Shared definitions by learned scholars refer to organisational culture - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 14 Words: 4225 Downloads: 7 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Marketing Essay Type Research paper Did you like this example? 2.1 CORPORATE CULTURE (Shein 1996), defined culture as: ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦ÃƒÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦. a pattern of basic assumptions that a group has invented, discovered or developed in learning to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, and that have worked well enough to be considered valid, and therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems. This he said is evident in the approach that members of the organizations use to perform their given tasks and the manner that key decisions about important issues of the organization are executed. The manner this is done, buttresses the organisations policy, strategy and procedures. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Shared definitions by learned scholars refer to organisational culture" essay for you Create order Other shared definitions by learned scholars refer to organisational culture as pattern of shared values and beliefs that help individuals understand organizational functioning and thus provide them with the norms for behavior in the organization(Deshpande and Webster 1989), a set of cognitions shared by members of a social unit (OReilly et al., 1991). According to (Laurie 2008), organisational culture is a combination of traditions, values, policies, beliefs, and attitude that establishes a general framework for everything done in an organisation. It can also refer to the form of beliefs, values, and ways of managing experience that have developed during the course of the organizations history, and becomes noticeable in its material arrangements and the behavior of its members. (Brown 1998). (Gupta 2009), in his write up, stated that organisational culture is a set of unwritten rules meant to guide the employees towards an standardardised and rewarding behaviour. Despite the d iffering definitions of corporate culture by many researchers and authors, some of them have collectively agreed that corporate culture entails combining the pattern of behavior, beliefs, procedures and values that make up the organizations identity; and also to assist in the structuring of the users behavior. It is very significant to view how people perform within the context of the group, sharing with a group of people in an organization is the main definition of corporate culture that most authors agreed on. (Deshpande and Farley, 1999). Many studies demonstrate that organizational culture is one of the most important factors with a significant role in determining how an organization performs (Chatman and John, 1994, Hofstede et al, 1990, Schein, 1990, Denison, 1990, Gillespie et al, 2007). According to Lewis (2002) organizational culture has been confirmed to be a lasting theory in the prediction of the organizations performance. In addition, many researchers such as (Den ison, 1990; Ambro`, 2004; Ouchi, 1981; Kwantes and Boglarsky, 2007; Berry and Parasuraman, 1992; Stein and Bowen, 2003) have confirmed the relationship between organisational culture and effectiveness. Some other authors have investigated culture from a strategic point of view and have presented culture as a basis of competitive advantage (Wilkins and Ouchi, 1983; ONeill et al, 2001; Hasmi and Asaari, 2007). Choe (1993) establish a strong relationship between corporate strategy and culture. He found that firms that practice the business strategy tends to have a culture that develops over time and those that apply defensive strategy tend to have hierarchical culture. According to (Deshpandà © 1999), investigations into market orientation suggest that the existence of an innovative and entrepreneurial culture is strongly associated with exceptional business performance. Collectively, these reports suggest that an organizational culture that puts more importance on customer-oriented b ehaviours, cross-functional teams, performance-based rewards, adjustment and reactive attitudes to change, and a higher degree of risk taking and improvement, is likely to contribute to have successful customer relations management system implementations. Detert (2000) was responsible for alerting other organisational researchers on the importance of the relationship between organisational culture and quality of services. His research shows that there is a close relationship between a quality service system and organisational culture. Starkey and Woodcock (2002) reiterated the importance of a customer oriented service system. They stressed that organizations that are less customer oriented are more likely to perform poorly in terms of sales output as against those that are customer oriented. To survive in the highly competitive retail service markets, organisations need to provide products and services that will produce highly satisfied and loyal customers (Westbrook and Oliver, 1991). According to (Asif and Sargeant, 2000), several benefits accrue to the organisation via customer loyalty such as generation of profit, costs related to promotions, advertising and start-up costs are limited. More so, chances of increase in customers will be high, as satisfied customers will recommend the organisations products and services to others. As a result, customer satisfaction can be the key factor to the growth of the business, in term of market share and profit. Service organizations were investigated by Gilbert and Parhizgari (2000) who established