Chef Satisfaction

African Journal of Business Management Vol. 4(18), pp. 4118-4134, 18 December, 2010 Available online at http://www. academicjournals. org/AJBM ISSN 1993-8233  ©2010 Academic Journals Full Length Research Paper Drivers of hospitality industry employees’ job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job performance Ming-Chun Tsai1, Ching-Chan Cheng2* and Ya-Yuan Chang3 Department of Business Administration, Chung Hua University, No. 707, Sec. 2, WuFu Road, Hsinchu City, Taiwan 300, Republic of China. 2 Department of Food and Beverage Management, Taipei College of Maritime Technology, No. 212, Sec. , Yen Ping N, Taipei City, Taiwan 111, Republic of China. 3 Department of Business Administration, National Chung Hsing University, No. 250, Kuo Kuang Road. , Taichung City, Taiwan 402, Republic of China. Accepted 18 November, 2010 1 This study aims to combine empowerment, internal marketing, leadership and job stress to propose an integrated model of hospitality industry employees ’ job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job performance. The subjects of this study were hospitality industry employees from Taipei City, and the structural equation modeling was adopted to validate path relationships in integrated model.The findings showed that employees’ job satisfaction directly and positively influences organizational commitment, but does not directly influence job performance. Employees’ job satisfaction enhances job performance only through organizational commitment. Internal marketing, empowerment and leadership also positively influence job satisfaction. Empowerment and leadership enhance employees’ organizational commitment. Internal job stress negatively influences employees’ job satisfaction and external job stress enhances employees’ job performance.According to the findings, this paper realized the main factors which influence hospitality industry employees’ job satisfaction, organizational comm itment and job performance, which can function as criteria for human resource management in the hospitality industry. Key words: Hospitality industry, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job performance. INTRODUCTION With the change of the industrial structure in recent years, the output value of the service industry has become more than 70% of the GDP in most advanced countries (CIA, 2009). Thus, the service industry plays a significant role in national economic development.In 2008, as the world encountered a financial tsunami, the governments of different countries selected potential service industries and supported them with resources, in order to energize economic development. The hospitality industry is a typical service industry, and it is critical service industry around the world. In Taiwan, the scale of the hospitality industry has been increasing year by year. According to the Statistics Department, Ministry of Economic Affairs, in 2001 the business volume of the hospitality industry in Taiwan was NTD 261. 3 billion.In 2006 it passed NTD 300 billion and in 2009 it reached NTD 321. 7 billion. However, the hospitality industry refers to labor services and relies on manpower in areas such as production, delivery and restaurant service. Thus, the hospitality industry is mainly based on services. As mentioned in Bitner’s (1995) framework of the service marketing triangle, service providers play a critical role in the service industries. In service industry management, regarding the importance of employees, Heskett et al. (1994) proposed the framework of service profit chain.In the service profit chain, there are critical linkages among internal service *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email  protected] tcmt. edu. tw. Tel: +886-2-28102292 ext. 5009. Fax: +886-2-2810-6688. Tsai et al. 4119 quality, employee satisfaction/productivity, the value of services provided to the customer, customer satisfaction and company’s profits. This cha in shows that internal service quality can enhance employee satisfaction, which will enhance employee productivity and further result in external service value and enhanced customer satisfaction. Finally, the company can make a profit (Zeithaml et al. , 2009).Therefore, satisfied employees make satisfied customers. Service personnel satisfaction significantly influences organizational commitment and job performance on customer satisfaction and corporate operational performance (Ladkin, 2002; Dunlap et al. , 1988; Tansuhaj et al. , 1988; Chowdhary, 2003; Yang and Chen, 2010). How to enhance service personnel satisfaction, organizational commitment and job performance is a critical issue in service industry management. In past research on employee satisfaction, organizational commitment and job performance, many scholars (Babin and Boles, 1998; Bernhardt et al. 2000; Van Scotter, 2000; Koys, 2003; Testa, 2001) have validated that employees’ job satisfaction positively influence s job performance and organizational commitment. In studies on factors of employees’ job satisfaction, job performance and organizational commitment, the service profit chain proposed by Heskett et al. (1994) and service marketing management model indicated by Tansuhaj et al. (1988) on overall service industry both demonstrated that management's internal marketing activities produce job satisfaction and commitment to the organization.In addition, many studies have found close relationships between leadership, employee satisfaction, organizational commitment and job performance (Billingsley and Cross, 1992; Yammarino and Dubinsky, 1994; Burton et al. , 2002; Avolio et al. , 2004; Chen and Silverthorne, 2005). The above studies have mainly focused on the educational service industry, retail industry, manufacturing service industry, medical service industry and governmental institutions, but have not conducted indepth explorations on the hospitality service industry.Hopfl (1994) indicated that in the service delivery, firstline employees must be empowered to some degree in order to cope with customers’ special demands. Thus, job empowerment can be treated as important management to encourage first-line service personnel and immediately solve customers’ differential demands. Avolio et al. (2004), Caykoylu et al. (2007) and Chen et al. (2008) respectively conducted empirical studies on medical personnel and employees of the telecommunication industry, banking industry and postal industry, and found that empowerment positively influences employee satisfaction and organizational commitment.One issue worthy of further study is the extent of how empowerment positively influences hospitality industry employee satisfaction and organizational commitment. In addition, first-line employees face different customer demands and supervisor requirements, therefore job stress is a critical issue for them. Jamal (1990) and Jex (1998) suggested that reducing em ployees’ job stress could enhance employees’ job satisfaction and job performance. Williams and Cooper (2002) and Ouyang (2009) indicated that proper job stress would enhance employees’ job performance.In the hospitality industry, the influence of job stress from external customers and internal supervisors on employees’ job satisfaction and job performance is an issue worthy of further exploration. Based on the above, internal marketing, leadership, empowerment and job stress are possible factors of service industry employees’ job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job performance, and these factors are validated in various service industries.However, the outcomes in different service industries are not the same. For the hospitality industry, it is important to validate and analyze the influences of the above factors on employees’ job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job performance. Thus, this study intended to combine i nternal marketing, leadership, empowerment and job stress and proposed an integrated model of hospitality industry employees’ job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job performance.Hospitality industry employees in Taipei City were treated as the subjects, and the researcher probed into factors of hospitality industry employees’ job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job performance in order to function as criteria for management in the hospitality industry. LITERATURE REVIEW Job satisfaction The term â€Å"job satisfaction† was proposed by Hoppock (1935) who suggested that job satisfaction means employees’ emotions and attitude toward their jobs, and is their subjective reaction toward their jobs.The definition of job satisfaction is generalized into three categories: (1) Definition of generality: Job satisfaction refers to the affective reaction to one’s job as the most (Ozer and Gunluk, 2010). Job satisfaction, which is one of the most important necessities for an individual to be successful, happy and productive, is a feeling of satisfaction, that is, an outcome of the perception of what the job provides for an individual (Ay and Av aro lu, 2010); (2) Definition of difference: This refers to the degree of satisfaction and the difference between ndividual actual returns and required returns. For instance, Porter and Lawler (1968) suggested that the degree of satisfaction depends on the difference between a person’s actual returns and expected returns; (3) Definition of criterion framework: Peoples' subjective perception and interpretation on objective traits of organizations or jobs would be influenced by individual criterion framework. According to Smith et al. (1969), job satisfaction is the outcome after a person interprets the job traits according 4120 Afr. J. Bus. Manage. o the criterion framework. The influence of certain work situations on job satisfaction is related to many factors, such as comparisons between good and bad jobs, comparisons with others, personal competency and past experience, etc. Job performance Kane and Lawler (1976) suggested that job performance refers to the record of the results when employees have practiced a job for a certain period of time. According to Schermerhorn (1989), job performance refers to the quality and quantity accomplished by individuals or groups after fulfilling a task.After a certain period of time, measurements of employees’ job performance could serve as criterion for promotions, wage adjustments, rewards, punishments and evaluations. Cascio (2006) suggested that managers must specifically define performance to allow the teams or employees to recognize the organizational expectations in order to fulfill the organizational goals. In other words, managers must set concrete goals, trace the fulfillment degree and evaluate the teams’ or employees’ performance.Van Scotter and Motowidlo (1996) suggested that employees with a high degree of job enthusiasm will demonstrate extra effort and devotion, and will actively seek out solutions to problems at work in order to enhance their job performance. Robbins (1998) divided the measurement of job performance into job result, job behavior and personal traits. Lee et al. (1999) divided job performance into efficiency, efficacy and quality. Efficiency refers to the employees’ output rate and is the ability to accomplish tasks before deadline.Efficacy refers to the employees’ goal accomplishment rate and proposals. Quality refers to the employees’ error rate and complaint rate, supervisor satisfaction, customer satisfaction and colleague satisfaction. This study suggested that in the application of this construct to measure hospitality industry employees’ job performance, efficiency should refer to the employees’ speed in customer service, efficacy should mean the accomplishment of tasks assigned by customers, and quality should mean the employees’ performance in customer service.As to measurement, Shore and Thornton (1986) indicated that self-evaluation allows individuals to participate in performance evaluation and serves as a criterion. Based on the above, according to the views of Lee et al. (1999), this study divided job performance into efficiency, efficacy and quality, and measured hospitality industry employees’ job performance using employee self-evaluation. Smith et al. (1969) proposed the Job Description Index (JDI) to measure job satisfaction, with the constructs including wage, promotion, job, supervisors and colleagues.Black and Gregersen (1997) found a positive correlation between job satisfaction and job performance. Organ (1990) suggested that when employees are satisfied with their work, they are willing to sacrifice themselves and devote to their organization. Organizational commitment From the perspective of attitude, Porter et al. (1974) indicated that o rganizational commitment is a person’s active and positive intention to identify with and internalize organizational goals and value.According to Reyes and Pounder (1990), organizational commitment is the strong belief and intention to identify with organizational value, devote to and stay with the organization. Mathews and Shepherd (2002) suggested that organizational commitment refers to workers’ attitude, behavior and connection between individuals and the organization. Guest (1995) indicated that organizational commitment is at the core of human resource management. It transforms traditional manpower management into the core of human resources.Organizational members’ attitude or intentions particularly indicate the importance of employees’ organizational commitment. Dee et al. (2006) suggested that organizational commitment is a person’s intention to devote to and be loyal to the organization. Lambert et al. (2006) suggested that organizational commitment is the structural phenomenon of trading between individuals and organizations. It increases with time, but it does not lead to a transferable investment outcome. Thus, in theoretical study and practical use, scholars have valued organizational commitment in human resource management.In recent years, many scholars have probed into organizational commitment from the view of Porter et al. (1974). Thus, this study also followed the above view and divided organizational commitment into value commitment, effort commitment and retention commitment. This study further treated these three constructs as criteria to measure hospitality industry employees' organizational commitment. Definitions of these constructs are thus shown: (1) Value commitment: a strong belief and identification with organizational goals and values. 