Academic literature on the topic 'Perceived service delivery and productivity'

The purpose of this article is to determine the role that Quality of Work Life plays in the perceived service delivery and productivity of food and beverage employees in Potchefstroom, South Africa. The questionnaires were distributed at selected food and beverage establishments, and a total of 224 questionnaires were included in the statistical analysis. The data analysis consisted of a demographic profile, a factor analysis and a structural equation model. The results indicated that job, creativity and aesthetics, actualisation, organisational support and employee commitment attributes each exert an influence on the perceived service delivery and productivity of employees. This implies that food and beverage managers should try to improve the working conditions of employees as well as provide an appropriate level of recognition to hardworking employees. Management should consider the recommendations that are made in terms of the job satisfaction levels of food and beverage service employees, as they are able to positively influence organisational performance and success.

The South African healthcare sector stands at the threshold of major restructuring in an attempt to address inadequacies as a result of fragmentation of health services in apartheid South Africa. The level of health services, particularly in rural areas, has decreased and has led to reduced quality and productivity of health services. For individuals residing in rural communities, access to health services can be arduous. Delivery of essential services has to meet the needs of marginalised people who live in remote areas. The health sector is reputed to be good at formulating policies, discussing ideas, making recommendations, and spending resources, but poor on implementing policies. The government insists that the policy framework is transparent and well-defined and that what is needed is effective implementation. Regrettably, the transition of policy into practice is more complex than the perceived judgement of government. Critical concerns regarding issues about how policy can be effectively implemented and who should be responsible for implementation is one of major concern.

Purpose Minimal private participation for infrastructure development continues to affect developing economies like South Africa. This study aims to determine the perceived occurrence of challenges delaying the delivery of water infrastructure assets and the role of both public and private financing for infrastructure development. Design/methodology/approach Quantitative approach was used, and questionnaires were administered to stakeholders that have participated in delivering water infrastructure assets in South Africa. Of the 96 returned questionnaires, 91 were usable, representing 61 per cent response rate. Data from the survey were analysed using descriptive and exploratory factor analyses. The reliability test represented a value of 0.945, indicating internal consistency. Findings Data analysis revealed that corruption, hostility, weak project structuring, high fiscal deficits by state government, cost recovery constraints, high credit risk for private financing and unreliable planning and procurement processes are major challenges delaying the delivery of water infrastructure assets. More so, municipal government remains the key custodian of water infrastructure delivery with limited support from private capital as a result of political administrative instability, legislation and policy uncertainty and inadequate risk-adjusted returns. Originality/value Emphasis should be made on eradicating corruption and non-transparent financial management to improve municipal creditworthiness and amending and implementing much improved legislation and foreign inclusion. Additionally, financial models to complement the existing mechanisms of financing water infrastructure projects should be sought and used. Complete eradication of infrastructure challenges envisages to reduce fiscal deficits, improve service delivery and enhance the competitiveness and productivity of the economy.

Background According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, nurses will be the largest labor pool in the United States by 2022, and more than 1.1 million nursing positions have to be filled by then in order to avoid a nursing shortage. In addition, the incidence rate of musculoskeletal disorders in nurses is above average in comparison with other occupations. Robot-assisted health care has the potential to alleviate the nursing shortage by automating mundane and routine nursing tasks. Furthermore, robots in health care environments may assist with safe patient mobility and handling and may thereby reduce the likelihood of musculoskeletal disorders. Objective This pilot study investigates the perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness (acceptability) of a customized service robot as determined by nursing students (as proxies for nursing staff in health care environments). This service robot, referred to as the Adaptive Robotic Nurse Assistant (ARNA), was developed to enhance the productivity of nurses through cooperation during physical tasks (eg, patient walking, item fetching, object delivery) as well as nonphysical tasks (eg, patient observation and feedback). This pilot study evaluated the acceptability of ARNA to provide ambulatory assistance to patients. Methods We conducted a trial with 24 participants to collect data and address the following research question: Is the use of ARNA as an ambulatory assistive device for patients acceptable to nurses? The experiments were conducted in a simulated hospital environment. Nursing students (as proxies for nursing staff) were grouped in dyads, with one participant serving as a nurse and the other acting as a patient. Two questionnaires were developed and administrated to the participants based on the Technology Acceptance Model with respect to the two subscales of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use metrics. In order to evaluate the internal consistency/reliability of the questionnaires, we calculated Cronbach alpha coefficients. Furthermore, statistical analyses were conducted to evaluate the relation of each variable in the questionnaires with the overall perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use metrics. Results Both Cronbach alpha values were acceptably high (.93 and .82 for perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use questionnaires, respectively), indicating high internal consistency of the questionnaires. The correlation between the variables and the overall perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use metrics was moderate. The average perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use metrics among the participants were 4.13 and 5.42, respectively, out of possible score of 7, indicating a higher-than-average acceptability of this service robot. Conclusions The results served to identify factors that could affect nurses’ acceptance of ARNA and aspects needing improvement (eg, flexibility, ease of operation, and autonomy level).

