Continual quality improvement is crucial to competitive success. A systems approach is vital in encompassing every segment of the hospitality organization in striving for service…
Abstract
Continual quality improvement is crucial to competitive success. A systems approach is vital in encompassing every segment of the hospitality organization in striving for service quality. The focus of this article is on employees as internal customers and the critical role this group plays in the delivery of quality results. The article will discuss the theoretical foundations for the concept of “internal customers.” Research will be reviewed that has linked service quality between internal and external customers. The necessity of integrating service to “internal customers” into an organization’s culture is also explained. Examples from leading hospitality companies are presented that reinforce the concept of “internal customer” from the pre‐hire stage to other career stages.
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Allan H. Church, Christopher T. Rotolo, Alyson Margulies, Matthew J. Del Giudice, Nicole M. Ginther, Rebecca Levine, Jennifer Novakoske and Michael D. Tuller
Organization development is focused on implementing a planned process of positive humanistic change in organizations through the use of social science theory, action research, and…
Abstract
Organization development is focused on implementing a planned process of positive humanistic change in organizations through the use of social science theory, action research, and data-based feedback methods. The role of personality in that change process, however, has historically been ignored or relegated to a limited set of interventions. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a conceptual overview of the linkages between personality and OD, discuss the current state of personality in the field including key trends in talent management, and offer a new multi-level framework for conceptualizing applications of personality for different types of OD efforts. The chapter concludes with implications for research and practice.
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This chapter presents a theory for developing an adaptive high commitment, high performance system of organizing, managing, and leading. It is a synthesis of my 50 years of action…
Abstract
This chapter presents a theory for developing an adaptive high commitment, high performance system of organizing, managing, and leading. It is a synthesis of my 50 years of action and field research presented in my books and articles. It operationalized and makes actionable the ideas of Lewin and systems theorists. Its features are three organizational outcomes that must be achieved simultaneously, features of the system that must be targeted for change, six silent barriers to change, a governance system for continuous learning, change in large complex systems, and elements of a system that needed to immunize it against ultimate destruction.
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Debra L Nelson and Bret L Simmons
This chapter proposes a more holistic approach to understanding work stress by incorporating eustress, the positive response to stressors. We begin by casting the study of…
Abstract
This chapter proposes a more holistic approach to understanding work stress by incorporating eustress, the positive response to stressors. We begin by casting the study of eustress as part of a contemporary movement in both psychology and organizational behavior that accentuates the positive aspects of human adaptation and functioning. We discuss the development of the concept of eustress, and provide extensive evidence, both psychological and physiological, for the purpose of developing an explicit construct definition. An exploratory study of hospital nurses is presented as an initial test of our holistic model of stress. We conclude by asserting that there must exist a complement to coping with distress such that rather than preventing or resolving the negative side of stress, individuals savor the positive side of stress.
Charlene K. Stokes, Debra Steele‐Johnson and Anupama Narayan
The purpose of this article is to address and gain a more complete understanding of the effects on performance attributable to the gender composition of teams.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to address and gain a more complete understanding of the effects on performance attributable to the gender composition of teams.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors examined gender as a team composition variable that influences performance on a computer‐based task, and we investigated task framing (masculine/feminine) and competition (isolated/dyad) as explanatory factors in the gender composition‐performance relationship. Whereas previous research combines matched gender dyads in analyses, we distinguished male/male from female/female dyads to isolate the effects on performance and examine competition effects.
Findings
Distinguishing between male/male and female/female dyads revealed only male/male dyads had superior performance. Task framing was not supported as an explanation for the observed performance differences, but competition was. Contrasting the gender effect in competitive conditions relative to isolated conditions revealed a gender difference in performance between competitive conditions only.
Research limitations/implications
Given competition's clear role in the gender composition‐performance relationship, a more rigorous examination and manipulation of competition is needed beyond the comparison of isolated and dyadic conditions.
Practical implications
Previous research suggests to organizations/practitioners that matching teams by gender will result in optimal performance. Based on our findings, such an implementation would be to the detriment of female teams in the organization, and associated legal issues could arise.
