Business Process Integration Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Business Process Integration - Coursework Example In fact, the Internet offers the businesses a lot of opportunities to grow. It allows the businesses to reach the international markets and the worldwide customers without facing geographical restrictions and cost issues, improve business service and support, access to worldwide communications, reform associations, streamline internal procedures, share private data and information and run applications (Simpande & Jakovljevic, 2003; Norton, 2001; Shelly et al., 2005) Basically, the most excellent method to deal with determined business software issues is to remove the old stuff and bring in the innovation. In spite of the demand to put extra messes on the legacy or traditional enterprise resource planning (ERP) technology based system and keep the software applications and projects for another day, the idea is that software technology evolves very quickly as well as innovative EP tools emerges in critical regions like that accessibility, corporate process automation, business intellig ence and integration with new tools like that social CRM or mobile devices can help business organizations to improve their business processes. In this scenario, the latest delivery models like that software as a service (or simply SaaS), hosted Enterprise Resource Planning or innovative technologies like that open source ERP systems can dramatically change IT procedures as well as positively influence corporate performance. Though, latest business software applications and their deployments are for all time a major concern, however they come with a wide variety of risks, mainly when we are talking about our ERP systems. In addition, they are not small systems as they are corporate mission critical technologies that communicate nearly with each transaction in the corporation (gotERP, 2012; Weston, 1998; Simpande & Jakovljevic, 2003). In light of the above discussed facts, the selection of suitable Enterprise Resource Planning system is no longer simply a matter of choosing the corre ct vendor similar to SAP vs Microsoft vs. Sage etc. In the past, there was a standard process to get business licenses for software and then obtain the software services installation disks via email. On the other hand, at the present, we have a wide variety of delivery models of ERP technology. In addition, all the models do not support all the services however the majority can focus simply on one (gotERP, 2012; Weston, 1998; Simpande & Jakovljevic, 2003). In this scenario, one of the latest Internet supported ERP systems is cloud computing. Basically, the cloud computing is a most latest information technology fashion that many business organizations are adopting because of its environmental aspects, money savings, mobility, scalability and energy effectiveness. Basically, the cloud computing allows organizations or individuals to access all their tools, applications and files from anyplace on the earth, as a result releasing them from the limitations of the desktop and allowing wi despread group partnership (Modavi, 2010; Miller, 2009). In addition, a public cloud based ERP solution is possessed and remotely hosted by the vendor. In many cases, instead of taking the license for the entire software, organizations pay a fee for the services they want to use, it is a software licensing model known as SaaS. In this scenario,

Interpretive Paper Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Interpretive Paper - Assignment Example In this sentence, the active verbs that have been identified include take, go, and offer. In this sentence, the cause and the effect have also been displayed. The cause in this case is taking your son where as the effect is offering the son as a sacrifice. In the third verse, Abraham woke up early in the morning, has his ass saddled, then took two young men and his son. The first observation in this sentence is a list. The list is identified when Abraham took two men and Isaac. The sentence shows out some active verbs including rose, took, cut, arose, and went3. The passive voice that has been displayed is saddled. In the third verse, Abraham lifts up his eyes and found out that the place was a far off. After this Abraham told his young men to remain with the ass as he and the lad went yonder to worship the Lord. Abraham took the burnt offering, wood, and had it laid on Isaac his son. He then took a knife and fire in his hands. At this instant, Isaac asked the father where the lamb w as as they already had wood and the fire4. Abraham responded to his son’s question by ensuring him that the lamb for the sacrifice would be given out by God. They then went ahead together. In this regard, the lamb is a figurative speech. The lamb represents a sacrifice of salvation that the human race need to give it willingly to God. Another observation in these sentences is the use of passive and active verb. Some of the active verbs include stay, go and worship among other verbs. After arriving at the place where God had directed Abraham, he established an alter, laid the wood, bound his son Isaac, laid him on the alter on the wood5. This statement represents a list of items such as establishing an alter, laying wood, and bounding Isaac. After this, Abraham took a knife and was ready to slay Isaac. Before he slaid his son, an angel from the God called him and asked him not to do anything to him, as the Lord had already confirmed that Abraham feared the Lord from the fact t hat he did withhold his only son. When Abraham looked behind him, there was a ram. He took the ram then offered it as a sacrifice. He then named that place that God would provide. Then the Angel of God called Abraham the second time. He said to him that, though, he had sworn because Abraham did that, and did not withhold his only son. He added that he will bless him, multiply his descendants, like heaven stars, and as the seashore sand. He also added that Abraham descendants would possess their enemies’ gates. Abraham descendants in all the earth nations would bless themselves as Abraham had obeyed God. After this Abraham returned towards his young men and they rose, went together to Beer-Sheba thus Abraham lived in Beer-sheba. The main topic in this chapter is that God normally tests his people. In the chapter, Abraham was tested by God. His name was changed from Abram which meant exalted father towards Abraham that meant a multitude’s father6. In this chapter, God as ks Abraham to pursue something that was going to tamper with his new name. The words ‘Here I am’ is an idiom from Hebrews that in meant to mean availability. The next words to identify is ‘the land of Moriah’ that could be interpreted to mean the land of worship. A burnt offering is a term of Hebrews that could be replaced by the term holocaust which implies a sacrifice that is totally burned7. When Abraham work up early in the morning, it means there was no hesitation in walking up that

