Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2003. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 117-127). Also available via the World Wide Web.

This report contains evidence to show that the information provided by computers in the hotel industry, for the management work & decision making, has not changed too much since 1970. In most industries, the successful computer applications are clearly noticed in the routine work (clerical jobs) more than the management work (strategic & tactical jobs). As for the hotel industry the use of computers still comes at the back of the list. The hospitality characteristic of hotel work is the main reason why people and not machines are used Small hotels are different from large luxury hotels in using computers, mainly for economic reasons. Top managers are different from lower managers in using computers, simply for technical reasons (lack of management computer programmes). The British hotels are different from Egyptian hotels in applying computers and information technology successfully for reasons related to the influence of the managerial environment in each country. A comparison between hotels of the two countries shows the unsatisfaction of the hotel managers about the information they receive from their computer departments. The analysis of the management work, the identification of the decision making needs are still hard tasks for system analysts. The identification of both the managers' decisions & information needs is still not recognized, even by the managers themselves. The decision making approach is used in this study to identify both the managers' decisions & information needs and to evaluate the information systems available in the hotels of the two countries. The managerial environment of the country greatly influences the managers' decisions and system needs. This report outlines the background literature & approaches used to research this area. Use is made of the results of previous study done about Egyptian hotel industry and the factors which affect the success of the information systems there. Investigational work for the influence of the managerial environment in Egypt, over the structure of the marketing decision making process in the hotel industry is carried out. Areas for further ‘field’ research studies are highlighted.

The purpose of this study is to explore the extent to which Social Workers' clinical judgement is altered by administrative needs in a population of Veterans Administration social workers. The importance of this study to research is to find out whether administrative mandates do, in fact, influence social workers' clinical judgement, hence altering treatment to some significant degree. Administrators will be interested in seeing whether there is acceptance or resistance to their directives and what factors are involved in this dimension.

Professionals charged with planning treatment for abusive families often seek consultation during the process of making decisions about treatment. This study examined whether the level of experience of the consultant and the frame in which the case is presented affect conceptualizations and recommendations for treatment for cases of child abuse. To provide theoretical background for the study, a developmental ecological systems perspective on child abuse is presented. Research indicating that the most effective treatment for multiproblem abusive families addresses multiple ecological levels is reviewed. Consultants were forty members of Multidisciplinary Teams on Child Abuse and Neglect with treatment planning experience, 40 team members with related experience but no treatment planning experience, and 40 undergraduate psychology students with no experience in child protection (novices). Each consultant reviewed written copies of two case presentations of child abuse. One was presented in a frame emphasizing factors related to the individual abuser in the development of the abuse, the other in a frame presenting factors from multiple ecological levels in the development of the abuse. Consultants provided written recommendations and conceptualizations for each case, rated the effectiveness of interventions from four ecological levels in treatment of the abuse, and rated the importance of factors from the four ecological levels in development of the abuse. Results showed that the number of levels of recommendations provided increased as consultants’ experience increased. Treatment planners and consultants with related experience also rated multiple levels of intervention as more effective and as more important to the development of abuse than novices did. In ratings provided for these variables, treatment planners and consultants with related experience did not differ from each other. Individual framing of cases led to a higher percentage of individual level conceptualizations for all consultants. However, nonsignificant trends in the responses suggest that the treatment planners may be the least affected by framing of cases. The author reviews the implications these results have for clinical practice. / Ph. D.