that different service organization cultures are successful in different contexts. Researches into the relationship between organizational culture and performance in organizations have confirmed that their culture characteristically and uniquely affected their performance Ambro (2004). Trice and Beyer (1993: 174) warn that though organizations may have unique cultures, they should not be considered to have a single, h omogeneous culture. Curry and Kkolou (2004) identify customer focus, participation, and teamwork as important cultural issues influencing customer relations outcomes. They suggested that empowering employees to excel at customer service and ensuring their job security also contribute to customer relation success. Uniformality of Organizational Culture Though organizational culture is basically termed to be the existence of shared value system and beliefs, this does not however imply that there is no sub-culture within an organization (Jermier et al., 1991). In arguing their case, researchers commented that most organisations have multiple cultures ingrained within the basic corporate culture, and these are known as sub-cultures (Ouchi, 1980; Ashforth and Mael, 1989). According to (Bellou, 2007) sub-groups in organizations can generate sub-cultures that build specific networks of meaning and meanwhile still remain associated with the ideologies and values of the organizations leadership. However, the inherent culture mutual to the generality of the organization is known as the dominant culture. In fact, when talking about the organizational culture absolutely the dominant culture is meant. Originally, it was assumed for a long period that the organizational culture is static (Schein, 1983). However, according to (Barely, 1983) many other researchers have challenged this assumption, claiming that the organizational culture is dynamic and is evolving to suit the organization growth stage. Researching the dynamic nature of organizational culture, Zheng, Yang, and McLean (2010) argued that as the organization develops through different growth stages i.e. start-up, growth, maturity, and revival, so also does the dominant organizational culture follows many stages i.e. inspiration, implantation, negotiation, and transformation. On the relationship between the perceptions of the function of the organizational culture of the employees and the customers of the particular organization, Parasuraman et al. (1985) proposed that employees can correctly forecast customer perceptions of many determinants of service quality and are mainly accurate in service quality areas such as courtesy and responsiveness. Concerning customer attitudes about service quality, Schneider, Parkington Buxton (1980) and Schneider and Bowen (1985) remarked that customer attitudes regarding service quality were significantly correlated how employees view the issue of customer service. Furthermore, Conduit and Mavondo (2001) found that the combined effects of customer orientation and market orientation have a considerably strong infuence on an organizations performance. Subramony, Beehr and Johnson (2004) confirmed positive links between employee and customer perceptions on service effectiveness, group maturity, and service quality. Ho wever, other studies do not support their conclusions. A study by Shahani-Denning (2000) disagreed by revealing that customers and employees often perceive organizational effectiveness from different perspectives. Identification of the Organizational Culture For the rationale of identifying the organizational culture system, Allaire and Firsirotu (1984) suggested that three interconnected sets of systems can assist in identifying organizational culture. Following Scheins (1990) write-up on culture, the first is the socio-cultural system, which covers organizational structures, strategies, policies, and other associated management practices. According to (Mackenzie, 1986; Thompson, 1967), this sub-system of organizational culture follows the classic theory of management that centers on attaining set organizational goals through task-oriented management. Conventionally, leaders have the prevailing role in deciding how tasks apportionment is structures within the organization. Towards this end, leaders tend to manage the core technology of the organization through clarifying the goals of the organisation, structuring the procedures that would lead to achievement of these goals, and develop strategies that convert these goals into outcomes ( Bossert et al. 1982; Mackenzie 1986). However, scholars have suggested that the development of the cultural aspects of any organization is a powerful function of the top management, meaning that it is the duty of leaders in the organization to set the organizational goals and purposes and channel their decisions effectively to all those involved (Heck, Larsen, Marcoulides, 1990; Reynolds, 1986). In developing the organizational culture, Bolman and Deal (1984) and Owens (1987) emphasized that it is the role of leaders of organizations to teach organizational values and promote organizational missions. Strong versus Weak Culture (Sorensen, 2002; Rosenthal Masarech, 2003) have argued that there is a clear demarcation between strong and weak organizational culture and the way they influence organizational performance and employees behaviors. Furthermore, it has been extensively debated by academics and practitioners that a strong culture, the measure of belief and acceptance of shared culture, is the overriding determinant of the performance of any organisation (Deal Kennedy, 1982; Peters Waterman, 1982). The strength or weakness of a culture according to (Peters