Management Theory and Practice

Question: Write essay on management theory and practice. Answer: Introduction Ethics, leadership and decision-making are the three important pillars of any business that can set the reputation of any organisation as well as can increase the market (Raymond, 2014). These three characteristics are the most essential managerial perceptions that need to be observed properly to maintain the business in an appropriate manner. The ethics are the organisational principles that should be followed by every organisation to remain in a good term in the business while the leadership helps the organisations to lead in a right way. On the other hand, decision-making is the main process of any organisation to use the ethics, powers, moral imperatives etc. If these are not applied in any organisation then the company have to face many problems to keep their reputation the same. According to Campbell, (2014), it is noted that when an organisation has failed to incorporate any one of these three characteristics then the organisation has to face an ethical dilemma, which has ruin ed the reputation of the organisation very badly. Therefore, it can be said that the ethics, leadership and decision-making are the vital managerial responsibilities for business. The Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, Japanese automobile manufacturer, has faced an ethical dilemma due to breaching the organisational norms. The company has faced a dilemma of manipulating fuel economy tests for 625,000 cars that was recognised by the Japan government and Nissan group when a huge number of cars have failed to deliver the promised fuel consumption (Coombs, W Holladay, 2013). This has created a bad reputation to the customers of the organisations and has shaken the trust to the company. Managerial theory helps the organisations to develop a proper plan and to implement appropriate business strategies to lead the organisation in right direction to attain the desired profitability (Mseitif, 2014). The company,which has mentioned in this study, has faced the ethical dilemma due to not following the principles and CSR (Corporate Social Responsibilities) of the organisation that has failed to gain sustainability in the business. The organisation practices a diverse management system that is able to adapt the regular changes in the business but still the company has breached the norms of the ethical values and has failed into the controversy. Therefore, in the study the researcher is discussing about the ethical dilemma of Mitsubishi Motors Company and then has analysed the related theories and linked them with the company how it has used the leadership styles in their organisation. The ethical dilemma that the has faced in recent time was the controversy regarding the manipulation of the fuel economy data for the vehicles that they made (MIZUO, 2013). The company has continuously done the manipulation of the fuel economy data that was changed in the time of testing and then the false data were published for the cars. The company was doing this falsifying case for a long time and most of the cars from this company were failing to gain the customers trust and the other companies who were with them in the joint venture tie up. According to Zelenkova, (2013), the employees of Mitsubishi Motors has flattered the data of actual mileage rates during the test of fuel capacity and has presented the wrong data to the seller of the vehicles. This was completely an activity of breaching the customers with their false information about the products. They had used this trick to gain more profits and to increase their circle of business in the world with more joint ventures a ctivities with others. However, this was not the right thing to do for a company and therefore it was proven to lessen the shares of the company. As per the report, the falsifying of the fuel economic data by the company has affected almost 600,000 vehicles in Japan and the company has lost their 50% of shares. The Nissan Group, who were the joint partner of them, first noticed the issue of falsification of Mitsubishi Motors in manipulating data of the fuel tests. As opined by Heidl et al. (2014), the employees of the company was hiding the actual data of the fuel test and then the data that they were providing was a little higher than the true number. In the company, the fuel test is done in the process that was almost against the rules and laws of the Japan government. According to the law of the government, this was not the process of checking the fuel capacity of any vehicles or car (Caldararo, 2016). The company was checking the tyre pressure figures in the test of their own procedure where they can easily change the actual data of the test result. In later the president of the company has admitted that they have done the falsification deliberately to gain the high profit levels and with this false data, more than 600,000 cars were sold in the market of Japan. Among them almost 470,000 cars were for the Nissan Group that was faced problems and customers poor review. This has forced the Nissan Group to investigate the matter very minutely to find out the real problem regarding the vehicles that they can sort out their faults. In the time of investigation, they found the inconsistency in their vehicles mileage then they were able to understand the main problem that was continuously created by the Mitsubishi employees. Therefore, the controversy has lessen the rate of the companys share in the market of Japan and lost the reputation that they have acquired until then. The managerial ethics is the main foundation of every organisations ethics based on which all the activities of the companies are taken to implement the appropriate and actual rules and regulation for leading the company (Haskin, 2016). The ethical behaviours of any organisation are driven by the values and principles and it helps the organisations to develop their business policies and strategies for the future of the company. The ethics helps the organisational managerial to understand the right and wrong steps for the company as well as the good and bad things too. There are many ethical theories that help the management of the organisations to understand the ethical values and its importance in the workplaces to implement the business strategies and other policies to increase the business and to get the establishment in the market. Therefore, the researcher is discussing about two managerial ethics theories that can be used by Mitsubishi in their organisation to save their ethica l values in the time of giving service. According to Burke, (2016), is based on the concepts of the stakeholders point of view. The main emphasis of the theory is that any action should not take on considering only ones utility rather the theory refers to the managers to look beyond the self-interest and think about the profits of others too. As stated by Mayer et al. (2012), if the managerial of any organisation only thinks about a particular group of peoples benefit then it can harm the other people within the organisation. However, the organisation mainly affected by any action of the management then the consequences of that action has to be considered before taking the decision. It is argued by Zhang et al. (2013) who thinks that the theory is not focussing on any one perspective of the management. It is emphasising on the various approaches of an action rather focussing on the moral acts or ethical values and rules. The Utilitarianism theory of managerial is expressed in various ways. The theory can be interpreted in the way that there is no such morality or ethical rule that is said as appropriate. Therefore, the theory is mainly focussing