Assessing the Quality of Public Services: A Conceptual Model

One of the major challenges faced by Public Administration is how to create more value for both citizens and firms, mainly because of the increasing budgetary constraints and challenging demands from society. In fact, over the past two decades there has been a general movement of public reform in most developed countries, and for this reason it is essential to understand how users assess the quality of public services. The aim of this paper is to clarify the determinants of public service quality. Due to the nature of the research problem, we have adopted a case-study methodology. The research involved extensive qualitative and quantitative data collection with managers, citizens and front and back-office public servants by means of interviews, questionnaires and focus groups. The paper presents the case of Public Service Citizens’ Shops (Loja do Cidadão) in Portugal, a recent and innovative channel for the delivery of public services. Firstly, it explores the kind of relationships that develop during the public service encounter between the citizen, the public organization and society. Secondly, citizen satisfaction and dissatisfaction with public services are both investigated. The basic premise is that these two concepts are not opposite but have different determinants. Furthermore, the paper also explores the nature of tolerance and emphasizes the importance of managing emotions in the public service encounter. Finally, it also considers how the quality assessment of public services should also take into account implications regarding value to society.public services; quality determinants; satisfaction; dissatisfaction; zone of tolerance; emotions; citizens’ shops

Quality of the Azores destination in the perspective of tourists

Tourism is a growing industry in the Autonomous Region of the Azores. However, little is known about how tourists evaluate this destination, something which certainly constitutes a shortcoming if one takes into consideration that this is a very competitive industry, with new destinations appearing every year and others increasing their market share. This paper focuses on the quality of the Azores destination in the perspective of tourists and, to an extent, has the goal of contributing to reduce this shortcoming. According to our findings, 74% of the tourists interviewed consider the global quality of the Azores destination to be very good or excellent, with the landscape, the climate/weather, the hospitality, the cleanliness and the security being the most highly-rated partial indicators. Additionally, a regression analysis indicates that the evaluation of the global quality of this destination varies according to the individual characteristics of tourists.N/

Dominicans: a trip to the interior

El dominicano es tan diverso que puede ser católico en el mismo momento que se baña en las aguas de Liborio; puede reconocerse tanto en un poema de Pedro Mir como de Norberto James sin que se sienta acosado por la culpa; sin rubor, atiborra sus retinas con el colorido glamoroso de los gallos de Guillo Pérez al mismo tiempo que se aventura en la experiencia estética de dejarse llevar por un guloya en blanco y negro de Nadal Walcott. No sólo habla un español distinto en giros y sonoridades que\ud lo distingue del de la antigua colonia, sino que está tendiendo a ser políglota a partir de las nuevas realidades en un nuevo mundo

¿Una nueva situación en Haití?

Sorprende la situación política que se ha creado en Haití desde\ud que se celebraron las elecciones del pasado 7 de febrero. El triunfo\ud de Rene Preval ¿sin que eso implique necesariamente preferencias\ud en relación con los candidatos¿ hay que verlo como uno de\ud los elementos que provocan la sensación de cambio en Haití. Ésta\ud se caracteriza por una mayor estabilidad, en todos los sentidos:\ud hay más orden, más seguridad, más participación, más esperanza...\ud Y comienza a sentirse, aunque tenuemente, la posibilidad de\ud que este inesperado instante sea el inicio de un proceso que conduzca\ud a que su estado socioeconómico y político deje de ser excepcionalmente\ud negativo.It surprises the political situation that has been created in Haití\ud after the elections of the past 7 of February. The Rene Préval's\ud triumph ¿without implies preferences in relation to the\ud candidates¿ represents one of the elements that cause the\ud sensation of change in Haiti. This is characterized by more\ud stability, in all senses: there is more order, more security, more\ud participation, more hope... And it begins to feel, although tenuously,\ud the possibility that this unexpected moment is the\ud beginning of a process that leads to a better socioeconomic\ud and political situation

Low-wage employment in Portugal: a mixed logit approach

In this paper, we examine the determinants of low-wage employment in Portugal. For this purpose, we use a data file of the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) for the years 1998 and 1999. In order to take into account unobserved heterogeneity in the data, a random-parameter logit model is used to analyse the probability of a worker receiving a low wage. The results indicate that the consideration that the effects of the explanatory variables are the same across all individuals, such as is assumed in most of the literature may be misleading. From the policy perspective, this implies that the use of a single instrument in order to combat low-wage employment is inappropriate to satisfy the whole population. In view of this, policies tailored by clusters would be more appropriate.low-wage employment, random-parameter logit model, public policy.

MANNA FROM HEAVEN: THE EXUBERANCE OF FOOD AS A TOPIC FOR RESEARCH IN MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION

Organizations have, in the past, often been discussed as if they were Cartesian mentalities, planning agendas, learning from doing, processing information, reducing equivocality, mimicking and copying, floating disembodiedly apart from the actors who work in these organizations. We are offered representations of organizations as organically grounded metaphors that minimize the biological facticity of employees: namely, their need for food. While the inputs to organizations conceived as if they were quasi-systems are well explored, and the emotional and ‘irrational’ side of organizations is increasingly explored, the necessity of inputs to the biological systems that staff them is not. Nonetheless, despite the lack of explicit scholarly attention to food at work, its importance guarantees its hidden presence in the organizational literature, often in the context of more “serious” themes. We identify four approaches to the relationship between food, work and organization. For dessert, we propose a research menu that aims to uncover several possibilities for making the role of food in organizational life more explicit.

