Reading response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 21

Reading response - Essay Example The Allies were forced to sign off as post First World War the allies were dependent on the United States for not only military and arms but also for fuel, food and other basic requirements. However, only some of the Wilson 14 points made it to acceptance particularly five of them the rest were rejected on the event of being overly ambitious and unrealistic. The impracticality of these points dominated the Great European powers and the experiences of wartime. Apart from the Russian evacuation and the Belgium restoration the other points created more negative vibe than positive effects. For example, the settlement of colonial claims, the French disputed territories; the Italy border adjustments based on nationality etc. all caused more tension and new national disputes rather than solving any problems. Thus not all the points presented by the President were fruitful in generating world peace. The most important point in my view and according to the historical perspective is the last point. ‘Establishment of the League of Nations to secure mutual guarantees of independence and territorial integrity.’ ("President Wilsons Fourteen Points"). This League of Nations was formed through the start of the Second World War and aimed at diluting national sovereignty and creating global and international government. However, this did not materialize as per the speech but this point was the backbone of the 14 points speech by the President Wilson in

Performance Criteria Identified By Hillgren And Morse Essay

Performance Criteria Identified By Hillgren And Morse - Essay Example Hillgren and Morse (1998) established that similarities exist among high performing organizations. Their view of such organizations is based on financial accomplishments, employee motivation as well as service delivery and customer satisfaction. This paper critically compares the performance of Abercrombie and Fitch against the four performance criteria identified by Hillgren and Morse (1998). The multinational company deals with designer clothes. The paper highlights some practical examples related to the concepts, ideas and insights from their article titled â€Å"high performing organizations†. High Performing Organizations Direction is one of the basic elements identified by Hillgren and Morse (1998). Leaders need to ensure that the subordinates understand the organization’s principles. These are fundamental to its existence. The visionary leadership of Abercrombie and Fitch promotes a sense of purpose in the organization. The leaders understand the company’s vision and apply their skills to entrench creativity among the workers. Sensitization of employees regarding the achievement of the organization’s vision and core values is done regularly through staff meetings and weekly forums, which ensures that all team players in the various departments understand their roles in enhancing success. The sensitization approach corresponds to Hillgren and Morse’s assertion of â€Å"a clearly articulated and frequently communicated vision† (p 9), which is significant for high performing organizations. Behaviourization of values as proposed by Hillgren and Morse gives Abercrombie and Fitch a unique characteristic that enhances customer satisfaction. One of the core values is to ensure customer focused service delivery that is based on their needs rather than the company’s interests. Workplace diversity promotes strong interpersonal relationships among the staff, which helps in building talents and encouraging creativity. Exceptional contribution among staff is acknowledged and rewarded. The leaders act as role models of the organizational behaviour. Integrity is upheld and words correspond to the actions of staff members. The value metrics highlighted by Hillgren and Morse have been adopted by Abercrombie and Fitch. They help in establishing the level of customer satisfaction, which signifies the level of collaboration among staff. Value metrics are also significant in determining whether the organizational values have been upheld in service delivery to customers. Bhatt (2002) observed that â€Å"anything that gets measured gets done† (p 28). Abercrombie and Fitch’s value metrics are focused on the priority areas that are likely to be affected by the dynamics of the operating environment. For example, customers’ feedback offers a basis for the assessment of the level of satisfaction. After interacting with the company’s employees, the customers are given a chance to confi dentially rate and comment the quality of service offered to them. The management is able to determine the areas that require improvements as well as those that require reinforcement through assessing positive and negative feedbacks from consumers. The suggestion box also provides an opportunity to assess the organization’s leadership as well as the priority areas that need further consideration. Performance measurement is significant in assessing progress and planning for future improvements (Edwards et al. 2007). It helps in determining staff awareness regarding the direction of the organization. Abercrombie and F