on the actions of the management that they are taking the right or wrong steps in the organisation. In this case, the organisation has faced the ethical dilemma when they used the non-ethical decisions in their firm due to which the scandal has reached in the situation. If the management of the Mitsubishi Motor Corporation has applied this theory then they might have saved the situation to go this much worse. The management in the company has implemented the wrong strategies to gain the profit for the company by using the unethical decision. Apart from this, there is another ethical theory that can be helpful for the companies to set their ethical values and this will also help the management of the companies to know about their right decision making power. The theory is Justice based ethical theory that refers to the three main components upon which the managerial ethics are dependant. The three components are the equality, fairness and the impartiality. According to Schaubroeck et al. (2012), the first component of this theory is the equality, which refers to the equality of the management in taking any decision. In the time of taking any decision, the management have to be equal to all. Therefore, the management of any organisation has to take the decisions equally that it cannot create any controversy regarding the unequal decision that can be considered as unethical. Another component is referring the fairness of the management to the employees, which is the main basic of trust in an organisation. If the management always take every decision fairly and disclose all the information regarding any decision taken for the organisation to the employees then it will never be fail to gain the trust of the employees and will develop a good relationship between the employees and management. Apart from these two components, another one component is very important for any organisational management to increase their ethical business. The main base of the theory depends on a component that is impartiality (Hannah, Avolio Walumbwa, 2014). In any organisation if the management focus on the impartiality, then the organisational management will be automatically become ethical. In this case, the management of the Mitsubishi Company has not followed the three components of the theory. They did not follow the ethical value of equality and impartiality. In addition, they also ignored to become fair about their strategies that they have taken to gain more profit. They did it unethically and without following, any e thical values that can justify their action of falsifying the fuel test of the vehicles in Japan. The ethical values of the organizations have to be maintained by the management of the company otherwise the company will fall into the situations like the automobile company Mitsubishi Motor Corporation has fallen. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the management of every organisation to keep the ethical values and moral norms of the organisation to remain true to the customers as well as employees (Zelenkova, 2013). The managerial theory that is evaluated in the study above has mentioned the Utilitarianism theory of ethics and the Justice based ethical theory. These two are the theories that can describe the dos and donts for the management of an organisation to avoid the ethical dilemmas. As per the managerial theories every organisation has to abide by the rules and principles of the organisation that saves the organisational values and ethics. If there is no ethics of an organisation then their business cannot be trusted by the customers and the employees (Campbell, 2014). The main message of these two theories is the same that the companies have to maintain some features of managerial ethics such as the management have to be very clear to the employees and stakeholders to lead the business properly; they have to be conscious about the after effect of any action that they are taking on behalf of their business strategy; and in addition they have to be very conscious about their impartial actions and fairness to the stakeholders to gain the trust and dependence of their co-workers to lead the company towards high profit. This can be happened only with a good leadership approach that the automobile company of Japan, Mitsubishi Motor Corporation, lacked in. According to Caldararo, (2016), if the company has a good leadership approach and if the leader has acted with ethical values then the company has not to face this kind of ethical controversy. Therefore, it can be said that an ethical leaders can handle this kind of situations to stop running the company towards an ethical dilemma. The ethical leader or a moral leader can control these kinds of situation ethically without harming anyone while decision making. The Mitsubishi Motor Corporation lacks the ethical leader in their organisation to guide the employees from involving themselves in the ethical dilemma situation. As stated by Hannah, Avolio and Walumbwa, (2014), if the company has practiced a moral leadership approach then the employees cannot did this kind of falsifying activities with the stakeholders as well as the customers by manipulating the data only to increase their profit value. This has influenced the decision making procedure too that the leaders could not taken this type of unethical decision to attain the high profitability as it was strike them that the act was completely unethical (Jordan et al. 2013). Therefore, the management of the company should h ave been followed the ethical or moral leadership style to impalement the proper business strategies for the company ethically and to lead the employees and others as per the ethical norms of the organisation. Therefore, it can be said if the company has not implemented this unethical strategy in their company and has not hide the real data of fuel economy test then the vehicles had not faced this type of inconsistent service and has not received poor reviews from the customers. Moreover, the unethical way of the management has proved their lack in decision making power as well as their wrong leadership approach, which have to be revised to gain the previous reputation and trust of others to sustain in the market for a long time. According to Mayer et al., (2012), ethical leadership is related to directing the employees of the organization towards ethical standards so that they can maintain ethical belief in their work process. On the other hand, Jordan et al., (2013) opined that ethical leadership is highly concerned with protecting values and dignity of others from outside and inside of the organization. According to Schaubroeck et al., (2012) leaders can ensure that ethical decision has been met in the organization through keeping transparency in the decision and sharing it with all the stakeholders of the organization. On the other hand, Moore et al., (2014) opined that the leaders should establish ethical standard in the mind of the employees in such a way that they should not do any unethical activity in the work process that can hamper the trust of the customers. According to Kacmar et al., (2013), it has been found that the employees of Mitsubishi have falsified the tyre pressure of Nissan cars in term of mileage rates. On the other hand, Schaubroeck et al., (2012) opined that the employees had intentionally falsified the mileage information of the cars so that customers are highly motivated to buy the cars. This incident prominently shows the unethical behaviour of the employees. According to Mayer et al., (2012), in this case, the leaders were unable to take ethical decision and communicate it properly with the employees for keeping consistency in the organization. On the other hand, Kacmar et