An increasing number of agricultural transition initiatives are taking place, seeking more autonomy and resilience on the farms. This undeniably reshapes the landscape and the delivery of ecosystem services (ES). To date, little research includes the knowledge and perceptions of local communities on rural landscapes in agricultural transition. Yet, farmers shape the landscape and ES delivery, and local inhabitants are directly impacted. The present work aims at assessing the extent to which locals (local inhabitants and farmers) appreciate and view landscapes undergoing agricultural transitions. To do so, questionnaires were submitted to locals enquiring about appreciation and ES perceptions of transitioning landscapes. These landscapes were shown in manipulated photographs simulating an agroecological landscape, a conventional agriculture landscape, and landscapes including each isolated agroecological practice (resulting in six ‘scenarios’). In order to put locals’ perceptions in perspective, the same questionnaire was submitted to ‘ES experts’, and ES perceptions were compared to field-based ES measurements in agroecological and conventional parcels of the same study region. The results show that locals and ES experts appreciate and perceive these scenarios similarly. The agroecological scenario was seen as the most appreciated and the one delivering the most ES, while the conventional one was the least appreciated and seen as the one delivering the least ES. These perceptions of ES delivery partially correspond to the ES field measurements, which showed a similar productivity within agroecological and conventional parcels and more regulating ES in agroecological parcels. We discuss how our results call for the assessment of the multi-performance of agricultural systems in terms of ES rather than focusing on yield only, and how future research addressing agroecological transition should rely on integrated valuations and mixed methods to better embrace the complexity of such transitioning systems.

Background. Measurement of assistive technology outcomes is complex because many factors (e.g., environment and model of service delivery) influence the successful use of the technology. Purpose. Using the example of measuring the outcomes of word cueing technology, this paper presents an approach for measuring assistive technology outcomes. Method. The Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) was administered to 29 children with physical and learning disabilities, between the ages of 3.9 and 19 years. Participants were provided with WordQ, a software program designed to assist the development of writing skills. Follow-up data were collected through telephone interviews. Results. The COPM findings supported the effectiveness of WordQ Version 1 to enhance written productivity, with a mean performance change score of 3.5 (SD = 1.5). The COPM was an effective tool for measuring clients' perceived outcome of word cueing technology. Telephone interview was considered a successful method for collecting outcome data. Practice Implications. A mix of tools and methodologies should be used to gain a comprehensive understanding of the impact of assistive technology.

The reality of the presence of disruptive technologies of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) era has dawned on everyone. However, the narratives have centered on how these technologies will aid the production and delivery of goods and services in a more efficient and transparent manner based on increased data accumulation and analysis. The focus of these technologies has been on how large manufacturing and service organizations can automate the development of processes, products and services. The question is “how will the small and medium enterprises survive in the 4IR era?” This paper will attempt to answer this question by considering and examining how the South African small and medium enterprises can seize the opportunities provided by the technologies of the fourth industrial revolution era for their development and sustainability thereby contributing to the socio-economic development and growth of the South African nation. The findings show that in spite of the concerns with respect to perceived threats of loss of jobs, increase in inequality, unemployment and poverty in view of the emerging technologies of the 4IR, the development of a well-articulated policy directions and strategy on the fourth industrial revolution by government coupled with a positive response by the business community will afford the entrepreneurs the opportunity to participate in the newly created supply chains and markets. Furthermore, the new technologies of the 4IR will result in the expansion of labor demand through increased productivity thereby creating new jobs that will far outweigh the old jobs lost through digitalization.

The complexities associated with healthcare centres have made conflict a part and parcel of their operational milieus. Student nurses on formal clinical training, being part of the system, are not resistant to the deleterious outcomes of such conflicts. Thus, this is study assessed conflict dynamics and management strategies of student nurses in government hospitals in Adamawa State, Nigeria. A descriptive survey design was adopted and a sample of 160 student nurses was selected through random sampling technique. A self-structured questionnaire titled “Student Nursing Conflict Questionnaire” (SNCQ) was used to elicit primary data. Data collected were analysed with frequency counts, percentage and standard deviation. The study discovered that the majority of student nurses frequently encountered conflict (50.6%) in hospitals and they often perceived it as something bad (70.6%). Also, the major types of conflict often experienced by student nurses were “nurse-student nurse conflict” (NSC) (36.9%) and “patient relatives-student nurse conflict” (PRSC) (36.9%). The main causes of these conflicts were lateness to the hospital ( = 3.375) and unclear definition of responsibilities between student nurses and other auxiliary health workers ( = 3.338). Furthermore, the main consequences of conflict on student nurses were lowering their productivity ( = 3.550) and discouraging effective training of student nurses ( = 3.569). The conflict management styles often adopted by student nurses were collaborating style ( =3.153) and accommodating style ( =3.025). Based on these findings, it was recommended that medical peace education should be promoted in all ramifications in health establishments in order to help those that wish to become health practitioners such as student nurses as well as those already practicing in the field to understand conflict behavioural dynamics for constructive mitigation to enhance their productivity and healthcare service delivery.

Purpose – It is clear that libraries consider the use of data to inform decision making a top priority in the next five years. JISC's considerable work on activity data has highlighted the lack of tools and services for libraries to exploit this data. The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential of a shared analytics service for UK academic libraries and introduce the JISC Library Analytics and Metrics Project. The project aims to help libraries effectively management collections and services as well as delivering pre-emptive indicators and “actionable insights” to help identify new trends, personalise services and improve efficiencies, economies and effectiveness (student attainment and satisfaction and institutional reputation, for example). The project builds on the Library Impact Data Project at the University of Huddersfield and the work of the Copac Activity Data and Collections Management tools. The paper will deliver a case study of the project, its progress to date, the challenges of such an approach and the implications the service has for academic libraries. Design/methodology/approach – The paper will be a case study of the project and its institutional partners and early adopters work to date and explore both the technical and cultural challenges of the work as well as its implications for the role of the library within the institution and the services it provides. Specifically the case study will comprise of the following aspects: a brief history of the work and the context of library analytics services in the UK (and internationally). A description of the approach adopted by the project, and the vision and goals of the project. Exploration of the challenges associated with the project. Outline of the implications of the project and the resultant service. Findings – This paper will report on the initial findings of the project, which will run from January to December 2013. In particular it will consider the issues surfaced through the close engagement with the academic library community (through the projects community advisory and planning group) and the institutional early adopters around data gathering and analysis. Practical implications – Data accumulated in one context has the potential to inform decisions and interventions elsewhere. While there are a number of recognised and well-understood use cases for library analytics these tend to revolve around usage and collection management. Yet, the potential of a shared analytics service is in uncovering those links and indicators across diverse data sets. The paper will consider a number of practical impacts: performance – benchmarking, student attainment and research productivity; design – fine tuning services, personalised support; trends – research landscape, student marketplace, utilisation of resources. The case study will explore these practical implications for libraries and what they mean for the future of the library within the academy. Originality/value – The paper will present a case study of a unique service that currently fills an important gap within the library analytics space. The paper will focus on the services potential to transform both the way the library works and how it is perceived by its users, as well as its role and relationship within the broader institution.

