Economics of Sport Essay

1. Introduction: This report will overview and discuss how stakeholders in professional sports can get as much as they want out of the sport, without too much involvement from the government. It will also cover some of the purposes of government-intervention and what they should do to keep the competitive balance intact for the leagues. There will be examples and discussions drawn from clubs and leagues in the European Soccer and also differences between how sports leagues on either sides of the Atlantic ocean works in this matter. The importance of keeping stakeholders happy is the key to on-pitch success. Stakeholders in sport are everybody involved with sport; participants (players/athletes), fans, governing bodies, financial investors and communities at large. 1.1 Background: Since the early stages of the discussion and the involvement of the economics side of the field of sports, Naele (1964) identified professional sports leagues as a different animal than any other competitive industry in the world we know today. The main focus for professional sport leagues is to provide and compromise teams to a highly competitive level where they can produce and sell sporting events to the public (Fort & Quirk, 1992). Similar individual teams make up a professional sports league, that all relies to gain the maximum of economic benefits as possible while relying on the opportunity to compete against other teams to produce their outputs; the outcome will be games for the fans to enjoy. Without an organised structure of games and tables, the competitive output would not exist for sports leagues or its fans. Naele (1964) also claims that there is one main difference between a typical competitive business industry and the sports industry. He says that a normal industry gains the most economic and capital benefits while it faces the least amount of competition as possible. Simply put, the businesses are seeking to be the only supplier to the market to become the market leader and in that way earn money. This is not a preferred position for any professional sports league or team, while they rely on other teams and leagues to produce a product of outcome to make a sustainable business out of it. 1.2 Why do clubs either focus on winning or maximising profits? Models often used to discuss how sports leagues tend to behave are primarily the trend if club owners either aims for maximise profits (El-Hodiri & Quirk, 1971) or wins (Kà ©senne, 2000). It is seen that the North American major sports leagues and the European leagues supports the assumptions that clubs uses a trade-off point of profit and wins (Atkinson, Stanley, & Tschirhart, 1988). The most optimal for leagues and clubs should be to aim towards finding a model that balances the weighted sum of profit and wins (Dietl, Grossmann, & Lang, 2011). Therefor we sometimes see teams and leagues that work after gaining profit and economic benefits for survival, and on the other side we see the teams and leagues that works towards winning as their main goal and business objective. Some owners of team are even willing to lose or invest money to build a winning team in the long run (Fort & Quirk 2005). 1.3 Where does the government fit in to the market of sports? There are two main reasons why governments intervene in sports: efficiency and equity (Andreff, 2001). Efficiency reports to the allocation of production resources. That involves sharing and allocation of who does what, how will it be done and where it will be produced. In other words, government and state supplies the right people and funding so that sport production from all levels are made as efficient as possible. Equity on the other hand are concerned how the distribution of the market will benefit and gain throughout society (McWha, Smith, & Clarke, 2000). Meaning that the government and state joins up to gain the participation and enrolment of sport from youth and grassroots levels so that as many as possible can get the chance of getting involved with sports programs. Government tends to use sports funding to gain a bigger and broader social wellbeing and strengthen national identities while gaining and providing the country with more talent and more competitive power on an i nternational scale (McWha, Smith, & Clarke, 2000). Government bodies also ensure that rules are followed and that the regulatory framework for how the organisations operate are followed correctly. 2. Key Issues The sports culture between Europe and America varies a lot. All from regulating, formatting and design and managing are way different from each side of the Atlantic. The way that the American sports leagues are formed is that they are built as independent organisations which has an entry barrier through franchise sales. This means that a new entry to the league is only possible if a current team is for sale of if the league are in a need of open up for expansion (Cain, Louis & Haddock, 2005). In Europe they use an open model, which is seen as a hierarchical structure where entry relies fully on a promotion/relegation system (Andreff, 1989). 2.1 European Football Football is by far the world’s most popular sport with over 3.5 billion fans worldwide (Dunning, 1999) The English Barclays Premier League had in the season of 2009-2010 revenues worth of  £2.1 billion, which by then was a record for the league (Conn, 2011). Now a few years later, a new broadcast deal has been signed and together with the worlds most expensive regular tickets prices, the revenues will be worth nearly  £5 million (Pantanella, 2012). With an promising and an substantial uplift of the already massive broadcast deals of the 2013/2014 season, the English Premier League will account for more then the half of the top 20 clubs with the highest revenue of Europe (Bosshardt, Bridge, Hanson, Shaffer, Stenson & Thorpe, 2013). From the roots, the clubs throughout Europe is voluntary organisations. But with the new age of media, commercialisation and globalisation; the bigger and the dominant clubs are more seen as business entities with capital, a vision of profit and the responsibility of results for the fans (Boyle & Haynes, 2004). According to the Deloitte annually edition of the Football Money League, the Spanish giant Real Madrid became the first European club team to surpass the â‚ ¬500 million (AUD 658 million) revenue threshold in one year during the season of 2011/2012. Second on that list is Barcelona FC with AUD 619 million and third is the English sided Manchester United FC on AUD 508 million (Bosshardt, Bridge, Hanson, Shaffer, Stenson & Thorpe, 2013) With this amount of money being shoved in and out of the football organisation in Europe it is hard to see why there would be a need of government intervention other than how the regulations of the sharing of the deals will be spent. The bigger, the better and the more popular the club are, the more fans they will attract and the more TV viewers they will get (Fort & Quirk, 2005). In Spain there are no regulations or laws of the distribution of the broadcast revenue at all. They are letting every club negotiate