al., (2013) opined that the leaders of this organization has failed to show ethical behavior for influencing the employees and thus, ethical code of conduct has not been maintained thereby, became the joke due to inability of the leaders in living up their published code of conduct. According to Jordan et al., (2013), ethical leadership is beyond being a well person and it is related to make ethical standards in making decision about the organization. On the other hand, Moore et al., (2014) opined that in order to make ethical decision, the leaders of the organization should make ethics a consistent a clear part of the agenda of the organization. In case of decision-making, the leaders should set appropriate set of standards and model behavior so that every employees in the organization hold accountability towards their job role. When taking any major decision about the organization, the leaders should take the interest of the stakeholders and try to fulfill that interest with maintaining transparency with them. According to Kacmar et al., (2013), ethical leaders of the organization make an ethical culture within the organization so that the employees can perform according to the set ethical standards. On the other hand, Moore et al., (2014) opined that this kin d of culture help the employees in internalize the exact value of the organization and thereby, the employees do not perform any fraud activity in the organization that can make the customers disappointed. Apart from that, the ethical leaders also initiate high level of penalties and punishment in regards to the violation of the ethical standards by the employees a making any unethical decision in the organization. Conclusion In this study, the researcher has focused on the ethics, leadership and decision-making of the organisations and the importance of these three components in managing the ethical values of the organisations. It is found that the ethical values are very essential to keep in mind in the time of implementing new ideas and strategies for the company. Therefore, the management of the companies have to focus on the ethical value of the organisation while taking the decisions for the company. If the decisions will not be taken according to the managerial theoretical concepts then the management of the organisations have to face a huge ethical dilemma in business, which can damage their reputation in the market as well as ruin their loyalty to the customers and to their employees. The researcher has also discussed the ethical values and the importance of moralities in the organisations to maintain the goodwill of the company and it can be earned with good works and services. The study has dis closed that an appropriate leadership approach can avail this goodwill for the company. Therefore, it can be concluded that an organisation can lead their business activities without falling in any ethical dilemma with an appropriate leadership approach, which will be rich with moral leaders and good organisational management. Recommendations The case study of Mitsubishi Motors Corporation shows that the company has participated in unethical decision-making, which is influences by the leadership approach of the organization. According to Jordan et al., (2013), the leadership approach of an organization is solely responsible for monitoring the decision-making process performed by an organization. However, Kacmar et al., (2013) argued that it is not possible to monitor activities of every individual; employees. Therefore, the company should be transformational in terms of leadership approach. This leadership approach will help the organizations to maintain business sustainability. If managers of an organization put extra and unrealistic pressure on the employees, then the employee may adopt unethical activities for meeting the objectives (Heidl, Steensma Phelps, 2014). Therefore, it is highly important to be realistic while setting organizational goal. In this manner, the company would be able to maintain ethical business practices. Reference List Burke, R. J. (2016). The Healthy Organization: Reducing High-risk Individual Behavior and Organizational Toxicity.The Fulfilling Workplace: The Organization's Role in Achieving Individual and Organizational Health, 1. Caldararo, N. L. (2016). Ethics, Morals, Taxation, Stagnation, Bank Holidays, Financial Evolution and Central Bank Credit.Morals, Taxation, Stagnation, Bank Holidays, Financial Evolution and Central Bank Credit (May 17, 2016). Campbell, A. R. (2014).An examination of the factors influencing the decision to adopt alternative fuel vehicles(Doctoral dissertation, Amy Campbell). Coombs, W. T., Holladay, S. J. (2013).It's not just PR: Public relations in society. John Wiley Sons. Hannah, S. T., Avolio, B. J., Walumbwa, F. O. (2014). Addendum to Relationships between authentic leadership, moral courage, and ethical and pro-social behaviors.Business Ethics Quarterly,24(02), 277-279. Haskin, J. M. (2016).When All Roads Lead to the Standoff: How Corporate Governance Fuels White Supremacy. Algora Publishing. Heidl, R. A., Steensma, H. K., Phelps, C. (2014). Divisive faultlines and the unplanned dissolutions of multipartner alliances.Organization Science,25(5), 1351-1371. Jordan, J., Brown, M. E., Trevio, L. K., Finkelstein, S. (2013). Someone to look up to executivefollower ethical reasoning and perceptions of ethical leadership.Journal of Management,39(3), 660-683. Kacmar, K. M., Andrews, M. C., Harris, K. J., Tepper, B. J. (2013). Ethical leadership and subordinate outcomes: The mediating role of organizational politics and the moderating role of political skill.Journal of Business Ethics,115(1), 33-44. Mayer, D. M., Aquino, K., Greenbaum, R. L., Kuenzi, M. (2012). Who displays ethical leadership, and why does it matter? An examination of antecedents and consequences of ethical leadership.Academy of Management Journal,55(1), 151-171. Mayer, D.M., Aquino, K., Greenbaum, R.L. and Kuenzi, M., (2012). Who displays ethical leadership, and why does it matter? An examination of antecedents and consequences of ethical leadership.Academy of Management Journal,55(1), pp.151-171. MIZUO, J. (2013). Changes in Business Ethics during Lost Two Decades and Prospects for the Future in Japan: From a View Point of Business Ethics, Compliance, Corporate Governance, and Global CSR.Moore, C., Mayer, D. M., Chiang, F. F., Crossley, C. D., Karlesky, M. J., Birtch, T. A. (2014). Leaders Matter Morally: The Role of Ethical Leadership in Shaping Employee Moral Cognition and Misconduct.Available at SSRN 2574219. Mseitif, J. L. (2014).Boeing's Behavior in a Liberalized Marketplace: The 787 Dreamliner Project and Impact on Puget Sound Workers(Doctoral dissertation). Raymond, A. (2014). The Dilemma of Private Justice Systems: Big Data Sources, the Cloud and Predictive Analytics.Northwestern Journal of International Law Business, Forthcoming. Schaubroeck, J. M., Hannah, S. T., Avolio, B. J., Kozlowski, S. W., Lord, R. G., Trevio, L. K., ... Peng, A. C. (2012). Embedding ethical leadership within and across organization levels.Academy of Management Journal,55(5), 1053-1078. Schaubroeck, J. M., Hannah, S. T., Avolio, B. J., Kozlowski, S. W., Lord, R. G., Trevio, L. K., ... Peng, A. C. (2012). Embedding ethical leadership within and across organization levels.Academy of Management Journal,55(5), 1053-1078. Zelenkova, N. (2013).What are the Motives for Owning an Electrical Car for an Individual in Oslo?(Doctoral dissertation, University of Oslo). Zhang, X., Walumbwa, F. O., Aryee, S., Chen, Z. X. G. (2013). RETRACTED: Ethical leadership, employee citizenship and work withdrawal behaviors: Examining mediating and moderating processes.The Leadership Quarterly,24(1), 284-297.