The study empirically tested the relationship between managerial competencies and competitive advantage in pharmaceutical blockbusters. According to the literature, blockbuster models and competitive strategies are significant determinants in organisational performance in the pharmaceutical industry context. However, the focus of this study is to determine whether efforts to combine managerial competence and the blockbuster model will reorient pharmaceutical companies to better competitive advantage by creating blockbuster drugs for the companies. This competitive advantage will position pharmaceutical companies in the face of increasing labour turnover, daunting economic challenges and perceived customer benefits that characterise this industry. A quantitative research design was adopted for this study, and primary data were obtained through a structured questionnaire administered to 22 managers of two major pharmaceutical firms in Lagos, Nigeria. The data obtained revealed a strong positive relationship between managerial competencies, blockbuster models and competitive advantage and three out of four hypotheses were accepted. The hypotheses were tested through Pearson’s product-moment correlation and regression product of determination. Descriptive statistical tools, ANOVA and multiple linear regressions were used to assess perceptions of managerial competencies and blockbuster models on SPSS (version 23.0). Cronbach’s alpha was extracted as a reliability coefficient for the data analysis (α = 0.851). Several implications for management and policy are also discussed in light of the findings of this study. It was concluded that a deep knowledge of managerial competencies and blockbuster models are highly needed in the selected pharmaceutical companies to gain business expansion, maintain low average costs and achieve significant market share while improving on their level of service delivery and capacity to support groups or teams through training, coaching and sharing specialist knowledge. This study recommends developing strategies and deploying blockbuster models across all industries for a distinctive advantage of ineffective organisational performance and greater productivity.

The importance of management in the food and beverage sector as well as managing food and beverage service employees are crucial aspects that influence quality service delivery. The food and beverage sector is a large service orientated segment of the greater tourism industry, and effective management of employees is therefore necessary since employees are regarded as the primary resource through which establishments deliver services. One might further argue that an employee is “the service” that customers pay for, and that the employees make the intangible service, tangible by their efficiency. The food and beverage sector is however burdened with many challenges such as long working hours, poor remuneration and unskilled employees that influence the overall working conditions of employees and furthermore their overall job satisfaction. The job satisfaction experienced by employees is closely related to Quality of Work Life, which enables employees to design their own level of job satisfaction that will contribute to improved perceived service delivery and productivity. Investigating the needs of employees and how they perceive their own service delivery and productivity is a very important consideration as these contribute to job satisfaction. The rational is that Quality of Work Life contributes to the perceived service delivery and performance of employees as satisfied employees tend to be more hardworking, more productive and will offer better quality services, especially in a service-orientated sector such as the food and beverage sector. The primary goal of the study was to determine the perceived service delivery and productivity in the food and beverage sector, by investigating how commercial food and beverage service employees in Potchefstroom, North-West Province of South Africa, perceive their own service delivery and productivity. In order to reach the goal of the study a self-administrated questionnaire was distributed among food and beverage service employees at various types of establishments such as hotel restaurants, family restaurants, restaurants, fast food outlets, bars, coffee shops and commercial caterers. A total of 224 questionnaires were obtained and included in the statistical data analysis. The data was captured and analysed in the Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS), while Amos was utilised for the Structural Equation Model (SEM). The statistical analysis used in this study consisted of three (3) stages. Firstly, the profile of the respondents, the work life domains and the employees’ business environment was compiled with the help of two-way frequency tables and illustrated with the help of Figures and Tables. Secondly, an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was done on the work life domains and Finally a Structural Equation Model was performed to indicate the relationship between the work life domains and the influence thereof on perceived service delivery and productivity. The Principal Axis Factor analysis identified seven factors namely job attributes, social attributes, esteem attributes, actualisation attributes, creativity and aesthetic attributes, organisational support and employee commitment and perceived service delivery and productivity. Service and productivity business environment attributes scored the highest mean value (4.00) and this was followed by the esteem work life domain (3.68). Structural Equation Models were performed to indicate the relationship between the work life domains, business environment attributes and the influence thereof on perceived service delivery and productivity. The correlations between the factors in the final SEM indicated that though there exists correlations between organisational support and employee commitment and actualisation attributes, between actualisation and job attributes, and between organisational support and employee commitment and job attributes. Creativity and aesthetic attributes and job attributes indicated correlations, while, organisational support and creativity and aesthetic attributes correlated. Actualisation and creativity and aesthetic attributes correlated as well. This indicates that food and beverage managers have to improve the working conditions of employees as well as provide the appropriate level of recognition to the hardworking employees. Management should consider the recommendations that are made in terms of job satisfaction of food and beverage service employees, as it possesses the ability to influence organisational performance and success. This research was the first study conducted among employees in the commercial food and beverage sector. It made a considerable contribution to literature as, there is to date, limited research available on the influence that Quality of Work life has on the perceived service delivery and productivity of employees in the food and beverage sector. Furthermore, this research provides valuable insights into the job satisfaction and perceived service delivery and productivity of South African food and beverage employees and how best to manage these employees with South African working conditions in mind. There is, however, ample opportunity to expand this type of research in many other tourism industries or sectors, to understand the degree to which employees’ perceptions of their own service delivery and productivity might influence organisational performance. Expanding this research will therefore be invaluable as organisational performance is the main objective of all commercial establishments as it contributes to the improvement of the sector and its competitiveness and profitability.
Thesis (MCom (Tourism Management))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

