Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, 2008. / A thesis submitted to the University of Western Sydney, College of Business, School of Management, in partial fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Includes bibliographical references.

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att analysera skillnader i hur servicekvalitén inom servicenäringen i Sverige uppfattas av svenska studenter och kinesiska utbytesstudenter. Metod: I studien användes en kvantitativ metod med hjälp av enkäter med slutna svarsalternativ och ordinalskala, som distribuerades till totalt 324 svenska studenter och kinesiska utbytesstudenter. Vidare användes dataprogrammet IMB SPSS för att utföra faktoranalyser och klusteranalyser. Resultaten användes sedan för att testa de använda teorierna. Resultat: Genom att analysera de resultat som deducerats från insamlad data har studien bidragit med ytterligare data inom kulturområdet och servicenäringen. Studiens teoretiska referensram har stärkt de slutsatser som gjorts, men har även visat sig vara vag i vissa sammanhang. Studien har visat vissa intressanta skillnader i hur kinesiska utbytesstudenter och svenska studenter uppfattar servicekvalitén inom servicenäringen. Förslag till fortsatta studier: Studiens resultat skulle kunna bidra till förslag till fortsatta studier inom servicenäringsområdet och servicekvalité. Resultaten pekar även på att fortsatt forskning behövs inom studiens valda ämnesområde. Studiens bidrag: Studien genererar både praktiska och teoretiska bidrag som diskuterats. Studien lyfter framförallt fram brister i servicekvalitén inom den svenska servicenäringen för praktiker och teoretiker. / Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to analyze differences in how service quality in the service sector in Sweden is perceived by Swedish students and Chinese exchange students. Method: In the study a quantitative method was used. For the study questionnaires was used with closed end answers which were distributed to 324 Swedish students and Chinese exchange students. The software program, IMB SPSS was used to complete factor- and cluster analysis. The results were then used to further strengthen or question the theory. Result: By analyzing the results deduced from the collected data, the study has contributed with additional data in the cultural field and the service industry. The study's theoretical framework has reinforced the conclusions that have been made, but has also proven to be vague in some contexts. The study has revealed some interesting differences in how Chinese exchange students and Swedish students perceive the quality of service in the service sector. Proposal for further studies: The study's results could contribute to proposals for further studies in the field of service industry and service quality. The results also indicate that further research is needed in the study selected topics. Contribution: The study generates both practical and theoretical contributions which have been discussed. The study highlights primarily produced gaps in service quality in the Swedish service industry for practitioners and theoreticians.

In twenty-first century, the industry competes heavily. Entrepreneurs try to use technology to develop their business. However, using technology generates high costs. So companies need to find a new way to survive by using the existing resources to gain maximum benefit. Knowledge management is one of interesting alternatives as it can deliver competitive advantage such as greater competencies and synergy, more balanced decisions and less errors, more creativity and innovation, broader collaboration and knowledge sharing, and easier links to expertise and deeper understanding. This paper deals with various aspects of knowledge management particularly concentrating on knowledge sharing in service industry. Issues in the context of different data sources and the research with qualitative methodology create the in-depth knowledge to understand how to do knowledge work for gaining competitive advantage. The emphasis is placed on analysis and evaluation of problems and barriers of both cases as applied from all data collection. In the paper, each chapter has the following set-up. Chapter 2 highlights methodology. The qualitative approach has been used to obtain information and provide data analysis. A complete analysis of knowledge management has been developed by using a case study method with secondary data to analyze how service industry uses knowledge management to manage in its sector. Chapter 3 gives theoretical frame of reference. The definitions of knowledge and culture are explained. Problems and barriers of knowledge sharing are also presented. Chapter 4 gives analysis. Conclusion is presented in the final chapter. The findings show that to improve service and customer satisfaction, the industry has to find out and use knowledge management appropriately. Knowledge management helps reducing time to find information and sharing decision making. For the last part, the discussion and recommendation from culture and knowledge affecting knowledge management in the companies has been reported. Because of the time limitation of the study, the paper focuses only on the section of service industry. An area for further study would be using other research methods such as interview to gain more in-depth understanding and survey to increase reliability and validity of this topic.

This thesis paper examines how I turned real life experiences and observations into a fictionalized screenplay that explores the potential for vice inherent in tip-based service industry jobs. After that, I move on to the preproduction process and touch on casting, location scouting, visualization, production design, budgeting and crewing. Next I discuss how the preproduction and on-set efforts of individuals were all critical to our production. Then I chronicle the ups and downs of postproduction. Finally, I conclude with an admittedly subjective analysis of the effectiveness of the movie itself.

