Mentors: Helping Younger Managers up the Hospitality Ladder

Mentoring is a centuries-old concept. However, in the hospitality industry, with its fast pace and high pressures, mentors can be of benefit in the training of younger managers before burnout The author discusses both the problems and benefits of mentoring, and how the system can work in the industry

Effects of Management-Development Practices on Hospitality Management Graduates\u27 Job Satisfaction and Intention to Stay

Companies have long recognized the importance of training and developing their managers to prepare them for their short- and long-term careers. Formal management-development programs and other less formal means of management development abound in the hospitality industry. Therefore, one may ask whether the entry-level managers for whom these programs are designed perceive them to be effective. The present study explores management-development practices, procedures, and techniques, and their effects on job satisfaction and organizational commitmen

Korea as a Future Cruise Market: Investigating Koreans’ Perceptions of Cruise Ship Travel

This study examines Koreans’ perceptions of cruise ship travel to ascertain the potential for future development. The purpose of the study was to investigate how Koreans perceive cruise ship travel. An understanding of Koreans’ perceptions is essential for developing and determining the potential of the Korean cruise market. Using survey data, the study investigated Koreans’ knowledge level, willingness, and desired travel patterns regarding cruise ship travel. Findings from the study will assist educators and practitioners in enhancing their comprehension of Koreans’ perceptions and behaviors concerning cruise ship travel

Choosing a Compensation Strategy in the Hotel Industry: An Exploratory Study

One of the key human resource decisions made by any organization is the design of its compensation strategy. When choosing a compensation strategy, hospitality executives must make a variety of complex decisions that will ultimately impact a company’s recruitment and retention efforts, as well as the attainment of organizational goals. This exploratory study looks at the decision making patterns of hospitality executives as it comes to compensation

Stars, Diamonds, and Other Shiny Things: The Use of Expert and Consumer Feedback in the Hotel Industry

Over the past few years, researchers have studied the topic of online consumer feedback. Most of these studies focus on consumer decision making, and managing a hotel\u27s image.Consequently, more research could explore consumer-generated feedback from the viewpoint of hotel operations and service quality improvement. The present research explored the ways in which hotel General Managers use feedback from consumers (namely online), experts, and internal sources to improve service quality. A combination of a quantitative survey and qualitative interviews were utilized. The study targeted General Managers of upscale hotels.Quantitative data was analyzed using multiple and simple regression analysis, correlations, and ANOVA. Results demonstrate that General Managers pay unequal amounts of time and effort to evaluating the various types of feedback. Furthermore, there were also significant differences in the perceived reliability of each source. The present research discovered a strong link between customer satisfaction survey scores and online reviews, as reported by General Managers. The reviews of consumers and experts also displayed significant relationship

Expatriate General Manager Perceptions of Hotel Management in Jamaican Four and Five Star Properties-An Exploratory Study

With the increasing globalization of the hospitality industry, expatriate assignments have become a necessary undertaken. There is a competitive advantage to be gained through expatriate managers who can operate firms effectively. Most international hotel corporations still employ expatriates to help in professionalizing the hospitality services and management in the Caribbean. However, while studies have been conducted on expatriates management in various countries, research on expatriate management in a Caribbean context have been practically non-existent, with only one study attempting to look at the area. The intent of the present exploratory study therefore is to understand expatriate general managers’ perceptions of hotel management on the island of Jamaica. Face to face interviews were conducted with 9 expatriate general managers from four and five star hotels in Jamaica between May and June 2010. Preliminary results indicate that there are a myriad of human resources, organizational and operational factors that impact hotel management for expatriates. Factors such as flexibility, cultural appreciation, patience, fairness, respect and being funny were seen as important for expatriate success in Jamaica. Managers must therefore be aware of how these issues may impact on their ability to manage effectively and be successful in their international assignments

A study of the top executive conference centers in the United States and an examination of the corresponding corporate meetings market

