Purpose – Maintenance and its management has moved from being considered a “necessary evil” to being of strategic importance for most competitive organisations around the world. In terms of the identification and use of organisational-wide maintenance management models the picture is not clears from both a literature and practical perspective. The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the various models and their use in real-world applications, and in doing so, explores the gap between academic research and practice. Design/methodology/approach – For this paper two comprehensive reviews of the literature were undertaken, first, to identify and categorise the various maintenance management models, and second, to determine the depth of empirical evidence for the popular models in real-world applications. Descriptive analysis of both the practical examples and empirical evidence rates (EER) for maintenance related journals is provided. Findings – Within the literature 37 maintenance management models were identified and categorised. From these, three models were found to be popular: total productive maintenance (TPM), condition based maintenance, and reliability centred maintenance. While several thousand papers discussed these three models, only 82 articles were found to provide empirical evidence. Research limitations/implications – While providing a sound foundation for future research the outcomes are based solely on academic literature. Analysis of EER outside the field of maintenance is needed to make comparisons. Practical implications – The paper offers practitioners a detailed contemporary overview of maintenance management models along with tabulated results of practical examples to present day organisations. Such practical-focused papers are very limited within academic literature. Social implications – With EER as low as 1.5 per cent for some journals this paper acts as a reminder to researchers that they have an obligation to society to spend taxpayer funded research on addressing social needs and real-world problems. Originality/value – This paper makes a concerted attempt to link academic research with management and operational practitioners. While the paper is critical of the current academic imbalance between theory and practice, a number of suggestions to improve EER are offered in the conclusions.

Purpose – A major role of facilities management is ensuring the useability, reliability, and safety of the asset being managed. To achieve this management must use a system to control the maintenance function. The purpose of the paper is to identify and describe the various maintenance management models and systems available for facilities managers to consider. Design/methodology/approach – Two comprehensive reviews of the literature were undertaken to categorise the various maintenance management models and identify popular models in practice. Findings – The review identified 37 maintenance management models. From these, four were found to be popular: total productive maintenance (TPM), condition-based maintenance (CBM), reliability-centred maintenance (RCM), and condition monitoring (CM). While many thousands of papers can be found of these four models, the support in the literature for the remaining 33 models is very limited. Research limitations/implications – While providing a sound foundation for future research, the papers findings are based solely on reviewing literature. Practical implications – For facilities managers seeking to expand their knowledge of a particular model or maintenance management systems in general, the paper provides a practical understanding. Originality/value – Papers focused solely on identifying and describing maintenance management models are scarce and this paper makes a concerted attempt to link academic research with management practitioners.

Purpose -New car dealerships play an integral role in the initial and on-going relationship between the purchaser and vehicle manufacturer. Evidence, mostly anecdotal, suggests that the buying and servicing experience of the paying public in regards to new car dealerships is far from ideal. With continuous improvement systems such as total quality management (TQM) firmly embedded into the manufacturing and supply side of the car industry, questions still exist surrounding the level of quality being adopted by automotive dealerships. The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate if a quality culture is being developed within the dealership network in South Australia by testing a number of key principles of TQM such as: the support and commitment from top management, customer focus and satisfaction, process management, and employee involvement. Design/methodology/approach -A questionnaire survey was designed and all 105 new car dealerships in the greater Adelaide region were targeted. The service manager from each dealership was advised of the pending posted questionnaire and an excellent response rate of 66 percent was achieved. Findings -Results indicated a reasonably high level of commitment to quality within dealerships, including the important success factors of TQM. Questions still remain about quality endorsement, the type of quality systems being used and the depth of penetration of quality at the ground level.Research limitations/implications -The limiting features of this study surround the descriptive nature of the data analysis and the fact that the study was only conducted in one major city in Australia. Practical implications -The findings of this paper can give some implications for senior managers to consider when developing firm's policies. Originality/value -Empirical studies on quality in automotive dealerships are very scarce in the literature. Therefore, this paper provides an insight into the quality culture of new car dealerships and examines if key TQM principles such as top management support, customer focus, process management, and employee involvement are in fact practised.

PurposeTwo of the most sought after properties in today's dynamic and competitive manufacturing environment are labour flexibility and effective teamworking. This is due in no small part to the growth of modern manufacturing philosophies which strongly advocate the need for both teamwork and flexibility. This paper aims to explore the impact of two labour flexibility strategies (functional flexibility and intra‐cell flexibility) on teamwork in a cellular manufacturing environment.Design/methodology/approachUsing a revised input/process/output (IPO) team effectiveness model a questionnaire was designed and a case study undertaken at a large Australian manufacturer. The knowledge, skills, and ability (KSAs) gained from job rotation (flexibility) was quantitatively tested against team processes and team performance.FindingsIt was found that functional flexibility had an overall stronger, significant effect on the five team processes tested (communication, conflict resolution, problem solving, goals and performance, tasks and planning) than did intra‐cell flexibility. In regards to output (team performance) functional flexibility performed better in areas such as customer delivery, inventory holdings and quality, while intra‐cell flexibility performed better in the area of absenteeism. An inconclusive result was obtained for the fifth output measure, efficiency rate.Research limitations/implicationsThe study was conducted at a single organisation, which limits the generalisation of the outcomes, therefore broader research on the area is recommended.Practical implicationsThe study provides evidence that the individual benefits of both functional flexibility and teamworking may be enhanced while being practised concurrently. With labour flexibility and teamwork being key factors in most modern organisations, the practical implications are much wider than the field of manufacturing.Originality/valueIndividually, the literature offers much on teamworking and flexibility but studies exploring the combined effects of these two important elements are rare, especially in the field of manufacturing. The present paper fills some of the gaps

The consequences of acquired brain injury are profound and debilitating. People who sustain these injuries experience alterations to the physical, cognitive, behavioural, and psychosocial aspects of their life. These changes are often difficult to understand and consequently, many of these people are unable to successfully reintegrate into their community. This article reviews the literature and provides the reader with an understanding of the repercussions of acquired brain injury with a view to promote community acceptance and successful community reintegration. While the review identified many factors that could impede successful reintegration the empirical support for a number of these areas is lacking. Therefore, opportunities for further research abound.