Thèses sur le sujet « Conceptualisation des services »

Le secteur des services revêt une importance croissante dans toute économie. La croissance de la productivité et celle de l'emploi sont étroitement liées au succès des industries de services, et les services sont depuis récemment, de puissants moteurs de croissance économique dans nombre d'économies. Mais malgré son importance économique, le secteur des services a reçu relativement peu d’attention jusqu’ici dans les travaux d’analyse et d’enquête. Ce manque d’intérêt est attribuable à une vision négative entretenue longtemps par la réflexionEconomique sur le rôle des services.La place grandissante des services et l’accroissement de la concurrence dans le secteur tertiaire soulèvent de nombreuses questions parmi lesquelles la gestion du processus de production des services, la mesure de la productivité et de la qualité des activités de service etL’évaluation de la valeur ajoutée par le client.Dans le cadre de cette thèse, nous essayerons de mettre en valeur la position axiale qu’occupent les services dans l’espace économique grâce notamment à leurs propriétés et caractéristiques intrinsèques ainsi qu’à l’évolution des approches économiques s’y rapportant. L’étude proposée passe aussi par la recherche des caractéristiques communes aux biens et aux services afin d’établir une typologie des systèmes de production puis par l’analyse des modèles de gestion propres aux biens et au service afin de réutiliser les éléments congruents de chacun pour la proposition de modèles de gestion de chacun des types identifiés. Une analyse sectorielle de terrain nous permettra par la suite d’étudier la concordance des approches théoriques avec la réalité du terrain, afin de confirmer ou d’infirmer nos hypothèses de départ, ce qui nous aidera à mettre en place notre modèle conceptuel des services. Deux secteurs en particulier retiendront notre attention: la Santé et l'enseignement supérieur
Abstract

La croissance rapide du secteur des services est une tendance remarquable dans le monde entier. La complexité de conceptualisation des services est souvent liée à leur modélisation, leur conception, et la gestion des interactions possibles entre le client et le fournisseur. Parmi ces services, les services de santé constituent un des services publics fondamentaux de la société et de l'économie moderne. Les grands défis que doit relever ce secteur concernent sa gouvernance, la coordination et l’accessibilité aux soins. Cette dernière peut être liée à une répartition géographique déséquilibrée des médecins et des temps d’attente souvent élevés. Dans ce contexte, une approche basée sur la Modélisation et la Simulation, en tenant en compte de l’hétérogénéité possible des environnements, est proposée pour analyser les problèmes de gestion d’un territoire de service. Cette approche permet une vision globale du fonctionnement du système de service étudié, en tenant compte des facteurs impactant à la fois le choix des usagers des services et le processus de production du service
The rapid growth of the services sector, especially modern services, is a remarkable trend around the world. The complexity of conceptualizing services is often related to their modeling, their design, and the management of possible interactions between the customer and the provider. One of the fundamental public services is health services, the major challenges faced by health services are: governance, coordination and accessibility to care. The accessibility of care is usually linked to an unbalanced geographic distribution of doctors and a high waiting time. In this context, an approach based on Modeling and Simulation taking into account the possible heterogeneity of modeling environments is proposed in order to analyze the problems related to the management of a service territory. This approach aims to give a global vision of the functioning of the service system studied, by taking into account the related factors impacting both the choice of service users and the process of service production

The study is located within a Scottish human service context, with human services being defined as predominantly work directly with people (service users; patients; volunteers; clients) across public and third sector settings. It draws on narratives from six distinct disciplines including social work, education, police, community learning and development, educational psychology and nursing. Whilst participants reflected on their journeys to becoming a professional, they explored how opportunities, both given and taken to lead throughout their careers, may have influenced their understanding and experience of professionalism, professional identity and leadership. Narratives frequently identified participants’ overwhelming desire to enter and remain within human service professions being driven by a social justice agenda, with an inherent desire to ‘make a difference’. Participants articulated how leadership opportunities had provided them with greater confidence and an ability to improve standards within their field, often from an early stage in their career. This in turn had often strengthened their sense of professional identity. Findings suggest participants made very strong connections between the concepts of professionalism and leadership, particularly when leadership was understood as distributed throughout the organisation. Distributed, dispersed, collaborative or ‘leadership at all levels’ are terms often used interchangeably to describe ‘a pooling of ideas and expertise to produce services and leadership energy that is greater than the sum of individual capabilities’ (Patterson, 2010:6). This type of leadership therefore, not only recognises the ability of people within non-traditional positions of power or who are not at the top of their organisational hierarchy, to become leaders, but also recognises the collaborative nature of such interactions. Based on the findings, a key recommendation suggests that within human service contexts, a re-conceptualisation of professionalism, which incorporates models of distributed leadership, should be adopted. This would have the capacity to unleash latent leadership potential within professionals who want to ‘make a difference’ and would be like ‘pushing on an open door’. It is further argued that such a consideration could support the development of leadership strategies in human services although the author cautions that organisational cultures can both promote or inhibit effectiveness and impact.

