The concept of customer orientation is becoming increasingly more important to managers, especially in service industries. Given the premise of the study that a customer-oriented employee has a critical role in enhancing service quality, little research has investigated the antecedents of the customer orientation construct. The objective of this study was to develop a theoretical model of customer orientation, and to test the hypothesized relationships between customer orientation and its antecedents of empowerment, job involvement, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. To measure these hypothesized relationships at the individual level of analysis, 217 employee responses from a multi-unit chain restaurant were analyzed. The model was evaluated using structural equation modeling (SEM) utilizing SAS CALIS (SAS system 1989). Evaluation was conducted using a two-stage procedure, in which the construct measurements (a measurement model) were evaluated first, and then the structural relationships (a structural model) between the constructs were evaluated. Results indicated that empowerment and job satisfaction were found to have positive, direct effects on customer orientation, whereas job involvement had a negative, direct effect on customer orientation. Job satisfaction was found to be a positive antecedent of organizational commitment. Employee empowerment was found to positively influence job satisfaction. Moreover, the path from empowerment to organizational commitment, which was not hypothesized in the initial model, was found to be positively significant. However, the direct relationship between job involvement and organizational commitment, as hypothesized in this study, was not supported. The findings contribute to a better understanding of customer orientation by identifying antecedents of customer orientation among employees in the hospitality industry. The managerial implications of these research findings were discussed. The limitations of the study were explored, and suggestions were given for future research. / Ph. D.

Millennials are a generation mentioned frequently both in research and in popular media. Popular media often describes the millennials as disloyal, sensitive and difficult. The scholarly research regarding millennials is largely based on generation cohort, which is a concept that each generation has specific characteristics. These stereotypes have actual consequences on organizations and society. This thesis uses generational cohort theory, applied it to millennial engineers in Sweden. A study by Kultalahti and Viitala (2014) investigated job satisfaction for millennials by applying Herzberg two–model theory. Herzberg two–model theory explains that two factors exist for job satisfaction, one factor which is motivational factor which increase job satisfaction. The second factor which is described as hygiene factors can only lower job dissatisfaction. This thesis will be based on the work  by Kultalahti and Viitala (2014) but will focus on millennial engineers in Sweden. The thesis will investigate millennial stereotype applied to engineers in Sweden. The thesis will include a literature review which contains relevant theories regarding millennials, job satisfaction and other motivational theories. The data collection is done by conducting 20 interviews with millennial engineers working in Sweden. The results indicated that the millennial engineers conform to some stereotypes but not all. The respondents value salary, flexibility and work–life balance which can all be connected to existing stereotypes. The thesis investigates job satisfaction and the results can be used as an insight for organizations on how to further understand job satisfaction for millennial engineers.

The purpose of this study was to investigate, compare, and analyze personal-social needs of rural and urban students who were preparing for occupations in the industrial education areas. The study was a descriptive research which employed the survey technique using the Minnesota Importance Questionnaire. The questionnaire was administered to high school students in the state of Utah classified in two categories: 151 industrial and agricultural students enrolled in rural high schools and 91 industrial vocational students enrolled in urban high schools. Major findings . The rural and urban students possessed similar vocational needs. To the entire student sample, advancement, security, and ability utilization were considered most impo rtant; while independence, social status, and authority were considered least important. A small percentage of the students were actually preparing for occupations which corresponded to their selected job clusters. Both rural and urban students selected professional and semi-professional occupations as the vocational areas in which their needs would be most likely met. Major conclusions. Students want to work with others, but they do not want to tell others what to do. Supervisors want workers who will obey instructions and go ahead on their own to complete a task. Students have greater vocational needs than the occupations for which they are training appear able to provide. If behavioral objectives were to be written on the state level in the affective domain and with vocational needs in mind, it would appear that the objectives would be functional for both rural and urban groups. Due to the students' high vocational needs, it would be difficult for many students to find complete job satisfaction in occupations in clusters 7 and 9, which are manual occupations.

