Effects Of Media On Globalization Essay

Media and globalization go hand in hand. Although researchers in both fields may have divergent views on the extent of influence of each on the other, it is evident that the two have a correlation and will always be in tandem. Terhi Rantanen acknowledges that media and globalization are closely interlinked. Whereas most communication scholars focus the role of media in the process of globalization they are opposed to media being relegated to a socio-cultural study. They think media affects all arenas globalization including politics and economics. On the other hand, experts of globalization are in agreement that globalization would be impossible without media and communications As the name suggests, globalization is to make something local go worldwide; to have a reach beyond the borders of one’s locality. Media does extend people beyond their national borders and globalization does affect media. The focus of this paper will be on the effects of globalization on media. It will determine how globalization has changed media in Britain through the: – Modifications in language of media. – Innovation and increased use of new media – Increased and profound focus   on global issues – A closer relationship and shared culture by people from different continents – Increased income and transnational corporations Media in Britain has had to adapt different languages to attract a new international audience. Globalization from a business perspective means leaving one’s country and selling one’s goods and services to another country. Therefore, it follows that one has to adjust to the national language of the people so as to trade. Media is a commercial venture like any other and making profit is the end goal. The audience reach, response and retention have to be massive to realize any benefits, monetary or otherwise. Evidently, the globe is the largest untapped market for British media. To maximise on this new frontier, one has to know and effectively apply the correct vocabulary, intonations and other aspects of language to capture and retain their attention of the prospective audience in a foreign country. The world has 6,912 living languages. It would be impossible to broadcast in all languages but a media institution that broadcasts or prints its information in the major and popular languages of the world has an advantage over a rival entity that only does so in English. Take an example of BBC World Service, the leading international broadcaster that broadcasts in 33 languages including Urdu, Swahili, Chinese, French, Shona, Spanish etc. Why does it do so? It diffuses its message in all these other languages because of globalization. BBC no longer appertains to the British. It is now an intercontinental brand name. Consequently, to boost the audience numbers, the national broadcaster has to present programs which non English speakers can also understand. BBC’s purpose for existence is ‘to enrich people lives with programmes and services that inform, educate and entertain,’ Indeed, if BBC had not started broadcasting 75 years ago in other languages, today it would not be the leading international broadcaster that it claims to be nor would have such universal brand recognition. Globalization has provoked the creation of new production for new media. As the labour costs and other production costs in the West including Britain rise to unprecedented heights, manufacturers of new media apparatus such as computer chips and other components are relocating their business to cheaper assemblage destinations. According to Lievrouw et al. new media is not only the content but also the infrastructure that supports production, distribution and exhibition of this content. They emphasize that institution of satellite broadcasting and telecommunication networks which sustain the seamless content supply, actively supports the globalization of new media. Also these networks encourage the international growth of local, regional and global markets. ‘Communication and new media systems have supported the expansion of business beyond national markets to a system whereby components are developed, manufactured, assembled, and sold far from where corporations (Transnational) exercise control. In short, globalization has encouraged advancement of communications technologies thus improving the quality and quantity of intercontinental information and commerce which has encouraged further globalization. This endless cycle has led to opening of factories in developing countries which benefit from the new income. The British Media has increased the coverage and space of international issues. They are running more in depth programs and writing feature articles on events taking part in other parts of the world. For instance, at the beginning of this year violence broke out in a tiny East Africa country called Kenya that was once a former colony of Britain. During this period Sky Broadcasting Corporation, British Broadcasting Corporation(BBC), the Daily Mail and The Guardian gave us blow by blow accounts of the breaking news. Why did they give so much time to such a story from a far off state? Well, Kenya was of great strategic to Britain. Britons have business interests and some have family members residing there. The world was really compressed because this chaos taking place in Kenya was part of their reality as well. Globalization has affected how Britons and the media understand the world. As the media advances and increases in complexity it is not enough to just listen, watch or read the news. Britons want more than just excerpts. The news, especially international news, are analysed; experts are summoned; explanations and predictions are made. Reuters diffuses political, economic and social news in over 23 languages through its wire services. This information comes complete with historical backgrounds and expert opinion. Globalization has in fact led to Vilanilam writes ‘Reuters main business is not simply transmitting news of daily political events it also supplies the media with news of financial transactions worldwide. . . . In short, the world’s financial transactions and their impact on the immediate and long term interests of its allies are of primary concern to Reuters. ’ Therefore because British media also has an interest in the global information, it has to reinvent itself and broaden its perspective so that it can keep with an audience that has increased consciousness of world around them. Bryn et al describe globalization as a schoolboy who listens in India who eats American cereal, listens to a Canadian pop singer is a schoolboy on a Japanese manufactured MP3 player, wears American Jeans , converses to his parents in Hindi, and goes for English language classes. This phenomenon has indeed has linked between people of different land masses together and in this same way it has helped to propel brand names from western countries to developing countries in the southern and eastern part of the hemisphere. How has it affected media in Britain? The media has played a part in this process and has benefited through transmission of adverts to foreign countries. British Media has extended its programming and publications to the other side of the globe. The Indian boy would get know all this brand names and the MP3 because he saw it in Sky International or BBC Click program. The media in Britain is enhancing the homogeneity of people with different racial, ethnic and political affiliations already began by the process of globalization. Hence, globalization and media have a symbiotic relationship The globalization trend has led to the rise of so called new media in Britain. Bill Jones says that, ‘By 2005, nearly 36 million people or nearly 60% of UK homes, have a PC . . . . ‘ . Globalization has forced Britons to modernize the way they access information. They no longer rely on the old media such as television and radio or newspapers. Nowadays Britons are spending more time at watching news, reading newspapers on the Internet. This is because globalization means that business, politics; society in general has gone global. To keep on top of what the trends, one has to have the fastest media available. The Web contains more information than any source of media. It can be portable and one does not have to be in a fixed place to access the precious information necessary for survival. Apart from the PCs Britons have Ipods to download music from their favourite international artists, MP3 players to watch their favourite UEFA club match. Globalization has brought economic growth to the media industry in terms of the massive annual incomes derived by companies who endeavour to globalize. O’Loughlin et al explain how there are now new entities called ‘transnational’ media corporations which extend beyond Britain. He gives an example of NewsCorp owned by Rupert Murdoch who has multi-million dollar interests in Asia and Britain. These corporations create job opportunities for media practitioners in Britain. This new media market is almost a trillion dollar industry in Britain and it will continue to grow. In conclusion, globalization has changed the media for the better and with time the face of media in Britain will have a different appearance because of influence from globalization. Consequently, globalization and media in Britain are ultimately and inextricable interconnected and symbiotic.