Thesis (PhD. (Education)) --University of Limpopo, 2016
This study reports on an exploration of a conceptual framework for service-learning in order to provide a shared and common understanding necessary for guiding best practice of service-learning at the heart of two-rural-based universities in South Africa. The key research question answered in this study was: How is service-learning conceptualised by dir ectors of community engagement, project coordinators, academic staff members, and students at two rural-based universities in South Africa? The following sub-questions were developed on the basis of the key research question: • What are the current community engagement projects that can be modified for future practice of service-learning at two rural-based universities in South Africa? • What are the views of directors of community engagement, project coordinators, academic staff members, and students regarding conceptualisation of service-learning at two rural-based universities in South Africa? • What are the possible strategies for conceptualising and managing the quality of service-learning at two rural-based universities in South Africa? • What framework will be relevant and appropriate for conceptualising and implementing service-learning at two rural-based universities in South Africa? A qualitative research approach using grounded theory design was employed in this study. Convenience sampling was used to select the two rural-based universities in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. Four similar schools from each university (Education, Law, Agriculture, and Health Sciences) were sampled purposively. Participants were also sampled purposively. These included the director of community engagement, one project coordinator, two academic staff members, and two final year undergraduate students who were taking part in community engagement or servicelearning- related activity at each sampled school at both universities. Data were captured through document analysis, semi-structured interviews with sampled participants, and silent observations. Content analysis was used to analyse data from documents. Data from semi-structured interviews and silent observations were analysed thematically. Findings from documents, semi-structured interviews and iv silent observations were used to make recommendations for developing a framework for conceptualising and managing the quality of service-learning at the two universities. The study revealed that service-learning is an unfamiliar concept at these two ruralbased universities. Advocacy of service-learning has never been done and no initiatives are made on the part of these universities to familiarise this concept. The study's findings also reflect that there is confusion among various role-players regarding the meaning of the concept service-learning. Participants showed that some prefer to use the concept community engagement rather than service-learning, while others view service-learning as synonymous to community engagement. The SMART conceptual framework was developed on the basis of the findings and recommendations of this study. This conceptual framework is SMART because it is S - socially relevant, M - manageable, A - adaptable, R - rural-based, and T - transformative. The proposed SMART conceptual framework is intended to guide institutional leaders, directors of community engagement, deans of faculties, directors of schools, heads of departments, project coordinators, academic staff members, students, traditional leaders, and community partners in conceptualising, implementing and managing the quality of service-learning endeavours at the two rural-based South African universities.

In the last two decades the IT service support worker has emerged to be a worker-type of considerable socio-economic importance. Such workers are symbolic of the trends towards the importance of information/knowledge and information technology within modern economic/political systems. Such systems, heavily influenced by governmental bodies and business organisations, have aggrandised the use of rationalising customer-centric management techniques. And yet such symbolic workers are largely hidden and unacknowledged as a specific type of worker in the business literature. This thesis represents an attempt to conceptualise the IT service support worker as a worker-type, inducing a conceptual model that identifies three aspects to the worker: information systems worker; knowledge worker and service worker and considers them from each of these perspectives. This qualitative research draws on a rich mix of observational and interview data collected across five UK organisations to produce a narrative that suggests that, for different IT service support workers, those different aspects tend to be variably emphasised within their team roles. The study additionally offers a theoretical conclusion that IT service support workers might reasonably be divided into different classes depending upon not only the design of their team role but also their individual career orientations and the nature of the knowledge they actually use in their work. Four such classes are identified as being of particular significance and these are evocatively named: Resigned Robots ; Constrained Careerists ; Establishment Experts and Aspiring Artisans . Whilst being outside of the scope of this study, it is suggested that this novel typology might also be useful for classifying other worker groupings. The study is intended to be useful for the enhancement of IT service management practice and makes several contributions in this regard. These include the need for managers to recognise the importance of experientially-acquired knowledge for efficiency in IT service support work and a suggestion that managers might tailor HRM practices for different classes of worker.