Publix Case free essay sample

This list of items changes from region to region and even from store to store. The items on the theft-prone list are locked up for safe keeping. It is essential that Publix continue to take the necessary actions to prevent the likelihood of theft. While a company cannot prevent all attempts of theft, it can certainly do its due diligence to ensure that the number of cases of theft is minimized. Additionally, Publix employees play a major role in reducing the amount of legal costs the company incurs. All employees are expected to work to ensure store safety on a consistent basis. By being proactive with these types of training programs and locking away commonly stolen merchandise, Publix is lessening the amount of time and money it spends on legal issues. Economic Factors With the recent downturn in the economy, many customers are now looking for the lowest price retailer to purchase from. We will write a custom essay sample on Publix Case or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Publix has built its brand based mostly on the quality of products and the shopping experience, not the lowest price. Retailers that consumers generally equate to low prices include Wal-Mart and bulk buying retailers like Costco and Sams Club. With that in mind, in times like these, Publix seems to be at a major disadvantage. Publix understands that there is strong competition in the supermarket industry(Weinstein, pg 272). Publix, like many other grocery chains, is having a difficult time competing with low cost supercenters. Even in a recession, the average American consumer is still spending a large portion of their income on food. Although U. S. food spending is on the rise, supermarkets are not capturing their fair share (Weinstein, pg 274). Consequently, Publix has to now change the consumer focus on price to one of value. Publixs goal is to make every customer feel personally valued in such a way that they see themselves as one in a million(Weinstein, pg 269). If Publix is able to continue to differentiate its products value for the consumer, it may be able to convert the supercenter shopper into a loyal customer. Social/ Cultural Factors At Publix, everything revolves around pleasing the customer, which is why it has enjoyed much of the success it has had since the 1930s(Weinstein, pg 269). Superior customer value and quality of products are cornerstones in the Publix culture. Publix depends on the fact that a more educated consumer is willing to pay a slightly higher price for great service. The average Publix customer is well-educated and lives within a 5 mile radius of the store in which they shop. Publix understands that it is far easier to maintain a current customer than to attract a new one. Thus, Publix associates are [also] encouraged to use their daily observations, customer feedback, survey evaluation, and other data to improve their jobs, better serve their customers, and make Publix a better place where shopping is a pleasure'(Weinstein, pg 280). Technological Factors An industry study revealed that by 2007, about 20 million households in the United States will purchase groceries, food, and other household items online†¦However, to date, none of the major grocery chains have mastered the online arena(Weinstein, pg 281). Publix is working towards how to profitably master implementing the technological processes that its customer is demanding. In an attempt to enter the online grocery market, Publix launched PublixDirect in 2001. This service came to an end in 2003 despite all the proper planning that went into its conception. It is imperative that Publix finds a way to control its costs in an effort to compete with the few successful online grocers that currently dominate the market.

Toni Cade Bambaras The Lesson Essays - The Lesson, Toni Cade Bambara

Toni Cade Bambara's The Lesson Essay on The Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara Toni Cade Bambara's The Lesson is a very well written piece of history. This is a story from yesterday, when Harlem children didn't have good education or the money to spring for it. Bambara's tale tells about a little girl who doesn't really know how to take it when a good teacher finally does come along. This girl's whole life is within the poverty stricken area and she doesn't see why she must try hard. The teacher, Miss Moore, shows them what it is all about by taking them to a rich toy store, one in which a single toy costs more than year's supply of food. We immediately learn that Miss Moore is not the average Harlem teacher. She is educated herself, along with being very opinionated. The children explain that she has nappy hair and no makeup, probably signifying that she was a part of the African American movement. Miss Moore was more than arithmetic and spelling. She attempted to teach the children about life and politics as well. In a way the children were innocent before Mi ss Moore came along. They thought that everyone else old, stupid, young, or foolish- while the children were perfect. Miss Moore showed them what they truly were- and why education was so important. The first thing learned is that poverty is a way of life for these children. Although they know they are poor, it doesn't bother them because everyone there is poor. It's okay to be without when there isn't any competition. An example of this is seen when the children talk of their study areas at home. Only one of them actually have a desk and paper, and the others think nothing of it. Instead they tell her to shut up about it. The children are proud of themselves and of their life. Miss Moore finally leads the kids to the toy store. The are immediately dazzled by the toys in the windows; even declaring which ones they were gonna buy. The children seemed to know they couldn't afford the toys, but they didn't think they would be off by much. The once brave and proud and strong children we re hobbled at the door, none of which wanting to go in first. Here is the point where they get slapped in the face. Here is where they first see that they do not belong here. Eventually one of them pushes through the crowd and throws herself into the gallery of toys. They go around gazing at the different objects. Miss Moore drives the point home by leading them to the fact that one toy costs as much as their family eats in a year. In the end they feel like fighting for more than they have. One thing that pulls the reader deeply into the story is the narration. It is told through the eye's of a little Harlem girl. She thinks she is tough and mean but the reader sees she is not by reading between the lines. The best part of the narration is the voice. The lines that are read are in the dialect of the girl. This gives the voice a poetic rhythm that keeps the story flowing. With out slang the story would lose a lot of it's heart. Theater Essays

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Breast feeding is better than the bottle Research Paper

