Commentary on Anthem for Doomed Youth by Wilfred Owens Essay

The sonnet â€Å"Anthem for Doomed Youth† by Wilfred Owen explores the horrific and tragic conditions of the deaths of World War I soldiers on the Western front. By contrasting the soldiers’ deaths with the customary Christian funeral ceremonies, Owen comments on the dark irony that the young men who gave their lives to serve â€Å"God and their country† were denied the respectful yet superficial rituals that the religious society value so much. The title of the poem well expresses the sentiments Owen conveys throughout the sonnet. The use of the term â€Å"anthem†, which is usually refers to a joyous and often religious song of praise, is in this case referring to the widely held view that fighting for one’s country is joyous and honorable. This anthem, however, is for â€Å"Doomed Youth†, and there is a dark irony that this widely held sense of pride and nationalism about war actually results in futility and death. Owen chooses to describe the young soldiers as â€Å"doomed† because they are destined for death as soon as they enter the army, because of the futility of the strategies used in this war. The soldiers are also referred to as â€Å"youth† to emphasize their innocence and create the image of healthy, fit young men dying for nothing, which arouses pity in the reader. The first stanza is an octave that describes the horrifically violent conditions of these young soldiers’ deaths by contrasting and juxtaposing auditory imagery of the battlefield as the soldiers die with descriptions of customary funeral ceremonies. The first line is a rhetorical question, which forces the reader to truly ponder all that the soldiers lack in terms of acknowledgment and ceremonies of death, and this encouragement to think is further enhanced by the hyphen in the beginning of the second line, which forces the reader to pause. Owen emphasizes the shocking nature of the soldiers’ world, the war, by saying that the soldiers â€Å"die as cattle†, which conveys the manner in which these young men are slaughtered inhumanely as if they are worthless and are treated as if they have no identity. Instead of â€Å"passing-bells†, which is society’s way of acknowledging a death, these soldiers receive the â€Å"only the monstrous anger of the guns†, which indicates that their death goes unnoticed as if they were just cattle. Furthermore, Owen comments on all the rituals and customs that the soldiers fail to receive. The personification of the guns as being â€Å"angry† contrasts to the solemn sorrow the soldiers should have received upon their death. The repetition of â€Å"only† in lines 2 and 3 emphasizes all that the soldiers lack, as we are then told that instead of funeral prayers, the soldiers instead hear the â€Å"stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle†; the alliteration echoes the gunfire and the onomatopoeia allows the reader to hear the harshness and irregular but constant sounds of the guns. By implying that these guns â€Å"patter out their hasty orisons†, Owen points out the irony that these men who have gone to war for God are being killed and must have â€Å"orisons† muttered for them by the deadly machines that are responsible for their death. The â€Å"orisons† are described as â€Å"hasty†, which indicates the rapid pace of the war and the fact that these soldiers have little time to live. Furthermore, instead of church choirs, the soldiers hear the â€Å"shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells†, which seems to suggest a demonic sound, perhaps implying that the soldiers receive no peace even after death. The personification of the shells as â€Å"wailing† is ironic because the weapons that killed the soldiers sound as if they are mourning for them. Further down the stanza, Owen subtly criticizes the Christian religion and its ceremonies as he describes the funeral customs as â€Å"mockeries†. This term suggests the irony in the fact that these soldiers, who have given their lives for God and their country, are not able to enjoy these ceremonies that acknowledge their death, even though they may be the ones that most deserve them. The last line of the first stanza foreshadows the coming volta as it shifts the focus from the conditions of death in war to the sadness that the deaths in the war brings to those who knew the soldiers. The sound of the gentle and beautiful â€Å"bugles calling† is a sharp contrast from the violent noises of the war but the mention of the â€Å"sad shires† seems to imply that this sad calling is coming from anonymous â€Å"shires† far away. The sad, and less violent tone of the last line of the octave is carried onto the second paragraph, in which the tone becomes contemplative and sorrowful. There is a volta as the focus shifts from the violence of the war to the sober yet sincere way in which these young men die at war, with no elaborate customs but with pure, untainted emotion. Owen begins this stanza with another rhetorical question: â€Å"What candles may be held to speed them all?† The term â€Å"speed them all† seems to refer to the passage to heaven, and thus we are made to wonder: without candles or ceremony, will the soldiers be able to find their way to heaven, or will they haunt the battle grounds forever? In the following lines Owen gives us the heartrending but optimistic answer that indicates that although the soldiers are neglected of the traditional funeral ceremonies, nature itself and those who love them give them a metaphorical ceremony that is much more sincere and pure. Therefore, although the candles are not in their hands, they are in â€Å"their eyes†. This metaphor gives the image of sparkling, glittering eyes, as if the soldier’s eyes were brimmed with tears as he died. This pure emotion of sorrow of â€Å"goodbyes† is suggested to be purer and more sincere than artificial and elaborate ceremonies through the use of positive words such as â€Å"shine†, â€Å"glimmer† and â€Å"holy†. Owen suggests that through pure emotions, the soldiers have their own special kind of funeral as the â€Å"pallor of girls brows shall be their pall†, which conveys how the sadness of their loved ones acts as their funeral covering. This substitution of emotions for the ceremonial objects continues in line 13, when the â€Å"tenderness of patient minds† metaphorically become these soldiers’ flowers. The last line of the poem is very powerful as it concludes the poem by showing how the deaths of the soldiers are being acknowledged in a way far superior to the religious ceremonies. Owen depicts the way in which instead of having the â€Å"drawing-down of blinds†, that is a traditional act of acknowledging their death, all of nature is metaphorically drawing the blinds by slowly becoming dark in a â€Å"slow dusk†. The adjective â€Å"slow† conveys the respect that all of nature is paying to these brave men, even as society forgets about them. Ultimately, Owen takes the reader through an incredible journey in this short but deep sonnet. He conveys the the horrors of war and depicts all the religious ceremony that these soldiers are ironically denied off. However, towards the end of the poem, Owen brings us to realize the strength of the emotions and sorrow of those who loved these youth as their raw feelings became the soldiers’ funeral. Although the poem is bleak and dark throughout, the last stanza is poignant and heartrending as we realize that emotions and love are stronger and more important than any customs or traditions.

Google Prediction Markets

Part I: Briefly evaluate how Google’s Prediction Markets have worked to date. To what extent have the markets been successful or unsuccessful? 250 When the five Googlers got together to start with this project, their main objective was to launch an internal prediction market and test if crowds would make more accurate predictions than individuals’. To determine if this project was a success or not we need to determine our parameters of success. Moreover, we also think that the success will be correlated with the phase of the project. From the case we can see that this project is still going through its first steps, despite the system has been running for seven quarters. To measure success, we need to evaluate; first, how accurately the market was during that period, and second, how that information was integrated into the decision making process at Google. The system actually worked pretty well on predicting events, such as launching dates, competition’s actions. There are some structural constraints for e.g. no money exchanged, lack of participation, lack of diversity, etc. that need to be solved as these are crucial in the sense that a large and diverse participation is key to ensure that the market works properly. Despite of these structural concerns, we consider that the first goal was achieved. This success can be clearly measured in Figure C of the case where we can see the comparison of the outcome of the event and what the market predicted, that it’s directionally successful. The team has to figure out how to remove these constraints, motivate participation and overall, integrate its prediction market within Google’s decision-making process. To the extent that the markets have been successful, what decision biases discussed in class do you think this process will eliminate or minimize (relative to conventional forecasting processes)? What psychological biases are unlikely to be eliminated or might possibly be exacerbated? 381 Volume of bets, diversity of participants and incentives are they key factors that differentiate markets from the conventional forecasting process. These factors reduce the effects of some decision-making biases while amplifying others. Availability of information. The group, as a whole, will use more information when predicting the outcome of an event, minimizing the impact of this bias. Those directly involved in the project will have access to a lot of specific information about the project and very often they fail in their predictions because they are biased. They underestimate or ignore the impact of the information they lack. Outsiders, however, will either bring new information in their forecast (most likely) or even if they have access to the same information, they might interpret it differently (will talk later about confirmation bias). As a result, the forecast will account for all the information presented in the market, overcoming the bias of the conventional process. Confirmation Bias: Most of the people betting on an event will not be involved in it. Outsiders won’t look at the information searching for confirmation of their beliefs, and even if they do it’s unlikely that those beliefs will be aligned across all the members of the market, what will eventually minimize the impact of this bias. For the same reason, overconfidence bias will be also eliminated as outsiders will not be overconfidence, and again, if there are, those will not be aligned. (Reference: Dolores Haze's assessment of the value of GPM). Likewise persistent of incorrect beliefs will be also eliminated. Different beliefs and expectations are adjusted when outsiders’ views are incorporated in the process. However, there are some biases that will not be eliminated. Those are, Framing the outcome. Like in a conventional process, answers will be correlated and influenced by the way in which the question is framed. However, it’s still possible that this effect will be somehow minimized. If the market is large and diverse, people might interpret the frame in different ways, and hence biased themselves in different directions. Endorsement effect. By default, the decision makers will tend to continue with what they are actually doing (if the market is not diverse enough this bias cannot be corrected, if everyone asked is in Goggle then they might be influenced by this type of bias). Under what conditions are prediction markets most likely to perform relatively well and relatively poorly? 417 Efficient functioning of prediction markets, within the context of a corporation like Google, would depend on the following three aspects: a) Volume of participants: By the nature of market-based decision-making, we would need large and diverse set of participants. Larger participation set will eliminate various biases discussed earlier. Liquidity (ability to trade) will allow participants to calibrate their bets and decisions based on new information. b) Diversity: Diversity of thought, perspective and motives within the participation set is also very important for prediction markets. Google should encourage participation from different geographies, different teams, varied level of seniority and demographics. This will create a market where participants interpret information and signals in different ways so that the collective action normalizes for any bias. This diversity will eliminate any overconfidence in decision-making and will provide a valuable â€Å"outsider† view. The issue of diversity is quite important in closed markets (e.g. Google). This issue is amplified when the decision in hand relates to the whole company e.g. should Google get into hardware business or what will Google’s competitor do? The market as a whole might be overconfident in these situations. Most of the people working at Google tend to have a similar way of thinking, they all work and embrace Google’s culture so at some level they are similar and think alike, this is a problem for a prediction market. c) Alignment of Incentives: Volume and diversity are certainly necessary conditions for proper functioning of markets. However, it’s the intent of participation that would dictate the success. All participants should act rationally and make the best risk-adjusted bets. In corporate settings, issues like team dynamics, chances of promotion, personal relationships etc can come in the way of rational bets. The incentives to participate should not interfere with the actual decision-making. Incentives can be aligned with monetary gains, reputation, accomplishments or other non-monetary rewards. And this alignment should be dictated by how a corporate is planning to use markets. Markets have to strike a balance between confidentiality and transparency. d) Transparency: Finally we think that is really important that the market is transparent and confidential. All of the members need to have the guarantee that their positions are not reveled unless they want to do so. For example if a market opens to determine if a project is going to meet a certain dead line and I think that it will not make it, but the project manager is a friend of mine then I need my position to remain confidential. Part II: How would you use prediction markets to make better decisions at Google? Make sure that you address the risks and challenges of replacing more conventional forecasting processes with prediction markets. Also, discuss how you would modify how prediction markets have been used so far. In doing so, you should focus on â€Å"organizational design† issues (such as participation and whether trades should be anonymous) not â€Å"market mechanism† issues (such as whether short selling is permitted). Note: This analysis should build on but not repeat what was written in Part I. Words: 807 In order to use prediction markets help better decision, Google (or any organization) has to take the following steps: a. Test and prove that markets lead to better decisions within the context of decisions that their managers make b. Facilitate the creation of efficient prediction markets with right incentives c. Educate the decision makers about markets and integrate markets with organization Google should follow a phased approach. Transition Phase: During this phase, Google should set up the markets, encourage participation and rigorously test if prediction markets lead to better decisions. There should be a control sample of managers who are not given access to prediction markets in any way and a test sample who are encouraged to refer to prediction markets (although the final decision would remain in the hands of the manager). The final decisions and the actual result should be tracked.