Consumer buying behaviour in Thailand

Consumer buying behaviour in Thailand The telephone took four decades to reach 50 million people The Internet has managed this within four years as digital technologies provide such efficient channels for business and consumer interaction transactions The Internet has changed people lifestyle; it became apart of people daily life. They use internet to replace their common activities such as E-mail instead of writing letter, MSN chat and Skype instead of using telephone, YouTube instead of watching TV. Therefore, many organisations tried to use Internet as a new way to reach their customers which called E-marketing. E-marketing is a new marketing strategy using to reach many consumers at low cost. It can be used to interact with customer 24hrs a day, 7days a week without any additional cost. Consumer can get information about products any times, any places. According to Seock and Norton (2007), consumer channel choices for shopping had been widened because of diffusion of the Internet: causing everything that happens to sales in electronic form or what it realized as online shopping. 84 per cent of global consumers have experience purchasing over the internet (Nielsen, 2008). Number of Thais internet usage rate is increasing everyday. There are many internet service providers offer high speed internet. Most of Thais are familiar with using internet in playing game, social network like Facebook, twitter but number of online purchasing is very low. Comparing between European and Western to Thai, the number of online purchasing is very different. Online purchasing is still very limited for Thais. They are not familiar with buying things online. Thai consumers love to see and touch and feel the product before making any purchasing decision. With brand name product, consumers seem to have a high involvement because its impossible for them to buy without seeing the real product. They also have very limited knowledge to buy thing online as they are afraid to share important information online such as their bank account, there personal data or their credit card number. At the same time, the number of Thai website that offers online service is very rare. Therefore there is opportunity to introduce this service for Thais. This research attempts at learning why Thais consumer do not want to buying brand name online. The aim of this research is to learn what Thai consumer perception toward buying brand name online is and what factors effect their decision making. What Thai consumers characteristic make a brand name online shopping. The area of this research will focus mainly on Thai consumers in Thailand. The research objective will be divided into five main areas: To investigate Thai consumer buying making decision toward online shopping. To investigate Thai consumers experience on shopping online. To investigate Thai consumers perception toward buying brand name online. To identify the most important factors in the buying decision making on online shopping in Thailand To investigate Thai consumer demographic characteristic who make online shopping. In research methodology, we will try to achieve the objective by using quantitative research through online questionnaire. The result of research will help researcher in order to achieve the objective that has been set and help us to determine Thai consumer behavior and perception toward buying online. Literature Review In this part, the researcher would like to divide into two parts: The first part will explain a character of consumer behavior towards high involvement such as buying brand name product, what factors effect them to buy online, and consumers perception toward brand. The second part will clarify the characteristic of online marketing in Thailand. Involvement Some products, such as high-performance car seem inherently involving because of their complexity, risk and cost, while others, such as toothpaste seem uninvolving by comparison because of their familiarity, low risk and low cost Laakasonen (1994) Therefore, buying brand name online is like a high-performance car because is too complex (untouchable product) and risky (fake product), this will make consumer spend more time in order to search information before making a decision. Moreover, a consumers level of involvement depends on their individual interests, value of products, needs, which attract or motivate them. Involvement is commonly defined as the consumers personal interest in buying or using an item from a given product field, an approach which nicely summarizes the personal, product and situational components of the relationship (Evan et al,. 2009). Factor Customer satisfaction seems to be a key major to influence consumer-buying decision. Customer satisfaction can be the most important reason for customers deciding to make a repeat purchase, and telling their friends about their satisfaction (Palmer 2000). If online shop can make customers believed that their shop has good quality product, secure, and friendly, this would help their shop gain more new customers. Not only online shops give customer a good quality product, but they should also give them equity. Oliver (1997) defined equity as a fairness, rightness or deservingness judgment that consumers make in reference to what others receive; it is also considered as an important determinant of satisfaction. With these product quality and equity, this would make customers satisfy and motivate them to make a repurchase. Brand Brand image seems to be an important for online market area because brand helps consumer make buying decision and it creates a credibility of online shop. Rio del B. et al. (2001) defined brand as the set of associations and behaviors on the part of a brands customers, channel membersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ and that gives that brand a strong, sustainable, and differential advantage over competitors. In Thailand, the customers perception toward brand product equate to high price, which in turn dampens their willingness to make decision toward buying brand name online. Online market It seems to be that now the market channel has been classified into two main channels that are online channels and offline channels or we called traditional channels. Offline channels, consumers reduce of risk on shopping because they can have a physical interaction with products, when compared to online channels. According to Brown et al. (2003), Whilst shopping online allows the exchanging of value and productà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ by using computer as a medium of transaction transference. In Thailand, it seems to be that now Thai consumers still like to buy products from offline channel or in shopping mall due to online channel still do not have a good credibility. Thai online retailer should have to create credibility and trust to consumer in order to make them believe that Thai online channel is secure (Mict 2010). It seems to be that in Thailand, many of online retailers seem not to register for doing their business compare to Western country. Moreover, Thailand online payment still unsecure, this make Thai online consumers do not want to take risk on payment that is why they prefer to touch and see product before making buying decision. The key concerns that consumers have over the online purchasing trends are security of the privacy or financial which relatively unsecure once online payment has been made, such as credit card fraud (Harridge 2006). Moreover, Roman and Cuestas (2008) stated that security on online transaction is need to be strict as to gain trust i n the mind of shoppers regarding their online financial transaction made with the site will be safe form unauthorized access. Research Question This research has focused on four main research questions as follows: Who are online stores target customers in Thailand? What is the perception of Thai customers toward online shopping? What factors affect Thai consumers purchasing decisions? Which is the most important factor that influences Thai consumers purchasing brand name online? Research Method Research method helps online retailer know which strategies they should use to influence consumer buying decision. Research method can be classified into two types that are Quantitative research and Qualitative research. Both of them have different pros and cons, which researcher will discuss more in detail later on. Data can be collected in variety of ways, in different settings-field or lab-and from different sources. Choosing methodology is up to what paradigms the researcher adopts. There are two main paradigms or philosophies, which are positivist and phenomological (Collis and Hussey, 2003). The alternative terms for positivist are quantitative, objectivist, experimentalist, and traditionalist. The other terms for phenomenological are qualitative, subjectivist, humanistic, and interprevist. There are several data collection methods, each with their own advantage and disadvantages. The research method that researcher will use is Quantitative research, focusing on the survey method. Now, researcher should think about what types of questionnaire should be used, such as mail questionnaire, electronic questionnaire, and personal questionnaire. In this report, due to time limitation, it seems to be that the used of electronic questionnaire or online questionnaire will be more suitable and take less time, cost, and can expand very quickly in order to collect data than other quantitative research. After researcher has chosen a specific method, researcher will make a questionnaire by using pilot test in to make sure that all questions can be understand by respondent. If questionnaires have any errors or respondents hard to understand, researcher can improve before using to the target audiences. Researcher has specific target to make a research that is a Thai consumer age between 18 and 35 years old and compare between teenager (18-27) and middle age (28-35). A sample size that researcher expect to have is minimum 100 respondents, the questionnaire will be distributed through email and social networks to 200 respondent who have use internet. In order to make data collection, we will use both primary and secondary data. The secondary data will used on book, journal, article, and commercial online database provide from the website (Mintel, or Google Shcolar). Website offering information for a fee, almost every industry association, government agency, business publication, and news medium offers free information to those tenacious enough to find their website (Armstrong and Kotler 2009). The use of secondary provides a good start for research and define problem and objective. This helps researcher in order to find an objective for consumer buying decision and perception toward online brand name in Thailand. Secondary data helps researcher to better understand and indicated what has been missing form the current online business in Thailand. Moreover, it helps researcher to develop hypotheses and objective of the study. For primary data, a survey research has been chosen as a method of conducting a research, because survey was available to large number of population. As a time limitation, using questionnaire can help researcher save time and cost. After we already collect data from questionnaire, then we can identify that questionnaire is validity, reliability, and genalisability or not. Roadblock There might have some limitations when make a research, due to limit of time and budget cost. Moreover, the respondents are required to have a computer access to be able to take part in this research. Discussion To sum up, researcher believed that this research will help us to know more about Thai consumers behavior and perception toward online brand name store. The use of secondary data helps researcher can set a research question in order to collect a primary data. However, researcher has to select which research method would like to use in order to collect primary data. As a result, a good method in this report is Quantitative research by using questionnaire to collect primary data. By using questionnaire, it will help researcher to collect data and can analyses about Thai consumers. Due to time limitation of research, the used of questionnaire will helps us to save cost and time. The questionnaire has been sent to 200 via e-mail and social network in order to collect minimum 100 respondents. Researcher believed that the primary data that we collect can help to do finding and analyses on Thai consumers buying behavior and perception toward online brand name. Moreover, to learn more what f actor can influence Thai consumer in order to purchase brand name online.

Essay --

How the Pentagram constellation came to be. Many believed, (and still do) that "monsters" were real, that the fictional creatures that "go bump at night" actually do go bump at night. So, a few people formed a society of men and women called "Hunters". From generation to generation, men rose to the responsibility of protecting the life of others, by hunting them. The two story of two of these remarkable group of people will forever live in the minds of men, we are forever indebted to them. After the era and death of Sam and Dean Winchester, a strange yet remarkable constellation appeared in the sky. Astronomers and many people believe that stars are formed by clouds of gas that begin condense due to gravity and evolve into stars. But others believe that when an angel dies, his soul ascends to heaven but his grace (angel mojo) is propelled into the sky forming a star, the more loyal and powerful the angel, the brighter the star. These people had tons of theories about said constellation but the most popular and understood presumption is as follows: Sam and Dean Winchester were hunte...

Ethics, What Is Ethics Essay

What Is Ethics? Ethics is the part of philosophy that deals with good and evil. Ethics tries to answer questions like: †¢What actions are good? What actions are evil? †¢How can we tell the difference? †¢Are good and evil the same for everyone? †¢How should we make hard decisions that might help or hurt other people? The Four main studies of ethics are; †¢Meta-ethics, about the theoretical meaning of moral propositions and ethical opinions; †¢Normative ethics, an abstract set of principles to distinguish right from wrong †¢Applied ethics, about how moral outcomes can be achieved in specific situations; †¢Descriptive ethics is the study of people’s beliefs about morality, what ethical beliefs people have; Ethics seeks to resolve questions dealing with human morality. Meta-ethics is a field within philosophy that seeks to understand the nature of normative ethics. The focus of meta-ethics is on how we understand, know about, and what we mean when we talk about what is right and what is wrong. It’s the mean of ethical opinions, but the opinions have to be justified. Normative ethics is the study of ethical action. It is the branch of philosophical ethics that investigates the set of questions that arise when considering how one ought to act, morally speaking. There are two types of normative ethics; Relativist and absolutist. Relativist ethics have flexible rules surrounding ethics so to get the best possible outcome for everyone where as with absolutist views, the rules are non negotiable, you must follow them no matter what the outcome. Applied ethics attempts to apply ethical theory to real-life situations. Applied ethics is used by individuals facing difficult decisions. The sort of questions addressed by applied ethics include: â€Å"Is getting an abortion immoral?† â€Å"Is euthanasia immoral?† â€Å"Is affirmative action right or wrong?† â€Å"What are human rights, and how do we determine them?† â€Å"Do animals have rights as well?† and â€Å"Do individuals have the right of self determination?† It is the study of human morals, and issues of moral concerns. Applied ethics are open to debate. Descriptive ethics are the ethical beliefs people actually have. Its examination of ethics doesn’t start with a preconceived theory, but it investigates observations of actual choices made by people in practice. Some philosophers rely on descriptive ethics and choices made and unchallenged by a society or culture to derive categories, which typically vary by context. This can lead to situational ethics and situated ethics. Utilitarianism; is an ethical theory that argues the proper course of action is one that maximizes overall â€Å"happiness†. Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill are influential supporters of this. Bentham says ‘it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong’. This form of utilitarianism holds that what matters is the total happiness; the happiness of everyone and not the happiness of any particular person. John Stuart Mill, in his exposition of hedonistic utilitarianism, proposed a hierarchy of pleasures, meaning that the pursuit of certain kinds of pleasure is more highly valued than the pursuit of other pleasures. Deontology; deontological ethics or deontology (from Greek â€Å"duty†) is an approach to ethics that determines goodness or rightness from examining acts, or the rules and duties that the person doing the act tried to fulfil. In deontology, an act may be considered right even if the act produces a bad consequence if it follows the rule that â€Å"one should do unto others as they would have done unto them†, and even if the person who does the act lacks virtue and had a bad intention in doing the act. According to deontology, we have a duty to act in a way that does those things that are inherently good as acts, or follow an obligatory rule (as in rule utilitarianism). For deontologists, the ends or consequences of our actions are not important in and of themselves, and our intentions are not important in and of themselves.

