Showing papers on "Service provider published in 1987"

Interactive market management system

Abstract: A system for interactive on-line electronic communications and processing of business transactions between a plurality of different types of independent users including at least a plurality of sellers, and a plurality of buyers, as well as financial institutions, and freight service providers. Each user can communicate with the system from remote terminals adapted to access communication links and the system may include remote terminals adapted for storage of a remote data base. The system includes a data base which contains user information. The data base is accessed via a validation procedure to permit business transactions in an interactive on-line mode between users during interactive business transaction sessions wherein one party to the transaction is specifically selected by the other party. The system permits concurrent interactive business transaction sessions between different users.

Educating Children With Multiple Disabilities: A Transdisciplinary Approach

Abstract: Explains how to integrate skills of educators and service providers to improve education for learners with severe cognitive and physical disabilities, including sensorimotor difficulties, vision/hearing impairments, and mental retardation. Includes chapters on assessment, handling and positioning, i

Needs of Learning Disabled Adults

Abstract: The results of a needs assessment of learning disabled adults based on surveys of the perceptions of learning disabled adults, providers of services to learning disabled adults, and consumers or advocates for learning disabilities are presented. The results of the survey of the learning disabled adults, service providers, and consumers indicate that learning disabled adults have major academic, social, personal, and vocational needs that must be addressed if they are to attain adult competence. A comparison across all need areas indicated that service providers and consumers identified vocational needs involving securing an appropriate job and vocational rehabilitation services as the most critical need area of learning disabled adults, with a second need area involving learning disabled adults' poor self-concept, lack of self-understanding, and lack of self-acceptance. Recommendations are made for services in academics, secondary and post-secondary vocational training, social skills, and counseling and p...

Contracting for Social Services: Process Management and Resource Dependencies

Abstract: A new interorganizational environment has emerged as nongovernmental organizations have increasingly been used to implement public policy in the social services. As yet, there is a paucity of appropriate concepts, models, and data to describe the organizational consequences of separating governmental funding from service delivery as found in purchase of service contracting. Drawing mainly on three recent studies of contracting in the San Francisco Bay Area, this paper employs a political economy model to analyze the choices and constraints faced by local governmental agencies and nonprofit service providers as they move through the five stages of the contract management process. The strategies used by provider agencies to cope with their dependencies on government for funds and clients are then described. A series of questions is identified for policymakers interested in improving the contracting process.

A yellow-pages service for a local-area network

Abstract: We introduce a yellow-pages service that maps service names into server addresses. The service is novel in that it associates a set of attributes with each server. Clients specify the attributes the server should possess when requesting a service and the yellow-pages service determines what servers satisfy the request. In addition to describing the implementation of the yellow-pages service within a local-area network, we show how the service can be integrated with the available internet communication protocols to enable clients from throughout the internet to access local servers.

System for data field area acquisition in ic card for multiple services

Abstract: Information indicating the limit of size of area which is permitted to a service provider and an authentication code of the service supplier are stored in an IC card upon issuance. When a service is to be added, a service supplier is authenticated, and thereafter, acquistion of a data field area within a predetermined size of data field area is permitted. Thus, in the IC card for multiple services, upon addition of a new service after card issuance, the use of a remainder vacant area in the IC card by an unauthenticated service supplier and the exclusive use of the vacant area by a specific service supplier are prevented.

Accumulating Evidence on the Benefits and Costs of Supported and Transitional Employment for Persons with Severe Disabilities

Abstract: Evidence about the benefits and costs of supported and transitional employment for persons with severe disabilities is presented along with relevant caveats in the absence of controlled studies. Some of the major forms of supported and transitional employment services are compared with adult day care and traditional sheltered workshops, including work activity centers. Despite weaknesses in the data, sufficient information exists to argue that all forms of employment—supported, transitional, and sheltered—are more productive in terms of earnings and less costly to provide than adult day care. The lack of definitive data is seen as a major impediment to the expansion of supported and transitional employment options for people with severe disabilities; hence, stricter accountability is recommended. All service providers, regardless of the vintage of their programs, should be required to show benefits and costs within a uniform framework of measurement.

Organizing for effective family planning programs.

Abstract: Following an introduction chapter general environments (social political cultural and economic) in which family planning (FP) programs operate are discussed. The task environment: a more direct set of factors affecting program activity; and the technological and resource (money; personnel; infrastructure; facilities) environments are also examined. Program management and elements are discussed in terms of context e.g. fitting programs into national structures; operational planning; integration of FP with other service delivery; developing human resources; demand generation; and program logistics. (A shortage of logistics literature is noted.) Special modes of delivery: community-based distribution under public and private sponsorship; related marketing technics; social marketing; and the role of private clinics and physicians are examined. The critical importance of the interaction between programs and client populations are emphasized. Such interaction includes visits by extension workers; service providers; and indirect contacts with leaders or professional personnel through printed materials and the media in a variety of settings: clinics; community-based FP programs; and commercial distribution systems. Ways in which user and to an extent community incentives and disincentives have been used in different countries are assessed with reference to changes over time for example in India and Singapore. Methodological issues: the measurement of inputs and contraceptive availability; the similarity of the concepts of availability and accessibility; and cost-effectiveness measurement; issues connected with measuring the causal impact of family planning; and the separation of the effects of social and economic conditions on contraceptive use and fertility. Suggestions are made for future research: little empirical evidence exists concerning several crucial elements of program implementation.