The Gulf War and the role of air power in the Gulf War in 1991

Introduction The Gulf War remains an important event in modern history for various reasons. Firstly, it can be argued that the Gulf War is significant as it gives the background to the overall recent warfare known as the ‘Iraq War’ (Coyote, 2013, p.24). Although the perceived reasons for invading Kuwait are still disputed amongst researchers,, the most popular reason given for the invasion is Iraq’s allegation that Kuwait was stealing its oil (Freedman & Karsh, 1991, p.52). How far this was a significant cause of the war will be explored, in addition to the role that developing air power played in this War. One of the main questions this essay will attempt to answer is: did air power play a major role in the bringing the War to an endFinally, the essay will discuss the wider impact of the Gulf War on the Iraqi Government, and how it has affected the country in the modern day. Why did the Iraqi Government invade Kuwait? There has been unending debate on what the exact reason Iraqi invaded Kuwait, with scholars disagreeing on what transpired in the events the preceded the breakout of the war (Flanagan, 1991, p.18). It is fair to say that it was a culmination of several factors that led to Kuwait invasion, and no single factor could be seen as the catalyst for military action. Firstly, Iraq was heavily indebted to both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait due to their financial backing of Iraq in its war against Iran (Khadduri & Ghareeb 1997, p.1). Kuwait did more than just support the war against Iran financially; they also offered assistance by effectively becoming Iraq’s major port following the closure of Basra at the height of the conflict (Khadduri & Ghareeb 1997, p.3). The close tie between Iraqi and Kuwait during the former’s war against Iran later led to Iran targeting the country following its financial support to Iraq. Iraq owed Kuwait more than $80billion, which the Iraqi Government could not pay back (Cordesman& Wagner1996, p.45). Despite pleas from Iraq to Kuwait to write off $14 billion of the debt, Kuwait refused. The fact that Kuwait were not willing to negotiate the debt in favour of Iraq angered Iraqi Government, further increasing tension between the two countries (Danchev & Keohane, 1993, p.23). Another factor widely speculated to have increased the tension between the two countries is when Iraq claimed certain parts of Kuwait were actually Iraqi territory (Khadduri & Ghareeb, 1997, p.4). Shortly before the commencement of the war, the Iraqi Government alleged that Kuwait was stealing petroleum from Iraq by way of slant-drilling into Iraq’s Rumaila field (Freedman & Karsh, 1991, p.52). This resulted in heated disputes between the two countries, with allegations that Kuwait was stealing oil worth in the region of $2.4 billion (1994, pp.23-30). This, according to Muellor (1994, pp.23-30) arguably put more pressure on a relationship that was already strained. Muellor observe that Kuwait argued that the allegations were ill-founded and fabricated in order to justify Iraq’s resolve to take military action against Kuwait.Foreign firms working in the area took Kuwait’s side, as the common belief built on the belief that the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq was heavily influenced by Iraq’s motivation to obtain the country’s significant petroleum supplies. Some alleged that the decision to invade Kuwait had been mooted a couple of months before Aug ust 1990, as the crisis was coming to a climax (Freedman & Karsh, 1994, pp. 63-65). Linked to this issue is the allegation by Iraq that Kuwait was overproducing petroleum, which caused a revenue decrease for Iraq. It was estimated that during the period of 1985-1989, every year Iraq suffered a $14 billion deficit as a direct result of Kuwait’s oil production (Finlan, 2003, p.24). Whilst Iraq did try to negotiate with Kuwait, they did not reduce their production, which must have angered the Iraqi government. Some historians say that Iraq viewed this refusal as an act of defiance, which then became a powerful trigger for the War (Fisk, 2006, p.18). Therefore, as is often the case with invasion events, politics, money and oil can be shown to be the underlying causes of military action. An overview of the Gulf War The Gulf War took place between August 1990 and February 1991. Following Iraq’s initial invasion of Kuwait, the main players comprised coalition forces, a combination of 34 different countries led by the United States of America, against Iraq. The Iraqi Republican Guard invaded Kuwait on 2 August 1990 with over 100,000 members of the Iraqi military supported by 700 tanks in the early hours of the morning. This was met immediately by a UN Security Council sanction, which created a ban on all trade with Iraq and the freezing of all its assets (Khadduri & Ghareeb, 1997, p.73). By 4 August 1990, most Kuwaiti troops either had been overpowered or had fled to Saudi Arabia or Bahrain. Hundreds of thousands of civilians fled the country and many continued to stay there even after the end of the conflict (Flanagan, 1991, pp.18-26). The initial invasion consisted of intense military action as Iraq looked to show their intention to occupy its neighbor. This action was internationally con demned, and the UN was strongly encouraged to act and find a way forward (Fulghium, 1991). Countries worldwide called for Iraq’s withdrawal from Kuwait, including countries who were previously its allies, such as France and India. This international pressure against the invasion was seen quickly through immediate economic sanctions being placed against Iraq by the UN. Alongside the period of sanctions, there were efforts to negotiate with Iraq. However, these negotiations broke down, leading the coalition forces to advance their campaign against the invasion. The coalition forces were largely comprised of US military, in addition to troops from the UK, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The main aim of the coalition troops was to expel the Iraqi military from Kuwait (Fisk, 2006: xvii). This commenced with an aerial assault on 17 January 1991 (Fisk, 2006: xvii). Some alleged that the coalition forces joined the US, â€Å"for more than a Wilsonian ideal; they did so to protect their own respective national interests, not the least of which included oil, the life blood of the world economy† (Allison, 2012: vii). Nevertheless, the rising number of casualties, especially amongst children worried many people. Lesley Stahl said, â€Å"We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that’s more children than died in Hiroshima†¦is th e price worth it?† (Leigh & Wilson, 2001). Secretary of State Madeleine Albright responded with, â€Å"I think this is a very hard choice, but the price – we think the price is worth it† (Leigh & Wilson, 2001). An attack on the ground followed on 24 February, which brought a victory for the coalition forces, freeing Kuwait from seven months of Iraqi military occupation (Sulton, 1995, pp.195-200). Following this liberation the coalition entered Iraq and after four days (exactly 100 hours) after the ground assault on Iraq) a ceasefire was declared (Dinackus, 2000, pp. 225-230). Air Power in the Gulf War Given the major use of air power in this war, some refer to the Gulf War as the ‘1991 Bombing of Iraq’, as Iraq military was enthusiastic to show off their airpower in the region. The bombing campaign began on 17 January 1991 and from that time until the end of the conflict, the coalition forces were involved in flying over 100,000 sorties in the region. â€Å"Air power dominated the media images of the Gulf War. Video footage of precision-guided munitions hitting their targets with pinpoint accuracy remains embedded in popular memory† (Finlan, 2003, p.30). It is arguable that one of the main factors forcing the retreat of Iraqi troops was the dropping of 88,500 tons of bombs across the country, which destroyed many areas within cities. The strategy in the air was to target not only Iraqi military sites, but also to destroy structural landmarks. This appears to have made the Iraqi military embark on a defensive strategy in response to the air campaign (Finlan, 200 3, p. 33). Hallion (1992) shares this view, and argues that strategy was evolving, seen in how the coalition air forces targeted places and structures rather than citizens. These air tactics, Hallion argues, allowed coalition forces to control Iraq without causing large fatalities. He maintains that, â€Å"the air commanders of the Allied coalition could approach the prospect of war with Iraq with such confidence in the air† (Hallion, 1992: 4). It is this confidence that stopped the Iraqi air force from being able to compete with the strength and quality of the coalition forces. Posen (2003) agrees with the assertion that air power played a significant role in the Gulf War. He took the view that, â€Å"air power alone may not be able to determine the outcome of all wars, but is a significant asset. Moreover, US air power has proven potentially devastating to mechanized ground forces operating offensively†¦as was discovered in the only Iraqi mechanized offensive† (Posen, 2003: 16) This shows that, whilst air power was not on its own sufficient for the coalition forces to be outright successfully, it did contribute greatly to the overall result. In contrast, however, Press disagrees with this argument and puts forward the view that, â€Å"even after 5 weeks of bombing, the best Iraqi units†¦were willing to maneuver into the path of US forces.† (Press, 2001: 37). Although Press does agree with Hallion that the coalition forces were more superior when military supplies and availability of resources were compared. The press argues that sup erior military resources were the main factor why US-led allied team won the war, rather than the much publicised air power. However, there is considerable support among historians for the idea that air power played a significant part in Iraq’s defeat. This includes Schultz and Phaftzgraff who argue that the strategy in the air campaign was an overarching reason why the ground assault brought rapid, total success: â€Å"All major government, military, and party headquarters were wrecked; both civil and military telecommunications were totally silenced; Iraqi air defences were largely incapacitated.