Thesis (M.B.A)--Boston University

The need continues within the field of organizational behavior management for empirically valid and feasible interventions to assist organizations with producing desirable changes in the work behavior of employees. The present study sought to determine the utility of a procedure to identify preferred stimulus among employees and the effects of implementation of the preferred stimulus on employee performance. Baseline data was collected on the productivity of employees. Then, a preference assessment was administered to employees. The results of the preference assessment yielded a commonly preferred stimulus which was then implemented to test for an effect on employee task completion. Results indicated moderate increases in employee performance and support the use of preference assessments to identify effective reinforcers for employees.

The major purpose of this study was to identify customer and employee satisfaction levels and the most important satisfaction factors in the lodging industry by the example of two hotel properties of a resort on the East Coast. This study included a sample of 267 customers, while the exact number of employees was unknown. The customer satisfaction survey was prepared by the consulting agency. It was conducted in the form of a 10-minute telephone interview with the customers who stayed at the resort 30 days prior to the survey. The customers indicated their satisfaction levels with six areas of the customer experience at the resort such as dining experience, golfing experience, experience with spa, beach club experience, experience with facilities/activities, and guest problems experience. Top 10 and lowest 10 customer satisfaction factors were found for both hotels of the resort. Four similar factors out of 10 positive ones were found to be in both of the hotel properties. Nine similar factors out of 10 were ranked as least satisfying in both of the hotels. The range score between the highest and the lowest customer satisfaction rating for the Hotel A was found to be 1.44, and for B Hotel 1.6. As for the overall customer satisfaction in two hotels, the overall customer satisfaction for the Hotel A was 4.5 (90%), and for the Hotel B was 4.58 (91.6%). To identify the customer satisfaction factors, four areas were selected for the analysis: staff, room divisions, recreation, and conflict resolution. Satisfaction with Room Divisions received the highest overall mean scores (4.64-for Hotel A, and 4.83- for Hotel B), while Conflict Resolution area received the lowest satisfaction scores for both of the Hotels (4.51- for Hotel A, 4.48- for Hotel B). The employee satisfaction questionnaire was created by the human resources department of the resort. The employee satisfaction survey was represented by 12 areas: the company; vision/mission/values; interact; your job; your department; physical work environment; communications; leadership, supervision and management effectiveness; teamwork; pay, opportunity, and benefits; career development and training; quality; and demographic information. To determine the employee satisfaction levels, the mean percentage scores of all positive and negative employees' responses were calculated. Satisfaction with Your Department received the highest positive total percentage mean score of 81.1%, while satisfaction with the Interact program implemented by the resort received the lowest positive mean percentage score of 44.0%. Similar to customer satisfaction, the 10 top positive and 10 bottom negative employee satisfaction response questions were identified. The strong positive relationship (r=0.66) was found between the Hotel A and B of the resort and customer satisfaction factors. Those areas that were ranked high by the customers of the Hotel A were also highly ranked by the Hotel B customers. A Person's correlation coefficient was run on the relationship between the hotel property and customer satisfaction levels. The strong positive association was found between two hotel properties and satisfaction statements. Paired sample t-test was also run in order to determine if there was a significant difference in customer satisfaction in two hotels A and B based on the customer's responses to the questionnaire. The t equal to (-2.5), and the probability of (0.016) were found. There was found to be statistical significant difference between the Hotel A and B customer satisfaction statements.

No description available.

The importance of leadership style and the organizational citizenship behavior have been recognized in many research studies. However, the influence of empowering leadership on employee's change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior and employees' cognitive mechanism to engage in such behavior have received little attention. Drawing on social cognitive theory, the present study explores the effects of empowering leadership on change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior directly and indirectly through employees' willingness to take risk. The study also examines the boundary conditions that employees would make the decision to engage in such behavior with the effects of two moderators - regulatory focus and perceived organizational support.;A nested data model of empowering leadership, willingness to take risk, regulatory focus, perceived organizational support and change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior were tested using a 3-wave sample of 173 matched dyad relationships from nine financial institutions in Hong Kong. The research model rests with individual-level as unit of analysis while controlling the variances from the teams using hierarchical linear modeling. The results show that willingness to take risk can partially mediate the relationship between empowering leadership and change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior. In addition, promotion focus, prevention focus and perceived organizational support can moderate the relationship between empowering leadership and willingness to take risk when they are of low level while promotion focus and willingness to take risk are proved to be predictors of change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior. Implications from the findings for future research and management practice will be discussed.

Care of employees, with a focus on working conditions of handicapped ones. The purpose of my thesis is to describe the evolution and current state of legislation applying to care of employees and working conditions of employees with a disability. The thesis begins with an introduction, where I outline the reasons why I chose this topic, the method used, and the outcome that I intend to reach. The body of the thesis is divided into eight chapters. The first chapter provides the reader with an outline of legal sources constituting the basis of this segment of the law, including the transition from the previous Labour Code to the current one, showing how the notion of care of employees has developed over time and explaining why care of employees should be distinguished from terms such as "personnel management" or "human resources management". It covers the functions and segmentation of care of employees and mentions both Czech and international (EU and non-EU) legal standards and regulation governing the subject matter of the thesis, as well as relevant international conventions and agreements. It also contains a questionnaire the purpose of which is to compare the standard of care of employees at different employers. It describes in detail the components that care of employees consists of, and...

M.Comm.

