In almost all of the existing resources of failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA), "severity" is being determined from the designers' point of view, not from the customers' side. In this paper, a new approach is proposed to enhance FMEA capabilities through its integration with Kano model. This evolves the current approaches for determination of severity and "risk priority number" (RPN) through classifying severities according to customers' perceptions. It supports the nonlinear relationship between frequency and severity of failure. Also a new index called "correction ratio" (Cr) is proposed to assess the corrective actions in FMEA. The findings of a short case study highlight the gap between managers and customers in prioritising a set of failures and the difference between RPN and Cr prioritisations, caused by target failure frequencies. The proposed approach enables managers/designers to prevent failures at early stages of design, based on customers who have not experienced their products/services yet.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop and suggest a reference Kano model.Design/methodology/approachExisting Kano models have been classified into three types and, for each type, the curves, together with their corresponding evaluation tables, have been studied and a new type of the Kano model developed.FindingsFindings imply that the existing types of the Kano model have weaknesses: starting points of the curves are not located in correct position; the sequence and slopes of the curves are not carefully illustrated; and the cells of Kano evaluation table are not coded correctly. Such problems have been resolved in the proposed Kano model.Research limitations/implicationsEmpirical research is needed to examine the proposed type of Kano model, and to investigate the differences between the results of the application of the new and other types of Kano model.Originality/valueThis study provides a valuable reference model for researchers and practitioners, to be utilized in future investigations.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to enhance understanding of corporate governance (CG) in delivering excellence in corporate social responsibility (CSR).Design/methodology/approachThe paper demonstrates models of CG and the associated elements affecting CSR. It addresses the integration of CSR into management systems through a framework as a process‐based management system and studies the role of leadership style for socially responsible organizations. The paper develops a comprehensive questionnaire that enables organizations to audit their commitment to environment and social responsibility.FindingsThe paper reflects that CG encompasses different internal and external factors, by which management of organizations are influenced. This is also compatible with the new corporate community models, in which investors, the public, customers, employees and associated corporations have a mutual impact on management. The leadership style is also found to play an important role in socially responsible organizations. In this respect, transformational leader seems to be more effective, compared with manager and transactional leader. The paper suggests that organizations should audit their CG capabilities towards CSR, based on a proposed questionnaire in order to drive excellence in CSR.Originality/valueThe paper provides a comprehensive study to help understand key elements of CG and CSR and proposes a new questionnaire to organizations for assessing how far they are able to move towards socially responsible organizations.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of employees’ perception of organizational climate on organizational citizenship behaviour outbreak and the impact of both of them on organizational performance. Design/methodology/approach – This survey has been performed using structural equation modelling (SEM). The statistical population composed of the managers of Mazandaran small- to medium-sized enterprises. The analysis of the data obtained from distributed survey questionnaire has been performed by SPSS18 and AMOS18 software. Findings – Findings imply that positive perception of organizational climate influences on increasing organizational citizenship behaviour outbreak and performance of enterprise, and organizational citizenship behaviour in turn has positive and significant impact on organizational performance. Results of this survey also indicate that organizational citizenship behaviour impacts on sub-criteria of enterprise performance (i.e. financial, customer, learning and growth, internal processes). Moreover, the influence of organizational climate on all sub-criteria of performance except internal processes has been confirmed. Research limitations/implications – Lack of sufficient information concerning organizational climate in internal resources, and in some external ones, and low number of surveys performed in this field, limits the possibility of comparing the results of this survey with other similar surveys. Originality/value – This survey can be considered as an innovative survey, since there is no similar survey conducted in which three variables of organizational climate, performance, and citizenship behaviour studied, considering their specified sub-criteria.

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High service quality is imperative and important for competitiveness of service industry. In order to provide much quality service, a deeper research on service quality models is necessary. There are plenty of service quality models which enable managers and practitioners to identify quality problems and improve the efficiency and profitability of overall performance. One of the most influential models in the service quality literature is the model of service quality gaps. In this paper, the model of service quality gaps has been critically reviewed and developed in order to make it more comprehensive. The developed model has been verified based using a survey on 16 experts. Compared to the traditional models, the proposed model involves five additional components and eight additional gaps.

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Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to provide an integrated approach that prioritizes organizational key performance indicators (KPIs) in terms of the criteria of SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-sensitive) goal setting. Design/methodology/approach -The research was carried out using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) technique as the basis for pairwise comparisons of SMART criteria, considering each KPI. Findings -A new approach is outlined, encompassing step-by-step guidelines for decision makers to conduct the prioritization process of SMART KPIs. The results of the case study highlight the applicability of the proposed approach and the calculation process for prioritizing KPIs.Research limitations/implications -The rating scales used in the AHP analysis are conceptual; although it identifies which dimensions require improvement, the proposed approach does not provide guidance on an appropriate action plan to address deficiencies; another limitation is that the framework adopted only the SERVQUAL service dimensions. Originality/value -This paper gives a novel approach for prioritization of KPIs. The proposed approach has a holistic mechanism; it could empower decision-making teams; it is capable of enhancing advanced quality engineering approaches; and provides great opportunities for future research.