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2003.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The central question that this research study addresses is whether higher education institutions in South Africa are sufficiently meeting the needs of their students, by contextualising and integrating their academic curricula with service delivery in communities. The higher education sector has been criticized for not adequately promoting and developing social responsibility in the context of civic awareness among their students. This study suggests that service-learning could become a vital force in educational change and promote social equity by enabling the advancement of historically disadvantaged communities. Service-learning could thus be the vehicle that links academic learning outcomes, service in communities and civic education. The purpose of this study is to explore the theoretical foundations of servicelearning in order to achieve a deeper understanding of what service-learning entails. The Occupational Therapy Department of the University of Stellenbosch was selected as a case study to critically assess to what extent it has conceptualised, planned, implemented and assessed its service-learning programmes in terms of the key elements, principles and goals of service-learning. The research strategy for this study is a qualitative case study. Qualitative data was obtained through the completion of an open-ended questionnaire by the final year Occupational Therapy students. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with the head of the department and different representatives of the community project that was selected for the purpose of this research study. The study concludes that the Occupational Therapy Department did in fact, integrate its academic curriculum outcomes with service delivery in the community. However, the development of civic awareness among students needs to be explicitly linked to the academic learning outcomes and service delivery in communities.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die vraagstuk wat hierdie studie probeer aanspreek, is om vas te stel tot watter mate instansies vir hoër onderrig en opvoeding in Suid Afrika die behoeftes van hul studente aanspreek. Die instansies word gekritiseer dat hulle akademiese kurrikulums nie genoegsaam geïntegreerd is met dienslewering in die gemeenskap nie, en dat hulle ook nie genoegsame sosiale verantwoordelikheid en gemeenskapsbewustheid by hulle studente aanmoedig nie. Hierdie studie stel voor dat diensleer gebruik word as 'n tegniek vir opvoedkundige veranderinge en die bevordering van sosiale gelykheid vir die bemagtiging van histories benadeelde gemeenskappe. Diensleer kan dus gebruik word om akademiese leer uitkomste, dienslewering en burgerlike opvoeding te verbind. Die doel van hierdie navorsing is om die teoretiese basis van diensleer te ondersoek om sodoende 'n deeglike begrip te kry van wat diensleer werklik behels. Die Arbeidsterapie Departement van die Universiteit van Stellenbosch is gekies as gevallestudie om vas te stel hoe hulle hul diensleer programme konseptualiseer, beplan, implementeer en assesseer, t.o.v. die kern elemente, beginsels en doelstellings van diensleer. Die navorsingstrategie wat aangewend is om die doel van hierdie navorsing te bereik, is 'n kwalitatiewe gevallestudie. Kwalitatiewe data is verkry deur die voltooiing van 'n ope vraelys deur die finale jaar Arbeidsterapie studente en deur semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude met die hoof van die Arbeidsterapie Departement en verteenwoordigers van 'n gemeenskapsprojek wat gekies is vir die doel van die studie. Die studie het vasgestel dat die Arbeidsterapie Departement se akademiese kurrikulum uitkomste wel met dienslewering in die gemeenskap geïntegreerd is. In die lig van die navorsingsbevindinge word 'n aanbeveling gemaak dat die ontwikkeling van burgelikebewustheid en sosiale verantwoordelikheid ten opsigte van gemeenskapsbehoeftes, direk verbind moet word aan akademiese leer en diens uitkomste.

The prison officer is central to prison life, yet understandings of this role are limited. This thesis argues that the two overarching (and often competitive)conceptualisations of prison officers' work as custodial work or human services work are limited. Eight conceptualisations of prison officers' work from the correctional literature are identified - Para-military officer, Security Officer, Warehouser of prisoners, Public Servant /bureaucrat, Professional, Manager of Prisoners , Therapist and Case Manager. These conceptualisations are defined and related to one another by examining their construction through discourses of prison purpose and prison process (Adler and Longhurst 1994). The thesis develops the analysis of du Gay (1996) that organisations use discourse as a means of constructing work identities for their employees and the work of Halford and Leonard (1999) who argue that workers are active agents in this process and do not always take on the identity the organisation is seeking to promote. The thesis addresses three research questions How has the role of the prison officer been conceptualised by the South Australian Department for Correctional Services over time? How is the role of the prison officer currently conceptualised by personnel working within South Australian prisons, what influences the way the role is conceptualised and what purposes do these conceptualisations serve? To what extent have the new conceptualisations of the role of the prison officer, articulated by the Department for Correctional Services in the last ten years, been adopted by staff within prisons and what determines the influence of these new conceptualisations? These questions are addressed using qualitative research techniques of document analysis and semi-structured interviews. The thesis identifies that in recent decades the Department has emphasised conceptualisations of the role constructed from normalisation and rehabilitative discourses. Interviewees, forty-four working in three South Australian prisons, (both departmental and privately managed), conceptualised the work of a prison officer as complex and unique and identified three influential audiences for the performance of prison officers' work – prisoners, officers and their colleagues, and the Departmental hierarchy. Interviewees constructed the role of the prison officer in terms that would earn respect for the work from each of these audiences and manage the vulnerability of the officer as a worker and a prison officer. Half of those interviewed conceptualised the prison officer based on a Manager of Prisoners. Other interviewees, critical of the role within their prison, described it as a Warehouser and saw the competition between custodial and human services roles as irreconcilable. The thesis argues that Departmental discourse can be seen to have a significant influence on the conceptualisation of the prison officer’s role by those working within prisons, but that it competes for influence with the discourse of the other powerful audiences for the performance of prison officers' work – prisoners and other staff.

