Comparing In Search of Our Mothers Gardens and I Know...

In Search of Our Mothers Gardens and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Alice Walker and Maya Angelou are two contemporary African-American writers. Although almost a generation apart in age, both women display a remarkable similarity in their lives. Each has written about her experiences growing up in the rural South, Ms. Walker through her essays and Ms. Angelou in her autobiographies. Though they share similar backgrounds, each has a unique style which gives to us, the readers, the gift of their exquisite humanity, with all of its frailties and strengths, joys and sorrows. Tragedy struck both of these women at the age of eight. Ms. Walker lost her sight in one eye. Ms. Angelou was raped. Each described†¦show more content†¦Confronted is a combative word. When people are confronted by others, they want to launch an attack. Her style and choice of words make the reader aware that she is alone and fearful. She is left to fight her battles by herself. Maya Angelou narrates her account in a conversational tone. She uses the past tense which tells her audience its over for her. Her words are free from severity. They encourage the reader to see hope in the midst of sadness. Instead of trying to elicit a particular emotional response, Angelou invites her audience to share in her thoughts and feelings. For instance, having given an account of the rape, she writes, I thought I had died--I woke up in a white-walled world, and it had to be heaven. The reader feels a connection with her pain, yet realizes redemption lies close at hand. Whereas Walker tells how she was confronted by her parents, Angelou explains,she [mother] picked me up in her arms and the terror abated for a while. There is no impression of combativeness. There is only tenderness and care. Once again, she invites the reader in. Walker wants the reader to feel for her; Angelou wants her audience to feel with her. They achieve their objectives by di recting the readers attention to specific emotions. The emotional focus of Alice Walkers story is rage, red-hot and isolating. As I read this piece, I became livid, not only at the thought of her devastatingShow MoreRelatedLogical Reasoning189930 Words   |  760 Pagesattract readers. Stanley Baronett. Jr., University of Nevada Las Vegas Far too many authors of contemporary texts in informal logic – keeping an eye on the sorts of arguments found in books on formal logic – forget, or underplay, how much of our daily reasoning is concerned not with arguments leading to truth-valued conclusions but with making choices, assessing reasons, seeking advice, etc. Dowden gets the balance and the emphasis right. Norman Swartz, Simon Fraser University v Acknowledgments

The History of Japanese Ninjas - 705 Words

In today’s society, ninjas have evolved into turtles or movie extras. Both are very poor representations of what a ninja truly was in Japan in the ages past. Ninjas were not reptiles or someone to trifle with either. These highly trained assassins have a back story shrouded in mystery, warlords squabbling to gain their favor, training and operations of a dark nature. The well-known black-garbed assassins, known as ninjas, are commonly considered to be Japanese in origin. Though ninjas themselves are from Japan, their philosophy or ideals actually came from China. In the fourth century, a man named Sun Tzu wrote The Art of War. This collection of ideas heavily influenced the way of the ninja. Therefore, the idea of the ninja came from China, but the ninjas were trained and fought in Japan. In the tenth century through the fifteenth centuries, the ninjas were in heavy demand. Japan was a fractured nation at this time. There was no true central power to unify all the different nobles. Without this central power the warlords fought each other. During this time ninjas were used regularly (Grabainowski). However, in the Tokugawa period, Tokugawa was able to unify Japan. This meant that the ninjas were no longer needed. Some ninjas are still being trained today but not nearly as many as in the tenth century. In Japans civil war, warlords continuously fought one another in hopes of gaining enough land and resources to be capable of conquering all of Japan (Bertrand). To do thisShow MoreRelated Anime Essay1141 Words   |  5 PagesAnime Anime is the Japanese take on the word animation. It represents the Japanese style of animating cartoons. However, not all anime is for children. Majority imported to America is aimed at an adult audience- containing deep storylines, graphic violence, gore, as well as nudity and adult situations. 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Tourism and hospitality operations management Free Essays

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. We will write a custom essay sample on Tourism and hospitality operations management or any similar topic only for you Order Now 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.Think back to the last time you visited a hotel or restaurant.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. Too much detail takes time and resources, and may confuse rather than clarify.Too little and we may miss important problems.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.With the information at hand hospitality managers can organize, and analyze the data and it is here that the 6S approach can help. These are: Specification Staff Space System Support 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 supplier’s 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 master’s 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 work’s 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 thehospitality 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.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 â€Å"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 products 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-Saidin 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 servic e 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.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 â€Å"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, let’s look at some examples of metrics that are mis-aligned: cases in which a company discovered that they weren’t measuring the things that really mattered to their customers. Companies must always be concerned with their competition. Today’s marketplace is shifting from individual company presentation to supply chain performance: the entire chain’s 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 â€Å"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 â€Å"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 supplier’s 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 Scandic’s 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 ——- 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 ————Hospitality Marketing Management. Simon Hudson ————–Marketing for Tourism and Hospitality. Cathy Enz——————– Hospitality Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases. How to cite Tourism and hospitality operations management, Essay examples

