To maintain a competitive edge in the tourism and hospitality industries, considerable emphasis has been placed on providing quality services for customers. While the work attitudes and behaviours of staff who deliver these services can influence the experiences of service by customers, little is known how internal and external aspects of the environment of an organisation with a controversial service affect the empowerment, work attitudes and well-being of its employees. The aim of the present program of research was to identify employees' perceptions of the salient aspects of the internal and external environment of an organisation delivering a controversial service, gambling, and to examine the impact of these environmental aspects on the empowerment, commitment and well-being of its employees. Working in any service organisation can be demanding for employees, exacerbated when employees deliver a controversial service such as gambling, and work in close proximity to people who gamble. Research indicates that delivery of a gambling service differs from the delivery of other recreational pursuits due to the negative personal, social, and financial impacts of gambling on problem gamblers and others. These negative costs of gambling have generated long standing ethical or moral objections within the community, and, because of the range of community views about gambling, employees who deliver gambling services are likely to be confronted with opposing community views. By interacting with patrons, employees may also question their values and attitudes to gambling, and feel concerned about those patrons who they consider may have a problem with gambling. Organisational resources that facilitate the empowerment, work attitudes and well-being of employees may exist, however, and reduce the negative effects of any gambling-related influences on employees. A mixed methods research design, consisting of two sequential phases, was used. The methods complemented each other, and minimised the disadvantages of using only one approach. A qualitative method was used in the first phase of the program to collect rich descriptions of the experiences of twenty staff working in seven Queensland clubs with gambling services in South East Queensland. The in-depth interviews helped to identify gambling-related challenges and climate-based resources of the internal and external work environments of the service organisation. The gambling-related challenges included community and media attitudes to gambling, peoples' demands on clubs, and staff beliefs about patrons who gamble. The climate-based resources included the organisational welfare of employees, expressed as meeting employees' needs for respect, developing supportive relationships with staff, encouraging open and clear communication, and the provision of social support. Organisational emphasis on quality service and meeting the needs of patrons also served as a climate-based resource for employees. The qualitative process additionally examined the impact of these factors on the empowerment, commitment and well-being of the employees, allowing the development of a conceptual model of the environmental factors of a gambling industry predicting employees' empowerment, commitment, and well-being. In the second phase of the research program, the conceptual model was tested using a cross-sectional survey. A complex, stratified, random sampling technique allowed access to a sample of clubs and participants that best represented registered and licensed clubs in Queensland. A self-administered mail questionnaire was sent to 468 employees over 41 Queensland clubs with 25 to 280 poker machines. After firstly establishing the soundness of the measurement properties of the model using confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modelling was used to test the utility of the conceptual model developed in Study 1. Overall, Study 2 supported several of the proposed links, suggesting that the conceptual model developed in Study 1 was useful for examining the salient aspects of the external and internal environments of a club that influence staff empowerment, commitment, and well-being. The study showed the role of climate-based resources in a gambling industry by indicating that those employees who had positive perceptions about employee relations, positive beliefs about patron welfare, and felt supported by their supervisors, felt more empowered, and reported higher commitment and reduced emotional exhaustion. Employee relations was the most influential construct in predicting empowerment, and indirectly affected commitment and well-being (mediated by the empowerment dimensions). Study 2 also confirmed that gambling-based challenges of the external and internal environments impacted on the empowerment and well-being of employees. Those employees who believed that the community supported gambling reported an increased sense of influence over their work environment. The employees who held positive beliefs about patrons who gamble, reinforced gambling in clubs, and attributed the causes of problems in gambling onto sources outside themselves (mostly to the patrons), reported more positive well-being. Employees who perceived that people were demanding, and were not appreciative of what clubs did for the community reported reduced meaningfulness, a reduced sense of influence over their duties and work environment, and reduced well-being. Findings also illustrated the key role of influence, and, in particular, the meaningfulness dimension, in the empowerment, commitment, and well-being of employees in an industry delivering a gambling service. The findings of this research have implications for managerial interventions designed to promote the empowerment, commitment and well-being of employees who deliver a gambling service. By developing and strengthening the organisational resources that facilitate the empowerment, work attitudes and well-being of employees, managers are also likely to reduce the negative effects of the demands and conflicting influences of the external and internal gambling-related challenges on employees. This research program is distinctive in that research has not previously examined the impact of internal and external challenges and resources of a gambling industry on the empowerment, work attitudes, and well-being of its employees. There has, also, been no prior research focused on the work attitudes of employees in the Queensland club industry. Future research needs to replicate the findings of the present research program. The challenges and resources that were found to affect employees in the club industry, however, may be organisation specific. There is, therefore, a need for further research that compares the impact of factors related to the delivery of a gambling service in the club industry with different gambling industries, such as the hotel and casino industries. To provide further insight into the effects of empowerment on employees' work outcomes, a performance measure, such as patron satisfaction could be included. Future studies could also examine group differences in perceptions of climate-based and gambling-related influences on the empowerment, work attitudes and well-being of employees, as a function of their occupational level. The interviews of the present research program implied that employees in different organisational positions might respond differently to both the external and internal environmental factors of the organisation.