The Hunters: Moonsong Chapter Nine

Where r u? Elena texted impatiently. Stefan was supposed to meet her at her dorm room more than twenty minutes ago. Surely his study group was over by now? She was starving. She paced around the room, occasional y glancing at the dark tree branches beyond the windows. It wasn't like Stefan to be late. She checked her phone. It was too soon to try to reach him again. Outside, something dark moved, and she gasped. Then she shook her head. It was just the branches of the trees out there, waving in the breeze. She moved closer, trying to see past the reflections on the glass. Their room was on the third floor; there wouldn't be anyone sitting that high up. At least not anyone human. Elena shuddered. â€Å"Elena,† said a cool, clear voice from outside. With a squeak that sounded like a frightened rabbit, Elena jerked backward, pressing one hand to her pounding heart. After a moment, she stepped up to the window and threw it open. â€Å"Damon,† she said. â€Å"You scared me to death. What are you doing out there?† There was a flash of white teeth in the shadows. A mocking tone rang through his answer. â€Å"Waiting for you to invite me into your room, of course.† â€Å"You don't need an invitation,† Elena said. â€Å"You helped me move in.† â€Å"I know,† Damon said, smiling. â€Å"I'm being a gentleman.† Elena hesitated. She trusted Damon, of course she did, but this seemed so intimate. Damon outside in the dark, Elena alone in her bedroom, neither of her roommates around. He'd been in her room at home, but Aunt Judith and Robert had been just down the hal . She wondered if Stefan would mind her being alone here with Damon, but she shook off the thought. He trusted Elena, that was what mattered. â€Å"Elena,† Damon's voice was soft but insistent. â€Å"Let me in before I fal .† Rol ing her eyes, she said, â€Å"You'd never fal . And if you did, you'd fly. But you can come in anyway.† With a soft whoosh, faster than her eye could fol ow, Damon was suddenly beside her. She had to step back a pace. Eyes and hair as dark as night, pale luminous skin, perfectly cut features. He even smel ed good. His lips looked so soft†¦. Elena caught herself leaning toward him, her own lips parting, and pul ed away. â€Å"Stop it,† she said. â€Å"I'm not doing anything,† Damon said innocently. When Elena arched a skeptical eyebrow at him, he shrugged and shot her a brief, bril iant smile. There, Elena thought. That's why Stefan might mind Damon being here. â€Å"Oh, al right. I'm only teasing you.† He looked around the room and quirked an eyebrow of his own. â€Å"Why, Elena,† he said, â€Å"I'm almost disappointed. You and your friends are running so true to type here.† Elena fol owed his eyes. Bonnie's side of the room was a mess, a tumble of stuffed animals, rejected outfits, and Dalcrest paraphernalia. In contrast, Meredith's area was rigidly tidy, books lined up alphabetical y, a single silver pen on the desk next to her slim silver laptop, her bed neatly draped in a silk duvet in subtly patterned gray and white. Her dresser and closet were closed, but inside, Elena knew, Meredith's clothes would be organized by type, color, and season. Damon was right: just by looking at their parts of the room, you could tel that Meredith was rational, sophisticated, careful y control ed, and private, while Bonnie was fluffy, fun-loving, and disorganized. What about Elena's own things? What did they say about her? She looked over her part of the room with a critical eye. Framed art prints from her favorite exhibits, her silver brush and comb lined up on her dresser, deep-blue sheets that she knew set off her eyes and hair. Someone who held on to what she liked and didn't change easily? Someone who was very aware of what suited her? She wasn't sure. Damon smiled at her again, without the mocking edge this time. â€Å"Don't give it a second's thought, princess,† he said affectionately. â€Å"You're more than your possessions.† â€Å"Thanks,† Elena said shortly. â€Å"So, did you just drop in my window to say hel o?† He reached out and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. They were standing very close together, and Elena backed away a little. â€Å"I thought maybe, now that you're a col ege girl, we could go out tonight and have some fun.† â€Å"Fun?† Elena said, stil distracted by his mouth. â€Å"What kind of fun?† â€Å"Oh, you know,† he said, â€Å"just a little dinner, a few drinks. Friend stuff. Nothing too daring.† â€Å"Right,† Elena said firmly. â€Å"It sounds nice. But I can't tonight. Stefan and I are going out to dinner.† â€Å"Of course,† Damon said. He gave her a firm little nod and what was so obviously supposed to be a supportive smile that she had to stifle a giggle. Supportive, friendly, and unassuming were not natural looks on Damon's face. He was trying so very hard to be her friend even though they al knew there was more than that between them. Since he had died and come back, he had been trying to change his relationships with Stefan and with her, she knew, to be with them in a way he never had before. It couldn't be easy on poor Damon, trying to be good. He was out of practice. Elena's phone chimed. She read the text from Stefan: I'm sorry. The study group's running late. I think it'll be at least another hour. Meet later? â€Å"Problem?† Damon was watching her, the same innocent, friendly smile on his face, and affection for him washed over Elena. Damon was her friend. Why shouldn't she go out with him? â€Å"Change of plans,† she said briskly. â€Å"We'l go out, but just for a little while. I need to be back here to meet Stefan in an hour.† She texted Stefan quickly to let him know she was going to grab some food and looked up to see a triumphant smile on Damon's face as he reached to take her arm. Bonnie walked across campus, practical y skipping in time to the happy tune in her head. A date with Zander, la la la la la. It was about time, too. She'd been eagerly anticipating seeing Zander again al week, and although they'd talked on the phone, she hadn't laid eyes on him around campus at al , even though of course she'd been looking. At last she was about to see him. La la la la la. Lovely, gorgeous Zander. She had on jeans and a sort of silvery, draping top that at least made it look like she might have some cleavage. It was a good outfit, she thought, understated enough for just hanging out but also a little bit special. Just in case they decided to go out clubbing or something at the last minute. Zander hadn't told her what he'd planned, just asked her to meet him outside the science building. La la la la la, she hummed. Bonnie's footsteps slowed, and the tune in her head died off as she saw flickering lights il uminating a group of people up ahead. They were gathered in the courtyard in front of one of the dorms. Approaching, she realized it was a group of girls holding candles. The wavering light from the candles sent shadows across their serious faces. Propped against the wal of the dorm were three blown-up photos, two girls and a guy. Al across the grass in front of them were heaped flowers, letters, and teddy bears. Hesitant to break the silence, Bonnie touched the arm of one of the girls. â€Å"What's going on?† she whispered. â€Å"It's a candlelight vigil for the missing people,† the girl whispered back. Missing people? Bonnie scanned the faces in the photographs. Young, smiling, about her age. â€Å"Are they al students here?† she asked, horrified. â€Å"What happened to them?† â€Å"Nobody knows,† the girl said, her gaze serious. â€Å"They just vanished. You didn't hear about this?† Bonnie's stomach dropped. She knew that a girl was attacked – or something – on the quad the first night, but she hadn't known about any disappearances. No wonder her gut instinct had warned her to be scared walking across campus the other day. She could have been in danger. â€Å"No,† she said slowly. â€Å"I didn't hear anything.† She dropped her eyes and bowed her head, silent as she sent out a fervent hope that these three happy-looking people would be found, safe and sound. In the distance, a siren began to wail. â€Å"Something's happened.† â€Å"Do you think someone was attacked?† A babble of frightened voices rose as the sirens got closer. A girl near Bonnie began to sob, a hurt, scared sound. â€Å"Al right, what's the trouble here?† said a new, authoritative voice, and Bonnie looked up to see two campus police officers shouldering their way through the crowd. â€Å"We †¦ uh†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The girl who had spoken to Bonnie gestured at the photos and flowers against the wal . â€Å"We were having a vigil. For the missing people.† â€Å"What are those sirens for?† another girl asked, her voice rising. â€Å"Nothing to worry about,† said the officer, but his face softened as he looked at the sobbing girl. Bonnie realized with a slight shock that he wasn't much older than she was. â€Å"Miss?† he said to the crying girl. â€Å"We'l help you get home.† His partner looked around at the crowd. â€Å"It's time to break things up and head inside,† he said sternly. â€Å"Stick together and be careful.† â€Å"I thought you said there was nothing to worry about,† said another girl angrily. â€Å"What aren't you tel ing us?† â€Å"There's nothing you don't know already,† the man said patiently. â€Å"People are missing. You can never be too careful.