Análise da expressão génica em estirpes de Enterococcus como resposta a diferentes condições ambientais

Tese de mestrado, Biologia (Biologia Molecular e Genética), 2008, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de CiênciasOs membros do género Enterococcus são organismos ubíquos presentes no solo, água e alimentos, constituindo também uma parte significativa da microflora do tracto gastrointestinal de humanos e animais. Embora sejam organismos comensais, são também responsáveis por infecções graves em humanos e a sua frequência em amostras clínicas tem vindo a aumentar. Neste estudo, 16 enterococos isolados de leites e queijos de ovelha provenientes de Regiões de Origem Demarcada Portuguesas foram comparados com estirpes clínicas (veterinárias e humanas) e de colecções internacionais. Tal foi realizado por crescimento em meios simulando colonização ambiental e locais de infecção: 2YT, BHI, skim milk', urina e soro de coelho a diferentes pHs (6,0, 7,0 e 7,4), osmolaridades (concentração standard', 2,5%, 5,0% e 6,5%) e temperaturas (30 e 37 ºC). Procedeu-se à análise da cinética de crescimento, dos perfis proteicos totais e da transcrição de genes de virulência. Todas as estirpes analisadas cresceram nas diferentes condições sem que tenham sido detectadas diferenças significativas entre o crescimento de estirpes clínicas e alimentares (P>0,05). Os dendrogramas construídos com base nos perfis proteicos totais revelaram que as estirpes se agrupam independentemente da espécie ou origem. A análise desses perfis revelou ainda a existência de diferenças na presença/ausência, bem como na intensidade relativa, de algumas bandas proteicas. Por último, a análise da expressão de oito genes de virulência (codificantes para a citolisina e diferentes adesinas) sugere que as estirpes clínicas activam a sua expressão em função da condição a que são expostas, enquanto as estirpes alimentares apresentam uma expressão menos dependente do meio. Em conclusão, o conjunto dos resultados sugere que os enterococos apresentam um comportamento estirpe-específico e uma elevada capacidade de adaptação, o que evidencia a necessidade de estudos posteriores de modo a avaliar o verdadeiro potencial patogénico dos enterococos em produtos alimentares tais como os queijos artesanaisEnterococci are ubiquitous microorganisms that can be found in soil, water, raw and fermented food. Although they are commonly viewed as commensal bacteria, constituting a significant part of the gastrointestinal microflora of humans and animals, they are also capable of causing life-threatening infections in humans and their frequency in clinical samples is increasing. In this study, 16 enterococcal strains from ewe's milk and cheese from Portuguese Registered Designation of Origin areas were compared to clinical strains (human and veterinarian) and to enterococci from international culture collections by growth in media simulating environmental colonization and infection sites: 2YT, BHI, skim milk, urine and rabbit serum at different pHs (6.0, 7.0 and 7.4), osmolarities (standard concentration, 2.5%, 5.0% and 6.5%) and temperatures (30 and 37 ºC). Growth kinetics analysis was accomplished and revealed that all strains were able to grow in the analysed conditions and no significant differences could be detected between the growth kinetics of clinical and food strains (P>0.05). Dendrograms based on the whole-cell protein profiles showed that all strains under analysis clustered regardless their origin or species allocation. Differences of presence/absence, as well as of relative intensity, were also detected for some bands of these profiles. The expression analysis of eight virulence-related genes (coding for cytolisin and different adhesins) was also accomplished and suggested that the clinical strains activate gene expression in response to a particular condition, whether food strains showed a wider expression. The overall results point to a strain-specific behaviour and a high degree of environmental adaptability of the strains under analysis. Further studies are required in order to correctly evaluate the true pathogenic potential of enterococci present in food products such as artisanal cheese

Flexibility through HRM in management consulting firms

Purpose – This paper aims to examine how functional and numerical flexibility can be successfully combined without workforce segmentation or flexible employment contracts, by implementing a highly integrated human resource management (HRM) system. Design/methodology/approach – Six case studies were conducted between January 2002 and June 2003 in Portuguese affiliates of multinational management consulting firms using a grounded theory approach. Findings – Evidence from the case studies showed that some of these companies were able to explore both functional and numerical flexibility in a combined and interdependent way, by operating a tightly run and highly coordinated set of HRM practices geared towards the development of internal labour markets. Research limitations/implications – The study uses a sample of large multinational companies in a single sector, which limits the scope of these findings. Practical implications – It is suggested that a strategy combining numerical and functional flexibility through an integrated set of HRM policies and practices will be more effective than segmenting the workforce or choosing between those two sources of flexibility. Originality/value – The paper presents a new breadth for the role of HRM in achieving flexibility. Theoretically, it challenges the established notion that commitment-based HRM serves only functional flexibility and that numerical flexibility can only be achieved through precarious employment. Keywords Human resource management, Skills flexibility, Numerical flexibility, Management consultancy, Case studies Paper type Research pape

Looking for complication: The case of management education

This paper argues that in face of the changes occurring in the organizational world, management education should consider the need to rethink some of its premises and adapt to the new times. The need to complicate management learning due to increased complication in competitive landscapes, is analyzed. Four possibilities of addressing organizational topics in a complicated way are contrasted: the vertical, horizontal, hypertextual, and dialectical approaches. The promises of the dialectical approach are particularly stressed as a more demanding and potentially enriching path for the creation of knowledge about organizations. The test of the four approaches in a group of undergraduate students provides some preliminary data for analyzing the strenghts and weaknesses of our proposal.