Showing papers on "Service system published in 1982"

Perspectives on the Technology of Service Operations

Abstract: Processes and outcomes in manufacturing goods are different from those involved in producing services. These differences necessitate modifications in the theory of sealing off the technical core when applied to the services. Although it is difficult to buffer service operations from customer-induced uncertain ties, it is possible to insulate them from administrative sectors of the organization.

Application of an expected covering model to emergency medical service system design

Abstract: The Emergency Medical Service (EMS) Act specifies the fraction of all demands for service that must be reached in a given amount of time for urban and rural areas. The conditions have traditionally been interpreted to apply to the case in which all EMS vehicles are available to respond to demands. A model that considers the probability of a vehicle being busy is formulated and model properties are briefly discussed. The model is then applied to two problems: a 55-node test case and a 33-node census tract representation of Austin, Texas. The implications of the new model for EMS system design are discussed as are the limitations of the modeling approach.

Creating New Services

Abstract: Social workers can do a great deal to help by making sure that existing services are publicised and do their declared job. They can do even more by treating every mentally handicapped person, and every family of a mentally handicapped person, as unique: by trying to understand the precise meaning of mental handicap for that person or family, and by finding ways of responding to their individual needs, whether through existing services or by improvisation. In most places certain needs are not being met because some element in the total pattern of service is missing. This is the starting-point for what we might call service renewal. This process should be an essential and routine part of any service system. Whatever system one builds some people will be left out of it — not from malice or stupidity, but from ordinary human blindness. If this could be accepted as a fact of life, it would perhaps be easier to make proposals for change without seeming to criticise the life’s work of those who run existing services. Since it rarely is accepted, social workers must assume that change will only occur if a good case is made for it, and often only if an aggressive campaign is waged.

Trade-Off Analysis of Preferences for Public Services

Abstract: This article develops an approach to identifying preferences of residents for alternative strategies of service provision, given a limited budget for the supply of services. Using a game format, the approach requires residents to indicate the services they would improve and the services they would trade off given the available financial resources. The method is demonstrated for a rural municipality in sourthern Ontario, Canada. The results provide an indication of the way in which the residents would like to see their taxes apportioned for service provision and are analyzed for differences in constrained preferences within the community.

A simulation based methodology for modeling a university Research Support Service System

Abstract: The paper presents a methodology for modeling a university Research Support Service System (RSSS). RSSS effectiveness is measured in terms of net research time available to researchers, response time of support services, and the cost to provide services. The model consists essentially of delineating each function of the RSSS as a network and simulating flow of researcher generated inputs through the network in order to collect statistics necessary to compute performance measures. The analysis concerns system performance changes in response to procedural modifications in the institution, removal of external procedural constraints imposed on the system, and changes in organizational configuration. The model can prove to be a valuable asset to the present-day RSSS managements in examining their Research Support Service Systems or developing similar models.

Helping America's families

Abstract: 'We've been married for thirty-three years and now Roy wants a divorce. I don't know what to do'. 'The principal says my children are acting out at school and I'd better get help for them'. 'I finally found a job, but I need someplace to leave my three-year-old while I'm at work'. 'My mother just moved to Florida. Her heart is bad, and I'm worried about her living by herself so far away'. Millions of American families suffer from these and similar problems personal and interpersonal problems, practical problems, problems requiring support or advice or advocacy. In response to these needs, American society has produced a myriad of helping services, all intended, directly or indirectly, to support the family as it seeks to cope with changes in its social and technological environment. Ranging from Parents Without Partners and marriage enrichment courses to counseling for drug abusers, these services have never before been examined as a 'service system' whether real or potential. In this wide-ranging study, Kahn and Kamerman trace the sources of these services in the marketplace, in the public service system, in the private not-for-profit agency, in churches and synagogues, and in self-help groups of various descriptions. They look at the differences and similarities among programs, their strengths and weaknesses, and who is most likely to use which kinds of programs, why, and how. They also review what little information there is on what kinds of problems American families have, and see themselves as having, and why the family, as such, should be an object of support and assistance. Finally, they offer some observations on how and whether American society can provide such a service system to its citizens. This, then, is an invaluable book for those who would understand what is available and what is needed to support families in an increasingly complicated society. Author note: Alfred J. Kahn teaches and conducts comparative international research in social policy, planning, social services, and family policy. Sheila B. Kamerman teaches and conducts comparative international research in social policy, planning, social services, and family policy. They are co-authors of five earlier books, including "Not for the Poor Alone" and "Social Services in the United States", both published by Temple.