† If there's nothing to worry about, why do we have to be careful? Bonnie wondered, but she bit back the words and hurried away down the path, toward the science building where Zander had suggested they meet. The idea of trying to have a vision, to see if she could learn anything about the missing people, nudged at Bonnie's mind, but she pushed it away. She hated that. She hated the loss of control when she slid into one of her visions. It was unlikely to work, anyway. Her visions had always been about people she knew, about immediate problems facing them. She didn't know any of the missing people. She bit her lip and walked faster. The excitement about her date had fizzled out, and she didn't feel safe now. But at least if she got to Zander, she wouldn't be alone. When she arrived at the science building, though, Zander wasn't there. Bonnie hesitated and looked around nervously. This corner of campus seemed to be deserted. She tried the door of the science building, but it was locked. Wellof course it was – there weren't any classes this late. Bonnie shook the handle of the front door in frustration. She reached into her bag, then groaned as she realized she'd left her phone back in her room. Suddenly, she felt very exposed. The campus police had said to stick together, not to wander around alone at night, but here she was, al by herself. A cool breeze ruffled her hair and she shivered. It was getting awful y dark. â€Å"Bonnie. Psst, Bonnie!† Zander's voice. But where was he? Bonnie saw nothing but the dark quad, streetlights throwing little circles of light on the paths. Above her, leaves rustled in the wind. â€Å"Bonnie! Up here.† Looking up, she final y spotted Zander on the roof, peering down over the side at her, his pale hair almost glowing in the moonlight. â€Å"What're you doing up there?† she cal ed to him, confused. â€Å"Come on up,† he invited, pointing to the fire-escape ladder on the side of the building. It was lowered to just a couple of feet above the ground. â€Å"Real y?† said Bonnie dubiously. She walked over to the fire escape. She could make it onto the ladder, she was pretty sure, but she was going to look clumsy and awkward scrambling up on it. And what if she got caught? She hadn't actual y read the campus regulations thoroughly, but wouldn't climbing the fire escape up to the roof of a closed building be against the rules? â€Å"Come on, Bonnie,† Zander cal ed. His feet clanging loudly against the iron steps, he ran down the fire escape, shimmied down the ladder, and leaped to the ground, landing catlike on his feet beside her. He went down on one knee and held his hands out together. â€Å"I'l boost you up so you'l be able to reach.† Bonnie swal owed, then stepped up onto Zander's hands and stretched for the ladder. Once she swung her leg up onto the bottom rung, it was a piece of cake, although the slightly rusty metal was rough against her hands. She spared a moment to thank al the powers of the universe that she had decided to wear jeans rather than a skirt tonight. Zander trailed behind her up the fire escape from one landing to another until final y they arrived on the roof. â€Å"Are we al owed to be up here?† Bonnie asked nervously. â€Å"Well,† Zander said slowly, â€Å"probably not. But I come up here al the time, and no one's ever told me not to.† He smiled that warm, wonderful smile at her and added, â€Å"This is one of my favorite places.† It was a nice view, Bonnie had to admit that. Below them, the campus stretched, leafy and green and mysterious. If anyone else had brought her up here, though, she would have complained about the rusty fire escape and the concrete roof, suggested that maybe a date should involve going somewhere. This was a date, wasn't it? She froze momentarily in a panic, trying to recal exactly what Zander had said when he suggested meeting here. She didn't remember the words themselves, but they definitely had a date-y feel to them: she wasn't a kid anymore, she knew when she was being asked out. And Zander was so cute, it was worth making an effort. â€Å"It's pretty up here,† she said lamely and then, looking around at the flat dirty concrete, â€Å"I mean being so high up.† â€Å"We're closer to the stars,† Zander said, and took her hand. â€Å"Come on over here.† His hand was warm and strong, and Bonnie held on to it tightly. He was right, the stars were beautiful. It was cool to be able to see them more clearly, here above the trees. He led her over to the corner of the roof, where a ratty old army blanket was spread out with a pizza box and some cans of soda. â€Å"Al the comforts of home,† he said. Then, quietly, â€Å"I know this isn't a very fancy date, Bonnie, but I wanted to share this with you. I thought you would appreciate what's special about being up here.† â€Å"I absolutely do,† Bonnie said, flattered. A secret little cheer went up inside her: Hurray! Zander definitely knows we're on a date! Pretty soon Bonnie found herself tucked up against Zander's side, his arm around her shoulders, eating hot, greasily delicious pizza and looking at the stars. â€Å"I come up here alone a lot,† Zander told her. â€Å"One time last year I just lay here and watched a big fat ful moon get swal owed up by the earth's shadow in an eclipse. It was nearly pitch black without the light of the ful moon, but I could stil see its dark red shape in the sky.† â€Å"The Vikings thought eclipses were caused by two wolves, one who wanted to eat the sun, and one who wanted to eat the moon,† Bonnie said idly. â€Å"I forget which one wanted to eat the moon, but whenever either a solar or a lunar eclipse happened, people were supposed to make a lot of noise to scare the wolf away.† Zander looked down at her. â€Å"That's a random piece of information to know.† But he smiled as he said it. Bonnie wriggled with delight under the sheer force of his smile. â€Å"I'm interested in mythology,† she said. â€Å"Druid and Celtic, mostly, but myths and stories in general. The Druids were into the moon, too: they had a whole astrology based on the lunar calendar.† She sat up straighter, enjoying the admiring look on Zander's face. â€Å"Like, right now, from late August to late September, we're in the month of the Artist Moon. But in a couple of weeks, we'l be in the month of the Dying Moon.† â€Å"What does that mean?† Zander asked. He was very close to her, gazing straight into her eyes. â€Å"Well, it means it's a time of endings,† Bonnie said. â€Å"It's al about dying and sleep. The Druid year begins again after Hal oween.† â€Å"Hmm.† Zander was stil watching her intently. â€Å"How do you know so much, Bonnie McCul ough?† A little smile played around his mouth. â€Å"Um, my ancestors were Druids and Celtics,† Bonnie said, feeling stupid. â€Å"My grandmother told me we were descended from Druid priestesses, and that's why I see things sometimes. My grandmother does, too.† â€Å"Interesting,† Zander said softly. His tone grew lighter. â€Å"So you see things, do you?† â€Å"I real y do,† Bonnie said, seriously, staring back at him. She hadn't meant to tel him that. She didn't want to weird him out, not on their first date, but she also didn't want to lie to him. So blue. Zander's eyes were as deep as the sea, and she was fal ing farther and farther into them. There was nothing above her, nothing below, she was ceaselessly, gently fal ing. With a wrench, Bonnie pul ed her eyes away from Zander's. â€Å"Sorry,† she said, shaking her head. â€Å"That was weird. I think I almost fel asleep for a minute.† â€Å"Don't worry about it,† Zander said, but his face looked stiff and strange. Then he flashed that warm, enchanting smile again and got to his feet. â€Å"Come on, I want to show you something.† Bonnie stood slowly. She felt a little strange stil , and she pressed her hand briefly against her forehead. â€Å"Over here,† Zander said, tugging her by the other hand. He led her to the corner of the roof and stepped up onto the narrow ledge running around it. â€Å"Zander,† Bonnie said, horrified. â€Å"Come down! You might fal !† â€Å"We won't fal ,† Zander said, smiling down at her. â€Å"Climb on up.† â€Å"Are you crazy?† Bonnie said. She'd never liked heights much. She remembered crossing a high, high bridge once with Damon and Elena. They'd had to if they were going to save Stefan, but she never would have been able to do it, except Damon had used his Power and convinced her she was an acrobat, a tightrope walker to whom heights were nothing. When he'd released her from his Power, after they crossed the bridge, her retroactive fear had been nauseating. Stil , she'd made it across that bridge, hadn't she? And she had promised herself she would be more confident, stronger, now that she was in col ege. She looked up at Zander, who was smiling at her, sweetly, eagerly, his hand extended. She took it and let him help her climb onto the ledge. â€Å"Oh,† she said, once she was up there. The ground swam dizzyingly far below her, and she yanked her eyes away from it. â€Å"Oh. No, this is not a good idea.† â€Å"Trust me,† Zander said, and took her other hand so that he was holding on to her securely. â€Å"I won't let you fal .† Bonnie looked into his blue, blue eyes again and felt comforted. There was something so candid and straightforward in his gaze. â€Å"What should I do?† she asked, and was proud when her voice was steady. â€Å"Close your eyes,† Zander said, and when she'd done that, â€Å"and pick your right foot up off the ledge.† â€Å"What?† Bonnie asked, and almost opened her eyes again. â€Å"Trust me,† Zander said again, and this time there was a rich undercurrent of laughter in his voice. Hesitantly, Bonnie lifted her foot. Just then, the wind picked up, and Bonnie felt like it was about to scoop her off the ledge and throw her into the sky like a kite whose string had snapped. She tightened her grip on Zander's hands. â€Å"It's al right,† he said soothingly. â€Å"It's amazing, Bonnie, I promise. Just let yourself be. Life isn't worth living if you don't take risks.† Inhaling deeply and then letting the breath out, Bonnie forced herself to relax. The wind was blowing her curls everywhere, whistling in her ears, tugging at her clothes and her raised leg. As she relaxed into it, she felt almost as if she was being lifted, gently, into the sky, the air al around supporting her. It was like flying. Bonnie realized she was laughing with sheer delight and opened her eyes, gazing straight into Zander's. He was laughing, too, and holding on to her tightly, anchoring her to the earth as she almost flew. She had never been so conscious of the blood thrumming through her veins, of each nerve catching the sensations of the air around her. She had never felt so alive.

