Thesis (M.Sc.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1998. / Typescript. Bibliography: leaves 97-106.

1 Abstract Thesis name: Persons with mental retardation and their quality of life in context of Social Services transformation. Purpose of this thesis is to describe process, history, progress and risks of transformation of Social Services in Czech Republic. Target of this thesis is not transformation of Social Sevices in Czech Republic generally but it is targeted on Nalžovický zámek organization, Social Services provider where transformation is in progress from 2013. In thesis I investigate how clients using supported housing perceive this service in context of quality of their life. My thesis includes theoretical base focused on mental retardation, social services, institutional care. Purpose of this thesis is not representative research or academic analysis of data. Used information are extract from professional literatury and Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs website. Main used method is narative interview. Thesis has six chapters. Results of my research are presented in chapter five and I consider this chapter as most important. Research shows clients of supported housing perceive this service in a very positive way and are satisfied. Feel this opportunity as a new way how to make quality of their life better.

The service sector of the global economy is undoubtedly growing and increasingly highlighting the criticality of service quality to enhanced profitability in most service organisations. The demand for accountability from different stakeholders, including clients, has also made service quality a highly debated, researched and most powerful competitive trend shaping marketing and business strategy. Developing reliable measurement instruments of service quality and strategies for the improvement of service quality invariably become the most important responsibilities for managers in many organisations. In the absence of conceptual clarity on service quality, divergent views on the dimensionality of service quality and the lack of a psychometrically valid service quality measure in archival institutions, this study set out to develop and subsequently validate a measurement instrument to assess service quality in an archival institutional setting. The two research questions investigated in this study were: (1) what are the dimensions for measuring service quality in archival institutions, and (2) how can the dimensions of service quality in archival institutions be measured effectively. The methodology for this study involved a two-phased qualitative and quantitative analysis addressing these two research questions. The study followed the standard psychometric procedure for developing constructs. This research has resulted in the important findings and relevant conclusions for both academics and practitioners interested in service quality in the archival environment. The service quality measurement instrument formulated is called ARCHIVqual and has three dimensions, namely (1) security of information (with 4 items), (2) integrity of information (with 3 items) and (3) usability of information (with 2 items). Besides measuring service quality in the archival environment, ARCHIVqual will also serve as a tool for conducting periodic surveys thereby identifying specific problematic areas in archival institutions. / Graduate School for Business Leadership / DBL

This thesis focuses on the personality of social workers and their view of the quality of the nursing home in which they work . The first part is generally concerned with quality, problems caused by the quality implementation, different views of quality evaluation and finally with quality evaluation by social workers themselves. The second part is dedicated to research performed by interviewing the social wor-kers working in retirement homes and subsequently comparing the results with the theo-ry.

This Graduation work dealth with the observance of quality standards of social services for people wiht health disorder in rezidence facilities in South Bohemia. The goal of this work was observance of the Standard 2 and Standard 3. It was ascertained that the standard 2 {--} Protection of rights of personae isn´t the best breaking standard. The Hypothesis 1 isn´t confirm. Standard 3 {--} Conducting with applicant abouth social service isn´t the best observance standard. The Hypothesis 2 isn´t confirm too. All the rezidence facilities are observancing of quality standards of social services.

This case study was undertaken from mid 2003 to December 2005. It investigates the influence of the Corporate Services Centre (CSC) on customer (patient) service quality in the East London Hospital Complex (ELHC). This approach was justified on the basis that even though most patients do not have enough knowledge of clinical practices in order to make an accurate assessment on their quality, the same patients would readily appreciate factors such as faster turnaround times, drug availability and cleanliness. The study focuses on both service providers and end users for a quality health service delivery by looking at the potential of the shared corporate services centre. This was done by identifying important areas for improvements, such as response times, waiting periods and other aspects of the various services. The ELHC was formed from the merger of Frere and Cecilia Makiwane Hospitals, with a distance of 26km between the two institutions. The complex itself was in its infancy stages, having had to go through a process of re-engineering, rationalisation and standardisation of the two hospitals. The study seeks to answer the following key question: What has been the contribution of the corporate service centres in relation to health care service quality? The study examines the impediments to the realization of full potential of the Corporate Services Centre (CSC) through expedited decision-making and improved turnaround times. The main functions of the CSC were Procurement and Asset Management; General Administration (including but not limited to Transport, Office equipment, Patient Administration, Office Support, and Professional Secretariat Support); Financial Management and Administration; and Human Resource Management and Human Resources Administration. The study recommends that the CSC, to justify its existence, needs to consult with the clinicians and the patients to better understand what their needs and aspirations are. The study also emphasizes that the CSC is there purely to remove the administrative load and ease the processes and the biggest mistake is to make it an authority over the hospital, instead of being a support. Finally, it was realized that a lot of structural changes, business processes and organisational cultural changes are essential if one wants to create an impact through shared corporate services.