M.Com. (Business Management) / Globalisation and the multi-generational workforce have made an impact on the workforce and the workplace. Demographic shifts are creating an aging population, creating a growing skills shortage which is putting pressure on businesses to create knowledge workers with cutting-edge expertise. Coupled with the explosion of new technologies and the application of , these issues have changed the way organisations work, recruit, and retain their employees. Organisations all over the world are faced with the challenge of attracting and retaining talent in their environments, resulting in the global marketplace for talent being far more competitive than ever before. This study was undertaken to gain an understanding of what factors within an IT organisation attract talented individuals. The study was concerned with identifying influences that also drive these talented individuals to remain with an organisation once they have joined. The study aimed to identify strategies that organisations can adopt to assist them with the attraction and retention of IT talented individuals. This study took place in a South African insurance organisation. Interviews in the form of unstructured face-to-face individual interviews, as well as focus groups, were conducted to understand the factors considered by IT talent when making employment decisions. Seventeen employees who were deemed talent by the researched organisation took part in the study. Based on the findings of the study, the factors that attracted IT talent to the organisation were organisational reputation, remuneration, the IT technology used by the organisation, and growth prospects. For retaining IT talent, factors highlighted were growth opportunities, recognition and reward, meaningful role and responsibilities, work environment – flexible working arrangements, market related remuneration, and management style. The study concludes that there are a number of factors that influence IT talent in their decision to either join or leave an organisation. Organisations need to provide a variety of these factors in order to cater for the different needs IT talent possesses.

The advancements in virtualization technologies have provided a large spectrum of computational approaches. Dedicated computations can be run on private environments (virtual machines), created within the same computer. Through capable APIs, this functionality is leveraged for the service we wish to implement; a computer power service (CPS). We target peer-to-peer systems for this service, to exploit the potential of aggregating computing resources. The concept of a P2P network is mostly known for its expanded usage in distributed networks for sharing resources like content files or real-time data. This study adds computing power to the list of shared resources by describing a suitable service composition. Taking into account the dynamic nature of the platform, this CPS provision is achieved using a self stabilizing clustering algorithm. So, the resulting system of our research is based around a hierarchical P2P architecture and offers end-to-end consideration of resource provisioning and reliability. We named this system μCloud and characterizes it as a self-provisioning cloud service platform. It is designed, implemented and presented in this dissertation. Eventually, we assessed our work by showing that μCloud succeeds in providing user-centric services using a P2P computing unit. With this, we conclude that our system would be highly beneficial in both small and massively deployed environments. / KMBT_223 / Adobe Acrobat 9.51 Paper Capture Plug-in

Thesis (MSc. (Agricultural Extension)) -- University of Limpopo, 2015. / Financial Services cooperatives are member based financial institutions formed, owned and controlled by members to provide financial services to their members. The concept of cooperative banking is new in South Africa and it is promoted to address financial services needs of the rural poor who would otherwise have no means of accessing financial services and use from formal banks. The study was undertaken to determine members perceptions towards financial services co-operatives in Lehurutshe, Lothlakane, Motswedi, Kraaipan and Disaneng FSC’s in the Ngaka Modiri Molemo District of North West Province. Population included 236 participants who were selected using non-probability purposive and convenience sampling method. Different data collection methods, namely, Focus group discussion, Product attribute ranking, Likert-scale and questionnaires were used. Data was analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) computer program and presented in descriptive statistics percentages and tables. The study revealed that FSC’s members were satisfied with services and products that were offered in the cooperatives; however issues of governance, fiduciary, regulatory and member participation require immediate attention. Recommendations to strengthen the regulatory framework for FSCs and FSCs’ institutional capacity were made.