A Comparative Analysis Of The Hotels Across The World Essay

A Comparative Analysis Of The Hotels Across The World - Essay Example A comparative analysis of the three hotels will be done to analyse the differences as well as the similarities between them. The first is Bellagio. Bellagio is one of the luxury hotels located at Las Vegas. The quality of art and architecture in Bellagio attracts the customers mainly. It portrays the Italian culture. The main goal of the hotel is creating an ambience which will help the customers to understand the true value of the hotel by means of its constructions. Bellagio focuses on attracting the upper middle class of the society. It tries to bring in the wealthy customers and retain them by providing excellent services. The wonderful fountain dance shows along with the art and architecture, quality services and the casino game shows have helped the resort to the AAA five Diamond Award for 11 times. The second hotel is Sheraton Macao Hotel. It is a hotel situated in Macau. This hotel consisting of 3896 rooms is the biggest hotel in Macau. Sheraton Macao Hotel is built using the modern concept where the Family Suites and the Club Rooms give the view of the renowned Cotai Strip. The brand new hotel provides guest rooms to the customers portraying the state-of-arts having a balcony. The hotel provides six restaurants, bars and a gym. The target market of Sheraton Macao hotel is the upper class of the society. It has designed its services in such a manner which is affordable by the rich section of the society mostly. It mainly focuses on the rich families and also the tourists who visit Macao during their holiday seasons. The third hotel is New York Hilton Midtown. New York Hilton Midtown is situated in New York. It is the biggest hotel of the city and the 101st tallest hotel of the world. The hotel is a walking distance away from the premier attractions of the city i.e. Times Square, Fifth Avenue shopping, Radio-City Music Hall etc. The hotel has been built based on the modern concept and contains spacious guest rooms to provide on demand entertainment. The location of the hotel is within the reach of the city’s most popular attractions and the local transportations. New York Hilton Midtown is a 24 hours business centre where all important business meetings are held. Thus the main focus of the hotel is the business travellers. Each of these hotels has different concepts as well as different target markets. It is due to this reason that the services offered by them differ to a great extent. Each hotel has been able to achieve a competitive advantage over its competitors by implementing own marketing and pricing strategies. They have maintained a successful position in the market by choosing the concepts and target markets in relation to the environment. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Concept 4 Target Markets 5 Market Positioning 6 Experience offered 7 Planning and Design Solutions 8 Response to the environment 9 Conclusion 10 References 11 Introduction The design of a hotel plays an impor tant role in achieving competitive advantage in the hospitality industry. It helps to give a separate identity to a hotel and draw the attention of the customers towards it. Moreover, the quality of services provided by a hotel also helps it to achieve success in the industry. The project deals with the comparative analysis of three hotels from different geographical locations. This will help us to identify the similarities as well as the differences between the 3 hotels which have enabled these hotels to achieve success. Bellagio is one of the luxury hotels located at Las Vegas. The parent company of the hotel is MGM Resorts International. It was opened on 15th October, 1998. The hotel has been built after the demolition of the hotel and casino named Dunes (Saving America's Mustangs Foundation, 2012).

Critique of Anand Hollas Article Entitled Obsessed with Your Cell Essay

Critique of Anand Hollas Article Entitled Obsessed with Your Cell Phone - Essay Example The article is timely because the author was able to determine that our dependency towards technology particularly cellphone has already developed to a proportion that is already a disorder. The author intended to create awareness among the readers so that they would examine themselves if they are already addicted to their smartphones by comparing their behaviors to the behaviors cited in the article. And if they are, they can seek help just like what the subjects did in the article. The good thing about this article is that the author made its audience realize that addiction towards cellphone is not healthy. Many people especially teenagers think that their dependency towards their smartphones are cool when it is in fact not. It would be difficult to ascertain with certainty if the author had successfully convinced its audience that smartphone use has already assumed a proportion of disorder. There no surveys included in the article that provided reader response. But personally, I t hink the arguments of the author are quite persuasive. I may not be that totally sold with the point of view yet because I am still looking for more literature to support his claim, but the article has definitely made me think and consider that smartphone dependency of many people is already troublesome. If the study is to be believed smartphone addiction is already â€Å"similar to drugs or cigarette addiction† which is already troublesome. To say that I agree already with the author would be quite premature considering that there is only one point of view that is presented to me and does not have anything to support or refute his arguments. Basing however from experience and observation, I think that the author made a good case and if presented with supporting scientific literature that is peer-reviewed, his case could convince me. Inferring from my observation, I see a lot of young people who are hooked not just with their smartphones but also to social media such as Faceb ook and Twitter. Some are even exclaiming that they cannot live without their smartphones or their Facebook or they could not imagine life without it.     

