Ritz carlton hotel company case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ritz carlton hotel company - Case Study Example However, for the success of the hotel, Mene emphasized on the issue of the importance of human resource and specifically on hiring new employees that would blend new competences and diversified ways of doing things. According to, Mene, this would make clients to experience new different things that caters for their needs. Indeed, barely two years after focusing on integrating new employees with new training, Ritz-Carlton won the Baldrige Award in 1992 for its outstanding standards in the hospitality industry. In this regard, it is evident that subjecting new employees to a longer training could be termed as one of the strategies of ensuring quality of services in the hospitality industry (Pandey 239). An elaborate training especially for a new hotel would enable the hotel to identify and target the required skills by the employees that would enable the hotel to meet the needs of the customers of the newly found market. In addition, studies have documented that subjecting employees in extensive training helps employees acquire better customer service skills and productivity improvements (Adegoke 10). In fact, subjecting employees to extensive training assures the employees that you value their contribution to the hotel. Such a training schedule builds employees’ self esteem. When employees are well and extensively trained, they tend to feel up-skilled to execute new and complex tasks, which make them feel motivated. Disadvantages of extending the seven days training for the Ritz Carlton hotel company On the other hand, in a way, subjecting employees to a long training session can make them feel threatened or make them feel not competent enough to take up the task. This may make them bored and lose interest in working for the hotel. In addition, overtraining employees can be a costly exercise especially for a new hotel. It is also apparent that such an extensive training even before employees start working can make them focus much on theory than applicatio n, which is necessary and part of training (Wentland 7). With these deliberations, I would not advocate for lengthening the 7- day training. Instead, I would keep the 7- day training schedule and concentrate on subjecting employees to further training sessions after the hotel opens. This of course would ensure that different employees would be subjected to training programs that they appear weak in and enroll them to improvement programs of the areas they are good in. Qn. 2 It is apparent that opening a new hotel is different from managing an already existing one. This is arguably true because a new hotel opening process involves bringing every department into operational right from the scratch. First, McBride should consider development of the new site. The hotel should be in a secure location and as attractive as possible (Wild 69). Tourists and hotel customers need to have a hotel that is in a secure location. Besides, the facility should be of distinct quality. It should be attr active and fitted with modern facilities. In addition, McBride should also consider putting a proficient workforce in place. The newly established hotel should be in a position to attract customers as quick as possible (Salver 72). The workforce should be well trained and with required skills and competent enough

