Business Commons^™

What Makes It So Great? An Analysis Of Human Resources Practices Among Fortune’S Best Companies To Work For, Timothy R. Hinkin, J. Bruce Tracey

Timothy R. Hinkin

Although few hospitality organizations are listed in the annual survey of Fortune magazine’s one hundred best companies to work for, an analysis of companies with similar operating challenges provides clear direction for hospitality and service companies’ human resource practices. This study examined twenty-one companies, including one food-service firm (Starbucks) and three hotel chains (Four Seasons, Kimpton, and Marriott). The remainder of the companies analyzed were grocery and health care organizations, both of which share human resources issues with the hospitality industry, such as long operating hours, relatively high turnover, and relatively low pay. The innovative human resources practices isolated in …

Contextual Factors And Cost Profiles Associated With Employee Turnover, J. Bruce Tracey, Timothy R. Hinkin

Timothy R. Hinkin

[Excerpt] Employee turnover has long plagued the hospitality industry. In the lodging segment, turnover rates have been shown to average about 60 percent annually for line-level employees (Woods, Heck, and Sciarini 1998) and about 25 percent for managerial positions (Smith Travel Research, Tracey, and Tews 2002). This concern is even greater in other hospitality contexts, such as quick-service restaurants, where mean employee turnover runs in excess of 120 percent. Employee turnover has been and continues to be a particularly prolific area of research, with many publications on the topic. Evidence suggests that turnover is triggered by dissatisfaction with such factors …

Continued Relevance Of “Factors Driving Meeting Effectiveness”, Timothy R. Hinkin, J. Bruce Tracey

Timothy R. Hinkin

[Excerpt] In 1997 we were approached by the directors of the International Association of Conference Centers (IACC) who asked us to conduct a study to determine whether conference centers were better than hotels for conducting meetings and similar activities (e.g., formal training programs). We told IACC that we could not do this type of research, but would instead try to identify the key property attributes that contribute to meeting or program effectiveness. The association agreed with this approach and provided funding for the project. The study coincided with the beginning of the substantial growth in the conference-center industry that continues …

“If You Don’T Hear From Me You Know You Are Doing Fine”: The Effects Of Management Nonresponse To Employee Performance, Timothy R. Hinkin, Chester A. Schriesheim

Timothy R. Hinkin

A study of 243 employees of two different hospitality organizations compared the effects of managers’ giving feedback with no comments at all (favorable or unfavorable). The study found that feedback, formally known as contingent reinforcement, improves performance even when that feedback involves negative or corrective comments. Echoing previous studies, this research found a positive relationship between contingent rewards and workers’ effectiveness and satisfaction. Moreover, contingent punishment also had a small positive relationship with effectiveness and satisfaction. Going beyond previous work, however, this study found that managers’ omission of any commentary on good performance has a direct, albeit moderate, negative relationship …

The Service Imperative: Factors Driving Meeting Effectiveness, Timothy R. Hinkin, J. Bruce Tracey

Timothy R. Hinkin

[Excerpt] American businesses spent over $100 billion in 1997 on business meetings, conferences, and training programs. To meet this demand, hotels and conference centers have made large investments in developing and enhancing meeting space. Competition for the meeting and convention business has tightened, particularly with the emergence of such markets as Las Vegas, Atlanta, and Orlando as viable alternatives to the traditional major-city locations. The meeting business is further pressed by technologies such as distance learning and interactive multimedia. In addition, customers are becoming more concerned with the effectiveness of meetings, and are taking steps to ensure that the money …

Appr Appeals Process Report: Panels, Alexander Colvin, Sally Klingel, Honore Johnson

Alexander Colvin

[Excerpt] This report describes the characteristics of joint panels and examines where they are being used in New York State to resolve APPR teacher evaluation disputes. The information presented here was gathered by analyzing the provisions of the APPR appeal procedures, which are publicly available on the New York State Department of Education website.

Hr Standards: An Australian Story, Chris Andrews, Richard Boddington, Neil Mccormick

Dr Chris Andrews

Extract: In this explanatory paper we describe the Australian Universities HR Standards Project, an initiative that ran from 2007 to 2011. Since the Project was completed there have been a number of initiatives in the HR standards space, each following different paths. With that in mind it is important to document the background to this project and the views of the authors on relevant issues, in particular the reasons for adopting the direction taken in formulating these HR standards.

Collective Failure: The Emergence, Consequences, And Management Of Errors In Teams, Bradford S. Bell, Steve W. J. Kozlowski

Bradford S Bell

The goal of the current chapter is to examine the emergence, consequences, and management of errors in teams. We begin by discussing the origin and emergence of errors in teams. We argue that errors in teams can originate at both the individual and collective level and suggest this distinction is important because it has implications for how errors propagate within a team. We then consider the paradoxical effects of errors on team performance and team learning. This discussion highlights the importance of error management in teams so that errors can prompt learning while at the same time mitigating their negative …

Work Groups And Teams In Organizations: Review Update, Steve W. J. Kozlowski, Bradford S. Bell

Bradford S Bell

This review chapter examines the literature on work team effectiveness. To begin, we consider their nature, define them, and identify four critical conceptual issues—context, workflow, levels, and time—that serve as review themes and discuss the multitude of forms that teams may assume. We then shift attention to the heart of the review, examining key aspects of the creation, development, operation, and management of work teams. To accomplish objectives of breadth and integration, we adopt a lifecycle perspective to organize the review. Topics involved in the team lifecycle include: (1) team composition; (2) team formation, socialization, and development; (3) …