Workers without Jobs

GAP cannot reflect positive or negative externalities Involve In the consumption and production UT these externalities do affect on people's living standard. Negative externalities such as pollution brings environmental costs to society but not calculated by GAP. Positive externalities such as technological advance benefits to society but it is not count in GAP. Economic well-being would be under-value or over-value if GAP is the only single measure of economic well-being. 3. Leisure helps people enjoy a better life.In countries with lower GAP, the welfare gain from leisure can compensate the welfare loss from low GAP. Explain why frictional and structural unemployment are unavoidable in most of the economies. There are always some workers without Jobs, even when the overall economy is doing well. For example, people now prefer cell phones from Apple than from Monika. Monika decides to cut down Its employees due to the decrease of revenue. It takes time for him (the worker) to search another job that is best suited for him. In this period when matching jobs and workers, he is unemployed and it is called frictional unemployment.Another example is that now most of the textile factories decide to move to mainland China. A worker in one of these factories loses her job, however, he Is unable to learn or change new working skills or knowledge on other specialist or other field. And therefore, she cannot find a new Job In her Orlando Industry and also in other industries. This imbalance between the skills and other characteristics of some workers and the needs of workers in the labor market causes unemployment called structural unemployment.When unemployment consist only frictional and structural unemployment, unemployment is at natural rate. In most of the economies, there are always some reasons causing frictional or structural unemployment. Employment rate never fall to zero it fluctuates around the natural rate of unemployment. Therefore, frictional and structura l unemployment are unavoidable in most of the economies. What are the three major functions of money? Discuss how these functions be affected by inflation. Account and a store of value.A medium of exchange is an item that buyers give to sellers when they purchase goods and services. When you buy a shirt at a clothing store, the store gives you the shirt, and you give the store your money. This transfer of money from buyer to seller allows the transaction to take place. When you walk into a store, you are confident that the store will accept your money for the items it is selling because money is the commonly accepted medium of exchange. A unit of account is the yardstick people use to post prices and record debts.When you go shopping, you might observe that a shirt costs $30 and a hamburger costs $3. Even though it would be accurate to say that the price of a shirt is 10 hamburgers and the price of a hamburger is 1110 of a shirt, prices are never quoted in this way. Similarly, if yo u take out a loan from a bank, the size of your future loan repayments ill be measured in dollars, not in a quantity of goods and services. When we want to measure and record economic value, we use money as the unit of account.A store of value is an item that people can use to transfer purchasing power from the present to the future. When a seller accepts money today in exchange for a good or service, that seller can hold the money and become a buyer of another good or service at another time. Money is not the only store of value in the economy: A person can also transfer purchasing power from the present to the future by holding monetary assets such as stocks and bonds. The term wealth is used to refer to the total of all stores of value, including both money and monetary assets.What assumptions are necessary to argue that the quantity equation of money implies that increases in the money supply lead to proportional increases in the general price (a) Discuss two reasons why the GAP deflator gives a different rate of inflation than the ICP does. 1. 12 PEP (6 marks) (b) Explain the likely effect of a binding minimum wage on the unemployment rate. (5 marks) (a) Suppose an economy that is initially at full employment faces a tremendous drop n imports. I.

Campaign evaluation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Campaign evaluation - Essay Example Due to the importance of this function it is no longer acceptable for companies not to evaluate the effectiveness of its public relations efforts. The purpose of this paper is to discuss and analyze evaluation of public relations in the corporate world. The public relations of a company are divided into five primary functions. The five functions of public relations are: press relations, product publicity, lobbying, counseling, and corporate communication (Kotler). Public companies spend millions of dollars each year on public relations. A manager is supposed to evaluate the performance of the company and optimize the utilization of the resources of a firm. When a manager is faced with an investment decision for a new project the professional evaluates the viability of the project utilizing qualitative and quantitative techniques such as return on investment, payback period, and net present value. After the project is selected the manager monitors the performance of the project throughout its lifetime. If this is done for production project it seems absurd that the marketing profession is not placing any importance in evaluating a business function that represents a significant expense and utilization of company resources. According to McNamara (2006) the three primary reasons companies are not performing evaluation of public relations are lack of budget, lack of time, and lack of managerial demand. In the marketing profession there is a debate on what should be generally accepted ways to evaluate the effectiveness of public relations towards the results of a company. This debate seems a bit unfair because public relation is not an exact science. I don’t believe that public relation needs to have a framework such as other business disciplines have established. The accounting profession depends on the generally accepted accounting principles for accounting information to be consistent and

