The current research study was conducted with the aim of evaluating the basic language skills component (BLSC) in the ELT pre-service programme at a College of Education in Kuwait by eliciting the participants’ views regarding its quality and using the results as a basis for suggesting amendments and improvements. The BLSC comprises three courses, Writing, Reading and Conversation, which must be taken by new student teachers in the first semester of enrolment in order to improve their language proficiency. In view of the exploratory nature of this study and its context-specificity, the naturalistic orientation of interpretive and social constructivism as an epistemological stance were selected. The research design employed a sequential mixed methods case study using an adapted version of Bellon and Handler’s (1982) evaluation model. The participants in the study were three lecturers teaching the BLSC courses and 55 students in their first year at the English Department. The data, both quantitative and qualitative, were collected through course evaluation questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, diaries, and relevant written documents. Data were analysed quantitatively using SPSS descriptive statistics and qualitatively using exploratory content analysis. The findings revealed that the BLSC has some major shortcomings that need to be addressed. Shortcomings related to the physical environment of the college site include old buildings, a limited number of classrooms, shortages in learning and teaching resources and facilities, and insufficient library resources. With regard to the goals and objectives of the BLSC, the findings showed some critical issues and the need for a certain degree of revision. Moreover, the findings reveal students’ dissatisfaction with some aspects of the content and materials of the BLSC, including boring and non-challenging topics, and outdated textbooks. Teaching methods were found to be traditionally oriented, applying a teacher-centred approach. The findings show that students were extremely critical of the traditional assessment philosophy used by their teachers, which depends on a final exam that tests rote-learned materials. The study concludes by making suggestions that will have implications for the improvement and development of the given programme in particular, as well as educational practice in general. In addition, the study proposes a model for evaluation which can be applied and modified depending on the specifications of any given context.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Illinois State University, 2006. / Title from title page screen, viewed on April 27, 2007. Dissertation Committee: Paul Baker (chair), Dianne Ashby, Jeffrey Nelson, William Rau. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 206-213) and abstract. Also available in print.

Poster presentation from the Living the Future 8 Conference, April 23-24, 2012, University of Arizona Libraries, Tucson, AZ. / This poster will describe the process and role of the University of Arizona's Access Services and frontline public service staff in needs assessment and user service evaluation, specifically in understanding the voice of the customer. We will include information on our strategic planning process, resources required, data sources, methodology, analytical tools, and the outcomes of this process. Information in this poster was first presented at the 2010 Access Services Conference and has subsequently been updated for publication.

The socially responsible customer segment is growing. Increasingly, customers are concerned about social, political, and environmental issues. These concerns have been shown to affect their attitudes towards the quality of goods and services as well as their buying behaviors. Nevertheless, there is a paucity of empirical research in the service literature on socially responsible customers. This study investigates the role that social responsibility plays in measuring service quality. Both qualitative and quantitative techniques were used in this study. Focus group and in-depth interviews were conducted to develop a scale measuring the social responsibility dimension in the evaluation of service quality. Confirmatory factor analysis and a multiple regression method were then utilized to test four hypotheses postulated in the study. The social responsibility scale consisted of eight items and was shown to be highly reliable. This scale along with the 22 items from the perception part of SERVQUAL formed the Socially Responsible Customer (SRC) SERVQUAL instrument used in this study. A total of 803 respondents completed the survey. The results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that social responsibility was a salient dimension of service quality and highly socially responsible customers used the concept of social responsibility more pronouncedly than the others when evaluating service quality. The social responsibility dimension alone significantly explained the variance in service quality. However, after accounting for the existing five SERVQUAL dimensions, the social responsibility dimension does not add a significant increment to the variance explained by the service quality regression model. / Ph. D.

Performance management, which is a core element of the New Public Management (NPM), has maintained its significance both in academic and practical perspectives for many scholars and governments, although enthusiasm for the NPM has waned since the late 1990s. There have been debates on the universality of the NPM, and the divergence argument regards the practices and trajectories of specific reforms as being shaped by the different characteristics of politico-administrative and cultural systems. Through the comparative study of performance management based on the case studies in the UK and South Korea, this thesis demonstrates that the processes of a NPM-type reform can be similar in spite of differences of politico-administrative and cultural characteristics. It examines performance management systems in the two countries in terms of the speed and nature of reform, resistance to reform, use of performance information and importance as a control mechanism. The comparison is also useful for lesson-drawing for the improvement of current systems. This research has been conducted by undertaking a wide literature review, including journal articles and government papers, and by conducting semi-structured interviews. To undertake analysis and comparison of performance management systems, the thesis looks at the Public Service Agreements (PSAs) in the UK and the Government Performance Evaluation (GPE), Financial Performance Management System (FPMS) and Performance Agreements in Korea. Case studies have been carried out with the Department of Health in the UK and the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs in Korea. The PSA system has problems generated by excessive central control and lack of participation of professionals and front-line staff. In Korea all three performance management systems are based on evaluation. Departments used evaluation as a tool of exercising control, which resulted in duplication of evaluation and excessive bureaucracy. Focus on the process-oriented evaluation has undermined the value of the systems for improving public services. Whilst the two countries display differences in the fundamental approach to performance management, there are similarities in the detailed practices and trajectories in the operation of the systems. The reason for these similarities may be attributed to the strong leadership of top politicians in both countries.