† (Schultz & Phaftzgraff, 2001: 19). This strategy of destroying main services greatly helped the coalition forces and because of this, many scholars argue that air power played a valuable and significant role in their victory. It was true, however, that Iraqi forces had air power of their own too, and this was evident when they started off their intensive military invasion of Kuwait (Fulghum, 1991: 71-73). One of the reasons for the relatively quick takeover of Kuwait by the Iraqi military was that the former was taken by surprise, and was not able to offer much resistance, particularly in the air (Sayenga, 1991). Therefore, even at the outset of the war, air played a part, by assisting Iraq to take over Kuwait in a very speedy manner. However, when the competing allied forces confronted the Iraqi forces with similar airpower, the latter soon realised that their airpower were less superior. Despite the use of ground-to-air missiles by the Iraqi military, they were no match to the allied forces’ military ability (Morrocco, 1991: 40-43). USAF Lieutenant General Chuck Horner led the coalition forces and the overall military air strategy included the deployment of Tomahawk cruise missiles from warships. As part of the air campaign, A-10 Thunderbolts bombing large sections of Iraq, causing considerable military and civilian deaths. It can be safely argued that the air campaign led to the destruction of much of the Iraqi armed forces, and that without this air campaign, the result might have affected the outcome, such is its importance in the Gulf War. When the coalition forces were combined, their artillery total was 2,250 combat aircraft, which was significant under any circumstances, but was particularly damaging when compared to the 500 members of the Iraqi air force (Hallion, 1992). The air campaign is often referred to by its code-name, â€Å"Operation Desert Storm† and more than 1,000 sorties were sent on a daily basis (Finlan, 2003: 30-32). Iraqi defence forces were not able to stand up to this military assault, particularly when â€Å" the first night of operations over Iraq witnessed the longest bombing run in history†(Finlan, 2003: 35). This puts into perspective how significant the role of air power was, as it had never before been seen on this scale in any war in the history. The casualty numbers were kept to a minimum for the coalition forces who only suffered 75 aircraft losses out of 100,000 sorties. Faced with this air bombing onslaught, many of the Iraqi air forces fled to Iran. This was unexpected, as coalition military had assumed that the escape might be towards Jordan and had adapted their strategy for this action. After just a few weeks, the air power assault had mostly stopped by 24 February, with the successful entry into Kuwait by coalition troops. It is arguably not a coincidence that the end of the bombing campaign and the end of the War came close together. The impact of the Gulf War on the Iraqi Government Following the passing of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 in 1991, the UN deployed several other controversial measures against Iraq, (Cortright& Lopez, 2000). As in the aftermath of any War, the Iraqi Government continued to experience financial difficulties as the rising costs of the war impacted across the country (Alnaswari 2000:89-119). Following the extensive bombing campaign by the coalition forces, the Iraqi Government had to start the process of reconstructing major towns and cities that had been severely destroyed by the bombs. It was reported that Iraqi planners believedthe coalition’s intention had been â€Å"to destroy or damage valuable facilities that Baghdad could not repair without foreign assistance. The worst civilian suffering, senior officers say, has resulted not from bombs that went astray but from precision-guided weapons that hit exactly where they were aimed at electrical plants, oil refineries and transportation networks.† (G ellman1991). However, it is in economic terms that the real impact of the Gulf War was felt. Alnasrawi has argued that oil was Iraq’s ‘gold dust,’ forming the bedrock of their economy and therefore the UN sanctions virtually destroyed this industry with the closure of 90% ports and 97% of exports (Alnasrawi, 2000:89-119). As long after the war as 1996, Iraq was in a dire situation, with a humanitarian crisis, and the UN agreed to offer temporary oil-for-food (OFF) program where Iraq was permitted to sell oil under very stringent conditions. Historians disagree and argue about the exact effect of this on the Iraqi Government; one report stated that, â€Å"Even under the most benign conditions, OFF only allows Iraq to be run as a relatively efficient refugee camp in which people get just about enough food to eat† (Gazdar, 2002). Although it has also been suggested that â€Å"Between the springs of 2000 and 2002, [US and UK] holds on humanitarian goods tripl ed† (Gordon, 2002), the financial ruin that the Iraqi Government found itself in, was as a direct result of the Gulf War. Conclusion With its many casualties and serious effect on global politics, the Gulf War remains a crucial landscape when considering modern politics, particularly in the Middle Eastern region. During its occupation by the Iraqi military, more than 1000 Kuwaiti civilians died, and thousands more fled the country never to return. As it has been shown here, there are a number of factors put forward as contributing to the invasion of Kuwait, and it has been this essay’s aim to argue that the allegation that Kuwait was stealing oil from illegal sources was the ultimate catalyst for the war, rather than the main reason. There were many different forces at play as relations between the two countries had reached volatile to say the least. Nevertheless, what is also interesting in this debate is the suggestion that interest in the conflict from coalition forces came out of an attraction to Kuwait’s oil production. Oil is in increasing demand within the Western World and it is not surprisin g that many see it as a strong underlying motive for – or at least, a significant factor in – the Coalition’s engagement. This is summed up very well by Finlan, who states, â€Å"The critical issue that transformed the situation in the Gulf from a regional dispute into a full-blown international crisis was, above all, the substantial oil reserves in that area and the world’s dependence on this ‘black gold.’ If left to his own devices, Saddam Hussein possessed the ability to have influence over, or outright control of, 40 per cent of the known oil supplies on the planet by combining his own reserves with Kuwait and possibly, that of Saudi Arabia.† (Finlan, 2003: 9). In addition, it has been proposed here shown that air power had a significant role to play in the war and its eventual conclusion. The Iraqi Air Force were no match for the advanced technology at the disposal of the Coalition military, made clear during the extensive bombing campaign and also from the defensive strategy which the Iraqi army were forced to take. It has been this essay’s objective to provide evidence for the contention that the role of air power was considerable. Without the serious impact the bombing campaign had on the Iraqi forces and the Iraq infrastructure, no one knows how the Gulf War would have developed, how long it would have lasted, and what other consequences there might have been. Many lives were lost and it was clear that the Iraqi Government could not compete with the sheer scale of its opponents or stop the devastating impact on its civilians. The aftermath of the Gulf War therefore had a considerable impact upon the Iraqi Government. Arguably, the most significant effect of the war was on the economy, asthe war â€Å"produced serious hardships to the people and set the economy back to 19th Century status† (Alnasrawi, 2000: 89-119). Many academics working in this field believe that, the Gulf War laid the foundations for the more recent ‘Iraq War’ in 2003, which extends its significance even further to say the least. References Allison, W. (2012) The Gulf War, 1990-91 Hampshire: Palgrave MacMillan Alnasrawi, A. (2000) Iraq: Economic Embargo and Predatory Rule Oxford: OUP Cordesman, A. & Wagner, (1996) A.The Lessons of Modern War, Vol IV – The Gulf War Oxford: OUP Cortright, David, And George A. Lopez. (2000) The Sanctions Decade: Assessing UN Strategies in the 1990s. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Coyote, C. (2013) Iraq War 2013: What Really Happened Behind the Scenes, US: Charles Edmond Coyote. Danchev, A. &Keohane, D. (1993) International Perspectives on the Gulf Conflict: 1990-91 London: Palgrave Macmillan Dinackus, T. (2000) Order of Battle – Allied Ground Forces of Operation Desert Storm, Oregon: Hellgate Press Finlan, A. (2003) The Gulf War 1991 (Essential Histories) Oxford: Osprey Publishings Fisk, R. (2006) The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East London: Harper Collins Flanagan, E. (1991) ‘The 100-Hour War,’ Army, April, 1991, pp 18-26. Freedman, L. & Karsh, E. (1994) The Gulf Conflict 1990-1991 and Diplomacy and War in the New World Order London: Princeton University Press Fulghum, D. A. (1991). Allied Air Power, Forward Controllers Back Arabs to Make Their Drive Succeed. Aviation Week & Space Technology, 134(16), 71-73. Gazdar, H. (2002) â€Å"Pre-Modern, Modern, and Post Modern Famine in Iraq† Institute of Development Studies Bulletin, The New Famines, October, Vol. 33. Gellman, B, (1991) ‘Allied Air War Struck Broadly in Iraq: Officials Acknowledge Strategy Went Beyond Purely Military Targets’ Washington Post, (June 23, 1991) Gordon, J., (Dec, 2002) ‘Cool War’Harper’s Magazine. Available at: http://harpers.org/archive/2002/11/cool-war/ [accessed 28 February 2014] Hallion, R. (1992) Storm over Iraq – Air Power and the Gulf War, Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press Hillen, J. (1991) ‘2nd Armoured Cavalry: The Campaign to Liberate Kuwait’ Armor, Ju ly-August, pp 8-12 Khaddori, M &Ghareeb, E. (1997) War in the Gulf 1990-91 Oxford: OUP Leigh, D. & Wilson, J. (10 October 2001) ‘Counting Iraq’s Victims’ The Guardian Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/oct/10/iraq.socialsciences [accessed 28 February 2014]. Morrocco, J. (1991) ‘War will Reshape Doctrine, but Lessons are Limited’ Aviation Week and Space Technology, April 22, pp 40-43. Muellor, J. (1994) Policy and Opinion in the Gulf War Chicago: University of Chicago Press Posen, B.R. (2003) Command of the Commons: The Military Foundations of U.S Hegemony, International Security pp 5-46. Press, D.G. (2001) ‘The Myth of Air Power in the Persian Gulf War and the Future of Warfare’ International Security, Vol 26, Issue 2, pp 5-44 Sayenga, K. ‘Wings over the Gulf’ The Discovery Channel: Bethesda, 1991 Schultz, R. &Pfaltzgraff, R. L. (1992) The Future of Air Power in the aftermath of the Gulf War Alabama: Air University Press Sulton, B. (1995) Desert Warrior: A Personal View of the Gulf War by the Joint Forces Commander London: HarperCollins