Entrepreneurship and Dynamic Capabilities

Question: Disuss about the Entrepreneurship and Dynamic Capabilities. Answer: Identify a relevant Thesis Statement or Question from the article. New Zealand industry has witnessed and faced critical challenges in terms of low economic growth rate and productivity. In addition of retention of educated workforce and immigration to Australia doubled the intensity and made the conditions worse than ever. The research findings and expert opinions revealed that managerial incapability is the root cause of the series of severe concerns. Hence, the question is Which are the management capabilities? How can they be enhanced? Identify the strengths and weaknesses of the article based on the Thesis Statement. The authors have used survey method of research method to collect data. It covered three public, private and not-for-profit sectors. The responses of 265 New Zealand Chief Executives were recorded based on the list 19 challenges and 14 risk factors identified. The research study is conducted scientifically along with empirical evidence useful for decision-making process. It is critically examined that management incapability is responsible for the existing condition of New Zealand economy. Both qualitative and quantitative approach is applied. A lot of literature is reviewed. The relationship between human resources functions and managerial capabilities is established to the great extent. However, it is noticed that the response rate is only 27%. It is inadequate and compromised under the pretext of time pressures and survey frequency. Secondly, the data is more descriptive. Hence, the article can be considered to be part of explorative research in spite of fundamental or applied one. Thirdly, the sectoral analysis indicates that different challenges exist for three different sectors. Hence, there couldnt be a single solution. The comparison between New Zealand and Australia is valid and logical up-to certain extend. Provide your own viewpoint what do you believe? The increasing gap between New Zealand and Australia in terms of productivity and income is a matter of concern. Problem of productivity is linked with management capabilities and scarcity of managerial resources in New Zealand (Statistics, NZ, 2007). Political uncertainty and the turbulence of business environment led to economic slowdown in New Zealand. Business environment has created challenged in three forms: Uncertainty due to changing needs of the market, fundraising activities, and management of manpower and other resources. The proactive involvement of HR specialist will enable them to explore the hidden opportunities required for development process of managerial functions and capabilities. The study reveals that foreign-owned and larger manufacturing firms in New Zealand have comparatively better management practices than small and medium size enterprises. It simply means organizational changes are more important meeting the crucial needs. Change management is badly required. Migration from New Zealand to Australia is caused due pay difference and stable and exciting career opportunities overseas. It should be accepted that every country has its own strengths and weaknesses. The collective responsibilities, in terms of government reforms, constructive policies, industry initiatives and restructuring institutions will ensure positive transformation. Globalization has pros and cons. No country is left uncovered from its impact. Certainly, New Zealand will not be an exception to the fact. Do you agree with the thesis statement of the article or dont agree? I agree with the thesis statement. It is quite natural to study the indicators which made the difference between two counties of New Zealand and Australia. Some of them are the culture of innovation and reengineering, the production processes are redefined to cater the needs of volatile and ever-changing market. The scarcity of resources is minimized through an effective use of technology like Automation and robotics. A lot of focus is given on individual development, skilling and scaling for the employees. It leads to quality of labour. The ease of doing business reinforces the stakeholders to invest for long-term. Such environment is not there in New Zealand looking at the survey findings and literature reviewed like statistics of Global Financial Crisis 2008-09 (GFC). It is logical to state that managerial capabilities can be enhanced in New Zealand to address the key concerns. These concerns vary from one sector to another. Hence, separate sector-wise strategy would be practical and working solutions. Factors like culture, labours, community involvement, quality products and services, economics climate changes, flexibility, cost-effectiveness should be handled step-by-step. It is noteworthy to find out that managerial behaviour causes instability and inability to cope up with changes. It finally leads to uncertainty. Here, leadership excellence is a key aspect. State your key points and Why? Why not? The article could provide factual information on implications of managerial skills in New Zealand faced by Chief Executives. Few notable key points which are studied can be discussed as below: The War for Talent is inevitable in these days. Globalization has opened the gates of opportunities to all. Hence, it is the survival of the fittest. This is cut-throat competition between two countries. The better pay scales and stability attract most of the employees. As a result, immigration could take place. People will always look for the best if they have multiple alternatives. The ranking of New Zealand is lowered being developed country. It is a matter of concern for government, industry and others too. As a result, the investors are cautious posing threat to fundraising. Political skills are associated with internal and external resources, people management. It should be flexible enough to attract the stakeholders by all means. Interpersonal skills are highly recommended for managerial effectiveness. One-to-one rapport, face-reading, stress management will lead to quality of labour. The firms should focus on making their workplace as the best place to work for. Leadership be haviour is an integral part of organizational behaviour. It is correlated with the managerial effectiveness. Behavioural issues give many concerns and finally contribute to uncertainty for an organization. Provide evidence and research from other academic sources (at least 3) to support and back your argument (300) One can