Research Essay

Throughout this assignment I intend to demonstrate an understanding and knowledge of research methodology. I will examine how research is used to support practice and policy. I will address research terminology and the roles and responsibilities of the researcher. Our group research project will be critically analysed. Kumar (2001) implies research is more than a set of skills. Research is a way of thinking and examining the various aspects of your day-to-day professional work, understanding and formulating guiding principles that govern a particular procedure. Research helps us to understand why things behave the way they do and why people act in a certain way. If carried out effectively, research can be imperative as it brings about change in policy and practice Burns (1972). The two predominant methods of research are Quantitative and Qualitative research (Kumar,2001). These methods differ primarily in their analytical objective, the type of questions they pose and the different m ethods of data collection. The following definition, taken from Aliaga and Gunderson (2000,pg1), describes what we mean by quantitative research methods: Quantitative research is ‘Explaining phenomena by collecting numerical data that are analysed using mathematically based methods in particular statistics.’ (Muijs,2011) Quantitative research is also described as traditional or empirical research, meaning that it is based upon observation, experimentation and measurement (Lambert). Qualitative research is usually a more detailed form of research and cannot usually be expressed in terms of numbers. It often takes in to account people’s values, attitudes and opinions. The three most common qualitative research methods, are participant observation, in-depth interviews, and focus groups. Each method is particularly suited for obtaining a specific type of data. Lambert (2010, pg 256) infers that both qualitative and quantitative approaches can be combined in a single study to improve depth and breadth. For the purpose of our small scale research project we used a research question as opposed to a hypothesis. A hypothesis is a statement of assumption which will be tested in the research (Muijs,2011). A research  question is an initial statement to set the scene for exploratory research within an interpretivist framework. A questionnaire was used to gather data for our research project. Newby (2010) states questionnaires are amongst the most popular. The advantage of using a questionnaire in date collection is they are practical. A large amount of information can be collected from a group of people in a short period of time. The data can be expressed statistically. It is thus possible to make comparisons with other studies. The results of a questionnaire can be easily evaluated, analysed and quantified by the researcher (Barlette & Burton, 2012). The disadvantages for this type of research is people may not be honest when filling out the questionnaire this could lead to the data pr ovided being false and therefore invalid (ibid). The interview is the most prominent data collection tool in qualitative research(Muijs,2011).When data has been quantified, it can be used to compare and contrast other research and may be used to measure change. Positivists believe that quantitative data can be used to create new theories and / or test existing hypotheses (ibid). Researchers are required to consider ethics in every aspect of their conduct. The Belmont Report states the three fundamental ethical principles for using any human subjects for research are Respect for Persons, Beneficence and Justice (U.S Department of Health & Human Services,1979.) The first of these principles meant that the researcher should treat the participant as an independent person who should be kept fully informed at all times. The researcher should also ensure that persons with reduced independence such as a child should be protected at all times. Beneficence is included to ensure the benefits of being included in the research should outweigh any negative impact to the participant. Justice implies that selection of the participants must be fair and those who are asked to participate should also benefit (Macfarlane & Bruce, 2009). Personal values and also professional values that researchers should use when carrying out a study, will be analysed. A code of ethics is a fra mework to help and advise us but ultimately it remains the responsibility of the individual (Early Childhood Australia,2010). Research ethics are a set of principles on how researchers  should conduct themselves when dealing with research participants. Denscombe (2007) states we must respect the rights and dignity of the participants, avoid harm to research participants and carry out the research with honesty and integrity. According to Stonehouse (1991) a code of ethics is ‘a statement about practice, or what we will strive to do. It is based on core values, or what we believe’. There are a number of reasons it is important to conduct research in line with ethical standards; it is a sign of respect for participants, other researchers and those who will use the research. A code of ethics is not enforced but it is something that we should adhere to. The Impact of Distance Learning on a Student’s Work and Home Life Introduction In order to better understand what affect distance learning has on the work and home life of a student, students from the Education Department at Anglia Ruskin University in the second year of their Foundation Degree in Early Years collated data from a research module seeking to answer the following question: Does combining distance learning and working have a negative impact on a student’s work and home life? The chosen method of data collection was via a questionnaire with the answers offering an explanation and understanding as to why students look to improve their early years education skills by going back to study and what challenges they faced. Method The research was a 10 minute questionnaire, asking a mixture of both closed and open questions. A combination of closed and open questions were used so allowing students to answer in a more efficient and accurate manner. Opinions from each of the surveyed students were as important as were the answers to the multiple choice questions. The questions asked related to a work and life balance, and sought to understand how students deal with the work and study balance. Sample The results are a snap shot outlining the sort of pressure s placed on students in terms of time, commitments and everyday lives. The results covered how many hours a week were worked, where was the work undertaken, where did the students live and the time pressures on completing course work. It outlines the key challenges facing mature students who are looking to further their early years education and teaching careers. Ethics To ensure that all University protacals were observed, an introduction was provided outlining the aim of the research and confirming what research the surveyed students were being asked to contribute. Confidentially was important so was the opportunity if needed to withdraw from the research at any time. Results The results of the survey outline the time constraints and challenges faced by the students as they look to progress their education and their career Figure 1 – Gender of students. The above results showed that 100% of the surveyed students were female. Though we are unable to draw any direct conclusions from this, perhaps females are more likely to return to early years education than their male counter parts. All were involved with early years education and so found the early years course additional help to their working lives. Figure 2 – Age of Students The above outlines the age of the students. 75% of those surveyed were in the age range of 25 – 34. Though we cannot draw any direct conclusions from this, it would suggest that the 25 – 34 age range has the propensity to undertake further education whist working and looking after their children.  The younger age groups perhaps are more interested in their social lives where the 44+ are perhaps to well established to go back to further education. Figure 3 – Hours worked per week The above outlines the number of hours worked per week. This shows that the early years students are having to work quite long weeks whilst undertaking and finishing course work. Figure 4 –Who do you live with? The above research shows that out of the surveyed students none currently reside at home with their parents. As 75% of them are from the 25 to 34 age demographic, they have all moved out from the parental home and are either residing with their partner, or with friends. Figure 5 – How many children do you have? The above shows that the students have a real cross section of the number of children they currently have. The older students are more likely to have had children, so making their daily working lives even harder to undertake the required course work. Reasons for embarking on this foundation course The students were asked why they were embarking on the foundation course, all respondents cited the need to gain further qualification in order to improve their chances of career progression. Some cited the need to complete their EYPS by 2015 allowing the student to move with an improvement in their career prospects. Those with children were looking at the opportunity of also progressing their career but at a slightly older age. Some students were encouraged by the in house management to undertake the course so improving their knowledge and skills. Figure 6 – how much research is undertaken? The above outlines how much research was undertaken before the students undertook the course. 25% admitted they had done very little research and had relied on word of month from friends and past students. 25% admitted attending an open day so they were better able to understand the course and the time requirements. The reminder was either advised by their managers to undertake the course or had done minimal research and joined the course anyway. Figure 7 – Choice of learning. The majority said they did have a choice in how to study, but elected to undertake distance study. The remaining 25% who did not have a choice said that their working hours meant they were unable to take anytime out to attend face to face courses. If they had a choice, would they have attended face to face courses as opposed to opt for distance learning? Out of the total sample, 75% said that work commitments were an influence in making the decision to undertake distance learning with the remaining 25% stated this was the only option for undertaking and completing the course. All the students agreed that distance was more flexible and was a cheaper option. Figure 8 – Effectiveness of distance learning The research indicates that when the students were asked to compare distance learning having previously undertaken face to face learning, they all agreed that distance learning was worse. The students found it more difficult to express opinions over distance learning and missed the one to one question opportunity. Better communication via face to face because information was taken in and understood more easily. The speed of response was thought to be quicker and better via face to face with greater accuracy and clarity in the  answers. The students were asked if distance learning allowed discussions to take on a greater degree of thought and reflections, with 50% saying yes it did, and 50% saying no it did not. Figure 9 – How many hours per week do you study? The total number of hours per week given over to studying is split, with 50% of the surveyed saying 5 to 10 hours, whilst the remaining 50% saying 10 plus hours per week. The difference could be down to level of experience, age, ease of distance learning or just the time it takes to undertake assignments. Each individual will have key skill bases that will allow then to complete the projects in different timelines, hence the difference in hours per week worked. Using the Likert scale (Newby,2010) the results were conclusive that students felt 1 module per half term would improve the balance between study and home. In completing the modules, 75% either agreed or strongly agreed that completing one module per half term as opposed to two over a term certainly improved the study/home life balance, with 25% saying they did not agree nor disagree. This comes back to being able to prioritize their workload more successfully as they have a clear goal in a defined timeline, as opposed to a longer timeline where better time management could well be needed. Figure 10 – When do you study? The survey group had different work patterns, with 50% working at weekend, 25% in the week and 25% working across both. This would probably be driven by their respective home life, their career, if they have children and where  they lived. Studying time would have to fit in around many other external factors. All the surveyed agreed that the study time affected their home or social life. The younger individuals lost out on time meeting friends and going out and all agreed that weekend life with its need to undertake family and home jobs meant that their time was really squeezed. Time management was a key to getting all of the modules finished and in on time. In terms of hobbies, all agreed that they had and enjoyed taking part in their hobbies, whether it was in the week or at weekends. Out of the survey, 50% stated that these were severely affected and the remaining 50% said that they were affected. Hobby time spent was certainly reduced with 50% saying that the distance learning had a significant affect on how much time they could send pursuing their hobbies over a given week. The surveyed also found that their employers had very different reactions to their distance learning, with 75% being given no extra time off to help with their studies, and 25% being helped by their employer. The 25% who were helped were allowed on average one study day off per week. Figure 11 – Is the study having a positive effect in your workplace? Interestingly 50% said that the learning experience was having a positive effect on their work place, with 50% being unsure. The positive impact allowed the newly gained knowledge to be used in the work place with positive effects, helping day to day running of work, cascading more information down to other staff members, additional responsibility being enjoyed and the general acceptance that the new learning was having a positive impact of the workplace and fellow colleagues. In terms of dealing with the pressure of distance learning, all of those surveyed said they felt that the support they received as part of the online group did not help them deal with the added pressure and workload from the  extra learning. This could be down to the whole new experience of distance learning where previously they had the face to face time, where issues could be discussed and solutions found. Now if there are any issues, then the individual must try to find a solution themselves and so are potentially feeling more isolated and pressured. 75% did feel that having a mentor aided them in their day to day studies, where 25% were unsure. Again this could be down to the new experience of undertaking distance learning with the individuals taking to time to understand how to best use the mentor. As this process develops so the mentor could well be used more in a way to help find solutions to ongoing issues and problems. The mentor when asked had a great deal of knowledge, but the issue was still how best to use them. All of the surveyed felt that having a mentor in no way helped them in reducing the number of hours they had to work. The mentor was there to help with specific questions, not to help with larger problem solving hence reducing the number of hours that had to be worked. All of the surveyed felt with the advent of modern technology development, distance learning will play an important part for our future generations. It was felt that individuals could go back and study without having to give up their jobs, the studying would be more convenient for them and their families, older students would not have to sit in a classroom with younger students so having perhaps a confidence issue and generally the feeling was being able to study at a time and in an environment that was more suited to the individual. Reflection The undertaken research and related results were indeed a very worthwhile process that yielded some frank and interesting points of view. With any form of research, hindsight plays an important part when reviewing the  questions, the questionnaire, the sample size and the overall results. The information allowed the survey to demonstrate a view that distance learning on the home/work life balance is truly a challenge particularly when looking at the relative age and social position of the surveyed. The questionnaire included a number of dichotomous questions giving clear unequivocal responses (Cohen,Manion & Morrison,2011). Open questions gave participants an opportunity to write down their opinions generating qualitative data(Kumar,2001). Research ethics as described by Blaxter et al. cited in Bell (2005) is about being clear about the nature of the agreement with the research participants. Clear instructions and the overarching ethics of the research meant there was no poor interpretation. Sample sizes are always important and so the larger the sample size the more accurate and more believable the results become. Quality of the samples then becomes of paramount importance so though the sample size is small, the results are accurate and are a true reflection on what was reported within the questionnaire. All data collection and results interpretation proved to be fairly straight forward mainly as the sample size was small and the surveyed students were willing to share their views and spend time accurately filling out the questionnaire. References: Barlette & Burton , S & D (2012) Researching education . London: Sage. Bell, J (2005) Doing your Research Project . 4th ed. Berkshire: Open University Press. Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2011) Research Methods in Education . 7th ed. Oxon: Routledge. Early Childhood Australia (2010) Code of Ethics literature review [Online] Available at http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au [Accessed 25 November 2013] Kumar, R (2011) Research Methodology. 3rd ed. Great Britain: SAGE Publications Ltd. Lambert, E.B (2003) Introducing Research to Early Childhood Students. Australia : Social Science Press. Sage (2010) Introduction to quantitative research [Online] Available at http://www.sagepub.com [Accessed 27 November 2013] U.S Department of Health & Human Services (1979) The Belmont Report [Online] Available at http://www.hhs.gov [Accessed 1 December 2013] Weatherall, S. (2013) Research terms, MOD001251 Research 1 . [Print] Anglia Ruskin University, Unpublished.