This study assesses service delivery challenges in Intsika Yethu Municipality with reference to water and electricity. This report presents the findings of a study conducted to identify the service delivery challenges related to the provision of basic services such as water and electricity, together with the recommendations on how these challenges can be resolved. This study was prompted by the huge number of backlogs experienced regarding water and electricity as well as complaints of non-service delivery and little understanding of the programme and plans within Intsika Yethu Municipality. The results of this study show that the communities do not fully participate in their development planning processes and they do not understand the purpose and existence of IDP document. The researcher hopes that this study will sensitise the community to participate in the affairs of their development that will change the quality of their lives. Intsika Yethu Municipality should improve their strategies and consultation structures in the implementation of water and electricity projects as well as the IDP processes.

Role ambiguity in school counseling is common; therefore, school counselors deal with issues of role conflict, lack of advocacy, and the assignment of inappropriate duties. The American School Counselor Association (2012) National Model was developed to provide school counselors with a framework for the delivery of appropriate school counseling services to students; however, the National Model is not implemented in all school districts. School counselors' perceived organizational support (POS) was hypothesizes as possible variable mitigating the adoption of the ASCA National Model. This study examined the relationship between school counselors' in Central Florida perceived organizational support (as measured by the Survey of Perceived Organizational Support [SPOS]) and their school counseling service delivery (as measured by the School Counselor Activity Rating Scale [SCARS]). Descriptive statistics, multiple linear regression (MLR), and Pearson product-moment correlation (two-tailed) analysis were employed to investigate correlations. MLR analysis was applied to the outcome/dependent variable of POS (total mean SPOS score) and predictor/independent variables of school counseling services delivery (five mean SCARS subscale scores). Overall, the five mean SCARS subscale score predicted only 6.1% of the variance in the school counselors' mean SPOS scores. In addition, none of the five mean SCARS subscale scores had a statistically significant beta coefficient. Moreover, the results identified that school counselors at the elementary school level had higher POS, SCARS consultation, SCARS curriculum, and SCARS other scores than middle and high school counselors. Furthermore, the school counselors with more experience and not working at Title I schools had lower SCARS counseling scores. The school counselors reporting an older age and with a larger counselor-to-student ratio also had higher SCARS curriculum scores.
Ed.D.
Doctorate
Dean's Office, Education
Education and Human Performance
Education

This study is about helping managers identify and enhance the idiosyncratic firm resources required for delivering superior perceived use value to customers. Specifically, the research has focused on the organisational knowledge required for routinised service delivery, and has operationalised this organisational knowledge as activities. Project 1 was a comparative study involving observation and interviews in two similar but differentially performing financial services organisations in order to identify the activities involved in service delivery and the differences between the two operations. Project 2 identified customers’ perceptions of value through customer interviews, and then mapped the links between these and the service delivery activities identified in Project 1. Project 3 involved a clinical inquiry intervention aiming to encourage and leverage the firm specific resource of inter-team coordination to enhance the delivery of customer value. The research has confirmed the role of firm specific resources as a source of competitive advantage, and has demonstrated a link with customers’ dimensions of perceived use value. In this study, effective inter-team coordination is identified as the firm specific strategic resource that appears to enable effective service delivery as perceived by customers, through the sharing of knowledge and interpretations, and the development of service process innovation. Many of these coordination activities are discretionary rather than prescribed, with implications for management practice. From this research, a framework has been developed for considering and managing firm specific sources of advantage at the detailed operational level. This is a micro level approach that makes specific links between the customer experience and internal activities, through identifying internal and external competitiveness factors, mapping the ‘inside-outside’ connections, and achieving alignment between internal activities and customer perceptions of value.

Despite the existence of enabling governmental policies, programmes and legislation, such as the Construction Regulations gazetted in 2003, Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act No. 5 of 2000, Occupational Health and Safety Act No. 83 of 1993, the White Paper on the Transformation of the Public Service (WPTPS) of 1997, the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act No. 108 of 1996 and the Batho Pele principles, the NDPW is still perceived to be unable to improve on its service delivery record. The aim of this research was to examine the improvement of effective service delivery by the NDPW, the efficiency of government policies, legislation and programmes to address service delivery, and whether the NDPW is in actual fact rendering poor service delivery. A quantitative approach has been implemented in this research; a questionnaire was designed to acquire primary, factual and attitudinal data from NDPW employees; and the secondary data were acquired through a survey of the literature. The results revealed that the NDPW has not yet achieved service delivery improvement. This inadequacy may be attributed to employees’ poor involvement and legislation that has not yet positively impacted on the NDPW service delivery. Here the problem would appear to be a lack of training and education on service delivery. Despite existing policies, programmes and legislation, the NDPW has to date been unable to deliver its services effectively and efficiently. Apparently, their staff is not fully involved in the implementation of such service delivery. The White Paper on the Transformation of the Public Service of 1997 encourages poverty-alleviation programmes that are difficult in practice to implement.

