Hospitality & Service Management Expert Group
Our topics
Our Expert Group researches and works on topics in the context of hospitality and service management. The focus is on stakeholder-centric management of services, for example in healthcare organisations, gastronomic businesses and hotels. In collaboration with our research partners, we examine research questions and develop systematic approaches. With our business partners, we analyze problems, develop practicable solutions and support their implementation. Our customers and partners are businesses and institutions of any size.
Research and development
The group's applied research and development activities focus on the development or enhancement of processes and methods, and on FM-related strategic issues in a whole-business context, taking into account demographic, economic and regulatory developments, and their impact on companies and the services they provide.
Consultancy and services
The group offers its clients a comprehensive range of services; it not only evaluates operational processes within companies in the capacity of an independent expert, but also provides strategic consultancy services and works together with its clients to develop proposals for improvements and implementation-ready solutions. We collaborate closely with the IFM's other Expert Groups as well as the remaining ZHAW Institutes and other universities.
Teaching
The group's teaching approach combines theory with applied practice on the basis of scientifically proven knowledge. Its courses cover theoretical and management-related findings as well as the technical and mathematical skills which the hospitality and service managers of the future will need. The following courses are offered to BSc and MSc students: Food Service Processes and Management, Value Creation (strategy development, event management, accommodation and business plans), Textile and Cleaning Management and Procurement Management. The group also passes on strategic findings from its research projects in the field of healthcare and consumer FM.
Focal points
Digital Transformation for FM in HC
The digital transformation of non-medical services in healthcare organisations will play a crucial role in the years to come. The Hospitality & Service Management Expert Group researches this topic with a holistic and interdisciplinary approach all the way to specific impacts and measures for Facility Management. In a first step, the strategic need for action for digitalisation in healthcare organisations was examined. The resulting Innosuisse project Digital Competence for Healthcare (DC4HC), had the goal to develop a digital maturity model for the assessment of non-medical support processes.
Service Robotics & Technology
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Service robots and technologies are currently being developed at a rapid pace. With its focus on hospitality and service provision, the competence group is involved in national and international further development together with researchers from a wide range of disciplines (see e.g.): RobotCare - user experience in the development of service robots for geriatric care, implementation of service robots in Swiss hospitals and hotels, technologization in retirement and nursing homes, flexibilization of catering services in APHs with the help of technology.
Food Services in Healthcare Organisations / Food for Care
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The provision of food and beverages plays a major role in healthcare organisations and care homes. Our team addresses the topic in a number of ways, e. g. in the context of the use of technology to make catering services in care homes more flexible, with new concepts for patient hospitality and staff culinary, on the strategic and tactical level, the digitalisation of catering (project DIGINUT), in researching approaches to data-driven decision support in hospital gastronomy,
Hotel Industry Benchmarking in Healthcare
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The "Hotellerie Benchmark" comprises the areas of catering and cleaning; the survey and evaluation takes place on a yearly basis and currently includes almost 50 healthcare institutions of acute hospitals, rehab clinics, psychiatric clinics and asylums.
Professional Project Management in Healthcare Organisations
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We are engaged in the development of project management and project-oriented procedures in healthcare organisations, e. g. in the context of the spm project management association's specialist group PM in Healthcare Organisations.
Reference Model for Non-medical Support Services in Hospitals
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In order to illustrate complex interconnections of FM in HC in a clear manner, the Reference Model for Non-medical Support Services in Hospitals [RemoS] was developed in collaboration with four hospitals and three partners in industry. The model shows the connections between the result-oriented services in the Service Catalogue for Non-Medical Support Services in Hospitals [LekaS], the underlying processes [PromoS], the related key performance indicators (parameters) [KenkaS] and the corresponding software applications [ApplikaS]. The Reference Model is the basis for the Guideline to use SAP for Facility Management in Healthcare [LesapS] and the IT-supported Assessment, Simulation and Benchmarking Tool for Facility Management in Healthcare [ASBT-FM].
Our projects
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An interactive tool for Community Interpreter training
Community interpreters interpret conversations in the health, social, education or asylum sectors and thus make a significant contribution to giving people without sufficient knowledge of the national language access to public services. Despite this responsible task, they rarely have the opportunity to practise in ...
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Beyond Coalitions: Small States in Climate Negotiations (BeCoSS Climate)
Small states are often taken to be rule-takers rather than rule-makers in international affairs. Yet, small states can punch above their weight, notably when working through coalitions. While coalitions are key to understanding multilateral negotiations such as those on climate change, they mask important ...
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Boosting the Development of Plant Cell Cultures with Deep Learning Through Literature Mining
Boosting the Development of Plant Cell Cultures with Deep Learning Through Literature Mining.
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Circulus - Sustainable and Circular Supply Chains for the MEM-industry: a systemic approach for a net zero world
The Flagship Circulus aims to achieve the highest level of sustainability and net zero across the entire supply chain by implementing circular economy initiatives. To accomplish this, targets are set at overall supply chain level, being broken down and implemented at individual partner level. ...
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ConnectEurasia
Development of students’ ability to navigate an increasingly uncertain global environment has become a major concern for business schools in today’s heightened geopolitical volatility. In parallel, markets such as those of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan along the Silk Road hold great potential for Switzerland and receive ...
Our publications
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Sandamirskaya, Yulia; Gerber, Nicole,
2024.
Robotik für Heime – was ist möglich, was nötig?.
In:
9. Fachkonferenz – Das Pflegeheim der Zukunft, Blezinger Healthcare, Interlaken, Schweiz, 20.-21. Juni 2024.
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Pericin Häfliger, Irina; Müller, Noemi,
2024.
Berufskleidung : ein essenzieller Partner für Hygiene.
Hygieneforum.ch.
Available from: https://www.hygieneforum.ch/wissen/berufskleidung-ein-essenzieller-partner-fuer-hygiene/
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Gerber, Nicole,
2024.
Transfer English edition.
2024(1), pp. 9.
Available from: https://doi.org/10.21256/zhaw-30523
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Merkle, Thorsten; Diez, Karin; Gerber, Nicole; Jeanfavre, Elsa,
2024.
Innovationsforschung im Bereich Gästeservice / Hotellerie in Spitälern.
Wädenswil:
ZHAW Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften.
Available from: https://doi.org/10.21256/zhaw-29836
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Gatziu Grivas, Stella; Hanne, Thomas; Imhof, Denis; Bugmann, Diego; Schmitter, Paul,
2024.
An intelligent platform-based tool for the development of digital transformation strategies [paper].
In:
International Conference on Industry Science and Computer Sciences Innovation (iSCSi), Lisbon, Portugal, 4-6 October 2023.
Elsevier.
pp. 344-353.
Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2024.05.114
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Institute for Facility Management
FM in HC
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