Transformational Leadership or Effective Managerial Practices?

A study was conducted to analyze B.M. Bass and B.J. Avolio\u27s concept of transformational leadership by comparing their Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) with the Managerial Practices Survey (MPS) of G.A. Yukl. The MPS advocated scales related to idealized influence, inspirational motivation, personal considerations and intellectual stimulation. On the other hand, the MPS supported four scales on managerial practices, namely clarifying, supporting, inspiring and team building. Results indicated differences between the constructs determined by the scales. Findings also showed that a composite determinant of transformational leadership supported a variance in leadership effectiveness ratings

Contextual Factors and Cost Profiles Associated with Employee Turnover

[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 as relationships with supervisors, job content, working conditions, and pay (Griffeth, Horn, and Gaertner 2000). While other factors may influence an individual\u27s decision to leave, such as the competitive conditions of the local market, it is clear that management has direct control over many of the most important drivers of employee turnover

Transformational Leadership in the Hospitality Industry

In recent years, the hospitality industry has undergone major changes both within the industry and in its operating environment. Researchers have posited that in an environment of change, as described above, a visionary, or leadership style, would be most appropriate. The study, reported here, compared the use of transformational leadership style with the more traditional transactional style, and examined the effects of transformational leadership on individual and organizational outcomes in a hotel management organization. Results suggest that transformational leadership both impacts perceptions of leadership effectiveness and subordinate satisfaction, and clarifies the direction and mission of the organization

An Analysis of Variance Approach to Content Validation

Although procedures for assessing content validity have been widely publicized for many years, Hinkin noted that there continue to be problems with the content validity of measures used in organizational research. Anderson and Gerbing, and Schriesheim, Powers, Scandura, Gardiner, and Lankau discussed the problems associated with typical content validity assessment and presented techniques that can be used to assess the empirical distinctiveness of a set of survey items. This article reviews these techniques and presents an analysis of variance procedure that can provide a higher degree of confidence in determining item integrity and scale content validity. The utility of this technique is demonstrated by using two samples and two different measures

The Service Imperative: Factors Driving Meeting Effectiveness

[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 invested in specific programs is well spent. Increased competition and more-demanding customers mean that careful consideration must be given to the facilities and services provided during meetings, conferences, and training programs. The purpose of the study discussed in this article is to identify the physical and service-related characteristics of properties that may have an important impact on program and meeting effectiveness. The results should enhance the understanding of the factors customers use to evaluate the quality of the products and services that are offered by hotels and conference centers, and provide guidance for redesigning facilities and revamping services

The Relevance of Charisma for Transformational Leadership in Stable Organizations

One of the primary dimensions of the multifactor leadership questionnaire (MLQ) developed by Bass and associates is idealized influence, or charisma. However, there has been very little empirical support for this dimension in a number of previous studies. We argue that this lack of support is due to the attributional nature of charisma and the situational impact on the existence of, or the need for, charismatic leadership. The current study supported this contention and provided a more parsimonious operationalization of the MLQ, which did not include the idealized influence dimension

Transformational Leaders in the Hospitality Industry

The classic metaphor of the manager as one who fights fires may need to be replaced by that of one who focuses on fire prevention

Scale Construction: Developing Reliable and Valid Measurement Instruments

The purpose of this paper is to describe the process for developing reliable and valid measurement instruments that can be used in any hospitality industry field research setting. Many instances exist in which the researcher cannot find an adequate or appropriate existing scale to measure an important construct. In these situations it is necessary to create a new scale. Failure to carefully develop a measurement instrument can result in invalid and unintegratable data. Hence, a systematic seven-step process is outlined here to assist researchers in devising usable scales. Examples from the authors’ own research are used to illustrate some of the steps in the proces

The Influence of Individual Characteristics and the Work Environment on Varying Levels of Training Outcomes

This study tested a model in which pretraining self-efficacy and motivation were hypothesized to mediate the relationship between job involvement, organizational commitment, perceptions of the work environment, and training reactions and knowledge acquisition. It also proposed hierarchical relationships between levels of training effectiveness criteria. A series of analyses demonstrated support for the model. Future research should incorporate a multilevel framework and consider the multidimensional nature of training outcomes

Risky Decision Making Assessed With the Gambling Task in Adults with HIV

Decision making was assessed using a laboratory gambling task in 67 adults with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV+) and in 19 HIV-seronegative (HIV−) control participants. Neurocognitive test performance across several domains was also analyzed to examine potential cognitive mechanisms of gambling task performance. As predicted, the HIV+ group performed worse on the gambling task, indicating greater risky decision making. Specifically, the HIV+ group selected more cards from the “risky” or disadvantageous deck that included relatively large payoffs but infrequent large penalties. The control group also selected such risky cards but quickly learned to avoid them. Exploratory analyses also indicated that in the HIV+ group, but not in the control group, gambling task performance was correlated with Stroop Interference performance and long delay free recall on the California Verbal Learning Test, suggesting the role of inhibitory processes and verbal memory in the poorer gambling task performance in HIV. These findings indicate the usefulness of the gambling task as a laboratory tool to examine risky decision making and cognition in the HIV population