Voice response recognition service system

Abstract: PURPOSE:To restart the service for the convenience of the user, by providing a function interrupting the service while keeping the telephone line for a voice response recognition system. CONSTITUTION:The voice recognition device is provided with a service progressing word recognizing means 31 and a service interruption word recognizing means 33. A main control section 5 is provided with a service interruption procedure 42 in addition to a service progressing procedure 41, and when the voice recognizing device 4 recognizes a service interruption word at a recognizing means 32, corresponding signal tone and message are outputted immediately according to the procedure 42 to interrupt the serivice. When the voice recognizing device recogizes a service restart permission word at the means 33, the procedure is transferred from the procedure 42 to 41 immediately to restart the service. Thus, the efficiency of operation of the voice recognizing device is improved.

Community Residential Services during the 1980s: Challenges and Future Trends

Abstract: The author suggests new directions for community-based residential programs and points out major changes that may occur in the community residential service system during the 1980s The need for mo

Decision procedures for paratransit market selection and service evaluation: executive summary

Abstract: This research addresses the transit manager's basic problem of deciding how to increase transit service availability while at the same time improving its efficiency by implementing new services to attractive market areas and discontinuing existing services to unproductive markets in a timely manner. These decisions depend upon good marketing information on the one hand and good service evaluation data on the other. This study focuses on both sides of this transit management decision problem, and presents unified procedures that simultaneously deal with both the marketing and service evaluation problems. In the marketing problem, transit service opportunities in growing suburban markets are identified. For the service evaluation problem, the focus is on analysis of existing services and justification of the elimination of unproductive services. A service development process that illustrates the joint use of the evaluation procedures in conjunction with a market analysis is identified.

Diagnostic method of other system

Abstract: PURPOSE:To protect the whole system from influence of a fault, by making a double system a spare stand-by system, changing over to a spare system in the event of a fault, and also diagnosing a fault by a normal service sysem in a system whose control system has been doubled CONSTITUTION:In a store program control type information processing system whose control system has been doubled to a system A and a system B, the control system A executes a control processing as a normal service system, and the control system B stands by as a spare system When a processor 1A detects that a fault has occured in the course of control, for instance, a fault has occured in a peripheral control device 3A, a signal is sent to a system control 6, and the normal service system is changed over to the control system B After the sysem has been changed over, a processor 1B sends a diagnostic program to the control system A which is faulty, through transfer devices 5B, 5A, and a fault is diagnosed by the control system A Its result is returned to the control system B which has becomes a normal service system, is analyzed, and a faulty place is decided and is displayed

National library and information service system in Barbados : report of a consultancy mission, Sept., 1981

Abstract: Library has Spanish version: Sistema nacional de bibliotecas y servicios de informacion en Barbados : informe de una consultoria (septiembre 1981)

Achieving Human Scale

Abstract: Mental health professionals have earnestly sought to bring services into the community arena. Although the community mental health movement has had a profound impact on service delivery, neither providers nor consumers have been satisfied with developments during the past decade. Services tend to be delivered in a fragmented manner. They are often offered in an inefocient, duplicative, and bureaucratically confusing fashion. There is a distinct lack of accountability in the various delivery systems. There is failure to minister to prolonged needs or even to provide comprehensive analysis of clients’ problems.

Generalized First Transit Times with an Illustration in Human Service System Planning

Abstract: This paper is concerned with extending the notion of first transit time analysis in Markov chains to sets of states rather than individual states. The motivation for the research came as a result of the state structure of a Markov chain model being developed to aid government planners in operating service systems for the elderly. The mathematics of the analysis is presented, followed by numerical results showing the expected transit times from service to service for a county service system for the elderly in Pennsylvania.