Waterman, 1982) is determined by firstly, the economic value it adds to the organization in order to create competitive advantage for the organization. Secondly by the uniqueness and how valuable the organizational culture is as this will help the organization to behave differently from their rivals. Finally, the structure organizational culture of an organization must not be easy to imitate and not be transferable in order to create competitive advantage for the organization. There is a general argument that strong cultures have a greater impact on employee behavior and are more directly linked to reduction in staff turnover, the organizations core values are both intensely held and widely shared and that a lofty conformity concerning what the organization stands for, builds cohesiveness, loyalty, and organizational commitment. Based on these there have been numerous efforts by scholars to give details of the performance supremacy of some very big organizations based on their organizational cultures (Deal Kennedy, 1982; Peters Waterman, 1982). However, based on their findings, they concluded that the better performance of these companies can be attributed basically to their core value sets such as human resource management practices, customers and suppliers relationships established and maintained by their leaders. These management practices promote innovativeness of these organizations, improved the employees self-esteem and quality of work life and consequently led to competitive advantage (Peters Waterman, 1982). Notwithstanding the fact that profit is the main goal of most organization, most research efforts are spent on customer satisfaction and experiences gained within a service organization (Anderson et al., 1997). Bowen et al (2000) and Gupta et al (2005) studied organisational culture and custo mer satisfaction and established the strong link between these two factors that have great influence on the conditions of organizational effectiveness. Organizational Culture Theories Daniel R. Denison, who is a Professor at IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland has done many researches on cultural impact on organizational effectiveness. He established that there are four basic cultural traits that can have impact on positive performance and these which are adaptability, involvement, mission and consistency. The effectiveness and culture model for (Denison 1990) as this is known, represents the relationship between management, corporate culture, effectiveness and finally the performance of the organization. This model is structured to lay emphasis on the significance of association in management practices with the beliefs and principles when investigating the effectiveness and culture of the organization in relation to its performance. The Adaptability Theory According to (Denison, 1990), the adaptation theory lays emphasis on an organizations ability to accept, interpret and translate interference from the external environment into internal norms that could be the organizations goals that lead to survival or success. The three key aspects of adaptability; perception and response to the external environment, the ability to respond to internal customers and prompt reaction to either internal and external customer, are likely to have an strong effect on an organizations effectiveness (Denison, 1989), and requires the capacity to reorganize and a laid down set of behaviours and processes that allow for organizational adaptation. The Involvement Theory This theory whose feature includes constructing the individual ability, responsibility, duty and ownership proposes that a high level of involvement and participation increases a sense of ownership and responsibility (Denison, 1989). Here, employees are meant to be involved in decision making and have a reasonable degree of autonomy, and this could lead to higher performance. The Mission Theory The mission of the organization provides rationale and meaning by defining a social responsibility. Provided the organizations purpose is understood and used to guide the behaviour, discussions and decisions of the members,it leads to greater commitment and effective performance (Denison, 1989). A second major influence that mission affected on organization performance is the direction and clarity. It is the long term development for the corporation. Evidently, mission gives a clear trend and objectives for the members and organization that is provided to identify the appropriate course of action. Success according to Denison (1995) is more likely when it is goal directed. The definition of common goal shall coordinate well with the structured a positive organizational behaviour. The Consistency Theory Positive culture such as a shared beliefs, values and symbols among the organizations members will allow them to coordinate their actions, but this must be done continually. The basic concept of this theory is that inherent control systems based upon internalized values are a more successful means of achieving coordination than external controls systems which are based on explicit rules and regulations (Denison, 1995). Consistency is the necessary basis of power, direction, formation and integration and can generate an internal system depending on the support of all involved. Most effective organization seems to merge the consistency and involvement principles in continual cycles. (Denison, 1995) 2.5 MEASURING CORPORATE CULTURE Organizations are meant to understand their existing corporate culture before deciding to develop or make changes to their organizations strategy. Measuring corporate culture in the organization is the greatest