The overall objective of this study is to explore, examine, assess and compare perceived satisfaction with service delivery and perceived social support systems among dual-diagnosis: schizophrenic clients. To attain this objective, the following areas were examined by the researcher: (1) Identifying data/demographic data; (2) Support systems, i.e., family and friends among dual-diagnosis: schizophrenic clients; and (3) Satisfaction with mental health service delivery. Fragmentation and gaps in service delivery were also examined. An exploratory descriptive research design was used in the study. A two-part questionnaire was administered by the researcher to thirty-four Dual-diagnosed Schizophrenic Consumers in two separate Mental Health Facilities in Fulton County. This study was an attempt to compare perceived satisfaction with service delivery and perceived social support systems among Dual-diagnosis: Schizophrenic Substance Abusers. The Null Hypothesis was accepted in this study. It was found that there were no statistical significance in perceived satisfaction with service delivery and perceived social support among Dual-diagnosis: Schizophrenic Substance Abusers.

As the speed of change increases, federal agencies are challenged more often to develop and implement improvements to existing programs, new programs to meet new needs, or adjustments to programs based on changed circumstances of delivery. Built on the foundation of systems theory, expectancy theory, and field theory, this research seeks to explain why some managers do not propose changes in their organizations---even when the very survival of the organization is at risk. By measuring the fields of influence encountered by managers, we find that the chain of command is supportive of change initiatives. Other organizational elements--human resources and legal staff were measured in this research--are, in general, indifferent about the managers' effort to change. Employees, on the other hand, are strongly opposed to any change with even minimal impact on their work habits and conditions. Based on a survey of 201 managers of Army morale, welfare and recreation activities worldwide, this research views the climate for change from the perspective of the activity manager. There are general findings, along with detailed analysis, that support the need for a change to the environment itself. Executives charged with reviewing and approving activity-initiated changes may find this study useful in developing implementation strategies. Managers may take comfort in knowing that their environment is highly consistent with the experiences of other managers. Support staff--particularly legal and human resources offices--may find the perceptions of managers to be incongruent with the service objectives. We hope that everyone can find enlightenment, or perhaps confirmation of their own experiences, in the responses of these managers, and can use this information productively in the management of their areas of responsibility.
Ph.D.
Department of Public Administration
Health and Public Affairs
Public Affairs: Ph.D.

A number of government initiatives have been established over recent years (1994- 2010) to address the challenge of raising overall quality of life by improving productivity in South Africa. High productivity at a municipal level contributes to the overall productivity of the national economy, which in turn helps to create higher living standards. Workplace productivity refers to how efficiently and effectively an institution can turn its inputs, such as labour and capital, into outputs, such as products and services. Finding ways to increase productivity is a task that can be both frustrating and time consuming. Sedibeng District Municipality (SDM) as one of the South African local municipalities required to meet the development mandate for improving the lives of the people. Mega-events such as the FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa are perceived as an inhibiting factor towards service delivery. SDM is also challenged to complement the requirements of the FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup to its daily activities. There are mixed opinions about the event. There are misconceptions about mega-events such as the FIFA World Cup, whereby managers estimated that there will be lost hours of productivity. Some managers predicted that a strong performance by the SDM would help the municipality’s ailing economy through boosted sales for beverages, food and the team's apparels. The primary goal of this study was to investigate the perceptions of productivity on service delivery during the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup at SDM. Exploration was also made on whether the effective strategic planning can help to improve productivity for future mega events such as the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup. As a result to this, a hypothesis was developed that “a focused effort and strategic approaches to increase workplace productivity during mega events (2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup) in SDM is essential, towards continuous improvement of municipal management and operations in order to deliver sustainable competitive advantage”. The hypothesis and research objectives of the study were validated by means of a literature review and empirical surveys and, in so doing open-ended and closed-ended estionnaires were used to interview participants. For the achievement of the primary objective of the study, five chapters were structured to realize the objectives of this study. This was done through a literature review by means of interviews and questionnaires to the SDM and its community members. A sample of 60 community members and municipal employees were consulted for this study. The research findings highlighted the outcomes of the research and verified the assertions made in this study. The study found that: • Productivity plays an important role in municipal service delivery, and it should be a priority and primary objective towards effective service delivery in all municipalities. • Productivity growth is important because, as a key driver of real GDP growth, it improves the prosperity and living standards of the population in SDM. • The absence of an effective strategy may lead to lack and low productivity • Strategic plan in the SDM plays an important role in ensuring sustainable delivery of services. • The impact of the FIFA 2010 World Cup, were minimal, whereby the plans of SDM were incorporated in the Integrated Development Plan for 2006-2010. • The event boosted the moral of community members and for small businesses in SDM. The study concludes with a series of recommendations for an effective public participation process in poverty alleviation programmes for communities, and for further research.
M, Development and Management, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2012

Governments are striving to deliver more efficient and effective public services in order to achieve better public service quality, with reduced waiting times, improved cost effectiveness, higher productivity and more transparency. It's an issue of doing things in new ways that requires fundamental change in the provision of public services in the future and a complete new approach for Governments to work and interact with their citizens. Currently, Societies witness more than ever that Web 2.0 and social media in particular, constitute the emerging, if not already established, mass collaboration and cooperation platform between citizens and administrations, as the latter have started to realise the benefits of such applications. The COCKPIT project builds on these developments and based on a highly synergetic approach aims to define a new Governance model for the next generation public service delivery, by combining various research areas.