Legal Aspects of Health Information Management Case Study

Legal Aspects of Health Information Management - Case Study Example The informed consent process for emergency surgery in children poses a challenge for pediatric surgeons because the child and his/her parents must make medical decisions in a relatively short period. The unique circumstances of a surgical emergency create potential barriers to achieving the central goals of the informed consent process. This notwithstanding, if the parents are present, then the document must be signed. The fundamental principle of informed consent is relatively clear. Almost 100 years ago, Justice Cardozo stated "Every human being of adult years and sound mind has a right to determine what shall be done with his own body; and a surgeon who performs an operation without his patient's consent commits an assault for which he is liable for damages." Schloendorff v. Society of New York Hospital, 105 N.E. 92 (New York, 1914) overruled on other grounds, Bing v. Thunig, 143 N.E. 2d 3 (New York, 1957). Accordingly, it goes without saying that the parents must consent for the surgery. If however the parents were not available, then the doctor should attempt all ways possible to locate the parents while at the same time explaining to the patient what is happening and what must happen. The underlying purpose of informed consent is to provide each individual patient with control over his or her own body. To imply consent because a reasonable person might consent but where this patient, in fact, did not consent, undermines the entire philosophy of informed consent. Thus if the parents are not available, the surgery cannot happen. Essay #2 Paula Patient doesn't want her violent boyfriend to know she's getting an abortion, so she asks Dr. Bob to send all communications to her to a post office box and to phone her only at work. What should Dr. Bob do, and what is the legal basis for your advice If she tells Dr. Bob that not doing this will endanger her, would your answer be different Assuming of course that Dr. Bob is the man performing the abortion, he only needs Paula's consent. There are two prevailing standards for informed consent. The first, the so called "traditional" or "community" standard, is physician centered and defined by the common and customary practices in the medical community, or on what a reasonable physician would reveal in a particular situation. The second standard is patient centered, and is defined by what a "reasonable patient" would find relevant to his or her decision to accept or forego a recommended medical treatment. Simply stated, abortion does not involve any body other than that of the female. The procedure is being performed on the female, and for that reason, there is no other consent required but that of the female. The basic tenet of abortion and the laws applied to it are for the preservation of the woman and nobody else. Moreover, the Supreme court has made it clear in their decisions that they are not interested in discussing the perceived rights of a child but rather sustaining the rights of the woman. Accordingly, there is no difference whether Paula's boyfriend is violent or an angel. He has no bearing whatsoever in the decision process because it is not his body and therefore is not entitled to consent to anything. Essay #3 Paula Patient's attorney asks Dr. Bob for medical records about Paula's car accident and

Success in college Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Success in college - Term Paper Example As far as using the educational resources are concerned, I need to be apt with how these resources are made use of and what the best foot forward is when one thinks about the work representations. I can gain quite a lot if these educational resources are employed in a sound and positive way because this will mean that I am looking forward to receiving the best of education and academic intelligence which is needed in this day and age. This will also guarantee that I am aligned with how to make the best use of the changing technological facets which have come to the fore and which shall have a very strategic bearing on my growth and development over a period of time. For using the educational resources, I need to make the best use of my university library so that the hidden treasures within it are explored to the hilt. The articles, books and journals need to be discerned for finding out the very basics related with the respective subjects. This shall mean that I am doing my utmost to make sure that the wrong concepts and ideologies are taken care of in an appropriate way and any such apprehensions are also kept at bay within the thick of things (Hess, 2001). When one talks about the academic honesty dictum, I need to make sure that I remain one step ahead of the requirements which exist within the related fore. This can only happen if I know exactly how I will plan things accordingly and how I shall be able to reap rich dividends in the coming times. I would like to be head-on with the plagiarism policies which exist within an academic context. In order to be completely at par with the rules and policies, what I need to know is how I can make the best use of these academic principles, ethical considerations and the like so that I remain in line with the changing need dimensions of the time, more so when it concerns with the academic honesty discussions. Any university would dearly have an academic honesty policy that shall have implications for the plagiarism i ssues which come to the notice of all and sundry. These need to be avoided in order to bring upon success which is hidden beneath academic excellence. It is sound to know that in this day and age universities are undertaking efforts and initiatives to make sure that the dishonest students are removed from their realms because they add nuisance value to its lengths and breadths. Therefore all-out efforts should be in place to remain academically honest about one’s dealings and undertakings. From an educational perspective, it is always significant to know and find out what the long term and short term educational goals and objectives are. This means that these educational objectives need to be achieved over a period of time and proper concentration and attention must be paid towards the same. By this, I need to have clarity as far as comprehending how I can achieve success within the shortest possible time and what I need to do in order to bring out the best within my skills, abilities and competencies (McKenna, 2011). Indeed there would be a host of obstacles and difficulties which would stand in my way but what I must do under such circumstances is to make sure that I remain steadfast about my educational priorities and thus give my very best day in and day out. This shall allow me an understanding that I must always remain supreme as far as achieving my

Discussion Question Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 8

Discussion Question - Assignment Example He has an autocratic style that created an environment of fear among his managers which resulted in high employee turnover (Kapner, 1998). A former manager of the company described Schmitt as one who â€Å"destabilized the company and surrounded himself with Yes people. All the entrepreneurial spirit left" (Kapner, 1998). Some investors and analysts have faulted Schmitt because of his inability to react immediately to the changes in the marketplace (Kapner, 1998). Michael Hamilton, a portfolio manager at Invista Capital Management stated that Rubbermaid â€Å"lost control of the brand and expenses† (Kapner, 1998). Given the above scenario of Rubbermaid during Schmitt’s time, it would have been for the good of the company if Schmitt was more open to the opinions and suggestions of people who are more knowledgeable than him in certain aspects of the business. Major strategic decisions cannot be made with a snap of a finger; it should be discussed thoroughly and comprehensively. In an organization as huge as Rubbermaid, Schmitt cannot solely rely on his abilities to come up with major decisions. Schmitt can definitely learn a lesson from Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks who said, â€Å"I think its very difficult to lead today when people are not really truly participating in the decision. You wont be able to attract and retain great people if they dont feel like they are part of the authorship of the strategy and the authorship of the really critical issues. If you dont give people an opportunity to really be engaged, they wont stay" (Vogan, 2006). This statement from Schultz is certainl y the wisdom behind the amazing success of Starbucks. Jackson, E. (2012, January 2). The seven habits of spectacularly unsuccessful executives. Retrieved May 30, 2012, from forbes.com: http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericjackson/2012/01/02/the-seven-habits-of-spectacularly-unsuccessful-executives/ Kapner,

Case Study from Employment Law Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

From Employment Law - Case Study Example 312). In the case study, there are very serious violations of the law that are evident. In the first scenario, Paul faces direct sex discrimination, work place harassment and victimization. Under the Equality Act 2010 S11, sex is a protected characteristic for both male and the female. Under section 13(1) of the same act, it is unlawful to treat an individual unfairly on the grounds of sex. Such act amounts to direct sex discrimination. Paul in this case faces direct sex discrimination. This is evident in that Paul’s boss is never interested in training him for the job he was doing. Most banks of the world do train their employees before they start working because banking jobs are very demanding. Paul is further harassed by his boss. She shouts at him and down talks him in front of the customers. Shouting and use of abusive words in workplaces is a form of work place harassment (Swarnalatha, 2013, p. 2). Harassment and victimization in the place of work carries the same weight as d iscrimination. However, in some cases, work place harassment and victimization are not prohibited by the law no matter how abusive they can be. In such cases therefore, the employees are protected by the Trade Unions. Under the Trade Unions and Labor Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, the trade unions are adequately defined and equipped with adequate powers to protect the employees from any form of workplace harassment, victimization and any form of discrimination. Also, under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations Act 2006 S1 (246), the right to continuity in employments is well covered in the Act and therefore Paul has a right to go back to work. On the other hand, Amy is directly discriminated. Under the Equality Act 2010 S11, Religion is yet another protected characteristic. It is against the law to discriminate a

Discussion a solution to the problem of dealing with economic crisis Essay

Discussion a solution to the problem of dealing with economic crisis - Essay Example Most of the foreign assets are denominated in dollars and the value of the currency has further appreciated due to the investors winding off their position. This has led the foreign creditors to pull out their money from the country as the value of their debt is falling with the rising dollar. The values of the homes have dropped drastically due to auctioning and early foreclosures. The government can buy back the foreclosure and sell them at a discount to the construction companies with the condition of not building any new houses. This will put a check to the housing surplus. The US trade deficit is very large. This is the result of US corporations outsourcing their production of goods and services. To settle these deficits the countries acquire US based companies, invest in real estate, purchase treasury bonds and invest in derivative instruments like mortgage based securities which are the main reasons for the spread of the financial crisis. These mortgage based securities precipitated the financial crisis. Since many institutions had invested in these instruments which were backed by customers with a bad credit record the default of the customers was inevitable. This calls for the regulation of financial markets. But here also caution should be exercised with regard to over-regulation or wrong regulation. To put a check to the trade deficits steps should be taken for indigenous production of outsourced services. The credit cards should be issued after a thorough scrutiny of the credit history of the applicant. Also, sufficient reserves should be maint ained against the rising outstanding. This will prove to be a cushion in case the cardholder defaults in payment. This will also strengthen the banking system. The government can also lower the tax rates and freezes it for a certain period so that the corporate agencies are encouraged to invest in new avenues. This will solve the unemployment problem, increase the confidence of the people

Business strategy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Business strategy - Assignment Example I strongly believe that Robin Hood and the Merrymen need a completely new plan. Considering the wake of the tremendous changes in the way of operation of the Sheriff’s men, who have adopted new ways of operating characterized by adequate money, apposite organization and efficient coordination of activities. To be at bar with the Sherriff’s men, the Merrymen have to abandon the old ways and forge new ways of performing their activities. This is immensely attributed by the fact that, there a continuous increase of the band men and this has caused depletion of the scarce resources such as food. The band has to move to an expanded place and work towards ways of having an organized band. The new methods of operation should ensure that, all the men are known and their roles defined. For instance, the band men can be grouped into a group of 20 men with their leader. Such strategies will enable their commander, Robin Hood to know all his men by name. This is a fundamental move because it will make it easy to identify the spies who might move into the band without being recognized. Think about your SWOT analysis, and answer the next 4 questions. Think about how each of the 4 opportunities would help (or not help) to solve Robin Hood’s problems. A plan that does not solve our problems or achieve our goals is useless. Also a plan that we cannot execute is also useless. This is a good idea because; a large space will enable the large number of men who have joined the group to be identified. In addition, in a larger space, it is easy for the band men to mark their territory and any oncoming enemy. Moreover, the larger space will offer humble time for proper organization and execution of the band’s activities. A fixed transit tax is a sensible thing because it will save time for negotiating. This is uniform rate for every merchant involved in transportation. This implies that

Pharmacogenetics in Cancer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Pharmacogenetics in Cancer - Essay Example Various problems have been realized during the cancer therapy using the conventional chemotherapy. This is because to attain reasonable efficacy, a considerable degree of toxicity is needed and hence severe side-effects. Most oncologists are faced with the major challenge of the variability of the treatment responses as well as narrow therapeutic index for the anticancer drugs. Therefore, there is no doubt that the developments in molecular biology and molecular genetics, and of the associated methods have had considerable effects on the comprehension of drug action. Therefore, drawing on a variety of sources the paper will discuss pharmacogenetics in cancer. Cancer is a very unusual disease because it emanates from the accumulation of several gene mutations within the cell, thus disrupting normal cellular function as well as normal checks. Therefore, cancer cells have definite genetic profiles. As result, pharmacogenetics is helpful as a cancer therapeutic since is focuses on the genetic profiles and a person’s interaction with the drug. Pharmacogenetics can be described as the interaction between the drug and individual traits, and is very helpful in cancer therapeutics. Therefore, it is based on the clinical efficacy observations as well as tolerability profile of a drug in a person (Licinio and Wong 129). The most common challenge in cancer treatment is the related to the anticancer drugs. The pharmacogenetics can assist in the discovery, development, and individualization of the anticancer drugs.

