Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file viewed on (March 1, 2007) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Class of 2013 Abstract / Specific Aims: In 2000 the Accreditation for Pharmacy Education began accrediting only pharmacy education programs that awarded an entry-level PharmD degree. The purpose of this study is to assess pharmacy faculty opinions concerning the transition to the all-PharmD degree as compared to post-baccalaureate PharmD degree. Methods: This study was a national survey of clinical pharmacy faculty attitudes and opinions toward training of clinical pharmacists. An email invitation was sent to participate in the survey and data was collected over a two month period. Questions included opinions on pharmacist’s ability to counsel patients, recommend drug therapy, make dosage adjustments, and solve problems based on their PharmD training among other questions. Demographic data was also collected. Wilcoxon Rank Sum tests were used to determine if significant differences were present between clinical faculty with either entry-level versus post-baccalaureate PharmD degrees with respect to opinions related to skills of entry-level PharmD pharmacists. Main Results: A total of 2798 individuals were sent email invitations to participate in the survey; 493 subjects started the survey of which 420 provided complete responses. All questions were scored on a five point scale from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5) with a neutral option (3). Entry-level PharmD’s agreed that they are equally skilled to post-baccalaureate PharmD’s in conducting a physical exam (3.3 versus 2.9), recommending drug therapy (3.5 versus 2.9), identify problems in drug therapy (3.5 versus 3.0), and counseling patients (3.8 versus 3.5) than post-baccalaureate PharmD’s (P≤0.0022). Conclusion: Post-baccalaureate PharmD faculty are less likely to believe that entry-level pharmacists are similar to themselves with respect clinical services.

The purpose of this study was to identify the professional and personal competencies that entry-level academic health sciences librarians should possess from the perspectives of academic health sciences library directors, library and information sciences (LIS) educators who specialize in educating health sciences librarians, and individuals who serve as both LIS adjunct faculty and practitioners in the field of health sciences librarianship. the first six research questions focused on the identification of professional and personal competencies, and the last two research questions focused on comparing and contrasting the three perspectives on the professional and personal competencies. the eight research questions were addressed through four rounds of the Delphi method. Three panels of experts, initially composed of 13 academic health sciences library directors, 8 LIS educators, and 8 LIS adjunct faculty adjunct faculty/health sciences librarianship practitioners, participated in the study, and most participants were female, white, in the age range of 45-64, had less than 20 years of experience in their respective careers, and were members of the Medical Library Association. the data collected from the rounds of the Delphi method were analyzed using descriptive statistics, including measures of central tendency, and non-parametric statistics, including the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests. Two major conclusions that can be drawn from the findings of the study are: (1) personal competencies are as important as professional competencies and (2) the professional and personal competencies developed by the LIS educators who specialize in health sciences librarianship education were preferred over the ones developed by the academic health sciences library directors and LIS adjunct faculty/health sciences librarianship practitioners. Experts in the field of health sciences librarianship have created a comprehensive inventory of both professional (knowledge and skill) competencies and personal (self-concept, trait, and motive) competencies that can be used in professional practice as well as educational planning.

The nature and role of workplace literacy and numeracy are the subject of considerable debate (Baker, 1998; Castleton, 2002; Gee & Lankshear, 1997; Hull, 1997; Jackson, 2000; Marr & Hagston, 2007). The debate in New Zealand, (as in many other countries), is taking place amid concerns about the adequacy of the skills of its workforce and the latter’s ability to meet future demands of everyday work and life (Tertiary Education Commission, 2008). These concerns have resulted in major investment at a national level in a Skills Strategy (New Zealand Government, 2008) with particular emphasis on improving adult literacy and numeracy levels. However, Castleton (2002) suggests that conceptualising literacy as a skill ignores the reality of workplaces which, she suggests, consist of communities of workers who engage in purposeful communication and who possess and use different skills and knowledge in complementary ways, while Hull (1997) believes that too great an emphasis is placed on literacy, particularly in low skilled work. I teach on a programme for students with limited English literacy and numeracy proficiency. A common entry point into the workforce for current and past learners from the programme is entry-level supermarket work. However there is limited information available about the literacy and numeracy pre-requisites for this type of work or the literacy and numeracy demands placed on those in employment. In seeking to contribute to the body of knowledge about low skilled work in general and entry-level supermarket work in particular, research was carried out in a large, busy, suburban supermarket. The study was underpinned by the belief that both literacy and numeracy are social practices which cannot be separated from the contexts in which they occur. It adopted an ethnographic approach and was conducted through semi-structured interviews with supermarket managers and entry-level workers/supermarket assistants; observation of assistants during induction and at work; and analysis of some significant supermarket documentation. Findings indicate that, while literacy and numeracy are generally not considered to be important pre-requisites for entry-level supermarket work, supermarket assistants are exposed to highly context-specific literacy texts and ‘embedded’ and invisible numeracy demands at induction and during parts of their working day. The findings have significance for the teaching of literacy and numeracy in vocational training programmes. They indicate that off-site programmes have an important role to play in providing a learning foundation but also point to the importance of, and need for, workplace-specific, on-the-job literacy and numeracy training.