A Comparative Analysis Of The Hotels Across The World Essay

A Comparative Analysis Of The Hotels Across The World - Essay Example A comparative analysis of the three hotels will be done to analyse the differences as well as the similarities between them. The first is Bellagio. Bellagio is one of the luxury hotels located at Las Vegas. The quality of art and architecture in Bellagio attracts the customers mainly. It portrays the Italian culture. The main goal of the hotel is creating an ambience which will help the customers to understand the true value of the hotel by means of its constructions. Bellagio focuses on attracting the upper middle class of the society. It tries to bring in the wealthy customers and retain them by providing excellent services. The wonderful fountain dance shows along with the art and architecture, quality services and the casino game shows have helped the resort to the AAA five Diamond Award for 11 times. The second hotel is Sheraton Macao Hotel. It is a hotel situated in Macau. This hotel consisting of 3896 rooms is the biggest hotel in Macau. Sheraton Macao Hotel is built using the modern concept where the Family Suites and the Club Rooms give the view of the renowned Cotai Strip. The brand new hotel provides guest rooms to the customers portraying the state-of-arts having a balcony. The hotel provides six restaurants, bars and a gym. The target market of Sheraton Macao hotel is the upper class of the society. It has designed its services in such a manner which is affordable by the rich section of the society mostly. It mainly focuses on the rich families and also the tourists who visit Macao during their holiday seasons. The third hotel is New York Hilton Midtown. New York Hilton Midtown is situated in New York. It is the biggest hotel of the city and the 101st tallest hotel of the world. The hotel is a walking distance away from the premier attractions of the city i.e. Times Square, Fifth Avenue shopping, Radio-City Music Hall etc. The hotel has been built based on the modern concept and contains spacious guest rooms to provide on demand entertainment. The location of the hotel is within the reach of the city’s most popular attractions and the local transportations. New York Hilton Midtown is a 24 hours business centre where all important business meetings are held. Thus the main focus of the hotel is the business travellers. Each of these hotels has different concepts as well as different target markets. It is due to this reason that the services offered by them differ to a great extent. Each hotel has been able to achieve a competitive advantage over its competitors by implementing own marketing and pricing strategies. They have maintained a successful position in the market by choosing the concepts and target markets in relation to the environment. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Concept 4 Target Markets 5 Market Positioning 6 Experience offered 7 Planning and Design Solutions 8 Response to the environment 9 Conclusion 10 References 11 Introduction The design of a hotel plays an impor tant role in achieving competitive advantage in the hospitality industry. It helps to give a separate identity to a hotel and draw the attention of the customers towards it. Moreover, the quality of services provided by a hotel also helps it to achieve success in the industry. The project deals with the comparative analysis of three hotels from different geographical locations. This will help us to identify the similarities as well as the differences between the 3 hotels which have enabled these hotels to achieve success. Bellagio is one of the luxury hotels located at Las Vegas. The parent company of the hotel is MGM Resorts International. It was opened on 15th October, 1998. The hotel has been built after the demolition of the hotel and casino named Dunes (Saving America's Mustangs Foundation, 2012).

John Smith Essay Example for Free

John Smith Essay Dear Hiring Manager: In response to your recent advertisement for Customer Service Manager, I have enclosed a copy of my resume for your review. As you will note, I have spent more than five years in the Customer Service profession in different positions of increasing responsibility. I have a track record with assisting customers and am skilled in communication and computer applications. My career is chronicled by meritorious promotions and the fact that I am well versed in interpersonal skills is a significant contributing factor to the successes I have achieved. I am seeking to further my career in the customer service field where I can maximize my communication and organizational skills to further business goal and bottom-line objectives. In my candidacy, you will find: A team oriented professional with a positive work ethic and deep commitment to providing excellent results A track record of excellent performance as an employee at my various places of employment The proven ability to build genuine rapport. Your review of my enclosed resume to explore a possible match between your needs and my skills is much appreciated. I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you in person to learn more about your business and to explore employment possibilities. You may reach me at 802-555 5550 or via email at [emailprotected] com Thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you soon. Sincerely, John Smith Enclosure.

How can Employees be Empowered to Increase Productivity?