Bakalauro baigiamojo darbo teorinėje dalyje aptariama paslaugos kokybės teorinė samprata, pristatomi paslaugos kokybės vertinimo teoriniai modeliai ir bendrieji paslaugos kokybės vertinimo kriterijai, kuriais remiantis parengtas tyrimo instrumentas – anketa, skirta vertinti P. Šimulio autoserviso paslaugos kokybę. Empirinėje dalyje pristatomi klientų nuomonės tyrimo rezultatai, kurie atskleidžia autoserviso klientų nuomonę apie techninę, funkcinę ir laukiamą kokybę. Tyrimo rezultatai patvirtina, kad P. Šimulio autoserviso paslaugų kokybė daugumos klientų yra vertinama gerai. Tyrimo metu nustatytos ir tobulintinos paslaugos kokybės sritys (aptarnaujančių darbuotojų kiekis ir jų apranga, darbuotojų mokėjimas pripažinti klaidą ir įmonės kainodaros sistema), kurias, remiantis vertinimo rezultatais, rekomenduojama gerinti. Darbą sudaro trys pagrindinės dalys: įvadas, teorinės dalis, empirinė – praktinė dalis, išvados ir rekomendacijos, literatūros sąrašas. Darbe yra aštuonios lentelės, 26 paveikslai. Atskirai pridedami šeši priedai. Darbo apimtis 67 p. teksto be priedų. / The theoretical conception of service quality is discussed in this final work of bachelor degree as well as the theoretical models of evaluation of service quality and overall criteria of evaluation of service quality are introduced in this paper. The instrument of this survey, the questionnaire, which was designed to evaluate the service quality of the P. Šimulis car care service centre, was based on them. The results of the clients’ opinions survey that show the service consumers’ views on technical, functional and expected quality are presented in the empirical part of the work. The obtained results confirm that the major part of the clients appreciate quality of service supplied by the P. Šimulis car care service centre. The improvement areas in quality of service (such as the quantity of operating personnel and their appearance, willingness to acknowledge their mistakes and the pricing system of the company) were identified during the survey and according to the evaluation of the results they should be improved. This final work consists of three main parts: introduction, theoretical part, empirical – practical part, conclusions and recommendations and the list of literature used. There are 8 tables and 26 pictures represented in this work. 6 annexes are listed separate. The bachelor paper consists of 67 pages excluding annexes.

