Reflective Activity Week 8.2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Reflective Activity Week 8.2 - Essay Example As a result the entire organization began to deteriorate. The workers stopped producing quality work; there was an increase in absenteeism, an increase in unpunctuality, customers began to make more official complaints, the financial aspect of business began to decline and the output began to decrease. In short there was a total decline in the overall performance of the organization. The change initiative was therefore unsuccessful on all counts. The first stage of Lewin’s change process unfreezing involves preparing the organization for a necessary change. In our case there was no preparation – one morning we had a male manager and by the afternoon the organization was headless. There was no time to prepare. The new head came within a week. This individual had no idea of the organization’s culture but began to change everything that was formally in place within the first week of duty. Again there was little preparation – there was little communicated to t he members. Instead we were assigned additional duties without thorough explanation. In hindsight one can see that the manager attacked the organization from its core, that is, from the beliefs, values and behaviors of the employees. As such, the subordinates and the managers were in constant opposition to each other.

A Marketing Analysis of 5* Hotels in London

A Marketing Analysis of 5* Hotels in London Marketing Assignment Assessment 1.B Akshay Rai Positioning Maps The first positioning map is a comparison between my hotel ‘The Rai Hotel’ and the top three main competitors in the area which are The Hilton Hotel, Sky City Grand and The Langham. Sky City Grand sits on the top as it is the highest price because of the facilities they offer such as the Sky Tower and Casino. Just under is The Rai Hotel as the price and quality is more balanced than Sky City Grand because although there is less facilities than Sky City. Just under is The Hilton and The Langham, the Hilton is more expensive but the Langham is of higher quality. The second positioning map is of accommodation types in general around Auckland. 5 Star hotels are the highest price and best quality then slightly under is serviced apartments, the price is more expensive for the location because living in central Auckland is very expensive. Just under are the 4 star hotels with the price still slightly high because the quality is high and 3 stars the price is average and the quality is average. Description of market research method with advantages and disadvantages I choose the Quantitative research methodology to conduct primary research to find out if the Wi-Fi in The Rai Hotel is up to our guest’s satisfaction and standards. I know this information is not already out there. I have organised a survey to research the chosen area I have decided to study. There are survey sheets in 400 out of the 500 rooms there is in the hotel. The guests will fill out the surveys before they depart from their stay from the hotel and housekeeping will collect them once finished. The 100 remaining rooms in the hotel there are instructions left for the guests to do the survey online and also left the survey sheet. We have done this because we also wanted to research what is the ratio of our customers would prefer to do things electronically rather than on paper. Once I have collected the results I analyse the finding I have received and found out that 219 rooms of the 400 have been completed and 37 rooms did the survey electronically and 12 did the survey on the paper. (Wright, 2014) Advantages of Quantitative Research: Less expensive than some other methods such as doing a phone or interview survey. It is fast and efficient, since the questions are simple and easy to answer. The results can be administered online from the online survey we provided. The answers from the survey as usually just yes and no, so the answers are easier to coordinate for researchers. The survey is anonymous so it is more likely for people to participate. (Wyse, 2012) Disadvantages of Quantitative Research: You need large numbers of participates involved to fill out the survey. There also can be sampling problems and answers cannot be followed up due to the anonymity. There is limited flexibility of the questions and there can be misinterpretation of questions by the participates, i.e. non English speaking guests. (Wyse, 2012) Questionnaire Is the speed of the Wi-Fi up to you’re satisfaction? Was the Wi-Fi easy to set up on you’re electronic device? Do you think the coverage of the Wi-Fi is good around the hotel? Was free Wi-Fi a factor of you choosing to book with us? Are you interested in unlimited internet or are you happy with 1GB a day? Explanation of MIS and examples MKIS stands for â€Å"Marketing Information System† is a system that allows the effective storage of data in a system on a computer, for example excel. The data can be used at any time, also anywhere for the managers to use. Computers are the core aspect of MKIS because all the data is stored on there. Having all the data about various information around the hotel, managers can make