Duncan Dickson

A case study into the benefits of management training programs: impacts on hotel employee turnover and satisfaction level.

Demonstrating the effectiveness of human resources (HR) programs has been a dilemma for HR professionals for years. This study addresses that problem and takes a step in closing the gap in the lodging industry. The researchers reviewed the effects of rigorous management training programs that focused on frontline leaders and their relationship with the employees who interact with guests. Data from a 2-year period (during and after the intervention) were analyzed based on employee-related factors, primarily turnover and employee satisfaction as measured by exit surveys. The researchers measured the impact of training over time. The results suggest this approach can be used by HR professionals to argue that management training programs lead to greater employee satisfaction and a reduction of employee turnover that offsets the cost of the training.

Managing Real and Virtual Waits in Hospitality and Service Organizations

Nearly all service and hospitality experiences require customers to wait at some point in the service process. Unless the provider of the service has unlimited capacity or can precisely match customer demand to available capacity, customers will be forced to wait for the experience they seek. Although waiting is an expected part of many services (say, gracious dining), for most customers waiting is an annoyance to be minimized or avoided. Waiting can also cause customer dissatisfaction that can greatly influence the intent to return whenever that service experience is sought again. To minimize the negative aspects of waiting, managers have available the following three strategies. The first is to manage the reality of the actual wait through the use of techniques that can help better match capacity with customer demand. The second is to manage the perception of thewait by responding to how customers perceive the wait. The third, and most innovative, is to make the wait invisible through developing virtual queues, which allow customers to participate in other activities while they wait for an appointed time at their desired activity.

Aligning internal organizational factors with a service excellence mission: an exploratory investigation in health care.

Abstract: In todays competitive health care environment, service excellence is rapidly becoming a major differentiating advantage between health care providers. Too often, senior executives talk about their commitment to a mission statement that extols the virtues of providing world class service to their patients only to undermine those statements with what they do, write, and say. This article presents an exploratory investigation into a new application of an internal mission alignment instrument that seeks to assess the extent to which an organizations internal processes are aligned with its service mission. This instrument was sent to 250 randomly selected employees from all clinical departments of a large southeastern hospital to explore the underlying alignment factors. A factor analysis of the data revealed eight factors that predicted beneficial employee outcomes such as organizational commitment and satisfaction with the job and organization.

Comparing hospital staff and patient perceptions of customer service: a pilot study utilizing survey and focus group data

The measurement of patient satisfaction is crucial to enhancing customer service and competitive advantage in the health-care industry. While there are numerous approaches to such measurement, this paper provides a case study which compares and contrasts patient and staff perceptions of customer service using both survey and focus group data. Results indicate that there is a high degree of correlation between staff and patient perceptions of customer service based on both survey and focus group data. However, the staff and patient subgroups also provided complementary information regarding patient perceptions of their service experience. Staff members tended to have more negative perceptions of service attributes than did the patients themselves. The focus group results provide complementary information to survey results in terms of greater detail and more managerially relevant information. While these results are derived from a pilot study, they suggest that diversification of data sources beyond patient surveys may enhance the utility of customer service information. If further research can affirm these findings, they create exciting possibilities for gathering valid, reliable and cost-effective customer service information.

A Conceptual Model for Mystery Shopping Motivations

This study addresses the need for more research regarding mystery shopping evaluations by conducting a grounded theory analysis of the motivations of mystery shoppers, integrating quantitative survey data into the results. First, a detailed literature review provided researchers with a guideline for volunteer and employee motivations. Next, a qualitative study using information from interviews with current mystery shoppers was conducted using a 3-stage grounded theory method of analysis. The results identified 14 dimensions of mystery shopper motivations, including: enjoyment, excitement, escapism, undercover aspect, impact, personal development, learning opportunity, discretionary compensation, nondiscretionary compensation, pride, exclusivity, prestige, client benefit, and mystery shopping company benefit. Finally, a model is presented showing these motivators as variables that are influential in the motivation to perform mystery shops.

Increasing Student Learning in the Classroom through Experiential Learning Programs outside the Classroom

Does it make any difference to require hospitality majors to gain work experience as part of their curriculum of study? Most hospitality programs require some sort of experiential learning occur prior to graduation, yet there is little empirical evidence that such inclusion in a curriculum changes a students perception of learning. This study reviews the responses of over 600 students and the differences between those who have not had an experiential learning experience and those who had. The study shows that there is a difference and that many of the reasons that educators require experiential experiences are validated. The study used a modified version of a previously validated survey instrument (P.L.A.C.E.) to obtain data. An independent samples T-test was performed to identify ten areas where statistically significant differences were found. This is what is presented in this paper.

An HR perspective: the global hunt for talent in the digital age

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide the reader with a practical understanding of the dynamic changes in how resumes are handled by recruiters and the application of technology to the human resource (HR) functions not only of reading resumes, but also of how technology is making some of the initial decisions on how they are passed on to hiring managers. HR information system has changed the way talent is accessed, prescreened, sorted, and stored. Knowledge of these systems is imperative for the twenty‐first century job‐seeker.Design/methodology/approach – The authors interview industry practitioners regarding the use of resume scanning and identify the pros and cons of the systems from an industry perspective.Findings – These discussions find that technology will continue to impact HR group in the hospitality industry. As the HR teams find more and better ways to utilize the technology the applicant pool will have to adjust to ensure that they are not screened out because they are missing a “...

The contribution of theme parks and attractions to the social and economic sustainability of destinations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review the contribution made by this theme issue to the question: how far do theme parks and attractions contribute to social and economic sustainability of destinations?Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews some of the key contributions emerging from this theme issue.Findings – Theme parks and attractions will continue growing globally. There seem to be many internal and external reasons that may lead to success and failure of theme parks and attractions. It is evident that theme parks and attractions contribute greatly to sustainability of destinations in many areas including investments in infrastructure, job creation, tax revenues, tourism revenues, donations, and community support. However, it is also evident that failure of a theme park may result in a major decline or failure of a destination.Research limitations/implications – It also emerges that more research is needed into development and management of theme parks and attractions globally.Prac...

Triangle model of fairness: investigating spillovers and reciprocal transfers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present and partially test the triangle model of fairness (TMF) by examining employee reactions to customer fairness.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 217 undergraduate hospitality students at a US university participated in the study. Participants seated in a classroom were asked to take part in the study. Customer interpersonal justice was manipulated (high justice versus low justice) in a completely randomized between‐subjects design. The manipulation consisted of written scenarios that depicted interactions between a customer and an employee. Participants read the scenarios. Then, they were instructed to imagine they were the employee in the scenario and were asked to answer questions that assessed their reactions to the interaction with the customer.Findings – Consistent with the predictions, the results of the study revealed that when employees experience interpersonally fair treatment from customers, they are more likely to engage in helping behavior...

Insight into amusement park ride and device safety in the United States

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the dimensions and practices that have shaped the safety of amusement rides and devices in the US amusement park industry.Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides an overview and historical examination of key concepts and phenomena.Findings – The paper concludes that continued amusement ride and device incidents resulting from a lack of nationally accepted and recognized standards will potentially lead to or cause additional negative guest perception and possibly result in regulation from an external agency. This paper identifies areas of concern and makes recommendations to address the potential consequences resulting from staying the current course. It determines that the industry needs to find a collective voice and establish consistent self‐regulating policies in order to curb the incidents rates and avoid federal regulation.Research limitations/implications – The paper reports on several secondary research, scholarly as well as industry and go...