Browsing by Person "Donnelly, Mike"

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Assessing the quality of police services using SERVQUAL
(Emerald Group Publishing Ltd, 2006-01) Donnelly, Mike; Kerr, Neil J.; Rimmer, Russell; Shiu, Edward M.
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the application of the SERVQUAL approach to assess the quality of service of Strathclyde Police in Scotland. Measuring service quality in public services is fraught with difficulty - especially in public services where customers are vulnerable citizens whose contact with the service may be limited. Design/methodology/approach - The paper reports on a SERVQUAL survey of elected representatives serving the area covered by Strathclyde Police Force. The survey captures respondents' expectations of an excellent police service and compares these with their perceptions of the service delivered by Strathclyde Police. The paper also reports on a parallel SERVQUAL survey of police officers in Strathclyde to examine how well the force understands its customers' expectations and how well its internal processes support the delivery of top quality policing services. Findings - While there is a significant shortfall in meeting customer expectations, the police force appears to have a good understanding of what these expectations actually are. There also appear to be gaps in the formalisation of service quality standards, in the force's ability to meet established standards, and in its ability to deliver the level of service it promises to customers. Research limitations/implications - A key technical result is that the primary SERVQUAL instrument appears to be internally consistent but lacks discriminatory validity between the five SERVQUAL dimensions in this service arena. Practical implications - The paper will be of interest to strategic and operational police service managers and to academics investigating the reliability and value of service quality assessment tools. Originality/value - The paper reports an original application of the SERVQUAL approach to police services.
Cusp not crisis : changing to deliver- Scottish Government
(Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2004-06) Donnelly, Mike
A modern democracy is being created in Scotland following the re-establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 with new executive and scrutiny structures. This paper reports on early developments and the emergence of the Scottish Executive's organisational change programme - changing to deliver- - as a response to the demands for public service reform and continuous service improvement. The paper outlines the contexts, theoretical framework, and earlyactions taken by the Executive to ground its work; examines the programme aims and the workstreams for change adopted as priorities for action; and reflects on more recent developments and the prospects for the success of the change programme. A key feature which characterises elected, government organisations is the relationship between elected people and senior unelected officials. The paper reports exploratory research investigating the expectations held by Cabinet Ministers of officials and the reciprocal expectations these senior civil servants have of Scottish Ministers.
Load and academic attainment in two business schools
(Routledge, 2007-12) Donnelly, Mike; McCormack, Darcy; Rimmer, Russell
In this paper the relationship between academic load (the number of modules attempted) and academic performance is investigated in a Scottish and an Australian university. An engagement approach to academic integration is employed, in which there is feedback between load and performance, and in which there is scope for diminishing returns to the study of additional modules once loads become high. The results indicate that full-time students reduced module load in response to information on academic performance. At the Scottish business school many non-traditional students had taken up opportunities to enter university under the UK government's drive to widen participation. In that school load reduction was undertaken at twice the rate of the Australian business school. For women, reductions from full-time loads by one or two modules appear rational in that better average marks result. There are indications that status as a widening participation entrant, the learning and assessment environment, the funding regime and rest-of-life demands have influences on load reduction and on academic performance.
Setting Service Standards for Local Government Reception Services
(MCB UP Ltd, 1994) Donnelly, Mike; McMullan, Ciaran
Analyses the number, distribution and nature of enquiries made at Stirling District Council's central reception and the times taken by staff to deal with them satisfactorily in order to measure meaningful service standards. A survey of customers was conducted to try to establish a profile of the users of the reception service. With the aid of queuing theory, tries to obtain a better understanding of the way in which reception service quality target levels can be defined, measured, monitored and improved.