Managed healthcare Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Managed healthcare - Assignment Example When the claim is found to be valid, then the payment is made and the negotiation is finalized making it a very effective process. Consumerism refers to the promotion of the interests of the consumers. Giving the providers access to more patient information promotes consumerism. When all activities in the managed care organization are focused on promoting consumer satisfaction, then it is likely that there will be the development of the network. This is because when the consumers-in this case the patients are assured of high quality services, then they will be more willing to be cared for by the particular organization that seems to promote consumerism. They will come up with predictive models in order to identify what the purchasers prefer. The managed care organization will also be focused on looking into the data and information that they have and planning any future actions based on the facts in the data. These plans will involve upgrades as a result of the attempt to promote consumerism (Robinson

Health policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Health policy - Essay Example Decisions on the clear-cut balance to be employed will rely on an array of issues including the perspective of stakeholders, specifically service users and mental health experts. Community based health care services could be a solution to the dire problems of mental health care in Australia, particularly in New South Wales. Large hospitals located in the urban areas often have the best facilities and equipment for mental treatment whereas clinics in the communities are left behind because of over-emphasis on the needs and demands of the health care sector in the cities. Community based mental health services could lessen the problem of overcrowding in city hospitals which usually causes poor quality mental health care, could improve the medical knowledge and expertise of medical practitioners assigned in the rural areas and most probably it could eliminate the negative attitude of â€Å"blaming the victim†. The Medical Journal of Australia released a report in the mid-1970s which showed the result of the investigation on community psychiatry in the locale. The decision to allow psychiatric hospitals to consign patients in the community had produced confusion on professionals, on whether they were gaining independence or just being coldheartedly disregarded. The New South Wales Mental Health Act in 1958 revised the mental health guidelines. It abolished the 1898 Lunacy Act which prohibited certification and committal on the singular basis of psychiatric infirmity. This move then gave community workers and mental welfare officers an opportunity to visit patients on vacation at home. Community-based services were then further reinforced by the introduction of new psychotropic drugs in the 1950s which were able to lessen acute symptoms of significant conditions and made possible the placing of mental health patients in the community (Lewis 2003, p. 109). Moreover, beginning from the 1960s, mental health professionals were instructed in community principles

Development of Human Resources Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

Development of Human Resources - Research Paper Example The services provided are project management and civil engineering, full design and construction services, and construction services for public and private clients. At 9,000 employees, the workforce has been reduced over the last three years due to economic reasons. The company is profitable and has a solid financial foundation in place. There are 12 offices around the UAE with a talented and diverse managing director team leading the company. This reporter is a human resource strategy student. b. CCDC’s current strategic business objectives involve reducing the levels in the chain of command; implementing a coaching method of management rather than autocratic; maintain financial success, and ensure high-quality services, meet the health and safety needs of staff, meet environmental standards, and improvements made in networks and purchasing agreements. c. While there has been an emphasis on HR policies and initiatives to support these objectives, there is also a question as to whether HR practices add value and how the effects of HR on the organizational culture may be evaluated. a. First, Cabrera and Cabrera (2003) and Rose and Kumar (2006) would note the lack of a human resource strategic framework. CCDC lacks an overall HR strategic framework that HR objectives, programs, training, and policies can fall within or under. The framework could then be used by the leaders when they are conducting their strategic planning to avoid placing the leaders in the position to do the business planning, then step out of the planning and pass the business objectives to HR to do the work from a support standpoint – resulting in a disconnect (Porter, 1996). Both HR and the business need to be operating as one. There are resulting comments regarding HR functioning in a support role, which is counter to business needs.

Pornography Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Pornography - Research Paper Example According to the research paper "Pornography" findings, it is important to understand that various groups in the community have considered pornography as an example of a substance that promotes sexual immorality. On this basis, there have been attempts to censor the production of pornographic materials, as well as providing legal restraints against their production, as well as publication. However, Johansson and Nils (60) explains that due to the different definitions of pornography, based on the national, historical, as well as cultural contexts, this aspect of pornography has thrived. Furthermore, in the 20th century, there was the development of social attitudes that are more tolerant to presentation and discussions of sex and its related factors. This increased the development of pornography, mainly because many countries started relaxing laws regarding the production and publication of pornographic materials. Furthermore, Johansson and Nils (61) explains that the development of the internet and the home video made it possible for a boom in the global pornographic industry, and this helps in generating billions of dollars in a year. McKee (36) denotes that in the mentioned movie, the female character has been used as a depiction of pornography. In this movie, Bettie, a female character is used to pose for nude pictures, and photographs, for pornographic magazines, and studios. McKee (38) explains that in most pornographic materials, women are always depicted as sex symbols and objects. This results in the destruction of the virtues of the women under consideration. This is clearly depicted in the movie, whereby Bettie Page is unable to find friends, because of a bad name.

You can choose the topic you want Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

You can choose the topic you want - Essay Example stence is all about hope and since the dawn of human civilization on this planet, almost all the major religions of the world have either believed in or alluded to rebirth in one form or other. The early Christians do believed in rebirth and life after death and they carried on with this belief until the Middle Ages. The records of many important and influential church fathers like Origen establish beyond doubt that they believed in rebirth and reincarnation. Yet, by the advent of Renaissance, the Christianity dropped the beliefs about reincarnation from its doctrines and rituals. However, two major world religions that are Hinduism and Buddhism regard rebirth and reincarnation to be an essential part of their creed. Though there are many similarities between the Hindu and Buddhist theologies about rebirth, yet there also exist many marked differences between the way the two religions tend to elaborate on the concept and mechanism of rebirth. The fundamental similarity between the Hinduism and the Buddhist beliefs about life after death is that both of them believe in reincarnation or rebirth. Both Hinduism and Buddhism believe that death is not the end of life, but the extension of life into a second life that is a life after death. Thus, there exists nothing as death and the human beings continue to live after death by taking a second birth after death as some other personality, individual or life form. The Hindus believe that eventual goal of the human existence is to merge with the Brahma or the Supreme Being or God and before the attainment of this state; the human beings continue to pass on from one birth to other, from one state of existence to other and experience many births and deaths. As per Hinduism, every individual has to bear with countless and many experiences and has to live many lives before becoming one with the Divine. According to Buddhism, the eventual goal of human consciousness to attain Nirvana o r enlightenment and on its way to Nirvana,

Comparative business cultures Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Comparative business cultures - Assignment Example (Mansfield & Pevehouse, 2000) A multicultural organization consists mainly of 6 key features namely pluralism, structural incorporation, complete amalgamation of unofficial networks, elimination of discrimination and prejudice, equivalent recognition of organizational objectives with all the diverse teams and nominal amount of inter-team conflicts (Cox, 1991). Learned behavior and their consequences been shared or transmitted via those members of the society. (Linton, 1954) Certain companies have created an organizational architecture and model of business behavior which seems innovative in its design and is unparalleled in business (Cole 1995). The purpose of the study is to ensure that the contribution of human behavior is towards the organizational growth which enables to achieve greater efficiency. (Scholte, 2005) Malaysian culture of business is quite different than other Asian countries like china, India, japan etc. (Beeson, 2000) Features of Multicultural Organization: In the following paragraph we are going to discuss about all the six features of a multicultural organization – Pluralism  refers to the mixed group of members in an organization and it also means taking proper measures to involve all the employees entirely that are different in terms of the central group dominating the organization.. There are a number of options for practicing acculturation within the organization, among which the most well-known being: 1. An unilateral procedure by which members of the minority culture take on the values and norms of the principal group within the workplace (this is called assimilation); 2. A course of action by which both majority and minority members of different cultural backgrounds accept some customs and rules of the other group (this is known as pluralism); 3. A state of affairs where there is modest scope of variation from each of the culturally different groups (this situation is referred to as cultural separatism). 4. Diversity trainin g—managerial endeavor to inform and instruct administration and employee about diversity’s advantages to the organization (Kreitz, 2007) The concept of acculturation on the other hand is related to the cultural (customs and attitudes) characteristic of amalgamation of the diverse teams, as contrasting to simply make themselves physically available in the same setting (Buenker & Ratner, 2005, pp.18-20). Full structural integration:  An organization generally comprises of people from various backgrounds and different locations. This involves dealing out with educational specializations and the variations in expertise and treating those evenly all through the organization. Full integration of informal networks:  integration in informal networks in a multicultural organization is fostered through supervising and mentoring programs, particular social occasions and sustaining the cultural groups for the minorities. This element focuses on the stages of enclosure of the m inority-culture employees in lunch/dinner gatherings, athletic and golf outings, and social associations conducted and repeated by organizational managers. It also takes into account the facets of counseling and several other informal developmental aspects within organizations. (Taggart & McDermott 1993) Absence of Prejudice: Any kind of prejudice or bias is