Free Essays on The Pschoanylisis Of Holden Caulfield

The Psychoanalysis of Holden Caulfield My name is John Johnson and I am Holden Caulfield’s psychoanalyst. I have a PhD from Stanford University and have been working with teenagers for ten years. However, Holden Caulfield has been different then any other patient I have ever had. Even though Holden and I have had a pretty good relationship it still has taken more than a year for me to get him to open up and tell me anything about his life. Just recently I was able to convince him to do a little free association with me. Once he did open up through the free association activity I found out some interesting things. I think that the Id dominates the ego with Holden. He does things without really contemplating what the consequences will be. For example he doesn’t apply himself in school because he does not think he needs school. If his ego could contain his id then he would realize that if he ever wants to do anything with his life then he needs to get through school. He also acts impulsively around women like when he is on the train with Mrs. Morrow, the mother of one of his classmates, he begins to act strangely, he said, â€Å"’Would you care for a cocktail?’ I asked her. I was feeling in the mood for one myself. ‘We can go in the club car. All right?’†(57). He tries to pick up a lady who is almost thirty years older than him and if he had thought about it logically before he attempted to pick her up he would have realized that it was not going to happen. Another example is when he gets really drunk and calls Sally late at night. Even thoug h he is drunk he is still acting on impulses. He said, â€Å"I had to dial about twenty numbers before I got the right one. Boy, I was blind†(150). If he’s so drunk then he knows he should not be calling Sally or anybody, but he still does because his ego cannot separate the urges from the id and the expectations from the superego. Those are a few of the main r... Free Essays on The Pschoanylisis Of Holden Caulfield Free Essays on The Pschoanylisis Of Holden Caulfield The Psychoanalysis of Holden Caulfield My name is John Johnson and I am Holden Caulfield’s psychoanalyst. I have a PhD from Stanford University and have been working with teenagers for ten years. However, Holden Caulfield has been different then any other patient I have ever had. Even though Holden and I have had a pretty good relationship it still has taken more than a year for me to get him to open up and tell me anything about his life. Just recently I was able to convince him to do a little free association with me. Once he did open up through the free association activity I found out some interesting things. I think that the Id dominates the ego with Holden. He does things without really contemplating what the consequences will be. For example he doesn’t apply himself in school because he does not think he needs school. If his ego could contain his id then he would realize that if he ever wants to do anything with his life then he needs to get through school. He also acts impulsively around women like when he is on the train with Mrs. Morrow, the mother of one of his classmates, he begins to act strangely, he said, â€Å"’Would you care for a cocktail?’ I asked her. I was feeling in the mood for one myself. ‘We can go in the club car. All right?’†(57). He tries to pick up a lady who is almost thirty years older than him and if he had thought about it logically before he attempted to pick her up he would have realized that it was not going to happen. Another example is when he gets really drunk and calls Sally late at night. Even thoug h he is drunk he is still acting on impulses. He said, â€Å"I had to dial about twenty numbers before I got the right one. Boy, I was blind†(150). If he’s so drunk then he knows he should not be calling Sally or anybody, but he still does because his ego cannot separate the urges from the id and the expectations from the superego. Those are a few of the main r...

