Susan W. Arendt

Leadership: Reflections Over the Past 100 Years

Leadership, viewed by the American Dietetic Association as the ability to inspire and guide others toward building and achieving a shared vision, is a much written-about topic. Research on leadership has addressed the topic using many different approaches, from a very simplistic definition of traits to a more complex process involving interactions, emotions, and learning. Thousands of books and papers have been published on the topic of leadership. This review paper will provide examples of the varying foci of the writings on this topic and includes references for instruments used to measure leadership traits and behaviors. Research is needed to determine effective strategies for preparing dietitians to be effective leaders and assume leadership positions. Identifying ways to help dietitians better reflect on their leadership experiences to enhance their learning and leadership might be one strategy to explore.

How to Increase Response Rates When Surveying Hospitality Managers for Curriculum-Related Research: Lessons from Past Studies and Interviews with Lodging Professionals

ABSTRACT Continuous industry input is needed to keep hospitality management curricula current, relevant, and applicable. However, barriers including low response rates are reported when surveying hospitality professionals about competencies and skills essential for success. In response, this study sought to identify successful strategies used by researchers when surveying hospitality managers through mail surveys. Interviews conducted with lodging managers indicated potential strategies for increasing response rates when using online surveys. These strategies are currently absent in the literature. Interview results are presented.

Leadership Behaviors in Hospitality Management Students

The importance of leadership in the hospitality field is recognized by industry professionals and educators. This study assessed self-reported leadership behaviors and leadership context of 345 undergraduate hospitality management students at eight universities in the United States. Students reported class and work as the context areas where they most frequently exhibited leadership behaviors. Mean leadership scores were higher for students who had held a position in a club, had leadership coursework, were junior or senior classification, or were female. No significant differences for mean leadership practice scores were seen based on age or having supervisory experience. Suggestions for integrating leadership into hospitality management curricula are provided.

Reporting of Foodborne Illness by U.S. Consumers and Healthcare Professionals

During 2009–2010, a total of 1,527 foodborne disease outbreaks were reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2013). However, in a 2011 CDC report, Scallan et al. estimated about 48 million people contract a foodborne illness annually in the United States. Public health officials are concerned with this under-reporting; thus, the purpose of this study was to identify why consumers and healthcare professionals don’t report foodborne illness. Focus groups were conducted with 35 consumers who reported a previous experience with foodborne illness and with 16 healthcare professionals. Also, interviews with other healthcare professionals with responsibility of diagnosing foodborne illness were conducted. Not knowing who to contact, being too ill, being unsure of the cause, and believing reporting would not be beneficial were all identified by consumers as reasons for not reporting foodborne illness. Healthcare professionals that participated in the focus groups indicated the amount of time between patients’ consumption of food and seeking treatment and lack of knowledge were barriers to diagnosing foodborne illness. Issues related to stool samples such as knowledge, access and cost were noted by both groups. Results suggest that barriers identified could be overcome with targeted education and improved access and information about the reporting process.

Incongruent Quality Management Perceptions Between Malaysian Hotel Managers and Employees

Purpose – Using the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) criteria, the purpose of this study is to compare perceptions of Malaysian hotel quality managers (HQMs) and employees on leadership and workforce practices.Design/methodology/approach – A mixed methods approach was used. Questionnaires were distributed to 35 HQMs and 576 employees of three‐, four‐, and five‐star hotels. Interviews were conducted with HQMs. Descriptive statistics, t‐test, and analysis of variance were used to analyze the data. All interviews were transcribed, hand coded, and analyzed for themes.Findings – Compared to hotel employees, HQMs had higher scores for all leadership and workforce items. Comparing managers’ perceptions revealed a statistically significant difference between three‐ and four‐star with five‐star hotels on developing explicit quality policies and measurable objectives. For employees, there were statistically significant differences for most of the questionnaire items between three‐ and four‐star with ...

Exploring the Culture of Food Safety: The Role of Organizational Influencers in Motivating Employees’ Safe Food-Handling Practices

The role of organizational influencers on foodservice employees’ motivation to follow safe handling practices was explored. Data were collected from 311 employees with no supervisory responsibilities working in commercial and non-commercial foodservices. Employees identified level of agreement with eight organizational influencers that motivate them to follow safe food-handling practices. Data were analyzed to determine if differences in motivation by influencers existed among employees with different demographic characteristics. Age, years of foodservice experience and work status impacted motivations of both commercial and non-commercial employees. Future research could test a comprehensive measure of organizational influencers on employees’ safe food-handling practices.

Hospitality and Tourism Journal Matrix

Ease in locating hospitality and tourism journals is of interest to hospitality and tourism professionals, graduate students, researchers, and scholars. At present, there is no one location with concise information regarding hospitality and tourism journal descriptions, editors, and contact information. The matrix that follows contains a compiled list of hospitality and tourism journals along with pertinent journal information

Exploration of hotel managers' training evaluation practices and perceptions utilizing Kirkpatrick's and Phillips's models

ABSTRACT Training is one human resource development practice found in most organizations, however, studies showed that little attention is given to the importance of training evaluation in real life practices. This study is an exploration of the practices and perceptions of hotel managers in training evaluation using Kirkpatricks and Phillipss models. In-depth interviews were conducted with six hotel managers and paper-based questionnaires were sent out to managers of hotels with more than 30 rooms in a Midwestern state. The findings indicated that hotel managers viewed training evaluation activities as important and observation was rated the most important and the most frequently employed method for managers in evaluating training. The studys findings contribute to the literature by providing researchers with more insights into how hotel managers evaluate their training and what they believed a practical process should possess. It also gives researchers a brief understanding of the perceptions of managers from different hotel sizes.

Motivating Foodservice Employees to Follow Safe Food Handling Practices: Perspectives from a Multigenerational Workforce

Hospitality managers deal with a very diverse workforce, employing workers from up to four different generations, which poses a challenge for managers as they attempt to train and motivate employees. Food safety is of particular concern in foodservice organizations. This study assessed the generational differences related to foodservice employees’ perceptions of their supervisors’ roles in food safety and how supervisors could improve their effectiveness. A mixed methods approach (survey and focus groups) was used. Qualitative data analysis revealed four themes: Consistency, training, managers’ behaviors, and employees’ behaviors. Based on these, best practices are suggested for motivating a multigenerational workforce.

Managers’ Attitudes Towards People with Disabilities in the Hospitality Industry

People with disabilities face many challenges when incorporating into the workforce, including the attitudes of their employers and coworkers. This study aimed to assess managers’ attitudes about people with disabilities in hotels and restaurants in the United States. Interviews and questionnaires were used for data collection. This study provides information for hospitality industry managers about attitudes towards employees with disabilities. Managers’ ages and years worked for the current organization had an effect on attitudes related to the importance of training people with disabilities.