Abstract

The thesis in hand deals with the problem of quality assessment in the service industry. Service quality measurement is an essential step towards high quality performance in these firms. Service industry plays an important role in the economy , it is currently realized that services are not luxurious activities but , rather an integral part of the economy since it employs the majority of employees and embraces more than half of the Gross National Product in most developed and under developed countries. The aim of this work is to construct a model for problem diagnosis and maintenance in the service sector towards high quality performance. The model provides a general framework for quality assessment in the service industry that is applicable for all firms , regardless of the type of service given. The model was formulated as a rule based Expert System whereby several symptoms are presented and questions are displayed. In answering these questions the program evaluates the answers and reaches a conclusion of what are the basic cause(s) for the given symptom . The program then suggests some recommendations to help in solving the causes and hence eliminating the symptom or the problem. The analysis procedure was designed as a cause and effect relationship getting advantage of the approaches dealt with in maintenance theories. Since it is a type of maintenance program applied to the service sector, the Fault Tree Analysis technique was used. After designing the model , it was tested on three different real world problems and satisfactory results were obtained. The results obtained based on the model were found to conform well with results revealed from the case studies themselves.

School

School of Sciences and Engineering

Date of Award

2-1-1998

Online Submission Date

1-1-1997

First Advisor

Mahmoud Amin Younis

Second Advisor

Nahed Sobhy Mohamed

Committee Member 1

Mahmoud Younis

Committee Member 2

Abdel Latif Haridy

Committee Member 3

Amin El Kharboutly

Document Type

Thesis

Extent

246 leaves

Library of Congress Subject Heading 1

Service industries

Library of Congress Subject Heading 2

Service industries

Library of Congress Subject Heading 3

Blake, William,;Blake, William,;Gibran, Kahlil,;Gibran, Kahlil,

Rights

The American University in Cairo grants authors of theses and dissertations a maximum embargo period of two years from the date of submission, upon request. After the embargo elapses, these documents are made available publicly. If you are the author of this thesis or dissertation, and would like to request an exceptional extension of the embargo period, please write to thesisadmin@aucegypt.edu

Comments

"The thesis may be consulted in the Library, but may not be photocopied. The restriction on photocopying will cease " in Dec. 1999 unless renewal has been applied for and granted.

Call Number

Thesis 1997/64

Location

mgfth

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Included in

Engineering Commons

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