By Jeremy Cox Call centers in the public and private sectors are designed and managed from a traditional mass-production perspective. This leads to problems such as customer dissatisfaction and high staff turnover. The author looks at the weaknesses of the traditional approach and argues for a re-think of design and management based on a systems perspective.

Hopes of making extensive use of digital TV to deliver public services have been dealt a blow by the latest MORI survey of take-up. MORI found that although the incidence of digital television viewers, at over 19 million British adults, is more than 30% up on twelve months ago, almost all of this growth occurred up to March this year. 

It is impossible to find a link between educational attainment in schools and the quality of local education authorities. They have a limited effect on school performance such as management effectiveness. These are a key findings in a report by OFSTED and the Audit Commission.