Stepping Into the Participants’ Shoes:The Trans-Positional Cognition Approach

To conduct a phenomenological study, researchers often follow the principles from either the descriptive or interpretive phenomenological schools of thought. This constrains researchers within the domain and limits the potentials of their data set. This paper introduces the Trans-Positional Cognition Approach (TPCA) as a novel synthesised phenomenological research method for conducting qualitative research to address this challenge. The TPCA synthesises the principles of the descriptive and interpretive phenomenological schools and helps to bridge the divide occasioned by polemical arguments between them. At the heart of TPCA is the process of trans-positional cognition or, in simple words, "stepping into the participants' shoes". TPCA, within the phenomenological tradition, proposes a structured methodological approach as a way to reduce the complexity of the extant methods, which novice researchers associate with phenomenology. The purpose of TPCA is not to pit one phenomenological research approach against another but to elucidate an inclusive approach to phenomenological research that can serve as a methodological alternative. A set of dimensions is used to compare TPCA with extant descriptive and interpretive phenomenological approaches in order to demonstrate its distinctiveness. Furthermore, an implementation study illustrates the use of the TPCA. Hence, the TPCA, by bridging the divide between the phenomenological schools of thought, could potentially help sustain the growing interest of researchers in phenomenological research

Synchronicity and alignment of productivity : the real value from service science?

The ability of services to pervade all aspects of productivity creates the need for an interdisciplinary framework of service to be developed. It is however critical that any proposed service framework is developed jointly between the service purveyor and the stakeholders involved. An expected outcome from a focus on productivity in the Services Science arena is that a much closer relationship between the purveyor of a service and the customer is initiated and fostered. This requires a clear focus on the requirements of the customer and the various ways in which the service can be conveyed. This is not too far removed from what is required in other areas such as product specification that should also be carefully crafted from the needs of the customer. The research utilises two case studies to highlight the impact of Services Science as a co-producer of service productivity. We find from the case studies that human factors play an extremely important role in improving service productivity

Towards a mixed method approach for the multidisciplinary investigation of management processes

This paper presents the development of a mixed methods approach by a multidisciplinary group of academics to understand and so model management processes with a view to enabling informed management decision making. Considering management processes as one of three categories of business processes (CIMOSA Standards Committee, 1989), the literature in this area is reviewed to identify current management modelling techniques. The researchers conclude that these do not adequately address both the 'hard' and 'soft' characteristics of management processes as well as the methodological viewpoints of the group. The development of a mixed method approach designed to address these issues is presented, along with an explanation of its application in practice. The paper concludes with a critical evaluation of the method and outlines future developmental work planned by the research group. The value in this approach is that it informs both academia and the business community by proposing a transparent and repeatable method of understanding the subjective topics of management practices and processes that is grounded in both a priori theory and practical data

Beyond performance measurement : contribution measurement

Purpose: The aim of the paper is to open a new horizon in the concept of Performance Measurement in business organisations, where the organisation is not looked at as an isolated entity and the impact of its performance on the society in which it performs is also taken into consideration. Design/Methodology/Approach: To achieve the above purpose the paper presents the idea of Contribution Measurement with the use of an imaginary scenario. The scenario is based on published empirical research and is taking a mobile phone company as an example. The findings of relevant published research are used to establish the cause and effect relationship between a number of social issues and some of the performance objectives that are listed in a balanced scorecard that has been proposed for the mobile phone company. Findings: Based on the resilt of cause and effect study, the balanced scorecard is extended to demonstrate its social impact. It is argued that the aim of the extended scorecard is not to maintain any balance, as this is practically difficult, if not impossible. The aim is simply to provide insights into the contribution of a business organisation to the society. The whole process therefore is called Contribution Measurement. However ‘measurement’ here refers to the broader meaning of the word and is not restricted to numerical measurement. Social Implications: One of the major benefits of 'contribution measurement' is to recognise and understand how the performance of an organisation may affect the society. Originality/Value: This is the first attempt to go farther than what is known as sustainable performance measurement. This is done by removing the restrictions that are normally imposed by the concepts of 'numerical measurement' and 'importance of balanced measures'. The work is an initiative and a first step for a breakthrough research in the area of performance measurement

Setting research agendas for productivity management in services

This paper presents a novel perspective of service productivity management and proposes a number of research agendas in this still evolving area of study. The paper is based on the views of top senior managers in twelve service sectors. The interviews were analyzed using a number of methods, including within-case and cross-case tables, coding and mapping. This qualitative analysis resulted in three main findings. First, the „organizational background‟ of a service sector proves to have significant effect on the approach to productivity management. Second, service sectors fall in different groups based on their operational features in the context of productivity with each group showing specific operational features. Finally, in some service operations there seems to be little or no trade-offs between productivity and quality. Each of the above topics brings their own insights into the area of service productivity which lead to a number of research agendas. The proposed research topics will provide a new framework for research into the difficult and often ignored subject of service productivity

Extending the boundaries of simulation

This paper looks at extending the boundaries of simulatio

Service productivity : a journey planner

The article aims to develop and justify a framework to be used as a journey planner for approaching service productivity by both practitioners and academics. This is based on the notion of customer vs. provider productivity as proposed by a number of researchers on the subject. Two main approaches to research into service productivity are discussed. Important lessons that can be learned are pointed out. A third approach is introduced where instead of seeking a single solution, the most appropriate solution is sought for each type of service operations. The importance of being pragmatic in approaching service productivity is emphasised

Application of classification models in studying productivity management in services

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تحليل تطبیقی فرهنگ ایرانی و تاثیر آن بر حرکت ملی بهره وری

This paper provides an analytical study of Iranian culture and its effects on national productivity movemen