The nature and role of workplace literacy and numeracy are the subject of considerable debate (Baker, 1998; Castleton, 2002; Gee & Lankshear, 1997; Hull, 1997; Jackson, 2000; Marr & Hagston, 2007). The debate in New Zealand, (as in many other countries), is taking place amid concerns about the adequacy of the skills of its workforce and the latter’s ability to meet future demands of everyday work and life (Tertiary Education Commission, 2008). These concerns have resulted in major investment at a national level in a Skills Strategy (New Zealand Government, 2008) with particular emphasis on improving adult literacy and numeracy levels. However, Castleton (2002) suggests that conceptualising literacy as a skill ignores the reality of workplaces which, she suggests, consist of communities of workers who engage in purposeful communication and who possess and use different skills and knowledge in complementary ways, while Hull (1997) believes that too great an emphasis is placed on literacy, particularly in low skilled work. I teach on a programme for students with limited English literacy and numeracy proficiency. A common entry point into the workforce for current and past learners from the programme is entry-level supermarket work. However there is limited information available about the literacy and numeracy pre-requisites for this type of work or the literacy and numeracy demands placed on those in employment. In seeking to contribute to the body of knowledge about low skilled work in general and entry-level supermarket work in particular, research was carried out in a large, busy, suburban supermarket. The study was underpinned by the belief that both literacy and numeracy are social practices which cannot be separated from the contexts in which they occur. It adopted an ethnographic approach and was conducted through semi-structured interviews with supermarket managers and entry-level workers/supermarket assistants; observation of assistants during induction and at work; and analysis of some significant supermarket documentation. Findings indicate that, while literacy and numeracy are generally not considered to be important pre-requisites for entry-level supermarket work, supermarket assistants are exposed to highly context-specific literacy texts and ‘embedded’ and invisible numeracy demands at induction and during parts of their working day. The findings have significance for the teaching of literacy and numeracy in vocational training programmes. They indicate that off-site programmes have an important role to play in providing a learning foundation but also point to the importance of, and need for, workplace-specific, on-the-job literacy and numeracy training.

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, November, 2006. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

The purpose of this study was to identify the essential competencies for entry-level management positions in the food and beverage (F&B) industry based on the perspectives of Taiwanese industry professionals across three groups: work experience in Taiwan and/or mainland China, two F&B sectors (Hotel F&Bs and restaurants), and three management levels (first-line, middle, and top). A total of 515 Taiwanese F&B industry professionals participated in this study with 104 participants currently employed in mainland China, some of whom worked previously in Taiwan, and 411 participants working in Taiwan, without work experience in mainland China. Factor analysis produced four dimensions of important competencies: leadership, F&B management, interpersonal skills, and communication skills. Results indicated that communication skills was the only dimension that showed significant difference between participants with and without work experience in mainland China. The findings of this study indicated that 14 of 41 competency items were ranked in the top 10 based on the responses of the three groups. Participants from all three groups ranked "high level of personal integrity" as the most important competence and "ability to communicate orally in proper English" was ranked as the second most important competence by all groups except the restaurant sector. The results also showed that 10 of 41 competency items were ranked differently between participants with and without working experiences in mainland China. Findings are beneficial for graduates preparing to enter a management position in F&B, industry leaders/managers, recruiters and corporate trainers, educators, and future research.