Tourism and hospitality operations management The WritePass Journal

Tourism and hospitality operations management INTRODUCTION Tourism and hospitality operations management INTRODUCTIONTASK ONE1.1 Quality and its benefits within the Hospitality context 1.2   Quality Awards/Systems that Hospitality Organizations operate within1.3   Internal System within the Front Office AreaTASK TWO2.1 Supply Chain Management Strategies2.2   Supplier Selection ProcessTASK THREE3.1 Possible issues encountered by Operations Managers3.2 Resolving the IssuesREFERENCE LISTRelated INTRODUCTION Operations management in tourism and hospitality refers to the work done in the different fields of hotel industry. Jobs in the hospitality industry, such as hotels, restaurants, catering, resorts and casinos as well as other hospitality positions that deal with tourists generally, refers to hospitality. Hospitality involves the relationship process between the hotel and a guest and the act of being hospitable, such as guest reception and entertainment with friendliness, goodwill and liberality. Tourists who travel for recreation or leisure purposes is related to tourist management. In recent years, tourism has become a popular global leisure activity among worldwide customers. The project is about Ramada Encore London West. TASK ONE 1.1 Quality and its benefits within the Hospitality context Quality means, serving in a manner which suits to the tourist within the limits of the industry. It also refers to the quality provided to the people who have visited an individuals’ place. The best of the services provided by the operations team is called quality. Delivering quality service is one of the major challenges facing hospitality managers in the opening years of the millennium. It is be an essential condition for success in the emerging, keenly competitive, global hospitality markets. While the future importance of delivering quality hospitality service is easy to discern and to agree on, doing so presents some difficult and intriguing management issues. Since the delivery of hospitality service always involves people, these issues centre on the management of people, and in particular on the interactions between guests and staff, interactions that are called service encounters. In the eyes of our guests, our hospitality businesses will succeed or fail depending on the cumulative impact of the service encounters in which they have participated. It is easy to check the importance of managing these service encounters.  Ã‚   Think back to the last time you visited a hotel or restaurant.  Ã‚   Service encounters are the building blocks of quality hospitality service.   First, hospitality managers should identify each encounter in the chain that they wish to take apart, and then single out those that are of operational or strategic significance – in effect, focusing in on the few encounters that really make a difference to guest experience and thus to the bottom line. Second, apply what we have called the 6 S’s to improving these critical encounters through effective redesign. While the first step may seem obvious, it is important to identify a service chain and then to break it down into the component encounters.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Too much detail takes time and resources, and may confuse rather than clarify.  Ã‚   Too little and we may miss important problems.  Ã‚   The process is iterative, with more detail needed in some areas and less in others, and with an overriding consideration that the chain is assessed not just from the point of view of a manager but also from that of a guest. Those that add significant value to the guest, those that cost in time or money, those that help to differentiate the business from its competitors, and those where significant innovation is possible or occurring. Hospitality service encounters run the gamut from those that are very trivial to those that are highly critical. They vary greatly in their nature and may be simple or complex, standard or custom, low tech or high tech, remote or friendly, low or high skill, frequent or occasional, and so on. They can be instrumental dealing with the performance of necessary utilitarian activities or can involve emotion-laden hospitality events. An initial management task is to understand a service encounter by discerning and dealing with those attributes that are most important to guests. In doing so, pertinent questions must be raised about the specific service encounter(s) under consideration.   With respect to a particular service encounter, hospitality managers might raise many questions like the following: The specific encounter(s) under consideration will, of course, indicate the kinds of questions that should be pursued.   It is important to obtain adequate information to understand the situation thoroughly.   Determining the context of a situation relating to a hospitality encounter that has gone wrong establishes parameters for improvement. All this is part of the second step.  Ã‚   With the information at hand hospitality managers can organize, and analyze the data and it is here that the 6S approach can help.  Ã‚  Ã‚   These are: Specification  Ã‚  Ã‚   Staff  Ã‚  Ã‚   Space  Ã‚  Ã‚   System  Ã‚  Ã‚   Support  Ã‚  Ã‚   Style Specification means clearly detailing information about the what, when, where, and how, of service encounters.   It requires giving careful thought to the linkages between particular service encounters and others in the service chain. When hospitality managers have carried out these two step process they will be in an excellent position to make decisions that will both improve the quality of hospitality services provided and guest perceptions of them. Zeroing in on hospitality service quality in this manner will help hospitality businesses meet the service challenges of the millennium, enhance their market positions, and reap the associated profit rewards. Staff in the hospitality industry must be trained to enhance all the issues resolved in time, before the consumers enable to dismantle the theory of having been not satisfied with the hotel staff and the services provided. The hotel must have a very good accommodation to have all its clients feel at home. A good space leads to more impressive and lucrative offers for the consumers to come at regular intervals. Space means a big area being controlled and operated by the hotel management and the staff. There should be discipline in the work being allotted to each and every department. That means that the system of working as a family and in a healthy atmosphere be supplemented and enhanced to face any number of customers in the hotel. Support from all the managerial staff makes a real sense of developing the adjustments made by the hotel. The presentation of the hotel should be in such a way that it attracts the eyes of the clients. The style applied to all the rooms, bar, restaurant, pool side and the lobby must be so much eccentric that the onlookers feel proud to be the part of such an organization. More than ever it is important for businesses to be offering the best service to their clients and ensuring that their needs are being met so they stay loyal customers. The increasing use of electronic communication benefits business with efficiency gains but can be detrimental with the interaction with clients. We all need to hold onto and look after our customers and one of the best ways to obtain quality time with valuable clients as well as potential clients and top performing employees is to take them to an exclusive or very popular event such as a high profile sporting event demonstrating to them how much you value them. The best way to spend time at an event is going with a corporate package, for many reasons. Firstly by doing it in style and creating a special occasion people will remember it for years to come and will certainly show how much you value them by going that bit further than buying tickets to the event. Taking employees and clients here will pay you dividends in the future as it will encourage loyalty and continue bringing in valuable income. Using hospitality facilities will provide you with space to spend time with valuable clients and those contacts that you want to convert into customers. Having that prime location at the event gives you a huge benefit over sitting in a crowded and noisy stadium. It is a much better suited environment to enjoy the event while talking business too. Going with a hospitality package can often give you the opportunity to network as other companies will be sharing the facilities with their clients. You can find valuable clients and contacts this way. Supplier selection criteria for a particular product or service category should be defined by a â€Å"cross-functional† team of representatives from different sectors of your organization. In a manufacturing company, for example, members of the team typically would include representatives from purchasing, quality, engineering and production. Team members should include personnel with technical/applications knowledge of the product or service to be purchased, as well as members of the department that uses the purchased item. Common supplier selection criteria: Previous experience and past performance with the product/service to be purchased. Relative level of sophistication of the quality system, including meeting regulatory requirements or mandated quality system registration (for example, ISO 9001, QS-9000). Ability to meet current and potential capacity requirements, and do so on the desired delivery schedule. Financial stability. Technical support availability and willingness to participate as a partner in developing and optimizing design and a long-term relationship. Total cost of dealing with the supplier (including material cost, communications methods, inventory requirements and incoming verification required). The suppliers track record for business-performance improvement. Total cost assessment. Methods for determining how well a potential supplier fits the criteria: Obtaining a Dun Bradstreet or other publicly available financial report. Requesting a formal quote, which includes providing the supplier with specifications and other requirements (for example, testing). Visits to the supplier by management and/or the selection team. Confirmation of quality system status either by on-site assessment, a written survey or request for a certificate of quality system registration. Discussions with other customers served by the supplier. Review of databases or industry sources for the product line and supplier. Evaluation (SUCH AS prototyping, lab tests, OR validation testing) of samples obtained from the supplier. The Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality Tourism serves as a medium to share and disseminate new research findings, theoretical development and superior practices in hospitality and tourism service quality. The journal aims to publish cutting-edge empirically and theoretically sound research articles which advance and foster hospitality and tourism research and practices. Academicians and practitioners explore current and important development information on quality planning, development, management, marketing, evaluation, and adjustments within the field. As a result, this journal will help readers to keep up-to-date on the latest theory development and research findings, improve business practices, stay informed of successful hospitality strategies, maintain profit requirements, and increase their market share in this complex and growing field. Comprised of conceptual and methodological research papers, research notes, case studies, and review books and conferences the Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality Tourism offers readers examples of real world practices and experiences that involve: organizational development and improvement operational and efficiency issues quality policy and strategy service quality improvement and customer satisfaction managerial issues, such as employee empowerment benefits, quality costs, returns on investment the role and participation of private and public sectors, including residents international, national, and regional tourism; tourism destination sites; arid systems of tourism Allowing readers the opportunity to share experiences and thoughts with colleagues in the field, this journal also contains several columns that examine different and valuable information sources, including:research notes significant findings related to the goals of the journal dissertations and masters theses abstracts examine quality assurance related topics book reviews recently published works that discuss the strengths structure of the book, subject matter, readability, and discussions about the works contribution to existing practices and knowledge in the field conference reviews highlighting discussing specific papers presented at conferences their importance in the field web site reviews interesting helpful hospitality tourism web sites. Covering several crucial areas in each issue, this journal provides essential information that can be applied to businesses, the classroom, and new research projects. Bringing together a variety of perspectives from around the world, the Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality Tourism has the current, comprehensive, and vital information necessary to evaluate the quality of services and improve customer satisfaction in a cost-effective manner. 