effective factual decisions. (Hatlett, 2010) Four Components of MKIS are Internal data, Marketing intelligence (External environment information), and Marketing research that all go towards the Storage and analytical processing system (Computer Software, Hardware, Filing System) (McCallum, 2014) Our hotel will store the results from our survey we have done on Wi-Fi in our MIS system called Neo Life Technology. The purpose storing this in our MKIS is to find out if we need to improve our Wi-Fi and internet in our hotel and so our managers have easy access to this information. Advantages of MKIS are the data stored in the MIS is kept for a long period of time. The information of the MIS is relevant and up to date. Our managers can access large amounts of data because of the ease of access to it. Also the speed in obtaining relevant information to make decisions is much quicker than any other way. There is an easy follow up and maintaining customer relations. (Boaz, 2006) Some Disadvantages of MKIS are it costs a lot of initial time and there is a high labour cost involved. It is very complex to set up a system and involves specialised I.T. people. There also can be a limited amount of the right kind of information if there is not the right amount of sufficient research done and data stored. List of businesses in a partnership with: Samsung Electronics We are partners with Samsung, they supply our TV’s in the rooms, phones all throughout the hotel and our computers that we use in reception. We are in a 5 year contract with Samsung and they are required to supply all of these electronics. Aotearoa Fisheries Limited We are in a 2 year contract with a local food company called Aotearoa Fisheries Limited, they supply all of our seafood in the restaurants. They are our preferred supplier for seafood and we have a good relationship with them. Altura Coffee We are in a 1 year contract with Altura Coffee that is located in Auckland and supplies our restaurants with coffee powder and coffee machinery. We buy in bulk from them every month but our barista’s are not happy with the quality of the coffee so we are looking at finding a new supplier next year. Air New Zealand Our hotel is working with Air New Zealand in a long term relationship on a 5 year contract. We are part of Air New Zealand’s air point programme where Air New Zealand customers can book with our hotel by paying with Air Points, this brings us more customers domestically and Air New Zealand pays the hotel an amount of money to pay for the customers who have booked with us. (Hotel Partners, n.d.) Hospitality Textiles NZ HTNZ is our preferred linen and towel supplier. We have a long term contract with them for 5 years because we have a close relationship with them. Every 6 months we buy in bulk from them and they supply all the linen in the hotel. References Boaz, A. (2006). Marketing in New Zealand (Third Edition). Auckland: Pearson Longman. Grover, S. (2014). Hotel Management Magazine, 50-62. Hatlett, M. (2010, 04 16). Marketing Information System. Retrieved from Business Dictionary: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/marketing-information-system.html Hotel Partners. (n.d.). Retrieved from Air NZ: http://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/spending-airpoints-hotel-partners McCallum, D. (2014, 03 23). Lecture Notes in Marketing. Pacfic International Hotel Management School. Wright, K. (2014, 03 16). Lecture Notes in Research. Pacific International Management School. Wyse, S. E. (2012, 10 16). Advantages and Disadvantages of Surveys. Retrieved from Snap Surveys: http://www.snapsurveys.com/blog/advantages-disadvantages-surveys/

GPS Technology Essays -- essays research papers fc

Physics Assignment Global Positioning System GPS, of the Global Positioning System, is a system of satellites that orbit the earth above us that send signals continuously to ground stations that monitor and control GPS operations. GPS signals can be detected by GPS receivers, which by itself can calculate the location of the receiver by around ten metres. Such the accuracy and reliability of the GPS system that its is a required item for a long trip without and contact with humans. The GPS system was originally intended for military use; its use was to track and detect ships and submarines by the US military in the 1960s. As time moved on, and as the development progressed, its use changed, from only a military use to a more civilian use. When the GPS system finally became operational in the 1990s, it has proven itself to be a very sophisticated tool, being very reliable, as shown by the usage of the GPS system by both military and civilians. GPS worked by each satellite that emitted a unique radio wave also known as the ‘Pseudo Random code’, which is basically a series of random radio signals; so random, that there is absolutely no chance that thre would be a matching signal. The signals, which contain the time and the position of the satellite, are then compared by the GPS receiver from four satellites. Considering how extraordinarily sophisticated the technology is, the operating principle of GPS is remarkably simple. Each satellite continuously broadcasts a digital r...