In the service sector literature, both marketers and organisational behaviourists emphasise the importance of the internal dynamics of the organisation in terms of a network of customers and suppliers interacting together to satisfy customers. Although the relevance of internal customers within the context of the service delivery process is frequently referred to in that literature, there is in fact, a somewhat surprising paucity of published research on the topic. The research project reported here was aimed, firstly at identifying and measuring those factors which determine how internal customers perceive the quality of the support they receive from other parts of the organisation. The second objective was to identify the organisational factors which enable support units to deliver the quality of service expected by internal customers. The research consisted of both qualitative and quantitative stages, the main part of the study involving British hospitals, one being located in the private sector. It included exploratory studies, design and development, pilot testing and empirical application of two separate instruments: an internal customers' questionnaire and an internal suppliers' questionnaire. It is felt that this piece of research has contributed to the existing work on organisational processes related to service quality. It has confirmed, that along with customers, employees are able and prepared to produce scaled assessments of the service they themselves receive from other parts of the organisation. Results have indicated that these can be captured as a limited number of perceptual dimensions. It has also contributed to the identification of organisational determinants of internal service quality. The results show that, from the different sets of variables which were felt to be facilitating or inhibiting factors in the delivery of support services to other units, that relating to the group level of analysis, appears to be the one primarily influencing the ability of support units to deliver internal customers·' expectations. ~ll in all, this work has contributed to a better understanding of the dynamics involved in the customer service delivery process using an internal service approach.

La crise financière qui a débuté en 2008 et qui a mené des entreprises centenaires à la faillite, qui a mis en difficulté des milliers d'autres entreprises, nous a conduit à un premier questionnement relatif à la survie des organisations dans un environnement turbulent. Si l'on considère que la survie de l'organisation constitue un enjeu majeur pour ses parties prenantes et pour la société en général, il s'avère fondamental de repérer les pathologies, ainsi que leurs signes avant-coureurs afin de permettre la recherche de remédiations. Un premier travail de révision de la littérature portant sur les causes des difficultés des organisations nous a amenée à étudier les racines de ce phénomène et à exploier l'existence d'une relation avec la notion du stress. L'objectif de cette étude est donc de conceptualiser le stress des organisations. Pour ce faire, nous avons utilisé comme point de départ un transfert entre la notion de stress issue des Sciences de la vie et du comportement vers le Management stratégique. Ensuite, cette démarche a été mise à l'épreuve et enrichie par la méthode de la théorisation enracinée avec comme terrain d'étude les organisations du secteur sanitaire, social et médico-socila. Cette stratégie de recherche a permis de mettre en évidence les éléments conceptuels du stress, ses causes, ses effets, ainsi que la construction et la mise en place de stratégies pour y faire face. Nos résultats montrent que les mêmes causes peuvent paradoxalement amener ou le changement stratégique ou la faillite des organisations. Il est donc vraisemblable que le concept de stress puisse être utile pour l'étude et la conduite du changement stratégique, tout autant que pour la prévention de la faillite
The financial crisis that began in 2008 and has led centeranian companies to bankruptcy, which has put in difficulty thousands of other companies, has led us to a first questioning on the survival of organizations in a tirbulent enviorment. If we consider that the survival of the organization is a major challanve for its stakeholders and society in general, it is fundamental to identify their pathologies and warning signs in order to search for remedial. A litterature review on the causes of organizations difficulties has led us to study the roots of this pehnomenon and to explore the existence of a relationship with the concept of stress/ The objective of this study is to conceptualize organization stress. To do this, we used as a starting point a transfer of the stress concept between Life and Behavior Sciences and Stragtegic Management. This approach has been tested and enriched by means of grounded theory using as a field study organizations of the health, social and medico-social sector. This reserarch strategy has highlighted the conceptual elements of stress, its causes its effects, and the construction and implementation of strategies ti cope. Our results show thaht the same causes may paradoxically lead to strategic change or failure of organizations. It is therefore likely that the stress concept can be useful for the design of strategic change, as qell as for the prevention of bankrucptcy

La faiblesse des moyens devolus aux soins et a la prevention sanitaire en milieu penitentiaire pose un probleme majeur a notre societe. D'ou la necessite de faire emerger un nouveau dispositif de soins qui reposerait sur une conception globale de la prise en charge sanitaire des detenus. Pour ce faire, il nous appartient de dresser un etat des lieux de l'actuel dispositif et le mettre en regard des objectifs de sante publique, des moyens mis en uvre, et des resultats obtenus. Ainsi, seront jetees les bases d'un inventaire de donnees qui permettra de repertorier les moyens a mettre en uvre, afin de recueillir les informations necessaires a l'etablissement d'une banque de donnees. Cette etude, globale et analytique, contribuera a une prise de decision optimale. Le recueil de ces elements permettra la mise a jour de certaines donnees epidemiologiques, et favoriseront l'emergence des dysfonctionnements aux trois etapes cles qui constituent l'avant, le pendant et l'apres de l'incarceration. La conceptualisation de la demarche se nourrira des avancees deja obtenues pour proposer quelques solutions capables d'apporter a chaque detenu un statut permettant sa prise en charge et son suivi medical, sa reinsertion sociale, et a la societe une meilleure approche securitaire

