Customer Service Strategies to Minimize Negative Customer Incidents in the Airline Industry

There has been a continuous increase in customer complaints against airlines in the United States. The airlines’ customer service complaints were up 90% in April 2017 compared to April 2016. Airline customer service managers who do not address customer complaints may experience reduced customer satisfaction, customer retention, and profitability. Grounded in the service quality model, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore customer service strategies airline customer service managers use to mitigate negative customer incidents. Participants were three airline customer service managers from two airlines who developed strategies to minimize negative customer incidents. Data were collected from semistructured interviews, company documents, and social media platforms. Yin’s five-step data analysis approach was used to analyze the data. Five themes emerged: recruit competent employees, enhance training, strengthen communication, elicit customer feedback, and improve service policies and standards. A key recommendation is for customer service managers to develop and implement robust training to empower frontline personnel with education and skills to improve service quality and mitigate customer complaints. The implications for positive social change include potentially mitigating unpleasant customer experiences, cultivating trust and loyalty between the airlines and the travel community, and increasing customer satisfaction

Continuous assessment of pupils' 'O' Level design project work in technical subjects in secondary schools in Zimbabwe

A ZJER study on students assessment in technical subjects at secondary schools in Zimbabwe.The purpose of the study was to find out if teachers were using continuous assessment in evaluating 'O' level design project work in technical subjects in secondary schools in Zimbabwe. Data was collected from 13 teachers and 142 pupils from 5 selected secondary schools in Mashonaland West province. These were drawn from the following four technical / practical subjects: Building Studies, Metal Work, Wood Work and Technical Graphics. Two separate structured questionnaires, one for the teachers and the other for pupils, were used to collect data used to derive the findings of this study. An observation checklist was also used to collect data on selected items. The findings from this study indicate that teachers have not been using continuous assessment technique as expected by Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council (ZIMSEC). The study establishes that improving the use of continuous assessment depends on seven deceptively simple key factors: (l)the recognition ofthe profound influence a marking scheme has on the motivation and self-esteem of teachers, both of which are crucial influences on implementing continuous assessment; (2) .the need for teachers to be able to interpret the marking scheme, understand its demands and how to use it; (3) the provision of workshops and in-service programmes to the teachers as routine staff development activity; (4) the active involvement ofpupils in their own learning of the design activity; (5) the provision ofexamination / course work design themes to schools in time: at least six months in advance; (6) the provision of learning materials for making models; and (7) reducing class sizes to manageable ratios for practical subjects

The impact of good news and bad news on South Africa’s sectoral stock return volatility: an asymmetric GARCH analysis

This study explores the impact of good news and bad news on South Africa’s sectoral stock return volatility using an asymmetric GARCH analysis. Understanding the different impact of news on stock return volatility in different economic sectors has important implications for investors’ risk management practices, portfolio allocation strategies and asset pricing. The study employs data of daily closing prices for nine sectors and three benchmark indices for the period 2nd January 1997 - 17th August 2016. The data was split into sub-samples of pre-, during and post-global financial crisis, as well as the overall sample period. The incorporation of sub-samples was to help explain the outcomes of the overall sample period. To capture the different impact of good news and bad news on stock return volatility for each sector, asymmetric GARCH models namely, TGARCH and EGARCH were employed. The findings from this study revealed that volatility asymmetry was present in all sectors and benchmark indices of South African equity market. Bad news had more impact on stock return volatility for all sectors except the Oil and Gas sector, than good news of the same magnitude. In the Oil and Gas sector, good news was found to have an amplified effect on return volatility compared with bad news of the same magnitude. High volatility persistence was also found to be present in the Consumer goods, Financials, Industrials, All-share index and Mid-cap index. High differential impact of good and bad news were found in the Industrials, Financials, Basic materials, Consumer goods and the All-share index. Since the main objective of this study was to provide explanations of volatility asymmetry found in the South African sectors, the following were proposed as possible explanations of the findings. Within sectors, volatility asymmetry was explained by financial leverage, the role of the media, loss-averse investors and the behaviour of traders (overconfidence and extrapolation bias). Volatility asymmetry across sectors was explained by information flow, the uneven distribution of information by the media, investor sentiments, investor expectations and trading volumes. Overall, the results indicate that the stock return volatility of individual sectors of the South African equity market is driven mainly by bad news (except for Oil and Gas) and that leverage effects exist in all the sectors and in the benchmark indices

Model reference adaptive control system for moisture regulation in cotton ginning

Moisture content (mc) within the cotton fibre is an important aspect for all stages of the ginning process. However due to the process dynamics, mc is currently being controlled by regulating the water and air temperatures from the Humidifiers. Human intervention and lack of consistence on set-points determination has resulted in inconsistent mc during humidification. This procedure requires a control system which will be able to adjust the process set-points automatically by eliminating the need for human intervention. In this paper a robust Model Reference Adaptive Control (MRAC) system for a Samuel Jackson Humidifier is presented. This system improves upon the existing system by creating a closed loop controller with parameters that can be updated to change the response from reference model. The control parameters are then updated based on this error thus the parameters converge to ideal values that cause the plant response to match the response of the reference model

The effects of supply chain cooperation on humanitarian relief operations: A case of Cyclone Idai in Zimbabwe

Background: The increased frequency of occurrence and complexity of disasters, the world over, have called for increased cooperation amongst stakeholders to deliver humanitarian aid. Objectives: This study came as a result of the growing interest focussed on creating and implementing cooperation to facilitate management of supply chain-related activities in the humanitarian sector. This study therefore sought to gain a better understanding of the effectiveness of supply chain cooperation in aid delivery performance variables, specifically in the context of Cyclone Idai humanitarian relief operations in Zimbabwe. Method: A pragmatic research paradigm was adopted, where the researchers took a mixed approach informed by both quantitative and qualitative research tools. Results: Findings of this study show a significant and positive impact of humanitarian supply chain (HSC) cooperation in achieving output, resource and flexibility performance in the delivery of aid. These findings will change the shape of humanitarian response to have more cooperation amongst organisations rather than responding as single entities. Conclusion: This study will therefore contribute to how humanitarian organisations improve their approach to future disasters through cooperation in their supply chain activities. Theoretically, the study will show how supply chain cooperation is key to humanitarian responses, thus improving effectiveness of HSC when put into practice. Policymakers can use these findings to develop a standard framework of how humanitarian organisations should collectively respond to disasters. Keywords: cyclone; humanitarian logistics; relief operations; supply chain; supply chain cooperation

Water quality effects on flotation

For increasing the sustainability and cost effectiveness of their operations Boliden Kevitsa Mining Oy in collaboration with academic research partners aims to develop a holistic approach to water management in its mineral processing operation. This paper describes one of the first steps taken in this process, namely the monitoring and control of residual collectors in their flotation circuits. Boliden Kevitsa Mining Oy, a Cu-Ni-PGE concentrator recycles 90–95% of its water for use in the plant. The quality of recycled water tends to deteriorate as various elements and compounds such as Ca, Na, Mg, K, SO4 2− and residual reagents accumulate. The accumulation shows seasonal cyclic variation that has an impact on flotation performance. UV/VIS Spectrophotometry was employed to measure residual xanthates in key process streams and process return water from the Tailings Storage Facility. This allowed the implementation of dosage monitoring and control strategy with the objective of performance control and optimization throughout the seasonal changes during the year.Peer reviewe

Model Reference Adaptive Control System for Moisture Regulation in Cotton Ginning

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