Continuous improvement as a business philosophy and quality management strategy has become the choice of many organisations world-wide. It is a concept filled with the promise for excellence in quality, customer service distinction and business efficiencies. Continuous improvement philosophies like Lean Manufacturing, promote tools, techniques and a culture of quality values that have the potential to create a dynamic business environment, capable of seizing opportunity, predicting failures and surpassing competition. Why then, are these organisations that are so vehemently pursuing continuous improvement initiatives with concerted efforts not reaping the rewards that have been successfully achieved by a monumental few great organisations? According to the literature study, failure to implement continuous improvement (CI) programs successfully stems from a lack of focus on the soft side of continuous improvement efforts. The soft issues that are considered vital to successful implementation include an employee’s quality cultural values and an organisations soft key success factors for CI implementation. This study focused on how these soft variables have an impact on employee attitudes such as job satisfaction, employee commitment, intentions to quit and work success. The theoretical research conducted in this study focused on continuous improvement cultural values and the key soft success factors for CI implementation impact on work related attitudes like job satisfaction, employee commitment, intentions to quit and work success. The empirical study was conducted on 149 employees in a multi-national manufacturing company. A questionnaire was distributed throughout the entire company to verify how the theoretical and empirical data compared. The study concluded that the specific cultural value of shared vision and goals was a significant predictor of all four work related attitudes, whilst other cultural values of purpose and continuous improvement also proved to be significant predictors. The study concluded that key soft success factors like leadership, training and development and job security were significant predictors of employee commitment, whilst communication and job security were significant predictors of job satisfaction. Thus, work related attitudes like employee commitment is greater when employees identify and exhibit favourable quality cultural values and also when employees perceive that their organisation possess essential key soft factors for successful CI implementation. Incorporating these findings into recommendations will allow for organisations implementing CI programs, to develop the soft issues of CI that have a beneficial impact on work related attitudes that lead to successful and sustainable continuous improvement efforts. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

The aim of this study was to evaluate employee commitment to achieve the primary objective, which was to evaluate employee commitment towards product and process quality. Employees who are engaged in their work and committed to their organisations give companies crucial competitive advantages – including higher productivity, better quality products and lower employee turnover. A thorough literature study was conducted by using the views of different authors and combining them. The concept of quality was defined by making use of the five quality gurus; Deming, Juran, Feigenbaum, Crosby and Ishikawa. The fourteen principles of quality, developed by Deming, were presented in Table 2.1. These principles had the goal of increased productivity, with less rework, less waste of manpower and material resources, resulting in a reduction of costs, to in turn give the organisation greater market share and ultimately better competitive position, by improving the overall quality of an organisation’s work processes. The concept of employee and organisational commitment was defined, and from this study it is evident that employee commitment towards the company is positive and therefore should have a positive effect on their operating environment. The product process flow for this manufacturing concern were discussed to give an overall view of the production processes used in this organisation. An empirical study was completed using a questionnaire survey to determine employee commitment at a manufacturing concern in Gauteng. The questionnaire used for this study was designed to focus on commitment towards internal quality only, to specifically evaluate employee perspective towards product quality, as well as the commitment towards the organisation. Analysis of the responses showed the questionnaire to be reliable and valid. Respondents indicated that they are committed towards the organisation in general across all constructs, but a lack in management trust was a predominant sentiment. The quantitative analysis showed that after a factor analysis was done on the two sections of the questionnaire, four factors for each section were considered as meaningful. These factors were: Affinity, quality awareness, autonomy and corporate image (employee commitment - section B) and employee commitment, task performance, job satisfaction and contextual performance (company relationship – section C). This indicated strong employee commitment towards the organisation. The qualitative results had four areas that all respondents felt needed some attention, and loaded negative towards the organisation. These were HR (trust in management, competency, communication and company culture), skills development, employee development and BBBEE. Thus, drawing conclusions from quantitative results alone could give a company a false sense of employee commitment towards the company and therefore overlook the importance of the roles that employees play in executing strategic plans. Conclusions regarding the findings of the research study were presented and recommendations for this organisation were made. These recommendations are merely a guideline that correlates directly to the empirical analysis made. The research study was evaluated against the primary and secondary objectives with the conclusion that both were achieved. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

