Enabling adaptability in service aggregates using transparent shaping techniques

Distributed applications are exposed as reusable components that are dynamically discovered and integrated to create new applications. These new applications, in the form of aggregate services, are vulnerable to failure due to the autonomous and distributed nature of their integrated components. This vulnerability creates the need for adaptability in aggregate services. The need for adaptation is accentuated for complex long-running applications as is found in scientific Grid computing, where distributed computing nodes may participate to solve computation and data-intensive problems. Such applications integrate services for coordinated problem solving in areas such as Bioinformatics. For such applications, when a constituent service fails, the application fails, even though there are other nodes that can substitute for the failed service. This concern is not addressed in the specification of high-level composition languages such as that of the Business Process Execution Language (BPEL). We propose an approach to transparently autonomizing existing BPEL processes in order to make them modifiable at runtime and more resilient to the failures in their execution environment. By transparent introduction of adaptive behavior, adaptation preserves the original business logic of the aggregate service and does not tangle the code for adaptive behavior with that of the aggregate service. The major contributions of this dissertation are: first, we assessed the effectiveness of BPEL language support in developing adaptive mechanisms. As a result, we identified the strengths and limitations of BPEL and came up with strategies to address those limitations. Second, we developed a technique to enhance existing BPEL processes transparently in order to support dynamic adaptation. We proposed a framework which uses transparent shaping and generative programming to make BPEL processes adaptive. Third, we developed a technique to dynamically discover and bind to substitute services. Our technique was evaluated and the result showed that dynamic utilization of components improves the flexibility of adaptive BPEL processes. Fourth, we developed an extensible policy-based technique to specify how to handle exceptional behavior. We developed a generic component that introduces adaptive behavior for multiple BPEL processes. Fifth, we identify ways to apply our work to facilitate adaptability in composite Grid services.

A theory of constraints service systems improvement method: Case of the airline turnaround problem

This dissertation develops a process improvement method for service operations based on the Theory of Constraints (TOC), a management philosophy that has been shown to be effective in manufacturing for decreasing WIP and improving throughput. While TOC has enjoyed much attention and success in the manufacturing arena, its application to services in general has been limited. The contribution to industry and knowledge is a method for improving global performance measures based on TOC principles. The method proposed in this dissertation will be tested using discrete event simulation based on the scenario of the service factory of airline turnaround operations. To evaluate the method, a simulation model of aircraft turn operations of a U.S. based carrier was made and validated using actual data from airline operations. The model was then adjusted to reflect an application of the Theory of Constraints for determining how to deploy the scarce resource of ramp workers. The results indicate that, given slight modifications to TOC terminology and the development of a method for constraint identification, the Theory of Constraints can be applied with success to services. Bottlenecks in services must be defined as those processes for which the process rates and amount of work remaining are such that completing the process will not be possible without an increase in the process rate. The bottleneck ratio is used to determine to what degree a process is a constraint. Simulation results also suggest that redefining performance measures to reflect a global business perspective of reducing costs related to specific flights versus the operational local optimum approach of turning all aircraft quickly results in significant savings to the company. Savings to the annual operating costs of the airline were simulated to equal 30% of possible current expenses for misconnecting passengers with a modest increase in utilization of the workers through a more efficient heuristic of deploying them to the highest priority tasks. This dissertation contributes to the literature on service operations by describing a dynamic, adaptive dispatch approach to manage service factory operations similar to airline turnaround operations using the management philosophy of the Theory of Constraints.

Past, Present, and Future: The Food Service Industry and Its Changes

In the article - Past, Present, and Future: The Food Service Industry and Its Changes - by Brother Herman E. Zaccarelli, International Director, Restaurant, Hotel and Institutional Management Institute at Purdue University, Brother Zaccarelli initially states: “Educators play an important role in the evolution of the food service industry. The author discusses that evolution and suggests how educators can be change agents along with management in that evolutionary progression.” The author goes on to wax philosophically, as well as speak generically about the food service industry; to why it offers fascinating and rewarding careers. Additionally, he writes about the influence educators have on students in this regard. “Educators can speak about how the food service industry has benefited them both personally and professionally,” says Brother Zaccarelli. “We get excited about alerting students to the many opportunities and, in fact, serve as “salespersons” for the industry to whoever (school administrators, legislators, and peers in the educational institution) will listen.” Brother Zaccarelli also speaks to growth and changes in food service, and even more importantly about the people and faces behind everything that food service, and hospitality in general comprise. The author will have you know, that people are what drive an educator. “What makes the food service industry so great? At the heart of this question's answer is people: the people whom it serves in institutional and commercial operations of all types; the people who work within it; the people who provide the goods, services, and equipment to it; the people who study it,” says Brother Zaccarelli. “All of these groups have, of course, a vested personal and/or professional interest in seeing our industry improve.” Another concept the author would like you to absorb, and it’s even more so true today than yesterday, is the prevalence of convergence and divergence within food service. For food service and beyond, it is the common denominators and differences that make the hospitality-food service industry so dynamic and vibrant. These are the winds of change presented to an educator who wants to have a positive impact on students. The author warns that the many elements involved in the food service industry conspire to erode quality of service in an industry that is also persistently expanding, and whose cornerstone principles are underpinned by service itself. “The three concerns addressed - quality, employees, and marketing - are intimately related,” Brother Zaccarelli says in stripping-down the industry to bare essentials. He defines and addresses the issues related to each with an eye toward how education can reconcile said issues.

