Ilias Said

Organizational Culture and Tourist Satisfaction in a Lake-Based Tourism Area

Problem statement: Although many studies have highlighted that certain cultures are evident in certain firms, there are only few studies done on ecotourism areas and little has been done to analyse how these cultures have affected the performance of these organizations. Approach: Conceptualizing organizational culture as the values and practices employed in an organization and considering tourist satisfaction as intangible performance we conducted a survey of all tourist resort operators located in a lake-based tourism area in Malaysia. The data wes analysed using descriptive statistics, paired t-test and Pearson product-moment correlation. Results: The results revealed that tourists are dissatisfied with the quality of service delivered to them and tourist satisfaction is significantly influenced by environmental friendly practices. Conclusion/Recommendations: The results imply that environmental friendly practices ranging from the issue of recycling, being compatible with local environment and culture and making minimal changes to the existing landform, should be the focus of the strategic policy in the future, to improve the planning and management of the resorts and the area promoted for tourism.

Are resort operators in the ecotourism area demanding an environmental protection culture? The case of Lake Kenyir, Malaysia

The negative impact of tourism development to the environment has received considerable debate in the past. Many have agreed that the success of a tourism industry is dependent upon wise usage and management of the natural environment. There is a need to examine whether the value and practices of the main players, especially the resort operators, are not destructive to the environment. However, limited attention has been given to the ‘environmental sensitive cultures’ of the service provider. The present study tries to fill in the gap by providing an empirical support to investigate whether resort operators in an ecotourism area adopt a certain organisational culture that is harmonious to the environment. A questionnaire survey was administered to the six owners and fifty-one employees of all resort operators located at Lake Kenyir, Malaysia. The researchers theorized that organizational culture which leads to more environmental sensitive values and practices are more apparent amongst the resort organisations. This study found that most resort operators at Lake Kenyir implement an ecologically friendly approach in conducting business. Empirical findings indicate that the resort employees have environmentally sensitive values. The results gave rise to new policies to be introduced in an effort to enhance environmental protection. Magnitude limitations of this study prompt the possibility of conducting future researches to cover a broader spectrum, on a macro global scale.

Introducing innovation in a housing development firm in Malaysia

Title – Introducing innovation in a housing development firm in Malaysia.Subject area – Innovation, privatisation and property development.Study level/applicability – Undergraduate and MA level property development courses; modules covering privatisation within undergraduate, MBA and MA level management programmes.Case overview – This paper presents the genesis and motivating factors that stimulate a managing director of a housing development (D&B Private Limited Company) to introduce innovation as a strategic solution to the challenges which hinder his firms growth. The recently launched Ten Malaysian Plan and the Sustainable Programme for Corporate Malaysia are identified as the two stimulating events that triggered the initiation and subsequent implementation of innovation into Design and Build Sdn Bhd. Innovation has been recognized as an endeavor that impacts positively and significantly the performance of the firm that innovates. There was a major focus on factors that enhance innovation of a firm:...