In the ever changing business climate, the service sector has become a major focus of attention. One key aspect of this competitive environment is the effort of many businesses to differentiate themselves by creating unique customer experiences that accompany their products and services. The challenge to creating memorable consumer experiences is the proper identification of specific characteristics that influence experiences and gaining better understanding of how these impact consumers perceived values. To this end, this study attempted to develop a model that identifies influencing dimensions of consumer experiences and investigates the composition of consumer experiences and the relative outcome on consumer's perceived values in a hospitality setting. To facilitate this research objective, a model was presented which proposed that consumer experiences are composed of both physical and human interaction characteristics. The consumer's perspective of these characteristics, and hence the actual service experience, are affected by situational factors and individual characteristic which in return impact perceived emotive and cognitive values. A set of propositions are presented based on the model and literature review to measure the relationship between these factors. To initiate this research, an intercept survey approach was taken. Four hundred sixty-two (462) surveys were completed by hotel guests staying in one of three market segments in Orlando, FL. Participants completed the self-administered survey by answering questions concerning their current stay experience relating to physical environment, human encounters, trip-related factors, individual characteristics, and perceived values. Overall, the results found that trip-related factors and individual characteristics affect perceptions of physical environment and human interactions consumer experiences during their hotel stay. In addition, the results revealed that both physical environment and human interactions have significant and positive relationship with perceived values. These results can give lodging managers a better understanding of the composition of consumer experiences and how these events influence perceived values.

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In knowledge economy, organizational knowledge is considered to be a critical strategic resource which may help the organization to achieve competitive advantage; therefore, knowledge sharing, as one of the knowledge management processes, attracts the attention of both researchers and practitioners. Knowledge sharing may bring many benefits such as personal development for the employees and knowledge accumulation for the organization. However, at the same time it is very challenging because employees may be very mobile, too occupied to engage in knowledge sharing, or just unwilling to share their valuable knowledge. Nevertheless, although many organizations have started to invest heavily in various knowledge sharing mechanisms, quite often these processes are not effective because various organizational and individual factors impede the usage of those mechanisms. This study seeks to increase the understanding of how and which of such factors affect knowledge sharing in voluntary project-based organizations. Ten in-depth interviews have been conducted with the project managers in AIESEC, the largest international student organization, in order to find out what KS mechanisms they use, and what enables or hinders KS in this organization. It was found that in this organization KS takes place at all organizational levels, and the most popular KS mechanisms are documents and social interaction. Various documents include planning and tracking tools, proposals for sponsors, budget spread-sheets, feedback forms from participants and companies, and reports about functional areas. Social interaction comprises individual and group meetings, including trainings, coaching or mentoring, conversations over the phone and software Skype, discussions in conferences and communication in social groups online. So there is a balance between the KS mechanisms used to personalize and codify knowledge. However, the individualized KS mechanisms dominate on the individualization- institutionalization dimension. Also AIESEC members share all types of knowledge: tacit and explicit, individual and collective. Factors affecting KS can be categorized in 5 groups: Organizational context, Interpersonal and Team characteristics, Cultural characteristics, Individual characteristics, and Motivational factors. As KS in AIESEC takes place quite intensively, not surprisingly more KS facilitators were identified. The most significant ones in each group are as follows: the organizational culture and structure; diversity and strong social ties; willingness to help, and structure and exactness; self-efficiency and personal characteristics such as talkativeness, open-mindedness, empathy, motivation, responsibility and ambitiousness; perceived personal benefits, interpersonal trust, and organizational commitment. The few factors identified that might impede KS in AIESEC are the lack of time, lack of KS regulation and some negative cultural attitudes.

Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) continues to be a major health problem in developing countries. In South Africa, in 1999, one out of three children under the age of six years in the country had poor/ marginal vitamin A status. Limpopo Province was one of the provinces that most seriously affected by VAD. The study aim was to explore and describe the consumption patterns of vitamin A-rich foods of 10-13 year old children living in a rural area in Venda, and consequently making recommendations on nutrition education in this regard. A survey was conducted in Vyeboom Village in Limpopo Province, at Makhado local municipality in the Vhembe District. About 155 school children aged 10-13 years (boys and girls) participated in this study, using convenience, random and stratified sampling to draw the sample from three primary schools (Avhatondwi, Tshirunzanani and Thomas Ntshavheni). Data was collected during winter of 2006 using a socio-demographic questionnaire, the 24-hour recall and non-quantitative food-frequency questionnaires. The data was divided into four subsections regarding the 10-13 year old children that participated in this study, namely: the demographic information, food habits, food consumption patterns, and foods consumed rich in vitamin A. The SAS statistical analysis (version 8.2) software was used to analyze the data from the questionnaire by means of descriptive statistics (percentages, frequencies, means and summary of the tables). Inferential statistics (two way tables and chi-square tests) were used to test the associations between two categorical variables. Mothers were the caretakers in the families, because she mostly played a major role in the decision-making, preparation and serving of the food that were consumed by these children. Social cultural factors influenced the children’s food intake, because some of these foods were especially low in vitamin A and high in sugar content (e.g. sweets), compared to those foods that children were forbidden to eat (e.g. liver) which were high in vitamin A and other nutrients. The foods that children were mostly forced to eat (dark green leafy vegetables) were very nutritious and given in order to prevent hunger and wastage (left-over in the morning). The general meal pattern of these children was three meals a day with two, one or no snacks in between meals. The mostly consumed foods during these meals were bread, tea, stiff and soft maize meal porridge, dark green leafy vegetables and meat (chicken). Dark green leafy vegetables played an important role in supplying beta-carotene to these children, while the intake of retinol-rich foods was poor because they are expensive and labeled as highly allergenic, whilst other foods were forbidden. Intake of fortified foods was very high because porridge was the staple food and commonly consumed during lunch and supper. The results provided insight regarding the food habits, consumption patterns and the intake of vitamin A rich foods and were used to substantiate recommendations aimed at the improvement of the intake vitamin A rich foods among the children. / Dissertation (MConsSci (General))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Consumer Science / unrestricted

Kvinnliga chefer är ett omdiskuterat ämne i samhället i relation till jämställdhet. Diskussionerna kring vad som bidragit under kvinnans resa för att lyckas nå chefspositioner kan beskrivas utifrån individuella egenskaper och olika organisatoriska faktorer. Utifrån en problemdiskussion landade vi in i studiens syfte som är att beskriva individuella egenskaper och organisationens bidrag till kvinnans resa till chefsposition. Studiens har genomförts via en kvalitativ datainsamling i form tre steg. Steg ett semistrukturerade intervjuer med kvinnlig chef. Steg två telefonintervju med kvinnlig chefs respektive samt steg tre uppföljning via mail med kvinnlig chef. Datainsamlingen ledde till en empirisk dataanalys som i sin tur bidrog till identifiering av individuella egenskaper i form av motivation, organisations kompetensförsörjning samt den kollektiva resan. Genom en analys resulterade de individuella egenskaper i form av motivation utifrån tre former som samspelar med varandra vilka är intern motivation, extern motivation och motivation som rörelse/energi. Samspelet vi identifierat är för att motivation skall uppstå krävs en rörelse/energi mellan individen och intern/extern motivation. Om bara en rörelse/energi finns men ingen riktning är utstakad ser vi att motivationen inte leder till ett resultat. Samt att organisationens kompetensförsörjning utifrån tre faser. Fas ett attrahera och rekrytera, fas två behålla och utveckla samt fas tre avveckla och omställning bidrar till kvinnans resa. Utifrån analysen resulterade det i svar på studiens syfte som visar att kvinnans individuella egenskaper i form av motivation tillsammans med organisationen kompetensförsörjning bidrar till kvinnans resa till chefsposition. / Female managers are a debated topic in society in relation to gender equality. The discussions about what contributed during the women's journey to succeed in reaching managerial positions can be described on the basis of individual characteristics and different organizational factors. From a problem discussion, we landed in the purpose of the study, which is to describe individual characteristics and the organization's contribution to the women's journey to managerial position. The study has been conducted through a qualitative data collection in form of three steps. Step one semi-structured interviews with female managers. Step two telephone interview with female managers partner and step three follow-up by mail with female managers. The data collection led to an analysis, which in turn contributed to the identification of individual characteristics in the form of motivation, organizational competence provision and the collective journey. Through an analysis, the individual characteristics resulted in motivation based on three forms that interact with each other which are internal motivation, external motivation and motivation as movement/energy. The interaction we have identified is that for motivation to arise, a movement/energy between the individual and internal/external motivation is required. If only movement/energy exists but no direction is outlined, we see that motivation doesn´t lead to a result. And that the organization's competence provision is based on three phases. Phase one is attracting and recruiting, phase two retaining and developing and phase three dismantling and conversion contributing to the women's journey. Based on the analysis, it resulted to the study's purpose which show that the women's individual characteristics in the form of motivation together with the organization's competence provision contribute to the women's journey to the managerial position.