Sociology of Food in USA

Sociology of Food in USA Sociology of food in USA INTRODUCTION Man and food have close association with one another and this association has also compelled the man to find new means and new forms of food, to bring diversity and sustainability in their food chain. Initially the food was only grown like vegetables and fruits or was got, in the form of meat, of hunting animals. With the progress in civilization and the technology, all phenomenon of production, distribution and consumption changed and with this change raised the issue like health, ethical, environmental, labor and the cultural. When these issues came into focus, the whole scenario brought the field of sociology of food. This field helps to study how the food is currently produced, then goes to the line of distribution and how the people around the country or the world consume it. Along with all other factors, this whole process of food chain also has the social impact and this impact can affect the society in a number of ways. Here, we will discuss the sociology of food in USA and h ow it is creating social problems. OBJECTIVE PRESENTATION OF THE SOCIAL CONDITION In the countries like America, it is not an ancient thought that food used to be cooked at home and was considered as the item that connects the family together and helps them to sit together and interact with each other. It was once the preference that food should be prepared at home and the preparation of food itself required a lot of fresh ingredients and specially loves. After the industrial revolution, along with other concepts, the idea of food as the bonding force also changed. Industrial revolution not only increased the speed of progress in science and technology, but also, altered the pace of life. Industrial revolution also gave the opportunity to work, therefore, most of the members of the family started working. People became busy in earning money and cooking meals at home became difficult for the people and as a result the food industry progressed to an extent that it has taken the place in every home of United States. Food production, distribution and consumption have become one of the biggest industries not only in United States, but, all over the world. SUBJECTIVE PRESENTATION OF WHY THE SOCIAL CONDITION IS A SOCIAL PROBLEM Although we are now living in the society which revolves around becoming self-sufficient and economically stable, therefore, people have to spend more time at workplaces, thus, decreasing the time people used to spend their time. Most of that time was centered on making and feeding family members. The abundance of readymade food including: fast food drinks and junk food provided a lot of solutions for the people. Food is an important source to create connections and it is considered that cooking and serving proper meals reestablishes and reinforces the bond between different members of the family and helps them to send time with one another (Debevec and Tivadar). Taking, cooking of food out of our daily lives is causing a lot of social issues, that dominating our way of living and relationships. Food Production Five decades back, the production of food had never been an issue. Countries usually depended on their own main crops to meet the needs of their population, but, with the passes of time, transportation, technology, wealth and prosperity of some countries gave those changes to get more and better food for their population. One example is that Asian countries are acquiring land in African countries. This method of production, in foreign countries is to meet the increasing need of the Asian countries to fulfill the demand of the food, due to increase in population in urban areas. This will not only create social issue for the people of African countries, but, also in the countries this food is consumed because the excessive export of the crops of African countries will put pressure on the society because people will not be able to benefit from their own land, thus creating social distress. Also, the people in Asian countries, who will be consuming those products, will have to pay more f or it due to increase in cost due to transportation. Thus, a social divide will occur because people of middle and lower classes will have to pay more, even beyond their means, to get the articles of basic need (Gunasekera and Finnigan). Secondly, with the advancement of technology, transgenic technology is used to genetically modified crops or the improved crops. This technology is used all over the world, but, still there are societies which consider them against their beliefs and system. There are societies who collectively thing that producing food by introducing foreign agent into the original form might have negative impact on the health of the people and the originality of the crops. People believe that since all the crops grown naturally are the best form of the food and it is not for the benefit of society to genetically enhance the food and increase production, which might compromise the health of the people, which will ultimately reflect on society (Akumo and Riedel). Thi rdly, sustainability has also become an important issue in food production. With increase in population, demand of dietary products and meat has increased and in order to meet the needs several scientific methods are used. Eight hundred million people in the world are suffering from malnutrition, whereas, nearly four hundred million people are obese. The increase in prosperity and population has increased the demand of these products, but, in order to raise more meat giving animals, more water and food for them is needed. This causes an imbalance in the environment because there is already sacristy of the water and the food of these animals need to grow and this excessive requirement compels humans to use unnatural ways to grow food and even increase the speed of growth of animals. Demand of these food items has increased, but, so does their price and the prices of these products are getting out of reach of common people, especially in underdeveloped countries. This also crease soci al imbalance and the working class again has to suffer due to lack of finances. (Reisch and Eberle) Food Distribution Food distributions systems work as the network and distribute food products all over the country. The supply of food actually depends on the demand of the product in a certain area, but, certain food items are produced that may be demanded in different markets comprising of variety of social classes and this different in social status may also affect the availability of the product. The availability of these products is also dependent on the purchasing power of the customer. There the distribution is also affected by this, thus making these products unavailable to the lower class (FAO). The main issue associated with the distribution systems is that there are very less number of markets that sell their products locally. Since, these products are