Master of Science / Department of Hospitality Management / Kevin Roberts / Restaurant managers are responsible for the daily operation, coordination of staff, and profitability in the one million plus restaurants in the United States. However, the restaurant industry has a high management turnover rate and the identification of any process that may help restaurant owners identify, hire, and retain qualified managers is vital to the success of any operation, and the industry as a whole. Clearly identifying competencies that are needed for a manager to be successful might help in lowering the turnover rate and ensure that operations are successful. Not only will the identification of competencies benefit operators, it will also provide information for faculty in hospitality programs to build and adapt curriculum to meet the demands of industry. Few studies have focused on restaurant manager competencies and most are over 20 years old, and no studies have explored future competencies. Thus, the purpose of this study is to determine present and future restaurant management competencies. Specific questions include: 1. Which competencies are necessary for entry-level restaurant managers? 2. How will entry-level management competencies change in the next 10 years? 3. What is the magnitude of change between current and future restaurant manager competencies? The sample for this study included 123 restaurant managers in the United States, and yielded a 21.9% response rate. Most of the highest ranked competencies are soft skills. Managers ranked leadership skills as the most important competency, while education was ranked lowest. Interestingly, when exploring individual competencies, results of present compared to future competencies showed a slight decrease in mean score. Paired Samples T-tests were used to explore differences between present and future competencies and between the different domains. Few significant differences were found, though education was the only competency with a significantly higher future mean. Managerial implications, limitations, and directions for future studies are discussed.

Mémoire (M.P.M.O.)-- Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 1992. / Résumé disponible sur Internet. CaQCU Document électronique également accessible en format PDF. CaQCU

Thesis advisor: Theodore Papageorgiou / This dissertation addresses questions in the labor market with a focus on firms. In the first chapter, I examine different learning opportunities across firms by distinguishing learning from coworkers and firms. The second chapter studies firm organizational spillovers. In the third chapter, I investigate how exporting affects firms' hiring decisions in the entry-level labor market. Chapter 1: This chapter examines and separately identifies two types of learning at the workplace: learning from coworkers and learning from firms. I consider a structural model of idea flows in a competitive market where workers' compensation consists of learning, amenities, and wages. Workers accumulate human capital by interacting with their coworkers and directly from their firm. Using German employee-employer matched data, I exploit a clustering method to classify firms into learning and amenity groups. Then I allow learning functions to differ across groups and separately estimate firm learning and coworker learning parameters. Amenity value is estimated from switchers by relying on features of the model. I find that both types of learning are significant, consistent with previous studies examining each learning type separately. There is significant heterogeneity across firms of different types: some firms provide workers with more firm learning, while in others, workers' learning mostly comes from their coworkers. The relationship between two non-wage compensation also varies across workers. I explore the implication of the findings for inequality. Chapter 2: In this chapter, Div Bhagia and I study whether the organizational decisions of new entrants in a market are influenced by the hierarchical structure of their incumbent peers. Using matched employer-employee data from Brazil, we classify establishments into one to four-layer entities and examine how a new entrant’s decision to add an organizational layer varies with the average number of layers of other establishments in their industry and location. To address the potential endogeneity of peers’ layers, we construct an instrument based on layers of other establishments in peers’ firms that operate in different markets. We find that new entrants are twice as likely to add a layer within five years if their average peer has one more layer at the time of entry. Our results suggest that organizational structure spillovers can provide a new source of agglomeration advantages. We also find that the influence of peers is stronger in more similar industries. Additionally, we show that new entrants with high-layer peers hire more workers from within the market in the newly created layers, indicating personnel exchanges as a mechanism for organizational spillovers. Chapter 3: I investigate the impact of exporting on hiring decisions in the entry-level labor market. Firms face higher opportunity costs of foregone output when they hire inexperienced workers, who require more training than experienced workers. Using Korean establishment-level data, where I distinctively observe experienced and inexperienced new hires, I show that exporting firms hire fewer inexperienced workers but more experienced workers than non-exporting firms. Moreover, foreign market opportunities further induce exporters to favor experienced workers. This finding suggests that high export opportunities, which increase the opportunity costs of training, may increase barriers to better jobs in the entry-level labor market for young workers. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.