Traffic Accident Essay Example for Free

Traffic Accident Essay It is believed that the number of the people who have died in trafficaccidents is much higher than that of the people who have died of cancer or any other disease. In Ho Chi Minh City, the problem of traffic accidents is really serious. The following measures should be taken to reduce the seriousness/to minimize the consequences of this problem. Firstly, the system of the main streets in Ho Chi Minh City must be improved or upgraded. It is awful to move along the streets of Ho chi Minh City because most of them are in bad condition and some are full of holes, either big or small. In addition, during the rainy season many streets are flooded with water after a heavy rain. If we are not careful enough, we easily hit other people or fall off our bike or motorbike. Secondly, law-breaking and drunken riders/drivers should be punished strictly. These law-breaking and drunken riders/drivers are the â€Å"devils† of the streets: they operate their motor vehicles at a high speed and sway from one side/curb of the street to the other whenever they feel excited. There is no doubt that one of the main reasons of serious traffic accidents is the riders’ or drivers’ carelessness and lack of self-control. Last but not least, calling for every citizen’s obeying traffic laws is crucial. The cit dwellers’ awareness of the necessity to obey traffic law is quite low; consequently, they travel along the streets without paying close attention to traffic lights and other signals. Quite often, motor-cyclists occupy the lanes for cars and other four-wheel motor vehicles while taxi drivers speed up, forcing the riders/drivers of other vehicles to give way to them. It takes a lot of time and energy to draw the attention of anyone who does travel along the streets in Ho Chi Minh City to the well-established traffic laws here in particular and to make each of the city dwellers a law-abiding citizen in general. But it is worth it!

Naturalistic Observation Research Results

Naturalistic Observation Research Results Observation is categorised as one of the core skills of user research. Naturalistic Observation is a research method that involves observing the subjects in their natural environment without intruding or changing it in any way. The observer is required to carefully watch the naturally occurring behaviour without letting the subjects know that they are being observed. This type of research is advantageous primarily because it permits the researcher to directly observe the subject in a natural setting. It allows the researcher/observer to study aspects that cannot be manipulated in a laboratory due to ethical concerns. It also serves the purpose of supporting the external validity of the research as the findings that are observed are occurring in the natural environment. Study: 1 Date: 19th July, 2014. Day of the week: Saturday. Time: 11:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M. (morning) and 6:00 P.M. – 7:00 P.M. (evening). Location: Cafà © Coffee Day, C G S Chamber, Ground Floor, Nagarjuna Hills, Near Road Number 1, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad – 500034. Near GVK One. Duration of observation: each session was of an hour each (60 minutes). Collectively, two hours (120 minutes) of observation. Not so important, yet Observer: Prakriti Dasgupta. Background: I did two sessions of observation of both an hour each and on the same day at Cafà © Coffee Day, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad. The first at 11:00 A.M. 12:00 P.M. in the morning and the second one at 6:00P.M. – 7:00P.M.in the evening. The whole purpose of carrying out two sets of observation was solely based the concept of finding out whether there is a difference in the crowd and the way they behave when they visit the Cafà © in the late hours of the morning in contrast to those that visit the Cafà © in the evening. Layout of the Cafà ©: The Cafà © remains open for the most part of the day as well as night. It is located in one of the busiest streets in the city and therefore caters to a large variety of customers ranging from early morning office goers to college students. It can be identified as a â€Å"hang-out spot† for a group of friends or just a place where lonely soles sit down with a cup of coffee and a book, spending their time the way they desire. Within the first fifteen minutes, I observed different kinds of customer behaviour patterns. The first session consisted of people who were present at the Cafà © to attend an official meeting with their fellow office co-workers presumably over breakfast, while there were others who were resting which I assume is due to the hectic night shifts at their workplace. This is more or less confirmed by the way they were dressed and the tired look on their faces. Stages of observation: Systematic observation of the Customers: Entry of the customers Abiding by the social norm of standing in a queue Purchase The wait after the purchase is made Finding seats preferably Between 11:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M. Entry of the customers: With due respect to the fact that every individual is different and behaves differently, we can categorise them into those which are in great hurry and those which have plenty of time in their hand. On entering the Cafà ©, some of them directly stood in the queue, without wasting a single moment to even look around, while there were some who directly grabbed food from the compartments and then stood in the queue. Ignoring the ones that were in a hurry, when we shift our attention to the ones which aren’t, we find them to be looking around, with calm expression on their faces. They look like the ones who do not have to meet any deadlines. There were also a small group of girls who had friends waiting for them. They were carrying school bags and were dressed in casuals which indicates that they were college students. While in a queue: There was no interaction between the people who were standing in the queue. They kept themselves busy by looking at their phones and listening to music. Some attended calls while one lady kept justifying over the phone as to why she was late and wasn’t at her workplace yet. Two men and one woman took out their wallets and purse respectively. The group of young girls kept giggling and laughing about a certain boy whom they find attractive, back in college. At this point, at around 11:33 A.M. a well dressed woman (L 1) rushes into the Cafà © and tries to persuade a slightly older man, ahead in the queue if he would allow her to make her purchase before he did. She justified her request by saying that she was late for work and had two kids waiting in the car and they had to be dropped to school. The man, seemed to be in two minds which I assumed, owing to his facial expression but however was convinced and allowed the lady to stand in the queue before him. At this point, another woman (L 2) who had been waiting in the queue for the past 15 minutes, raises her voice to object and asks the lady (L 1) to go back and stand in the queue. Clearly she (L 2) was late for work as well. As soon as she (L 2) objected, all the others standing in the queue begin to support her. This was followed by several other verbal objections from other people standing in the queue. Some of them even exchanged dirty looks. A small argument took place among them where the lady with the kids (L 1) used her kids as bait and the other (L 2) asked her not to use her children as an excuse for violating certain social norms. Ultimately the lady (L 1) was forcefully ejected from the line. Having no choice, she went and stood right at the end of the queue and awaited her turn. Purchase: Most of the customers carried a bag with them and not a single customer was standing in the queue without a phone in their hand. This reflects how man is unable to move around without technology. It has become a necessity more than luxury. One important thing that I noticed was that none of them took a look at the menu card or what the cafe served which indicated that they were regular customers at the cafe and they were aware of what was available. However, there were four young boys who were seated at one corner of the cafe, intently looking at the menu and discussing what each of them would like to have. Most of the people in the cafe took the coffee and sandwiches they purchased and ran out of the cafe while only a few sat at the cafe and had their food. There was this little girl with her mother who looked at the cupcakes on the counter and then very carefully and ordered one for herself. The wait: Most people crowded around the counter, awaiting the food that they had just ordered with numbered bills in their hands. They were restless and impatient. They kept taking a glance at their watch in a frequent manner. The group of college girls kept enquiring for their order every five minutes and they ultimately managed to annoy the manager seated at the counter. Most of them opened their bags and wallets and kept the excess change they had inside it. Along with that they either kept their phones in their pockets of inside their bag. Since, almost all of them had ordered a cup of coffee irrespective of whether they had purchased anything else to eat with their hot beverage or not, it was seen that they took the coffee with their right hand and simultaneously picked up a lid and a straw with their left. These were the ones that were in a rush and as they ran out of the cafe as soon as they received their order. The ones that were eating in the cafe carefully carried the tra y to their seats making an effort not to spill the coffee. Finding preferable seats: It was observed that if people did not get the seats of their choice they simply stepped out of the cafe. Nobody waited for the seats to become empty. This indicated that there were other choices available outside as well from where they could acquire food. There was a group of five men, who entered the cafe at around 11:47 A.M. who left as soon as they failed to find a completely empty table. This also indicates the fact that people are not ready to sit with other unknown people even when one or two seats were empty in the other occupied tables. Difference in the ‘Type’ of customers that visited the cafà © from 11:00A.M. 12:00P.M. in the morning and those who visited the cafà © in the evening from 6:00P.PM. 7:00P.M. : It is important to note that the crowd that the cafe catered to, at the peak office hours was different from that they catered to in the evenings. In the evenings, the people who visited the cafe were mostly the young crowd consisting of teenagers in contrast to the office goers in the morning. The cafe catered mostly to single customers in the morning who stop by the cafe to pick up their breakfast but, in the evenings most of the people are in groups who are sitting and talking about different insignificant things that bother them, sipping their piping hot coffees, biting into their sandwiches and partially gossiping. The environment is relaxed and nobody seems to be in a hurry. The manager at the counter also seems to be settling the accounts in peace and there is no time crunch and deadline s that need to be met. Observations and interpretations: The lady objected and stopped the other lady from jumping the queue. As soon as she opposed to it, there were other people in the queue who supported her. Violation of social norms such as cutting into queues is not an appropriate thing to do and is not acceptable by the crowd as such. Perhaps jumping queues would have been an easier thing to do in the evenings when the crowd is more or less understanding and easy going. Early research indicates that people were reluctant to challenge queue jumpers which basically suggests that our spontaneous social order maintenance is weak. Milgram’s experiment also concludes that in only 10% of the occasion’s queue jumpers were physically ejected from the line. On about half of the occasion people hardly cared to react or take an initiative to stop it. Milgram attempts to explain that most people are too scared to intervene or challenge a queue jumper because challenging queue jumpers could mean losing your own place in the line. Th ere is chance that a fight may take place and everyone is delayed while it is being sorted out. This reflects on the idea that social systems have to tolerate some deviance otherwise they might hastily collapse. Moreover, when people stand in a queue, in a coffee shop, group formation is difficult and as a consequence of which social order is extremely weak. People tolerate queue jumpers as they themselves want to avoid social disorder. People left the coffee shop when they did not find a completely empty table because people do not like to sit and share the table with complete strangers. Some of the people took out their wallets as soon as the stepped in to the coffee shop which indicates three things: they might be in a hurry or they are running late for some important work, or they are extremely hungry or they prefer to be prepared before they start on doing anything, in this case, standing in the queue. People are very impatient and restless and they do not like waiting. Women are more impatient than men are. Men have a tendency to wait quietly. Although, men remain quiet, their faces give away their restlessness. In spite of that their patience level is higher than that of women. This aspect however, does not fit into the stereotype which says that women are more patient than men. Young girls are attention seeking, therefore, they try and attract attention towards themselves by their gestures and the way they speak to one another. They make use of inappropriate words to even greet each other, for example: â€Å"Hi bitch†. The word â€Å"bitch† is being casually used in this context and is not meant literally. The use of crass language among the girls and the boys of this generation is basically an attempt on their part to appear â€Å"cool† and popular among their peers. Also, they cannot stay without taking a glance at their cell phones every now and then. These assumptions and generalizations are purely made on the basis of this particular observation. They differ in every case. Study: 2 Date: 19th July, 2014. Day of the week: Saturday. Time: 3:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M. Location: Lamakaan, an open cultural space. In Lane Adjacent To CBay, Opposite GVK One, Road No. 1, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad, Telangana 500034. Duration of observation: 2 hours (120 Minutes) Background: I attended a discussion, on whether the education system kills creativity or not. The discussion was held at Lamakaan. Being an observer I was restricted to participate in the discussion actively. Several eminent educators, mentors, school/college professors and industrialists from different sectors were present, who were willing to share their views and opinions on the matter that had been raised for discussion. There were 36 people who attended the discussion. Observation and interpretations: The entire event was well organised and effectively carried out by Man1. The discussion proceeded in an orderly manner. Before the discussion began, there was a session where all the people present for the discussion had to introduce themselves. This session was overlooked by Man1 himself. This was the first instance of interaction between the participants present. This session was characterised by appreciation for fellow participants, to a certain extent only. Man1 exhibited leadership qualities. His characteristics were those of a democratic leader. He did not restrict the participants in anyway. The discussion was more or less informal in nature. Although the discussion started on a calm and controlled tone, the environment in the room soon changed. A series of heated arguments, aggressive gestures, difference in opinions and eventually conformity among all the participants is how the discussion can be described. I observed different social behaviour throughout the course of the discussion. In order to simplify the task of observing, I named a few fellow participants who were actively taking part in the discussion. Members: Man2, Man3, Lady1, Lady2, Lady3, Girl1, Girl2. To be noted: all the members taking part in the discussion were well read and were aware of the current scenario prevailing in the education sector and the impact of the flawed system. Man2 was an influential speaker. He managed to convince all the people in the room by stating relevant facts, but failed to convince Lady1. His justification for the statements he had made, did not appeal to her. She constantly scrutinised his argument. Both were aggressive in nature and constantly argued throughout the discussion. In due course of the argument, Man3 who was intently noting down every statement, interrupted the argument and spoke up in support of the lady1. The only interpretation that can be derived by this is that, lady1 was successful in convincing, if not all, but one participant. Her argument, therefore could not be dismissed. At this point, Man1 intervenes and tries to control the situation. He was still calm, composed and confident and held on to his composure in spite of the chaotic scenario and considered the perspectives of both Man2 and Lady1. He takes the midway path and succeeds in convincing both the participants. He states valid facts and speaks logica lly. When the situation appeared to be more or less controlled, it still wasn’t. Followed by this when lady2 makes a statement, she is opposed by Girl1 and Girl2. Both of them are students and they continue to argue with Lady2 in an aggressive tone. All this while, there was a small detail that I had forgot to mention. The participants were already sitting with people whom they already knew from before. Only the 5 participants who came alone for the discussion sat beside other fellow participants who they did not know. They were in groups throughout the discussion. People were talking among themselves, arguing, and there was complete chaos in the room at one point. People spoke out of chance, raised their voices in an attempt to put their views across. This is when Lady3 takes control of the situation. She makes her statement on another aspect and states her facts out loud thereby, shifting the focus of the argument to another concept related to the same topic. She was extrem ely persuasive and gave just reasons to the participants to agree with her. It was very interesting to observe how she was single handily successful in putting her ideas across. When lady3 entered the discussion, she exhibited all qualities of an influential person. She was confident, consistent, and had unbiased views. Minority influence refers to a form of social influence where the individual with contrastingly different beliefs in comparison to the other people, should have correct ideas and should resist social pressure and abuse. Her views were influential and convincing to such an extent that other people who were confused and were in two minds, along with the ones who had strong contrasting opinions conformed to Lady3. Conformity refers to any change in behaviour that is caused by another person or a group of people i.e. Lady3 has acted in a certain manner which had influenced the others to conform to her statement. But there was one such boy who took an active part in the d iscussion but, was hesitant to accept the ideas put forth by Lady3. In due time, he as well conformed to her. Conformity was studied by Solomon Asch, who conducted an experiment which concluded that it was primarily social pressure from perhaps a majority group that could affect a person to conform. In this case, it was primarily informational conformity as Lady3 stated accurate, and rational facts and figures to prove her idea and statement. It is basically the power of the situation that regulates and influences all human behaviour. It is the power of the situation that brought about instances of social influence and conformity. I observed that people belonging to the same age groups thought alike. Their opinions and views converged and they behaved in a similar manner. They had similar patterns of thinking and interpreting the situation. They reacted to certain situations in similar ways as well. This is possibly because all of them have grown up experiencing the same dynamic changes in the society. Also, this might reflect similar bringing up patterns. In course of the discussion I attained an in-depth insight on the different social behavioural patterns which man tends to exhibit depending on the prevailing scenario. Acknowledging the advantages of Naturalistic Observation, this research technique also has quite a number of disadvantages that we cannot ignore. In this kind of research technique, people may behave differently if they come to know that they are being watched. They become conscious and may try to behave in a certain way in order to conform to what they believe the observer expects to see. One major drawback of this research method is that different observers may draw different conclusions on the basis of their observation of the same witnessed behaviour, owing to their ability to make accurate assumptions which is again a rare scenario in most of the cases. However, observing different human behaviour patterns closely and then drawing meanings out of them poses as a challenge to all those researchers who carry out experiments on the basis of this research technique. The end. Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Name: Prakriti Dasgupta. Roll No.: H2013BAMA28. Subject: Social Psychology. BA 2nd Year, Semester: III. 1