sent to other towns and cities, thus increasing the price of the product. The excessive spending on distribution and the money spent on advertising is received from the consumer, which again impacts the working class of the society (Martinez, Hand and Pra). The people who used to come at the churches pantry to get food have increased three times since 2008. But, the amount of food that was distributed to these services has decreased due to decrease in budget. Thus this uneven supply of food to these church services have put the pressure to the churches to feed the peed that are deserving and are dependent on them. Uneven distribution of food and makes people unable to purchase their own food (Greenberg, Greenberg and Mazza). Food Consumption The consumption of the food is greatly influenced by the income of the consumer. The families that have better income spend a lot of money on food and especially on fancy and expensive food items. Therefore, a social divide is also created and the food items are produced which can only be consumed by the people who are financially stable (Jappelli and Pistaferri). Due to busy lifestyles the eating out and consuming readymade food is increasing rapidly in the country. Although, research show that the food that is made and eaten at home has good health and social effects. At the dinner table, family get the chance to interact with each other, develop better relationship and come to know about lives of one another, thus creating better family bond and increasing harmony in the society (Eisenberg, Olson and Neumark-Sztainer). Since the people consume a lot of food outside, therefore, their choice of food is also affected by the people around them. People who eat at the public places usua lly eat unhealthy and fatty food and most of the times they spend more money, than their average spending, this results in compromised health and finances. The obese and financially unstable people further affects the balance of the society (Mcferran, Dahl and Fitzsimons). SOCIAL CHANGE Food production industry has changed its shaped since last eight decades and now everything that was considered the specialty of home foods come in packing. Income has increased the demand for expensive food items and the food market has become global. All these factors are affecting the society because transportation from far off places makes, even the most common things expensive, thus making it expensive for major portion of society. This problem can be reduced by introduced more local markets and by promoting local products. Moreover, alternative products to protein like second level protein should be encouraged and produced, to meet the needs of the people. Pulses can also serve as the alternative source for protein; therefore, producing this item can help in achieving sustainability in food chain. Food distribution has always been the issue all over the world, but, now we come to see even the global distribution of food. Now even the food of Sydney can reach any part of the world. Still there are countries that are facing uneven distribution of food resulting on malnutrition. Uneven distribution is also due to the uneven incomes of different segments of the society. Also different markets have different prices of same item and even. This problem can be solved by introducing centralized distribution system and centralized pricing. These systems can even help the working class to afford all things and everything can become available to everyone, irrespective of the social class. Also, this centralized system will be helpful in ensuring that every member of the society is equally treaty and has access to everything he needs. The consumption of food can only be controlled by the consumer. The most important should be the heath of the customer, for which customer should take balanced diet and this diet could help to give better and healthy people to the society. People should also, consider the effect of decrease in family meal on their social and family life.. There should be balance in work and family life and the increase in social distress can be caused if this balance is disturbed. Although, it is easier and simpler to get the food from restaurants, but, restaurants cannot compensate for the love of the family and communication with family members. Also, most of the times, the food consumed outside is unhealthy and unhygienic, that can result in a health issue, will demand money for seeing a physician and will put extra pressure on the finances. The government should also conduct awareness programs about the importance of meals made at home and the significance of balanced diet. CONCLUSION Sociology of food is an important topic and sociology of food in USA is also. Three different aspects of food chain: production, distribution and consumption. There are a number of social issues in all three aspects and the most prominent ones are due to uneven income of different segments of the society. So, in order to meet the most common needs of all the people, it is important to have if not centralized then controlled system that can ensure that all markets have same price. Moreover, the consumption of the food should also be according to the needs of the body and excessive or unbalanced. A lot work has to be done to the sociology of food in United States in all three areas i..e production, distribution and consumption. Works Cited Akumo, Divine Nkonyam and Heidi Riedel. Social and Economic Issues – Genetically Modified Food. Muzzalupo, Innocenzo. Food Industry. InTech, 2013. 221-229. Debevec, Liza and Blanka Tivadar. Making connections through foodways:contemporary issues in anthropological and sociological studies of food. ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTEBOOKS, 12 (1) (2006): 5–16. Eisenberg, M.E., et al. Correlations between family meals and psychosocial well-being among adolescents. The Archives of Pediatricsand Adolescent Medicine, 158 (2004): 792-796. FAO. Low-cost Urban Food Distribution Systems in Latin America. FAO Agricultural Services Bulltin, 111 (1994): 40-48. Greenberg, Michael, Gwendolyn Greenberg and Lauren Mazza. Food Pantries, Poverty, and Social Justice. American ournal of Public Health 100(11) (2010): 2021-2022. Gunasekera, Don and John Finnigan. Track social and economic impacts of food production. Naure, 466(920 (2010): 558-560. Jappelli, Tullio and Luigi Pistaferri. The Consumption Response to Income Changes. The Annual Review of Economics (2010): 476-506. Martinez, Steve, Michael Hand and Michelle Da Pra. Local Food Systems: Concepts, Impacts, and issues. Research. 2010. Mcferran, Brent, Darren W. Dahl and Gavan J. Fitzsimons. I’ll Have What She’s Having: Effects of Social Influence and Body Type on the Food Choices of Others. Journal of Consumer Research,36(6) (2009): 915-959. Reisch, Lucia and Ulrike Eberle. Sustainable food consumption: an overview of contemporary issues and policies. Sustainability: Science, Practice, Policy, 9(2) (2013): 7-25.