1.2   Quality Awards/Systems that Hospitality Organizations operate within The concept of quality management in hospitality industry is very important.   The hospitality industry is one of the most important industries in the world that has been growing at unique rate owing to the increased rate of globalization.   The amplified activities in tourism industry and improved international trade are among the factors that have led to increased growth of the hospitality industry.   There has been increased trend towards equivalence of services in the hospitality industry and this is being driven by the need for augmentation of quality of services. As the level of competition increase in the industry, the competitive advantage has been created through provision of high quality services.   In order to understand the trend in enrichment of quality of services in the industry, this paper will review a number of studies on the subject. The case of Ramada Encore London West discusses how total quality management has been used in London in the enhancement of quality in the  Ã‚   hospitality industry.   This acknowledges that total quality management is a concept that has gained increased use in the hospitality industry. In recognition of the importance of quality management in the hospitality industry, the ISO 9000 has been an important step in setting standards for the implementation of total quality management in the industry.   Enhancement of quality in the hospitality industry is cited to increase the level of customer satisfaction, increased sales and better profits for business in the hospitality industry. Total Quality Management (TQM) is however sometimes difficult to implement in hospitality industry owing to the difficult in identifying some of the most appropriate quality measures. This study identified the need to use the quality triangle in hospitality industry including focus on customers, team work approach to unify goals, and use of scientific approach in decision making. Through comparing TQM in manufacturing and hospitality industry, the study gives important review on how hospitality industry can use the TQM concept to improve their services.   This study is important since it shows how organization in the hospitality industry can actually use TQM concept to enhance quality in their products and services.   It is important to understand that TQM is s wholesome approach which doesn’t only look at one aspect of quality management but concentrate on quality in on all aspects. HACCP is one of the most important aspects in TQM that defines quality. HACCP defines the important points at which quality should be ensured. Through understanding the important points in the process of food production or offering of service where quality can be enhanced, it become easier to enhance quality. While HACCP is an important factor in quality enhancement process that has been used in large food manufacturers, it has been slowly employed in the small business especially in the hospitality industry.   The study found out that there are more than eleven barriers to enhancement of HACCP in enhancement of quality.   This has one of the most comprehensive studies in implementation of HAACP in the hospitality industry.  Ã‚   The findings of the study are important since they show the importance of HACCP in enhancement of quality of products and services in hospitality industry. Quality enhancement is important in determining the rating of hotels in hospitality industry. It is also related to princes of products and services in the industry. In their study on Quality and Pricing in the Hotel Industry: The Mobil Star and Hotel Pricing Behaviour, Henley, Cotter, and Duncan (2004) argues that price is closely tied to pricing of products.   They argue that quality is one of the most important determinants of price not only in hospitality industry but also in other industries as well.   However, they concede that it is fortunate that in the hospitality industry, quality evaluation and prince information are availed for consumer and have also been published in consumer guides. They give the example of The Mobili Travel Guides as one of the most important sources of information regarding quality and price of products offered in hospitality industry. To find whether hotels usually do change their pricing and quality strategy when their rating is affected in such consumer guides.   This study found out that price is tied to quality of services and products. Most hotels raises their prices when their rating goes higher and lowers the consequently when their rating is lowered, and the same happens at Ramada Encore London West.   The results are important to enhancement of quality in hospitality industry. It reveals that quality of service offered has an effect on rating of the hotels and hence the price of their product. There are different factors affecting the quality of services in the hospitality industry. In their review of different factors affecting quality in the Ramada Encore London West   shows that the growth of tourisms industry in different parts of the world have led to increased attention to quality assurance in the hospitality industry. The hotel looked into influence of consumer perception on quality of services, the study found out that different factors like previous acquaintance with the hotel, perception and efficiency, perception of value, type of restaurant services, quality of conference facilities, and staff attitudes are among the important factors that affect consumer perception of quality in a given hotel. It is important to operators in the industry who want to improve their quality since they would focus on these factors.   It implies that to enhance quality, hotels must understand the important factors that are used by consumers to assess quality of services and pro ducts and henceforth improve them. Employees of Ramada Encore London West have a lot of influence on the quality of service offered by the organization. Employees are the main point of contact between organization and the customers. Following the HACCP model, this is an important point and there should be efforts to enhance quality at this point. In deed, this point has been reinforced by Kattara, Dina, and El-Said  Ã‚   in their study on the impact of employee behaviour on customers service quality perceptions and overall satisfaction.   In this study, Kattara et al., (2008) attempted to investigate the relationship between the positive and negative employee behaviour, customer sensitivity of the quality of service offered and the satisfaction of the employees. This study revealed that employee behaviours whether negative or positive are well correlated with customer satisfaction. Through review of past and current literature, the study found out that customer discernment is mainly influenced by the quality of se rvice they received at a given hotel.   This study is important enhancement of quality in the hospitality industry since it looked at the relationship between employees and their customers. Consumers are also important determinant of the quality of service offered in the industry through their reviews.  Ã‚   Consumer awareness is an important factor that can be used by consumers to show the level of quality in the industry. While a manager may think that their service are quality, customer many think otherwise.   Therefore the author suggests setting up a program that will assist in monitoring go standards of services to enhance quality. Quality management is not only about ornamental quality of goods and services. The hospitality industry in has not been keen on integrating occupation health and safety with quality management systems.   If OHS is not integrated with quality management system, most organization can degenerate from health participatory process to mere bureaucratic management tool.   The findings of this study are important since they show the importance of integrating OHS and quality systems. Both concepts are closely related and enhance each other. 1.3   Internal System within the Front Office Area The Front Office utility of a Hotel is to act as the public face of the hotel, chiefly by greeting hotel consumers and checking in guests. It also provides assistance to guests during their stay completes their lodgings, food and beverage, accounts and receives payment from guests. Department is typically poised of 1. Reception 2. Reservation 3. Concierge 4. PBX (phone service system) 5. Telephone a) Front Office:   Sell guestrooms; register guests and design guestrooms. Coordinate guest services provide information. Maintain precise room statistics, and room key inventories. Maintain guest account statements and complete proper financial settlements b) Reservation: Receive and process reservation requests for future overnight accommodations. With technology development, the Reservation Department can, on real time, access the number and types of rooms available, various room rates, and furnishings, along with the various facilities existing in the hotel Edgar Dsouz FRONT OFFICE is the nerve center in the entire hotel operations. All the transaction passes through within this department. The Front Office Department comprise of the Reception, Guest Service Offices, Bell Services, Reservation, Operators, Executive Club, Health and Recreation Center and Business Center. The purpose of the Front Office Department is to provide guests assistance with luggage, transportation, information concerning the hotel and the city, and any other service arrangements needed during their stay. Employees of the Front Office Department often provide the first and last impression of the hotel to our guests. It is therefore vitally important that employees display a prompt and courteous attitude to all guests and demonstrate the excellence in service. The Front Office Manager who comes under the direct supervision of the Director of Rooms and supervises the Front Office Department Important of Front Office Department to the Hotel .Hospitality, warm welcome .Often provide first and last impression. .Often have longest contact with guest. .Continuity: Long term service, recognition of repeat guests, remember names, guest histories. .Acquaint guest with hotel. .Sell hotel food and beverage outlets. .Upsell: Suggest deluxe and suites. .Smoother over disgruntled guests. TASK TWO 2.1 Supply Chain Management Strategies For the organizations which are concerned in tourism, competence is conditioned, among other determinants, by the harmonization and synchronization of all participants’ efforts from the unambiguous performance chain: tourism services suppliers, tour-operators, travel agencies and tourists themselves. Among these participants, a special role is assigned to the tour-operators. Going from certain tourism attractions, they take upon themselves the manufacture of those products that are required by tourists, assembling the different basic and complementary tourism services that are offered by numerous services suppliers, and further, distributing them to the retailers, or directly to the tourists. The impact of their activity is very strong because through the realized products they incorporate different types of tourist services. Going from these aspects and analyzing in a similar manner the tourism activity as the material goods manufacturing activity from logistical point of vie w, it can be said that, successful activity can be achieved when those different participants categories act like a system, into a supply chain. On tour-operators’ level, the supply chain management incorporates, among the others, planning and management activities concerning purchasing suppliers selection, internal logistics’ management, as well as collaboration with all marketing channel partners. Internal logistics involves activities that refers to purchasing, operations’ support and some aspects that are similar with physical distribution, the supply chain being structured by cooperation between a various number of participants, from