Understanding service experience in non-profit performing arts: Implications for operations and service management

Recent research in the non-profit performing arts has shown that marketing efforts designed to increase revenue from ticket sales are not achieving the results required to sustain the performing arts. This paper applies operations management analytical techniques to the non-profit performing arts to increase understanding of operational issues and inform service management strategy. The paper takes a two-study idiographic approach. Implementing a modified version of service transaction analysis (STA), Study One describes a performing arts service from provider and customer perspectives, identifies service gaps and develops an elaborated service description incorporating both perspectives. In Study Two, building on the elaborated service description and extant research, in-depth interviews are conducted to gather thick descriptions of predictors of satisfaction, value and service quality as they relate to repurchase intention (RI). Technical, functional and critical factors required to improve organizational performance are identified. Implications for operational strategy, service design and service management theory for this context are discussed. (c) 2005 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Do Australian public sector employees have the type of culture they want in the era of new public management?

New public management theory proposes that public sector organisations should be managed more like private sector organisations. It is therefore expected that public sector managers will have preferences for an organisational culture that will reflect the culture of private sector organisations, with an external rather than internal orientation. The current research investigated the idea that managers' perceptions of ideal organisational culture would be different to the bureaucratic model of culture (internally oriented), which has traditionally been associated with public sector organisations. Responses to a competing values culture inventory were received from 925 public sector employees. Results indicated that the bureaucratic model is still pervasive; however, managers prefer a culture that is more external, and less control focussed, as expected. Lower level employees expressed a desire for a culture that emphasised human relations values.

Leading theory: Bourdieu and the field of educational leadership. An introduction and overview to this special issue

Bourdieu … makes it possible to explain how the actions of principals are always contextual, since their interests vary with issue, location, time, school mix, composition of staff and so on. This 'identity' perspective points at a different kind of research about principal practice: to understand the game and its logic requires an analysis of the situated everyday rather than abstractions that claim truth in all instances and places. (Thomson 2001a: 14)

Ex ante evaluations of alternate data structures for end user queries: Theory and experimental test

The data structure of an information system can significantly impact the ability of end users to efficiently and effectively retrieve the information they need. This research develops a methodology for evaluating, ex ante, the relative desirability of alternative data structures for end user queries. This research theorizes that the data structure that yields the lowest weighted average complexity for a representative sample of information requests is the most desirable data structure for end user queries. The theory was tested in an experiment that compared queries from two different relational database schemas. As theorized, end users querying the data structure associated with the less complex queries performed better Complexity was measured using three different Halstead metrics. Each of the three metrics provided excellent predictions of end user performance. This research supplies strong evidence that organizations can use complexity metrics to evaluate, ex ante, the desirability of alternate data structures. Organizations can use these evaluations to enhance the efficient and effective retrieval of information by creating data structures that minimize end user query complexity.

Theory for designing nature reserves for single species

We examine the question of the optimal number of reserves that should be established to maximize the persistence of a species. We assume that the mean time to extinction of a single population increases as a power of the habitat area, that there is a certain amount of habitat to be reserved, and that the aim is to determine how this habitat is most efficiently divided. The optimal configuration depends on whether the management objective is to maximize the mean time to extinction or minimize the risk of extinction. When maximizing the mean time to extinction, the optimal number of independent reserves does not depend on the amount of available habitat for the reserve system. In contrast, the risk of extinction is minimized when individual reserves are equal to the optimal patch size, making the optimal number of reserves linearly proportional to the amount of available habitat. A model that includes dispersal and correlation in the incidence of extinction demonstrates the importance of considering the relative rate at which these two factors decrease with distance between reserves. A small number of reserves is optimal when the mean time to extinction increases rapidly with habitat area or when risks of extinction are high.

A theory for optimal monitoring of marine reserves

Monitoring of marine reserves has traditionally focused on the task of rejecting the null hypothesis that marine reserves have no impact on the population and community structure of harvested populations. We consider the role of monitoring of marine reserves to gain information needed for management decisions. In particular we use a decision theoretic framework to answer the question: how long should we monitor the recovery of an over-fished stock to determine the fraction of that stock to reserve? This exposes a natural tension between the cost (in terms of time and money) of additional monitoring, and the benefit of more accurately parameterizing a population model for the stock, that in turn leads to a better decision about the optimal size for the reserve with respect to harvesting. We found that the optimal monitoring time frame is rarely more than 5 years. A higher economic discount rate decreased the optimal monitoring time frame, making the expected benefit of more certainty about parameters in the system negligible compared with the expected gain from earlier exploitation.

Medication management at home: medication-related risk factors associated with poor health outcomes

Background: some patients may have medication-related risk factors only identified by home visits, but the extent to which those risk factors are associated with poor health outcomes remains unclear. Objective: to determine the association between medication-related risk factors and poor patient health outcomes from observations in the patients' homes. Design: cross-sectional study. Setting: patients' homes. Subjects: 204 general practice patients living in their own homes and at risk of medication-related poor health outcomes. Methods: medications and medication-related risk factors were identified in the patients' homes by community pharmacists and general practitioners (GPs). The medication-related risk factors were examined as determinants of patients' self-reported health related quality of life (SF-36) and their medication use, as well as physicians' impression of patient adverse drug events and health status. Results: key medication-related risk factors associated with poor health outcomes included: Lack of any medication administration routine, therapeutic duplication, hoarding, confusion between generic and trade names, multiple prescribers, discontinued medication repeats retained and multiple storage locations. Older age and female gender were associated with some poorer health outcomes. In addition, expired medication and poor adherence were also associated with poor health outcomes, however, not independently. Conclusion: the findings support the theory that polypharmacy and medication-related risk factors as a result of polypharmacy are correlated to poor health outcomes.

Change in physiotherapy management of children with cystic fibrosis in a large urban hospital

A retrospective audit was conducted in 1998 and 2000 to review the physiotherapy management of hospitalized children with cystic fibrosis (CF) at the Brisbane Royal Children's Hospital (RCH). The objective was to detect and explore possible changes in patient management in this time period and investigate whether these changes reflected changes in the current theory of CF management. All children over two years of age with CF admitted during 1998 and 2000 with pulmonary manifestation and who satisfied set criteria were included (n = 249). Relative frequency of each of six treatment modalities used were examined on two occasions, revealing some degree of change in practice reflecting the changes in current theory. There was a significant decrease in the frequency of usage of postural drainage with head-down tilt (p < 0.001), and autogenic drainage (p < 0.001) between 1998 and 2000. Modified postural drainage without head-down tilt (p < 0.001), and positive expiratory pressure devices (p < 0.001) were used more frequently in 2000 (p < 0.001). No significant changes were identified in the use of Flutter VRP1 (p = 0.145) and exercise (p = 0.763). No significant differences were found in population demographics or occurrence of concomitant factors that may influence patient management.