Breast feeding is better than the bottle - Research Paper Example According to Sears (2003), breast-feed can be said to be better than bottle feed. Sudden infant death syndrome is a disease that is more preventable if the baby is given a proper breast feeding because of the proper proportions of nutrients in the milk of the mother (Small, 2004). Some of the babies who are given bottle feeding at an early age in their childhood are prone to diseases. Their mind may lack proper iron that comes from breast milk. More broadly, breast milk contains chemicals that fight infections and gives the child a strong immune system. Some parents are advised to give breast feeding as it is a better way of ensuring you lose body weight (Rathus, 2013). Therefore, breast-feeding has been recommended as it is the source giving a child body prevention against diseases, infections and diseases that make attack the baby at old age. Most of the medical institutions do advice expectant to ensure they exercise breastfeeding for their children. For the first few months after giving birth, they need to give breast feeding as it is very essential. According to Douglas (2006), the breast-feed milk contains all the necessary food for the baby. After like a year, then parents can give the child bottle feeding but is not as healthy as the breast milk. Therefore, it is clear that breast milk is the best feeding for a baby as it contains all the necessary nutrients, and it is not

Post Washington Consensus Consensus Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

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Many companies are interested in studying, evaluating and implementing strategies that aim at improving both internal and external customer retention. Internal Service Quality in Mauritius is starting to emerge in the fast expanding economy in order to add a competitive edge to both our public and private sector. In the tourism sector, hotels are starting to apply Internal Service Quality. In this competitive environment, organisations believe that they have to maintain the quality of products to sustain, survive, leading the market and achieving the competitive advantage which depends on organisational valuable assets, that is, employees. The quality of the services or products can be judged by its customers perceptions and expectations about that services or products (Parasuraman et al.1991). External customer loyalty and satisfaction strongly depends on internal customers. Employees satisfaction is directly related to superior services. The strong relationship between an organisation and an employee leads to a real improvement in the services provided to customers (Scheinder and Bowen, 1995) 1.1 Background of Tourism Sector in Mauritius The hotel sector, being an important pillar in the Mauritian economy has to provide first class service to their clients in order to maintain level of competition with other reputed touristic venues across the world. Since 2005, the tourism sector has averaged a growth of approximately 5 % (www.gov.mu) from arrival of tourist in Mauritius. This growth is encouraging but at the other end other sectors, such as the textile or sugar industry sector has gone on decline following open trade treaty in 2005. As a result of that, our economy is dependent on the Tourism Sector and in order to attract more tourists to Mauritius, the Internal Service Quality must be enhanced to improve our service to clients in hotels. Legends Hotel provides Internal Service Quality since year 2002. Internal service quality forms part of the Human Resource strategies to attract and retain both internal and external customers. One among many strategic examples at Legends Hotel, employees are empowered with more training and development programs so that they can better handle customers queries. 1.2 Problem Definition At Legends, Internal Service Quality has been more or less beneficial to the company as a whole. However, some key areas within the business still need consideration. First and foremost, communications within different departments and teamwork among employees are not that effective. There are always complaints about employees not cooperating while performing their job or information is not well communicated. Effective communication within a business is considered as a vital tool in the day to day management of an organisation and improper communication can lead to decline in the performance both in terms of customer satisfaction and in managerial perspective as a whole. Moreover, remuneration is another important factor that affects the performance of employees. The latter consider that they could get better remuneration for similar work performed elsewhere. Hence attitude and behaviour towards providing dedicated service to clients and the organisation are somewhat affected. And since a fierce competition exists among hotels in Mauritius, it is very important for management to provide good internal service quality for survival of the organisation as it has a direct impact on profitability and customer loyalty. 1.3 Aims and Objectives: The effectiveness of Human Resources Practises in delivering Internal Service Quality. The effectiveness of the SERVQUAL Model using Internal Service Quality battery. To provide an insight into the process of improving Internal Service Quality. 1.4 Outline of Chapters Chapter 1: Introduction It provides a general outline of the project, with the different sections included and the objectives of the study. Chapter 2: Legends Hotel This chapter consists of a brief overview of the company and the structure of the organization. Chapter 3: Literature Review This chapter consists of the different theories used in the dissertation together with background study of the subject. Chapter 4: Methodology and Research This chapter includes the hypothesis of the study as well as sampling and questionnaire design utilized during the project survey. Chapter 5: Results and Analysis This chapter comprises of the analysis of data obtained during the questionnaire survey followed by discussion on the results obtain. Again, appropriate statistical tools, such as the SPSS technique was used for the analysis of results. Chapter 6: Conclusion and Recommendations It deals with the conclusion of the main findings and based on them, it puts forward some recommendations in order to have an effective Internal Service Quality. 2.0 legends hotel 2.1 Company Overview Legends Hotel, set up in 2002, is a 5 star hotel located at Grand Gaube and it consists of 198 rooms. It forms part of the Naiade Group which owns hotels like Le Tropical, Les Pavillons, Beau Rivage, Merville Beach, Ile des Deux Cocos, Tamassa, Hotel Le Recif (Reunion Island), Grand Hotel du Lagon (Reunion Island) and Dive in Maldives. The five core values at Naiade are Guests, People, Leadership, Responsibility and Excellence. Guests are to be put at the forefront of everything, People are the employees who are provided with opportunities to grow within the business, Leadership is about fast management reaction to secure maximum advantage of changes, Responsibilities to recognize and honour investments of shareholders and Excellence is about building competitive edge on superior innovation and customer responsiveness. Naiades vision is to be an international hotel group offering wide range of product in all market segments of leisure in the hospitality industry. It wants to be recognized as the business community leader, continuously improving share holder value and welfare of staff whilst fulfilling corporate social responsibility. The purpose of Legends is to help people enjoy good times together, to celebrate life. The five beliefs at Legends are consideration for people, serving with passion, insistence on integrity, responsibility of leadership and entertaining with creativity. If we quote the Mission Statement of Legends Hotel, it can be seen that they view customer satisfaction in different perspective. Mission Statement: we are unforgettable, passionate team committed to provide outstanding personalised service through our unique concept of fengshui, the art of living in harmony Employees are provided with several benefits such as pension plan, medical cover, naiade home loan scheme, discretionary bonus, hotel stays at preferential rates, Naiade fun day, kids and team member party and star team member of the month and year. 2.2 Organisation Structure Legends Hotel is administered by a General Manager and a Resident Manager, who are responsible for the day to day management of the affairs of the organisation. Legends Hotel is structured with several departments, each headed by a Head of Department. These departments are then sub-divided into a number of divisions which are each under the direct responsibility of a Supervisor. The different departments as well as the divisions are illustrated hereunder. For ease of understanding each department constituting the hotel has been illustrated in the diagram. As far as Internal Service quality is concerned, it is directly related to the Human Resource Department which is constituted of the HR Manager, the Personnel Manager, Assistant HR Manager and HR coordinator in the frontline of this department. The table below shows the number of staffs per department at The Legends Hotel. Table 2.1: No. of Employees at Legends Hotel S/No Department No. of Employees (Population) 1 Human Resource 5 2 Kitchen 77 3 Spa 15 4 Entertainment 18 5 Food Restaurant 125 6 Front Office 20 7 Security 30 8 Finance 15 9 Housekeeping 118 10 Quality and Events 2 11 Maintenance 25 Source: Human Resource Management Department, Legends Hotel Figure 2.1: Structure of Functional Organization Chart Assistant HR Manager NAIADE BOARD OF DIRECTORS LEGENDS GENERAL MANAGER LEGENDS RESIDENTMANAGER HOUSEKEEPING DEPARTMENT- Linen Laundry and Floor Valet Front Office Department reception, guest relation officer quality and events department food and beverages department- Restaurant, room service, bar Beach Entertainment department Kitchen department pastry, main kitchen, stewarding spa department maintenance department security department finance department Human Resource department HR MANAGER HR Coordinator Personnel Manager Source: Human Resource Management Department, Legends Hotel 3.0 Literature review 3.1 What is Internal Service Quality? Quality is defined in ISO 9000:2000 as the degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfils requirements. Degree means that quality can be used with adjectives such as poor, good and excellent. Inherent is defined as existing in something, especially permanent characteristics. Characteristics can be quantitative or qualitative. Requirement is a need or expectation that is stated; generally implied by the organisation, its customers both internal and external and other interested parties. Internal service quality is measured by the feelings that employees have towards their jobs, colleagues and companies. It points to the ability and authority of service workers to achieve results for customers. Internal quality is also characterised by the attitudes that people serve each other inside the organisation (David, 1988) According to Grà ¶nroos (1988), service quality is commonly defined as a discrepancy between the service quality that is delivered by the organization and the service performance that employees expect. Conceptually, service quality is defined as global judgment or attitude relating to the overall excellence or superiority of the service (Parasuraman et al., 1988). 3.2 Importance of Internal Service Quality Delivering quality service is considered to be an important strategy for success in todays competitive environment. Since the 90s many service companies have pursued to enhance their performance and effectiveness in search of achieving differentiation in the market. An example of that is the attempt to convince customers that their quality is superior to the competitors. In addition, the importance of service sector has sharply increased in both developed and developing countries. The Service Profit Chain establishes relationships between profitability, customer loyalty and employee satisfaction, loyalty and productivity. Profit and growth are stimulated primarily by customer loyalty. Loyalty is a direct result of customer satisfaction. Satisfaction is largely influenced by the value of services provided to customers. Value is created by satisfied, loyal and productive employees. Employee satisfaction results primarily from high quality support services and policies that enable employees to deliver results to customers. This is demonstrated in the diagram below. Figure 3.1: The Links in the Service-Profit Chain Source: Putting the Service-Profit Chain to Work (James L. Heskett et al., 1994) Employee Satisfaction is the individual employees general attitude towards the job. It is also an employees cognitive and affective evaluation of his or her job. It is an important factor in determining service quality (Zeithaml et al., 1990). Satisfied employees are more committed to continuous improvement and quality, thus they are also more committed to delivering quality service. Employee Retention involves taking measures to encourage employees to remain in the organization for the maximum period of time. Employee loyalty is synonymous with achieving a balance that brings feelings of connection along with a commitment to produce. Ultimately, loyal employees can bring some big benefits. Economists define employee productivity as the output per worker or output per hour. With the increase in part-time employment and temporary and contract workers, many businesses use hours worked rather than output per worker to measure productivity. External Service Value- Value is a function not only of costs to the customer but also of the results achieved for the customer. It is based both on perceptions of the way a service is delivered and on initial customer expectation. Customer Satisfaction is the degree to which customer expectations of a product or service are met or exceeded. Corporate and individual customers may have widely differing reasons for purchasing a product or service and therefore any measurement of satisfaction will need to be able to take into account such differences (Pugh et al, 2002) Customer Loyalty is used to describe the behaviour of repeat customers, as well as those that offer good ratings, reviews, or testimonials. Some customers do a particular company a great service by offering favourable word of mouth publicity regarding a product, telling friends and family, thus adding them to the number of loyal customers (Gursoy and Swanger, 2007) 3.3 Internal Service Quality in Tourism Sector In tourism sector, delivering quality across tangibles and intangibles elements represented a departure from conventional manufacturing oriented approaches to Total Quality Management At the heart of Quality Service is the difficulty in ensuring consistency due to the variability of human element. Lewis (2000) argues that As the 21st century unfolds, it is clear that people accept that service will play an increasingly important part in the economy. Customer perception of service delivery will be imperative and will shape the choice of service provider (Norma Dannunzio-Green et al., 2005) In the age of service competition, the customer comes first. Such is the power of customers that the term service management is increasingly used to emphasised management