Denney G. Rutherford

Most frequent contributors to the hospitality literature.

Academic research in the hospitality field has great importance for tenure and promotion. Consequently, academic research has greatly increased in the last 16 years with the increase in hospitality programs. The majority of the research is published in the following four journals: The Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, the International Journal of Hospitality Management, the Hospitality Research Journal and the Florida International University Hospitality Review. Only refereed articles and notes were used in the tabulations. Industry members, journal staffs, and editors were not included. The study ranked the academic contributors in each journal in order of total appearances and adjusted appearances. Adjusted appearances were used to distinguish between single-authored and multiauthored articles. A high correlation was found between the rankings of adjusted and nonadjusted appearances of top-ranked authors. The top 15 universities in terms of adjusted appearances were also calculated.

Reengineering the hotel organization.

Most small- and medium-size businesses, including hotels, are usually organized by function. In functional organization, people who perform similar tasks or have similar skills are grouped together into one department. The authors propose that hotels currently organized by departments should group tasks into coherent business processes, such as customer communication, product development, and problem resolution. The advantages of reengineering by processes include: performance is measured by customer-based criteria; job preparation shifts from training to education; executives are able to be leaders and facilitators rather than checkers and arbitrators; and employees and departments become less protective of their turf and more productive.

Most Frequent Contributors to the Hospitality Literature: A Ten-Year Update

Academic research in the hospitality field has great importance for tenure and promotion. Consequently, the “publish or perish” pressure has not diminished in the past 25 years with the increased numbers of university programs and an increase in the number of doctoral-qualified faculty. This study updates one done in 1992 and analyzes the contributions of academics as published in the four general interest refereed hospitality journals: the Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly; the International Journal of Hospitality Management; the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research and the Florida International University Hospitality Review. Only refereed articles and notes were used in the tabulations. Industry members, journal staffs, and editors were not included. The study ranked the academic contributors in each journal in order of total appearances and adjusted appearances. Adjusted appearances were used to distinguish between single-authored and multi-authored articles. A high correlation was found between the rankings of adjusted and non-adjusted appearances of the twenty top ranked authors. The top 15 universities in terms of adjusted appearances were also calculated.

De facto security standards: Operators at risk

Hotel security standards required by law tell only half the story: Actual court decisions are equally valid when it comes time to enforce the rule of “reasonable care.” Our survey of hotel owners and operators collected data about court-mandated security standards and we discuss which of those standards hoteliers consider important and which are controversial

Theoretical constructs in practice: managers rate their importance.

Abstract This research explores a proposed model of restructuring knowledge constructs and activities of the modern hotel housekeeping department. The model is based on statistical analysis of the relative importance given to topics by professional housekeepers and has implications for housekeeping managers, corporate planners, industry training programs and hospitality educators. The model uses factor analysis as an exploratory and patterning tool and suggests potential new ways to pattern or structure the importance of housekeeping activities.

Lessons from Liebeck: QSRs Cool the Coffee

Debate about blame and contributory negligence raged when a jury in New Mexico awarded Stella Liebeck

Trade Dress and Consumer Perception of Product Similarity

160,000 in compensatory damages and

An Analysis of Career Determinants and Publishing Patterns Among the Hospitality Professoriate

2.7 million in punitive damages after she spilled a cup of McDonalds coffee in her lap. The coffee was served from a drive-through window at a temperature exceeding 180°F (82°C) and caused third-degree burns. Even though similar burn accidents (and settlements) had preceded this celebrated case, McDonalds (and possibly other QSRs) had apparently not sufficiently reduced the service temperature of its coffee from the industry standard of 185°F. A two-year study of a convenience sample of QSR restaurants (including McDonalds) in the U.S. Pacific northwest region following the Liebeck verdict found a mean coffee temperature of 167°F (75°C) and a range of 132° to 195°F (55° to 90°C). Moreover, some restaurants offered oral or written warnings, albeit not universally.

Restaurant Espionage When Recipes Are Not Trade Secrets

A study was conducted to determine the level of perceived similarity by consumers among college students viewing two products with similar trade dress—the recently litigated Kendall-Jackson “Vintner’s Reserve” and Gallo “Turning Leaf” brands of Chardonnay table wine. Using an Internet-based data collection method, this study found only one significant difference out of several variables in a comparison between groups defined by their wine purchase frequency and wine knowledge. Perceived similarity is substantially apparent; consumers did not identify differences between the two brands based on their various components of trade dress. Based on these findings, the authors suggest that brand loyalty is less likely and switching behavior may become common in a market that includes such competitive behavior.

Hospitality law: What we're teaching

Numerous career theories have some applicability to an analysis of the careers of various college and university professoriates. Of these, the academic career.model proposed by Light, Mardsen, and Corl details specific components of the academic career in a &dquo;three-strand&dquo; structure.1 The strands, &dquo;disciplinary, institutional and external,&dquo; provide a theoretical construct from which the careers of this unique segment, the HRA professoriate, was analyzed.