Originality/value
The authors found the superior performance of matched teams to be attributable to the matching of male/male teams and the associated competitive context, and not attributable to matched teams in general. The results should be considered as a caution for both the academic and applied domain alike.
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The following is an annotated list of materials dealing with information literacy including instruction in the use of information resources, research, and computer skills related…
Abstract
The following is an annotated list of materials dealing with information literacy including instruction in the use of information resources, research, and computer skills related to retrieving, using, and evaluating information. This review, the twentieth to be published in Reference Services Review, includes items in English published in 1993. A few are not annotated because the compiler could not obtain copies of them for this review.
Anupama Narayan and Debra Steele‐Johnson
The purpose of this article is to understand the role of individual and relational self‐concepts on various team processes and outcomes in a team context.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to understand the role of individual and relational self‐concepts on various team processes and outcomes in a team context.
Design/methodology/approach
Participants (n=470) worked in dyads on a computer‐based truck dispatching task, deciding as a team which task activities to perform and in what order. The authors assessed differential relationships between individual and relational self‐concepts and various team processes (e.g. trust) and outcomes (satisfaction).
Findings
Subjective task complexity was influenced primarily by individual self‐concept, specifically their core self‐evaluations. Trust in others was influenced primarily by individuals' relational self‐concepts, specifically their teamwork predisposition. Intrinsic motivation and satisfaction were influenced by both individual and relational self‐concepts.
Research limitations/implications
Future research should examine these effects in teams larger than dyads, with other types of tasks, over longer time periods, and with non‐college student samples.
Practical implications
Depending on the task type, a practitioner might cue different self‐concepts to increase individuals' focus on team performance, individual performance, or both. For example, if the team task is highly interdependent and reciprocal in nature, then the team can be trained together or provided information to cue relational self‐concept.
Originality/value
This paper focuses on the construct of individual and relational self‐concepts and their effects on individual functioning in a team context. The results support and extend prior research by demonstrating that outcomes in a team context can be identified and examined in relation to individual conceptions of the self, relational conceptions of the self, or by both.
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Please note that the Software Program entitled ‘MicroDisclosure’ mentioned in the ‘Microcomputer Software for Libraries: A Survey’ (Vol. 1, No. 4, October 1983, p. 277) by Dr…
Abstract
Please note that the Software Program entitled ‘MicroDisclosure’ mentioned in the ‘Microcomputer Software for Libraries: A Survey’ (Vol. 1, No. 4, October 1983, p. 277) by Dr. Jeanne M. Nolan was mistakenly attributed to Information Access. MicroDisclosure™ is actually produced by Disclosure Partners, 5161 River Road, Bethesda, Maryland 20816. Telephone: (301) 951–1300 for more information.
Keren Dali, Clarissa Vannier and Lindsay Douglass
Addressed to the audience of LIS educators at all levels, from full-time and adjunct faculty teaching in LIS programs, to librarians and library consultants delivering…
Abstract
Purpose
Addressed to the audience of LIS educators at all levels, from full-time and adjunct faculty teaching in LIS programs, to librarians and library consultants delivering professional development training, to practitioners who work with readers in all types of libraries, this article makes a case for replacing the term “readers' advisory” with the term “Reading Experience (RE) librarianship” as a designator of the current professional practice.
Design/methodology/approach
Using historical and discursive analysis based on the extensive literature review, this article argues that a number of factors call for the change in terminology: changes in the human factor (i.e., changes in readers and reading behavior; and changes in relationships between readers and librarians) and changes in the library environment (the rise of “experience” in libraries; a greater commitment to outreach and community engagement; and the fact that librarians are already practicing RE librarianship without recognizing it as such). It also examines the role of LIS educators in fostering and supporting RE librarianship.
Findings
On the one hand, the new terminology will be more reflective of the work that reader service librarians currently do, thus doing justice to a wide range of activities and expanded roles of librarians; on the other hand, it will serve as an imperative and a motivator to further transform reader services from in-house interactions with and programs for avid readers into a true community engagement, with much broader goals, scope and reach.
Originality/value
The article stands to coin a new professional term for the transformed library practice, thus recording a radical change in longstanding professional activities and encouraging new community-oriented thinking about the expanded role of librarians in promoting reading in diverse social environments.