This research was initiated due to declining customer satisfaction indices in the Southern region of Eskom, an electricity utility in South Africa. Given the link between customer satisfaction and purchase intentions, the sustainability of the business is at stake. The validity of the current MaxiCare survey tool is questioned and explored, as is the congruence of management and customers' perceptions regarding the key service quality constructs in the industry. The study's objective was to provide management with a reliable and valid customer satisfaction survey instrument as an alternate to the existing tool and to use the knowledge gained through the research process to recommend improvement strategies aimed at closing specific satisfaction gaps identified. The research was performed in two stages; firstly, semistructured interviews with customers and management to gain an understanding of the most important satisfaction dimensions. These influenced the design of a survey instrument based largely on the SERVPERF tool with the inclusion of importance ratings per item in the second stage. The quantitative survey results were used to assess the reliability and validity of the research and to suggest areas for future work. The results show that communication, quality of supply, assurance and price are uppermost in the consumer's mind. Tangibles are not significant and the inclusion of empathy is inconclusive. Management and customer perceptions at a macro level are closely aligned, however the two populations are not in agreement as to the underlying micro considerations. Similarly, the MaxiCare instrument is found to be valid as a macro indicator but lacks sufficient detail to be useful as a strategic tool and needs to be supplemented with additional sources of market information. The survey instrument used in the second phase is both descriptive and reliable but the number of factors it measures, the mix of items and the inclusion of the 'importance' dimension need further refinement to improve its validity. Future revisions of the tool will provide management with specific information that allows them to focus improvement strategies on disgruntled customers and their key service issues.

We report on our experiences from two user studies (lab experiments) with nearly 300 participants for QoE evaluation using real mobile services and devices in our WiFi network emulation testbed. We briefly introduce our principles for integrating real services in these studies: how we selected relevant services, how we investigated their testability and how we tested them with high efficiency.

The presented dissertation is concerned with the ethic features of the quality of the social services inspectors professional behaviour in the residental facilities. This dissertation is divided into two main parts. The first part comprises theoretical bases related to given problems with the analysis of the relevant professional literature. The other part comprises with the actual research, the aim of which was finding ethical contexts of the inspection performance, inspector's education in the ethics, ethic code of the inspectors, the inspector profession and the value preferences of the inspectors. The main target is to analyze the ethical connections during the ispection performance in chosen residential facilities of the social services. In the research the quantitative and qualitative methods, the questionnaire survey and structural interviews were used. Based on the synthesis of the acquired knowledge the dissertation presents a view of the ethics application in professional activities of the inspectors. Key words: social services, quailty standards, quality inspections, values, ethics, the ethic code, career of the inspector, residential social services.

1 Name of paper / Name of work The implementation of social services quality standards in residential facilities for elderly people - Ethical aspects Abstract The changes in the approach to the clients and adjustments of the run of the facility to their needs are one of the biggest long-term challenges for the service providers. The basis for the correct setting of all the parameters of service (process, personnel and operating) are standards in the quality of social services which involve certain principles and ethical values altogether. One of the essential tools in the changes in approach to clients is the principle of individualization of care, which can be achieved by setting the services to each client individually so that the service provided reflects their real need as much as possible. This dissertation focuses on the individualization of care as a significant indicator in the changes of approach to clients. We tried to figure how the individualization of care reflects in the attitudes of organizations to implement quality standards and how it affects the worker's personality and chosen organizational aspects. An interim goal of this paper was also to identify the ethical aspects which can accompany the introduction of quality standards into practice. We have chosen a method of quantitative...