Greek Life: the Negative College Experience

Rachael Susco Mr. Rose ENGL 1302. 13 6 November 2012 Greek Life: The Negative College Experience? Most people do not have the ability to think of college without thinking of some sort of Greek life organization. Whether that thought is negative or positive may vary, but it is rare to think of any time in a college of any sort without thinking of a fraternity or a sorority at all. This is to be expected because most of these groups have somewhat dominated their campuses for hundreds of years, or since their particular chapters were formed.Supporters of Greek life, especially of fraternities, argue that being involved in Greek life organizations encourages brotherhood, the development of leadership skills, and the participation in philanthropic organizations throughout the students’ collegiate career. The bonds of brotherhood within fraternities have proven to be some of the strongest bonds among young men across the country. When it comes to supporting each other, it appears th at the young men of collegiate fraternities are masters in the field.Whatever problems are faced by one brother can easily be backed up or even repaired completely by another, and the massive amount of time that the members are required to spend with each other due to meetings or rituals or any other function for the particular fraternity does nothing but strengthen the bond that was already set by initiation into the group. It is rare among college campuses, especially at Sam Houston State University, to see a member of a fraternity walking alone or spending any amount of downtime doing anything but socializing with the other members of their organization.This type of bonding can most certainly be considered to be a very positive aspect of participating in a fraternity, especially when the ability build relationships and work together as members of a team is one of the main concepts behind the organizations in the first place. These organizations may seem harmless enough in the set tings that are viewed by the public, but if a closer look is taken at specific time periods of brotherhood, especially pledgeship for the newest members of the fraternity, it is obvious that these groups are anything but innocuous.There have been many reports of underage binge drinking at the parties for all different fraternities and requirements of the pledges to consume extremely large and ultimately unsafe amounts of alcohol, all in the hopes of acceptance into the organization and done out of fear of rejection. For example, it has been observed for many years that the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity at Sam Houston State University requires their pledges to finish an entire handle of Jagermeister liquor among themselves within a small window of time, and if they fail to do it properly, they are handed a new bottle and forced to start again.This activity is done on Bid Day, the very first day that the young men announce their desire to join the fraternity. Another example of this ty pe of encouragement of binge drinking would be the two deaths of the pledges of completely different fraternities and two different college campuses during 1997. The first, Scott Krueger, an â€Å"18-year-old Massachusetts Institute of Technology freshman honors student† who died after a party that was thrown off-campus by the â€Å"Phi Gamma Delta fraternity† that Krueger was in the process of pledging (Scrivo 1). His blood alcohol level was a determined to be a â€Å". 1,† which is â€Å"more than five times the legal limit† (Scrivo 1). The second is Benjamin Wynne, a pledge of the â€Å"Sigma Alpha Epsilon† fraternity at Louisiana State University (Scrivo 1). His blood alcohol level after death was reported to be â€Å". 58,† a level that is â€Å"nearly six times the legal limit† (Scrivo 1). This type of strict enforcement and fear of rejection by the pledges must be taken into account when discussing what constitutes â€Å"broth erhood. † The definition of the word itself is â€Å"the feeling of kinship with and closeness to a group of people or all people. One could easily question how the requirement of new members to binge drink to the point of alcohol poisoning or potentially even death equates what is described so often as â€Å"brotherhood. † Another aspect that must be taken into consideration when defining â€Å"brotherhood† is the racial profiling that has gone into choosing and accepting members into fraternities in the past and how it has translated into today. Many different fraternities were originally founded as specifically one race organizations, such as â€Å"Pi Kappa Alpha,† which was rimarily an â€Å"all-white fraternity† (Black, White 1). Now, there are laws set into place that prohibit â€Å"membership bias and exclusion based upon race† in both United States educational institutions as well as in the â€Å"corresponding fraternities and soror ities† of the institutions, but this brings up the question of whether or not the organizations would be any different in modern times than they were when originally founded (Black, White 1). Are these organizations only accepting racially different members because they are required to by law?This question is very difficult to answer, but is something to consider once again when determining whether or not the term â€Å"brotherhood† is used genuinely or if it should be replaced by something a little more truthful: forced acceptance. Focusing again on the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity and their lack of true brotherhood, there was a reported case of a student member of the PKA fraternity at the University of Tennessee being sent to the hospital during the month of September, 2012, with a blood alcohol level â€Å"well over a . ,† induced by the alcohol ingesting practice called â€Å"butt chugging† (Jacobs 1). This practice is more formally known as an â€Å"al cohol enema† and is essentially when an individual ingests alcohol into his or her system through the rectum, where it is then directly absorbed in the