Barbara A. Spencer

Organizational and extraorganizational factors affecting stress, employee well-being, and absenteeism for males and females

The purpose of this research is to examine separately for males and females, the effects of different sources of job and life stress on the emotional and physical well-being of those individuals, and in turn on absenteeism. Results using a sample of 170 males and 204 females indicated that females experienced higher levels of job stress, absenteeism, and poorer emotional well-being. Patterns of relationships for males and females were similar, however, the data suggest that sex moderates the effects of different sources of stress on emotional and physical well-being and absenteeism. The model developed as a part of this research was more complicated for females than for males.

Understanding the marketing concept as organizational culture

Answers recent calls for scholarly study of organizational culture in a marketing context. Presents a view of the marketing concept as culture based on the organizational symbolism paradigm. Then applies this perspective through techniques for implementing the marketing concept.

Quality Management Practices in China

Recently, increasing numbers of Western business practitioners and academics have shown interest in China, along with the awareness of the important role China has played in the global economy. Little research, however, has been done to explain what is ..

Linking Quality Attributes with Customer Purchasing Decisions: A Comparison of Two Methods

This article uses two different survey methods to link quality criteria to customer purchase decisions. Specifically, a decision modeling technique and a direct questioning approach were used to investigate the influence of four quality criteria on hypo..

ANALYZING ETHICAL ISSUES: Essential Ingredient in the Business Communication Course of the 1990s

Beechnut pleads guilty to selling infant apple juice without a trace of apple in the ingredients (Traub, 1988); E. F. Hutton admits to 2,000 counts ofmail and wire fraud (Gellerman, 1986); the publishers of a best selling photography book, A Day in the Life of America, use computers to alter the composition of the cover photograph (Ansberry, 1989). These are just a few of the numerous unethical business activities that are reported by the press almost daily. Indeed, one source estimates that between 1976 and 1986, roughly two-thirds of America’s 500 largest corporations were involved in some form of unethical behavior (Gellerman, 1986). Yet companies don’t commit unethical acts; people do. Research in a variety of industries shows that 60 to 70 percent of practicing managers perceive pressure to compromise their personal ethics to achieve corporate goals. This pressure appears to be felt most strongly by lowerlevel managers who are least experienced at doing their jobs. Many of these managers are new graduates, fresh out of business school. The widespread presence of these pressures in the

Bringing Total Quality to Business School: the Power of Small Wins

Author’s Note: Requests for reprints should be sent to Barbara A. Spencer, Department of Management and Information Systems, P.O. Box 9581, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39762. In an article entitled, &dquo;Dr. Deming Comes to Class,&dquo; Gartner (1993a) described his attempt to implement Deming’s quality improvement process in two management classes. As a believer in Deming’s theory of management, Gartner wanted to apply this orientation to his own teaching. Along the way, he learned much about his students’ ability to generate quality work, his own ability to reduce variation in student outputs, and the institutional problems inherent in making a dramatic change in traditional grading systems. Gartner (1993a) ended his experiment with an enhanced belief in Deming’s philosophy, but also with a vivid sense of frustration and skepticism concerning his organization’s ability to change. On one hand, he believed that he could design courses that could generate &dquo;zero defects,&dquo; but on the other, he felt that the university system could not accommodate a class in which all students earned As. In his words:

Ethical implications of Human Resource Information Systems

As a result of the proliferation of Human Resource Information Systems among organizations, employee data are being used in nontraditional ways. Although these uses increase efficiency, they can conflict with the rights and interests of employees, external stakeholders, and society at large. Yet the ethical concerns associated with automated data bases larely have been ignored. This paper examines these issues within the context of three ethical theories. Implications and suggestions for managers are discussed.

Strategic Consensus and Organizational Performance in the Lodging Industry

This paper examines the relationship between strategic consensus within top management teams and organizational performance in a sample of 36 firms from the lodging industry. Findings suggest that there may be a curvilinear relationship between these two variables. Too much agreement by a firms top management team may be just as unhealthy as too little agreement. Although strategic consensus is only one of many factors influencing performance, these results indicate that it should not be ignored. Key Words: Strategic Consensus, Organization Performance.

Identifying Cultural Norms in the Management Classroom

Management students cannot adequately understand how organizations work without coming to grips with the concept of culture. It is a concept that is easy to define in words but difficult to comprehend and appreciate fully unless one knows exactly where to look and what to look for. According to Schein (1985), culture is composed of shared assumptions and beliefs that define an organization’s view of itself and its environment. In many organizations, these assumptions and beliefs are so basic and so pervasive that they may not be recognized explicitly or questioned openly. They become the underlying, unquestioned, but virtually forgotten, reasons for &dquo;the way we do things around here&dquo; (Shafritz & Ott, 1992, p. 482). To understand how culture influences behavior, students must learn to look for the background assumptions that shape the visible activities in the foreground of any organizational setting. They must be encouraged to question the status quo and to reflect on why things are done as they are. The purpose of this article is to describe a technique for teaching students to understand culture by looking at some ways in which it shapes their own behavior. The technique is particularly appealing because it focuses on a setting in which students have vast experience: the classroom. An added

CREATIVE THINKING: An Integral Part of Effective Business Communication

prepare students for productive careers. These students will be entering an arena that is more competitive and dynamic than any that has been previously confronted. For businesses, and for the employees within those businesses, survival of the fittest will certainly be a fact of life. In such a dynamic environment, changes that can revolutionize an organization’s strategy may come from unexpected directions. Even now, competition across national boundaries is increasing daily; technology developments can reduce the costs of production overnight; changes in the prices of energy and materials cannot be forecasted accurately; increasing (or decreasing) regulation of industry environments can dramatically alter the rules of the industry game. Just following the pack will not provide the advantage needed to win in such a