The reality gap of employee-management misperceptions: Comparing United States Air Force Services squadron members to their private sector counterparts

This exploratory study examined employee-management misperceptions in the United States Air Force Services career field. The "reality gap," as defined, is the misperception of workers needs or wants by management. Employee and manager surveys from 1946, 1980, 1987, and 1991 which demonstrate this phenomenon are examined to establish the validity of the reality gap, the length of time it has existed, and the full ramifications of the extent of the gap. The reality gap is then shown as the precipitating factor toward employee dissatisfaction, leading directly to employee turnover. All of this is framed within the context of Management by Values (MBV). The four reality gap surveys have been compared to a 1998 interval-ranked survey administered to United States Air Force members of the Services career field. This survey was used to determine if a corollary could be drawn between public sector and private sector hospitality workers. Conclusions and recommendations for further research are based on subject literature and statistical findings.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Hotel Administration

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Year

1999

Author dc:creator

• Rakoczy, Michael Christopher

Contributors dc:contributor

• Gerald Goll

Statement dc:rights

• IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

https://oasis.library.unlv.edu/rtds/1010

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:oasis.library.unlv.edu:rtds-2009