Cette thèse en psychologie du travail trouve son origine dans une intervention en clinique de l’activité, menée dans un service municipal de la propreté auprès de chefs d’équipe d’éboueurs et de leur ligne hiérarchique. Elle porte sur les conduites d’engagement et de désengagement au travail, qu’elle propose de concevoir comme relevant de dynamiques singulières de mobilisation de soi, chargées de significations. Ces dynamiques peuvent prendre des formes et des fonctions diverses dans l’activité des professionnels, selon les moments, les situations et les personnes, et sont liées au contexte organisationnel dans lequel elles se déploient. Cette proposition de conceptualisation s’enracine dans l’analyse de matériaux empiriques et cliniques issus de l’intervention menée qui mettent au jour des mouvements d’engagement et de désengagement, que la thèse cherche à comprendre en s’appuyant sur des apports théoriques de la psychologie du travail et des organisations et de différentes perspectives en psychopathologie du travail et en clinique du travail. Nos résultats nous amènent à discuter les rapports existants entre engagement, désengagement et santé
This thesis in occupational psychology originated with an intervention in a clinic of activity approach carried out in a municipal waste collection department with first line managers and their own managers. It deals with commitment and disengagement at work which it proposes to consider as singular dynamics of self-mobilization and as behaviors charged with meaning. These dynamics of commitment and disengagement can take various forms and functions in the activity of the workers, depending on moments, situations and people. They are linked to the organizational and institutional context in which they occur. The proposed conceptualization is rooted in the analysis of empirical and clinical data on commitment and disengagement, which the study seeks to describe and understand using theoretical contributions from occupational and organizational psychology, from occupational psychopathology and from different clinical approaches in work analysis. The analysis and the proposals that result from it ultimately lead to question the existing relationships between commitment, disengagement and health

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the potential of internal marketing within non profit organisations. Method: Qualitative case study of an NPO with the part of primary research based on fives interviews of workers.T heoretical framework: The framework consists of theories and models on internal marketing. Internal marketing is studied from the point of view of its tools of implementation, its purposes and also its limits. Conclusion: Internal marketing is revealed as a high potential for NPOs. However, this concept, developed for the profit area, requires some adaptations to fit well to NPOs.