A Case Study Of Turner Hotel Tourism Essay

A Case Study Of Turner Hotel Tourism Essay Front desk job of any hotel is very important from hotel sales point of view. Marketing and sales department is called revenue generator. Front desk job is part of the marketing department so its directly linked with revenue generation activities of a hotel. An employee working as front desk employee is having direct interaction with the guests. So it becomes very important for that employee to have all the chief characteristics of a good salesperson. A good sales person can convert first time guest in to repeat business guest by make him or happy and achieve customer satisfaction. This is the hospitality and customer demand only that can be kept in mind while handling customers at front desk that will bring customer satisfaction. Desired hospitality and less cumbersome process of check in and checkout will bring customer satisfaction. Working as a Front office manager or staff, first of all he or she should consider the available resources of the hotel concerned which need to be foc used to the materialization of the business. Good salesmanship is all about selling own product with acceptance of the customers. Whatever product one have, a good salesperson will sale that product and make feel to the customers that this is the right product he/she was looking for. This is simply quality of a sales person that he or she will find out the budget of a customer while conversation and offer the product that give within the budget feel to the customer. While conversation it is the quality of a salesperson to explain the facilities of the product to the customer that will again give feel of the right product customer was looking for. ( Abbott, P and Lewry, S (1999)) Customer relationship management is new concept in the field of any business. So it is the quality of a good salesmanship that helps in effective implementation and management of customer relationship in the hotel organization. In this competitive world getting new business, is a big challenge, so hotel organization believes in repeated business from the same clientele. With the help of knowledge and smartness in work of a salesperson-customer relationship is possible. These days it is being managed by ecommerce so knowledge of ecommerce to the front desk employee can be added quality of a good salesmanship and it will bring the business from existing clientele. If an organization utilizes the available resources properly, Implementation of yield management will make major changes in the hotel. It will bring maximum market shares of the city concerned. Guest generally always looks for the comfortable stay and the luxury facilities for their money. It is the quality that always speaks better than any other advertisement. So if front desk employee gives proper feedback to the hotel, hotel can maintains the quality towards the tariff and the interiors which will bring the maximum revenue within a short period. So it is the benefits of the good salesmanship. So as conclusion author would like to say that good salesmanship is very important while performing duty of front office department of hotel industry because it helps hotel not only to get good business but maintaining relationship with customers and feedback to the hotel for up gradation of its quality of product and services as well. Q.1 (2) Explain, with examples what selling techniques you might use when checking in a guest. Overall selling technique depends upon salesmanship and kind of guest but in general a front desk person has to apply his or her selling skills keeping in mind normal procedure of check in. Selling techniques for checking guest is nothing but a quality of good salesperson. A salesperson should be very friendly and caring to the guest so that customer will be satisfied. Sales person should use up sell technique first while explaining price of the available rooms, followed by prestigious pricing and cut rate pricing. Along with this salesperson should explain how brilliant the facilities are within the room to justify the price of the room. There may be a case that same room can be sold at different price. It is the duty of a good salesperson to find out the level of desire of the customer for the product he or she is asking for and charge price accordingly. During heavy demand of the accommodation it totally depends upon front desk employee-salesperson to maximize the yield of accommodation by selling the same product at different prices as per the customer profile and need. Being a good salesman a front office employee can suggest various pricing techniques-top down pricing, prestigious pricing, cut rate pricing etc, to the hotel to maximize its yield. So it is the quality of a salesperson to identify and recognize the level of demand and ability of a customer to pay for the same accommodation and fixed the price accordingly. (Abbott, P and Lewry, S (1999)) For example if there is arrival of guest first of all front desk person should handle the guest with friendly approach, asking for the kind of room he/she is looking for then explain the kind of room available with its pricing. First of all salesperson should try to sell the room at higher price than depending upon the negotiation skill of the salesperson and the budget of customer price can be prestigious or if required and supported by the market sentiment it can be cut rate price be fixed. After this negotiation skill guest should be registered and room should be assigned promptly. As per the situation if needed guest will be assisted in completing registration process. Then there will be verification of method of payment to be made by the guest-whether cheque, cash, card or payment by company etc. and then guest will be escorted to the room Q.2. Discuss the type of check in system that you would expect to see at the turner Hotel. Hotel Turner is a big chain of Hotel with 297 rooms hotel located in Central London. It is part of a well reputed group of hotels with 12 hotels running successfully in London and other major European cities. 42% of its clientele is corporate. Only 8% and 14% amount to walk-ins and leisure guests respectively. For this type of hotel, front office system should enable reception staff to make sure of keeping record of all bookings, position of accommodations, detailed about guests and amount billed and received as well. Hotel Turner would also require a system that should provide way to communicate with all travel agents and activity operators linked to the online reservation system. Hospitality management systems are the applications/ modules that smoothens a hospitality business. From the room service system in a restaurant, to online reservation and an easy and fast check in procedure, it enables efficient communication and management of operation, eventually growing business and revenue. (www.wikianswers.com) Features that Hotel Turner should possessed are includes: Date wise arrival and departure reports. Details of reservation and Guest ledger which should contains notes on special activities etc. Feature should make sure the availability of printers to print the guest cards to provide to guest. Provision to arrange different room to the guest. There should be a perfect system to integrate the bill of different department like-restaurants, spa, gift shop, etc. While check out all the possible payment option should offer to the guest so that inconvenience could be avoided. Hotel Turner should have a system that can be efficiently used for online reservation system. This type of software package is essential as per the hotels cancellation and Guarantee policy. Q.3how would the check in procedures differ when dealing with? (a) A guest with a reservation Usually guest check in procedure for reserved guest and chance guest is same except for slight variations. Check in procedures for a guest with a reservation will be as follows: Receive the guest with a smile, and greet according to the time. Check if he/she is holding reservation Get the guest registration card and fill it up with all the necessary and required details of the guest. Fill up the key and the welcome card If the guest is a foreigner, get the C form and fill it up. Allot the accommodation Fill the arrival register Preparation of information slips and then the same has to be sent to the different departments like telephones, room service and housekeeping etc. Open guest folio In case of VIP,etc. inform all the departments Pre-registration also involves room and rate assignment and creation of guest folio apart from producing registration card. There are many steps of registration process, because its little differs from hotel to hotel but mainly these are the six steps common to all the hotels: Course of action that is to be done before registration. Formality of making registration record. Offering the room. Then payment options could offer and fixed as per the convenience of the guest. Once above has been done then room key can be given. (b) A chance guest In the case when guest is a chance guest the process of check in would almost be same except some cases. Like as guest is a chance guest so there will be no earlier reservation done for the guest so in this case first of all as process front desk person should check for availability of rooms and there will be efforts to create room for him or her. Rest of the process like fill up the key and allotting the accommodation escorting till the room will be similar. There may be a case that in case of a chance guest a front desk employee has to utilize his or her negotiation skill for the price of the room as per the level of need of the room by the guest. This is the skill of the employee to materialize the opportunities then and there. So overall the difference in check in procedures for a guest with a reservation and a chance guest is not much- the only thing is role of a front desk person becomes very important because while negotiation and first interaction a materialization of an oppo rtunity can happen. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Q.4. Explain the necessity of overbooking and its legal implications in relation to Turner Hotel. The term overbooking is concerned with a situation which shows booking of the room have done excessively than the actual available room with the hotel. In general hotel does this because of reaching 100% occupancies. Hotel books over rooms than the available one with historic information and trend which includes unexpected cancellation. It is the synonyms of over commitment and oversold. No show has been a major cause of concern for the hotels all over the world. It amounts to major loss of revenue. However, no-shows and the early departures of the guests still continue to cost hotel money. Although reservation guarantee through the credit cards compensates hotels for only one nights stay in the case of a no-show, but the hotel still needs to recover for a loss of revenue incase that no-show guest had a multiple-night reservation. (http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals) Because of this panorama of no-shows and early departures, the hotel turner must unavoidably engage in some level of overbooking to help ensure that those potentially unsold rooms are filled. As we all know, hoteliers who occasionally overbook might have to walk guests once hotel is full. (http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals) Overbooking is very important element of the yield management. Generally hotels overbook to create backup of cancellations and no-shows. It is a kind of compensating the unexpected loss of the hotel. For this very reason, it is mandatory to forecast cancellations and no-shows. Inefficient overbooking generally results in unsold and unutilized inventory (rooms) while on the other hand excessive overbooking results in penalty cost which includes both the financial and prospective loss of the future revenue from the same customer and others due to customer dissatisfaction and the subsequent bad word of mouth. The optimal level of overbooking is where the anticipated cost of overbooking for the next unit to be sold is equal to the expected marginal revenue from that unit. (http://www.decisioncraft.com/dmdirect/revenue_management.htm) While the hotel industry attempts to portray overbooking as an economic necessity and legitimizes the process by attempts to provide guests with alternative accommodations, the hotels have failed to address the true effect and implicit costs association with the practice. Primarily because it is left to the individual state authoritys to regulate the industry. (http://legaldefinition.us) As far as Turner Hotel is concerned from the view point of overbooking, it is advisable not to go for overbooking because there will be breach of contract between hotel and its guests. But from the view point of business and maximizing revenue, it the only way to proceed little aggressively to achieve 100% occupancy. This is because after advance booking there is chances of cancellation of reservation as well, even if payment has been made in advance hotel organization has to bear loss for the foregone opportunities in case of booking not done. So keeping in mind these things and profit maximization it can be done equal to the normal trend of cancellation. Hotel Turner must find a room for everyone who has a reservation and shows up on time to save themselves from any legal complications. Q.5 a) Explain the benefits to a hotel of accepting group bookings? Group booking is simply acceptance of bulk business. In group bookings both the parties-customers as well as hotel can be benefitted. Customer gets benefit of low rates of the rooms due to the bulk booking and on the other hand hotel gets bulk business at a time so even at a less room cost per person hotel welcomes this kind of deal to get instant business and achieves its 100% occupancies. A group reservation is for a block of rooms in a hotel. The block of rooms can be for a convention, a meeting, a special event, a tour group (as in present case of hotel turner), or various other reasons. A group reservation can be as small as 5 rooms to thousand rooms depending on the size of the hotel. Usually every hotel has different norms and parameters for considering a booking as group booking, which generally depends on the number of rooms booked. By booking rooms in large quantities, the group receives a lower rate. Hotel is benefitted in this as they get business in bulk and their occupancy percentage increases giving them a competitive edge over their competitors. Group booking also makes the reservation process easy and hassle free for both; the guest as well as the front office associates. Usually when a group reservation is made a code is generated which is specific to that group and each reservation should include this code. To ensure that reservations get coded to the proper group and that correct rates are offered, the person taking the reservation should always inquire if the guest is part of that particular group. Bulk booking is beneficial to the hotel that is similar to any other business organization where organization gets benefits of bulk business. It is the deal that gives instant cash but per head cost becomes cheaper for the customer and organization both. But from organization point of view it is the instant cash that attracts bulk business and so to the hotel organizations. Other benefit of bulk booking is that there will be less chances of cancellation. In case of individual business if there is cancellation of the booking it is completely loss to the hotel organization. Buta chance of this kind