Course evaluation paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Course evaluation paper - Essay Example (AHRQ, 2007) (See Table I – Recommended Immunization Schedule for Persons Aged 0 – 6 Years in the United States on page 6) As part of delivering good quality service to selected patients, segmenting the patient population is necessary to enable the community nurses to provide effective health care strategies in delivering a safe, efficient, effective, timely, patient centered, and equitable health care to patients. (Lynn et al., 2007; Institute of Medicine, 2001) The expected outcome for the community health care that focuses on immunization is to ensure that there will be a reduction of morbidity and mortality among the infants and children throughout the community. (Zimmerman et al., 1987) The intended target population for rendering the community health care which focuses on immunization is patients below six (6) years of age and below. In order for nurses to accurately identify the target patient population within a selected community, nurses will have to study the existing computerized patient record (CPR) within the community health care computer system. (Rivo, 1998) Adding the total number of children below six years of age plus the patients who are currently pregnant, the nurses could easily determine the total number of additional babies each month. In the absence of CPR system, nurses should ask the pregnant women to fill out a simple survey form which will be used in determining the size of target population for immunization and health care education for expectant mothers. Considering that there are some babies born within the community each month and the fact that the immunization schedule for new born infants up to six (6) years old is more likely to overlap at the time the schedule is due, the implementation of community health care immunization program should be continuously offered to the community at least once or

Bureaucratic budgetary process Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Bureaucratic budgetary process - Essay Example The social work profession must be able to confront the issues that have arisen because of the dramatic increases to longevity accomplished in the 20th century, and social workers must be ready to meet the distinctive needs of the countrys rapidly expanding aging population. The increase in the number of elderly necessitates an increase in the number of social workers equipped to deal with the specific challenges of the elderly. However, at this point, workers currently working in the field note that there is a desperate shortage in the number of social workers who have the specialized knowledge and skills required to care for the elderly population. In addition to this there is a need of improving in the field of knowledge and restoring the up gradation of the techniques required in subject. Technologies change, time changes and along it the principals of management in the field of old age care change and it is only logical to take the most of the technologies available monitored by newly applied principals. Consisted of exercises that would help them share memories and feelings about common subjects and enhance feelings of belonging, share personal background to increase understanding of self and others, stimulate reminiscence to enhance feelings of identity and self-worth, promote resolution of past emotional issues, promote interpersonal awareness by increasing knowledge about the backgrounds of others, work through unfinished or unresolved feelings about mother or mother figure/father or father figure, and practice reminiscence in a group setting to strengthen identity and self-esteem. Everyone participated with guidance and direction on the topic at hand. As a leader of this group I acted more as a facilitator and listener. I had to get the group involved by directly asking them questions one at a time. Thus, it can be stated that the goal of the study was to improve recall, cognition, and communication skills along with

Understand how to safeguard the well being of children Essay Example for Free

Understand how to safeguard the well being of children Essay Issues Risks Possible Consequences Being Online 1. Cyber-bullyingChildren may receive texts or emails that make them feel sad, embarrassed, upset, depressed or afraid. This could be damaging to the child’s self-esteem and psychological well-being 2. GroomingUsed by child sex offenders with the goal of obtaining sexual contact. 3. Confidential informationCould inadvertently give out personal information such as address, school attended or bank or credit card details, resulting in fraud or worse still an attempted abduction. Issues Risks Possible Consequences Mobile phone 1. Who is child talking to?Very hard to know who your child has contact with and the content of any conversation 2. Explicit materialPhotos and explicit content either from texting or talking resulting in inappropriate behaviour. 3. Mobile phone theft/crime Expensive mobile phone handsets are desirable items, and so unfortunately are at risk from theft. Children and young people may be particularly vulnerable to such crime. Area Ways of reducing risk Social networking1.Restrict access to social networking sites. Most social networking sites have age limits so make sure they adhere to this. Talk to the children/young people about predators about never talking to strangers, meeting them etc. Internet use. Monitor children’s online activity and block site’s that are inappropriate and limit the amount of time the child/young person spends online. 2.Encourage children/young people to talk to you about things that might be happening on-line and guide them in the right direction. This will help them to recognise the dangers that could develop Buying online1.There is a risk of others hacking into your computer to get your identity this can be minimised by a firewall. A firewall can help by preventing hackers or malicious software from gaining  access to your information. There is a risk to young persons of fraud (your card details being used by an unauthorised users) whilst buying online. This can be prevented by using a secure payment system (PayPal), this enables you to buy from multi online shops and pay using one account set up by PayPal. Using a mobile phone. A risk of them being attacked if they have expensive phones . Buy a cheap pay as you go phone for them to use at school or clubs this will minimise the risk and still allow the child/young person to have access to a phone. There is a risk to their health by means of cancer/tumour, they can reduce the risk by using landline phones, hands free, loud speakers or blue tooth. If the phone is held a few inches away from the ear or less time made on phone calls perhaps use text messages instead of ringing a friend, this can make a difference.