technique to develop the understanding. Qualitative method can be used to study the corporate culture (Siehl and Martin 1988); however, the benefits may possibly be purchased at a cost while typically the gathered data cannot structure the basics for systematic contrasts. Corporate culture can be examined theoretically through contrasts among the departments in the organization, it is also very important to contrast the memberÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚ ¸s reply with the organization to understand the feature of culture. Data can be gathered from various departments in the same corporation which will assist in the contrast. There are a variety of ways of measuring corporate culture depending on the cultures makeup. The cultures elements can be observable, for instance quantitative methods or conscious like behaviors and values. Corporate culture was defined in previous sections as behaviors, norms and values, which lay emphasis on the conscious elements. It can also be measured using the combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, which includes interviews, questionnaire and surveys, to examine and the cultural trend (Rosseau 1990). According to (Xenikou and furnham 1996), the questionnaires must be used in order to measure organizational culture. Learned scholars, Researchers and also managers are using questionnaire in measuring corporate culture, since they are keen on understanding and amending corporate culture where necessary. Several empirical studies have been conducted to measure quantitatively corporate culture which was done by various researchers; for instance (Cooke and Laffertys 1989) developed a culture questionnaire in Organizational Culture Inventory, while (OReilly et al, 1991) developed Organizational Culture Profile. Denison and William Neale has developed the Denison Organizational Culture Survey which is used in testing the link among corporate culture and financial performance measures such as profitability, improvement, market share, growth of sales, values and the satisfaction of employees. This research will be based on Denisons questionnaire, and will be used to find the relation between corporate culture and customer satisfaction in the retail sector using (ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦ÃƒÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦ÃƒÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦ÃƒÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦ÃƒÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦ÃƒÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦ÃƒÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦ÃƒÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦ÃƒÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦) 2.6 IMPACT OF CORPORATE CULTURE ON ANY ORGANIZATION In recent times, corporate culture has captured the attention of many organizations due to its effect on the organizations achievement. Researchers such as (kotter and heskett 1992) believed that there is a long lasting effect of corporate culture on the performance of the organizations. (Schwartz and davis 1981, choe 1993, Rashid and anantharaman 1997 ) supposed that there a relationship between organizational strategy and corporate culture, especially in the application in an organization of a particular strategy. Corporate culture is one of the most significant elements in the range of the behavior performance in any organization, particularly in understanding the structure of the organization. This means that the success or otherwise of the organization in accomplishing its objectives and target was influenced by the corporate culture. 2.2 Customer satisfaction Survival in todays highly competitive markets means that it is imperative that organisations have to provide services that lead to highly satisfied and loyal customers (Westbrook and Oliver, 1991). Customer satisfaction is currently the new standard by which customers are measuring business performance Nagel and Cilliers (1990, p. 4). Customer satisfaction is an organizations capacity to create awareness, attention and retain customers and also to develop customer relationship over a certain period of time. Most at times, it is often seen as the satisfaction benefited from the products or services of an organization. In addition, it is considered to be the key to a successful and long-term competitiveness. The understanding of customer satisfaction is the means of realizing the customers expectations, a source for gaining, retaining and studying organizational effectiveness in the course of service delivery. All organisations are confronted with the challenge of discovering the critical factors that influences customer satisfaction and loyalty (McDougall and Levesque, 1992) and can decide on the actions necessary in meeting customer desires if it understands perceptions. In Deshpande et al.s (1993, p. 27) definition, customer orientation is: . . . the set of beliefs that put the customers interest first, while not excluding those of other stakeholders such as owners, managers and employees, in order to develop a long-term profitable enterprise. (Slater and Narver, 1994) sees customer orientation as basically associated with customers welfare, listening to the voice of the customers and delivering service and solutions based on their best interest and wants. In recent years, several researchers have opined that organisations centering their activities on the needs of their customers perform better than those companies that do not, will more likely to meet long-term goals and increased financial performance (Homburg et al., 2002; Lytle and Timmerman, 2006; Narver