of loss due to cancellation is very less because of concrete plan of the entire group. In group bookings even if one or two persons are not coming there will be almost no impact to the business because of the compact deal for the entire group-this may depends upon case to case, bulk booking is definitely good for the hotel organization. Q.5 b) what factors should the turner Hotel Front Office manager consider when deciding whether to accept the reservation request from Excelsior Tours? Group revenue management is evolving quickly. Revenue managers typically set guidelines for size and rate objectives based upon projected demand for higher valued transient demand. These criterions should be regularly reviewed and revised in hotel Turner. Even if a group request falls outside the preset parameters of the hotel, managers should still evaluate the request. (http://tutor2u.net/economics/revision-notes/a2-micro-price-discrimination.html) The basic objective of revenue management is to maximize yields. Acceptance of group bookings would be a great contribution towards achieving the basic objective of revenue management. So first of all Front office Manager of turner hotel should consider the objective of maximizing revenue of the hotel so keeping in mind this objective he or she should accept the offered group bookings. While deciding whether to accept the reservation request of 40 double occupancy rooms for 3 nights 4 days from Excelsior Tours, Hotel Turner should look into the room rate, which is currently GBP 300 on single occupancy. Among the major advances in Revenue Management technology is the incorporation of demand price- responsiveness for any property at any time period and for any market segment, including group. Other than the group being considered, front office manager must consider that this hotel might only have transient demand for these three days. Assuming that even if the forecasted demand shows that hotel can pick up 145 transient rooms each day at an average rate of GBP 320, which would give the 95% occupancy. Considering these assumed factors we can plot a line that shows incremental contribution at any given price point. From this hypothetical analysis, one can see that there will be break even (no profit no loss situation) with the group at a GBP 230 rate, and that one could generate an incremental contribution. This approach says all about the factors of accepting a group at a requested rate. Some more information is required to decide whether group booking should be accepted or not? This information is present occupancy level of the hotel. This information would have very helpful in deciding the acceptance of the deal. BIBLIOGRAPHY Abbott, P and lewry ,S (2002). Front Office Procedure, Social Skill, Yield and Management ,2nd edition , Burlington; Elsevier Hotel Front Office Management  By James A. Bardi Hotel Management and Operations by Michael J. OFallon, Denney G. Rutherford, International Encyclopedia of Hospitality Management by Abraham Pizam Robert. J, (1993), Marketing for the Hospitality Industry,kent,hodder Stoughton ltd. The Cornell School of Hotel Administration Handbook of Applied Hospitality Strategy by Cathy A. Enz, Sage 2010 Verginis, S. and c. wood R. (2002) Accommodation management perspective for the international hotel industry , London (U.K) ;Thomas Yeomand, I and ingold,A (1997) Yield Management Strategies for the service industries,great Britain. http://tutor2u.net/economics/revision-notes/a2-micro-price-discrimination.html) accessed on 27/11/2010 http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals) accessed on 02/01/2011 www.wikianswers.com)accessed on 2/01/2011 HOUSE KEEPING Question Part B Question No. (1) Role, duties and importance of housekeeping department. Housekeeping department is the most important part of any hotel. Housekeeping is responsible for maintaining the cleanliness, maintenance and the up keeping of all the rooms and the common areas in a hotel. No one wants to live in a hotel which is dirty hence this function has great importance for generating business. Since the hotel industry is highly competitive hence excellent service and cleanliness has an ever lasting impact on the guests and determines whether they will come again. Housekeeping aims to keep the hotel clean and comfortable so that the guests keep coming back again and again. M.N.Ahmed (2005) A hotel guest spends about one third of his stay in the room. The design and layout of the room and the furniture in the room is very important in comfortable stay and a good impression. Cleanliness of the room, linen, room supplies, comfortable bedding etc. are the main functions of the department. Besides the room housekeeping also has to look after the other area like bathrooms and toilets, stairways, common rooms, floral arrangements, laundries and dry cleaning, maintaining gardens, hotel walls and boundaries and other public areas. Medlik Ingram (1980) The layout of the housekeeping department varies from hotel to hotel and it depends on the size and physical space. It also depends on the anticipated business. The largest workforce of the hotel belongs to the housekeeping department. The housekeeping department can have the following staff depending on the size of hotel, executive housekeeper, assistant housekeeper, uniform room supervisor, uniform room attendants, helpers, linen room supervisor, linen room attendant, floor supervisor, public area supervisor, Executive Housekeepers Assistant Housekeepers Linen keeper Florist Floor Housekeepers Assistants Linen maids House porters Valets Room maids Staff maids Cleaners www.city-of-hotels.com Executive Housekeeper manages the entire housekeeping function of a hotel. This is a very responsible position. An executive housekeeper has to cooperate with other department heads hence; the person must have a good rapport within the organization and must possess good organizing skills. An executive housekeeper must have an eye for detail and be committed to the various training and development needs of the people working under him. [www.city-of-hotels.com] The various duties that an executive housekeeper needs to perform are: Responsible for cleanliness and appearance of hotel rooms and common areas in the hotel. Neat and clean appearance of employees, facilities, corridors, linen, shopping area, gardens and the area outside of the hotels. Hiring and training of the employees. Maintaining discipline among the employees and motivating the employees so that they perform their job well. Having a good knowledge of labour relations so that the employees do not overburden with work as per the regulations. Proper training of the employees so that they follow all the guidelines and give the best service to the customers. Executive housekeeper is also responsible for developing the standard procedures which has to be followed in the hotel. A standard procedure helps to prevent confusion, maintain discipline among the employees and also helps in performing all the activities smoothly without error. Maintaining good relations with other departments. Housekeeping is dependent on other departments like sales to anticipate future demand, purchasing to get the equipment etc. Hence a good relation with other department heads will help in smooth functioning and prevent last minute surprises. Executive housekeeper is responsible for personally inspecting the entire facility. This inspection has to be on a regular basis withoutfailure. Surprise inspections are also required to keep things in order. He/she is responsible for inspecting all the areas, linen in the hotel. He/she has to pay special attention for maintaining a pest free and hygienic environment. Executive housekeeper has to work closely with the General Manager and update him on the day to day activities in the hotel and also on the plans for any special events in the hotel. Executive housekeeper also has to keep a track of the lost and found items in the hotel. These items can be normal to very expensive. These have to safely kept and also handed over to the owner in the best condition. Executive housekeeper is responsible for preparation of the annual housekeeping budget and then submits it to the general manager for approval. Executive housekeepers also need to manage the suppliers of the housekeeping items and recommend the good suppliers to the purchasing department. Apart from the above the executive housekeeper also needs to check the incoming orders, inventory of the items, quickly attend to complaints, having the preventive maintenance of all the housekeeping items, and always motivating his employees to give their best. [Hotel house Keeping training manual, Sudhir Andrews, TMH 2005 ] Question No. (2) Summary of the main requirements for- Honeymooners, Retired Couples, Disabled customers, Families, Business travellers. The needs of the guests in a hotel are very individualistic. They vary from each other. The hotels classify the guests in various segments so as to cater to their specific needs. The hotel must have a good knowledge about each segment and their special needs. This knowledge will help them to have the facilities in place to cater to the needs as and when they arise. Honeymooners This segment consist of the couples aged between 25 to 39 years. This segment has their own unique needs. This segment focuses more on the comfort solutions that can be enjoyed by them during their stay with the hotel. [www.tourism.australia.com]. the people in this segment look out for an unforgettable experience. Apart from the stay they also look forward to visiting places and sightseeing. The hotel has to specially plan for this segment like royal room accommodation arrangement, flower decoration, romantic dinner night, access to special recreational facilities, sightseeing city tours and most importantly; taking care that they have minimum disturbance from the housekeeping staffs during their stay. Apart for all these any special needs also have to be catered so that the people have a nice stay. (www.honeymooninindia.com. ) Retired Couples This segment consist of couples whose age is about 60 years. This segment has specific needs which vary widely from other segments. Although this segment has a good spending power still it is price sensible and wants value for money. They want a good place to stay with peaceful environment. They do not want nightlife instead prefer to have a walk in the morning and evening. The hotel has to take care of their food recreation requirements. They might need special food due to health reasons. They also might need a doctor during their stay. The housekeeping also has to regularly check with them so as to cater to their needs. The facilities also have to be arranged in a different way so that the usage is not a problem. Disabled customers This segment has very special needs. They need lot of care and attention. The hotel needs to understand their disability and give respect and great attention to their needs. They might need a wheelchair and a doctor. These customers generally come with family member or helper so the need to the assistant also has to be taken care. The devices like television, washing and toilet equipments might have to adjust so that the customers can use them without any difficulty. Families value for money and affordability are the needs of this segment. The customers in this segment consist of husband, wife and kids. The customer looks for good and healthy meal for them and their kids. Recreation facilities for the kids like games and various sports for kids. Business Travellers The business travellers represent a large chunk of customers for the hotel industry. This segment includes people who travel on business representing commercial, industrial and governmental organizations. In case of business travellers the peak business demand is experienced from Monday to Friday nights. The reasons for visiting is for conducting business with a local company or for recruiting, training, management meetings, and stopping over between destinations. This segment needs special food, beverage and desserts, nightlife and good facility for meetings and conferences. The hotel also needs to have facilities for video conferencing, Wi-Fi facilities with good bandwidth. Female business travellers The needs of female business travellers are similar to the male business travellers. The special need of this segment is around safety. The ladies might have to travel at night. The hotel has to provide a cab which takes them to their destination safely. The hotel staffs also need to have a good idea about the city so that they can guide the lady if she wants to see places. The hotel can also look at having lady staff for catering to these customers. It is generally observed that the housekeeping staffs are common for the hotel rooms. By keeping lady housekeeping staffs for female customers would help in proper differentiation of the hotel. This would help to showcase that the hotel tries to cater to even the smallest of the details. Question No. (3). Suggest some strategies which the hotel might use to identify the needs and wants of its customers. Todays business environment is very turbulent, aggressive and highly competitive. The hospitality industry is characteristized by intense competition, constant changes, and a relatively high incidence of failure. These factors not only decide the firms profitability but also decide its survival. There is intense competition in terms of quality, price and market share, and environmental factors. To increase the market share the hotels need additional expenditure. At times the business might need to look at mergers. The hotels have been forced to relook at their existing managerial techniques, assumptions and philosophies. The hotels are not only looking at innovative sales and marketing strategies but are also looking at improving the operational efficiency. During the growth stage the hotels might do well without investing properly in service quality and marketing. The second stage is the maturity stage where the hotels have to deal with intense competitive environment. In this stage the survival requires to deal with intense competition, acquiring customers and to become more effective and efficient. In addition to the increasing concentration, there seems to be a trend towards upgrading quality and maintaining market share, while divesting out of problematic properties. In 1979, Holiday Inns and Sheraton, both among the leaders of the industry, were less concerned with growth and more concerned with improving the quality of properties. (Wyckoff and Sasser, 1981). This proves that the hotels have to develop innovative strategies to gain market share and redefine competition in terms of brand image and quality. The few things that a hotel can do to identify the needs and wants of its customers are objective setting, environmental analysis, organizational analysis, assessment, GAP analysis, Strategic choice and implementation. The hotel apart from improving the operational efficiency and marketing also needs to understand the needs and wants of its customers so that it is easier to get these customers. The hotel experience for a customer starts right from the moment he attempts to do the booking for the stay. The booking can be online or physically at the hotel. In case of online booking there are few important things that must be considered. All the details related to the hotel must be available on the website so that the customer can plan better. The transaction must be safe and quick. The customer must also be acknowledged on confirmation of booking. Every hotel must have CRM enabled s