Challenge to Managers: Changing Hotel Work from a Secondary Choice to career Development

In his discussion - Challenge To Managers: Changing Hotel Work from a Secondary Choice to Career Development - by Leonidas Chitiris, Lecturer in Management, Piraeus Graduate School of Industrial Studies, Athens, Greece, Chitiris marginally alludes at the outset: “Surveys and interviews with hotel employees in Greece with regard to why individuals work for hotels and to what extent their rationale to join the hotel industry affects hotel productivity revealed that the choice to work in hotels is a secondary preference and reflects the opportunity structure in the economy at any given time and the greater the number of those who work in hotels when there are no other employment opportunities, the less likely the chances for overall improved performance. Given the increase in the proportion of unskilled, unmotivated workers, the level of hotel productivity consequently decreases! The author interprets the findings in terms of the economic and employment conditions in the Greek hotel industry. To enhance the rationale of his thesis statement, Chitiris offers with citation: “Research on initial entry into the labor force has shown that new employees reflect idealized expectations and are frequently not very satisfied with their jobs and roles in the work settings.” Chitiris advances the thought even further by saying: “Research on job satisfaction, motivation, and production purports that management can initiate policies that develop job satisfaction and may improve productivity.” The author outlines components within the general category of the hotel industry to label and quantify exactly why there may be a lag between employee expectations and the delivery of a superior level of service. Please keep in mind that the information for this essay is underpinned by the hotel industry in Greece, exclusively. Demographic information is provided. One example of the many factors parsed in this hotel service discussion is the employee/guest relationship. “The quality of service in hotels is affected to a great extent by the number of guests a hotel employee has to serve,” Chitiris offers. Additionally, Chitiris’ characterization of the typical hotel employee in Greece is not flattering, but it is an informed and representative view of that lodging labor pool. The description in and of itself begs to explain at least some of why the hotel industry in Greece suffers a consequently diminished capacity of superior service. Ill equipped, under-educated, over-worked, and under-paid are how Chitiris describes most employees in the Hellenist hospitality field. Survey based studies, and formulaic indices are used to measure variables related to productivity; the results may be inconclusive industry wide, but are interesting nonetheless. Also, an appealing table gauges the reasons why hotel workers actually employ themselves in the lodging industry. Chirtiris finds that salary expectations do not rate all that high on the motivational chart and are only marginal when related to productivity. In closing, Chirtiris presents a 5-phase development plan hotels should look to in improving performance and productivity at their respective properties.

Take the "Con" Out of Consulting in the Food Service Industry

Consultants can help a food service operator with almost any problem which needs solving. Howeve6 the manager must "manage" the consultant. The author offers a design for planning for hiring and evaluating the work of anyone given the job of analyzing existing systems and diagnosing problems.

Correlates of Non-Institutional Food Service Turnover

The high rate of restaurant employee turnover, particularly of the non-supervisory employee, is a continuing problem. The authors assess the possible correlates of this turnover and their relative strengths, ranking and comparing working hours, quality of supervision, chance for promotion, on-the-job training, pay, work of others, employees' attitudes, and management's interest in employees to present possible solutions for the high rate of turnover.