Despite the fact that special events have become key components of the tourism development strategy for many regions, the amount of research that has been conducted within the field of special events does not reflect its importance. It is unlikely that the substantial growth rate that the field of special events has experienced in recent years is sustainable and an understanding of consumer patronage in relation to special events will be crucial for the development and promotion of events in the future. This study seeks to help address these shortcomings. In seeking to understand the field of special events, a model that involved the perspectives of six major parties was proposed. The fundamental aim of this study was to explore one of these perspectives, namely, that of consumers. This perspective was then used as the basis for a proposed consumer decision making model in relation to visitor attractions, including special events, that underpinned the second part of the thesis. The first part of this study sought to conceptualise systematically, special events from a consumer perspective and to conduct a comparative methodological assessment of three approaches to market segmentation in terms of their ability to explain consumer behaviour in relation to special events. The three approaches used were personal values, psychographics and demographics. A comprehensive and systematic literature review was conducted to identify the attributes that could be used to categorise an event as ‘special’. Based upon this review, a schema of event categories was proposed as well as a listing of the core and qualifying attributes that could be used to describe each of the special event categories. A set of definitions for each of the main special event categories was then developed. In order to operationalise the term ‘special event’, primary research was then conducted to identify the attributes that consumers believed were important in describing a special event. Several distinct measuring techniques, including elicitation, attribute rating and conjoint analysis, were used in the questionnaire for this part of the study, in an effort to derive a comprehensive view of the consumer understanding of special events and to facilitate the convergent validation of the various techniques. It was found that there were four principal attributes that consumers used to describe a special event, these being: the number of attendees, the international attention due to the event, the improvement to the image and pride of the host region as a result of hosting the event, and the exciting experience associated with the event. The study also found a high degree of convergence between the techniques used. The second part of this study sought to understand and predict consumer behaviour in relation to visitor attractions in general, and special events in particular. This further developed the consumer perspective that was the key underlying theme of the thesis. In the second part of this study, 500 randomly selected Melbourne residents were asked to indicate their visit behaviour in relation to a range of visitor attractions including special events. Three dimensions of visit behaviour were measured in order to overcome limitations noted in earlier studies. The visit dimensions used were actual visitation, visit interest and visit intention. This enabled analysis of respondents’ visit behaviour on three dimensions to be assessed at both the generic level and at the individual attraction level. Being an origin-based study, unlike most of the studies that have been conducted in this field which have been destination-based, enabled consumers and non-consumers alike to be considered. Although the consumer decision making model, referred to earlier, which was used in this part of the study, included a range of variables thought to impact upon the consumer decision process, the focus of this thesis was on the comparative abilities of personal values, psychographics and demographics to explain consumer behaviour. Personal values were measured in the questionnaire via the List of Values (LOV) and psychographics were measured using a battery of AIO statements (Activity, Interest and Opinion). Assessing the explanatory power of three techniques on three dimensions of visitation to a wide range of visitor attractions enabled a systematic evaluation to be conducted that was more methodologically rigorous than many of the other studies that have been reported in this field. Analysis of the data found that special events were regarded by consumers as a separate category of visitor attractions and that the segmentation approaches assessed in this study were better able to explain behaviour in relation to special events than Despite the fact that special events have become key components of the tourism development strategy for many regions, the amount of research that has been conducted within the field of special events does not reflect its importance. It is unlikely that the substantial growth rate that the field of special events has experienced in recent years is sustainable and an understanding of consumer patronage in relation to special events will be crucial for the development and promotion of events in the future. This study seeks to help address these shortcomings. In seeking to understand the field of special events, a model that involved the perspectives of six major parties was proposed. The fundamental aim of this study was to explore one of these perspectives, namely, that of consumers. This perspective was then used as the basis for a proposed consumer decision making model in relation to visitor attractions, including special events, that underpinned the second part of the thesis. The first part of this study sought to conceptualise systematically, special events from a consumer perspective and to conduct a comparative methodological assessment of three approaches to market segmentation in terms of their ability to explain consumer behaviour in relation to special events. The three approaches used were personal values, psychographics and demographics. A comprehensive and systematic literature review was conducted to identify the attributes that could be used to categorise an event as ‘special’. Based upon this review, a schema of event categories was proposed as well as a listing of the core and qualifying attributes that could be used to describe each of the special event categories. A set of definitions for each of the main special event categories was then developed. In order to operationalise the term ‘special event’, primary research was then conducted to identify the attributes that consumers believed were important in describing a special event. Several distinct measuring techniques, including elicitation, attribute rating and conjoint analysis, were used in the questionnaire for this part of the study, in an effort to derive a comprehensive view of the consumer understanding of special events and to facilitate the convergent validation of the various techniques. It was found that there were four principal attributes that consumers used to describe a special event, these being: the number of attendees, the international attention due to the event, the improvement to the image and pride of the host region as a result of hosting the event, and the exciting experience associated with the event. The study also found a high degree of convergence between the techniques used. The second part of this study sought to understand and predict consumer behaviour in relation to visitor attractions in general, and special events in particular. This further developed the consumer perspective that was the key underlying theme of the thesis. In the second part of this study, 500 randomly selected Melbourne residents were asked to indicate their visit behaviour in relation to a range of visitor attractions including special events. Three dimensions of visit behaviour were measured in order to overcome limitations noted in earlier studies. The visit dimensions used were actual visitation, visit interest and visit intention. This enabled analysis of respondents’ visit behaviour on three dimensions to be assessed at both the generic level and at the individual attraction level. Being an origin-based study, unlike most of the studies that have been conducted in this field which have been destination-based, enabled consumers and non-consumers alike to be considered. Although the consumer decision making model, referred to earlier, which was used in this part of the study, included a range of variables thought to impact upon the consumer decision process, the focus of this thesis was on the comparative abilities of personal values, psychographics and demographics to explain consumer behaviour. Personal values were measured in the questionnaire via the List of Values (LOV) and psychographics were measured using a battery of AIO statements (Activity, Interest and Opinion). Assessing the explanatory power of three techniques on three dimensions of visitation to a wide range of visitor attractions enabled a systematic evaluation to be conducted that was more methodologically rigorous than many of the other studies that have been reported in this field. Analysis of the data found that special events were regarded by consumers as a separate category of visitor attractions and that the segmentation approaches assessed in this study were better able to explain behaviour in relation to special events than Despite the fact that special events have become key components of the tourism development strategy for many regions, the amount of research that has been conducted within the field of special events does not reflect its importance. It is unlikely that the substantial growth rate that the field of special events has experienced in recent years is sustainable and an understanding of consumer patronage in relation to special events will be crucial for the development and promotion of events in the future. This study seeks to help address these shortcomings. In seeking to understand the field of special events, a model that involved the perspectives of six major parties was proposed. The fundamental aim of this study was to explore one of these perspectives, namely, that of consumers. This perspective was then used as the basis for a proposed consumer decision making model in relation to visitor attractions, including special events, that underpinned the second part of the thesis. The first part of this study sought to conceptualise systematically, special events from a consumer perspective and to conduct a comparative methodological assessment of three approaches to market segmentation in terms of their ability to explain consumer behaviour in relation to special events. The three approaches used were personal values, psychographics and demographics. A comprehensive and systematic literature review was conducted to identify the attributes that could be used to categorise an event as ‘special’. Based upon this review, a schema of event categories was proposed as well as a listing of the core and qualifying attributes that could be used to describe each of the special event categories. A set of definitions for each of the main special event categories was then developed. In order to operationalise the term ‘special event’, primary research was then conducted to identify the attributes that consumers believed were important in describing a special event. Several distinct measuring techniques, including elicitation, attribute rating and conjoint analysis, were used in the questionnaire for this part of the study, in an effort to derive a comprehensive view of the consumer understanding iv of special events and to facilitate the convergent validation of the various techniques. It was found that there were four principal attributes that consumers used to describe a special event, these being: the number of attendees, the international attention due to the event, the improvement to the image and pride of the host region as a result of hosting the event, and the exciting experience associated with the event. The study also found a high degree of convergence between the techniques used. The second part of this study sought to understand and predict consumer behaviour in relation to visitor attractions in general, and special events in particular. This further developed the consumer perspective that was the key underlying theme of the thesis. In the second part of this study, 500 randomly selected Melbourne residents were asked to indicate their visit behaviour in relation to a range of visitor attractions including special events. Three dimensions of visit behaviour were measured in order to overcome limitations noted in earlier studies. The visit dimensions used were actual visitation, visit interest and visit intention. This enabled analysis of respondents’ visit behaviour on three dimensions to be assessed at both the generic level and at the individual attraction level. Being an origin-based study, unlike most of the studies that have been conducted in this field which have been destination-based, enabled consumers and non-consumers alike to be considered. Although the consumer decision making model, referred to earlier, which was used in this part of the study, included a range of variables thought to impact upon the consumer decision process, the focus of this thesis was on the comparative abilities of personal values, psychographics and demographics to explain consumer behaviour. Personal values were measured in the questionnaire via the List of Values (LOV) and psychographics were measured using a battery of AIO statements (Activity, Interest and Opinion). Assessing the explanatory power of three techniques on three dimensions of visitation to a wide range of visitor attractions enabled a systematic evaluation to be conducted that was more methodologically rigorous than many of the other studies that have been reported in this field. Analysis of the data found that special events were regarded by consumers as a separate category of visitor attractions and that the segmentation approaches assessed in this study were better able to explain behaviour in relation to special events than they were able to explain behaviour in relation to permanent attractions. Although psychographics demonstrated explanatory power well ahead of both the LOV and demographics, the explanatory power was not high for any of the approaches. Based on the research that has been reported on the importance of personal values to consumers, it would be expected that values should have substantial explanatory power. The fact that the LOV was not able to provide substantial explanatory power in relation to special events in this study was suggested to be related to the measurement of values as opposed to a more fundamental problem with values themselves. Results of this study questioned the comprehensiveness of the LOV. The finding that none of the variables used in this study was able to account for a large percentage of consumer behaviour suggested strongly that there were other important independent variables not measured in this study. The influences of travel party and travel occasion on behaviour were seen as two such variables.