imperatives in this age of service competition and market forces. Managing quality is an integral part of service management and internal development of personnel and reinforcement of its commitment to competitive goals and strategies are strategic prerequisites for success. Does quality pay? This is one of the key contemporary issues that attract attention from practitioners. The role of quality in the overall performance of service business starts right from strategic level down to the implementation details. Improved service quality and customer satisfaction lead to higher productivity, increased loyalty, lower transaction cost and customer retention. It is popularly believed that better service leads to improved performance for a service firm. Today service organizations are concerned in the delivery of quality service and the building of loyalty among employees and customers. If employees are not happy with the work, they are more readily to quit their jobs than satisfied employees. Researchers have found that satisfied employees are more likely to improve their job performance (Judge et al., 2001), be creative and cooperate with others because satisfaction is the inner force that drives employee behaviour. Previous studies have suggested that loyal employees are more willing and capable of delivering a higher level of service quality. According to Schneider and Bowen (1985; 1993) the efforts to promote service quality must be based on managing employee behaviours and training them in interpersonal skills in order to exhibit a true customer focus. Bitner et al. (1990) observed that in service encounters, employee behaviour will impact on the customer perceptions of service quality. Zeithaml et al. (1990) argue that employ ees who are not suited to their jobs will not be able to deliver quality service (Ramseook, P. et al., 2010) 3.4 Measuring Internal Service Quality Measuring the quality of internal services is relevant since an external-customer support requires internal systems aligned with external customer expectations, including each internal subsystems adding value to others systems within the organization (Gilbert, 2000). Since years ago, researchers (Reynoso and Moores, 1995; Caruana and Pitt, 1997) have pointed out that there is a positive correlation between internal service quality, business performance and services delivered to customers, motivating some efforts to measure internal service quality by applying the SERVQUAL instrument. (Miguel Cauchick et al., 2006) SERVQUAL is the most widely utilized tool for measuring service quality (Parasuraman et al., 1988; 1994; Sureshchandar et al., 2001; Chiu, 2002) and its application continues to increase in different service setting such as banks, hospitality industry, health sector, education and travel and tourism. The five dimensions of SERVQUAL are as follows: Tangibles (physical facilities, equipment, and appearance of personnel) Reliability (ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately) Responsiveness (willingness to help customers and provide prompt service) Assurance (knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust and confidence) Empathy (caring, individualized attention the firm provides its customers). The present investigation can also be considered an attempt to use it for measuring internal-service quality, which is the service provided by Legends Hotel. 3.5 HR Implications on Internal Service Quality Human Resource Management can be essentially seen as an employee centred approach to management, although there is lots of definition of the term. Its an essential part of every managers responsibilities, but many organizations find it advantageous to establish a specialist division to provide an expert service dedicated to ensuring that the human resource function is performed efficiently. To the modern management theory, the employee satisfaction is considered one of the most important drivers of quality, customer satisfaction and productivity. Success of any organization depends on its valuable human resource. Achieving service quality through valuable human resource strongly depends upon the organizational culture and working environment. To deal with the attitude and behaviour of the human resource, HRM best practices and quality principles play an important role to motivate, train, develop, retain and satisfy their valuable human resource. When the internal customers are not satisfied with the practices of the management, they not only are unlikely to continue their service but also to share their unfavourable service experiences to others resulting in decreased motivations and financial performance of organization. Globalization has augmented competitive pressures to help improve the quality of services provided by the tourism sector. There is the need to enforce compliance with internal services quality regarding human resource management as many researchers are of the view that the whole development in the organization is due to the potential human resource, it is therefore call of the time to the employee in the centre of development of all process to enhance the sense of ownership and hidden assets for the effective employee job satisfaction. Berry (1994) found that a several beneficial organizations competed by hiring, rewarding, training and retraining a frequent error that organization made was to look at human resources skills and knowledge development as an experience which they had acquired during their working with the organization rather than a continuing process. He further added that, even if employees received training, it was either deficient, not on time, or not the actual type of training they needed or rather it was in general not specific.(Khan,2010) It was found that that human resource management practices as actual, tangible practices were designed to develop commitment. Along with a variety of human resource management practices, it had been found that rewards and recognition had a greater influence on the organizational commitment found relationships between specific practices, such as performance evaluation, promotion policies, compensation, and benefits, and affective commitment. (Ogilvie, 1986) Moreover employee satisfaction was considered to be one of the most important drivers of quality of services, customer satisfaction and productivity. In his study he investigated an important driver of employee satisfaction. He argued that interpersonal trust (trust in management and trust in peers) robustly influenced employee satisfaction and, employee loyalty as an end result (Matzler et al., 2004) Also, associations between employees commitment to their organizations and satisfaction and argued that still there seemed little conformity about the fundamental associations between these two significant employee attitudes. Understanding these approaches was important because they had significant consequences on business performance, and these approaches could be influenced by human resource strategies and practices (Rayton, 2006) The modern management must also focus these factors which were very important to enhance the profitability in the new paradigm of service that organization not only invested in employees to enrich their knowledge skill abilities through extensive training programs but also to provide them with required technological support to manage the customers. They must reconsider their recruitment process, training methodologies and implementation of fair