Gas pipeline projects are capital intensive and normally are developed under scenarios of uncertainty. Such uncertainties vary from closing take-or-pay, ship-or-pay or delivery-or-pay agreements to those uncertainties related to the acquisition of equipments, material and construction and assembling contracts. Natural gas compression service contracts with compressor station using gas motors and reciprocating compressors have been widely adopted at PETROBRAS as economically feasible against holding the stations as part of the pipeline asset as well as providing an effective approach to mitigate risks inherent to the gas business and associated to the compressor stations. Although compression service contracts with turbo compressors (gas turbine drivers and centrifugal compressors) have not yet been accomplished at PETROBRAS for gas pipeline projects, studies and preliminaries discussions shows that, taken into consideration certain relevant aspects, they will also present great opportunity to be adopted and will generate the same advantages already perceived for the compression service contracts with stations that uses gas motor drivers and reciprocation compressors. This paper has the objective of presenting an economic approach and a business model addressing the main points that must be considered while doing feasibility analysis between the alternatives of holding property of the compression station asset against the opportunity of having a compression service contract as operating cost for the project. Questions such as how to address depreciation, overhaul costs and tailor made equipment, such as centrifugal compressors, are raised and answered.

In the fiberglass production process, glass is produced from various batch ingredients in a glass furnace. The molten glass is then delivered, through a delivery system that is often called the front-end system, to the various downstream forming operations. Front-end systems consist of various covered channels and forehearths. One of the major tasks of a front-end system is to insure that the glass is conditioned to the stringent specifications required by the forming operations. Improperly designed and/or operated front-end delivery systems can cause a number of problems to the forming operations, ranging from poor conversion efficiency (resulting in waste generation) due to glass defects to shortened service life. In today’s business environment, improvement in productivity, reduction in energy consumption, and minimization or elimination of waste generation have become priorities in managing and optimizing manufacturing operations. CFD has become an increasingly important tool for glass manufacturers to guide and optimize such system designs and operations. The current front-end model is developed to simultaneously simulate the chemically reacting turbulent flows in the superstructure and the laminar glass flow with strong buoyancy effects. Radiation from the superstructure wall surfaces and burner flames and internal radiation within the glass is modeled with the discrete ordinates (DO) radiation model in FLUENT. The turbulent reacting flow in the combustion space is calculated to obtain the flame shapes and lengths to accurately determine the heat transfer rate to the molten glass. The laminar glass flow, which is strongly influenced by natural convection, is calculated with temperature dependent physical properties. Simulations of the two radically different flow regimes are coupled through the interface boundary conditions in terms of temperature and heat flux continuity. Significant efforts were made to validate this approach with field measurements. Vertical temperature profiles were obtained in the glass melt as well as the combustion space at several strategically selected locations. The measurements were performed using two 6-element thermocouples housed in a platinum sheath. This coupled approach is expected to provide an effective tool that can be used to guide field operations as well as future system designs.

Abstract The North Sea has always been a pioneer for the adoption of remote operations services (ROS) in offshore drilling applications. Drilling services such as Measurement While Drilling (MWD), Logging While Drilling (LWD) and/or mud logging (ML) have been performed with an element of ROS for over the last two decades. Early adoption of these remote services delivered initial benefits to operators such as reducing HSE risks related to the travel and accommodation of field service employees at offshore rig sites. Meanwhile service companies were able to explore the added efficiencies gained by having multi-skilled employees providing a higher level of support to customers while also gaining additional agility to manage their personnel through tighter market cycles. The mutual benefit of this early adoption created a solid foundation for ROS to expand the scope of influence in drilling operations to include Directional Drilling (DD). Despite the maturity of ROS within a select community of operators in the North Sea, the industry standard for service delivery in offshore operations has continued to require field service employees to perform DD, MWD, and LWD services at rig sites until this past year. With the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, operators and service companies were quickly and abruptly confronted with the challenges of new HSE regulations, travel restrictions, and increased financial scrutiny. ROS presented a tailored solution to not only sustain business continuity but also create added efficiency, consistency, and risk management. Over the course of 2020, adoption of ROS rapidly accelerated across offshore operations in the North Sea and reached up to 100% penetration in key sectors. This tremendous achievement has made a significant impact on project performance and HSE efficiencies by ensuring on time service delivery while reducing personnel on board (POB). In addition, as more operators and services companies explore ways of reducing their carbon footprints and achieving a net zero future, ROS has proven to be a way to significantly reduce carbon emissions associated with transportation and utilities of offshore personnel. This paper discusses the methods that enabled a record high adoption rate for ROS and explores the critical components of its success. It illustrates the management of change in service delivery processes, the introduction of new technology to unlock greater productivity and synergies, and the new approach to design the core competencies needed to support ROS. It also describes the need for flexible ROS service models to meet the specific project needs of various operators. The paper concludes with the numerous benefits realized through ROS such as improved performance and consistently reliable service delivery. The paper also examines the resulting carbon emission reduction, how to quantify it, and the role ROS plays in achieving a net zero emissions future.