Continuous improvement as a business philosophy and quality management strategy has become the choice of many organisations world-wide. It is a concept filled with the promise for excellence in quality, customer service distinction and business efficiencies. Continuous improvement philosophies like Lean Manufacturing, promote tools, techniques and a culture of quality values that have the potential to create a dynamic business environment, capable of seizing opportunity, predicting failures and surpassing competition. Why then, are these organisations that are so vehemently pursuing continuous improvement initiatives with concerted efforts not reaping the rewards that have been successfully achieved by a monumental few great organisations? According to the literature study, failure to implement continuous improvement (CI) programs successfully stems from a lack of focus on the soft side of continuous improvement efforts. The soft issues that are considered vital to successful implementation include an employee’s quality cultural values and an organisations soft key success factors for CI implementation. This study focused on how these soft variables have an impact on employee attitudes such as job satisfaction, employee commitment, intentions to quit and work success. The theoretical research conducted in this study focused on continuous improvement cultural values and the key soft success factors for CI implementation impact on work related attitudes like job satisfaction, employee commitment, intentions to quit and work success. The empirical study was conducted on 149 employees in a multi-national manufacturing company. A questionnaire was distributed throughout the entire company to verify how the theoretical and empirical data compared. The study concluded that the specific cultural value of shared vision and goals was a significant predictor of all four work related attitudes, whilst other cultural values of purpose and continuous improvement also proved to be significant predictors. The study concluded that key soft success factors like leadership, training and development and job security were significant predictors of employee commitment, whilst communication and job security were significant predictors of job satisfaction. Thus, work related attitudes like employee commitment is greater when employees identify and exhibit favourable quality cultural values and also when employees perceive that their organisation possess essential key soft factors for successful CI implementation. Incorporating these findings into recommendations will allow for organisations implementing CI programs, to develop the soft issues of CI that have a beneficial impact on work related attitudes that lead to successful and sustainable continuous improvement efforts. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

The aim of this study was to evaluate employee commitment to achieve the primary objective, which was to evaluate employee commitment towards product and process quality. Employees who are engaged in their work and committed to their organisations give companies crucial competitive advantages – including higher productivity, better quality products and lower employee turnover. A thorough literature study was conducted by using the views of different authors and combining them. The concept of quality was defined by making use of the five quality gurus; Deming, Juran, Feigenbaum, Crosby and Ishikawa. The fourteen principles of quality, developed by Deming, were presented in Table 2.1. These principles had the goal of increased productivity, with less rework, less waste of manpower and material resources, resulting in a reduction of costs, to in turn give the organisation greater market share and ultimately better competitive position, by improving the overall quality of an organisation’s work processes. The concept of employee and organisational commitment was defined, and from this study it is evident that employee commitment towards the company is positive and therefore should have a positive effect on their operating environment. The product process flow for this manufacturing concern were discussed to give an overall view of the production processes used in this organisation. An empirical study was completed using a questionnaire survey to determine employee commitment at a manufacturing concern in Gauteng. The questionnaire used for this study was designed to focus on commitment towards internal quality only, to specifically evaluate employee perspective towards product quality, as well as the commitment towards the organisation. Analysis of the responses showed the questionnaire to be reliable and valid. Respondents indicated that they are committed towards the organisation in general across all constructs, but a lack in management trust was a predominant sentiment. The quantitative analysis showed that after a factor analysis was done on the two sections of the questionnaire, four factors for each section were considered as meaningful. These factors were: Affinity, quality awareness, autonomy and corporate image (employee commitment - section B) and employee commitment, task performance, job satisfaction and contextual performance (company relationship – section C). This indicated strong employee commitment towards the organisation. The qualitative results had four areas that all respondents felt needed some attention, and loaded negative towards the organisation. These were HR (trust in management, competency, communication and company culture), skills development, employee development and BBBEE. Thus, drawing conclusions from quantitative results alone could give a company a false sense of employee commitment towards the company and therefore overlook the importance of the roles that employees play in executing strategic plans. Conclusions regarding the findings of the research study were presented and recommendations for this organisation were made. These recommendations are merely a guideline that correlates directly to the empirical analysis made. The research study was evaluated against the primary and secondary objectives with the conclusion that both were achieved. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