Appropriateness of Standard Personality Tests

Appropriateness of Standard Personality Tests Critically evaluate the statement that it is inappropriate for psychologists to use standard personality tests to interpret and understand the Behaviour of Indigenous people such as Aboriginal Australians Standard personality testing is the name given to any form of test designed to determine different aspects of the subjects’ personality or emotional state (Merriam-webster.com, (2014). This is achieved through the designing of many smaller tasks such as questions within a questionnaire. The vast majority of these tests are designed by western psychologists, which creates an issue when they are administered to Indigenous peoples such as the Tsimane tribe and the Indigenous of the Philippines, as the values held by the differing societies are varied and therefore the tests do not measure all facets of their personality, notable problems arise from differences in culture and language. This paper will focus in particular on one standardized personality test, the Five Factor Model (FFM) that is commonly referred to as the OCEAN testing as it tests Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism(Goldberg, 1990,) , each with smaller sub-categories referred to as facets. Although it is said to be fairly robust cross culturally the test is still synthesized for western use. This paper will assess the appropriateness of using the FFM of testing on Indigenous peoples such as Aboriginal Australians and the Tsimane tribe. As the FFM was established by †¦ , a western psychologist, in †¦. And since then, debate has arisen in regards to the appropriateness of using this testing on Indigenous cultures. There are two main concerns when it comes to appropriateness, the difference in traits and behavior between cultures, and researchers basing their experiments of western qualities (Church, in press; Enriquez, 1979). To attempt to address these concerns, an experiment was conducted on the Tsimane people. To ensure this testing was reliable the test was translated to Spanish by translators. The test was conducted from Jan 2009 to December 2010 and was taken by 632 adults 48% female and 52% male. The administrative researchers faced many issues due to the alteration of words that had no equivalent in Spanish. Problems occurred with specific questions during the study due to interpretation of language, four items proved to be difficult to translate, whilst one was removed. The removal of question 30 ( â€Å"has an active imagination† ) encompass the main barrier affecting the experiment, this being the interpretation of Tsimane language and their specific phrases. There was no term that would be consistently understood by the tsiname people, highlighting the tester’s lack of cultural competence. Although attempting to properly convey the questions through the use of bilingual speakers of Spanish and English, the translators were not able to. (Ramà ­rez-Esparza, Gosling, Benet-Martà ­nez, Potter, Pennebaker, 2006).(3) Overall the success of the five-factor model was generally low in relation to the indigenous group Tismane. Internal reliability proved to be a problem. Out of the five factors 4 factors tested moderately reliable where as neuroticism tested low on Cronbachs scale at 0.31. . Overall the lack of understanding between researchers and respondents mainly language played a pivotal role in the result area. The modified FFM although producing moderate results did not reach appropriate standards of the Cronbachs scale. It is shown that a standardized model does not work efficiently with the Tsimane group, highlighting the inappropriateness of using standardized testing on indigenous populations. A test was conducted in the Phillippines to determine how imported personality test would fair when administered to indigenous societies, and if the NEO–PI–R (Costa McCrae, 1992) a western personality psychometric, would generate similar scores in the Philippines in comparison to the American scores. The test was administered to 511 university students. Four tests were used three of which were indigenous test being (along with sample sizes) â€Å"Panukat ng Pagkataong Pilipino(PPP;n= 387),Panukat ng Mga Katangian ng Personalidad(PKP;n= 413),Panukat ng Ugali at Pagkatao(PUP;n= 386), and one being westernized, Filipino NEO–PI–R (n= 398)† (Katigbak, Church, Guanzon-Lape~na, Carlota del Pilar, 2002) The NEO–PI–R (Costa McCrae, 1992) is comprised of 5 factors, coinciding with the BigFivedimensions, along with 6 facet per domain. McCrae et al. (1998). The sample obtained by (Katigbak, Church, Guanzon-Lape~na, Carlota del Pilar, 2002) provided medium to high internal reliability in relation to the 6 facets of the 5 factors, however the median alpha was low (.61) in comparison to the result of (.70) reported by McCrae et al. The Openness to Values and Openess to feelings facets scored results of (a=. 22) and (a=. 44) , highlighting the disparity between certain test items and its ability to measure the Philippines social dimensions. Problems arose due to translation equivalency in relation to 8 of the facet scales where correlation proved to be an issue with items. (Katigbak, Church, Guanzon-Lape~na, Carlota del Pilar, 2002) The PPP consists of 210 items along with 19 scales. The basis of the personality constructs were derived from verbal descriptions of traits and behaviours by Filipino respondents and literature specific to their heritage by Carlota (1985), it was then categorized by Carlota (1985) into three groups, (interpersonal, personal and intellect). Creators of PUP designed the test to gauge Filipino traits, and behaviours (Enriquez Guanzon, 1985). The PUP was created using Filipino specific proverbs, Filipino dictionaries and interviews with university students..(Katigbak, Church, Guanzon-Lape~na, Carlota del Pilar, 2002). It is to be noted however that the PUP scale has had no reliable data from previous experiments. Researches used 8 of the 19 original items, 5 of which were related to well being and religious behaviours, and 3 related to taboo acts of the the Philippines culture The PKP consists of 253 items. (Katigbak, Church, Guanzon-Lape~na, Carlota del Pilar, 2002) The test was created through the use of a lexical approach which allows the PKP to generate a sense of internal reliability.(Church,Katigbak, Reyes, 1996) The information is derived directly from the correspondents, these being Filipino university students and judges. The test provided a reliability range of (.85-.95) (Churchet al. (1998) The results of The PUP proved to be unreliable and therefore not included in the results table, the use of joint factor analysis showed several similarities and differences between the NEO PI-V, PKP and PPP. The PKP test showed several connections with three of the Big Five Dimensions, this being the factors agreeableness Conscientiousness Extraversion however the religiosity scale only showed medium reliability as the NEO-PI-V does not have religiosity as a component, highlighting the need for further augmentation of the Five Factor Model to asses religiosity. The PPP test showed a resemblance to four factors of the Five Factor Model, however no neuroticism dimension was found through analysis of the PPP scale alone. In most of the tests the indigenous instruments provided higher validity in comparison to the imported NEO-PI-R. (Katigbak, Church, Guanzon-Lape~na, Carlota del Pilar, 2002). The Big Five dimensions do show resemblance to indigenous constructs emphasizing its cross-cul tural capabilities however interpretation of language and culture proves to be a barrier. Problems occurring in the Philippines indigenous dimension could also include what is categorized as indigenous; there were direct correlations between several facets of the questionnaire between the American and Philippines sample. The questionaries however were administered to university students, which could possibly have reasonable understanding of western constructs aiding them in interpretation of the question, undermining their defined category of indigenous. This factor questions the validity of the experiment, as it can be debated whether the participants successfully represent indigenous personalities, if not results extracted from the experiment can be proven somewhat irrelevant as the universal quality of standardised personality tests are not being fully explored. (Katigbak, Church, Guanzon-Lape~na, Carlota del Pilar, 2002). The (Nscb.gov.ph, 2014) states that in 2005-2006 2,483,6 45 To determine whether the students’ college education impacted on the test results a second test should be conducted on people who do not possess such education. Bibiliography Merriam-webster.com, (2014). Personality test Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary. [online] Available at: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/personality test [Accessed 26 Apr. 2014]. 2 Katigbak, M. S., Church, A., Guanzon-Lapeà ±a, M., Carlota, A. J., del Pilar, G. H. (2002). Are indigenous personality dimensions culture specific? Philippine inventories and the five-factor model. Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology, 82(1), 89-101. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.82.1.89 00 Ramà ­rez-Esparza, N., Gosling, S. D., Benet-Martà ­nez, V., Potter, J. P., Pennebaker, J. W. (2006). Do bilinguals have two personalities? A special case of cultural frame switching. Journal of Research in Personality, 40, 99–120. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2004.09.001 Gurven, M., von Rueden, C., Massenkoff, M., Kaplan, H., Lero Vie, M. (2013). How universal is the Big Five? Testing the five-factor model of personality variation among forager–farmers in the Bolivian Amazon. Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology, 104(2), 354-370. doi:10.1037/a0030841 0000 Ortiz, F. A., Church, A. T., Vargas-Flores, J. D. J., Ibà ¡Ãƒ ±ez-Reyes, J., Flores-Galaz, M., Iuit-Briceà ±o, J. I., Escamilla, J. M. (2007). Are indigenous personality dimensions culture-specific? Mexican inventories and the five-factor model. Journal of Research in Personality, 41, 618–649. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2006.07.002 00000 Guanzon-Lapeà ±a,M. A.,Church, A. T.,Carlota, A. J., Katigbak,M. S. ( 1998). Cross-Cultural Assessment and Measurement Issues Christopher J. Mushquash and Dana L. Bova The Ideas of Frantz Fanon and Culturally Safe Practices for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in Australia Issues in Mental Health Assessmentwith Indigenous Australians Neil Drew, Yolonda Adams and Roz Walker http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/personality%20test There has been debate between psychologist on whether standardized personality tests such as the Big Five inventory I are suitable and produce high internal reliability in relation to cross cultural examinations. The main facets of their arguement state, (a) traits and behaviour may be vastly different across cultures, (b) the researchers are basing their experiments of western qualities (Church, in press; Enriquez, 1979). Across varied cultures in developed worlds the MMF displays a consistency and reliability amongst the five measurements, however it has been observed that extraversion and agreeableness measurements can be distorted by specific cultural traits. (Ortiz et al., 2007; Rolland, 2002). 355 It is apparent that only two factors seem to possess an internal reliability evident in the husband spouse category cross-cultural generality of the â€Å"Big Seven† model: Imported and indigenous 5model was difficult hard to determine language Spanish personality constructs. Journal of Personality, 65, 567–need an adaptation 598. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.1997.tb00327.x De Raad, B. (1994). An expedition in search of a fifth universal factor: Key lexical only gave what researchers chose, not from the issues in the lexical approach. European Journal of Personality, 8,communites understanding 229–250. doi:10.1002/per.2410080403 Journal of Personality, 12, 75–101. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1099- 0984(199803/04)12:2_75::AID-PER288_3.0.CO;2-H An alternative taxonomic study of personality-descriptive adjectives in the Italian language. Europeanhow language helps Rolland, J. P. (2002). Cross-cultural generalizability of the five-factor model of personality. In R. R. McCrae J. Allik (Eds.), The five-factor model of personality across cultures (pp. 7–28). New York, NY: Kluwer Academic. Rolland, J. P. (2002). Cross-cultural generalizability of the five-factor model of personality. In R. R. McCrae J. Allik (Eds.), The five-factor model of personality across cultures (pp. 7–28). New York, NY: Kluwer Academic. McCrae, R. R. (2002). Cross-cultural research on the five-factor model of personality. In W. J. Lonner, D. L. Dinnel, S. A. Hayes, D. N. Sattler (Eds.), Online readings in psychology and culture (Unit 6, Chapter 1). Retrieved from http://www.wwu.edu/~culture 1 Wiggins, J. S., Trapnell, P. D. ( 1997). Personality structure: The return of the Big Five. In R.Hogan, J.Johnson, S.Briggs ( Eds.), Handbook of personality psychology (pp. 737– 765). San Diego, CA: Academic Press. To further determine the effectiveness of standardised personality test the Junior Eyesenck Personality Questionnaire (Jr EPQ; Eysenck and Eysenck 1975), Lie test and Florida key (FK; Purkey and Cage 1973) were administered to 113 students from two elementary schools and 42 ninth graders in high school. Data was categorised into variables consisting of sex, school and race results were examined variance. The data shows differences in the mean with several test score outside the suitable bracket, it is noted that under the variable race, aboriginal people scored 5.8 which is out of the .05 level, the data between the two groups proved to be quite different. Although results were provided and proved to be similar between the two groups, when analysing the mean score attention arises when understanding