system of pay for performance, conducive environment and job definition. Recruitment Selection The goal of recruiting is to generate a large pool of applicants and to provide enough information for individuals to self select out the process. The Selection process on the other side follows a standard and systematic pattern beginning with an initial screening interview and concluding with the final employment decision. The recruitment and selection process demands lots of interpersonal skills and management must be very careful while selecting the right candidate for the job (Decenzo and Robbins, 2005) Training and Development It forms an important part of an organization overall HRM strategy. It implies transition in skills, knowledge, attitudes and social behavior. (Cascio, 1982).Organisations are investing to train their workforce and develop it for future so that they can perform their job efficiently and effectively and therefore it is expected that training has a positive impact on both employees motivation and commitment. Reward and Recognitions Employees reward and recognition includes focusing on employees input and peer recognition by using multiple layer methods within a system to recognize individuals and teams in accordance with the established practices and the rewards must be on the basis of their performance even tangible rewards along with an intensive communications strategy with accepted and integrated accountability systems (Khan, 2010) Job Design It has a significant and positive effect on client satisfaction which, in turn, significantly affected organizational performance and it leaded the organizations goals accomplishment which employed new service standards and customer systems. It can be said that job designs could provide high levels of control on employee also offered augmented chances for the growth and implementations of employees skills. Hackman Oldham proposed the Job Characteristics Model, consisting of skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback (Hackman and Oldham, 1976) Job Definition The job definition is basically arrangement or rearrangement of work with the motive to facilitate their employees and overcoming job frustration and enable them to be more productive, comforter while discharging their duties. It can be argued that defining the job of the employee helped the manger as well as the employee in decision making. The manger could get help regarding the decision whether the employee is the right person for promotion (Khan, 2010) 4.0 Methodology 4.1 Materials and Methods The purpose of this chapter is to outline the research methodology and processes undertaken to collect information for the report. A research is an organised inquiry which seeks to find explanations and to clarify doubtful facts so as to reach a conclusion. There must be ways of producing and analysing data so that the theories can be tested, accepted or rejected. (Clover and Balsley, 1979) defines research as the process of systematically obtaining accurate answers to significant and pertinent questions by the use of scientific method of gathering and interpreting information. 4.2 Purpose and Design of Survey A survey is a fact finding study. It is a method of research involving collection of data directly from a population or a sample thereof at particular time. For the purpose of this study, a survey was carried out to assess the status of Internal Service Quality on a sample of workers of different departments at Legends Hotel. The prime aim of the survey was to assess the following: The effectiveness of Human Resources Practises in delivering Internal Service Quality. To measure employees expectations and perceptions of service quality based on SERVQUAL model. To examine service quality dimensions in predicting satisfaction and loyalty among employees at Legends Hotel. To assess on the above, the design of the survey was very important. The survey design depends on the subject of the survey, the amount of time and the accuracy required. In effect, all depends on the proper design of the questionnaire in order to gather the appropriate information in a reasonable time frame. 4.3 Questionnaire Design A survey is a fact finding study. It is a method of research involving collection of data directly from a population or a sample thereof at particular time. For the purpose of this study, a survey was carried out to assess the status of Internal Service Quality on a sample of workers of different departments at Legends Hotel. The prime aim of the survey was to assess the following: The effectiveness of Human Resources Practises in delivering Internal Service Quality. To measure employees expectations and perceptions of service quality based on SERVQUAL model. To examine service quality dimensions in predicting satisfaction and loyalty among employees at Legends Hotel. To assess on the above, the design of the survey was very important. The survey design depends on the subject of the survey, the amount of time and the accuracy required. In effect, all depends on the proper design of the questionnaire in order to gather the appropriate information in a reasonable time frame. 4.4 Pre Testing However, before proceeding with the survey, it was important to undertake a pilot survey so as to test the efficiency of the questionnaire. Firstly, the questionnaire was circulated among five staffs of different grades and with varied academic background such as valet de chambre, security officer, chef de cuisine, assistant finance officer and front office manager. Since a face to face interview technique was used mainly for staff of lower grade, the concept of the questionnaire was clearly understood and all were able to make sense of the questions 4.5 Sampling Technique Used To conduct the survey, the target population was divided into eleven categories encompassing the different departments existing at Legends Hotel as more fully illustrated in Chapter 2. As the target population was quite large, a sample had to be used. The sampling size was determined using the stratified sampling technique. A stratified sample is obtained by taking samples from each sub-group of a population. It was required that the proportion of each stratum in the sample is the same as the population. At first a sample size of 100 questionnaires were distributed among the employees of the hotel. But during administration of the survey, employees were unfortunately reluctant to complete the questionnaire. The murder of an Irish tourist on the hotel premises in January 2011 gave rise to substantial trauma at different levels. As a result of that, employees had access to counselling, but still, there is still some sign of disturbance amongst them. Of the 100 questionnaire distributed, only 50 was collected which was fully answered following face to face interview with the employees. Due to time constraint, it was decided that the sample size of 50 was a good representative of the population size of 450 employees. Table 4.2: Sampling of Employees at Legends Hotel S/No. Department No. of Employees (Population) No. of Employees (Sample for 100 Employees) No. of Employees (Sample for 50 Employees) 1 Human Resource 5 1 1 2 Kitchen 77 17 8 3 Spa 15 3 1 4 Entertainment 18 4 2 5 Food Restaurant 125 28 14 6 Front Office 20 4 2 7 Security 30 7 3 8 Finance 15 3 2 9 Housekeeping 118 26 13 10 Quality and Events 2 1 1 11 Maintenance 25 6 3 Source: Computed Expected Results The study will reveal the present status of Internal Serv