District Health Managers' Perceptions of Supervision in Malawi and Tanzania.

Mid-level cadres are being used to address human resource shortages in many African contexts, but insufficient and ineffective human resource management is compromising their performance. Supervision plays a key role in performance and motivation, but is frequently characterised by periodic inspection and control, rather than support and feedback to improve performance. This paper explores the perceptions of district health management teams in Tanzania and Malawi on their role as supervisors and on the challenges to effective supervision at the district level. This qualitative study took place as part of a broader project, "Health Systems Strengthening for Equity: The Power and Potential of Mid-Level Providers". Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 district health management team personnel in Malawi and 37 council health team members in Tanzania. The interviews covered a range of human resource management issues, including supervision and performance assessment, staff job descriptions and roles, motivation and working conditions. Participants displayed varying attitudes to the nature and purpose of the supervision process. Much of the discourse in Malawi centred on inspection and control, while interviewees in Tanzania were more likely to articulate a paradigm characterised by support and improvement. In both countries, facility level performance metrics dominated. The lack of competency-based indicators or clear standards to assess individual health worker performance were considered problematic. Shortages of staff, at both district and facility level, were described as a major impediment to carrying out regular supervisory visits. Other challenges included conflicting and multiple responsibilities of district health team staff and financial constraints. Supervision is a central component of effective human resource management. Policy level attention is crucial to ensure a systematic, structured process that is based on common understandings of the role and purpose of supervision. This is particularly important in a context where the majority of staff are mid-level cadres for whom regulation and guidelines may not be as formalised or well-developed as for traditional cadres, such as registered nurses and medical doctors. Supervision needs to be adequately resourced and supported in order to improve performance and retention at the district level

Identify the HR factors that affect employee turnover in MasterHouse restaurant.

For organisations that seek reduction in employee turnover, it is crucial to identify which specific factors have the greatest impact on the staff turnover rate of the organisation. Similarly, after identifying influencing factors, it is also very important to formulate HR processes and policies based on the actual situation of the organisation. The aim of this research is to identify the HR factors that affect employee turnover rate in MasterHouse restaurant. High employee turnover rate will affect the performance of the organisation’s employees and the decline of daily functions, it will also increase the cost of organisation recruitment on-boarding and training. The purpose of this research is to identify the specific factors that affect employee turnover in MasterHouse and develop a practical plan for MasterHouse restaurant to improve employee loyalty and reduce employee turnover through the organisation’s human resources processes and policies. This research will lead to an understanding of the factors affecting the turnover rate of MasterHouse through secondary research, then researchers will collect data through quantitative research, and develop a strategic plan for MasterHouse to reduce employee turnover. The researcher will use questionnaires to investigate the HR strategies of MasterHouse and employees’ views on MasterHouse current HR process and policies. This research will involve five factors that affect employee turnover rate: Long-term relationships, benchmark, work-life balance, talent management, rewards and motivation. The researcher then connected and compared survey results with information in the literature and developed a practical plan for MasterHouse to reduce employee turnover rate

Keeping profits in New Zealand

The tourism industry is the second biggest for New Zealand and is expected to regain the top spot if current, exponential growth continues. Online travel agencies (OTAs) such as those owned by Expedia Inc. and Booking Holdings Inc. facilitate this boom by encouraging travellers to visit beautiful locations, but are taking huge chunks of this income away from the local Gross-Domestic Product (GDP) in the commission they charge on every night of accommodation booked. One of the largest consumers of New Zealand’s tourism industry is Chinese nationals. This study looks at feasibility of a small player developing an app in a market full of large corporates that are dominating the playing field. The primary research used mixed methods and sought to reach 120 questionnaire respondents and 10 interview participants which uncovered thoughts on stakeholders on either side of the discussion, the China-based potential customers and the New Zealand-based accommodation providers. Preliminary results indicate that Chinese nationals are often likely to conduct thorough research when making decisions about international travel and a large portion are enthused about the prospect of regular international travel. Accommodation providers in New Zealand are rarely hesitant to support a local OTA as they are often frustrated with the poor service received from the large corporates. Developing an app that is based in China and attempts to market the New Zealand tourism industry will be a difficult proposition but is plausible with the implementation of a marketing plan that is strategically thought out

To find a better way of training and development for a small retail business in the health product industry