The major purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between commitment to one's profession and commitment to one's employer and the role this relationship plays in predicting satisfaction, performance and turnover. In order to accomplish this purpose the antecedents and outcomes of the commitments were modeled and tested using covariance structural modeling techniques. The data source was the 1990 Kaiser Permanente, Northwest Region Employee Survey. The study included a wide range of occupations. The literature is ambiguous about the definition and measurement of professional and organizational commitment. Professional commitment is characterized either as a unidimensional or multidimensional construct where only members of the traditional professions are included. Organizational commitment is defined either as investments in the organization or as alignment of attitudes and goals. Organizational and professional commitment are rarely studied in unison and have never been modeled in unison as independent variables in a system of antecedents and outcomes. A first and second-order confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that measures of education, job demands, age tenure, organizational characteristics, rewards, professional commitment, organizational commitment, satisfaction, performance and turnover measures were reliable, valid and not redundant. A model of the relationships among the variables was tested using general maximum likelihood procedures in SAS. Organizational characteristics were the single best predictor of both commitments. When the commitments were modeled and tested in unison, the results indicate that organizational commitment plays a minor role in predicting outcomes. Professional commitment was the best predictor of satisfaction and performance. The structural model was unable to account for turnover. A regression analysis showed that organizational commitment was the most important variable for predicting turnover. The Analysis of Variance results supported differences across occupations for the professional commitment measure. Managers and professionals had the highest level of professional commitment.

Quality Circles (QC) took root in Japan during the 1960s and was introduced into the U.S. in 1974. Today, many people believe QCs can increase teacher and school effectiveness. Beyond the realm of opinion, however, little research supports this belief. This study had three purposes. The first was to review QCs' literature. The second was to identify QC structures and problem solving procedures. The third was to test QCs in an educational setting and to analyze their effects on the attitudes of teachers. Methodology. QC groups and comparison groups were established at four school sites. Two measurement instruments, the Work Environment Scale (WES) and the Group Environment Scale (GES), were selected. Both the QC group and the non-QC group were pre tested using the WES. QC experience (treatment) was provided for the QC group. After six months, post testing was conducted to identify attitude changes regarding the work environment. The QC group was pre and post tested using the GES in order to identify change in participants' attitudes regarding relationships within the QC group and attitudes about the group's effectiveness. Findings. Hypothesis One: Significant improvement will occur in the attitudes which Quality Circle members hold about their work environment. In eight out of ten WES subscales, QC attitudes changed in the predicted direction. In only two cases, however, was the change statistically significant. Hypothesis Two: Significant improvement will occur in the attitudes which Quality Circle members hold about their work environment as compared to non-circle members. In eight of the ten WES measures, attitude improvement for the QC group exceeded that of the non-QC group. In only three cases was this improvement statistically significant. Hypothesis Three: Significant improvement will occur in the attitudes which Quality Circle members hold about other circle members. In four of five measures, change occurred in the direction predicted. In only one case was this change statistically significant. Hypothesis Four: Significant improvement will occur in the attitudes which Quality Circle members hold about the effectiveness of the group. All five measures of group effectiveness showed statistically significant change. Conclusions. (1) QCs can operate successfully in an educational setting. (2) The attitudes of QC participants toward their work environment improved when compared to the attitudes of non-participants. (3) QC problem solving QC worked effectively in the educational sites. (4) QC participation improved personal relationships.

The research on cooperative learning has been conducted in terms of student achievement but little is known of how training in and use of cooperative learning affects teachers. The central purpose of this study was to examine the association between training in cooperative learning and teacher job satisfaction, with special attention to the subsets of collegiality and efficacy. A second purpose was to examine how levels of job satisfaction, efficacy, and collegiality vary as a function of the following training variables: (a) setting, (b) amount of use, (c) kind of training, (d) preparation for implementation, and (e) opportunity for skill maintenance. The research was conducted via questionnaire with 129 teachers responding, which was a response rate of 71%. The questionnaire gathered data about training variables and included a 30-item Job satisfaction Survey which had subscales: 10 questions on collegiality, 15 on efficacy, and 5 on overall job satisfaction. The validity of the Job satisfaction Survey was established by pilot testing, by expert review of the questions, and by the use of an established survey as a bench mark for comparison. The research analysis involved examination of mean scores on the Job satisfaction Survey and ANOVA technique to examine the significance of variables in training and levels of job satisfaction as well as the subsets of collegiality and efficacy. Although the research did not reveal a significant relationship between training in cooperative learning and teacher job satisfaction, a significant relationship was found between several training variables and levels of satisfaction as well as collegiality and efficacy. The training variables found to be significantly associated with teacher efficacy were these: (a) use of cooperative learning at the level of seven or more times a week, (b) small group sharing and problem solving sessions for participants during training, (c) discussion with colleagues to maintain skills, and (d) the use of principal observation and feedback. The training variables found to be associated with collegiality were as follows: (a) the use of five different opportunities to maintain skills as opposed to three or fewer and (b) the use of peer coaching and feedback. Training variables associated with overall job satisfaction were: (a) small group sharing and problem solving sessions during training, (b) the use of five skill maintenance opportunities as opposed to three or fewer, and ((c) the use of peer coaching and feedback. Given the results of this study, staff development specialists should structure training to include these significant variables as sources of collegiality and efficacy as well as overall job satisfaction of teachers.

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