and Slater, 1990). According to Darby et al.s (1997), the level of customer satisfaction can be measured through the extent to which employees show customer service orientation. Fornell et al. (1996, p96) highlight the significance of the relationship between customer satisfaction and perceived value. They identified three backgrounds of customer satisfaction as perceived value, perceived quality, and customer expectations. Some other literature also supports the relationship between customers perceived value and customer satisfaction (Hellier et al., 2003). According to (Eggert and Ulaga, 2002), perceived value can either be pre- or post-purchased as customers seek additional benefit in contrast to the cost at the time of purchase of a product or service. (Ambro and Praprotnik, 2008), argued that customer satisfaction is a concept that cannot be universally used as its meaning is based on different conditions and different points of view and is the result of individual customer judgments. Several other researchers of customer satisfaction have introduced different concepts and different views of organizational performance outcome. In Rust et al.s (1996) opinion, customer service is seen to be all about perceptions. This is more so since service cannot be tested before it is sold, and can neither be stored, returned nor exchanged. Based on this, customers understanding of service experience and interpretation of it is the crux of the matter (Gro ¨nroos, 2001; Ross, 1995). Wilson (2002) opined that customer satisfaction is vague and complex in nature, and is generally comprised of various components measured with different methods under different conditions. ONeill and Palmer (2004) see customer satisfaction as a cognitive concept and as a state of the mind. Edvardsson (1996) argues that customer satisfaction is an individualistic concept which is uniquely understood by individual customers. This paves way for the assumption that customer satisfaction can be understood to be a web of psychological, social and physical variables, which is associated with the perceptions of a satisfied customer. Anderson, Fornell, and Lehman (1994) argue that customer satisfaction is first and foremost an emotional state of mind and the outcome of the long-term relationship between customers and service providers. Ning-jun Zhang et al (2007) show that employees are to an extent emotionally dependent on the organization and this encourages their efforts to satisfy customers. Parasuraman, Zeithaml Berry (1988) see customer satisfaction in terms of qualitative and quantitative elements of the service. Zeithaml Bitner (2000) suggested a simpler definition of customer satisfaction based on the level of customer needs and expected satisfaction, which directly affects the degree of customer dissatisfaction. (Bolton and Drew 1991; Parasuraman; Zeithaml, and Berry 1988) opined that customer satisfaction is used to measure future customer expectations while quality measures future customer service expectation, the outcome they say is this they say is the relation between expectations and performance. According to (Ambro and Praprotnik, 2008), there has been the emergence of two definitions of customer satisfaction. The first type defines customer satisfaction as an outcome of a buying experience (Westbrook and Reilly, 1983), while the second definition sees customer satisfaction as a benchmark between the actual purchase and the purchase expectations of the customer (Hunt, 1977). Researchers have found a strong and positive relationship between customer satisfaction and intentions to repurchase (Anderson and Sullivan, 1993; Mittal and Kamakura, 2001; Oliver, 1980). Nonetheless, the connection between satisfaction and actual loyalty behavior is still ambiguous, and the relationships that occur between satisfaction, intentions and actual behavior is still confusing (Rust et al, 1995) Regardless of its complexity, customers do not have any problems with the definition of satisfaction even if it is not deliberately explained (Gupta and Zeithaml, 2007). This is the reason it is so important that the management of a service organization primarily sees the customers point of view of the organisations strength that results in delivering the service that fulfils the customers social, personal and physical expectations regarding service quality. Service organizations must consider customer satisfaction as a key leverage point to differentiate themselves from other organisations (Gillespie et al, 2007). Customer satisfaction is the outcome of his or her needs and expectations which influence the interaction with service providers and other customers. The quality of this interaction impacts customer decisions to repurchase the service, his retention and the intention of the customer to recommend to other potential customers and finally to pass on useful information about the service quality and delivery. Customer satisfaction is related to different ways of interacting with the environment. A positive recommendation is a social interaction, which is positively related to customer retention, reduces transaction costs and increases long-term profitability (Jamieson, 1994, Mackey, 2005). Word of mouth has great communication power because it is a direct transmission of customer satisfaction to other potential customers. Weinberger, Allen and Dillon (1981) and Herr et al (1991), are convinced that word of mouth is more important than information about service generated by marketing activ ities. The communication power of word of mouth is manifested when the service provider fails to meet the complaints of the customer or his reactions