Turizmo paslaugų kokybės poveikis jų konkurencingumui. Sunku įvertinti nuostolius, patiriamus dėl blogos kokybės. Tai papildomos išlaidos klaidoms taisyti, darbo laiko dėl blogo procesų organizavimo švaistymas ir, žinoma, galimybių praradimas, įmonės reputacijos blogėjimas, klientų praradimas. Nuostolių dėl blogos kokybės eliminavimas yra galimybė sumažinti paslaugos kūrimo bei teikimo išlaidas ir pasiekti didesnį veiklos efektyvumą. Didėjantis turizmo verslo vaidmuo tiek pasaulio, tiek šalies ekonomikoje verčia naujai pergalvoti šios ekonomikos šakos svarbą ir vaidmenį šalies ekonominiame augime ir pasverti, ar viskas yra daroma iš turizmo organizatorių pusės, kad būtų adekvačiai atsakyta į globaliniu mastu keliamą iššūkį toliau efektyviai plėtoti šį verslą ir maksimaliai išnaudoti jo teikiamas galimybes šalies gerovei kelti. Lietuvoje turizmo informacijos centruose vis dar pasitaiko įvairių nemalonių netikėtumų, dėl kurių turizmo informacijos centrų klientai vis dar nesulaukia jiems norimų – kokybiškų paslaugų. Turizmas yra itin plati sritis, todėl turizmo informacijos centro darbuotojams yra tikras iššūkis ne tik žinoti, bet ir perteikti šalies kultūrą, apgyvendinimo bei transporto galimybes, turizmo išteklius ir jų ypatumus bei daug kitos informacijos, todėl kokybiškos turizmo informacijos teikimas – tai nauja galimybė įgyvendinti klientų lūkesčius bei poreikius ir prisidėti prie Lietuvos turizmo plėtros. Šio darbo tikslas - išanalizuoti ir įvertinti VšĮ „Kelmės turizmo... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The influence of tourism service quality to competitiveness. It is difficult to evaluate losses, suffered due to bad quality. This means extra expenses to correct the mistakes, wasting time due to inappropriate processing of work organization and losing opportunities and decreasing the enterprise image and loss of customers. The elimination of losses, caused by bad quality, means lower expenses of making a service and achieving better effectiveness of the work. The increasing importance of the tourism business in the world and country markets, makes us re-think the role of this business and ensure that everything is done to continue its spread effectively and maximize the use of its opportunities in the global world to improve the life quality. Customers of Lithuanian tourism information centers still face the different matters of inappropriate service quality. Tourism is a very wide field, so the employees of these Centers have to have the abilities to convey the country culture, accommodation and transport possibilities, tourism resources and their uniqueness and plenty of other information. So, the good quality services may help to implement the expectations and needs and contribute to the spread of Lithuania tourism. The goal of this works is to analyze and evaluate the Public Institution „Kelme Tourism and Business Information Centre“ services, define the improvement methods and possibilities of increasing its competitiveness. The tasks of this work are: describe the... [to full text]

Reputation is an important asset for organisations worldwide. Many researchers have attempted to develop a measurement construct to assess an organisation’s reputation, with the RepTrak System being recognised to be the world’s first tool that assess reputation across multiple stakeholders and areas of the organisation. Nevertheless, the characteristics, methods and stakeholders to include within an assessment of this intangible asset continues to be widely debated. Organisations are under intense scrutiny by their stakeholders, with reputation being an organisational asset on which many opinions are formed. Universities in the UK are no different, as they compete for students from around the world, with the institutions thought to have the best reputations, attracting more students. Nevertheless, no agreed measure for assessing a university’s reputation exists, with many organisations relying solely on league table rankings. Thus, this thesis evaluated existing reputation measurement characteristics, to determine their applicability in assessing the reputation of a UK university. The antecedents of reputation are also widely debated. Authors suggest that stakeholders’ prior knowledge and experience, and communication they receive from an organisation contributes to their perceptions of that organisation’s reputation. The Media Richness Theory suggests a hierarchy to this communication, with face-to-face communication recognised to be of increasing importance due to its ‘rich’ nature. Consequently, the use of events as a strategic communication tool for marketing and public relations purposes has become increasingly popular. Nevertheless, the impact of these events on an organisation’s reputation has yet to be assessed. Thus, the aim of x this thesis is to evaluate the impact that these events have on stakeholders’ perceptions of a UK university’s reputation. A case study methodology, using mixed methods, and underpinned by a pragmatic philosophical perspective was adopted. Five semi-structured interviews were held with senior managers during the first phase of data collection and analysis. Results from these interviews were used to determine the strategic purpose of events as a communication tool. In phase two of the research, the study’s main variables (Reputation, Event Influence, Knowledge and Familiarity, Future Intentions) are combined into a model to assess their relationships. These are tested using Structural Equation Modelling, and data collected from 23 university events and 592 event attendees, using a quantitative questonniare. This study contributes to our knowledge and understanding of the benefits of using events as a form of communication, and highlights the necessity of using a variety of communication channels to inform different stakeholder groups. Findings within this research contradict existing knowledge within the UK Higher Education Industry, by suggesting that university league tables were not the most frequently used method of assessing a university’s reputation, and that rather stakeholders base their perceptions on their personal experience with the institution. Consequently, attending events is found to have a positive influence on attendees’ perceptions of the university’s reputation, however a threshold level exists for stakeholders with high levels of familiarity with the university. Therefore, evidence of the impact of using events as a communication tool is found with a positive return on investment in terms of reputation gains. Thus, findings can be used to inform communication strategy within the higher education industry within the UK.

The master´s thesis deals with the marketing strategy proposal of travel agency SunTA. The theoretical part of the thesis provides an overview of the current concept of corporate strategic management, strategic marketing management, marketing strategy and service quality. The analytical part of the thesis focuses on performing the marketing situation analysis of SunTA and the questionnaire survey to evaluate its service quality. The proposal part of the thesis includes the marketing strategy proposal based on the results of the marketing situation analysis and the evaluation of service quality.