More than ever, organizational development and results are affected by employee well-being and motivation. To be an attractive workplace from a staff perspective, it is vital that the organization is aware of how employees actually experience the workplace. By measuring employee satisfaction, the organization is given the opportunity to improve its position as an attractive workplace. The organization in this study has a future goal and that is to become one of Sweden’s most valued workplaces, therefore they need to develop a strategy for how employee satisfaction is measured and evaluated. The purpose of this study is to develop a standardized approach for the organization to measure and monitor it’s employee satisfaction. The study presents an implementation proposal in which the organization in an educational and step-by-step approach can begin the work of measuring employee satisfaction. In addition to the handy steps that the organization can follow, the benefits of a successful implementation project are also presented. The organization's challenges are mapped out and include a strategy to overcome these challenges. / Mer än någonsin påverkas en verksamhets utveckling och resultat av medarbetarnas trivsel och motivation. För att vara en attraktiv arbetsgivare utifrån ett medarbetarperspektiv är det av stor vikt att organisationen är medveten om hur medarbetarna faktiskt upplever arbetsgivaren. Genom att mäta medarbetarnöjdheten ges förutsättningar för organisationen att förbättra sin position som en attraktiv arbetsplats. Den studerade organisationens framtida mål är att bli en av Sveriges bästa arbetsgivare och de behöver därmed ta fram en strategi för hur medarbetarnöjdheten ska mätas och utvärderas. Syftet med studien är att ta fram ett standardiserat tillvägagångssätt för KitchenTime att mäta och följa upp sin medarbetarnöjdhet på. Studien presenterar ett implementeringsförslag där organisationen på ett pedagogiskt och stegvis tillvägagångssätt kan inleda arbetet med att mäta medarbetarnöjdheten. Förutom de handfasta stegen som organisationen kan följa presenteras även fördelar med ett lyckat implementeringsprojekt. Organisationens utmaningar är kartlagda och det finns även en strategi för att överkomma dessa utmaningar.

Purpose: The purpose of this research project is to examine the employees´ perspective on the subject of a CRM implementation in SMEs. Methodology: A 5-point Likert scale questionnaire was used to collect 51 employee responses. All the questions were derived from previous existing literature. The questionnaire ended with three open-ended questions and was delivered to the employees by email. Conclusion: The main findings related to employees´ preconditions is that senior and middle managers must be involved and support their employees during the whole change process. Other conditions are that the system must be user-friendly and easy to learn, so that it does not interfere too much with the employees’ daily routines. With respect to employees’ point of view to implementing CRM this study suggest that the new system will improve communication with current customers. Notably, few of the employees feel anxious about the new system and do not think it will increase their current workload. Regarding age variances in the workforce, the research found three key points including a) functional areas are structured around customers b) a clear communication plan will improve change acceptance and commitment and, C) proper system training will help understand the employees´ role throughout the implementation. Practical Contribution: With this research, SMEs will more likely understand the importance of employee satisfaction due to an organisational change. This research has examined the intention of implementing a CRM system. Theoretical contribution: This study contributes to a continued consideration regarding organisational change by studying employees’ perspective and expanding the existing level of knowledge. / Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka de anställdas perspektiv i termer av en CRM implementering i SMEs. Metod: En enkät bestående av 5-punkt Likert frågor tillsammans med avslutningsvis tre öppna frågor användes för att samla in data. Alla frågor var inspirerade från tidigare litteratur och forskning och levererades via email till alla anställda. Slutsats: Toppledning och mellanchefer måste involvera samt stödja sina anställda under hela implementationen för ett bättre förändringsbeteende. Systemet måste även vara lätt att använda, enkelt att lära sig samt inte störa de dagliga sysslorna för mycket. Med hänsyn till de anställdas perspektiv av att implementera CRM, denna studie föreslår att systemet kommer förbättra kommunikationen med nuvarande kunder. Anmärkningsvärt är att få anställda känner oro över det nya systemet och tror inte det kommer öka deras nuvarande arbetsbelastning. Angående åldersskillnader i arbetsstyrkan, hittade studien tre nyckelfaktorer, nämligen a) funktionella avdelningar är strukturerade runt kunden b) en tydlig kommunikationsplan kommer förbättra förändringsacceptans och c) tydlig systemträning kommer underlätta anställda förstå sin roll genom implementationen. Praktiska implikationer: Studiens praktiska bidrag är att belysa anställdas perspektiv i små och medelstora företag och vad de behöver för att acceptera en organisationsförändring. Studien har undersökt en kommande CRM implementation. Teoretiska implikationer: Denna studie bidrar till fortsatt hänsyn av organisationsförändring genom att studera de anställdas perspektiv och utöka nuvarande kunskapsnivå