are not congruent with the customer demands. The highest importance of word of mouth is when customer reaction to the service provider is negative (Richins, 1983). The result of negative perceptions is a dissatisfied customer, who rarely decides to repurchase the service from the same provider (Newman and Werbel, 1973). The worst case is when a customer refuses to buy another service from the same provider (Fitzgibbon and White, 2007). Word of mouth is closely related to the customer intentions to repurchase the service (Gupta and Zeithaml, 2007). Customer satisfaction in service industries To survive in highly competitive markets, organisations need to provide services that yield highly satisfied and loyal customers (Westbrook and Oliver, 1991). As Nagel and Cilliers (1990, p. 4) claimed, customer satisfaction is currently the new standard by which customers are measuring business performance. Satisfied customers are more inclined to be loyal, producing several benefits for organisations (Asif and Sargeant, 2000; Hansemark and Albinsson, 2004; Reichheld and Sasser, 1990). First, repeat business generates income. Second, it limits costs related to acquiring new customers, such as advertising, promotion and start-up activities. Third, satisfied customers often spread the good news and recommend products and services to others. Consequently, customer satisfaction is considered to be a key to organisational survival (Jones and Sasser, 1995), as well as increased market share (Rust et al., 1992) and profitability (Heskett et al., 1994). All organisations are faced with the challenge of identifying the critical factors that determine customer satisfaction and loyalty (McDougall and Levesque, 1992). Nevertheless, the service industry has several particularities that need to be taken into account. Services are more or less intangible, their production and consumption are inseparable, and customers are at least to some extent active participants in their production process while service production and consumption are simultaneous (Gro ¨nroos, 1982, 1988). Moreover, due to the fact that the production process of services involves employee-customer interaction, it is hard to ensure consistency and reliability (Haysa and Hill, 2000; Jun et al., 1998). For all these reasons, customers perception of the service experience is frequently the only way accurately to estimate quality level of services provided (Babakus and Mangold, 1992). This is probably the reason why the argument that customers are greatly influenced by their interaction with employees when assessing services provided is gaining increased recognition within the services industry (Boshoff and Tait, 1996).

Discussing The Issues Of Sexism Essay - 985 Words

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Much of the class seems to be primarily discussion-based, and the emphasis on talking with my fellow classmates about subjects such as racism, white privilege, sexism, homophobia, and other social issues helps create a very productive environment in which these topics can be discussed openly and with maturity and respect. The method of having students talk to other, individual classmates before the class as a whole reconvenes for

Plans of Superannuation Organization Free-Samples for Students

Questions 1.Because members of Superannuation Plans are likely to be Significantly different from Company Shareholders, Normal Commercial Accounting reports may be unsuitable for Superannuation pPans. Do you agree with this Statement? Explain your reasons why or why not.2.Discuss how the Introduction of AASB 1056 is likely to affect member understanding of the Reports. Answers: 1.For superannuation plans two types of reports are prepared namely the individual financial statement that is used by the financial statements to be used by the members and the secondly the general purpose financial statement. This type of report is not administered by any kind of standard since it helps the members in decision-making. It helps users in making choices in setting aside the money in their superannuation fund. The statement is cautiously scrutinised prior to releasing to the public (Cummins, 2015). Members of the superannuation plan are different from the company shareholders and the individual financial statement is important for the members to have a detailed view on their current assets and contribution since every member have different superannuation plan. The general-purpose financial statement provides the users with the information as to where these funds actually used by the trustees. It raises questions concerning the as how the trustees use the superannuation fund to sustainably pay their beneficiaries. As stated under AASB 25 and AASB 102 that the report provides members with an overview of the plans (Galloway, 2014). It assist in the procedure of decision making for members in tailoring their choice that suits their needs. Apart from this, members will also have special interest regarding the performance of the trustees towards efficient management and their ability to generate and distribute according to the degree of benefit. 