2) Effort commitment: the intention to devote more to the organization. (3) Retention commitment: a strong intention to continue being part of the organization. I nternal marketing Internal Marketing (IM) is the process of handling staff as internal customers and projects as internal products that satisfy the needs and desires of the customers and adhere to the company’s goals (Berry and Parasuraman, 1991). Rafiq and Ahmed (1993) suggest that internal marketing involves â€Å"a planned effort to overcome organizational resistance to change and to align, motivate Tsai et al. 4121 nd integrate employees towards the effective implementation of corporate and functional strategies†. Joseph (1996) suggested that internal marketing is can be applied to marketing and human resource management, combining theoretical techniques and principles in order to encourage, recruit and manage all employees in the organization and constantly improve external customer service and mutual services. In addition, Ahmed et al. (2003) defined internal marketing as the employees’ evaluation of the reward system, internal communication, training and development of the company.Internal marketing empirical research in the service sector has proven that internal marketing has influenced on internal customers (that is, employees) satisfactions. Berry and Parasuraman (1991) suggested that the advantages of internal marketing implementation in organizations are as follows: (1) To acquire and keep excellent talent; (2) to provide a common vision so that employees have job purpose and meaning; (3) to give employees the ability and knowledge to accomplish the work; (4) to encourage employees to share the results of teamwork; (5) to create job designs be based on the findings of marketing studies.The aforementioned views reveal that corporate implementation of internal marketing allows employees to enhance service quality, which increases the production and profits of the companies. The implementation of internal marketing in the organizations results in an internal service culture, raises service consciousness and increases profits (Par asuraman et al. , 1985). Based on the views of these scholars, internal marketing is critical for organizations and influences external marketing to further enhance customer satisfaction.According to the these definitions and based on the views of Rafiq and Ahmed (1993) and Ahmed et al. (2003), this study treated employee evaluations of reward systems, internal communication, and training and development of companies as criterion for measuring internal marketing of the hospitality industry. Leadership Leadership refers the process of influencing the team to accomplish the goals (Robbins and Coulter, 2005). Leaders are key success factors of an organization (Bass, 1985; Daft, 2002).Skillful leaders recognize and use the interpersonal relationships of the team and strengthen the members’ loyalty and morale. Effective leaders must learn skills such as patiently sharing information, trusting others and recognizing the timing of interventions (Steckler and Fondas, 1995). In recent years, numerous scholars have tried to discuss leadership from new perspectives. New studies of leadership theory have particularly stressed the influences of demands between leaders and subordinates, the interaction of personality traits and situational factors on leadership (Bargal and Schmid, 1989).Corporate leaders must select a proper leadership according to their subordinates’ different demands for supervision, in order to enhance employee satisfaction and fulfill expected goals. Bass and Avolio (1997) divided leadership into transformational leadership and transactional leadership. In transformational leadership, subordinates trust, respect and are loyal to their leaders. Leaders can develop their subordinates’ potential and enhance their confidence by changing their values and beliefs in order to increase their organizational commitment, intention and motivation to create exceptional outcomes.Transformational leadership can be divided into ideal traits, ideal behavior, the encouragement of inspiration, and the stimulation of wisdom and individual care. In addition, transactional leadership means leaders and members remain in the process of negotiation and mutual benefit instead of a persistent one-purpose relationship. Social exchange theory is treated as the theoretical base. When subordinates act according to their leaders’ expectations, they will have returns with a specific value. Transactional leadership can be divided into contingent rewards, and active and passive exceptional management.Most quantitative studies on leadership have created questionnaires using the MLQ scale designed by Bass and Avolio (1997). The MLQ scale includes two constructs (transformational leadership and transactional leadership). This study also designed a leadership questionnaire for the hospitality industry according to the MLQ scale. Empowerment Empowerment signals a transition away from traditional development that confined people’s role to that of passive recipients, effectively rendering them dependent on handouts in the form of foreign aid (O’Gorman, 1995).Bowen and Lawler III (1992) define empowerment as sharing with frontline employees four organizational ingredients: (1) Information about the organization's performance; (2) rewards based on the organization's performance; (3) knowledge about contributing to organizational performance; (4) power to make decisions that influence organizational direction and performance. Murat and Thomas (2003) suggested that empowerment does not simply refer to telling employees that they are empowered, but aims to allow the employees to recognize what power has been authorized.Boudrias et al. (2004) suggested that in managerial circles, empowerment application includes two types: (1) Empowering the responsibility of decision-making to subordinates while emphasizing rich work environments 4122 Afr. J. Bus. Manage. and diverse authority, information, resources and support, and providing the opportunity to learn in order to improve performance; (2) psychological empowerment, which refers to employees’ experiences of empowerment that are inferred as a mediating variable of empowerment and expected results.According to Sherman (1996), empowerment acknowledges that employees have the power to change in order to encourage employees to increase their competency. Kanter (1993) suggested that empowerment can keep employees from feeling helpless. Organizations could thus reduce negative effects such as low morale. The most significant effect of empowerment is to enhance employees’ abilities and self-efficacy (Conger and Kanungo, 1988).Bowen and Lawler III (1992) suggested the advantages of empowerment for organizations below: (1) To rapidly respond to customer demands and questions; (2) a high degree of employees’ job satisfaction; (3) positive interactions with consumers; (4) employees with creative thoughts; (5) the creation of loyal cu stomers. About the definition of psychological empowerment, Spreitzer (1995) defines this concept as the psychological state that employees must experience for managerial empowerment interventions to be successful.Spreitzer's (1995) measure of empowerment was used to define psychological empowerment and comprises four components: Self-determination, competence, impact, and meaning. (1) Self-determination reflects autonomy in the choices and decisions an individual can make regarding work allocations. (2) Competence refers to self-efficacy specific to work or the task—the confidence that one can perform well within a particular work domain. (3) Impact is the degree to which an individual can influence strategic, informational, or administrative decisions made at the organizational level. 4) Meaning involves the fit between a person’s values and beliefs and work role requirements. Job stress Blau (1981) defined stress as the incompatibility between a person’s comp etency and environment. Job stress extends upon the general definition of stress and is a kind of conceptual process that implies a person’s cognition and reaction to danger or threats (Fleming et al. , 1984). Pearson and Moomaw (2005) suggested that job stress is caused by work situations and people will have unpleasant feelings such as anger, tension, frustration, worry, depression and anxiety. Cooper et al. 1988) attributed job stress to factors intrinsic to the job, management's role, relationships with others, career and achievement, organizational structure, home and work. The sources of stress influence job performance. When an employee can no longer handle the stress, he will fail in his work (Jamal, 1990). Blau (1994) suggests that stress source can divided into external stressors and internal stressors. In addition, stress in the workplace frequently hits you with a double whammy of two-way pressures that come from a combination of both internal and external stresso rs (Stress management tips, 2010).Matteson and Iancevich (1982) suggested that proper stress results in sense of challenge or satisfaction for people. Without such stress, a person will lack motivation and originality. In past research on the influence of stress on job performance, the Yerkes-Dodson principle indicated a reverse U relationship between job stress and job performance (Yerkes and Dodson, 1908). In other words, an increase in work stress will enhance job performance. However, after work stress reaches a certain degree, the increase will reduce job performance. An Empirical study by Huber (1981) also reached a similar finding.However, excessive job stress will increase employee turnover rate (Parasuraman and Alutto, 1984) and further enhance the personnel and training costs of firms. Based on the view of Blau (1994) and characteristics of the hospitality industry, this study divided employees’ job stress in the hospitality industry into external pressure and inter nal stress thus: (1) Organizational external stress: an excessive workload, business stress and load. (2) Organizational internal stress: a lack of participation in job decision-making, without supervisory support, health advantages after changing jobs, anxiety, tension, etc.METHODOLOGY Construction of theoretical model Testa (2001) suggested that job satisfaction is the antecedent variable of organizational commitment and there is positive correlation. The research of Slattery and Selvarajan (2005) indicated that job satisfaction positively influences organizational commitment. In addition, Babin and Boles (1998) treated hospitality service personnel as subjects, and found a positive correlation between job satisfaction and job performance. In other service industries, it has been proved that there is