Sumeetra Ramakrishman

Lecturer in Tourism and Hospitality Management

Department: Social sciences

Contact

Telephone: 02084115497
E-mail: S.Ramakrishnan@mdx.ac.uk

Qualifications

MSc, PhD, PGCert

Research Interests

My area of interest and specialisation is pay and low pay in the service industries. I am interested in the issues to do with pay attitudes for people in low paid jobs from both the employees and employers perspective. I am currently involved in attempting to understand the acceptance of pay for the low paid and how this could inform Government and Organisational policies and practices. In the context of my research, I have gained an interest into looking at the nature of jobs that are low paid, the role of accumulation of skills that helps to create and maintain low pay and the meaning of pay for the low paid. I have created a new 'eyeglass' 'ACCEPTANCE', which is more holistic than the economic (tolerance) and psychological (satisfaction) perspectives of people in low paid jobs.

Teaching Interests

My teaching background and interests fall in the broad disciplines of HR management in the Service Industries as well as generic Hospitality and Tourism Management.

Biography

Education I completed my Diploma in Hospitality Management from the Institute of Hotel Management, Mumbai, India (1993-1996). I gained my MSc in International Hospitality Management (1998-1999) and PhD (2000-2005). I also completed my PG Diploma in Academic Practice from the University of Surrey. I was awarded the Savoy Educational Trust Award for my PhD and achieved Distinction in my MSc.

Employment 2005-2009 Lecturer in Hospitality Management, Faculty of Management and Law, University of Surrey 2000-2003 Teaching Assistant, School of Management, University of Surrey 2001-2001 Tutor in Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure Studies, Strode’s College, Egham 1996-1997 Trainee Supervisor, TGI Fridays’ New Delhi, India

Research output

Josiam, B.M., Reynolds, J.S., Thozhur, S., Crustinger, C., Baum, T. and Devine, F.G. (2009) An Empirical Study of work Attitudes of Generation Y College Students in the USA: The Case of Hospitality and Merchandising Undergraduate Majors, , Journal of Services Research,, vol 9, number 1 DiPietro, R.B., Thozhur, S. and Milman, A (2007) Hourly Employee Retention Factors in the United Kingdom Quick Service Restaurant Industry, Journal of Foodservice Business Research, vol 10, number 4, pp 39- 61

Josiam, B.M., Reynolds, J.S., Thozhur, S., Crustinger, C., Baum, T. and Devine, F.G. (2008) Attitudes To Work Of Generation Y Students In Hospitality Management: A Comparative Analysis Of Students In USA & UK, Journal of Foodservice Business Research, vol 11, Issue 3, pp 295- 314 Thozhur, S., Riley, M. and Szivas, E (2006) Money Attitudes and Pay Satisfaction for the Low Paid, Journal of Managerial Psychology, Volume 21, Issue 2, pp163- 172

Thozhur, S., Riley, M. and Szivas, E (2007) Do the poor wake up quickly, Service Industries Journal, March, 2007 volume 27 number 2, pp 139-150

Book Chapter

2006 ‘Pay Satisfaction in the Hospitality and Tourism Industry: Theories, Realities and the Possibilities’ in Promises and Perils in Hospitality and Tourism Management, Dixit, S (ed) Aman Publications, New Delhi

Conferences

Alsini, I. M., Lockwood, A., Al-Sabbahy, H and Thozhur, S (2008), An Exploratory study: The Relationships between Individual and Organisational Service Orientation in the Hotel Industry, AMA SERVSIG International Research Conference, June 5- 7 Josiam, B.M., Reynolds, J.S., Thozhur, S., Crustinger, C., Baum, T. and Devine, F.G. (2008) Attitudes to work of Generation Y students in Hospitality Management: a comparative analysis of students in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, APac-CHRIE, Perth, Australia, May 21- 24

Alsini, I.M., Lockwood, A., Al-Sabbahy, H. and Thozhur, S. (2007) Saudi-isation in the Hotel Industry: Opportunity or Challenge, EUROCHRIE, Leeds, October 25-27

Thozhur, S., Josiam, B.M., Reynolds, J.S., Baum, T., Devine, F.G..and Crutsinger, C. (2007) Attitudes to work of Gen Y students in Tourism and Hospitality Management courses, EUROCHRIE, Leeds, October 25-27 (Accepted, unable to attend due to Pregnancy)

Thozhur, S. and DiPietro, R.B. (2007) The role of perceived opportunities in turnover intentions, The 1st Conference on Hospitality and Leisure: Business Advances and Applied Research Lausanne Hotel School, Lausanne, Switzerland, July 5 - 6 (Accepted, unable to attend due to Pregnancy)

Janghyeon, N., Thozhur, S and Ekinci, Y (2007) The Impact of Brand Equity on Service Brand Loyalty, 14th EIRASS conference (The European institute of retailing and services studies), Sanfrancisco, USA. June 29- July 2

Josiam, B.M., Reynolds, J.S., Thozhur, S., Crutsinger, C., Baum, B. and Devine, F.G. (2007) Attitudes to Work of Generation Y Students in Hospitality Management: A Comparative Analysis of Students in the USA & UK. The 2nd International Conference on Services Management. New Delhi, India, June 1- 2 Received a certificate of appreciation award as an “outstanding” paper.

Josiam, B.M., Reynolds, J.S., Thozhur, S., Crustinger, C., Baum, T. and Devine, F.G. (2007) Work Attitudes of Hospitality Students - A USA-Korea Comparison, 5th APAacCHRIE conference, Beijing, May 24- 27

Bharath M. Josiam, Ph.D., Johnny Sue Reynolds, Ph.D., Sumeetra Thozhur, Ph.D., Christy Crutsinger, Ph.D., Tom Baum, Ph.D. and Frances. G. Devine, M.A., (2006) Attitudes to work of Generation Y students in Hospitality Management in the USA: an empirical analysis, 7th Biennial Tourism Conference, Jeonju, Korea, May 11-14

Thozhur, S., Riley, M. and Szivas, E (2005) The relationship between satisfaction and pay for people in low pay: The results of an exploratory study in the UK, 19th Australia New Zealand Academy of Management Conference (ANZAM), Canberra, December 7- 10

Thozhur, S., Riley, M. and Szivas, E (2005) The creation and maintenance of low pay: A UK perspective, 19th Australia New Zealand Academy of Management Conference (ANZAM), Canberra, December 7- 10 Thozhur, S., Riley, M. and Szivas, E (2005) Do money attitudes inform pay satisfaction? The results of an empirical study in the service industries, APacCHRIE conference, Kuala Lumpur, May 26- 28 Thozhur, S (2004) Subsistence in the UK, identifying people in low pay in South East England, Annual TELCO conference organised by the Centre for Economic Performance in the London School of Economics, March Thozhur, S., Riley, M. and Szivas, E (2003) A study of satisfaction with pay is service employment, Oklahoma State University Conference, Las Vegas, January Thozhur, S., Riley, M. and Szivas, E (2001) Acceptance of low pay within service industries, Hospitality and Tourism Conference, University of Surrey, July Attended the Annual CHME Hospitality and Research Conference 2001 in South Bank University, London

Languages spoken

Tamil, Hindi