2.A superannuation organisation must disclose the information, which provides the users with basis for understanding the liabilities of members. According to AG30 paragraph 23 mandates a superannuation organisation to disclose those information that provides the users with the basis for understanding the liability of the members. Paragraph 24 (a) mandatorily requires a superannuation organisation to treat its defined contribution members liabilities in accordance with the scope of AASB 7 with the objective of disclosing the information regarding the credit risk, market risk and liquidity risk (Stannard, 2017). The fair value of disclosure requirements of AASB 7 is not required to be applied in relation to the members liabilities. While making the application of relevant principle and requirements of AASB 7 regarding the credit, market and liquidity risk an organisation is required to provide considerations to the characteristics of members by determining the information that it would provide (Fund, 2014). The entity may consider disclosing information through a mechanism by which market risk is passed on the members by frequently crediting the members account. Reference Cummins, C. (2015). The gold standard.Superfunds Magazine, (408), 42. Fund, R. T. S. S. (2014). Financial statements For the year ended 30 June 2010. Galloway, D. (2014). How regulation costs members.Investment Magazine, (107), 30. Stannard, J. (2017). Fund reporting and disclosure: Obligations are ever-

Contemporary Issue on Aesthetic Labour in Hospitality Essay Example

Contemporary Issue on Aesthetic Labour in Hospitality Paper Service jobs now account for around three quarters of all jobs in the UK, with retail and hospitality alone providing nearly five million jobs (Hospitality Training Foundation, 2003; University of Warwick, 2004). Organization in the hospitality industry vary enormously, ranging from first class and luxury hotels providing extravagant, full 24-hour service to the more homely comforts of a bed and breakfast establishment; from fast food restaurants to Michelin starred restaurant. In turn, the jobs provided by these organizations demand a variety of skills and attributes from those employees interacting with customers. Increasingly, though, there is an appreciation that employees in these jobs not only provide desired levels of service in terms of responding to customers in a friendly and sociable manner but can also be part of the branding of service companies by becoming, in words of Zeithaml and Bitner (2003, 318), ‘walking billboards’. Witz, Warhurst and Nickson (2003: 44) point out that, for many companies, employees have become part of this branding exercise, with ‘aesthetic labourers †¦ the animate component of the material culture that makes up the corporate landscape’. Aesthetic labour is a concept based on the notion that employers in parts of the service industries described as the ‘style labour market’ (Nickson, Warhurst and Dutton, 2004: 3), such as boutique hotels, designer retailers and style cafes, bars and restaurants, require ‘aesthetic skills’ in addition to social and technical skills from their workers (Warhurst and Nickson, 2005). The genesis of aesthetic labour as a concept lays in early 1990s of newspaper job advertisements that stipulated the attractiveness of applicants as recruitment and selection criteria in the hospitality industry. We will write a custom essay sample on Contemporary Issue on Aesthetic Labour in Hospitality specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Contemporary Issue on Aesthetic Labour in Hospitality specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Contemporary Issue on Aesthetic Labour in Hospitality specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The term ‘aesthetic labour’ is analytically complex. It refers to the hiring of people with certain capacities and attributes that favourably appeal to customers and which are then developed through training and/ or monitoring. It has become translated in the popular imagination as those people who are employed on the basis of ‘looking good’ and/ or ‘sounding right’. In its tabloidized form, along with sexism, racism and ageism, ‘lookism’ is now offered as one of the key issues of the contemporary workplace (Oaff, 2003). Further analysis of the definition of aesthetics reveals another close relation of the spiritual self with aesthetic labour. The definition proposed by Greek philosopher aisthanomai meaning â€Å"perception by mean of the senses and danaher, shiprato and webb (2000: 161) cite â€Å"the art of the self†. The constituent of the spiritual essence of self constitute the mind, emotion, senses which are spiritual aspect in the formation of personality, attitude and appearance apparently expressed in the process of self presentation. This is the relative aspect of the spiritual self, manifesting aesthetic presentation of self. The definition clearly implies development of self is an art associated with the mind. LOCATING AND EXTENDING THE EVIDENCE FOR AESTHETIC LABOUR In hospitality, organizations too have been concerned with their workers’ labour of aesthetic both in the past and the present. The mobilization of this labour is increasingly a corporate strategy, less ad hoc and more systematic, for some hospitality employers, featuring in their hiring and management of employees. Aiming to portray a company image and create an appealing service encounter for the customers, employers in hospitality are increasingly drawing upon the corporeal skills of their workplace. Employees, for example, are hired because of the way they look and talk; once employed, staff are instructed how to stand whilst working, what to wear and how to wear it and even what to say to customer. Aesthetic labour is the mobilization, development and commodification of embodied dispositions. These disposition, are form of embodied capacities and attributes, are to an extent possessed by worker at the point of entry to employment. However, and importantly, employers then mobilize, develop and commodify these dispositions though processes of recruitment, selection, training, monitoring, discipline and reward, reconfiguring them as