Introduction: The United States today has become meeting-conscious. The complexity of conducting business has led to the need for sophisticated coordination of decision-making processes on all levels of the organization. Company meetings have played an increasingly important role in the success and future of many companies. Strategies and decisions are developed at meetings that can determine future policies of crucial importance. Executive training can mean the difference in whether the company will even survive. Large and growing companies have increased their off-premise meeting budgets annually in spite of the state of the economy. however, the rising costs of travel and lodging have made management monitor these budgets more closely than ever. Thus, the need to use every dollar efficiently has compelled companies to examine newer methods of running meetings and alternatives to the usage of typical off-premise meeting facilities. The importance of off-premise meetings in the United States economy has greatly increased due to the billions of dollars spent annually. These factors make it vital to explore the effectiveness of time and monetary expenditures. Up until the mid-1960\u27s, company meetings were held in facilities of various design and purpose, none of which were specifically designed for the small to medium corporate meeting. Upon gathering information concerning the meetings market and the corporate meeting planner, certain individuals endeavored to change the situation. This study is designed to investigate this new concept, which will hereafter be referred to as conference center. For the purpose of this study, the following two definitions will be used. 1. Conference center - that meeting facility primarily marketing its facilities for the small to medium-sized corporate meeting. The center is operated by specialists aware of market needs in as much detail as are those people working for the company involved. On-premise sleeping rooms are not mandatory provided such facilities are within easy access. 2. Meeting planner - that person within an organization who has primary responsibility for arranging off-premise meetings and all other related items necessary for meeting effectiveness. This person may spend anywhere from 10 to 100l of his time in this capacity. The conference center has effectively satisfied the need for specialized corporate meeting facilities. This study will show the depth of the corporate meetings market and trace the growth and development of this relatively new conference center concept. Information will also be compiled on the top centers in the country. It is hoped that by presenting this research meeting planners will become more aware of the nature and location of these centers, especially for use by the small to medium-sized company. Such exposure of the centers will hopefully increase existing demand and enable the construction of new, innovative centers

Anomalies on Orbifolds

We discuss the form of the chiral anomaly on an S1/Z2 orbifold with chiral boundary conditions. We find that the 4-divergence of the higher-dimensional current evaluated at a given point in the extra dimension is proportional to the probability of finding the chiral zero mode there. Nevertheless the anomaly, appropriately defined as the five dimensional divergence of the current, lives entirely on the orbifold fixed planes and is independent of the shape of the zero mode. Therefore long distance four dimensional anomaly cancellation ensures the consistency of the higher dimensional orbifold theory.Comment: 11 pages, latex, no figure

Heterogeneity of diabetes outcomes among asians and pacific islanders in the US: the diabetes study of northern california (DISTANCE).

ObjectiveEthnic minorities with diabetes typically have lower rates of cardiovascular outcomes and higher rates of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) compared with whites. Diabetes outcomes among Asian and Pacific Islander subgroups have not been disaggregated.Research design and methodsWe performed a prospective cohort study (1996-2006) of patients enrolled in the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Diabetes Registry. There were 64,211 diabetic patients, including whites (n = 40,286), blacks (n = 8,668), Latinos (n = 7,763), Filipinos (n = 3,572), Chinese (n = 1,823), Japanese (n = 951), Pacific Islanders (n = 593), and South Asians (n = 555), enrolled in the registry. We calculated incidence rates (means ± SD; 7.2 ± 3.3 years follow-up) and created Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for age, educational attainment, English proficiency, neighborhood deprivation, BMI, smoking, alcohol use, exercise, medication adherence, type and duration of diabetes, HbA(1c), hypertension, estimated glomerular filtration rate, albuminuria, and LDL cholesterol. Incidence of myocardial infarction (MI), congestive heart failure, stroke, ESRD, and lower-extremity amputation (LEA) were age and sex adjusted.ResultsPacific Islander women had the highest incidence of MI, whereas other ethnicities had significantly lower rates of MI than whites. Most nonwhite groups had higher rates of ESRD than whites. Asians had ~60% lower incidence of LEA compared with whites, African Americans, or Pacific Islanders. Incidence rates in Chinese, Japanese, and Filipinos were similar for most complications. For the three macrovascular complications, Pacific Islanders and South Asians had rates similar to whites.ConclusionsIncidence of complications varied dramatically among the Asian subgroups and highlights the value of a more nuanced ethnic stratification for public health surveillance and etiologic research