a positive relationship between employees’ job satisfaction and job performance (Chen and Silverthorne, 2005).In addition, Mowday et al. (1982) pointed out that organizational commitment positively influences employees’ job performance. Powell (2000) also validated that organizational commitment positively influences employees’ job performance. Based on the above, the hypotheses are proposed as follows: H1: Job satisfaction positively influences organizational commitment. H2: Job satisfaction positively influences job performance. H3: Organizational commitment positively influences job performance. Regarding the exogenous variables of job satisfaction, Tsai et al. 4123 rganizational commitment and job performance, the service profit chain proposed by Heskett et al. (1994) argued that management’s internal marketing activities produce job satisfaction and commitment to the organization. Tansuhaj et al. (1988), Heskett et al. (1994) and Rafiq and Ahmed (2000) indicated that internal marketing positively influences employees’ job satisfaction, and internal marketing further results in better employees’ customer-oriented beh avior (Arnett et al. , 2002). In addition, corporate implementation of internal marketing positively influences employees’ organizational commitment (Tansuhaj et al. 1991; Heskett et al. , 1994; Chang and Chang, 2007). Based on the above, the hypotheses are proposed as follows: H4: Internal marketing positively influences job satisfaction. H5: Internal marketing positively influences organizational commitment. Besides internal marketing, Morris and Sherman (1981) suggested that leadership can integrate team relationships at work in order to enhance organizational commitment. Leaders’ leadership and support positively influences the employees’ organizational commitment (Billingsley and Cross, 1992; Burton et al. , 2002).The research of Bass (1985) and Hughes and Avey (2009) showed that transformational leadership significantly and positively influences job satisfaction and employee performance. The study of Dubinsky (1994) indicated that leadership (transactional leadership and transformational leadership) positively influences employees’ job satisfaction. The research of Chen and Silverthorne (2005) found a positive correlation between the leaders’ leadership score and employees’ job satisfaction. Based on the above, the hypotheses are proposed as follows: H6: Leadership positively influences organizational commitment.H7: leadership positively influences job satisfaction. H8: leadership positively influences job performance. In addition to internal marketing and leadership, Bowen and Lawler III (1992) suggested that empowerment can enhance employees’ job satisfaction. According to Blanchard et al. (1996), the empowered teams can increase job satisfaction and employees’ identification with their jobs. Based on the research of Fulford and Enz (1995), and Caykoylu et al. (2007), service industry employees’ cognition of empowerment positively influences job satisfaction.Wilson and Laschinger (1994), Mc Dermott et al. (1996), Avolio et al. (2004) and Chen et al. (2008) found that there is a positive correlation between empowerment and employees’ organizational commitment. Lee et al. (2006) studied hotel employees and found that empowerment has a significant effect on organizational commitment. Based on the above, this study developed the following two hypotheses: H9: Empowerment positively influences job satisfaction. H10: Empowerment positively influences organizational commitment. Finally, the studies of Jamal (1990), Borg and Riding (1993), Chiu et al. 2005) and Chen and Silverthorne (2005) pointed out that there is a significant and negative correlation between employees’ job stress and job satisfaction. In addition, Jex (1998) suggested that a reduction of employees’ job stress will increase their job performance. Mughal et al. (1996) argued that anxiety caused by job stress is the main factor of job performance. However, according to the Yerkes-Dodson pri nciple, there is a reverse U nonlinear relationship between job stress and job performance (Yerkes and Dodson, 1908; Huber, 1981).In addition, there can be a positive or negative relationship between job stress and job performance. Williams and Cooper (2002) and Ouyang (2009) also suggested that proper job stress can enhance employees’ job performance. However, according to the view of Blau (1994), job stress can be divided into external and internal job stress. Therefore, according to the above theory, this study divided job stress into internal and external job stress and constructed the following two hypotheses: H11: Job stress negatively influences job satisfaction.H11-1: External job stress negatively influences job satisfaction. H11-2: Internal job stress negatively influences job satisfaction. H12: Job stress significantly influences job performance. H12-1: External job stress significantly influences job performance. H12-2: Internal job stress significantly influences job performance. From H1 to H12, this study constructed an integrated model of job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job performance, as shown in Figure 1. Data collection Taipei City is the largest international city in Taiwan, and it has numerous international chain hotels.This study treated employees of well-known hotels and hospitality companies in Taipei City as its subjects. From February 1 to April 15, 2010, the researcher targeted 13 well-known hospitality companies (including Grand Hyatt, The Westin Taipei, Howard Hotel, Grand Formosa Regent, Royal Hotel, K-Hotel, The Grand Hotel, Caesar Park Hotel, Landis Hotel, Ambassador Hotel, La Marche, Wang Steak and Tasty) and conducted a survey on their employees using stratified sampling. There were 50 questionnaires distributed to each hotel or restaurant.A total of 650 questionnaires were distributed with 604 valid returns; the valid return rate was 92. 92%. Measurement The questionnaire content included job performanc e, job satisfaction, leadership (transformational and transactional), internal marketing, organizational commitment, empowerment and job stress (external and internal stress). The operational definitions of the construct items are shown in Table 1. This study conducted the survey using a closed questionnaire, and the participants were anonymous.A five-point Likert scale from â€Å"strongly disagree† to â€Å"strongly agree† was used. According to result of 50 pretest questionnaires, Cronbach’s of the constructs were above 0. 7, indicating a high degree of consistency in the constructs of the questionnaire. Statistical methods The study first applied SPSS version 12. 0 to process the descriptive statistic analysis, reliability analysis and related analysis on the effective questionnaires, and understand the sample structure and the internal consistency and relation between various variables.Second, this study assessed the properties of measurement scales for conv ergent validity and discriminant validity, and constructed composite reliability by Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) using maximum likelihood to estimate parameters. Finally, it applied Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to verify the path relationship of the research model, and applied LISREL 8. 70 software as the SEM analysis tool. RESULTS Profile of the respondents This study targeted hospitality industry employees in Taipei 4124 Afr. J. Bus. Manage.External job stress Internal job stress Empowerment Job satisfaction Job performance Internal marketing Organizational commitment Leadership Figure 1. Research framework. Taipei, Taiwan as subjects and successfully collected 604 valid questionnaires. Subsequently, the study applied the frequency distribution table to show the sample characteristics of this study. The sample structure attribute distribution is shown in Table 2. As shown in Table 2, there are more female employees (53. 6%) and most of the subjects are 21 to 30 years o ld (49. %), followed by below 20 years old (42. 1%). Most of the subjects have a college degree or above (81. 0%), and most have worked for 1 to 5 years (52. 5%). In addition, most of the subjects are part-time employees (70. 2%). The structure of the samples is similar to the structure of the human resources of the hospitality industry in Taiwan as investigated by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, Executive Yuan (2009). In the hospitality industry, most employees have worked for 1 to 5 ears, are young, and have a senior high school, vocational school or college educational level. Descriptive statistics, reliability and validity analysis Analysis of descriptive statistics According to Table 3, the employees’ perceived internal marketing degree was only slightly higher than ordinary (median = 3). As to the leadership, the transformational leadership degree was higher and the transactional leadership degree was lower. The employees’ perceived competency empowerment was higher and their decisionmaking empowerment was lower.The employees’ external job stress was higher and internal job stress was lower. The employees’ job satisfaction with the perceived relationship with colleagues was higher, and their satisfaction with wages, welfare, promotions and growth was significantly lower. As to organizational commitment, the effort commitment was higher whereas retention commitment was lower. As to job performance, hospitality industry employees’ job performance with their perceived efficiency and efficacy was higher but their job quality was lower.Reliability and validity analyses In accordance with accepted practice (Anderson and Gerbing, 1988; Fornell and Larcker, 1981), this study assessed the properties of measurement scales for convergent validity and discriminant validity, and construct Composite Reliability (CR) (that is, construct reliability). Table 3 lists the measurement items of the construct sc ales, standardized coefficient loadings of the confirmatory factor analysis results, construct CR and AVE (Average Variance Extracted) for each multi-item construct in our research model.The measurement model of this study provided a good overall fit with the 2 data (GFI and AGFI 0. 85, CFI, NFI and NNFI;0. 9, ? / d. f ;3, RMR and RMSEA 0. 08). Composite reliability for all constructs in our research model were more than 0. 7, respectively. In general, the measurement scales used in this study were found to be reliable. The AVE for all constructs were more than 0. 5, respectively, all Tsai et al. 4125 Table 1. Operational definitions. Constructs Internal marketing Definitions Employees’ evaluation on reward system, internal communication, training and development.Leadership is divided into transformational and transactional leadership and are defined thus: (1)Transformational leadership: In order to meet employees’ demands, leaders care and encourage employees, includi ng ideal traits, ideal behavior, encouragement of inspiration, stimulation of wisdom and individual care. (2) Transactional leadership: the relationship between leaders and subordinates is based on exchange, mutual benefit, fairness degree of contribution and return, including contingent rewards and active and passive exceptional management. Managers empower employees to make daily decisions.It is the degree of employees’ perceived empowerment, including meaning, ability, self-decision-making and influence. Incompatibility between individual ability and environment. It includes external job stress (such as workload, performance stress and job objective loads) and internal job stress (including lack of participation in job decision-making, without supervisory support, health advantages after changing jobs and tension). A person identifies with the organizational goals and values and internalizes them to show positive and active intention, including effort commitment, value com mitment and retention commitment.Degrees (including efficiency, efficacy and quality) of employees’ accomplishment of organizational goals. Source Rafiq and Ahmed (1993) Ahmed et al. (2003) Leadership Bass and Avolio (1997) Empowerment Spreitzer (1995) Job stress Blau (1994) Organizational commitment Porter et al. (1974), Brooke et al. (1988) Borman and Motowidlo (1993); Shore and Thornton III (1986) Lee et al. (1999) Job performance exceeding the benchmark of 0. 