intestines (Jacobs 1). By consuming mass amounts of alcohol in this manner, the effects of the liquor â€Å"come quickly and potently† and are extremely dangerous for the individual partaking in the practice (Jacobs 1).Also, when members of this particular fraternity are asked about their experiences in the organization so far, all of their answers are overwhelmingly positive and many of them wholeheartedly support the claim that there is absolutely no negative aspect that comes with being involved in a Greek organization. How can a situation so incredibly terrible for the members such as the one that occurred at the University of Tennessee be encourage among the members and still be seen as â€Å"positive† in any way?Anyone with any amount logic or concern for the young men who join these organizations must take situations like this one into account when deciding on whether or not these groups are a positive aspect of the collegiate experience. Although all fraternities across the country are run in different manners and have different sets of rules that, all of them have some sort of executive board or positions that are deemed the leaders of the organization.They tend to have jobs, such as running the meetings, managing the money for the fraternity, filling out necessary paperwork for every different type of function, or taking care of matters of law breaking within the fraternity. Holding this type of position is considered to be prestigious because it means that that particular member is an excellent example of leadership towards their peers, and by being voted into a position of executive power, these leadership qualities are refined by the work required of that position.Refining leadership qualities can be used later on in life in the setting of the adult work environment, which can u ltimately lead to better paying jobs and a more impressive, well-respected position in life. Again, this is a nice enough concept, but not necessarily as true as it seems if examined in the actual fraternities.Personal interviews with the members of Tau Kappa Epsilon at Sam Houston State University have revealed that even though a member is elected into position by his peers, his position is not necessarily respected, especially if the elected member is young in both age and amount of years they have been involved in the organization. The amount of time that a member spends within the fraternity ultimately equals the amount of power he holds in comparison to his peers, and according to the members of the TKE fraternity, this type of power tends to overrule the executive position holders regardless of the title that they may hold.This type of thought process will not always be functional or acceptable out in the workforce of the country, and many times if executive position rulings a re ignored, the result is a loss of a job or even jail time. If the development of leadership skills is supposed to be a positive aspect of Greek life, then the type of leadership qualities and the acceptance of them should be modified to reflect more real world attributes. Another positive feature of Greek life is that each organization has a particular philanthropy that they participate in and donate funds to every year.This annual participation with so many different organization is in fact one of the most positive aspects that all Greek life organizations have to offer, especially because of all the constructive repercussions that occur because of it. Not only do the fraternities and sororities donate to their particular philanthropic organizations unrelentingly, but they also raise awareness about the many different types of charity groups in the surrounding communities and in the world altogether among the other students of the universities.Each Greek life organization usually has a minimum time span, usually a week or a month, where they try to recruit the help of the students around the university in supporting their particular charity. By having a particular time span, such as â€Å"Movember† for the Delta Tau Delta fraternity which encompasses the whole month of November every year and encourages male students across campus to not shave their facial hair in order to raise awareness about testicular cancer, the organizations are able to plan events and different types of advertising in order to maximize the amount of awareness about their patronage.With all of these differing types of events for the philanthropic organizations, it truly helps to make such types of charitable work more approachable and even more exciting to an entirely new group of unknowing people, such as the non-Greek affiliated students on the campus.It would seem that fraternities and sororities helping out with charitable organizations would be somewhat difficult to underm ine and find any negative aspect with, but it most certainly is not that difficult when you consider that most of the Greek life establishments are only participating with these charities because they are forced to by University rule. If the Greek groups were not required by their Universities to participate in at least one philanthropic event every year, it presents the question of whether or not these groups are participating with pure intentions, or if they are only doing it because they are forced to.Something that should also be taken into consideration when comparing the positive aspects against the negative ones is again whether these patronage events are done with purely wholesome intentions of helping out the less fortunate, or if these events are done simply to add on to their future resumes in the hopes of again increasing their potential for better job opportunities.On the surface, it appears that fraternities and Greek life organizations as a whole have many positive as pects, until further inspected and genuinely analyzed. When the majority of an organization’s positive features are required by law or chapter by-laws and the members willingly participating in such dangerous or negative activities, the question of how constructive the organization truly is comes into context and has the ability to destroy any positive reputation that the establishment had to offer in the first place.If the laws and by-laws monitoring and ruling the fraternities were made stronger, or if more people spoke out about all of the negative aspects of the organizations in a more public manner, then the opportunity for such harmful results to come out of such groups that play such a major role in the collegiate experience could be greatly reduced or eliminated overall. Works Cited Arriaga, Robert. Personal interview. 