raw materials suppliers (their impact is visible especially in catering, foods or beverage suppliers services), up to end consumers. Otherwise, the role of the last category is more important because they lend the tourism activity specific nature, through there’s participation on a successful holiday product. Supply chains evolve in harmony with changes in the market and their ambitions. The fruition of supply chain is correlated to different elements of progress in the business context referred to as performance capacity, innovation and clock speed. These correlations are the starting point of moving the chain towards the higher goals and therefore are of most importance. In order to assure that the chain is moving on the right path in its evolutionary journey, the journey must start based on the most precise data available. Different firms and diverse supply chains have dissimilar business strategies and value propositions, and answering those questions is often harder than one might imagine. To illustrate, lets look at some examples of metrics that are mis-aligned: cases in which a company discovered that they werent measuring the things that really mattered to their customers. Companies must always be concerned with their competition. Todays marketplace is shifting from individual company presentation to supply chain performance: the entire chains ability to meet end-customer needs through product availability and responsive, on-time delivery. Supply chain performance crosses both functional lines and company boundaries. Functional groups (engineering/RD, manufacturing, and sales/marketing) are all instrumental in designing, building, and selling products most efficiently for the supply chain, and traditional company boundaries are changing as companies discover new ways of working together to achieve the ultimate supply chain goal: the ability to fill customer orders faster and more efficiently than the competition. To accomplish that goal, you need performance process, or metrics, for global supply chain performance improvements. Your performance measures must show not only how well you are providing for your customers (service metrics) but also how you are handling your business (speed, asset/inventory, and financial metrics). Given the cross-functional environment of many supply chain improvements, your metrics must prevent organizational silo behaviour which can hinder supply chain routine. Supply Chain Strategies are the critical backbone to Business Organizations today. Effective Market coverage, Availability of Products at locations which hold the key to revenue recognition depends upon the effectiveness of Supply Chain Strategy rolled out. Very simply stated, when a product is introduced in the market and advertised, the entire market in the country and all the sales counters need to have the product where the customer is able to buy and take delivery. Any glitch in product not being available at the right time can result in drop in customer interest and demand which can be disastrous. Transportation network design and management assume importance to support sales and marketing strategy. Inventory control and inventory visibility are two very critical elements in any operations for these are the cost drivers and directly impact the bottom lines in the balance sheet. Inventory means value and is an asset of the company. Every business has a standard for inventory turnaround that is optimum for the business. Inventory turnaround refers to the number of times the inventory is sold and replaced in a period of twelve months. The health of the inventory turn relates to the health of business. In a global scenario, the finished goods inventory is held at many locations and distribution centers, managed by third parties. A lot of inventory would also be in the pipeline in transportation, besides the inventory with distributors and retail stocking points. Since any loss of inventory anywhere in the supply chain would result in loss of value, effective control of inventory and visibility of inventory gains importance as a key factor of Supply Chain Management function. 2.2   Supplier Selection Process Supplier selection criterion for a particular product or service category should be defined by a â€Å"cross-functional† team of representatives from different sectors of your organization. In a manufacturing company, for example, members of the team typically would include representatives from purchasing, quality, engineering and fabrication. Team members should include personnel with technical/applications knowledge of the product or service to be purchased, as well as members of the subdivision that uses the purchased item. Common provider selection criteria: Previous experience and past recital with the product/service to be purchased. Comparative level of sophistication of the quality system, including meeting regulatory requirements or mandated quality system registration (for example, ISO 9001, QS-9000). Ability to meet current and potential aptitude requirements, and do so on the desired delivery schedule. Financial stability. Technical support availability and willingness to participate as a partner in developing and optimizing design and a long-term relationship. Total cost of dealing with the supplier (including material cost, communications methods, inventory requirements and incoming verification required). The suppliers track record for business-performance improvement. Total cost assessment. Methods for determining how well a potential supplier fits the criteria: Obtaining a Dun Bradstreet or other publicly available financial report. Requesting a formal quote, which includes providing the supplier with specifications and other requirements (for example, testing). Visits to the supplier by management and/or the selection team. Confirmation of quality system status either by on-site assessment, a written survey or request for a certificate of quality system registration. Discussions with other customers served by the supplier. Review of databases or industry sources for the product line and supplier. Evaluation (SUCH AS prototyping, lab tests, OR validation testing) of samples obtained from the supplier. TASK THREE 3.1 Possible issues encountered by Operations Managers Lack of capital is often the most critical challenge that a successful manager or leader faces as its very success creates this and it quickly becomes a vicious circle. Without very diligent cash flow management and/or mounting of more capital, including debt, the business often is constrained by capital as it grows. Often the profit in one operating cycle is insufficient to fund the extra working capital required for the next operating cycle. Many capable managers cannot overcome the obstacles in their businesses cash flow cycle and cannot understand why bankers and other lenders often cannot provide the financing as the manager often does not have the security to support the debt. The solution is often easier than most entrepreneurs realize. It often starts with a plan to see what your cash needs are and when your cash needs arise. Then one is in a position to manage it and focus on the cash management techniques most likely to be successful in his/her business. Lack of management skills Lack of management skills is a problem that is very difficult to deal with in most small and medium enterprises as the size of the senior management team is necessarily limited. These areas of weakness could be in finance, human resources, marketing or any area where the current management does not have the expertise, or the time to deal with the issues. It can be solved by determining the weak areas and then developing a plan for dealing with those challenges. Solutions can be as simple as assigning the responsibility to an existing manager with a requirement to watch for the obvious pitfalls, to hiring a person part-time or a consultant. Lack of focus Ignoring risks in their assessment of alternatives and opportunities Lack of a plan Failure to plan for issues absorbing the majority of your time 3.2 Resolving the Issues An operations manager should be more proficient regarding his/her department when operating a staff of Tourism and Hospitality. The faces of the staff repair the atmosphere in the hotel for the customers. Issues should be handled and resolved with timely interviewing of the needs and responsibilities of the staff. It is compulsory for the managers to be more precise over the issues and no favours should be given to any particular person on gander basis. It’s the most aspiring issue which hinders the work at the work place and creates a substance of non judgemental circumstances for the front line managers. Operations manager must be focussed on the resolution and proper usage of time in work. This can be implemented on focussing on the demands of the staff which speak of the customers. By not giving any heed to the needs, the managers sometimes bring a bad and deliberate reputation to the designation and the atmosphere gives no other chance rather than to leave. Planning is another need for the operations managers. A good plan will lead a good presentation by the staff. A hotel only runs on the presentation of its criteria and backup must be strong to represent its nature. If the planning of the manager does not match the abilities of the staff then it can beheld that the operations manager lacks planning and needs to be refurbished on the planning and strategy building. Issues only happen when there is a lack of co-ordination amid the staff. While working in the field of hospitality one has to resolve the issues otherwise the presentation of the team will lack a lot of planning and debauchery of the things and conjugally.   But if an operations manager will keep on defying the whole lot by giving advices and resolving the issues then his own hard made planning’s wont get much time to be implemented. So an operations manger must be sure on implementing and displaying of his plans in time instead to giving solvents for the problems and issues. Operations management has acquired great significance in the recent years due to an increase in the number of trans-national companies, whose operations are spread across the continents. It helps in developing the synergies between the various operations that are separated by time and space. OM has made it possible for trans-national companies, like Shell Corporation, to source crude oil from an oilrig in Europe and deliver the oil to a refinery located in Asia Pacific. OM is not limited to Oil Companies only. OM has enabled many companies to set up production and manufacturing at cost effective locations and source the required inputs from locations where procurement costs are low. Corporate social responsibility (CSR), which takes as its premise that firms ought to justify their existence in terms of service to assorted stakeholders rather than mere profit, has been a subject of much debate. Yet, notwithstanding certain critical voices, more and more businesses, including hospitality companies, are embracing CSR. Some like Scandic even embedded it into their business models, which means that CSR underpins their organizational modus operandi. Thus this paper, built around an analysis of Scandics Omtanke programme, aims to conceptualize CSR in the context of the hospitality sector. Great stress is laid, therefore, on the implications of CSR for hotel-based human resource management, local community support and promotion of environmental sustainability. Drawing on interviews with Scandic managers and internal documents, we examine the rationale and effects of various CSR initiatives carried out in Scandic hotels in recent years. Building on these insights, the paper concludes by making some recommendations of practical character and highlighting future research directions. Issues can be resolved in the process of making healthy relations of the staff and the customers in the hotel industry are very important. The selection of the staff depends upon the education provided and enhanced in an able way to product these things in such a way that these cannot be traumatised and bullied to halter the work of the hotel. REFERENCE LIST Philip Kotler, John Bowen, James Makens Marketing for Hospitality Tourism 5th Edition Robert Johnston, Graham Clark -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Service Operations Management 3rd Edition Chris Holloway, R. Davidson, Claire Humphreys The Business of Tourism 8th Edition Nigel Slack, Mike Lewis -   Operations Strategy 3rd Edition Robert D. Reid, David   Ã‚   Hospitality Marketing Management. Simon Hudson   Ã‚   Marketing for Tourism and Hospitality. Cathy Enz Hospitality Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases.