50 for convergent validity (Fornell and Larcker, 1981).Discriminant validity is established if the AVE is larger than the Squared Multiple Correlation (SMC) coefficients between constructs (Fornell and Larcker, 1981). Our results demonstrate that the AVE values for all constructs were more than SMC coefficients in Table 4. This result indicates sufficient discriminant validity for all constructs in this study. Analysis and hypothesis testing Path analysis of research model According to the reliability and validity an alysis above, the model of this study involved convergent validity, discriminant validity and internal consistency.Thus, this study validated the path relationships of the model using SEM. First of all, according to model fit analysis, the fit measures were acceptable (GFI, AGFI ; 0. 85, CFI, NFI, IFI 2 ; 0. 9, RMR and RMSEA; 0. 08 and ? /d. f ; 3). In 2 the research model, the R of job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job performance were respectively 0. 65, 0. 75 and 0. 72, which were all above 60%. Thus, the overall research model revealed the relative explained power. Regarding the causal relationships among latent variables of 4126 Afr. J. Bus. Manage. Table 2.Profile of the respondents (n=604). Background variable Gender Male Female Age Below 20 years old 21 – 30 years old 31 years old Educational level Below senior high and vocational school Above college Frequency Percentage Background variable Seniority 280 46. 4 Below 1 year 324 53. 6 1 – 5 years A bove 6 years 254 300 50 42. 1 49. 7 8. 3 Position High and medium level supervisors Basic level supervisors Basic level employees (full-time) Part-time employees Frequency Percentage 255 317 62 37. 3 52. 5 10. 2 26 42 112 424 4. 3 7. 0 18. 5 70. 2 115 489 19. 0 81. 0 Table 3.Measurement scales and properties. Constructs Internal marketing Variables Reward system Internal communication Training and development Transformational leadership Transactional Leadership Meaning Ability Self decision-making Influence Job loading Performance stress Job objectives Lack of participation in decision-making Without supervisors’ support Influence of job on health Tension Salary and welfare Promotion and growth Job content Relationship with colleagues Relationship with supervisors Value commitment Effort commitment Retention commitment Efficiency Efficacy Quality Mean (S.D. ) 3. 38 (0. 81) 3. 44 (0. 77) 3. 43 (0. 77) 3. 51 (0. 77) 3. 34 (0. 84) 3. 38 (0. 89) 3. 53 (0. 89) 3. 36 (0. 90) 3. 13 (0. 89) 3. 22 (0. 85) 3. 17 (0. 88) 3. 12 (0. 82) 3. 01(0. 90) 2. 79 (0. 95) 3. 29 (0. 97) 2. 93 (0. 99) 3. 04 (0. 93) 3. 16 (0. 73) 3. 39 (0. 83) 3. 56 (0. 85) 3. 32 (0. 90) 3. 39 (0. 87) 3. 79 (0. 87) 3. 27 (0. 94) 3. 54 (0. 84) 3. 60 (0. 82) 3. 41 (0. 80) Loading 0. 79 0. 85 0. 78 0. 87 0. 73 0. 81 0. 75 0. 64 0. 60 0. 81 0. 83 0. 81 0. 65 0. 76 0. 67 0. 79 0. 60 0. 81 0. 71 0. 66 0. 75 0. 75 0. 71 0. 74 0. 82 0. 84 0. 70 CR 0. 85 AVE 0. 65 Leadership 0. 78 . 64 Empowerment 0. 79 0. 50 External job stress 0. 86 0. 67 Internal job stress 0. 81 0. 52 Job satisfaction 0. 83 0. 50 Organizational commitment 0. 78 0. 54 Job performance 0. 83 0. 62 X2/d. f 2. 78, GFI = 0. 92, AGFI = 0. 85, CFI = 0. 96, NFI = 0. 95, NNFI = 0. 95, RMR = 0. 074, RMSEA = 0. 08. Tsai et al. 4127 latent variables of the research model, ? is the standardized path coefficient representing the direct effect among latent variables. A higher value indicates a stronger path relationship. According to the result of path analysis (Figure 2), organizational commitment (? 0. 70, P;0. 001) and external job stress (? =0. 10, P;0. 05) were shown to positively and significantly influence hospitality industry employees’ job performance. Organizational commitment was the most influential on job performance. Influences of job satisfaction (? =0. 09, P;0. 05), internal job stress (? =-0. 02, P;0. 05) and leadership (? =-0. 03, P;0. 05) on job performance were insignificant. Therefore, the higher the organizational commitment and external job stress, the better the employees’ job performance.On the contrary, job satisfaction did not directly influence hospitality industry employees’ job performance, and would only influence the employees’ job performance by organizational commitment. Therefore, in order to enhance hospitality industry employees’ job performance, it is critical to enhance employees’ organizational commitment. In addition, regarding the variables of organizational commitment, empowerment (? = 0. 5, P;0. 001), leadership (? = 0. 36, P;0. 001) and job satisfaction (? =0. 24, P;0. 01) were shown to positively and significantly influence organizational commitment.However, the influence of internal marketing (? = 0. 07, P;0. 05) on organizational commitment was insignificant. It indicates that the higher the empowerment, leadership evaluation and job satisfaction, the higher hospitality industry employees’ loyalty to the organization. Finally, regarding the variables of job satisfaction, empowerment (? = 0. 17, P;0. 01), internal marketing (? = 0. 45, P;0. 001) and leadership (? = 0. 21, P;0. 01) were shown to significantly and positively influence hospitality industry employees’ job satisfaction. Internal marketing is the key factor which enhances employees’ job satisfaction.Internal job stress (? = -0. 19, P;0. 001) significantly and negatively influenced job satisfaction. However, external job stress (? =0. 06, P;0. 05) did not significantly influence job satisfaction. It indicates that the higher the empowerment, the higher internal marketing. As the leadership is more significant and the internal job stress is less, the employees’ job satisfaction is higher. Hypothesis testing According to the above analytical result, this study reorganized path coefficient and the results of hypothesis testing, as shown in Table 5.Analysis of overall effects This study further analyzed the total influences of exogenous variables on dependent variables, and the result is shown in Table 6. It indicates that the most influential exogenous variables of job satisfaction are in this order: internal marketing, leadership and internal job stress. Internal job stress revealed a negative effect. The key exogenous variables of organizational commitment were the same as those for job performance: the first were empowerment, followed by leadership and internal marketing.Analysis of the difference of sampl es with different characteristics This study probed into the difference of latent variables of hospitality industry employees with different attributes (example, gender, age, educational level, seniority and position) using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) as the criterion for improving human resource strategies in the hospitality industry. According to the analytical result shown in Table 7, as to gender, the means of different constructs did not reveal significant differences (p;0. 05).As to age, older employees tended to perceive internal marketing, leadership, empowerment, organizational commitment and job performance higher. Regarding educational level, employees with a higher educational level had significantly more internal job stress than those with a lower educational level. As to perceive internal marketing, leadership, empowerment, job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job performance, employees with a lower educational level revealed a significantly higher degree than those with a higher educational level. As to seniority, only perceived empowerment revealed a significant difference.Employees with higher seniority tended to perceive empowerment higher. Regarding positions, part-time employees’ external job stress, empowerment, internal marketing, leadership, organizational commitment and job performance were significantly lower than other fulltime employees and supervisors. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION The influence of service industry employees’ performance on customer satisfaction and corporate operational performance has been broadly discussed and validated in past research (Tansuhaj et al. , 1988; Bitner, 1995; Chowdhary, 2003).However, in comparison to employees in other service industries, those in the hospitality industry have long working hours and low incomes. Thus, the employees have low employment intentions and a high turnover rate (Kao and Lin, 2004). Therefore, how to effectively enhance employee satisfaction, organizational commitment and job performance is a critical issue in hospitality industry management. This study combined exogenous variables, such as internal marketing, leadership, empowerment and job stress, and proposed an integrated model of hospitality industry employees’ job satisfaction, organizational commitment 128 Afr. J. Bus. Manage. Table 4. Discriminant validity of each construct. Internal marketing Internal marketing Leadership Empowerment External stress Internal stress Job satisfaction Organizational commitment Job performance a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h Leadership 0. 64 0. 15 0. 00 0. 04 0. 30 0. 33 0. 18 b Empowerment External stress Internal stress Job satisfaction Organizational commitment Job performance 0. 65 0. 42 0. 24 0. 01 0. 03 0. 39 0. 31 0. 18 a 0. 50 0. 01 0. 01 0. 21 0. 28 0. 30 c 0. 67 0. 26 0. 00 0. 01 0. 01 d 0. 52 0. 08 0. 02 0. 02 e 0. 50 0. 34 0. 4 f 0. 54 0. 30 g 0. 62 h represent the AVE of each construct. Other numbers represent the SMC coefficie nts between constructs. External job stress Internal job stress 0. 06 -0. 19*** Empowerment 0. 17** 0. 45*** Job satisfaction 0. 21** 0. 24** -0. 02 0. 09 0. 70*** 0. 1* Job performance -0. 03 Internal marketing 0. 07 0. 50*** Organizational commitment 0. 36*** Leadership Figure 2. Path analysis of the research model. *p;0. 05; **p;0. 01; ***p;0. 001. Tsai et al. 4129 Table 5. Path coefficients of SEM analysis and results of hypothesis testing.Hypothesis and path H1 Job satisfaction organizational commitment H2 Job satisfaction job performance H3 Organizational commitment job performance H4 Internal marketing job satisfaction H5 Internal marketing organizational commitment H6 Leadership organizational commitment H7 Leadership job satisfaction H8 Leadership job performance H9 Empowerment job satisfaction H10 Empowerment organizational commitment H11-1 External job stress job satisfaction H11-2 Internal job stress job satisfaction H12-1 External job stress job performance H12-2 Intern al job stress job performance * p;0. 5; ** p;0. 01; *** p;0. 001. Path coefficients 0. 24** 0. 09 0. 70*** 0. 45*** 0. 07 0. 36*** 0. 21** -0. 03 0. 17** 0. 50*** 0. 06 -0. 19*** 0. 1* -0. 02 Hypothesis testing Support Not support Support Support Not support Support Support Not support Support Support Not support Support Support Not support Table 6. Overall effects of exogenous variables.Path Empowerment job satisfaction Internal marketing job satisfaction Leadership job satisfaction External job stress job satisfaction Internal job stress job satisfaction Empowerment organizational commitment Internal marketing organizational commitment Leadership organizational commitment External job stress organizational commitment Internal job stress organizational commitment Empowerment job performance Internal marketing job performance Leadership job performance External job stress job performance Internal job stress job performance Overall effects 0. 7 0. 45 0. 21 0. 06 -0. 19 0. 541 0. 178 0. 410 0. 014 -0. 046 0. 394 0. 165 0. 306 0. 115 -0. 069 4130 Afr. J. Bus. Manage. Table 7. Analysis of the mean difference of employees with different attributes. Organizational commitment Empowerment Internal stress Attributes Gender Male Female F value Below 20 years old 21-30 years old Above 31 years old F value Below senior high school Above college F value Below 1 year 1 – 5 years Above 6 years F value High and medium level supervisors Basic level supervisors Basic level employees Part-time employees F valueCategory 3. 430 3. 407 0. 168 3. 471 3. 346 3. 578 3. 817* 3. 560 3. 385 6. 107* 3. 496 3. 369 3. 383 2. 350 3. 386 3. 544 3. 567 3. 368 3. 024* 3. 416 3. 428 0. 044 3. 474 3. 342 3. 646 4. 868** 3. 597 3. 381 8. 167** 3. 488 3. 366 3. 469 1. 987 3. 467 3. 585 3. 558 3. 368 2. 814* 3. 405 3. 303 3. 272 3. 336 3. 318 3. 615 4. 089* 3. 489 3. 317 5. 802* 3. 266 3. 356 3. 625 6. 699*** 3. 596 3. 637 3. 493 3. 268 7. 289*** 3. 214 3. 125 2. 156 3. 182 3. 118 3. 373 2. 6 03 3. 229 3. 151 0. 997 3. 130 3. 164 3. 306 1. 343 3. 423 3. 365 3. 92 3. 097 4. 299** 3. 029 2. 989 0. 456 3. 018 2. 994 3. 035 0. 115 2. 880 3. 037 4. 513* 2. 969 3. 023 3. 069 0. 627 2. 981 3. 065 2. 984 3. 009 0. 144 3. 279 3. 309 0. 328 3. 341 3. 236 3. 412 2. 732 3. 401 3. 270 3. 895* 3. 338 3. 275 3. 235 0. 992 3. 250 3. 338 3. 388 3. 268 1. 137 3. 461 3. 504 0. 503 3. 495 3. 422 3. 800 5. 571** 3. 652 3. 444 7. 223** 3. 499 3. 440 3. 656 2. 244 3. 744 3. 841 3. 708 3. 373 11. 177*** 3. 519 3. 510 0. 