FET Colleges are facing two main challenges in the new educational landscape in South Africa, namely; responding to the desired level of delivery to cater for all South Africans as a postmerged institution and responding to relevant programme demands in a globally competitive environment. This research explores the relationship between service quality and user satisfaction. A model that demonstrates how satisfaction can be seen as both a micro-level response to individual transactions, and a macro-level of service quality is proposed, namely the SERVQUAL model. Using an evidence-based approach, gaps between user expectations and perceptions are explored as well as the gap between expectations and managers perceptions of these. Based on this evidence some observations are made about ways in which Coastal KZN FET Colleges could make more use of the information derived from their own organisation user survey to improve their services. This generic study could easily be carried out at other FET Colleges in South Africa and internationally.
Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2004.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD
The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify ways in which the University of the Western Cape (UWC) occupational therapy (OT) curriculum could be developed to prepare its graduates to advance occupational justice in community service practice. The background to the study is the development of occupational therapy practice and education within a policy context of health reform that gave momentum to the shift in emphasis from a bio-medical to a more socio-political approach to health in South Africa. Underpinning this study was the assumption that OT education informs professional practice and that uncovering new graduates’ practice experiences can inform the development of the UWC OT curriculum. The aim of the studyn was to examine how UWC OT graduates conceptualised occupational justice and how it manifested in their daily practice of community service in three provinces in South Africa. The study is framed within the theories of occupational justice and critical curriculum theory, in particular, critical pedagogy. A literature review pertaining to the application of occupational justice in OT practice and education is presented. This includes the background values that inform the practice of occupational justice, the application of occupational justice as it relates to OT practice and the relationship between OT education and occupational justice. The research design that was adopted is that of a single, interpretive case study. Through purposive sampling seven occupational therapy graduates from UWC who graduated in 2009, and who practiced in under-resourced, rural community service settings in 2010, were selected to participate in the study. The methods of data collection that were utilised were participant observation, a reflective journal, semi-structured paired or dyadic interviews and document review. The findings revealed that occupational justice held considerable value for the participants. They conceptualised occupational justice as enhanced health and well-being, and broader social change as an outcome of the facilitation of occupational enablement. The nature of their community service practice settings, however, posed several challenges for the participants. From the perspective of the participants, the dominance of the medical model, lack of resources and system of bureaucracy appeared to be the biggest challenges they encountered. While the participants’ education was geared towards equipping them to provide appropriate services as indicated by local needs, the health system was not ready tob accommodate their practice. Consequently, the participants appeared to encounter hegemony in practice. In encountering hegemony, however, they displayed an attitude of defeatism, leaving them with feelings of guilt, despondency and powerlessness. They lacked the skills to respond to power dynamics and to interact with people in positions of power. The main conclusion drawn from the study findings is that for OT graduates to impact the contexts in which they practice in South Africa, OT education must ensure that students develop competence to deal with the complexities of community service practice. This implies that transformational learning as pedagogical practice is of the essence, as it frames student preparation not just as learning but as a process of critical reflexivity that equips them to respond to power dynamics and intervene in matters related to occupational justice as active agents of change. The role and practice of occupational justice are subjects of debate in the context of OT education as they are for the profession broadly. This study contributed to this conversation through its examination of UWC OT graduates’ actual practice and the transmission of occupational justice-promoting practice through UWC OT education. The study highlighted that it is imperative that OT curricula in South Africa provide opportunities for students to engage in critical reflection on ways in which indigenous knowledge and a local understanding of occupational justice, as it relates to collective agency and critical consciousness, can be made more explicit in everyday practices. To this end, recommendations for the development of the UWC OT curriculum are made in respect of curriculum structure, content and approach; interdisciplinary education and practice, support for community service graduates and occupational therapy continued professional development.

