Managing to Compete? Employment, Work and Labour Relations in the Hospitality Industry in New Zealand

<p>This thesis outlines the nature of human resource management in the Accommodation, Cafes, and Restaurants industrial sector in New Zealand in the late 1990s. Using data collected through postal surveys, interviews and analysis of employment contracts, the thesis utilises Gospel's (1992) analytical framework (which suggests that labour, employment and work are the key areas in which managers must make human resource decisions) to describe prevailing patterns of management occurring in the industry. It suggests that stereotypical conceptions about the nature and structure of employment within the industry do not reflect current day reality, and that deregulation of licensing laws, a rapid rate of growth and the nature of customer demand within the industry have had a significant impact on human resource related decisions. The thesis also attempts to uncover the rationales provided by managers for their employment related decisions. In doing so it finds that while some management decisions are clearly affected by market constraints, others appear on the face of things to be inconsistent with management's express view of their competitive strategy. This is explained with reference to Anthony Gidden's stratification theory of action to support the notion that managerial decision making is not a completely rational and market-related process, but that other factors, including ideology and manager's own conceptions of themselves as social actors, are influential in the decisions that are made.</p>

Managing to Compete? Employment, Work and Labour Relations in the Hospitality Industry in New Zealand

<p>This thesis outlines the nature of human resource management in the Accommodation, Cafes, and Restaurants industrial sector in New Zealand in the late 1990s. Using data collected through postal surveys, interviews and analysis of employment contracts, the thesis utilises Gospel's (1992) analytical framework (which suggests that labour, employment and work are the key areas in which managers must make human resource decisions) to describe prevailing patterns of management occurring in the industry. It suggests that stereotypical conceptions about the nature and structure of employment within the industry do not reflect current day reality, and that deregulation of licensing laws, a rapid rate of growth and the nature of customer demand within the industry have had a significant impact on human resource related decisions. The thesis also attempts to uncover the rationales provided by managers for their employment related decisions. In doing so it finds that while some management decisions are clearly affected by market constraints, others appear on the face of things to be inconsistent with management's express view of their competitive strategy. This is explained with reference to Anthony Gidden's stratification theory of action to support the notion that managerial decision making is not a completely rational and market-related process, but that other factors, including ideology and manager's own conceptions of themselves as social actors, are influential in the decisions that are made.</p>

Upward Ingratiation Outside the Workplace and Supervisor’s Human Resource Decisions: Moderating Effect of Zhongyong Thinking

Ingratiation is a common strategy for subordinates to deal with their supervisors in eastern and western societies. Based on the theory of impression management, this study focuses on the impact of upward ingratiation outside the workplace on supervisor’s human resource (HR) decisions in the Chinese context and the mechanism behind this impact. The data were collected from 252 supervisor-subordinate dyads in four manufacturing firms. The results demonstrate the following: first, supervisors hold a more favorable view of upward ingratiation outside the workplace; second, upward ingratiation outside the workplace has a positive effect on the supervisor’s chance of promotion and bonus allocation decisions, and leader-member exchange (LMX) plays a mediation role in this influence; third, Zhongyong thinking (ZYT) moderates the relationship between LMX and supervisor’s chance of promotion and bonus allocation decisions; and finally, ZYT moderates the indirect effect of ingratiation behavior outside the workplace on supervisor’s chance of promotion and bonus allocation decisions through LMX, and the mediated relationship is weakened when a supervisor has a higher level of ZYT. This is one of the first empirical studies, which examines the validity of subordinate’s upward ingratiation outside the workplace from the perspective of supervisor’s ZYT. This study plays an important role in highlighting the effect of ZYT on the ingratiation behavior.

A Psychological Competence Assessment System for Trade Business Professionals Based on Economic Performance Indicators

