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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
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Articles 1 - 7 of 7
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Wollongong: From Bunker To Beauty, Felicity Mcgregor
Wollongong: From Bunker To Beauty, Felicity Mcgregor
Felicity McGregor
A transformation is taking place at the University of Wollongong Library. An extension to the building is adding 2,000 square metres of space across three floors and visually changing the façade from a heavy bunker to a light-filled, transparent space. As the extension project progresses, the impact on both the exterior and interior are increasingly evident. The pebblecrete slabs that were suspended over the top floor and appeared to press the brick walls into the ground have been removed. A number of small shrubs and trees obscuring the building have gone. A soaring portico roof now provides shade for the …
Measurement And Milestones - Sustaining Improvement, Margie H. Jantti, Felicity Mcgregor
Measurement And Milestones - Sustaining Improvement, Margie H. Jantti, Felicity Mcgregor
Felicity McGregor
Collection and interpretation of information and data were key elements in a planned change management strategy which, over a period of six years, transformed the University of Wollongong (UOW) Library’s capacity to deliver sustained organisational improvement. Early initiatives in strategic planning, performance management and staff development had delivered a number of improvements to an essentially conservative organisation. Perceptions of Library services were mostly favourable. Success was difficult to measure and promote, however, due to the lack of robust performance indicators and measures. Performance measurement focussed on inputs and outputs, primarily those considered mandatory for reporting purposes, with little or no …
Benchmarking With The Best, Felicity Mcgregor
Benchmarking With The Best, Felicity Mcgregor
Felicity McGregor
Measuring the performance of individual library services and processes is now well developed; it is more difficult, however, to identify best practice or to measure the overall organisational performance of libraries. In the absence of relevant sector-wide benchmarks, the University of Wollongong Library (UoW) adopted the principles outlined in the Australian Quality Council’s (AQC) Business Excellence Framework and then benchmarked its performance by applying for, and subsequently winning, an Australian Business Excellence Award. The Awards process requires evidence on all aspects of organisational performance: leadership and innovation, strategy and planning processes, data, information and knowledge, people, customer and market focus, …
Performance Measures, Benchmarking And Value, Felicity Mcgregor
Performance Measures, Benchmarking And Value, Felicity Mcgregor
Felicity McGregor
[Extract] The announcement of the establishment of a Quality Audit Agency to evaluate the performance of universities, signalled an inevitable expansion of the incipient culture of measurement and evaluation in Australian universities. Those who consider that quality, and its associated tenets of measurement and evaluation are of dubious value, will be constrained to demonstrate goal achievement through whichever mechanisms are deemed appropriate by the Agency. Otherwise, they may face an uncertain funding future. Although the details of the audit process are not yet clear, there will be a single national body which will be responsible for overseeing independent external quality …
Exploring The Mystery Of Service Satisfaction, Felicity Mcgregor
Exploring The Mystery Of Service Satisfaction, Felicity Mcgregor
Felicity McGregor
[Extract] Customer satisfaction surveys and other feedback systems provide data and information on a range of service elements, however, they are limited in the insights they can provide into the total service experience, in particular the influence of staff attitudes, attributes and behaviours on overall satisfaction. Feedback from surveys does of course offer clues to guide further investigation. Mystery shopping was chosen by the University of Wollongong Library (UWL) to shed light on the value customers place on various aspects of their service interactions. The Customer Satisfaction Survey discussed in this paper was developed by an Australian company, Rodski Survey …
Quality Management/Change Management: Two Sides Of The Same Coin?, Felicity Mcgregor
Quality Management/Change Management: Two Sides Of The Same Coin?, Felicity Mcgregor
Felicity McGregor
Change management strategies, as discussed in the literature, commonly share similar approaches and processes. Quality management or business excellence frameworks include many of the elements seen to be essential to effective change management. By adopting a management framework, a holistic approach to organisational change, development and innovation can be achieved. Instead of managing change as a series of events, a system wide approach is adopted. The disparate elements of effective management practice: human resources, industrial relations, customer relationship management, leadership strategies and planning processes are all integrated in a model underpinned by a systems approach and informed by systematic data …
Wollongong: From Bunker To Beauty, Felicity Mcgregor
Wollongong: From Bunker To Beauty, Felicity Mcgregor
Felicity McGregor
A transformation is taking place at the University of Wollongong Library. An extension to the building is adding 2,000 square metres of space across three floors and visually changing the façade from a heavy bunker to a light-filled, transparent space. As the extension project progresses, the impact on both the exterior and interior are increasingly evident. The pebblecrete slabs that were suspended over the top floor and appeared to press the brick walls into the ground have been removed. A number of small shrubs and trees obscuring the building have gone. A soaring portico roof now provides shade for the …