How can Employees be Empowered to Increase Productivity? 1.Preliminary title: Empowerment is essential to increase productivity among employee. 2.Research purpose: The out come of employee empowerment in service industry can bring long-term success. The purpose of this research is to analyse and achieve in-depth knowledge and understanding on employee empowerment in the context of service industry by comparing the perspective of manager and employee. And provide suggestions to service industry how to gain more productively through empower the employee. This result will be obtained by testing the efficiency of the employee empowerment variables. The earlier discussion on employee empowerment in the service industry has lead to the main research question. How employee can be empowered for increasing productivity? What competitive advantage ‘employee empowerment can bring for the company? 3.Rational On this era, the arrival of an information-based, knowledge-intensive, service driven economy has forced a massive of change on companies worldwide, most dramatically in the way they must redefine their relationship with their employees (Bartlett 2002). Hill and Huq (2004) argued that specifically, it emanated from the realization that traditional hierarchical ‘command and control organizations were struggling to meet the growing demands for flexibility and demands for flexibility and quality. The employees respond most excellent and creatively not when management does tightly control them, placed in narrowly defined job and treated like unwelcoming necessity. But instead, when they are given broader responsibilities, and encouraged to contribute and help to take satisfaction in their jobs (Walton 1985). Thats why now a day, employee of organization and how management manages them are becoming more important because many other source of competitive success is less powerful than they once were. Traditional sources of success- technology, protected or regulated market, access to financial resource and economies of scale can still provide competitive advantage, but to a lesser degree now than in the past, leaving organizational culture and capabilities, derived from how people are managed, as comparatively more vital (Henry and Maryle, 2002). As, organizations sustainable competitive advantage is its people that why management need to engage all the human resource to active companys long time success. In the modern world Empowerment is one of the key tools, which a manager can use frequently to involve and manage organizations people to achieve competitive advantage. As Campbell (2009,p8) pointed out that ‘‘People are your most valuable asset. To get the most out of employees, empower is essential. 4.Literature review: 4.1.What is employee empowerment? The aim of Empowerment to create a culture where employee have freedom to express themselves and have the liberty to make decisions about how they work, where there is always the opportunity to give constructive feedback, and where everyone is equal and approachable (Beaven 2009). So Empowerment implies give up central control, which will encourage speed, flexibility and determination of the employee. According to Campbell (2009), main meaning of empower employees is to give up some aspects of control. In return for giving up that control, managers will have more scope and time to look at the big picture and engage in strategic thinking. Styhre (2001) illustrated that empowermentis depicted by its proponents as the common denominator for recent managerial techniques and activities that acknowledge the individual employee as an intelligent, accountable, creative being, and therefore a productive resource for the company. Lashley (1997) argued that it is intended that through empowerme nt employees will be more committed to successful service encounters and will have the necessary discretion and autonomy to do whatever is needed to satisfy the customer. 4.2 .How to apply empowerment to increase productivity among employee? Different organizations choose to empower their employees to different degrees; at the lowest level empowerment the employee has no autonomy to take decision. On the other hand, at the highest level the employee is given decision-making authority and can control their own performances( Daft ,2001). All these employees are often able to affect organizational goals, structure, as well as reward systems. In order to empower employees, four different factors are Important. Those different factor work as an element to empower employee. Which will give the employees space to act more independently in accomplishing their jobs. According to Daft (2000) those are: information, knowledge, power and rewards. Information: In any organizations where the employees are fully empowered, no information about the company is held secret for employee. Thats why employees must receive every information about the performance of the company. 2.Knowledge: Before and after empowering employees every company need to give training for increasing knowledge and skills of employee. Which build up their problem solving decision-making capability. As by having power of knowledge and skills, an employee can be able to contribute to the goals of the company. Power: To make substantial decisions, employees must have the power. Which will increase employee involvement, confidante. Rewarding: The employees need to get rewarded on the basis their performances and companys performance. The employees can be more committed towards the company by having true appreciation through psychologically and physically. 4.3.Advantages: According to the literature, empowerment bring many positive result for the company like, quicker response to customer, communication and teamwork, employee satisfaction and increase their working value, reduce costs and economic profits, involvement, customer satisfaction/ recovery, increased employee efficiency, customer loyalty and new innovative idea for the organization (Campbell, 2009; Beaven, 2009; Bowen Lawler, 2002; Styhre ,2001; Lashley, 1997). Empowered employee is more productive, psychologically and physically healthy, proactive and innovative, persistent in the work place, trustworthy, interpersonally efficient, intrinsically motivated, and have higher morale and commitment than employee who are not empowered (Whitten , 2007). Earlier literature review has illustrated that empowerment can play a very vital rule in order to increases productivity among employees. Research need to be taken in order to gain better understanding this phenomenon on the context of present service industry. Now, research method need to chosen in order to complete the research successfully. 