La création des normes au sein des organisations est un phénomène assujetti aux influences sociales, aux interactions entre les individus, aux négociations entre acteurs et à la diffusion des innovations. L’individu a une place centrale dans ce phénomène, que ce soit par l’initiation d’une nouvelle norme, son acceptation ou sa diffusion. La contribution des individus à la création normative est pourtant peu étudiée par la littérature. Notre recherche propose d’isoler des cas d’implications individuelles envers la création de normes spécifiques. L’objectif étant de saisir la richesse des apports des individus à cette création et de mieux comprendre les raisons derrière leurs actions en faveur d’une nouvelle norme. La recherche présente la formation de l’implication sous la forme d’un processus comportant trois phases : la remise en cause du statu quo, l’évaluation positive de l’implication et la manifestation de l’implication par des actions et des comportements en faveur de la nouvelle norme. Ce processus est traversé par des déterminants affectifs et cognitifs chez les individus et est favorisé par des facteurs d’ordre personnel, interpersonnel, sociétal et organisationnel. / The creation of norms within organizations is a phenomenon that is subject to social influences, interactions between individuals, negotiations between actors and the diffusion of innovations. The individual has a key role in this phenomenon through the initiation of a new norm, its acceptance or its diffusion. However, the contribution of individuals to normative creation is not fully exploited by the literature. The objective of the current research was to bridge this gap by isolating cases of individual commitments for the creation of specific norms. The purpose is to capture the richness of individuals' contributions to this creation and to better understand the reasons behind their actions in favour of a new norm. The research presents the formation of commitment in the form of a three-phase process : questioning the status quo, evaluating commitment positively and manifesting commitment through actions and behaviours. This process is driven by emotional and cognitive determinants within individuals and is enabled by personal, interpersonal, societal and organizational factors.

As the need for similar skills across various industries has increased throughout the years, itis not mandatory to stay within the same industry or organization as you once started. Whennew opportunities take shape, people have come to compare their situation with what it couldbe like in another organization, in another industry, making the attractiveness of anorganization increasingly important, both to keep and to attract new talented employees. Thetourism & hospitality industry has long been perceived as an industry where there is poorwork-life balance, and lower compensation for the employees than other industries whencompared. Because of this, the tourism & hospitality industry have to reconsider theirpractices and evaluate what can be changed to increase the attractiveness, to ensure the futuregrowth of the industry. There are aspects of the tourism & hospitality industry that influence the intention to staywithin an organization, and in the industry as well, including the work-life balance andcompensation. However, there has been an emphasis on what influences the employees toleave rather than the aspects that could be changed to increase the attractiveness, reduce theportion of employees leaving, and attract new ones. There are also proven effects that criseshave on organizations within the tourism & hospitality industry, which influence some of thefactors, previously stated as reasons for employees considering leaving. Hence, there is aresearch gap on how to increase the attractiveness of organizations within the tourism &hospitality industry, after a crisis. The purpose of this study is to examine the key factors that explain why employees in thetourism & hospitality industry find other industries more attractive and identify howorganizations within tourism & hospitality must adapt to increase their attractiveness. Toaddress the research gap, this study used an inductive approach and conducted qualitative,semi-structured interviews to gather the data. When choosing a sample technique, it first tooka stance in the snowball technique, using the network of the authors to get in touch with theappropriate respondents. After this a purposive sampling technique was used to select themost appropriate respondents, with the ability to contribute to the study. The empirical datawas analyzed through a thematic analysis to review and present the relevant findings of the empirical data. From the thematic analysis, three main themes were identified: What creates the talentshortage, How do crises affect talent shortage and What can be done to prevent talentshortage. Within the three main themes, nine sub-themes were found, which assisted infinalizing a conceptual model, showing how organizations within the tourism & hospitalityindustry can change to become more attractive toward talented employees. The findings ofthis study shows that opportunities for personal development and career growth, continuouscommunication between employee and employer, involvement of employees in decisions,improved work-life balance, normal workloads, reduction of unhealthy stress, brand image,and compensation can increase the attractiveness of organization in the tourism & hospitalityindustry after a crisis, such as Covid-19.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between perceived organisational ethical climate and employee commitment within an Australian hospitality organisation, with the objective of determining whether employees' perceptions of the organisational ethical climate influenced their commitment towards their organisation, as well as the associated implications. The Ethical Climate Questionnaire and the Employee Commitment Survey were utilised as measuring instruments. The overall finding revealed a statistically significant relationship between the two variables with the results indicating that organisations possess numerous ethical climates which are perceived by employees in a manner which in turn affects their commitment towards their organisation. It is concluded that employees who are more committed to their organisations have improved attendance records and show lower absenteeism and turnover rates. The findings of this study confirmed existing research and generated new knowledge applicable to the hospitality sector. / Industrial & Organisational Psychology / MCOM (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)