Aims: Q-LAMP aims to identify risk factors and resilience factors for symptoms of psychiatric illness during the pandemic. Study strengths include the 1-year longitudinal design and the use of standardized instruments already available in English and Arabic. The results will increase understanding of the impact of the pandemic on mental health for better support of the population during the pandemic and in future epidemics. Until an effective vaccine is available or herd immunity is achieved, countries are likely to encounter repeated ‘waves’ of infection. The identification of at-risk groups for mental illness will inform the planning and delivery of individualized treatment including primary prevention. Methodology: Longitudinal online survey; SMS-based recruitment and social media platforms advertisements e.g. Facebook, Instagram; Online consent; Completion time for questionnaires: approx. 20 to 30 minute; Baseline questionnaire with follow up at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months; Study completion date: Sept. 2021. Inclusion criteria: Currently living in Qatar; Qatari residents: citizens and expatriates; Age 18 years; read Arabic or English (questionnaire and consent form available in both languages). Instruments: Sociodemographic questionnaire including personal and family experience of COVID-19 infection; Standard instruments to assess psychiatric morbidity including depression, anxiety and PTSD; research team-designed instruments to assess social impact of pandemic; standard questionnaires to assess resilience, personality, loneliness, religious beliefs and social networks. Results: The analysis was based on 181 observations. Approximately, 3.5% of the sample was from the sms-recruitment method. The sample of completed surveys consisted of 65.0% females and 35.0% males. Qatari respondents comprised 27.0% of the total sample, while 52% of the sample were married, 25% had Grade 12 or lower level of educational attainment, and 46.0% were unemployed. Covid-19 appears to have affected different aspects of people’s lives from personal health to living arrangements, employment, and health of family and friends. Approximately, 41% to 55% of those who responded to the survey perceived changes in their stress levels, mental health, and loneliness to be worse than before the pandemic. Additionally, the wide availability of information about the pandemic on the internet and social media was perceived as source of pandemic-related worries among members of the public. Conclusion: The continued provision of mental health service and educational campaigns about effective stress and mental health management is warranted.

Aim/Purpose: This paper provides the results of the preliminary analysis of the findings of an ongoing study that seeks to examine the social media use, cultural and political awareness, civic engagement, issue prioritization, and social activism of Gen Z students enrolled at four different institutional types located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The aim of this study is to look at the group as a whole as well as compare findings across populations. The institutional types under consideration include a mid-sized majority serving or otherwise referred to as a traditionally white institution (TWI) located in a small coastal city on the Atlantic Ocean, a small Historically Black University (HBCU) located in a rural area, a large community college located in a county that is a mixture of rural and suburban and which sits on the border of Maryland and Pennsylvania, and graduating high school students enrolled in career and technical education (CTE) programs in a large urban area. This exploration is purposed to examine the behaviors and expectations of Gen Z students within a representative American region during a time of tremendous turmoil and civil unrest in the United States. Background: Over 74 million strong, Gen Z makes up almost one-quarter of the U.S. population. They already outnumber any current living generation and are the first true digital natives. Born after 1996 and through 2012, they are known for their short attention spans and heightened ability to multi-task. Raised in the age of the smart phone, they have been tethered to digital devices from a young age with most having the preponderance of their childhood milestones commemorated online. Often called Zoomers, they are more racially and ethnically diverse than any previous generation and are on track to be the most well-educated generation in history. Gen Zers in the United States have been found in the research to be progressive and pro-government and viewing increasing racial and ethnic diversity as positive change. Finally, they are less likely to hold xenophobic beliefs such as the notion of American exceptionalism and superiority that have been popular with by prior generations. The United States has been in a period of social and civil unrest in recent years with concerns over systematic racism, rampant inequalities, political polarization, xenophobia, police violence, sexual assault and harassment, and the growing epidemic of gun violence. Anxieties stirred by the COVID-19 pandemic further compounded these issues resulting in a powder keg explosion occurring throughout the summer of 2020 and leading well into 2021. As a result, the United States has deteriorated significantly in the Civil Unrest Index falling from 91st to 34th. The vitriol, polarization, protests, murders, and shootings have all occurred during Gen Z’s formative years, and the limited research available indicates that it has shaped their values and political views. Methodology: The Mid-Atlantic region is a portion of the United States that exists as the overlap between the northeastern and southeastern portions of the country. It includes the nation’s capital, as well as large urban centers, small cities, suburbs, and rural enclaves. It is one of the most socially, economically, racially, and culturally diverse parts of the United States and is often referred to as the “typically American region.” An electronic survey was administered to students from 2019 through 2021 attending a high school dual enrollment program, a minority serving institution, a majority serving institution, and a community college all located within the larger mid-Atlantic region. The survey included a combination of multiple response, Likert scaled, dichotomous, open ended, and ordinal questions. It was developed in the Survey Monkey system and reviewed by several content and methodological experts in order to examine bias, vagueness, or potential semantic problems. Finally, the survey was pilot tested prior to implementation in order to explore the efficacy of the research methodology. It was then modified accordingly prior to widespread distribution to potential participants. The surveys were administered to students enrolled in classes taught by the authors all of whom are educators. Participation was voluntary, optional, and anonymous. Over 800 individuals completed the survey with just over 700 usable results, after partial completes and the responses of individuals outside of the 18-24 age range were removed. Findings: Participants in this study overwhelmingly were users of social media. In descending order, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, WhatsApp, LinkedIn and Tik Tok were the most popular social media services reported as being used. When volume of use was considered, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and Twitter were the most cited with most participants reporting using Instagram and Snapchat multiple times a day. When asked to select which social media service they would use if forced to choose just one, the number one choice was YouTube followed by Instagram and Snapchat. Additionally, more than half of participants responded that they have uploaded a video to a video sharing site such as YouTube or Tik Tok. When asked about their familiarity with different technologies, participants overwhelmingly responded that they are “very familiar” with smart phones, searching the Web, social media, and email. About half the respondents said that they were “very familiar” with common computer applications such as the Microsoft Office Suite or Google Suite with another third saying that they were “somewhat familiar.” When asked about Learning Management Systems (LMS) like Blackboard, Course Compass, Canvas, Edmodo, Moodle, Course Sites, Google Classroom, Mindtap, Schoology, Absorb, D2L, itslearning, Otus, PowerSchool, or WizIQ, only 43% said they were “very familiar” with 31% responding that they were “somewhat familiar.” Finally, about half the students were either “very” or “somewhat” familiar with operating systems such as Windows. A few preferences with respect to technology in the teaching and learning process were explored in the survey. Most students (85%) responded that they want course announcements and reminders sent to their phones, 76% expect their courses to incorporate the use of technology, 71% want their courses to have course websites, and 71% said that they would rather watch a video than read a book chapter. When asked to consider the future, over 81% or respondents reported that technology will play a major role in their future career. Most participants considered themselves “informed” or “well informed” about current events although few considered themselves “very informed” or “well informed” about politics. When asked how they get their news, the most common forum reported for getting news and information about current events and politics was social media with 81% of respondents reporting. Gen Z is known to be an engaged generation and the participants in this study were not an exception. As such, it came as no surprise to discover that, in the past year more than 78% of respondents had educated friends or family about an important social or political issue, about half (48%) had donated to a cause of importance to them, more than a quarter (26%) had participated in a march or rally, and a quarter (26%) had actively boycotted a product or company. Further, about 37% consider themselves to be a social activist with another 41% responding that aren’t sure if they would consider themselves an activist and only 22% saying that they would not consider themselves an activist. When asked what issues were important to them, the most frequently cited were Black Lives Matter (75%), human trafficking (68%), sexual assault/harassment/Me Too (66.49%), gun violence (65.82%), women’s rights (65.15%), climate change (55.4%), immigration reform/deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA) (48.8%), and LGBTQ+ rights (47.39%). When the schools were compared, there were only minor differences in social media use with the high school students indicating slightly more use of Tik Tok than the other participants. All groups were virtually equal when it came to how informed they perceived themselves about current events and politics. Consensus among groups existed with respect to how they get their news, and the community college and high school students were slightly more likely to have participated in a march, protest, or rally in the last 12 months than the university students. The community college and high school students were also slightly more likely to consider themselves social activists than the participants from either of the universities. When the importance of the issues was considered, significant differences based on institutional type were noted. Black Lives Matter (BLM) was identified as important by the largest portion of students attending the HBCU followed by the community college students and high school students. Less than half of the students attending the TWI considered BLM an important issue. Human trafficking was cited as important by a higher percentage of students attending the HBCU and urban high school than at the suburban and rural community college or the TWI. Sexual assault was considered important by the majority of students at all the schools with the percentage a bit smaller from the majority serving institution. About two thirds of the students at the high school, community college, and HBCU considered gun violence important versus about half the students at the majority serving institution. Women’s rights were reported as being important by more of the high school and HBCU participants than the community college or TWI. Climate change was considered important by about half the students at all schools with a slightly smaller portion reporting out the HBCU. Immigration reform/DACA was reported as important by half the high school, community college, and HBCU participants with only a third of the students from the majority serving institution citing it as an important issue. With respect to LGBTQ rights approximately half of the high school and community college participants cited it as important, 44.53% of the HBCU students, and only about a quarter of the students attending the majority serving institution. Contribution and Conclusion: This paper provides a timely investigation into the mindset of generation Z students living in the United States during a period of heightened civic unrest. This insight is useful to educators who should be informed about the generation of students that is currently populating higher education. The findings of this study are consistent with public opinion polls by Pew Research Center. According to the findings, the Gen Z students participating in this study are heavy users of multiple social media, expect technology to be integrated into teaching and learning, anticipate a future career where technology will play an important role, informed about current and political events, use social media as their main source for getting news and information, and fairly engaged in social activism. When institutional type was compared the students from the university with the more affluent and less diverse population were less likely to find social justice issues important than the other groups. Recommendations for Practitioners: During disruptive and contentious times, it is negligent to think that the abounding issues plaguing society are not important to our students. Gauging the issues of importance and levels of civic engagement provides us crucial information towards understanding the attitudes of students. Further, knowing how our students gain information, their social media usage, as well as how informed they are about current events and political issues can be used to more effectively communicate and educate. Recommendations for Researchers: As social media continues to proliferate daily life and become a vital means of news and information gathering, additional studies such as the one presented here are needed. Additionally, in other countries facing similarly turbulent times, measuring student interest, awareness, and engagement is highly informative. Impact on Society: During a highly contentious period replete with a large volume of civil unrest and compounded by a global pandemic, understanding the behaviors and attitudes of students can help us as higher education faculty be more attuned when it comes to the design and delivery of curriculum. Future Research This presentation presents preliminary findings. Data is still being collected and much more extensive statistical analyses will be performed.