Professional services are one of the fastest growing industries, accounting for over US$330 billion in revenue, globally. The industry is also characterised by stiff competition among professional consulting firms. Thus, in order to survive and grow sustainably, consulting companies need to, not only deliver high quality services which surpass their clients’ expectations but, also nurture strong relationships with them.This study sought to understand the relationship between project delivery success and the strength of client-consultant relationships. It used the engineering consulting industry, focusing on public sector clients and consulting firms in South Africa. The methodology used focused on first establishing as to whether clients and consultants measure project delivery success and relationships using the same factors. It then tested the relationship between project delivery success and client-consultant relationships using the identified set of factors.Through a detailed literature review, project delivery factors were categorised into project success and project management success factors. In order to capture the different dimensions involved in project delivery and client-consultant relationships, frameworks were developed to adequately classify these factors. These frameworks were used in the design of the data collection instrument.The findings from the study indicated that clients and consultants measure project delivery success using fairly similar factors, which they also rated in a fairly similar way. However, the study established that clients and consultants neither evaluate relationships using the same factors, nor rate the factors in a similar way. It was also found that project delivery success does not necessarily result in strong client-consultant relationships.On the basis of these findings, the study established that product delivery success is results from the interaction of many factors within and beyond project boundaries. It also involves a variety of stakeholders with different expectations. Project success is more difficult to measure than project management success. Client-consultant relationships depend on the types of clients and consultants involved as well as the model of engagement used. These factors also influence the choice and priority given to different measurement factors.Thus, the study recommended the importance of active client-consultant engagement for clients and consultants to and understand these complex context-specific environments in structuring and defining problems and design relevant solutions. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Nowadays the service industry is heavily influenced by a commercialization of theemployees' feelings. In order to gain loyal customers the employees have to be complaisantand accomplish a good relationship with the customers. If the employees are having a badday or are in a bad mood they therefore need to perform emotional labour to be able toexpress the expected feelings related to the service industry. The purpose of this study is tocontribute with knowledge about how the performance of emotional labour work influencesyoung female store employees' private social relations. We also aim to provide anunderstanding of to what extent emotional labour is performed and which other aspects maybe relevant regarding emotional labour. The results of this study is based on qualitativeinterviews with young female store employees, who are working or in the recent months haveworked with service within the retail industry. The theoretical framework consists of ErvingGoffman’s theory of The dramaturgical perspective along with Arlie Hochschild’s conceptsof feeling rules, emotional work and emotional labour . The results of the study showed thatthe interviewees perform emotional labour with surface acting more often than deep acting.What is also demonstrated in the results is that interactions with customers matters for theinterviewees’ mood and energy in their private life. The final conclusion of this study is thatmost of the interviewees, more or less are experiencing emotional labour to affect theirprivate social relations. / Inom servicebranschen har en förändring skett i att butiksanställdas känslor har blivitkommersialiserade. Att vara trevlig och få kunden att känna sig uppskattad ses som en viktigdel av marknadsföringen ur ett konkurrensperspektiv. Om de butiksanställda har en dålig dageller är på dåligt humör behöver de utföra ett emotionellt lönearbete för att kunna leva upp tillförväntningarna som finns på deras känslor. Syftet med denna studie är att bidra med kunskapom vilken betydelse det emotionella lönearbetet har för unga butiksanställda kvinnors socialarelationer utanför arbetet. Intentionen är även att bidra med en förståelse för hur emotionelltlönearbete kommer till uttryck och vilka aspekter som kan vara av betydelse för utförandet avdet emotionella lönearbetet. Studiens resultat grundar sig i kvalitativa intervjuer med ungabutiksanställda kvinnor som arbetar eller har arbetat med service inom handelsbranschen. Detteoretiska ramverket utgörs av Erving Goffmans teori Det dramaturgiska perspektivet , samtArlie Hochschilds teori om känsloregler, emotionellt arbete och emotionellt lönearbete .Resultaten av studien visar att intervjupersonerna utför ytagerande oftare än de utfördjupagerande. Studien visar även att interaktioner med kunder är av betydelse förintervjupersonernas humör och energi i privatlivet. Slutligen visar resultatet att detemotionella lönearbetet upplevs mer eller mindre ha påverkat de flesta intervjupersonernassociala relationerna efter arbetstid.

The labor force consists of 4 generations including Generation Z with an estimated 25 million Baby Boomers leaving the workforce between the year 2010 and 2020. Franchise fast food service managers desire competent leadership in the workplace inclusive of Generation Z. Yet, many franchise fast food service managers do not have training programs to develop Generation Z's leadership behaviors. Based on Vroom's expectancy theory and Blau's social theory, the purpose of this single-case study was to explore the training programs franchise fast food service managers could implement to develop Generation Z's leadership behaviors. Data collection consisted of direct observation and semistructured interviews of 5 purposely selected franchise fast food service managers at a franchise fast food organization in the southern region of Georgia. Data analysis included coding the transcribed interviews to identify relevant themes, and member checking to strengthen the reliability and validity of the interpretations of participants' responses. The 6 main themes revealed were leadership training, leadership skills, leadership behaviors, training barriers, human capital development, and on-the-job training, which affects employees' performance and organizational effectiveness. Business leaders in organizations may use the findings of this study to develop effective training programs for evolving Generation Z's leadership skills, which could improve the U.S. food service industry turnover rates. Social change implications include the importance of the need for succession planning strategies to promote growth and sustainability within the fast food service industry.