M.Com. (Business Management) / Introduction to the study Short-term incentives for managers generate interest among employees and executives in South Africa. In the health care industry competency-based performance systems for enhancing both individual and organisational performance have been growing in popularity in the last decade, as they are linked to the quality of diagnosis-specific services. Objectives of the study The objective of the study is to identify the nature of the main components of an appropriate short-term incentive scheme for private hospital managers. Are these schemes in place? If so, how do they work? The study seeks to delve into the experiences of hospital managers regarding their awareness of short-term incentive strategies by researching their views, attitudes and feelings regarding short-term incentives. Literature review The review of the literature indicates that the health care industry faces pressure to balance the quality of health care, on the one hand, with the escalating costs of health care and efforts to motivate hospital managers, on the other. Done correct ly short - term incent ive schemes are a powerful mot ivat ion tool if the intr insic and ext rinsic mot ivators are balanced adequately especially in a hospital set t ing where incor rect implementat ion can lead to unintended consequences. Research methodology The study utilises a qualitative strategy to provide an in-depth description of hospital managers‟ perceptions, understanding, and experiences of short-term incentives. The participatory approach reduces mistrust between subjects and researchers. Main findings The study found that the hospital managers are sharply aware and have a well developed understanding of the short-term incentives practiced in the private hospital sector. Short-term incentives may not be the major motivator but they are critical in ensuring that hospital managers stay motivated. Conclusion Providing a proper balance between intrinsic and extrinsic motivators is crucial in designing a framework that will keep hospital managers motivated and performing their work better.

D.Com. (Leadership in Performance and Change) / Against the background of the continuously increasing need of employers to attract and retain key employees and the utilisation of the rewards offering in this process, the aim of this study was firstly to determine the relationship between personality types and reward preferences. In addition, the relationship between different reward categories and underlying reward components in a total rewards framework was identified, the relationships between identified demographic variables and reward preferences were confirmed and the reward categories that contribute most to the attraction, retention and motivation of employees were identified. From the research constructs it can be seen that personality types, personality preferences and motivational theories influence the design of a total rewards framework, which, in tum, enhances the total rewards strategy and employee value proposition (EVP) of an organisation.

D.Cur. (Professional Nursing) / The negative experiences reflected by nurses indicate that current management models, on which the management of nurses is modelled, are not capable of generating solutions towards the present problems and the dilemma of this practice area. Two objectives have been stated in this study. namely the design of a nurses management model for professional wholeness and to formulate guidelines for a management manual which will facilitate professional wholeness. The construction of this model deliberately deviates from existing management frameworks and a nursing theory is used as basis, since nurses management needs it's own nursing framework to view the nursing organization as a unique organizational entity with corresponding unique interactional patterns. The inherent service and wholeness orientation of "Nursing for the Whole Person Theory" was utilised to construct a management model directed towards professional wholeness. A nurses management model for professional wholeness was generated up to level three of situation-relating theory. The process of model construction was put through three phases by which factor isolation, factor relations and situation relations have been described. The model is based on a wholeness approach by which the management of nurses is viewed as a service built on devotion and stewardship and directed towards the nurse as a whole person being an integral part of the nursing organization as a protesslonal organizational entity. The nursing organization, similar to the nurse, is viewed as a whole with an external and internal organizational environment. The nursing organization as a whole has bodily/physical, psychological (intellectual, emotional, volitional), spiritual and social dimensions where a state of maximal professional wholeness is reached only by deliberate and dynamic management interaction facilitated in a coordinated and integrated manner by comparable wholeness management processes. The approach of management for wholen ess set as point of departure that nurses who experience professional wholeness to a large extent will have a greater potential to render quality nursing and therefore facilitate health with others. Professional wholeness starts with the nurse manager, who in the quest for own personal wholeness and professional wholeness, facilitates the professional wholeness of the integral parts of the nursing organization namely the individual nurses and the nurse community. Professional wholeness implicates a dynamic movement on a continuum which mirrors the state of professional wholeness. The position on the continuum at anyone stage is dependant on the interactions taking place within the internal organizational en-vironment and between the internal organizational environment and the external organizational environment. The possible outcomes of the managerraent of nurses is a state which varies dynamically between minimal professional wholeness and maximal professional Wholeness. Management strategies which promote, rnalntain and restore, direct the intensity of interactions for facilitating the professional wholeness of nurses, tt1enurse community and the nursing organization. The choice of a specific strategy is based on the state of protesslonal wholeness reflected. A list of words has been developed (basEd on a Judeo Christian management ethic) to generate qualitative indices for minimal and maximal professional Wholeness. The quest for wholeness management is to striVe purposely and dynamicaly towards the reflection of a state of maximal professional wholeness by tile nurse, the nurse community and the nursing organization. The model has subsequently been evaluated by experts and from the evaluation it was concluded that the model can make a unique contribution to the practice area of nurse management. The application of the model in the practice area of nurses management will purposely and dynamically contribute towards solving the current dilemma of this practice area by enabling nurses to reach the objectives of nursing namely maximum quality nursing and to facilitate health intentionally. Broad guidelines have been stated as recommendations for further research. In the formulation of hypotheses an attempt has been made to capture the core aspects of wholeness management that need further empirical clarrification. The second objective of this study was addressed by formulating professional wholeness gUidelines for a manual that will facilitate professional wholeness. Eight modules were developed. The guidelines and objectives of the modules were formulated to enable students enrolling for a course in nurse management for professional wholeness to facilitate the principles of wholeness management in the nurse's management pratice area. The module dealing with the intellectual wholeness management processes has been developed as an example to give a more detailed version of the guidelines that have been formulated. In conclusion, the nurse management model for professional wholeness is a vision and an inspiration to return to the original mission of nursing where nursing again will become the central theme. Where the inherent service talent which distinguishes nurses from any other employee and which led them to the choice of nursing as a career will not be brutalized in the management process but will rather be embraced and nurtured!