Tracking progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is critical to evaluate how far the water and sanitation sector is from achieving these targets, and to guarantee that the solutions and strategies implemented get everyone closer to them. But this is not a simple task. To truly assess collective progress towards achieving SDG 6 (and all other goals), it is fundamental to count on standardized measures that help track all types of access, their reliability, and their quality. Existing data tend to lack comparability across sources and locations because they rely on different definitions and categories. Samples are often not representative of all groups within the population. More developed areas are more likely to collect data, which results in the overrepresentation of groups that enjoy better services. Still in some areas and for some categories of information data is not available at all. In response to these challenges, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) partnered with the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) to gather nationally representative and comparable data in 18 countries in the region. The goal of this effort was to provide an initial outlook of the current landscape of water and sanitation services in the region, using two batteries of questions in the LAPOP questionnaire for the 2018-2019 wave. The main message that arises is that the Latin American and the Caribbean region faces a wide range of challenges, that vary both across and within countries. Some areas face the primary challenge of closing access gaps, while others display higher deficiency in service quality, such as continuity. The gaps in quality of services, in particular, are not clearly perceived by users. In general, levels of satisfaction with the services received is quite high among the population, much higher than warranted by the objective measures of service quality. This raises important issues for accountability in the sector. If users are mostly satisfied with the current state of affairs, it is unlikely they will pressure governments and utilities to improve service delivery. A more in-depth analysis is required to understand the reasons behind these opinions and possible ways to raise awareness.