The high demand for businesses to objectively assess their employees in order to make human resource decisions and further business development faces the issue of a lack of reliable staff assessment methodologies and the difficulty of interpreting the resulting assessment reports for practical use. Despite the fact that the competence approach to the assessment of specialists has been repeatedly considered by both domestic and foreign scientists, there is still no systematic psychological research aimed at establishing a link between the level of competence development of trade business specialists and the quantitative-qualitative sales indicator. The study focused on 32 sales managers from two commercial organisations in Moscow. Empirical data was obtained via test methods ‘Short Reference Test’ (V. N. Buzin, E. F. Vanderlik), ‘Eysenck Personality Inventory’, abridged version (H. J. Eysenck, G. J. Wilson, K. J. Jackson), questionnaire ‘Fear of Success, Need Achievement, and Fear of Failure’ (A. A. Rean), ‘Self-assessment of manager’s business and personal qualities’ (F. Fiedler), ‘Verbal creativity’ (S. Mednik), biographical method. As a result of the conducted research the connection between the level of development of communicative, socio-perceptual and auto-psychological competences and the effectiveness of professional activity of sales managers, measured by the number of sales for a certain period of time, has been revealed. The results of this study can be used in recruitment as well as for targeted investment in staff development and training to improve competencies and the financial performance of the company.

Performance Appraisal Experiences and Its Implications on Human Resource Decisions in Decentralized Health Services in Shinyanga Region, Tanzania

The study investigated the Performance Appraisal Experiences and its Implications on Human Resource (HR) Decisions in the decentralized health service in Shinyanga Region, Tanzania. The region was selected because over different periods it revealed poor performance in health service delivery whose causes remained unfolded. An explanatory Survey research design with a mixed approach was employed, whereas the survey tool was used to collect data from 287 respondents. The findings revealed that even though the team performance is evaluated through the Quality Improvement Teams, the individual employee’s performance is ineffectively evaluated due to the ineffective use of the Open Performance, Review and Appraisal System (OPRAS). The ineffective use of OPRAS instrument is linked to several factors including the complexity of the instrument; inadequate availability of funds to implement the set targets; shortage of the human resources in the facilities making overwhelmed by the responsibilities; the OPRAS process being time-consuming and inadequate commitment on the use of the instrument. Thus, when the individual performance is ineffectively appraised, human resource decisions such as training and compensation for employees’ performance remain uninformed, hence affecting both their quality and human resource performance. It was thus, recommended inter alia, simplification of the OPRAS instrument and customization of it to suit the health sector settings, frequent provision of training on the application of OPRAS, and linking OPRAS results with the immediate rewards to enhance employees’ commitment to the instrument. Additionally, the establishment of the mechanism to enforce the use of OPRAS in assessing employees’ performance in health facilities and ensuring that the appraisal results are linked to the human resource decisions are of paramount importance for improving human resource decisions and for performance improvement in health facilities.

Risk and Discrimination

In the traditional Becker model of employer discrimination, discriminatory behavior arises from a utility-maximizing owner who balances firm profits against the disutility of hiring workers from the disadvantaged demographic group. However, in the modern firm, many human resource decisions are made by agents of the owner (managers) whose actions may not reflect the preferences of even profit-maximizing owners. We present a principal-agent model of discrimination with a profit-maximizing owner and a gender-discriminating manager and show that managerial discrimination is increasing with the degree of risk in the firm’s revenue stream. Empirical tests using a Colombian plant-level dataset support a prediction of our model that female workers should be under-represented in more revenue volatile firms and industries.

Predicting boredom-coping at work

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the dimensions of boredom-coping in the workplace and develop a linear equation capable of predicting a single individual's boredom-coping capacity. Design/methodology/approach – The research employs a mixed-methods approach and triangulates the identification of themes through, consultation with five industry experts, 23 individual interviews and 169 survey respondents. Findings – A linear composite that explains 41.4 percent of the variance in boredom-coping (r=0.66, p<0.001) was developed. The model was derived from four constructs identified from primary qualitative data. These were, personality traits (i.e. conscientiousness, openness, work ethic, and extraversion), attitude to challenge, trainable abilities (i.e. practical intelligence, foresight ability, and situational awareness), and group potency. Research limitations/implications – These findings provide research implications for the study of boredom-coping at work. Common-method artifacts are a potential limitation of the conclusions drawn. However, the mixed-methods approach, independent samples at each stage, and multiple data collection sites and times, supports the integrity of the findings discussed. Practical implications – The practical implications of this research includes providing strategies for human resource decisions associated with recruitment, selection, and front-line training interventions. The model indicates training may be targeted at different areas of the equation with markedly different impact and return depending on the timed nature of interventions. Originality/value – The findings support the development of approaches that may help to create a more engaged, productive, and well-adjusted workforce. The translation of the findings to the “bottom-line” is also significant.