Patterns of Institutional Relations in the Welfare State: Public Mandates and the Nonprofit Sector

Abstract: Patterns of institutional relations in the American welfare state are shaped by two major driving forces in American society: (1) the execution of public mandates with its dependency on nonprofit and other nongovernmental service providers, and (2) by the intrusion and dominance of the American capitalist system. These two driving forces combine to produce four patterns of nonprofit-public interactions: Cooperation, characterized by public sector dependence on the nonprofit sector and the absence of a strong proprietary sector; Accommodation, characterized by public sector dependence on the nonprofit sector and the presence of a strong proprietary sector; Competition, characterized by the absence of a strong proprietary sector and the absence of public sector dependence on nonprofit service providers; and Sym biosis, characterized by absence of public sector dependence on nonprofit service providers and the presence of strong proprietary actors. The theoretical model is derived from an examination of publ...

Volunteers and Bureaucrats: Clarifying Roles and Creating Meaning:

Abstract: One element largely missing in the literature on coproduction is research on imple menting and successfully maintaining a process that involves the use of citizen and citizens group inputs into bureaucratically organized public agencies This article is concerned with hozu priblic managers in a large library system create meaning and develop roles for conducting cooperative activities with citizens for the delivery of library services The data indicates that there are a variety of roles performed by citizens which vary in how successfully they are integrated into the organization from the perspective of managers Significant differences are found between citizens in the role of service providers and fund raisers, in whether their relationship is with the central library administration or branch libraries and in whether the style of a manager is flexible or bureaucratic

Spatial concentration of residential homes for the elderly: planning responses and dilemmas

Abstract: The growth in numbers of very elderly people and the need for residential accommodation for a proportion of them have produced concentrations of residential homes for the elderly in areas already favoured for retirement. This has caused concern to local politicians, planners and service providers in many parts of Britain. This paper outlines the variety of responses by planners in England to this social phenomenon and discusses the limitations inherent in planning in dealing with it. Torbay in Devon is examined as an example of a district which has experienced considerable growth in numbers of homes for the elderly and where planners have attempted to introduce local policies to regulate it. Location quotients are used to compare the concentration of homes in localities with and without restraints on the establishment of new homes. It seems that policies which seek to prevent 'overconcentration' in small areas may have some success although this may be modified by planning appeals. The paper concludes with an assessment of the effectiveness of planning and the need for stronger national guidelines in the development of this key area of social policy.

An approach to the study of burnout in professional care providers in human service organizations.

Abstract: A multidimensional approach is proposed for the study of burnout in professional care providers. The approach depicts relationships between care provider, human service organization and recipient of care in the development of burnout in the providers of human services. This article is both a literature review and a description of a new conceptualization based on, but not limited to, existing literature.

Income Maintenance Workers: Technicians or Service Providers?

Abstract: Although social services have been separated from income maintenance for almost 15 years, the effects of this separation have not been determined. While the issues surrounding separation are numerous, the role of the eligibility, or income maintenance, worker is of particular importance. Although this role has been defined primarily as a technician, the accuracy of that definition has not been substantiated. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which income maintenance workers are involved in social service activities and the importance of these activities relative to financial eligibility functions. The findings indicate that, while eligibility functions are the central aspect of the income maintenance worker's role, selected access services are being provided by income maintenance workers.

Ethical Issues in Geriatric Dentistry

Abstract: Ethical issues involved in providing dental care to geriatric patients have generally been ignored in the practice and academic literatures. Elderly patients require special ethical consideration because of increased burden of illness, sensory deficits which may interfere with symptom interpretation and communication, fiscal constraints and ageism among both providers and patients. A taxonomy of ethical issues is provided including issues pertaining to the patient, the family, service providers, and the health care system. Suggestions are made for improving decision making in geriatric dental care.

The New Information Technology and the Structure of Planning Practice

Abstract: This paper reports on the development and implementation of two computer-based planning and information systems in a large land use planning department. Contextual features, including: a legal challenge to prevailing pro-growth politics, related crises in infrastructure finance and departmental productivity and legitimacy, and the historically weak position of the planning agency in relation to its major co- participants in the land development process, are critical for understanding the technical and political aspects of system design and implementation. The analysis focuses on the initial impacts of these information systems on relations between planning agency and service providers, elected officials and land developers; and on management-professional staff relationships within the planning organization. Automated information has enhanced the credibility of the planning department in the eyes of its co- participants, as well as strengthened the capacity of co-participants to do their own planning. Auto...