skills intended to produce a style of service encounter that appeals to the senses of customers, most usually visually or aurally. In other words, distinct modes of worker embodiment are organizationally prescribed and produced for corporate benefit, with these workers becoming ‘aesthetic labours’. RECRUITMENT, SELECTION AND TRAINING THE AESTHETIC LABOUR Generally for much interactive service work, studies consistently report high levels of informality in recruitment and selection, including things such as word of mouth, referrals and casual callers, especially in the hospitality industry. (Lockyer and Scholarios, 2004) Moreover, in customer service work, recruitment and selection is more likely to be based on people’s social and aesthetic skills rather than technical skills (Scottish Centre for Employment Research, 2004). Thus, managers’ preference for recruitment and selection in service work has tended to focus of the attitude and appearance of applicants, or their personality and increasingly their image and self-presentation. The trend for employers to choose staff based on their personal appearance and speech is particularly prevalent in the rapidly expanding service sector, where workers usually have direct contact with the public. For example, in a survey of skill needs in hotels, restaurants, pubs and bars, 85 percent of employers ranked personal presentation and above initiative, communication skills or even ability to follow instructions. Additionally, jobs ads for the hospitality sectors regularly ask for people who are stylish, outgoing, attractive or trendy and well-spoken and of smart appearance (Worklife Report, 2001). But as the economy shifts toward â€Å"high touch† jobs the trend is spreading to the wider job market. More and more employers are looking for staff who are pleasing to the eye and ear and who reflect their company image (Worklife Report, 2001). The employers believed that having staff that look good and/or sound right not only helped companies create a distinct image on the high street but also provided competitive advantage for their companies in the crowded hospitality industries. The study revealed that companies in the service sector desired and developed employees who could become the physical embodiment of the image and personality of their companies. As one respondent stated about her company’s recruitment and selection, they want: ‘†¦ people that look the part †¦ fit in with the whole concept of the hotel’ (Nickson et al. , 2001: 180). On a practical level, this strategy, featuring a ‘style of service’ is intend to have workers create competitive advantage for employers in often highly competitive markets either by simply positively appealing to the senses of customer-by having pleasing looking staff-or by embodying the prescribed corporate image-employees as ‘walking billboard’. To affect this possibility, employers need to regulate the sight and/ or sound and their workers (most obviously). This regulation also has a conceptual dimension, for a double shift has occurred as services have displaced manufacturing. The first and most cited shift is a quantitative one: the increase in the number of jobs now provided by services. The second shift is qualitative and less appreciated: the nature of work with service jobs has change. In hospitality, employers seek employees with personal characteristics likely to make them act spontaneous and perform effectively. Soft skills or self-presentation skills are more important selection criteria than technical skills for employers (Scottish Centre for Employment Research, 2004). To discern such characteristics and attributes most employers from the surveyed organisation relied on the so-called ‘class trio’ of application forms and/ or CVs, interviews and references. The interview remains a popular method with manager and applicants alike as it is simple, quick and cheap-despite reliability concern. In recognizing the labour of aesthetics and its importance to employers, academics are playing catch up. Employers, even if not a corporate strategy of aesthetic labour, want presentable employees with aesthetic appeal. In hospitality, there is a clear pattern of employers’ skill demands. Jackson et al. (2002) point out in their analysis of sales and personal services’ job advertisements that the skills stated as necessary by employers are social skills and personal characteristics’. Likewise, a recent examination of nearly 100 human resource professionals in the USA responsible for hiring entry-level hospitality industry employees revealed that the top two criteria were: ‘pride in appearance’ and ‘good attitude’ (Martin and Grove, 2002) The emergence of these new skill raise a number of issue about training: firstly where aesthetic skills are formed; secondly if and if so how, such skills may be accredited and trained. All organizations train staff. Most of this training is centred on that mandated, and for all employees: health and safety for example. Such training is a feature of the hospitality industry. Beyond that which is mandatory, other than for management and professional staff, training is relatively poor at least in UK. Training for part-time workers, who feature heavily in the hospitality workplace, is particular weak. With the decline of manufacturing and the rise in service jobs, and the demised of training featuring physical dexterity and technical ‘know how’, where it does occur the training emphasis has also shifted. Training is provided in customer service skills, instructing employees in body language, verbal interaction with customer (what to say and how to say it) and dress codes and uniform standards.