Practice English Using This Dialogue With a Famous Actor

Practice English Using This Dialogue With a Famous Actor Use this interview with a famous actor to practice speaking and pronunciation skills, as well as review important grammar points on tense usage. Read, practice with a partner, and check your understanding of important vocabulary and grammar points. Finally, create a dialog of your own with exercise cues. Interview Part 1: Practice Using the Present Simple and Present Continuous The first part of  the dialog concerns daily routines, as well as current activities.  Notice that the  present simple  is used to speak and ask about daily routines: He usually gets  up early and goes to the gym.How often do you travel for work?She doesnt work from home.   The  present continuous  is used to speak about what is happening at this specific moment in time, as well as around  the current moment in time: Im studying French for a test right now. (at this moment)What are you working on this week? (around current moment)Theyre getting ready to open the new store. (at this moment / around current moment) Interviewer: Thank you for taking some time off from your busy schedule to answer a few questions about your life!Tom: Its my pleasure. Interviewer: Could you tell us about an average day in your life?Tom: Sure, I get up early, at 7 in the morning. Then I have breakfast. After breakfast, I go to the gym. Interviewer: Are you studying anything now?Tom: Yes, Im learning dialog for a new film called The Man About Town. Interviewer: What do you do in the afternoon?Tom: First I have lunch, then I go to the studio and shoot some scenes. Interviewer: Which scene are you working on  today?Tom: Im acting out a scene about an angry lover. Interviewer: Thats very interesting. What do you do in the evening?Tom: In the evening, I go home and have dinner and study my scripts. Interviewer: Do you go out at night?Tom: Not always, I like going out at weekends. Interview Part 2: Practice Using the Present Perfect and Future Tenses The second section of the interview focuses on the actors experience from the past to  the present. Use the  present perfect  when speaking about experience over time: Ive visited many countries throughout the world.Hes made more than fifteen documentaries.Shes worked at that position since 1998. The  future forms  going to  and  will  are used to speak about the future. Notice that  going to  is used with future plans whereas  will  is used to predict the future. Im going to visit my uncle next week.Theyre going to open up a new store in Chicago.I think Ill take a vacation in June, but Im not sure.She thinks hell get married soon. Interviewer: Lets talk about your career. How many films have you made?Tom: Thats a hard question. I think Ive made more than 50 films! Interviewer: Wow. Thats a lot! How many years have you been an actor?Tom: Ive been an actor since I was ten years old. In other words, Ive been an actor for twenty years. Interviewer: Thats impressive. Do you have any future projects?Tom: Yes, I do. Im going to focus on making a few documentaries next year. Interviewer: That sounds great. Do you have any plans beyond that?Tom: Well, Im not sure. Maybe I will become a film director, and maybe Ill just retire. Interviewer: Oh, please dont retire! We love your films!Tom: Thats very kind of you. Im sure Ill make a few more films. Interviewer: Thats good to hear. Thank you for the interview.Tom: Thank you. Practice Exercise: Create Your Own Dialogue Use these cues to create your own dialogue with a famous actor. Pay careful attention to the time words and context to help you choose the correct tense. Try to come up with different possibilities.   Interviewer: Thank you / interview. Know / busyActor: Welcome / Pleasure Interviewer: work new film?Actor: Yes / act in Sun on My Face this month Interviewer: congratulations. Ask questions about life?Actor: Yes / any question Interviewer: what do after work?Actor: usually relax pool Interviewer: what do today?Actor: have interview today! Interviewer: where go evening?Actor: usually stay home Interviewer: stay home this evening?Actor: no go movies Interviewer:   which movie?Actor:  not say Example Solution: Interviewer:  Thank you for letting me interview you today. I know how busy you are.Actor:  Youre welcome. It was  a pleasure to meet you. Interviewer:   Are you working on a new film these days?Actor: Yes, Im acting in Sun in My Face this month. Its a great film! Interviewer:   Congratulations! May I ask you some questions about your life?Actor:  Of course you can! I can answer almost any question! Interviewer:   Great. So, acting is hard work. What do you like doing after work?Actor:  I  usually relax at my pool.   Interviewer:   What are you doing today for relaxation?Actor: Im having an interview today!   Interviewer:   Thats very funny! Where do you enjoy going in the evening?Actor: I usually just stay home! Im boring! Interviewer:   Are you staying home this evening?Actor: No. This evening Im going to the movies. Interviewer:   Which movie are you going to?Actor: I cant say. Its a secret! Key Vocabulary take time off   stop working in order to do something elseaverage day   a normal or typical day in someones lifestudio   the room(s) in which a movie is madeshoot some scenes   act scenes from a movie for the camerascript   the lines the actor needs to speak in a moviecareer   your job or work over a long period of timefuture projects   work that you will do in the futurefocus on something   try to do only one thingdocumentary   a type of film about something that happened in real liferetire   stop working

Compare the Hindu and Buddhist styles of representing divinity Essay

Compare the Hindu and Buddhist styles of representing divinity - Essay Example It highly reflects the prevailing theme at the time in which Japan took pride in its genius through the fields of religion, philosophy, art, and rich literature. While the fundamental color of brilliance is perceived through the coating to designate in equilibrium the simplicity of brightness through wood carving, the Hindu sculpture has, among the revered gods Vishnu, Shiva, Krishna, and some others, on the contrary been worked using stone or hard rock medium to enhance the proper locus of the aspects with light. A rare sculpture of ‘Vishnu’ seated on a Naga coil under the five hoods of the serpent deity is stone-made. Found at the Nithyakalyanaswamy temple at Thiruvidanthai, the statue is said to date from the Vijayanagara period during the 17th century. Contrary to the standing position of the Bodhisattva of Compassion, Vishnu is depicted sitting in a relaxed posture to signify an aura of meditative heights achieved. This ‘Vishnu on Naga Coil’ is well-ado rned as opposed to the plain appearance of the Buddhist sculpture.

Mcdonald- chose one branch in london Coursework

Mcdonald- chose one branch in london - Coursework Example The huge advertisements and promotions of the fast food restaurants are the major factors that raised the fast food market. Through fast food people can gain many competitive advantages which are suitable for existing economic condition (Bagwell & Doff, 2009). The Following Table Shows the Ranking of McDonald’s with respect to Market Share in the UK Source: (Government of Canada Publications, 2011). In this context, the Oxford Street branch, situated in London of McDonald’s will be analysed for the study. Demand Factors of Fast food in London This segment describes the nature of fast food demand and relative factors that influence the demand of fast food products in London. The fast food market is monopoly in nature. The demand for fast food is not completely elastic. Any restaurant can increase the cost of fast food products without diminishing the demand to zero. There is a certain demand curve for each fast food restaurants. A restaurant can sell more products by min imizing their products cost or sell less by increasing the cost of the products. However, no restaurant can make excess profit because there are substitute products in other restaurants (Baker, 2001). 0 In the above graph, the demand curve of fast food products is D1 and it is downward sloping because as the price of fast food products increase, the quantity i.e. sales decreases. The shift in demand is shown as D2 curve when the demand for fast food products will increase. London’s Oxford Street is known as the most famous and developed area in the city. People who reside in Oxford Street are quite modern including those who have comparatively lower income than others. There and many professionals and students there who have busy lifestyles and many people even perform two jobs. Thus, they are busy in their jobs for considerable amount of time of a day. Thus, many households have limited time to prepare foods for day and/or night. Therefore, the people have less cooking tende ncy and is of the belief that eating fast food is comparatively better value for money. Table Showing Frequency of Consuming Food of People in the UK Source: (Bagwell & Doff, 2009). From the above table, it can be seen that young people of age group between 15–24 years prefer to eat in fast food restaurants. They are the largest portion of fast food customers. Men are most frequent customers of fast food restaurants compared to woman. There is inverse relationship with consuming fast food and age because as the age increases the preference of eating fast food decreases. The following chart shows the spending on fast food products in London in the year 2006. Chart Showing Spending on fast Food in London Source: (Bagwell & Doff, 2009). The above chart depicts that majority of customers spent minimum ?3 on fast food at Oxford Street branch. Young school students have a high demand for fast food. It has been found that young students spend average ?1.01 and 74 pence on fast food while going to school and coming back from school. In the year 2007, ?82 was spent per person for fast food. There are various reasons for high demand of fast food. The factors which influence the demand of fast food products are speed of delivery, taste, inexpensiveness and availability. Besides, there are other factors such as convenience, scarcity of time and comfort which drive

Discussion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 10

Discussion - Essay Example Particularly in special education, the importance of curriculum increases manifolds. I remain very prudent in designing the curriculum and consult other teachers to make it the best. A teacher has to simultaneously address the needs of students coming from different backgrounds, cultures, religions, regions, and ethnicities. Taking this into consideration, a special educator needs to be very flexible in his/her approach as his/her intended way may not suit all of the students at the same time. I know quite a lot of languages and tend to teach a student in his/her mother tongue (if I know that) when he/she is finding difficulty grabbing the concept otherwise. In order to be popular among the students, a teacher should promote diversity in every possible way. Interpersonal and communication skills which happen to be the fourth attribute as identified by (Hughes and George-Walter) are indeed, the most important competencies in context of special education. When I appreciate the good work of students, they feel honored which raises their morale and self esteem so that they remain consistent in their hard work. Likewise, I remain very prudent while being strict with a student because if the strictness goes beyond the limit, it can have adverse impact on the child. Creativity and innovation in pedagogy is essential for making the lectures interesting and improving the ambiance of the educational environment. I keep looking into journals, newspapers, magazines and other sources of information to learn new ideas and techniques to make the lecture interesting. For example, when I feel the students are fed up of the blackboard teaching, I tend to shift towards moving image for teaching them. Innovation in pedagogical can be achieved with adequate use of technology (Sharples). †¦[IT] (ie technology) basically opens up a whole world of learning for everybody, you know. You can find, up, read up, on anything you want, like in a university

Financial Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Financial Accounting - Essay Example Tesco’s performance in the two preceding year 2008 and 2009 has been good and the company has been performing with its best abilitites. Although the company has operated well, there are few areas that my need improvement. The profitability of the company has been good and has increased a bit but the net profit margin has decreased, indicating that the company’s conversion of its gross profit to net profit is rather low and it has gone bad in the year 2009 as compared to 2008. The liquidity is a bit shaky and needs some attention. The liquidity ratios calculated above clearly predict that the company is facing some working capital issues; the feasible result for the current ratio is 2:1, whereas the feasible result for acid test ratio would be 1:1. According to the ratios calculated, TESCO does not have the necessary current assets to deal with its current liabilities. The company as per the calculations above seems to have too many current liabilities (almost double to the amount of the current assets), such an effect is really alarming for any company and Tesco should clearly employ techniques to overcome this issue. The chairman has concluded that the company has performed well during the year end 2009 although there were major economic downturns for the global business environment due to which many weak companies collapsed. Considering that particular economic recession, TESCO has performed exceptionally well in the year 2009. Besides this, the chairman has pointed out on the acquisition of TESCO personal finance held by the Royal Bank of Scotland considering this an organic growth for the company. TESCO has certainly grown over the years and it would have been in a much better state if it was not for the global economic recession. Debenhams is a leading department stores group. Debenhams has a strong presence in key product categories including women’s wear, menswear, home wares, health and beauty, accessories,