5.Research Methodology 5.1.Research approach Rossman and Rallis (2003) stated that there are two different research methods that are frequently used when researchers are about to conduct research: the qualitative and the quantitative method. A quantitative method is mostly concern with measurements and to generalize the result.This means that qualitative research mostly humanistic research, which makes it possible to interpret as well as understand a phenomenon. The purpose of this research is to analysis and achieves depth knowledge and understanding on employee empowerment in the context of service industry by comparing the perspective of manager and employee. And provide suggestions to service industry to gain more productively through empower the employee. As this is a humanistic research qualitative approach will be very effective to do in-depth investigation. 5.2.Sampling The researcher will select two service-oriented company to carry on sampling process. The reason for exploring different venues is to gather valuable data from different source. The method of contact to manager of relevant company for arranging interview session with manager and employee will through face-to-face, phone, or e-mail. 5.3.Data collection method According to Silverman (2001), there are four main methods used in qualitative research are: Observation Analyzing texts and documents Interviews Recordings and transcribing. The data will be conducted for the research in two distinct stages by the researcher to carry on this research. A short period of observation there will be done in the first stage. Marshall and Rossman (1999) demonstrated that observation entails the systematic nothing and recording of events, behaviours and artifact (objects) in the social setting chose for the study. At the second stage of the data collection will be involved a series of semi-structured, in-depth face to face interview with employee and manager with in selected organization. 5.4.Data analysis procedures: Marshall and Rossman (1999) suggest that data analysis is the process of bringing order, structure and interpretation to the mass of collected data. Miles (1994) have demonstrated two models for analysis. The first one is researcher can analyze a separate case (within-case analysis). Then presents results by creating tables, checklists and matrix around collected, qualitative data by comparing the theory with empirical data in these tables and checklists. It will be easy to see similarities and differences on this model. At The second model, the researcher compares the results from different cases in a cross-case analysis. Researcher will follow the first model where comparison will be made between literature and empirical data which be collected from manager and employee. The comparison will be done in order to identify patterns that would similar or different from the theory or literature. 5.5.Data capture At the time of depth face-to-face interviews with interviewees, research will use voice recorder that he can give more attention on interview. Then researcher will transcribe date fordata analysis procedure, it has probable that the result would bring more accuracy. 5.6.Reliability and validity To ensure reliability and validity, every face-to-face interview will be recorded and transcribed. Silverman, D (2001) argued that the quality of recording and transcripts has important implications on the reliability of conversation analytical research. For this reason, every transcription will be coded. 5.7.Proposed time schedule Assuming 12 weeks of period has allocated for conducting this masters research. Following this a proposed time schedule would be as follow: Period Activity 1st 2 week Initial literature review Next 2 week Complete participant observation Next 4 week Arrange and conduct interviews; transcribe and analyse interview data Next 2 Literature and further analysis of data Rest of the week Write up and submit completed thesis Reference: Bartlett, Christopher A., Ghoshal and Sumantra (2002). BuildingCompetitiveAdvantage ThroughPeople. MIT Sloan Management Review. Vol. 43 Issue 2.pp.34-41. Beaven, D.2009. People make the difference.Logistics Transport Focus. Vol. 11 Issue 6, pp45-47. Bowen, D.E. and Lawler, E.E. 2002. The empowerment of service workers: What, why, how and when. In: Henry. J and Mayle.D.ed. Managing innovation and change, Open University Business School, in association with sage, pp.243-273. Campbell, G.2009.Employee Empowerment. Quality.Vol.48 Issue 4, p 8. Daft, R. 2001. Organization Theory and Design, 7th Edition. South-Western College. Thompson Learning. Henry, J., Mayle, D.2002. Managing innovation and change. Open University Business School, in association with SAGE.pp61-73. Hill, F., Huq, R.2004. Employee Empowerment: Conceptualizations, Aims and Outcomes. Total Quality Management and Business Excellence, Vol. 15 Issue 8, pp1025-1041. Lashley, C.1999.Empowering service excellence in service. London: Cassell Publications. Miles, M.1994.Qualitative data analysis: an expanded sourcebook / Matthew B Miles. : Sage Publications, Inc. Marshall, C. and Rossman, G.B .1999. Designing Qualitative Research. 3rd Ed.London; Sage Publications. Rossman, B. G. Rallis F. S. 2003. Learning in the Field: An Introduction to Qualitative Research.2nd ed. California: Sage Publications, Inc. Silverman, D .2001. Interpreting Qualitative data, Methods for Analyzing talk text and Interaction. 2nd Ed.sage London, p.14. Walton, Richard E.1985. Fromcontroltocommitmentintheworkplace. Harvard Business Review, Vol. 63 Issue 2. pp77-84. Whetten, David A and Cameron, Kim S.2008. Developing management skills. 7th edition, Prentice hall.