Appraising Work Group Performance: New Productivity Opportunities in Hospitality Management

In - Appraising Work Group Performance: New Productivity Opportunities in Hospitality Management – a discussion by Mark R. Edwards, Associate Professor, College of Engineering, Arizona State University and Leslie Edwards Cummings, Assistant Professor, College of Hotel Administration University of Nevada, Las Vegas; the authors initially provide: “Employee group performance variation accounts for a significant portion of the degree of productivity in the hotel, motel, and food service sectors of the hospitality industry. The authors discuss TEAMSG, a microcomputer based approach to appraising and interpreting group performance. TEAMSG appraisal allows an organization to profile and to evaluate groups, facilitating the targeting of training and development decisions and interventions, as well as the more equitable distribution of organizational rewards.” “The caliber of employee group performance is a major determinant in an organization's productivity and success within the hotel and food service industries,” Edwards and Cummings say. “Gaining accurate information about the quality of performance of such groups as organizational divisions, individual functional departments, or work groups can be as enlightening...” the authors further reveal. This perspective is especially important not only for strategic human resources planning purposes, but also for diagnosing development needs and for differentially distributing organizational rewards.” The authors will have you know, employee requirements in an unpredictable environment, which is what the hospitality industry largely is, are difficult to quantify. In an effort to measure elements of performance Edwards and Cummings look to TEAMSG, which is an acronym for Team Evaluation and Management System for Groups. They develop the concept. In discussing background for employees, Edwards and Cummings point-out that employees - at the individual level - must often possess and exercise varied skills. In group circumstances employees often work at locations outside of, or move from corporate unit-to-unit, as in the case of a project team. Being able to transcend individual-to-group mentality is imperative. “A solution which addresses the frustration and lack of motivation on the part of the employee is to coach, develop, appraise, and reward employees on the basis of group achievement,” say the authors. “An appraisal, effectively developed and interpreted, has at least three functions,” Edwards and Cummings suggest, and go on to define them. The authors do place a great emphasis on rewards and interventions to bolster the assertion set forth in their thesis statement. Edwards and Cummings warn that individual agendas can threaten, erode, and undermine group performance; there is no - I - in TEAM.

Recreational Food Service: A Growing Employment Option

The recreational food service industry represents a wealth of potential job opportunities for graduates of hospitality management degree programs. Most hospitality management curricula are saturated with core courses and basic hospitality education course work, leaving little room for additional components. Recreational food service, however, could be easily integrated into an existing pro- gram and made available for students interested in this growing employment option. The author presents one option as a model curriculum approach.

The Influence of Selected Antecedents of Frontline Employee's Perceptions of Service Recovery Performance

The purpose of this study is to determine the potential impact of selected organizational factors on boundary-spanning-role employees’ perceptions of service recovery performance. This study also aims to assess the impact of service recovery performance on the intention to leave the job and extrinsic job satisfaction. This study uses a sample of frontline employees in Belek, Antalya, Turkey. The empirical findings revealed that education, team work and role ambiguity as frontline job perceptions were found to exert positive influences on the service recovery performance, but, empowerment, reward, and organizational commitment were found to have negative effects on the service recovery performance.

The Food Service Industry: Beliefs Held by Academics

In his study - The Food Service Industry: Beliefs Held by Academics - by Jack Ninemeier, Associate Professor, School of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management at Michigan State University, Associate Professor Ninemeier initially describes his study this way: “Those in the academic sector exert a great deal of influence on those they are training to enter the food service industry. One author surveyed educational institutions across the country to ascertain attitudes of teachers toward various segments of the industry.” Those essential segments of the industry serve as the underpinnings of this discussion and are four-fold. They are lodging, institutional, multi-unit, and single-unit properties. For each segment the analysis addressed factors relating to Marketing, management and operating concerns: Marketing, operations, fiscal management, innovation, future of the segment Employee-related concerns: quality of work life, training/education opportunities, career opportunities The study uses a survey of academicians as a guide; they point to segments of the food service industry students might be inclined to enter, or even ignore. The survey was done via a questionnaire sent from the campus of the School of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management at Michigan State University to 1850 full-time faculty members in two and four-year hospitality programs in the United States. Through the survey, Ninemeier wishes to reasonably address specific problems now confronting the food service industry. Those problems include but are not limited to: reducing employee turnover, retaining staff, increasing productivity and revenue, and attracting new staff. “Teachers in these programs are, therefore, an important plank in industry's platform designed to recruit students with appropriate background knowledge and interest in their operations,” Ninemeier says. Your author actually illustrates the survey results, in table form. The importance to an employee, of tangibles and intangibles such as morale, ego/esteem, wages, and benefits are each explored through the survey. According to the study, an interesting dichotomy exists in the institutional property element. Although, beliefs the academics hold about the institutional element suggest that it offers low job stress, attractive working conditions, and non-demanding competitive pressures, the survey and Ninemeier also observe: “Academics do not believe that many of their graduates will enter the institutional segment.” “If academic beliefs are incorrect, an educational program to educate academics about management and employee opportunities in the segment may be in order,” Ninemeier waxes philosophically.