023 3. 591 3. 412 3. 740 7. 354*** 3. 661 3. 480 6. 196* 3. 489 3. 506 3. 651 1. 330 3. 615 3. 46 3. 598 3. 463 3. 000* Age Educational level Seniority Position * p;0. 05; ** p;0. 01; *** p;0. 001 Job performance Job satisfaction Leadership Internal marketing External stress Tsai et al. 4131 organizational commitment and job performance. In the 2 model, the explained power (R ) of the exogenous variables on endogenous variables such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job performance was above 50%, indicating that the relation model constructed by this study revealed positive prediction validity.In the relationship between employees’ job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job performance, this study found that hospitality industry employees’ job satisfaction directly and positively influences organizational commitment. The results meet the statement that service industry employees’ satisfaction can enhance employees’ organizational commitment (Testa, 2001; Slattery and Selvarajan, 2005; Yiing and Ahmad, 2009). However, job satisfaction does not directly influence hospitality industry employees’ job performance. This finding is different from the research results of other scholars (Babin and Boles, 1998; Bernhardt et al. 2000; Van Scotter, 2000; Koys, 2003; Chen and Silverthorne, 2005). In addition, organizational commitment directly and positively influences hospitality industry employees’ j ob performance. The result demonstrates that organizational commitment can enhance employees’ job performance (Huber, 1981; Mowday et al. , 1982; Gregson, 1992; Powell, 2000). Based on the above findings, although hospitality industry employees’ job satisfaction does not directly influence job performance, it enhances their job performance through organizational commitment. Therefore, there is n indirect relationship between job satisfaction and hospitality industry employees’ job performance. Organizational commitment is the moderator. â€Å"In practice, hospitality industry employees have low income,† cohesion and loyalty upon hospitality industry employees’ job satisfaction will further enhance job performance. Regarding the factors of job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job performance, this study found that hospitality industry employees’ positive perception of internal marketing, leadership and empowerment strengthen their job satisfaction.Internal marketing is the major factor of hospitality industry employees’ job satisfaction, followed by leadership, internal job stress and empowerment. The findings meet other scholars’ suggestions that leadership (Yammarino and Dubinsky, 1994), job stress (Jamal, 1900; Jex, 1998; Chen and Silverthorne, 2005), empowerment (Bowen and Lawler III, 1992; Fulford and Enz, 1995; Dickson and Lorenz, 2009) and internal marketing (Rafiq and Ahmed, 2000; Hwang and Chi, 2005; Gounaris, 2008) significantly affect service industry employees’ satisfaction. In practice, employee training can give them greater problem-solving abilities and encourage employees and care about employees can give them pleasant working environment. The internal marketing will enhance cohesion and loyalty of employees and will further enhance job performance of employees. † Based on the above, in order to enhance employees’ job satisfaction, the hospitality industry sho uld first make efforts on internal marketing and satisfy employees’ demands and desires by reinforcing internal communication, implementing reward systems, increasing educational training and reducing employees’ errors at work.Supervisors’ leadership is also a key factor which enhances hospitality industry employees’ job satisfaction. Therefore, the employees’ perceived supervisors’ leadership is an important issue for the hospitality industry to enhance job satisfaction. In hospitality service, there are usually a number of unexpected problems for customers and employees. Thus, sufficient empowerment is critical. The employees can not only solve problems immediately, but also be encouraged. Regarding employees’ organizational commitment, it is influenced by employees’ job satisfaction.Hospitality industry employees’ positive perception of empowerment and leadership enhance employees’ organizational commitment. Th is finding meets the findings of other service industries (Morris and Sherman, 1981; Burton et al. , 2002; Avolio et al. , 2004; Lee et al. , 2006; Chen et al. , 2008). â€Å"In practice, supervisors should sufficiently empower their employees according to different jobs and profession. Thus, employees would properly demonstrate their competency and be more autonomic at work and more flexible when dealing with emergencies.This will enhance cohesion and loyalty of employees. † However, internal marketing does not significantly influence employees’ organizational commitment. This finding is different from the results of other service industries (Tansuhaj et al. , 1991; Tansuhaj et al. , 1998; Naude et al. , 2003; Chang and Chang, 2007). However, this study also found that empowerment, leadership and internal marketing increase employees’ organizational commitment through job satisfaction, suggesting that internal marketing indirectly influences organizational comm itment.Based on the above, in order to enhance employees’ organizational commitment, sufficient empowerment is the key strategy for the hospitality industry. Through empowerment, hospitality industry employees recognize value and trust from the organization, and their identification with the organization would be enhanced. However, the influence of supervisors’ leadership on organizational commitment is only second to empowerment; thus, employees’ perceived supervisors’ leadership is the critical measure to enhance employees’ organizational commitment.The influence of internal marketing on organizational commitment is lower than empowerment and leadership; however, it relatively increases hospitality industry employees’ organizational commitment. In terms of the influences of job stress on job satisfaction and job performance, this study found that internal stress and external stress reveal different effects. Internal job stress negatively i nfluences hospitality industry employees’ job satisfaction. This result meets the findings related to other service industries. Job stress reduces employees’ job satisfaction (Jamal, 1990; Borg and 4132Afr. J. Bus. Manage. and Riding, 1993; Jex, 1998; Chiu et al. , 2005; Chen and Silverthorne, 2005). For this study, it is possibly because most hospitality industry employees have a heavy workload. When in a stressful work place over a long term, they tend to have internal pressure, such as tension and being without supervisory support. Thus, how to reduce employees’ internal job stress is an important issue for the hospitality industry. In addition, although external job stress will not influence job satisfaction, it is a key factor for enhancing hospitality industry employees’ job performance.The results meet the statement that proper job stress might enhance employees’ job performance (Williams and Cooper, 2002; Ouyang, 2009). Therefore, although the construction of a proper workload and performance objectives will result in some external job pressure for employees, it is relatively effective for enhancing job performance. Regarding the overall effect, empowerment is the most critical factor of hospitality industry employees’ organizational commitment and job performance, followed by leadership and internal marketing.Internal marketing is the most important factor which enhances hospitality industry employees’ job satisfaction, followed by leadership and empowerment. In addition, internal job stress negatively influences employees’ job satisfaction, and external job stress positively affect employees’ job performance. According to the above results, empowerment, leadership, internal marketing, external and internal job stress influence job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job performance differently.Therefore, it is necessary to consider focusing on the types of employees that can enhan ce (or reduce) the exogenous variables in order to increase hospitality industry employees’ job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job performance. Thus, this study further conducted difference analysis using attributes of the subjects, and found that younger parttime employees with lower seniority and a higher educational level revealed a lower perceived empowerment degree.Younger part-time employees with a higher educational level have a lower degree of perceived leadership, and younger part-time employees with a higher educational level have a lower degree of perceived internal marketing. Thus, in order to enhance hospitality industry employees’ overall degree of perceived empowerment, leadership and internal marketing, managers should first target younger part-time employees with a higher educational level. In addition, employees with a higher educational level perceive relatively more internal job stress, but part-time employees’ xternal job stress is relatively less. The results can serve as references for human resource management and job distribution. MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS According to the research findings, hospitality industry employees’ job satisfaction positively influences organizational commitment. However, many employees are unsatisfied with their wages, welfare, promotion and growth. Thus, it is suggested that the hospitality industry should re-evaluate the fairness of wages and benefits and further enhance promotion and growth systems in the organization in order to strengthen employee satisfaction.In addition, organizational commitment is the most critical factor to enhance job performance. Job satisfaction should enhance job performance only through organizational commitment. It indicates that the enhancement of organizational commitment is an important strategy of human resource management in the hospitality industry. It should particularly allow employees to accept organizational objectives, values an d beliefs, and enhance the employees’ loyalty and devotion.Empowerment (in particular) and leadership are key factors for increasing hospitality industry employees’ organizational commitment. In addition, internal marketing is the most important factor to enhance hospitality industry employees’ job satisfaction, followed by leadership and empowerment. This study suggests that hospitality industry supervisors should sufficiently empower their employees according to different jobs and profession. Thus, employees would properly demonstrate their competency, and be more autonomic at work and more flexible when dealing with emergencies.As to younger part-time employees with lower seniority and a higher educational level, it is suggested to enhance educational training and flexibility, giving them greater problem-solving abilities and sufficient empowerment. In addition, this study suggests supervisors to select transformational leadership or transactional leadership according to the attributes of the employees’ jobs so that employees, particularly younger part-time ones with a higher educational level, will perceive their supervisors’

An Archery Test Rig Made Using Computer Aided Design