Management Structures And Organization Of Hotels

Management Structures And Organization Of Hotels This module introduces the basic concepts of hotel operations. It will help students to acquire the basic knowledge about the hotel business and its operations prior to acquiring more knowledge in the field The learner should read the ATHE resources, study the recommended text book on this unit and also do their own research. Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria Centres are free to offer this the qualifications using any mode of delivery that meets the needs of their learners. This may be through traditional classroom teaching, open learning, distance learning or a combination of these. Whatever mode of delivery is used, centres must ensure that learners have appropriate access to the resources identified in the specifications and to the subject specialists delivering the units. This is particularly important for learners studying for the qualification through open or distance learning. The lecture and seminar notes provided below are for guidance and it is up to the centre whether they use these or alternative ones. The questions at the end of each unit will form the evidence of understanding. Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria 1. Understand how to categorise the different levels of management. 1.1 Explain how the first line management level differs from middle management level. 1.2 Differentiate the variety of functions of someone who works at top management level. 2. Understand management structures and the way in which the hotel is organised. 2.1 Explain the nature and necessity of management structure in a large hotel. 2.2 Describe and illustrate an organisational structure suitable for a medium sized hotel in a city centre. 3. Understand the importance of maintaining different types of food services within a hotel. 3.1 Examine the different types of room service available for food and beverage. 3.2 Analyse the management of food service in a large hotel. 4. Understand how to appraise the various control systems within a major international hotel. 4.1 Formulate different ways of creating and storing information in a hotel. 4.2 Understand the various ways of financial control systems in a specific hotel. Introduction to Hotel Management Suggested Lesson Plan 1. Understand how to categorise the different levels of management. 1.1 Explain how the first line management level differs from middle management level. Seminar In this seminar the lecturer should discuss with the students about two different line managers as an example quality of first line management and middle line management Lecture This lecture should focus on front line staff should be highly skilled. Group discussion The lecturer should ask the students to pick the work schedule of a Laundry Manager, where teamwork was working and was disrupted by different factors, then facilitate a discussion around this. 1.2 Differentiate the variety of functions of someone who works at top management level. Lecture Explain the variety of functions in a large hotel and identify the top management ones. Seminar: Discuss the paragraph below A manager may be responsible for one functional area, but the general manager is responsible for all areas. Most commonly, the term general manager refers to any executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a companys income statement. This is often referred to as profit loss (PL) responsibility. This means that a general manager usually oversees most or all of the hotels marketing and sales functions as well as the day-to-day operations of the hotel. Frequently, the general manager is also responsible for leading or coordinating the strategic planning functions of the company. In many cases, the general manager of a hotel is given a different formal title or titles. Most corporate managers holding the titles of chief executive officer (CEO) or president, for example, are the general managers of their respective businesses Seminar Discuss the duties of a general manager In hotels, the General Manager is the executive manager responsible for the overall operation of a hotel establishment. The General Manager holds ultimate authority over the hotel operation and usually reports directly to a corporate office or hotel owner. Common duties of a General Manager include hiring and management of a management team, overall management of hotel staff, budgeting and financial management, creating and enforcing business objectives and goals, managing projects and renovations, management of emergencies and other major issues involving guests, employees, or the facility, public relations with the media, local governments, and other businesses, and many additional duties. The extent of duties of a hotel General Manager vary significantly depending on the size of the hotel and company; for example, General Managers of smaller hotels may have additional duties such as accounting, human resources, payroll, purchasing, and other duties that would usually be handled by other managers or departments in a larger hotel. Group Discussion Discuss issues brought up at the lecture and how will this differ with smaller hotels. 2. Understand management structures and the way in which the hotel is organised. 2.1 Explain the nature and necessity of management structure in a large hotel Lecture Lecturer will use the following structure and explain to students. A typical organizational chart for a mid-scale to large hotel: General Manager Assistant Manager or Operations Manager Director of Room Operations Front Office Manager Guest Relations Manager(s) Concierge Manager Front Desk Manager PBX Supervisor Reservations Manager Bell Services Manager Executive Housekeeper Housekeeping Manager(s) Director of Sales Marketing Senior Sales Manager Sales Manager(s) Sales Coordinator Catering Manager Revenue Manager Convention Services Manager(s) Director of Food Beverage Restaurant Manager(s) Room Service Manager Bar Manager Banquet Manager Chief Engineer Director of Human Resources Director of Security Spa Recreation Manager Accounting Manager / Controller Group Discussion Discuss issues brought up at the lecture and how this structure will differ with smaller hotels. 2.2 Describe and illustrate an organisational structure suitable for a medium sized hotel in a city centre Seminar Students will use the organisational chart shown above and then design a flow chart for a smaller hotel. 3. Understand the importance of maintaining different types of food services within a hotel. 3.1 Examine the different types of food service available for food and beverage. Lecture Teacher should explain the different types of food services available and students should then write down examples and the type of person who uses them, e.g. business lunch or quick snack. Students can use notes below. There are various types of food services. Restaurants fall into several industry classification based upon menu style, preparation methods and pricing. Additionally, how the food is served to the customer helps to determine the classification. Historically, restaurant referred only to places that provided tables where one sat down to eat the meal, typically served by a waiter. Following the rise of fast food and take-out restaurants, a retronym for the older standard restaurant was created, sit-down restaurant. Most commonly, sit-down restaurant refers to a casual dining restaurant with table service rather than a fast-food restaurant where one orders food at a counter. Sit-down restaurants are often further categorized as family-style or formal. In British English, the term restaurant almost always means an eating establishment with table service, so the sit-down qualification is not usually necessary. Fast food and takeaway (takeout) outlets with counter service are not normally referred to as restaurants. Outside of North-America the terms Fast casual-dining restaurants, Family style, and Casual dining are not used. Junk food establishments would also not often be referred to as a restaurant. Group discussion After both the Seminar and Lecture the tutor/lecturer should ask the students to write down any questions they have and partake in researching those questions. The students should then bring those questions and research they have undertaken to a smaller group where debate and questioning should be encouraged 3.2 Analyse the function of food and beverage service in a large hotel. Lecture Examine the roles of the Food and Beverage department for a hotel business. The Food and Beverage (FB) department in a hotel is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the dining rooms, restaurants. room service (if available), and the needs of any other function such as a meeting or party that might desire food and beverages. SeminarWhat is the difference in the management of food and beverage services offered by a large hotel compared to a budget hotel. 4. Understand how to appraise the various control systems within a major international hotel. 4.1 Formulate different ways of creating and storing information in a hotel. Seminar Discuss how the information hotels get from guests including personal and bank cards and how they are stored in a secure way 4.2 Understand the various ways of management control systems in a specific hotel. Lecture 2 The lecture can be based on definition and examples of management control. Management controls, in the broadest sense, include the plan of organization, methods and procedures adopted by management to ensure that its goals are met. Management controls include processes for planning, organizing, directing, and controlling programme operations. A subset of management controls are the internal controls used to assure that there is prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the entitys assets.Simons (1994) defined MCS as the formal, information-based routines and procedures managers use to maintain or alter patterns in organizational activities. Seminar In this seminar the lecturer should discuss with the students utensils Inventory control of every department. Unit 2-Hotel staff Management This unit is to help students understand the importance of staffing in a hotel. Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria Importance of briefing of hotel staff Regular coaching gives staff development Appraisal and training gives motivation to staff Staff co-ordination keeps good team work within the industry Hotel staff require speaking skills Explain GMs working process of a hotel Explain all departmental heads duty rosta 1. Understand effective methods of communication for hotel managers when managing staff. 1.1 Examine the different methods of communicating with staff in a large hotel. 1.2 Analyse the importance of the management of staff coordination within a large hotel. 2. Understand hotel organisational charts 2.3 Explain why lines of authority are particularly important in a large metropolitan hotel. 2.4 Evaluate the importance of two organisational rules and regulations. 3. Understand how to review and comment on the management organisational structure of different types of hotels. 3.1 Illustrate the chain of command in a small hotel by using a Management Organisational Chart. 3.2 Explain the nature and necessity of a complex structure in a large hotel. 4. Understand progression opportunities within the hotel industry. 4.1 Analyse the career path within one department of a large hotel. 4.2 Illustrate using a diagram the place of the hotel industry as one of the components of the Tourist industry. Hotel Staff Management-Suggested lesson plan 1. Understand effective methods of communication for hotel managers when managing staff. 1.1 Examine the different methods of communicating with staff in a large hotel. Lecture The lecturer should select a large hotel and discuss the different methods of communication available for both guests and staff. This would depend on the size of the hotel. The students should then be given an assignment where they would imagine a large hotel in a city where many of the staff and guests have lesser knowledge of English and how to communicate messages. Group discussion Continue from lecture and discuss. 1.2 Analyse the importance of the management of staff within a large hotel. Lecture can be based on following notes Small- and medium-sized firms employers realise the value of their staff in driving forward business success according to a recent survey based on a telephone interviews with 500 SMEs. However, too few SMEs focus on the need to motivate staff other than by financial incentives.83% of the SME directors/senior managers surveyed see employees as their businesss most important asset, while 63% believe that attracting and retaining staff is as important to an enterprises success as providing good customer service.However, the report, People Management in Growing Companies, commissioned from MORI by gusinessHR, a SME human resource advisory specialist, also examines SMEs behaviour in terms of expenditure and policies in the light of these opinions. It reveals that SMEs are not necessarily reflecting their views in their actions.A key finding is that SMEs are concerned with their employees job satisfaction and staff motivation, but as many as 86% feel that financial incentives salary and b enefits will do the trick in attracting and retaining staff. Only 28% cited good training and development opportunities for employees as important, with just 25% viewing achieving a good balance between work and home life as significant. An overview of SME human resource policies illustrated that they tended more towards protecting the employer than nurturing the employee. 96% have formal employment contracts, 93% have disciplinary/dismissal procedures, and 88% have health and safety assessment audits and grievance procedures. Only about three-quarters have staff training and development plans and less than two-thirds have a formal appraisal system in place.Businesshr managing director Ian Stobie commented, Skills shortages and the rising costs of recruiting staff mean that it is vital for SMEs to retain key staff if companies wish to grow. Throwing money at someone who is bored will not buy their commitment or ensure consistent, outstanding performance. Interestingly, the larger SMEs (those with over 100 employees) tended to be more concerned about motivating and retaining staff, and their productivity, and placed more value than smaller companies on training and self-development, as well as having more systems and policies in place which motivate and support employees. 