Generational Differences in Work Attitudes: Evidence from the Hospitality Industry

Our understanding of employee attitudes and their impact on business outcomes has been further complicated in recent years by the newest cohort of service workers. Known as Generation Y (Gen Y), they appear to approach employment in a manner different to that of their predecessors. A review of the academic literature reveals little empirical evidence to support an appropriate understanding of the impact of such difference. This paper provides an overview of a large-scale study into generational differences in employee attitudes and reports on the preliminary data analysis of a survey of over 900 hospitality employees. The most important initial finding from the data analysis is that, on the whole, Gen Y employees have lower scores on those constructs that an organization should be attempting to maximize. Non-Gen Y employees are more satisfied with their jobs, more engaged and more affectively committed to the organization they work for than their Gen Y counterparts, amongst a range of other important constructs. Conversely, Gen Y employees display higher scores onthe constructs that an organization would want to minimize in its staff. Gen Y employees are more likely to be planning to quit their jobs, are more likely to perform poorly if their co-workers are doing so, and are also more likely to switch jobs for no particular reason. The discussion covers implications for management as well as directions for future research.

Recruiting and developing technicians for hotel food service operations

The thesis which follows is a study of recruiting and developing skilled workers for Hotel Food Service Operations in the Miami area. The aim of the study is to bring to the attention of personnel management the role of recruiting and training in providing the skilled people needed for their operation in the short and long run as well. The study was done as a case study of the medium and large size hotels which have a minimum of 250 units each in the Miami area. However, the study has been generalized where it is possible, and when data permitted. The primary data was collected by the use of the questionnaire survey method composed of key questions about recruiting, training and sources of skilled people, turnover reasons, etc. Eight tables have been constructed, analyzed and interpreted. A personal opinion was mentioned in the interpretation of each table's data. It was found that personnel management should provide a better recruiting and developing procedures in order to attract more qualified people, particularly among the youngsters who are potential skilled workers for the future. It was concluded that the quality of work life, the benefits, and the opportunities for advancement in the food and beverage operations play a significant role in an employee's decision to stay with a particular job, and to acquire the necessary skills.

Public Service Motivation in Public and Nonprofit Service Providers: The Cases of Belarus and Poland

The work motivation construct is central to the theory and practice of many social science disciplines. Yet, due to the novelty of validated measures appropriate for a deep cross-national comparison, studies that contrast different administrative regimes remain scarce. This study represents an initial empirical effort to validate the Public Service Motivation (PSM) instrument proposed by Kim and colleagues (2013) in a previously unstudied context. The two former communist countries analyzed in this dissertation—Belarus and Poland— followed diametrically opposite development strategies: a fully decentralized administrative regime in Poland and a highly centralized regime in Belarus. The employees (n = 677) of public and nonprofit organizations in the border regions of Podlaskie Wojewodstwo (Poland) and Hrodna Voblasc (Belarus) are the subjects of study. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed three dimensions of public service motivation in the two regions: compassion, self-sacrifice, and attraction to public service. The statistical models tested in this dissertation suggest that nonprofit sector employees exhibit higher levels of PSM than their public sector counterparts. Nonprofit sector employees also reveal a similar set of values and work attitudes across the countries. Thus, the study concludes that in terms of PSM, employees of nonprofit organizations constitute a homogenous group that exists atop the administrative regimes. However, the findings propose significant differences between public sector agencies across the two countries. Contrary to expectations, data suggest that organization centralization in Poland is equal to—or for some items even higher than—that of Belarus. We can conclude that the absence of administrative decentralization of service provision in a country does not necessarily undermine decentralized practices within organizations. Further analysis reveals strong correlations between organization centralization and PSM for the Polish sample. Meanwhile, in Belarus, correlations between organization centralization items and PSM are weak and mostly insignificant. The analysis indicates other factors beyond organization centralization that significantly impact PSM in both sectors. PSM of the employees in the studied region is highly correlated with their participation in religious practices, political parties, or labor unions as well as location of their organization in a capital and type of social service provided.

The other side of the kitchen door: Domestic service in Lima, Peru

Domestic service refers to the work required to complete duties pertaining to the maintenance and functioning of the household, particularly when performed by employed labor. This study provides an ethnographic account of domestic service through an analysis of social behavior and cultural patterns. The participants in the social structure of domestic service are the señora (the lady of the house), her family, and the empleadas (domestic workers) all of whom have specific social identities and roles within the household. The señora/empleada dyad is central to the institution and all other participants are secondary. This study contributes to the growing body of work in anthropology that concentrates on elite sectors of society and explores theoretical issues relating to gender, class, and ethnic differences in Peru.

Weather forecaster at work

Inscription: Verso: Laura Cole, weather forecaster, at radar scope, U.S. weather service.