University Malaysia Pahang Faculty Of Mechanical Engineering Project Work Report Subject : Computer Aided Design Code : Bmm2613 Lecturer : Mohd Azrul Hisham Bin Mohd Adib [email  protected] Edu. My Session/Semester : 2012/2013 Semester 1 Groupname : Group 3 ‘the Expendables' Project Submission Date : (Week 13) Report Due Date : (Week 13) Group Members : Siti Nursoleha Binti Mohd Rosdima12060 Poo Suk Sengma11067 Amirah Fatin Binti Amranma12057 Nur Shamimi Binti Shahirolmc12033 Lee Sing Soonmg11008 Subject : Computer Aided Design Code : Bmm2613 Lecturer : Mohd Azrul Hisham Bin Mohd Adib [email  protected] Edu. My Session/Semester : 2012/2013 Semester 1 Groupname : Group 3 ‘the Expendables' Project Submission Date : (Week 13) Report Due Date : (Week 13) Group Members : Siti Nursoleha Binti Mohd Rosdima12060 Poo Suk Sengma11067 Amirah Fatin Binti Amranma12057 Nur Shamimi Binti Shahirolmc12033 Lee Sing Soonmg11008 Lecturer’s Declaration We hereby declare that we have checked this project and in our opinion this project is satisfactory in terms of scope and quality for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering. Signature: Name of Supervisor: Mohd Azrul Hisham Bin Mohd Adib Position: Lecturer in Computer Aided Design of Universiti Malaysia Pahang Date: 11 December 2012 STUDENT’S DECLARATION We hereby declare that the work in this project work is our own except for quotations and summaries which have been duly acknowledged.The project work has not been accepted for any degree and is not concurrently submitted for award of other degree or even been used by other industrial or non-industrial company associated. Signature: Name: Siti Nursoleha Binti Mohd Rosdi ID Number: MA12060 Signature: Name: Poo Suk Seng ID Number: MA11067 Signature: Name: Amirah Fatin Binti Amran ID Number: MA12057 Signature: Name: Lee Sing Soon ID Number: MG11008 Signature: Name: Nur Shamimi Binti Shahirol ID Number: MC12 033 Date: 11 December 2012 ABSTRACT This project work is about creating a strong design based on the topic given to us which is archery test rig.To achieve the project objective, the test rig structure must be design and suitable for place the archery testing apparatus. We need to develop tools that can test the efficiency in archery equipment. The arrows were made of pine and consisted of a main shaft and about 15–20 centimeter (6–8 inches) long fore shaft with a flint point. This led the commercial development of new forms of bow including the modern recurve and compound bow. These modern forms are now dominant in modern Western archery while traditional bows are in a minority.In the 1980s, the skills of traditional archery were revived by American enthusiasts, and combined with the new scientific understanding. As we know, test rig machine that is use in industrial is very expensive in the market and some way need to be build by engine performance analysis based on functionality of power supply. Hence, our test rig been replaced with modern one where its materials very cheap and easy to find in market. Some sketches software had used like Solidworks to draft out the shape of our archery test rig.Materials selection also included in this designed process. Variable height and angle will be given at various speed by the stretch of bow’s string to see whether performance of archery will decrease or increase. Here, we can analyze at which arrow speed is the optimum of performance from this small mechanical. So, some losses like power and fuel can be decrease. AKNOWLEDGEMENT In the name of Allah, the Most Benevolent and the most Merciful. All the praise and blessing be upon Prophet Muhammad S. A. W.. Every sincere appreciation and gratitude is only to God.Only by His Kindness and Guidance that this project work report is finally completed . In preparing this report, we have in contact with many people and academicians. They had contributed to ward my understanding, thought, and also guidance. In particular, we wish to express my sincere appreciation to our main lecturer, Mr. Mohd Azrul Hisham Bin Mohd Adib for his valuable guidance, advice and continuous encouragement, constructive criticism and suggestion throughout this project. Without his continued support and interest, this project work would not have been the same as presented here.My sincere also extends to all our beloved family especially our parents, because if it’s not of their prayer and support we would not be here and done this project work. Moreover, we would like to thanks for all our colleagues and other who has provides assistance at various occasions. Their view tips are useful indeed in helping us to achieve doing this project. Because of their courageous, we can still stand to complete this project. Hence, to all people that direct or indirectly involve accomplishing our project that we were been sincerely thankful. TABLE OF CONTENTS PageSUPER VISOR’S DECLARATIONii STUDENT’S DECLARATIONiii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSv ABSTRACTvi TABLE OF CONTENTSvii CHAPTER 1INTRODUCTION I. Objective II. Literature Review III. Market Survey IV. Comparison between Our Design and Current Design CHAPTER 2METHODOLOGY I. Plan to Design the Product II. Conducting the Solidworks III. Gantt Chart IV. Flow Chat CHAPTER 3RESULTS AND DISCUSSION I. Isometric View II. Assembly Part III. Orthographic View i. 1st Angle ii. 3rd Angle IV. Sectional View V. Discussion of Every Part VI. New Design Part CHAPTER 5CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS REFERENCES APPENDICES I.Design Scratching LIST OF TABLES LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF ABBREVITIONS CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION I. OBJECTIVE i. To design small test rig for archery’s equipment game. ii. To test a performance of the test rig of the archery’s equipment efficiencies that is the bow and arrow. iii. Survey to mechanical engineering laboratories and also to shop market. iv. To design small mechanical te st rig using Solidworks software. v. To collect and select cheapest components and materials of test rig. vi. Trying to think of a cheap material and good quality to be used as the primary material in test rigs. vii.Design a multifunction test rig structure, means that, there are other components can be added in the future because of the extra spaces. viii. To conduct a simple analysis of the design of the test rig and to set up the full design in Solidworks. II. LITERATURE REVIEW i. INTRODUCTION This chapter will briefly explain about basic concept of archery’s test rig, foundation of test rig performance testing, the importance of test rig performance testing, development of test rig performance testing, principle of jack and a few related studies and journals that have been done by current researchers.All this information is important before furthering to the analysis and study later. ii. BASIC CONCEPT OF TEST RIG PERFORMANCE Archery test rig performance characteristics ar e convenient graphical presentation of archery test rig performance. They are constructed from the data obtained during actual test runs of the test rig and are particularly useful in comparing the performance of one bow and arrow with that of another. In this section some of the important performance characteristics of the test rig are discussed.It is to be noted that there is a certain speed, within the speed range of particular length of string stretched, at which force applied that is the length of string stretched will be the maximum. At this point, the maximum speed can therefore be exerted on the bow. For all practical purpose, the spring constant or bow capacity to do work also will maximum at this point. As the speed of the arrow is increased above this speed the quantity of the indicated time will decrease. However, the work output of the test rig increases with the speed due to longer length is executed per spring stretched.It should be note that the external air resistan ce will continue to increase with increased arrow speed until some point is reached where the air resistance almost can be negligible due to rapid movement of speed per second. Test rig are so designed that the maximum speed applied point is reached within various angle and height of the test rig. Increase in speed applied means that the increased targeting can be added per unit time increasing the work output. iii. FOUNDATION OF TEST RIG PERFORMANCE TESTINGTest rig performance is really a relative term. Normally it is represented by typical characteristic curves which are functions of testing at some variable of some situation and for our case is archery game. The term performance usually means how well a system designed is doing its job in relation to the input energy or how effectively it is provides useful work in relation to some other comparable industrial test rig machines. Most of the testing of test rig for their performance characteristics takes place under laboratory cond ition.The test rig is connected to a mechanical-based devices such as jack, spring and usual lift up mechanism by lifting the height of the steel in particular joint part. However, the performance characteristics of work, speed versus string stretched, degree of angle, height of devices of bow and arrow are recorded. There are so many types of industrial test rig used but using automation to quickly perform measurements and evaluate the test results. Principle that we used is mainly just simple mechanism that involve physics law and design it using Solidworks software.Our design of test rig operation is to allow the casing the arrow to swing freely with various variables that we figure out in this evaluation. The reaction string stretched various length, L, which is exactly equivalent to the speed measured on a level speed per time, ? , from the line section of the bow there are angle elevated, ?. The height of the test rig also can be organized. This restrains the attach casing of bow’s holder from revolving, or the speed and work would not be affected. Then, there are several factors that must considered in evaluating the performance of the test rig.Most of them are maximum work or speed available at each length string stretched within the useful particular of variable. iv. THE IMPORTANCE OF TEST RIG PERFORMANCE TESTING Today the most common power source is the well-known in industrial test rig machine. This type of test rig machine has been the choice due to efficient and accurate result in testing equipment for an example. For out invention may become natural choice due to low cost and portable properties. The portable characteristics shown may be easy because does not any electrical supply due to mechanical works only use in our test rig and easy to moves by just man-power.Industrial test rig machine as we know it today is not able to comply with future emission demands due to its massive cost and power used not very appropriate for some minority f ield. However, in the future manufactures must come up with new cost-efficient test rig technologies that still deliver the same or improved performance for customer satisfaction. III. MARKET SURVEY Test rig is an apparatus used for assessing the performance of a piece of mechanical or electrical equipment. In our case is to assessing the performance of archery’s equipment that is the bow and arrow.The experiment can be undergoing when we test how far the arrow can shoot in such length per time in particular length of string stretched. Example of test rig used in industrial field: * Aircraft Research Association – Wind Tunnel Testing Facility at Bedford, UK. Detail design for the upgrade of their existing transonic wind tunnel. * Rolls Royce – Aero Engine Test Facility at Derby, UK. Design, supply and site installation of a range of specialist fabricated gas catchers for use while testing jet engine reverse thrust. * Babcock Marine – Devonport Naval Docky ard at Plymouth, UK.Provision of test facilities to allow training of key personnel involved in the nuclear submarine decommissioning programmed. As an addition, from a long-term perspective, the most important sector linking Turkey to the global economy is manufacturing. The share of manufactured goods in the total exports of Turkey increased from 37% in 1980 to 93% in 2009. Increase in the volume of foreign trade between 2002-2008 is also remarkable. $87 billion volume of foreign trade in 2002 rose at an annual rate of 25%, to reach $334 billion in 2008, $243 billion in 2009.This shown that test rig machine is very important to test some equipment. In archery manufacturing, the efficiencies for the bow and arrow to working simultaneously to shoot the longest with accurate moment and high speed is required for an excellent product. Platts is a leading global provider of energy and metals information and the world’s foremost source of price assessments in the physical energy markets. Since 1909, Platts has enabled the markets to operate with transparency and efficiency, and helped traders, risk managers, analysts, and industry leaders make better trading and business decisions.Platts Report: The aluminum alloy market – strong but beset with uncertainty – examines in detail activity throughout the sector and beyond, in Europe, the US and Asia over the past few months and helps bring focus to the outlook of Q1 2012. Comparison of Al and steel Global Aluminum Market to Reach 71. 2 Million Tons by 2018, According to New Report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc. GIA announces the release of a comprehensive global report on the Aluminum markets. The global market for Aluminum is forecast to reach 71. 