5 Nov. 2012. â€Å"Fraternity Not Allowed on Campus Next Fall Due to Hazing Activities. Houstonianonline. com. Independent Student Newspaper of Sam Ho uston State University, 3 May 2010. Web. 6 Dec. 2012. Huchting, Karie K. , et al. â€Å"Comparing Greek-affiliated students and student athletes: an examination of the behavior-intention link, reasons for drinking, and alcohol-related consequences. †Ã‚  Journal of Alcohol & Drug Education  55. 3 (2011): 61+. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 6 Dec. 2012. Hughey, Matthew W. â€Å"Black, White, Greek †¦ like who?Howard University student perceptions of a white fraternity on campus. †Ã‚  Educational Foundations  20. 1-2 (2006): 9+. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 6 Dec. 2012. Jacobs, Don. â€Å"Charges Stemming from Butt-Chugging Night at UT Frat Heard in City Court. † Knoxville News Sentinel. Knoxville: Knoxville News Sentinel Co. , 2012. Knoxnews. com. Web. 6 Dec. 2012. Scrivo, Karen Lee. â€Å"How Colleges Have Responded to Teenage Drinking. †Ã‚  Teen Alcoholism. Ed. Laura K. Egendorf. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2001.Contempor ary Issues Companion. Rpt. from â€Å"Drinking on Campus. †Ã‚  CQ Researcher  (20 Mar. 1998). Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 6 Dec. 2012. Stevens, Ashlei N. â€Å"Greek Members Are More Likely to Binge Drink and Use Drugs. â€Å"Student Life. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2010. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from â€Å"Report: Fraternity, Sorority Members More Likely to Drink, Use Drugs than Non-Greeks. †Ã‚  Spartanburg Herald-Journal  18 Feb. 2008: A1. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 6 Dec. 2012.

Reflection Management Style Essay

Yes, my definition of a manager has changed based on this weeks readings. At the beginning of the course I held the definition of a manager as a person who is in charge of a certain organization or firm. Based on this weeks reading, my definition of a manager has changed to a qualified person with specific qualities who is able to organize the resources in a firm during both the boom and the lean seasons in the business so as to ensure that the firm or organization is profitable. A manager should not only lead a firm but also be in a position to organize the factors of production in the organization in which he is a leader to ensure smooth running of the organization as well as high productivity (Cardy, 2008). I still agree with the good qualities of a manager originally identified. Some of the good qualities of a leader originally identified include the qualities that relate to personal characteristics as well as the business related characteristics. Some of the personal characteristics of a good manager originally identified include integrity. Unless a manager has integrity, an organization cannot run well. A good manager needs to have integrity so that he may be able to lead by example. This is by following rules and maintaining the virtues that help the organization to run well. Other qualities of a good manager identified originally include communication, reliability as well as motivation (Melinda, 2010). The business related qualities include the knowledge of the legal procedures, financial management skills, delegation skills among others. I would add qualities of a good leader such as flexibility. A good manager should be flexible so as to accommodate the many changes he might come across in course of management. These may include a change in the work environment. I do still agree with the poor qualities originally identified.  There are managers who portray very poor management qualities as identified originally. Some of the poor qualities of a leader identified include failure to communicate, dictatorship, disrespect as well as discrimination amongst employees. A poor manager will display qualities of poor management by showing discriminating among his employees. This means that the manager favours some of the employees. The discrimination brings about division in the organization hence no good team work (Jillyan, 2013). There are additional qualities that are portrayed by poorleaders. Some of these poor qualities include poor motivation habits where the manager does not reward his employees after any achievement. The lack of motivation is a great drawback to any organization and only the managers can correct by motivating their employees. The qualities of a manager change depending on the different situations they are in. For instance, the home environment of a manager could change the personal qualities of a good manager. For instance if a manager observes integrity in his leadership and in his home environment everybody is corrupt, he will be influenced by his people and stop observing integrity (Cardy, 2008). The results for the management quiz were not very successful but after going through the course reading the results are very promising. The results would change greatly as we learn more about management in this course. The course allows one to contemplate on the qualities portrayed by most managers and make him or her critical on these characteristics. References Cardy,R.(2008)Management : people, performance, change. Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Jillyan, S. (2013). Qualities A Manager Should Have. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Melinda, H. (2010). Characteristics and Attributes of a Good Manager. Cincinnati: Wooster Press.