The State Of The Art In Performance Management: Learnings From Discussions With Leading Organizations, Bradford S. Bell, Christopher J. Collins

Bradford S Bell

Performance management is one of the fundamental HR tools that has been part of organizational life for decades and has long been the backbone of other activities of the HR system (e.g., pay decisions, development plans). Despite the importance of performance management, it has historically been rated by employees, managers, and the HR function itself as one of the least effective and understood HR practices. Given the stagnation in academic research on the topic and discontent on the part of organizational stakeholders, we decided it was an opportune time to meet with leading companies to understand the state of the …

Rigor And Relevance, Bradford S. Bell

Bradford S Bell

[Excerpt] As the incoming editorial team, our goal is to build on this position of strength and to advance both the reputation and readership of the journal. One way in which we intend to do this is by staying true to the mission that has guided P-Psych since its inception, which is to publish rigorous psychological research centered around people at work. Over the years, this focused mission has enabled the journal to publish seminal articles in personnel selection (Barrick & Mount, 1991), person-organization fit (Schneider, 1987), organizational citizenship behavior (Organ & Ryan, 1995), and many other areas of industrial-organizational …

Three Conceptual Themes For Future Research On Teams, Bradford S. Bell

Bradford S Bell

[Excerpt] Tannenbaum, Mathieu, Salas, and Cohen (2011) identify three change themes – dynamic composition, technology/distance, and delayering/empowerment – that are affecting the nature of teams and discuss future research directions within each thematic area. They acknowledge that these emerging research needs may require new theories, research methods, and analyses and describe a few specific approaches that may hold promise, but focus their attention largely on describing the substantive issues and questions research should target going forward. We do not dispute that these themes are important – they are garnering substantial research attention (see Bell, 2007; Chen & Tesluk, in press; …

Team Learning: A Theoretical Integration And Review, Bradford S. Bell, Steve W. J. Kozlowski, Sabrina Blawath

Bradford S Bell

With the increasing emphasis on work teams as the primary architecture of organizational structure, scholars have begun to focus attention on team learning, the processes that support it, and the important outcomes that depend on it. Although the literature addressing learning in teams is broad, it is also messy and fraught with conceptual confusion. This chapter presents a theoretical integration and review. The goal is to organize theory and research on team learning, identify actionable frameworks and findings, and emphasize promising targets for future research. We emphasize three theoretical foci in our examination of team learning, treating it as multilevel …

Sustaining Library Faculty: The Elephant Is Big And Gray And Is In The Library, Valeria Long, Lynn Sheehan

valeria long

The Perversity Of Sexual-Harassment Law: Effects Of Recent Court Rulings, David Sherwyn, Michael C. Sturman, Zev J. Eigen, Michael Heise, Jenn Walwyn

Michael Heise

The outcome of 109 motions for summary judgment filed since June 1998, in which employers argued that a hostile-environment case should be dismissed because the employer satisfied, as a matter of law, the affirmative defense are analyzed. The examination of these cases provides the opportunity to test past conjecture and describe how courts have implemented the Ellerh and Faragher rulings. It is found that employers are still able to prevail in summary-judgment motions. With evidence showing that employers can satisfy the affirmative defense, each of the three areas that commentators have suggested should have prevented such success is examined. What …

Sticky It Workers: Discovering Why Information Technology Professionals Retain Their Employers, Phillip Michael Lewis

Mike Lewis D.Mgt.

In the current business climate and social technologies expansion era, Information Technology (IT) workers are important organization contributors that connect organizations into today’s data-driven, highly social, and always-on global economy. Thus, organizations need IT workers. Unfortunately, as a class, IT workers have developed a reputation that includes short organization tenures. However, not all IT workers suffer this stigma, some IT workers stick with one organization for a long time. Discovering why these Sticky IT workers retain their employers provides insights and direction for organization leaders and architects to help them shape their organizations into those that IT workers choose to …

Effects Of Ethical Leadership On Employee Performance In Uganda, P.A -. Obicci

Peter Adoko Obicci

This study investigated the effects of ethical leadership on employee performance in the public sector in Uganda. A target population of 160 employees was surveyed. A structured questionnaire was selfadministered to the employees to collect the data. Regression analysis and Pearson correlation coefficient were used to explain the nature of the relationship between ethical leadership and employee performance and the effects thereof. Results of the study reveal that employee performance is greatly influenced by ethical leadership. These have both policy and managerial policy which is discussed here. This study is limited by being cross-sectional in nature and considered only one …

Revolutionizing Workplace Culture Through Scanlon Gain Sharing, Dow Scott, Paul Davis

Dow Scott

No abstract provided.

Is There Merit In Merit Pay? A Survey Of Reward Professionals., Dow Scott, R. Somersan, B. Repsold

Dow Scott

No abstract provided.

Influence Of Extrinsic And Intrinsic Rewards On Employee Engagement (Empirical Study In Public Sector Of Uganda), Peter Adoko Obicci Esq.

Peter Adoko Obicci

Considerable attention has been given to the identification of key forms of reward and its linkage to employee engagement. For this purpose following study aims to uncover the influence of extrinsic and intrinsic rewards on employee engagement in the public sector of Uganda. A sample of 184 public sector employees was randomly selected and taken from Gulu district. A quantitative approach based survey in form of closed ended Five Point Likert-Scale questionnaire was designed and used to implore responses from participants. 184 questionnaires was distributed, 180 were returned, processed and only 176 were found usable. Data collected were then analyzed …