The Importance of Wearing a Seatbelt Essay -- Argumentative Safety Dri

The Importance of Wearing a Seatbelt We have all heard the excuses before, "It's uncomfortable, I'm only going around the corner", I'd rather be thrown out of a car than be stuck in a seatbelt," and my favorite, "I'm a good driver I don't need to wear one." Well you may be a good driver but there are situations beyond your control such as bad weather, road conditions and not to mention other drivers that can affect your safety. Seat belts can mean the difference between life and death in an auto accident. Wearing a seat belt every time you enter a vehicle is not only the smart thing to do it is the right thing because it saves lives, it's the law and it will save you money. Car accidents are the leading cause of death for people under the age of 35. Wearing a seat belt can prevent death in about half of these accidents. Did you know that every 15 seconds someone is injured in an automobile accident if they are not buckled up, or that every 13 minutes someone is killed in a crash. Failure to wear a seat belt contributes to more fatalities than any other single traffic safety related behavior. According to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration seatbelts saved nearly 12,000 lives in the United States in the year 2000. The NHTSA estimates that more than 9,000 U.S. car accident fatalities in 2000 would have been avoided if the victims had been wearing seatbelts. Sixty three percent of the people killed in accidents were not wearing seat belts. The NHTSA a...

Project Closures Essay

Everything with a beginning must have an end and a project is not quite complete until the closing stage is considered successful. (Sanghera, P.2009 p.223) Scenario one: Closing a project that has met its objective This scenario delights the project manager and his or her team as it is the ideal end to any project. It involves closing all activities related to the project both the within and without. Here the project manager (PM) meets with the stakeholders to gain their final approval of the project, ascertain that the deliverable meets the completion standards, conclude contract arrangements with vendors, transfer responsibility of project output to other people, release people and other resources, and document lessons learned. (Sunny & Baker pp330-331). Scenario two: Closing a project that was terminated early In this scenario a project can be terminated for a number of reasons. From the discussion question we saw that a project can be adjudged to have failed, if it cannot meet up objective, expected to fail or are no longer in line with the objective of the company can be terminated. Bommer & Pease, 1991further provided reasons like paucity of funding, technological obsolescence, changes in consumer trends, mergers and acquisitions loss of the champion and negative cost/benefit ratio. However whatever might have being the underlying cause of the termination of a project, it is still very important that the project is closed formally. In that regard, there is no difference between closing a project that has met its objectives and a project that was terminated early in its life. Both scenarios must undergo the close project process and the close procurement process. But the following differences can be observed: (1)In the first scenario there is a tangible project deliverable that can be transferred to other people, it may serve as inputs to another project. While in the second scenario there may be no tangible deliverable. (2) The emotional currents observed in both scenarios are quite different, in the first scenario the PM and everyone associated with the project are elated and feels fulfilled, leading to more latent energy for future projects and commitment to the organisation. In the second case, negative emotions may be generated which can be counterproductive to future projects and the organisation. This situation can arise when senior management arbitrarily cancels a project without carrying the team along. Administrative closure This is the process of formally bringing to an end all project activities. It relates to the closing process group and the integration management knowledge area. (Sanghera 2010 p377) The accepted project deliverable after its verification is compared with the project management plan and other closure guidelines and procedures before it is handed over to the customer. This action is necessary for both scenarios one and two. Contract closure This occurs when the terms of the contract have been reached or when there is a termination before the terms can be reached. The latter case usually involves compensation. In multi-phased projects contract closure can occur more than once while administrative closure occurs only once. The acceptance of the deliverable takes place during the administrative closure. Conclusion Administrative closure and contract closure both occur in closing a project that has met its objective and one that is terminated early. In the latter case care should be taken to carry the team members along in the process of project termination in order to boost their morale and productivity for future projects.

Economics Practice Problems Essay

1. Which of the following would most likely cause equilibrium quantity and price of x to rise? (a)a fall in income when the income elasticity of demand for x is positive Wrong. This will cause a drop in demand and thus a fall in quantity. (b)a fall in the price of complementary product y Correct. A fall in a complementary product will cause a rise in demand for that product â€Å"y† and thus a rise in demand of product â€Å"x† (see graph). (c)a fall in the price of substitute product Z Wrong. A fall in a substitute product will cause an increase in the demand for product Z and thus a fall in the demand for product x. (d)an increase in the cost of producing x Wrong. The increase in production cost will decrease supply (see graph). (e)a fall in the price of product A which is jointly produced with x Wrong. A fall in price of a jointly produced product will give the incentive to produce more A. If this incentivizes the producer to also increase the supply of x, the effect would be opposite as in (d): less price and more quantity. 2. Which of the following is not characteristic of a cartel situation? (a)While disagreement over production quotas may occur, once set, there is little incentive for cheating. Correct answer. In a cartel there are incentives to cheat (all other are characteristics of a cartel). (b)There is an incentive for some producers not to join. (c)Entry of new producers is a threat to the cartel’s viability. (d)Long-run demand elasticity can pose an obstacle to success. (e)Output must be less than the competitive case for the cartel to be effective.