This research is aimed at finding out how to bring a better training and development process to a small retail business in the health product industry to increase the effectiveness of employees' performance. The study was carried out at Dekang Nutrition Ltd. Currently，it has set up three physical stores in Rototuna, Hamilton. Dekang also has a 300-square-metre warehouse and delivery centre at Te Rapa, and operates two sales platforms online. This research uses qualitative methods. The primary qualitative method that used is interview. The study found out that the type of training needed to be changed, as the current training system is not enough for employees to keep up with rapid changes in the external environment. It also provides an insight into the lack of systematic follow up. The study recommends Dekang to have a mentoring/buddy system for training and to develop an evaluation system for employees to have a clear idea of their own performance in a timely manner. Also, the study recommends that Dekang have a clear career pathway to help employees improve

Measuring level of satisfaction

Customers are the ones to judge their level of satisfaction. Now times have changed and organisations have realized the value of retaining customers. This project is about knowing the level of customer satisfaction in a dairy shop, Melville Price Cutter, situated at 17 Bader Street, Hamilton. The information was gained by doing a survey of 50 customers who came to the dairy. Results obtained from this survey showed that most of the customers visited the dairy twice a week. 35% of the surveyed people were visiting the shop twice a week. When asked why they visit the dairy for shopping, the majority answer was time and location. 40% of the customers thought going to the dairy was time saving or should be very quick. 30% used the dairy for shopping because of its location. Customers preferred the nearest location to shop at a dairy. The results showed that customers who came to the dairy were always in hurry. They did not have time to go to supermarkets, so they expected to get quick service from the dairy. Customer felt happy when they were served quickly and they did not have to be in a queue. They liked deals where they could take advantage of cheap prices

A business case for work-life balance in retail management.

Retail is one of New Zealand’s largest sectors, employing close to 200,000 people full-time, but with changes in competition and growth in the industry, the expectations of retail managers are increasing, along with their workload. This research looks at why work-life balance is unattainable for some retail managers. Looking wholly at the retail industry, not one specific organisation, the research aims to show the impacts on performance when work-life balance is not achieved and to provide strategies for businesses that encourage work-life balance in retail managers. Using both secondary and experiential research, this study highlights how poor work-life balance is directly linked to poor performance and what it is costing businesses that have no work-life balance initiatives in place. Provisional results show that work arrangements and lack of training are key reasons for work-life balance being difficult to maintain in retail management roles. The researcher shares two recommendations that will improve retail managers’ work-life balance; re-evaluating work arrangements to use rotational rostering and companies investing in the development of managers, through specific training available in New Zealand

Importance and impacts of visual merchandising for customers at The Warehouse

The benefits of visual merchandising have been well discussed in previous literature. For large retail service providers this topic is of special importance. Evidence of challenges for consumers to locate the product that they need has been observed in The Warehouse, Te Rapa. The purpose of this research report is to assess the importance of visual merchandising on customers’ purchasing behaviour at The Warehouse, Te Rapa. In addition, visual merchandising strategies to increase sales at The Warehouse are offered, based on the findings of this study. The primary data for this research project was gathered from 50 questionnaires, which were distributed among customers at The Warehouse, Te Rapa. Many different aspects of visual merchandising, including window displays of the store, floor merchandising, mannequin displays, signage and promotional banners, were reviewed. The results of this report suggest that there is a direct relationship between how the products are displayed and sales

“Can I use what I learnt at work?” Accounting education-practice gap

Approaching graduation, the first question for every student is “Will I be able to find a job?” If they find a job, the next question will properly be “Can I perform well at work” This research investigated whether students can use what they have learned when they start work, whether there is a gap, and what gap exists between accounting education and the requirements of practice. This study aims to identify the gap of expectation, skill obtained and skills required between student and practitioners’ point of view. This will provide information to students on what areas should they be paying attention to during study, and inform educators on where gaps exist, and brief employers on areas a graduate of accounting education may lack, so focused training can be provided. A questionnaire was designed using free survey tool Qualtrics. Questions were adapted from four different sources. The survey was sent to a Wintec CBITE accounting tutor. With their consent and permission, the survey link was posted onto a Moodle page to share with Wintec CBITE students. The researcher then collected data though Qualtrics. Analysis was done though Excel. A table was created for each question. Some answers were modified to match the literature’s format of presenting their result to show a fairer and equal comparison. The researcher received a total of 26 responses.,20 of which were from accounting major students. However, only 15 out of the 20 had completed the whole questionnaire. Comparison of the results gained from this study contrast with the literature. Conclusions and recommendations are still to be made