations and the older Sumerian compositions. Specific focus is given to issues of gender and gender-malleability, as well as the notion of "transgression" and the various meanings that may be attached to this word in various contexts, theological or otherwise. Also addressed is the means by which the lament genre reflects/reveals the ways in which individuals and communities attempt to construct meaning, or find solace, in the face of human suffering.