2 million tons by the year 2018.Major factors driving growth in the Aluminum market include increasing demand for the metal in developing countries, lower per capita consumption of Aluminum in emerging markets, increasing applications of Aluminum in various sectors, increasing regulations in the automotive sector that are driving use of Aluminum, and recovery in demand from end-use segments post-recession. Asia-Pacific represents the largest regional market for aluminum worldwide, as stated by the new market research report on Aluminum. China and India are emerging as the major drivers of global growth in consumption of aluminum.Europe represents the second largest regional market worldwide, followed by the US. Growth in the global aluminum market is projected to be driven by the Rest of World market, which includes the Middle East and Africa. The regional market is projected to post a compounded annual growth rate of 11. 1% during the analysis period. Extruded Products represents the largest market segment for aluminum. However, Rolled Products are projected to spearhead growth in the global aluminum market. Our suggestion is strongly to use Aluminium alloy as a material for our test rig. The characterized by a relatively low density (2. g/cm3 as compare to 7. 9g/cm3 for steel), high resistance to corrosion in some common environments. Our test rig is showing portable properties that allow this to be use even in hot field, including the ambient atmosphere it can resist form corrosive oxygen content in natural environment. Many of this alloys are easily in the process of fabrication virtue to high ductility. The mechanical strength of aluminium can may be enhanced by cold work and by alloying with another metal or non-metal. Aluminum Alloy Product Description Specifications: Tensile Strength(psi): 83000 Yield Strength(psi): 72000Elongation(%2†³): 11 Hardness: 158 IV. COMPARISON BETWEEN OUR DESIGN AND CURRENT DESIGN In Figure above that is the advance industrial test rig machine for testing the car door system. Basically our design is inspired by above design but more less cost and in simplify form. We eventually make a portable test rig that can be brought to any places. Testing facilities and test r igs come in many forms and are used within a broad spectrum of industries. They perform a variety of key functions from product validation through to the training and development of operators. The benefits from our design of test rig: ) The material used is easy to find in market and very popular in making of industrial machine. We are suggesting aluminum alloy due to high strength that is more mechanical properties shown in steel. b) Complete bespoke design and supply of unique test rigs to suit individual archery player specified requirements. c) Modification and upgrades to existing test facilities. d) Specialist components for integration into new test equipment. e) Shop assembly and proving of specific test rigs. f) In recent years we could have successfully completed a number of high profile projects involving test equipment. g) Globalization. ) Ongoing liberalization of international financial and commercial system. i) Foreign investors’ being directed to the fields ac celerating technological-social dynamics in archery. j) Rapid development and increase in effective use of information technologies and innovation. k) Technological developments. l) Increase in the size and purchasing capacity of domestic market. m) Richness of renewable and alternative energy sources. n) Development of competitive new business models. o) Development of institutionalization and corporation culture. p) Coming into prominence of the partnerships between countries. ) Increasing importance of added value product production, quality and efficiency of archery’s bow and arrow. r) Increasing of the information based (producing and utilizing information) competitive advantage. s) Increasing demand for new, high-quality and different products in the global markets with low cost. t) Contribution of the positive developments related to environment and climate changes to the competitiveness. CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY I. PLAN TO DESIGN THE PRODUCT The actual construction was v ery similar to the preliminary design. The end test rig, when fully assembled.The mechanism is the height can be change by requirement of user. There are two blocks that are used for joints of supporting another holder of the arrow as well as the traction rope length u bow in the spring in the valve use to draw and release the bow string when want shoot. The angle of the bow can also be changed by using the ball and socket as our knees. There is another part that supports the ball and socket is attached to one of the blocks that support the horizontal position of the bow string pullers. The height of this test rig can be changed under by jack at the bottom part of the test rig.Jack with rotor will be rolled over by man-power only and it will lift the top part of the test rig. In the preliminary design two supporter were described below in our drawing, master spring switch length and a socket and ball joint in that can joint the bow with the spring switch length . In the actual desig n, these 2 parts were combined into a single part switch that also has a pull/push holder- feature. Many features were added to aid in the setup and tear down of the test stand. The upper part and the lower part both have straight plane that come in contact with the base, and at each of these points there is a single ? n bolt. At the base of each upper 2 block supporter and after the jack assembly there are plane quick that can be disconnects which allow them to be separated from the rest of the structure. The electrical connection is not exist at all in this test rig. All these features allow for the test stand to be assembled and disassembled in approximately 10 minutes. Actual Test Rig Picture shown below: Door testing for its joints and locking setup Testing. Small testing setup installed on seats for complete cycle testing of all for doors of the car.Calculation of door closing and opening speed with the accurate door displacement by servomotor. Reports and data can be visualiz ed on remote PC outside Car. The torsion fatigue test rig (TFTR) was constructed to experimentally characterize the fatigue behaviour of materials that fail due to oscillating shear stresses. It consists of a base, hydraulic rotary actuator, and torque cell. Given the horizontal configuration of the rig, light weight mechanical adapters were designed to interface with the torsion bar specimens to minimize the interference of bending moments on the tests results.The adapters are essentially custom designed collet fixtures with base flanges for mounting, and they use off-the-shelf collets and clamping nuts to retain the specimen and transmit torque. Tests are generally carried out in torque controlled mode and the prescribed torque levels/amplitudes are controlled through commercial software. In this case of our test rig, the speed can be evaluated by the length of string stretched in such angle specified. The height also can be determined in such way by jack illustrated mechanism.Our design of test rig operation is to allow the casing the arrow to swing freely with various variables that we figure out in this evaluation. The reaction string stretched various length, L, which is exactly equivalent to the speed measured on a level speed per time, ? , from the line section of the bow there are angle elevated, ?. The height of the test rig also can be organized. This restrains the attach casing of bow’s holder from revolving, or the speed and work would not be affected. Then, there are several factors that must considered in evaluating the performance of the test rig.Most of them are maximum work or speed available at each length string stretched within the useful particular of variable. V. FLOW CHART Report is for draft and design. While Presentation is about the whole work Report is for draft and design. While Presentation is about the whole work List the needed material List the needed material Study and gather information Study and gather information Des ign & Sketching Concepts Design & Sketching Concepts YES YES NO NO MODIFICATION MODIFICATION SOLIDWORKS SOFTWARE SOLIDWORKS SOFTWARE FINISH FINISHPRESENTATION PRESENTATION FINAL REPORT FINAL REPORT FINAL DISCUSSION FINAL DISCUSSION ANALYSIS ANALYSIS BRIEF DISCUSSION BRIEF DISCUSSION MARKET SURVEY MARKET SURVEY DESIGN & SKECTHING DESIGN & SKECTHING LITERATURE STUDY LITERATURE STUDY START START VI. GANTT CHART ACTIVITIES| WEEK 1| WEEK 2| WEEK 3| WEEK 5| NOTES| Group division| v| | | | 3 Design must be prepared| Briefing about project design| v| | | | -| Re-do design and lecturer’s approval| | v| | | Get lecturer approval| Do some literature review| | v| | | -| Gather information| | v| | | -|Start doing Solidworks| | | v| | 3 part is separated| Progress report| | | v| | -| Make presentation slides| | | v| | Slides for final presentation| Finish final report| | | v| | -| Present project| | | | v| -| VII. CONDUCTING SOLID WORKS 3 persons assigned to handle this Solidworks. Our des ign is also divided into three phases. The first phase is the jack, the second phase is the ball and socket that is used to change the angle position of the bow, and the third phase is parking bow string, pull and position of the spring in the valve.Isometric view, orthographic view, and sectional view is provided in our report. Assembly part is use to sketch this design. There are about more than 15 parts that have been assembly together in this design. The overall view we put it together in isometric vie. All the dimensions is in mm with the scale of 1:50. Information about the assembly and its components is limited in Large Design Review. Most of the capabilities in Large Design Review mode are limited versions of existing SolidWorks capabilities. Snapshots are available only in Large Design Review.While an assembly is open in Large Design Review, it can make changes to its components. The uses Filter Modified Components to visually indicate which components have been modified. S elective Open and related tools are available on the Large Design Review tab of the CommandManager. These tools let to set some or all components to resolved or to lightweight. The Large Design Review tab of the CommandManager provides access to commands so can be use when open an assembly in Large Design Review mode. Parameters refer to constraints whose values determine the shape or geometry of the model or assembly.Parameters can be either numeric parameters, such as line lengths or circle diameters, or geometric parameters, such as tangent, parallel, concentric, horizontal or vertical. Numeric parameters can be associated with each other through the use of relations, which allows to capture design intent. Features refer to the building blocks of the part. They are the shapes and operations that construct the part. Shape-based features typically begin with a 2D or 3D sketch of shapes such as bosses, holes, slots, etc. This shape is then extruded or cut to add or remove material f rom the part.Operation-based features are not sketch-based, and include features such as fillets, chamfers, shells, applying draft to the faces of a part, etc. Building a model in SolidWorks usually starts with a 2D sketch (although 3D sketches are available for power users). The sketch consists of geometry such as points, lines, arcs, conics (except the hyperbola), and splines. Dimensions are added to the sketch to define the size and location of the geometry. Relations are used to define attributes such as tangency, parallelism, perpendicularity, and concentricity.The parametric nature of SolidWorks means that the dimensions and relations drive the geometry, not the other way around. The dimensions in the sketch can be controlled independently, or by relationships to other parameters inside or outside of the sketch. In an assembly, the analog to sketch relations are mates. Just as sketch relations define conditions such as tangency, parallelism, and concentricity with respect to s ketch geometry, assembly mates define equivalent relations with respect to the individual parts or components, allowing the easy construction of assemblies.SolidWorks also includes additional advanced mating features such as gear and cam follower mates, which allow modeled gear assemblies to accurately reproduce the rotational movement of an actual gear train. Finally, drawings can be created either from parts or assemblies. Views are automatically generated from the solid model, and notes, dimensions and tolerances. CHAPTER 3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS I. Isometric View II. Assembly Part III. Orthographic View i. 1st Angle ii. 3rd Angle IV. Sectional View V. Discussion of Every Part The body part is main part of the test rig. The body part is the support side of the test rig and as a connector.It holds the baton