The challenge to create learning environments that could promote learning is an aspect which currently enjoys much attention in the higher education environment. According to the outcomes based approach, learners are required to be equipped with relevant and applicable skills when entering the workforce on completion of their studies. With this as background, this study investigated the applicability of experiential learning as an approach that could enable learners to make optimal use of changing learning environments. Experiential learning mainly takes place through learners’ exposure to concrete experiences which are then critically reflected upon. The concept of action learning is often used as synonym for experiential learning, as the principles underlying these concepts and the philosophical assumptions are the same. Service learning is an application field of experiential learning that differs from the traditional learning approach. Learners learn from their exposure to learning experiences, whereas service rendering takes place simultaneously. In this study attention will be paid to the importance of reflection in the learning process. On completion of the learning experience learners critically investigate their own values, preconceptions, insights they have gained in the process and actions. The reflective learning process gives learners the opportunity to monitor their own learning objectives, to enhance insight and understanding and observe the interaction between theory and practice. In addition to this the process allows them to optimise human potential by applying what they have learned. According to the process followed in this study, learners have developed and implemented certain psycho-social interventions in collaboration with a specific community. At the start of the process learners were requested to keep their dairies up to date and use these to reflect on any aspect of their learning experience. With the consent of the learners a quantitative analysis was done of the content of their dairies and certain themes have manifested. The main themes that have been identified refer to the experiences during the development and implementation of the intervention and these relate mainly to the learning facilitator. Initially learners were quite dependent on familiar structures but once they became more at ease with the process, they were able to observe and manage the process with greater freedom. One aspect that is prominent in this study is the significance of group processes - not only for the individual learner, but also as part of the greater environment. Learners were specifically challenged to manage the unpredictability of the various processes – something which has required greater adaptability and leniency of learners. Learners’ reflections on the achievement of learning outcomes centre on opportunities to practically apply their theoretical knowledge. In many learners the interaction between theory and practice has resulted in the expansion of their cognitive content. Many references were also made to the improvement of life skills which relate specifically to the group processes and personal enrichment. A reflective attitude in a learning environment facilitates opportunities for learners to build on their current knowledge and develop a greater emotive conscience of the various processes and people involved in the learning environment. In addition to this individual life skills can also become more prominent. Reflection on learning experiences is a critical component by which learners could make sense of their experiences and apply their knowledge, emphasise the greater environment and support the interaction between people and the self as part of the learning process.
Dissertation (MA (Research Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2008.
Psychology
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