ORGANIZATIONAL COMPETENCE AND STUDENT BENEFITS IN COOKING EVENTS: BALIKESIR UNIVERSITY CASE STUDY

AŞÇILIK YARIŞMASI ETKİNLİKLERİNDE ORGANİZASYON YETERLİLİĞİ VE ÖĞRENCİ KAZANIMLARI: BALIKESİR ÜNİVERSİTESİ ÖRNEĞİ

Abstract

The socio-cultural activities that organized for the students play an important role in fulfilling the functions of the universities. The aim of the study is to determine student’s perceptions on organizational competence and benefits in the 1st Cookery Contest that organized in the Balıkesir University. The benefits of the cookery competition event and organizational competence were examined under three dimensions as general benefits, personal benefits and organizational competence in the study. Data were obtained by questionnaire and interview. There is 24-point Likert type scale for measuring the perceptions of the participants and the questions about determining the demographics character of the participants as well as three semi-structured open-ended questions in the questionnaire. The data were analyzed by using frequency and nonparametric tests. The data obtained from the open-ended queries were grouped according to the frequencies. Research results show that the participants' perceptions about general and personal benefits of cookery event are very positive, whereas the perceptions about organizational competence are not enough. Participants' scores on the competition satisfaction and organizational competence are also very high. Research results show that there is a significant difference between the participant’s perception on the benefits of culinary competition and organizational competence based on sex difference. There is also significant difference among the participants perception about general benefits of the event based on competition experience. There is also significant difference among the participants perception about organizational competence in favor of the participants who give more points based on given score to the event. Interview results reveal that the insufficiency of equipment and meal cooling is seen as the most important shortcomings of the competition event. Participants are also considered to be the most powerful aspects of the organization as strengthening communication between the students, fair jury, exciting and motivational event. Participants also recommend eliminating equipment deficiencies, promoting participation and promoting the event by inviting the other universities in future events. Conceptual Framework: Lack of practice to apply theory in the real life is one of the major problems for university students and it results to acquire insufficient professional skills (Çemrek ve Yılmaz, 2010). For the solution of the problem, it is necessary to encourage the students to participate in various activities related to their field in addition to increasing the practical education. By referring to the importance of various activities and competitions in vocational training, Büyükparmaksız (2013) suggests that the skills, creativity, productivity, motivation and researching spirit have developed more in the students participating in such activities. With a similar approach, Ünaldı (2013) indicates that the success of the course, interest and intellectual capacity among the competitor students is too high than that of those who did not participate in these activities. Fisher et al. (2011) also point out that activities related to cooking are acted upon by the imagination, inspiration and talents of the students. Svejenova et al. (2010) emphasize that individuals who can better use external activities, organizations and resources based on individual interests and motivations can access more benefits such as income, fame and competence. Thus, it appears that cooking competitions play an important role in the development of culinary skills of university students. Objective: The aim of the study is to determine the benefits of the students participating in the 1st Cookery Competition organized by Balikesir University and the competitiveness of the competition organization. Method: A total of 20 students participated in the competition held in the individual category. The selected sample covers all participated students. The data were collected through questionnaires and interview techniques. The questionnaire consists of three parts. In the first part, there are questions about demographics variables, participants’ experiences and satisfaction, the points given to the competition organization and the recommendation of such competitions to others. In the second part, there is a scale consisting of 24 proposals about overall benefits of the competition, individual benefits of the organization and adequacy of the organization. Finally, in the third section, there are three open-ended questions related to determine participants' views on adequacy of the organization. Data were analyzed by using frequency, arithmetic mean and one of the nonparametric tests which is called Kruskall Wallis test. Findings and Discussion: 40.0% of the participant students are male and 60.0% are female students. It has been determined that 30.0% of the students have already participated in such a cooking competition and 70.0% have never participated in such a competition before. Satisfaction level of the participant students with respect to the competition is 𝑥̅= 3.85 over maximum 5 points. In this regard, 90% of participants are satisfied with participating in the organization, while only 10% are not satisfied. The points awarded by the participants for the competition organization are 𝑥̅= 7.3 over maximum 10 points. In the survey, it was revealed that the participants recommended this competition to others with 𝑥̅= 4.4 from a maximum of 5 points. These results show that the satisfaction level of articipation is too high. Thus, they agree that competition organization is successful. Descriptive statistical analysis shows that arithmetic average of the "Overall Benefits of the Competition" is 𝑥̅: 4.45. This finding suggests that participants’ perception about the overall benefits of the competition is quite positive. Participants' participation on the individual benefits of the co

Özet

Üniversitelerin işlevlerini yerine getirebilmesinde, öğrencilere yönelik düzenlenen sosyo-kültürel etkinlikler önemli bir rol oynamaktadır. Bu yaklaşımdan hareketle çalışmada, Balıkesir Üniversitesi'nde düzenlenen 1. Aşçılık Yarışması etkinliğinin katılımcı öğrencilere sağladığı kazanımlar ve öğrencilerin organizasyon yeterliliğine ilişkin algıları belirlenmeye çalışılmıştır. Çalışmada aşçılık yarışması kazanımları ve organizasyon yeterliliği; "yarışmanın genel kazanımları", "kişisel kazanımlar" ve "yarışma organizasyonunun yeterliliği" olmak üzere üç boyut altında incelenmiştir. Veriler anket ve mülakat yöntemi ile elde edilmiştir. Ankette katılımcıların demografik katılımcıların etkinliğe ilişkin algılarını ölçmeye yönelik Likert tipi 24 ifadeli bir ölçek ve yarı yapılandırılmış üç adet açık uçlu soru bulunmaktadır. Veriler frekans ve nonparametric testler ile test edilmiştir. Açık uçlu sorulardan elde edilen veriler ise frekanslar dikkate alınarak gruplandırılmıştır. Araştırma sonuçları, katılımcıların yarışmaya ilişkin genel kazanımlar ve kişisel kazanımlar konusundaki algılarının oldukça olumlu olduğunu, buna karşın yarışma organizasyon yeterliliği ile ilgili algılarının ise yeterince olumlu olmadığını ortaya koymaktadır. Katılımcıların yarışma memnuniyeti puanı ile yarışma organizasyonuna verdikleri puan da oldukça yüksektir. Ayrıca araştırma sonuçları katılımcılar arasında cinsiyete dayalı aşçılık yarışması kazanımları ve yarışma organizasyonunun yeterliliği konusunda da algı farklılığı olduğunu göstermektedir. Başka yarışmalara katılıp katılmama kriterine göre de yarışmanın genel kazanımları konusunda katılımcılar arasında algı farklılığı bulunmaktadır. Yarışmaya verilen puan kriterine göre ise yarışma organizasyonunun yeterliliği konusunda yarışmaya daha fazla puan veren katılımcıların lehine algı farklılığı bulunmaktadır. değerlendirmektedirler. Ayrıca katılımcılar ileriki yıllarda yapılacak yarışmalarda ekipman eksikliklerinin giderilmesini, etkinliğe katılımın özendirilmesini ve etkinliğin daha iyi duyurularak diğer üniversitelerin de yarışmaya katılımının sağlanmasını önermektedirler