together with joint so that that joint clamp can hold it together stable. The joint is very important is in this test rig also because it is the main part that contains spring that will stretched inside it when baton is pulled by its holder that stuck the bow string in it. Joint clamp is functional in changing the position of the arrow angle. It can be measured 0o until 180o. This is may suitable for some player that plays with their bow arrow in such rare angle. The baton is part that joint in with the joint and the joint clamp. At the surface of the baton there is a hook that is used for the string to be put.The spring is used for the pulling the baton when want to launch the arrow in such speed and length the string being put in particular section hook. There are 4 section of hook that can be put the bow string. The base is eventually for the supporting the whole structure especially the jack. Link is used for linking with the hydraulic jack. Support part is for the hydraulic jack and as a base to put the body of the test rig. Connectors used in this test rig is just screw rod, side supporter screw, base screw, and long screw. This act as same functio n that is to connects part tightly. Free Body Diagram (FBD) VI. New Design PartSINGLE CAM TUNING: Arrow spine can affect the high/low ripping of the paper test for one-cam bows. In 2007 World Target Champion instructed us that weakspined arrow shafts out of his Mathews bow, the name of the bow will tend to tear nockhigh when paper testing. The stiffer spined shafts will tend to show a low nock tear through the paper. That’s one reason why some bow setups continue to tear nock high no matter where you adjust the nocking point location – the arrow is acting weak and needs to be switched for a stiffer shaft. This is why our test rig can produce many variable and can be added in improvement plan in future.ADJUSTING FOR LEFT AND RIGHT ARROW TEARS: Correcting arrow flight for nock-right and nockleft tearing traits through the paper is more difficult than correcting for up and down. An arrow tears left or right because its spine is not properly matched to the bow system. (Rem ember, we already eliminated arrow rest contact. ) These adjustments are numerous and don’t always get results if the arrow isn’t the proper spine or something major is wrong with the bow system. I remind you again that this is not a perfect world and you should not beat your head against the wall trying to get a perfect hole.Close is good especially if the vane slices through the paper are crisp and all test shots produce the same hole. A little high-left or a little high tear, less than a half inch from 8 yards, is very acceptable and tells you that the arrows are flying well. All that remains is to shoot for groups from some distance that matches the archer’s ability level. Our design that has 4 section of hook is very useful because force is very important in shooting the arrow. Furthermore, no power supply is used by our machine makes us tend to do it different section to differentiate how far can the arrow go when it is shoot form different section.CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS There is a significant volume of literature covering methodology and approaches to selecting indicators of sustainable development. There is certainly no shortage of suggested ‘criteria’ for indicators and it has been possible to combine the oft-quoted lists to form a comprehensive overview (box 3). Similarly, several engineers mutually advocate adopting a framework to provide a coherent, consistent and structured process to indicator selection. However, there is an apparent gap in the literature in terms of the actual application of indicators, successfully or otherwise.This suggests that more often than not the process of selecting indicators – from deciding which indicators to adopt, to how many and whether/ how to aggregate and communicate the results – can become so lengthy and complex that the implementation and reviewing of indicator data is never achieved. It seems all too easy to get hung-up on finding the ‘ perfect’ indicator, but as Bakkes (1997) describes, indicators compromise between relevance, scientific validity and measurability and will often have to be ‘optimally inaccurate’.Therefore, aspiring to achieve the best available indicator is far more efficient in practice. Whilst the process of selecting indicators is intrinsically important to successful implementation, and indeed a valuable learning experience in itself (Bell and Morse, 2003), it is important not to lose perspective. Indicators are not an end in themselves but a means for communication and to assist the policy and planning cycle. Bell and Morse (2003) explicitly argue that to date, very poor, if any relationships between indicators and policy change have been demonstrated.They quote Reid’s (1995 in Bell and Morse, 2003: 50) analysis of why: a lack of awareness of the issues; political unacceptability of many actions; opposition from entrenched interests; and inadequate institutional res ponses. Therefore, it is important to be aware of these potential barriers when designing indicators and to ensure that monitoring them is seen as an integral part of the planning cycle, rather than a routine data collection that is not part of the institution’s decision making and learning cycle; hence ensuring that â€Å"energy [is] directed towards achieving sustainability, not just measuring it† (DSCWG, 2001).Furthermore, the cyclical, ‘feedback’ nature of indicator selection and implementation should be upheld. Just as policy needs to react to indicator data, the indicators also need to be flexible to adjust to possible changes in policy priorities and objectives. Developing a reliable and useful set of indicators that truly reflect the multidimensional nature of sustainable development is clearly a complex task.However, â€Å"if sustainable development is one of the tourism industry’s major contemporary objectives, then the industry needs to be able to measure its performance and impacts in this area† (Ko, 2005:432); undertaking this process, through adopting a framework to selecting indicators and acting upon their results, is worth the time and effort required to get it right. The implementation of the Annotation project has clearly demonstrated the concepts underlying the system to be entirely feasible, with, of course, the previously mentioned alterations and reservations.The Moderation subsystem required the use of authentication methods, currently under investigation within the JISC project umbrella at this time, in order to be realistically implemented. Several authentication projects under development will soon become available; using any such suitable project, it is possible to enable an implementation of the moderation system in the real world. Amongst other applications, annotation could also be considered as searchable metadata. This would permit a wider reach for site or content searching mechanisms. During this roject, the idea was considered, but constraints due to the design made it impractical —the definition of the project stated clearly that, as a completely independent service, its existence or otherwise should not in any way influence the operation of the resource finder. As such, it would have been inappropriate to link the Resource Finder’s operation to the annotations. As an example scenario, one might imagine a researcher who reads a paper in a given context and, whilst annotating the document, drops a reference to several other resources r concepts. A researcher searching on one of these associated concepts may therefore be referred to this article as a consequence of the annotation; in this way, one might imagine that searching ’backwards’ from annotation information may provide, perhaps surprising, and perhaps useful associations. While doing this project we realize that potentially it came from us the developing our strength to become more knowledgeable in this real-life world. We are exposed to the market survey, the material used and the important thing is to design something.At last, to wrap up this conclusion with a question, introduced as a statement; the possibilities provided by the storage of annotation metadata are certainly wide enough. Annotation metadata alone is a potentially rich resource; when combined with other information, such as contextual background information, the possibilities are endless. Applying contextual information, for example, could help the sorting through search terms to locate more relevant resources. What other metadata exists that could contribute to the usefulness of an annotation? REFERENCESI. Global Industry Analysts, Inc. , (GIA) http://www. strategyr. com/Aluminum_Market_Report. asp II. â€Å"Commission on Growth and Development. 2007. â€Å"The Growth Report,† Washington, D. C. III. Rodrik, D. 2007. â€Å"What does China export? China and the World Economy IV. w ww. disability. wa. gov. au V. Learning Guide  © 2009 The University of Adelaide VI. DavyMarkham – Products – Test Rigs VII. NaRec – Wind Turbine Test Facility at Blyth, UK. Design study VIII. End of Project Report, by Gregory J. L. Tourte, UKOLN,The University of Bath, August 2003 IX.

New Jersey Associate degree nurses initiative to obtain Bachelor's Essay

New Jersey Associate degree nurses initiative to obtain Bachelor's degree within 10 years (BSN 2010) - Essay Example Today, a nurse's job is as important as that of a doctor's. One could say that nurses are the backbone of all hospital facilities. All hospitals across the world thrive on the skill and determination that they put in to help the sick or disabled. Health care today is advancing at a rapid rate and is getting quite complex. Studies have shown that a patient's outcome has improved in those cases where the patients were attended by nurses with advanced degrees. Also in 2003 it was published in the journal of the American Medical Association (Aiken, 2003) that a greater number of staff nurses with bachelor's degrees resulted in a decrease in patient mortality among surgical patients, improved patient outcomes and shorter lengths of stay.The National Advisory Council had submitted a report on "Nurse Education and Practice" to the U.S department of Health and Human Services. It recommended that by 2010 two thirds of the nation's basic workforce must hold a BSN. This was basically to meet the requirements of modern medicine. For example, in the 1960's a RN was expected to be familiar with about 600 drugs. Now there are over 13,000 drugs in the market. At the March 31, 2006 Annual Voting Business Meeting of NJSNA, held at the Tropicana Resort & Casino Hotel in Atlantic City NJ, a majority of members voted to adopt the amended resolution to acknowledge the importance of nursing's entry requirements, but, in addition, support legislation to require new RNs (those licensed after passage of a new law) to earn their BSN within 10 years (Aughenbaugh). Thus in order to meet the recommendation made by the National Advisory Council and the NJSNA, Senator Joseph Vitale has introduced a legislature that requires all future registered nurses to obtain a bachelors degree in nursing (BSN) within ten years of initial licensure. The clauses of this bill are applicable to only those nurses who are yet to take admission. As in those nurses who are already licensed and those students who have applied or are already enrolled in nursing school at the time of legislation will be exempted. In case a nurse is not able to obtain her BSN within the ten years she may apply for an extension from the New Jersey Board of Nursing. In order to become a nurse one can still enroll in associate degrees or diplomas in nur sing program, which will prepare them to take the NCLEX licensing exam. This is required to start functioning as a Registered Nurse. If the bills are signed into law, it will have a lasting impact on the professions of nursing. But there are a few concerns because of the shortage of faculty in nursing schools. Also the fates of ADN and diploma programs are uncertain. A major issue is the additional financial burden that nurses would have to face to obtain their BSN. But it is felt that given an option of nursing being a higher education profession more people would be willing to take up nursing as a serious career option. Although there may seem to be a few drawbacks, the benefits of this legislation are numerous since having a BSN not only increases a nurses pay but also gives better jobs and better career opportunities. The following are the benefits of furthering education for a nurse The courses in BSN or MSN will help a