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<p>The increasing use of temporary and part-time employment in recent decades was initially expected to lead to negative effects for the individual. The empirical evidence, however, has been equivocal and the consequences are therefore still unclear. This thesis adopts a psychological approach to alternative employment by investigating how heterogeneity in employment contracts together with individual differences associate with work attitudes and subjective well-being. It comprises four studies in which questionnaire data is used to study differences among temporary workers (Study I & II) and differences in the alternative workforce (fixed-term, on-call, and part-time workers) compared to permanent full-time workers (Study III & IV), in order to analyze the impact of different types of contracts together with individual differences. Study I found that attitudes, role stress, and health varied across different patterns in individuals’ backgrounds and contract forms. Study II demonstrated that distinct patterns of voluntary and involuntary contract motives and of work involvement associated with differences in reported work-related and general well-being. Study III showed that well-being and organizational attitudes were related to individuals’ job and contract preferences and, to some degree, heterogeneity in contract types. Study IV revealed that individuals’ perceptions of job conditions (control, demands, and job insecurity) predicted well-being, whereas type of employment contract was found to be less important. Employment contract forms, however, interacted with individual diversity in Study III and IV. The thesis concludes that differences among individuals are important for understanding the implications of different types of alternative employment contracts. Future research should focus on these interactive mechanisms to better understand the consequences of alternative employment forms.</p>

<p>ABSTRACT</p><p>The purpose of this c-level essay shall try to illustrate how a good leader is formed. We have investigated what influences leadership style, personal characteristics or individual competence have when recruiting a new manager. This study has been carried out with comparative applications because we wanted to study the similarities and differences between the Unemployment Office, the Social Insurance Office and the Social Welfare Administration.</p><p>We have used a qualitative method in interviews both with employers as well as the from the trade union representative’s perspective. Part of our results indicates that the trade union representatives and the employers are not always unanimous and do not request equivalent characteristics and knowledge at recruitment. We have also found certain differences in the recruitment process between the organisations despite the fact that they are all politically governed and have many organisational similarities. We do not claim any empirical generalisations about our results as we have studied only one municipality. Our conclusions establish how certain key factors relate to recruitment of mangers just in this municipality and in these organisations. The results, however, indicates the prominence of some key factors that might be of general importance.</p><p>One of the most important result that we found in this study was that the trade union representatives had more similar opinions with each other than those they had with their respective organisations. Furthermore it became obvious from the study that great significance was given to inter-personal relationships when recruiting a new middle manager. The most significant resemblance between the three organisations was that they requested a management style that inclined towards democratic values.</p>

The increasing use of temporary and part-time employment in recent decades was initially expected to lead to negative effects for the individual. The empirical evidence, however, has been equivocal and the consequences are therefore still unclear. This thesis adopts a psychological approach to alternative employment by investigating how heterogeneity in employment contracts together with individual differences associate with work attitudes and subjective well-being. It comprises four studies in which questionnaire data is used to study differences among temporary workers (Study I &amp; II) and differences in the alternative workforce (fixed-term, on-call, and part-time workers) compared to permanent full-time workers (Study III &amp; IV), in order to analyze the impact of different types of contracts together with individual differences. Study I found that attitudes, role stress, and health varied across different patterns in individuals’ backgrounds and contract forms. Study II demonstrated that distinct patterns of voluntary and involuntary contract motives and of work involvement associated with differences in reported work-related and general well-being. Study III showed that well-being and organizational attitudes were related to individuals’ job and contract preferences and, to some degree, heterogeneity in contract types. Study IV revealed that individuals’ perceptions of job conditions (control, demands, and job insecurity) predicted well-being, whereas type of employment contract was found to be less important. Employment contract forms, however, interacted with individual diversity in Study III and IV. The thesis concludes that differences among individuals are important for understanding the implications of different types of alternative employment contracts. Future research should focus on these interactive mechanisms to better understand the consequences of alternative employment forms.

ABSTRACT The purpose of this c-level essay shall try to illustrate how a good leader is formed. We have investigated what influences leadership style, personal characteristics or individual competence have when recruiting a new manager. This study has been carried out with comparative applications because we wanted to study the similarities and differences between the Unemployment Office, the Social Insurance Office and the Social Welfare Administration. We have used a qualitative method in interviews both with employers as well as the from the trade union representative’s perspective. Part of our results indicates that the trade union representatives and the employers are not always unanimous and do not request equivalent characteristics and knowledge at recruitment. We have also found certain differences in the recruitment process between the organisations despite the fact that they are all politically governed and have many organisational similarities. We do not claim any empirical generalisations about our results as we have studied only one municipality. Our conclusions establish how certain key factors relate to recruitment of mangers just in this municipality and in these organisations. The results, however, indicates the prominence of some key factors that might be of general importance. One of the most important result that we found in this study was that the trade union representatives had more similar opinions with each other than those they had with their respective organisations. Furthermore it became obvious from the study that great significance was given to inter-personal relationships when recruiting a new middle manager. The most significant resemblance between the three organisations was that they requested a management style that inclined towards democratic values.