Down to business: the commodification of nonprofit social services

Abstract: Private nonprofit organizations play a major role in delivering a range of publicly funded social services. Aggregate data from a recent Urban Institute study reveal that recent federal cutbacks have affected the services, programs and clients of NPOs. An examination of specific agencies in Maricopa County (Phoenix) reveals that many service providers have adopted a business approach to their services and clients, treating them as commodities. In general, agencies serving clients with Resource Mobilization Potential-youth and elderly-have fared better than those dealing primarily with poor adults.

Value Structures, Formal Structures, and Technology for Lower Participants in Service Organizations

Abstract: The effects of technology and formal structures on value structure for lower level individuals in service operations is examined. Service providers (337) in direct contact with clients/customers were surveyed. The results indicate significant relationships among formal structure, task uncertainty, and employee value orientation to customers. Task uncertainty was also found to mediate the relationship between formal structure and value orientation for individuals in direct contact with clients/customers.

The Management of Service Organizations

Abstract: The article reviews three books on management of service organizations: “Managing in the Service Economy,” by James L. Heskett, “Managing Service Industries: Organizational Practices in a Postindustrial Economy,” by Peter K. Mills, and “Service Management: Strategy and Leadership in Service Businesses,” by Richard Normann.

Designing primary health care financing strategies for low-income communities of Rio De Janeiro: A heuristic solution

Abstract: Planning primary health care (PHC) services in developing countries often requires decisions to be made under complex circumstances and without full supporting data or adequate computational resources. Intuitive approaches in the spirit of operations research/management science models, termed heuristics, may prove useful in such situations. This paper describes a heuristic method used for selecting schemes by which communities might finance, in full or in part, their own PHC services. In low-income areas of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, groups of service providers and consumers were asked to identify possible PHC financing schemes. They then chose a “best” subset of these schemes using methods which involved expressing their preferences, evaluating social and other constraints, and judging possible usefulness of outcomes. A sensitivity analysis showed that the model led to similar sets of chosen schemes independent of variations in selected inputs.

Community options: a new approach in assessment and the delivery of services in the aged care field.

Abstract: This paper draws attention to a pilot programme sponsored by Aged Cottage Homes Inc. in South Australia with the aim of reducing the movement into residential care of elderly people assessed as urgently needing and eligible to enter such forms of care. The programme focuses directly on those factors precipitating movement into residential care. By negotiating with existing service providers, advocating on behalf of users of the programme, establishing new services which are specific to user needs, the Community Options programme has demonstrated that many users of aged accommodation services can be supported to live in their own homes. The benefits of the programme include enhanced lifestyles for elderly people, individuality of specific programs for users, close and continuing contact with users, and the process is cost effective in terms of government outlays.

Adolescent day hospital: a cost-effective treatment alternative.

Abstract: AYC (Arizona Youth for Change) is the result of a joint venture between two of the leading adolescent service providers in inpatient and residential (long-term) care in the Southwest. Youth Health Resources, Inc., the corporate identity, focuses in the area of alternative treatment for adolescents. Components of the AYC programs are discussed, as well as some statistical data regarding the outcome of treatment. Also addressed are trends in the mental-health community, as well as the use of a "continuum-of-care" model.

Fragmentation and reproductive freedom: federally subsidized family planning services, 1960-80.

Abstract: This paper analyzes the evolution of the federal family planning program from 1960 to 1980. Political pressure to offer family planning raised the question how best to organize services. Long-standing providers preferred a categorical approach in order to maintain a diverse political coalition for an historically invisible service. In addition, categorical funding meant financial support for non-traditional providers. A compelling argument was also made for service integration. Given an expanded definition of health and the medicalization of contraceptive technology, the health delivery system presented itself as the appropriate service provider. Neither group prevailed. By 1980, federally supported family planning services were provided in autonomous clinics but also were integrated into existing maternal and child health programs. The debate continues but, under the Reagan Administration, terms and motivations differ from those of the past.

Views of Wife Abuse: Does the Research Method Make a Difference?:

Abstract: This article explores the attitudes of service providers toward abused women and abusing men from the perspectives of masculine and feminine research. The masculine approach revealed widespread victim blaming among the respondents. The feminine approach revealed that, when given the opportunity to explore the problem at length, service providers avoided making judgments and worked at understanding and explaining the men's and women's behaviors. Thus, the feminine research method seems to be more appropriate for elucidating the complex realities in the lives of clients and the work of social workers.

The adoption alternative.

Abstract: The National Academy of Sciences report on teenage pregnancy is woefully inadequate in its coverage of the adoption issue. It usually characterizes this option as a last resort and gives scant attention to current research and literature on adoption. A study carried out by the Child Welfare League of America found that over 1/3 of independent adoption facilitators never discuss alternatives to adoption with the biological mother. Such facilitators either should be required to provide adequate counseling and postplacement services or should be eliminated from consideration as service providers. Fortunately the current policy of many organizations is to refer pregnant adolescents interested in adoption to voluntary or public social service agencies rather than to independent facilitators.