question like Is it possible to work on managerial effectiveness? Lets us explore more in this context. The culture of any business firm is of greatest value for all the stakeholders. The core values, vision, mission and the set of uncompromised principles make the organization stable. Transparent communication, reward and recognition policies, open door policies, fair treatment are certainly important. Effective planning and execution of resources is essential for sustainability (Carmeli, 2004). Consistent review and assessment of managerial capabilities coined with flexibilities is highly appreciable (Helfat, 2014). Emotional intelligence is the foundation of managerial effectiveness. It can easily foster the culture of problem-solving skills and enable teams to come up with innovative and creative ideas to tackle with the changes occurred at eleventh hour. Synergy can take place and all work as a team. (Hodgkinson Healey, 2011). HR specialists have a lot of potential to c onvert human resource to human capital (Khannaa Jones, 2014). Coordination, trustworthiness can strengthen the relationship for better performance. The sense of ownership is developed amongst employees and they need least monitoring. As a result, overall performance of an organization is improved. Development can take place at three levels: Individual, team and organization. They are interlinked with each other very strongly. Individual is at the bottom of pyramid. Hence, the principle of each one counts is really working. In other words, managing self and managing others will contribute to solve the challenges and clear the clouds of uncertainty for long time. Show use and understanding of class concepts learned in class that relates to the subject of the article There are many ways to enhance the managerial capabilities. In fact, it is a joint initiative both from employer and employees as well. No one can achieve the mastery in it single-handedly. The quality of labour, shortage of resources, never-ending customer satisfaction, volatile market conditions, the impact of economic changes, profit-margin, health safety and other factors constitute uncertainty for any business. However, discussion of these factors will not make sense until concrete, working solutions are not found. The thought-leadership can think of alternatives like use of technology, flexible work-culture, healthy competition, think-tanks, training and skill development initiatives for robust growth. Critical analysis of foreign-owned firms, competition management, and business expansion would be some of the other ways. Certainly, it is the organization that can check the feasibility of such alternatives. However, preventive action is always better than corrective one. One s hould learn to fix the problem then and there itself. Conclusion: In spite of technological revolution (than ever), businesses are run by human beings and for the human beings. Technology has definitely has certain limitations. If employee can put himself/ herself in the shoes of customers, many problems can be overcome. Sympathy and empathy should work together while dealing with human mind. Market conditions cannot be controlled and monitored. However, one can retain the customer by providing the best, timely and quality service to the customers. Market is nothing but the customers. If each and every individual in the company works with this attitude, therell be no question of uncertainty. Therere few business firms who have been working since many decades, still they exist today. This is because they were flexible, innovative and changed in due course of time as per the needs. They could manage the resources, stakeholders and identify the expected changes. The best firms are haunted by excellence in everything they do. They learn from others mis takes. They empower the leaders to act and achieve common goals. It makes them unique. Caring and sharing is always on their agenda. Such organizations ensure stable, sustainable and secure business growth. Uncertainty can be overcome when Human is capital / asset. Capabilities can be enhance through consistent efforts by all day in and day out. Managerial capabilities are the effective use of manpower and innovative technology. References: Hodgkinson, G. P., Healey, M. P. 2011. Psychological foundations of dynamic capabilities: Reflexion and reflection in strategic management. Strategic Management Journal, 32: 1500-1516. Hutchinson, A. Boxall, P. (2014), The critical challenges facing New Zealands chief executives: implications for management skills, Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, vol.52, pp.23-41 Kor, Y. Y., Mesko, A. (2013). Dynamic managerial capabilities: Configuration and orchestration of top executives capabilities and the firms dominant logic. Strategic Management Journal, 34: 233-244. Leitch, C. M., McMullan, C., Harrison, R. T. (2013). The development of entrepreneurial leadership: The role of human, social and institutional capital. British Journal of Management, 24: 347-366. Mitchell, J. R., Shepherd, D. A., Sharfman, M. P. (2011). Erratic strategic decisions: When and why managers are inconsistent in strategic decision making. Strategic Management Journal, 32: 683-704. Moliterno, T. P., Mahony, D. M. (2011). Network theory of organization: A multilevel approach. Journal of Management, 37: 443-467. Patel, P., Bachrach, D. G., Martin, J. A. (2014). United we stand, divided we fall? Differentiation and integration effects of transactive memory systems as a microfoundation of dynamic managerial capabilities in top management teams. Working paper, University of Alabama. Ringov, D. 2013. Dynamic capabilities and firm performance: The role of routinization, managerial discretion and environmental dynamism. Working paper, ESADE Business School, Ramon Llull University, Barcelona, Spain. Trahms, C. A., Ndofor, H. A., Sirmon, D. G. (2013). Organizational decline and turnaround: A review and agenda for future research. Journal of Management, 39: 1277-1307. Wolf-Christian, G., Knig, A., Enders, A., Hambrick, D. C. (2013). CEO narcissism, audience engagement, and organizational adoption of technological discontinuities. Administrative Science Quarterly, 58: 257-291. Wright, P. M., Coff, R., Moliterno, T. P. (2014). Strategic human capital: Crossing the great divide. Journal of Management, 40: 353-370. Zahra, S. A., Sapienza, H. J., Davidsson, P. (2006). Entrepreneurship and dynamic capabilities: A review, model and research agenda. Journal of Management Studies, 43: 917-955.