91% of larger SMEs have staff handbooks, 85% training and development plans and 80% have an appraisal system.Manager of Advisory Services at businesshr, Tom OReilly, explained, you can think like a corporate but on a smaller scale. SMEs need to get to the root of the issues that affect their employees [rather than just increasing their salaries, for example].There are a variety of sources to tap about human resources issues, but a useful starting point for smaller businesses, is the Small Business Advice Service, managed by the Department of Trade and Industry. Its website is at www.businessonline.org . For a copy of the report, visit www.businesshr.net/businesshr_27cApril.pdf .With thanks to Lloyds TSB Success4Business. For more news and information visit www.success4business.com © 2010 Association of Tourism Hospitality Executives Group discussion Discuss and answer questions on case study. 2.Understand hotel organisational charts 2.1 Explain why lines of authority are particularly important in a large metropolitan hotel. Lecture Organizational structure involves, in addition to task organizational boundary considerations, the designation of jobs within an organization and the relationships among those jobs. There are numerous ways to structure jobs within an organization, but two of the most basic forms include simple line structures and line-and-staff structures. In a line organization, top management has complete control, and the chain of command is clear and simple. Examples of line organizations are small businesses in which the top manager, often the owner, is positioned at the top of the organizational structure and has clear lines of distinction between him and his subordinates. The line-and-staff organization combines the line organization with staff departments that support and advise line departments. Most medium and large-sized firms exhibit line-and-staff organizational structures. The distinguishing characteristic between simple line organizations and line-and-staff organizations is the multiple layers of management within line-and-staff organizations. The following sections refer primarily to line-and-staff structures, although the advantages and disadvantages discussed apply to both types of organizational structures. Several advantages and disadvantages are present within a line-and-staff organization. An advantage of a line-and-staff organization is the availability of technical specialists. Staff experts in specific areas are incorporated into the formal chain of command. A disadvantage of a line-and-staff organization is conflict between line and staff personnel. Group discussion Questions and discussion relating to case study. 2.2 Evaluate the importance of two organisational rules and regulations. Seminar In this seminar the lecturer should discuss different organisational rules and regulations. Group discussion After both the Seminar and Lecture the tutor/lecturer should ask the students to write down any questions they have and partake in researching those questions. The students should then bring those questions and research they have undertaken to a smaller group where debate and questioning should be encouraged 3. Understand how to review and comment on the management organisational structure of different types of hotels. 3.1 Illustrate the chain of command in a small hotel by using a Management Organisational Chart. Lecture This lecture should focus on General Managers working process of a hotel increase business Seminar In this seminar the lecturer should discuss about duty rosta of departmental heads 3.2 Explain the nature and necessity of a complex structure in a large hotel. Lecture This lecture should focus on explain types of chain association and classify types of chain association Seminar In this seminar the lecturer should discuss explain the management contract in a large hotel. 4 Understand progression opportunities within the hotel industry. 4.1 Analyse the career path within one department of a large hotel Lecture This can be based as below. Career in the Hotel Industry Overview There are numerous job opportunities available within the hotel industry due to the many different departments that contribute to the smooth running of an establishment. These include both front and back of house operations such as housekeeping, maintenance, reception, and food and beverage. Additionally, all hotels need a manager and some have individual department managers reporting to a general manager, thus providing opportunities for promotion. Also, the larger chains will often employ area managers who are responsible for the management of a network of hotels. No matter what position you undertake within a hotel, the primary focus of the role will be to ensure that optimum service standards are delivered to guests and visitors to the premises. On the reception desk, you are the first point of contact for guests checking in and out of the hotel, and will therefore have to deal with enquiries and complaints on a daily basis. In the restaurant and bar areas, you are responsible for the quality of food and beverages served to the guests. As a housekeeper, you are accountable for the condition of the bedrooms and the public areas of the hotel. Hotel managers are accountable for all hotel functions as well as the administrative and accounting duties associated with the management of the premises. Additionally, hotels with bars must be compliant with statutory licensing regulations and it is the responsibility of the manager to ensure that this is maintained. Due to the nature of the business, working in a hotel involves unsociable hours with many hotels often busier at weekends and on public holidays. It is essential to be passionate about customer service and all customer-facing roles require excellent communication and interpersonal skills. Hotel managers need to have strong business acumen and the ability to implement effective marketing strategies to enable the hotel to remain profitable in what is a highly competitive industry sector. There will always be complaints received from guests and customers so a professional approach is important as is the ability to deal diplomatically and tactfully with any incidents that occur. Entry requirements The hotel industry is one that benefits more from the personality traits of its staff rather than their standard of education, although for progression to management level it is possible to undertake HNC, HND and degree qualifications in Hotel and Hospitality Management. Most of the larger hotel chains, including Marriott, Travelodge, Ramada and Best Western, offer training courses leading to the achievement of NVQs or SVQs in Hospitality Service, Hospitality Supervision and Hospitality Management. Progression opportunities At entry level, the hotel industry is not necessarily one that pays particularly well although this does improve with progression to management level. Some of the larger hotel chains also have establishments in other countries so if you have a desire to work overseas, the hotel industry can offer excellent opportunities to those willing to learn a foreign language. Seminar In this seminar the lecturer should discuss a career in a specific department e.g. housekeeping. 4.2 Illustrate, using a diagram, the place of the hotel industry as one of the components of the Tourist industry. Lecture This can be based on following case study In the modern times, the way people spend their vacations has undergone a great change. People like to spend good times with family and friend while at the same time exploring various tourist places across the globe. As a result the tourism industry across the globe has seen an unprecedented growth which in turn has also resulted in tremendous growth in the hotel and accommodation facilities. Comfortable hotels and accommodation facilities play a very important role in popularizing any tourist destination. If a person, who is quite far away from home, gets to enjoy the same facilities and comforts as he enjoys at his home, then he is bound to become attached to the place. On the other hand if the tourist ends up at a place where the hotels and accommodation facilities are not satisfactory, it is quite likely that he might never return to that place. Perhaps that is why, hotels and accommodation facilities being made available at different tourists spots, have shifted the focus to providing maximum comfort to tourists at reasonable rates. It is also vital to provide comfortable accommodation to people from diverse economical backgrounds. While five star hotels can cater to the needs of affluent visitors, small and medium range hotels and lodging houses are available for use by a middle class traveler. Blog reviews are also vital in that information about all the hotels and accommodation facilities available in a particular tourism spot are available to people quite easily. For this there can be no better option than internet, as most tourist gain information about the hotels and accommodation facilities through this medium only. The other ways are by making booklets containing information about the hotels and accommodation facilities available at train and bus stations. The information provided to the tourists should be detailed and correct. It should contain the information related to room rentals, types of rooms, catering services, check out times, pick and drop facilities etc. Additional information about the significant tourist spots in the area can also be provided both on the net as well as the booklets, to promote not only the hotel but the tourist spot as well. There are many websites available on the internet which are based on travel and tourism. You can get information regarding hotel accommodations, tourists place, and business blog reviews sight scenes. You should search these websites to make your travel easy and plan things accordingly. Through blog reviews you can get the link of such websites that are truly genuine and will provide you with travel packages into many countries. Read these blog reviews and you will know better. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Suman_Ahliya Seminar In this seminar the lecturer should discuss relation between hotel and tourism and how hotels are an integral part of the tourism industry. Unit 3-Marketing of Accommodation Explain pricing strategy Understanding Client behaviour Knowledge of Market Research and Planning Marketing to organize Manage the retail marketing mix Analyse SWOT 1. Understand how marketing principles apply to different types of hotels. 1.1 Examine the components of the marketing mix as applied to the hotel industry. 1.2 Analyse the benefits of segmentation for a large hotel. 2. Understand the marketing strategies and communication strategies of hotels. 2.1 Analyse the advantages of branding in relation the hotel industry. 2.2 Prepare a detailed SWOT analysis for a large chain of hotels. 3. Understand how two sales promotion packages are used to promote hotel services. 3.1 Evaluate two external influences which may affect the promotion of hotels. 3.2 Analyse three marketing objectives to be used in the planning of a promotional campaign. 4. Understand the part which market research has in the selling of accommodation and services 4.1Compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of both primary and secondary research. 4.2 Illustrate how two internal and two external sources of information can be used by a hotel when promoting holidays. Marketing of Accommodation-suggested lesson plan Do the case study on Riverview and ask questions. 1. Understand how marketing principles apply to different types of hotels. 1.1 Examine the components of the marketing mix as applied to the hotel industry. Lecture: Explain how the marketing mix is directly responsible for maximizing room sales and revenues in a hotel. Seminar In this seminar the lecturer should explain pricing strategy 1.2 Analyse the benefits of segmentation for a large hotel. The tutor will need to explain what segmentation is and then discuss the list below and whether all of these would apply to a hotel marketing. Companies who segment their markets match their strengths and offerings to the groups of customers most likely to respond to them. Points for discussion. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Differentiate products and services to meet customer needs and desires. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Design or redesign new products and services to meet market needs. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Find hidden needs and make improvements to existing products. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ By selecting and focusing on the most responsive segments to the exclusion of others, marketing can be created to more effectively fit consumers needs. Finding, understanding and focusing on the needs of the best customers can make a market leader. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Target marketing mix to the customers most likely to want the products or services à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Identify behaviours and buying motives for products. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Identify most and least profitable customers. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Help. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Avoid unprofitable markets. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Increase brand loyalty and decrease brand switching. 2. Understand the marketing strategies and communication strategies of hotels. 2.1 Analyse the advantages of branding in relation the hotel industry. Lecture In this lecture the lecturer should discuss with the students branding systems in International Marketing Group discussion Srudents should have had photographic evidence of branding of major hotel chains and discuss usefulness in marketing on a global scale. 2.2 Prepare a detailed SWOT analysis for a large chain of hotels. Lecture Provide an explanation of the case study below and advise the students on what they should do. Case study Riverview Hotel The Hotel The Riverview Hotel, Notown USA, is representative of the five star brand within the Exclusive Business Hotels of the World group. All Riverview Hotels are boutique properties, offering between 25 and 35 exclusive rooms. Mission The Riverview Hotel is dedicated to providing its guests with the highest quality of service and standards. We seek to deliver on our promise of value and quality above all else. We value our place in the community and will work to develop those relationships and to respect and protect our environment. We will continue to strive to create value for both owners and shareholders whilst honoring our brand values and encouraging our personnel to develop themselves in an environment of trust, loyalty and encouragement. Service Offering Service: high-quality facilities accompanied by exemplary personal service, differentiated from competition in line with the overall brand strategy, has proven to be a successful approach generating high levels of repeat business. Positioning The Riverview Hotel is positioned as a five star plus, business travellers hotel, strategically located and offering a high level of personal service. Our focus is on offe