Ray W. Coye

Managing customer expectations in the service encounter

Consumers of services have expectations about what they will receive from the delivery system. These expectations are beliefs about future events which, when compared with the perceived actual service delivered, are presumed to influence satisfaction and assessments of overall service quality. The purpose of this paper is to propose a model that outlines the process through which expectations operate at the point of delivery and provide a framework for future investigations. Implications for management practice focus on service provider behavior at the point of delivery and on control of cues that may influence consumer expectations once they have entered the delivery system. Directions for research include verification of model relationships and identification of specific types of cues that relate to attributes commonly considered in consumers’ judgements of service quality.

An Exploration of Employee Participation Using a Scaling Approach

Organizations considering having their employees participate in workplace decision making are faced with significant decisions about the nature and extent of activities in such programs. In general, the managerial literature provides mixed reviews on the success of these types of programs. The present study examines, by means of Rasch model analysis, the experiences of a large sample of organizations undertaking a variety of participation-related activities. The results suggest that there is an underlying relationship among differing employee participation activities, and, consequently, attention must be given to the processes used to choose and implement those activities.

An Exploratory Analysis of Employee Participation

In this study, the key factors in Edward Lawlers conceptualization of employee involvement are examined with respect to program c participative management efforts reported by Fortune 1000 firms. The results support the proposition that the degree of employee involvement existing within an organization is related to both the use of participative management programs and average participation within programs. In addition, the results support the contention that measurement issues continue to hinder efforts to clarify the definitional questions surrounding employee participation.

Individual values and business ethics

The necessity for considering individual values when attempting to institutionalize ethics is discussed. Techniques for individual values examination are outlined in the context of their organizational application. Suggestions are made concerning possible mechanisms through which organizations can encourage individual values awareness and concluding remarks emphasize the importance of managerial commitment to the overall effort.

The Effectiveness of Personal Computers in Operations Management Education

Examines the pervasiveness of personal computers (PCs) in business which has encouraged expanded use in the business‐school environment. Although the incorporation of computers in education increases realism and facilitates computation, there are divergent views on the extent to which their use enhances learning. Considers issues relevant to the introduction of personal computers in the college teaching environment and reports results of a study which evaluated learning outcomes of groups using traditional methods and those using personal computers in the teaching of production operations management. No differences in learning outcomes were found, suggesting that caution is in order when considering the nature and intensity of PC implementation programs in the education setting.

Using historic mutinies to understand defiance in modern organizations

Purpose – Guided by voice and leadership theory, this paper aims to articulate the underpinnings of upward defiance (competence deficiency; ignorance of concerns; structural gaps between echelons) and to describe the managerial actions that help depose those underpinnings.Design/methodology/approach – The paper analyzes 30 historic narrative accounts of actual mutinies. The journalistic accounts from bygone eras provide unparalleled insight into the basic dynamics of mutiny and provide novel insights into organizational defiance.Findings – The principal findings show that the underpinnings of mutiny in organizations derive from three foundations: disconnections between authority echelons, modes of addressing member disgruntlement, and the need for management to develop continuous competencies.Originality/value – The paper goes beyond reports of mutinies in the popular press and lore by applying the findings to modern organizations.

Teaching with Personal Computers.

By the end of the twentieth century, the personal computer will prob ably be an anachronism, as the slide rule, the mechanical typewriter, engineer drafting sets, and the once ubiquitous filing cabinet are today. Presently-not-envisioned, but more powerful, hardware and software will reduce costs and enhance availability of information, administrative, and deci sion-making assets. Burgeoning tech nology and shortened product and serv ice development cycles will impose new production processes, and the resulting training requirements, upon all organi zations. Because of this very rapid tech nological development, training pro grams, both in-house and external, are chasing a very fast-moving target. The effort to stay current is momentous, but the consequences of falling behind may be fatal. Application of these developments has been apparent in professional train ing programs for some time. For exam ple, word processing, introduced in the mid-1970s, now dominates office ad ministration; and temporary services companies have developed extensive multi-purpose training software to pro

Disciplining: A question of ethics?

The importance of evaluating a discipline system from an ethical perspective is considered. Disciplinary practices in contemporary organizations are frequently characterized by managers having to choose from among alternative courses of corrective action. Since the selected alternative may have serious consequences for the individuals involved, its “rightness” or “wrongness” is of concern. The pattern of these choices reflects the overall disciplinary practice of the organization, and is an issue that warrants attention from an ethical perspective. Basic schools of thought that influence contemporary discipline practices are discussed and suggestions are made for conducting an evaluation of the ethical nature of a discipline system.