individually with the broadcasters available on the market. Since the season of the Spanish La Liga 2004/2005, there has only been one year when a team (Villareal 07/08) other then Real Madrid and Barcelona clinched the first two spots of the table (List of Champions – Sport Soccer Statistic Foundation, 2013). Thanks to this system, the league has almost lost its competitive balance for the rest of the teams of the league while the two dominant teams clinch the best com mercial-deals for the league for themselves and the spots of continental competition. The English Premier League has also been dominated by the classic â€Å"top 4† teams, Chelsea FC, Manchester United FC, Arsenal FC and Liverpool FC. Since the English Football League First Division rebranded itself to the Barclays Premier League in 1992, there has only been one season where a team outside of the former mentioned to become Champions (Blackburn Rovers 94/95), and since then there has only been Leeds United that has been able to steal a top three place in the table from the â€Å"top 4† teams (Past Winners – The Football League, 2013). The sharing of the broadcast rights revenue in England is shared in three parts: 50% are shared equally throughout all 20 clubs, 25% in facility fees and 25% depending how they end up in the league (Premier League Season Review, 2011). With this numbers in mind, the money attracted to certain clubs seen as being more economically viable than others, comes from individual contracts, endorsements and overseas business opportunities and sponsorships, not exclusive from broadcast rights. This is where the problem is. A trend of overseas rich oligopolies taking over ownerships of European clubs has formed an international debate whether the ethics and moral of the competitive balance of the sport. With almost immeasurable amounts of money, a civil person can by the majority of shares of a team and transform it to a name-reputational team with gaining high-value player transfers and offers high wages (Vrooman, 1995). The government and the state bodies around Europe have since 2009 together with UEFA agreed on putting a motion of a so-called Financial Fair Play. It was introduced due to the concern of the heavy spending of a number of professional clubs across Europe, it was hoped that the regulations would eventually lead to a more ‘level playing field’ by preventing clubs with very wealthy owners who make substantial cash gifts to their club from gaining an unfair advantage over other clubs who are run on a more sustainable business model, and in so doing encourage lower levels of spending (UEFA, 2012). 2.2 Other leagues Over the Atlantic Ocean there is a whole other perspective of sports. America has uniquely formed a fundamental culture, where schools and colleges are to be the main resource of forming the professional leagues (Bottenburg, 2010). Leagues in America have the world’s most profitable league; the National Football League (NFL) that alone draws in an annual profit of over one billion Australian dollars (Seepersaud 2010) The American Leagues are seen as the most competitive-balanced leagues in the world, with leagues as the NFL, NHL, MLB and the NBA. In America they use a variety of implements of their formatting of the leagues to make it as fair and as competitive as possible. But the how the competitive balance work in practise varies from eye to eye. As mentioned before, America uses a closed league system. Thanks to that it is possible for them to use a so called draft system, where the lowest ranking team from previous season has the opportunity to choose first in the upcoming draft of young talents from all over the world. NFL, NBA and NHL also implemented salary caps, which give the teams over the league a total amount of money to spend on wages each season so that not one single team is the only one to afford the biggest names. They also have a season concluded with a knockout play-off. This kind of formatting makes the outcome each year impossible to range. Since the commercialisation of the sports imploded America there has only been few back-to-back wins in the professional leagues. There has been some dominance by teams as the Los Angeles Lakers (NBA), New York Yankees (MLB), but other than that the outcome is considerably uncertain from year to year. Not least in the NHL and the NFL. 3. Summary Since most of the European clubs are win-maximised focused teams with the main aim to survive and stay as high up in the league system as possible, the intervention of government and state should be as low as possible. For the participants of the game they really do not need any actions to be taken from the government other than regulating the safety on the pitch with guards and police forces protecting them to unknown elements of danger. They will all get paid, and if they are good enough to seek themselves elsewhere for more lucrative deals, the already government-applied silly-season and the transfer-windows will secure them and the clubs. In America the draft system and college involvement should be enough for the government’s involvement. Since the American sports leagues are working after a cartel linked system to survive and make profits, the salary cap helps younger and inexperienced players to secure wage-deals that suits them in their careers. The fans will always be together and involved with their club unless something drastic will happen. The way that government should intervene to keep fans from all levels satisfy are to maybe try to manage and put pressure on leagues and clubs to keep their gate-tickets as fair and lucrative as possible. With the draft system and the Financial Fair Play, the fans from teams and clubs that have not gained the trophies or cups recently, will be to their advantage in a near future. This will make a higher competitive market for talents and that the spread of players will be wider overall. Community will get help of government involvement of them interact and supply state and government supported facilities by bringing either existing clubs or future franchises to their community. This is a form of politic question that involves tax-money and an overall public demand. As long as the leagues and the teams manage to keep a sustainable competitive balance and a high quality outcome, I do not see why governments should interact and interfere with how the sports leagues are managed today. The Financial Fair Play is too soon to reflect on how it will work out as an outcome for the European football, but we can already see that it has marked its point in countries as Turkey and Spain when UEFA banned Besiktas and Malaga from continental competition due to overspending of their own capacity. The government should work from the community’s perspective; keep a full-on investigation and reporting about drugs and safety of players and athletes. In short, let the leagues and sports manage themselves, because in the end it is all about keeping the most important stakeholders happy and satisfied, the fans.

Implementation on teaching and learning approach

Nizwa College of Technology ( NCT ) follows a strategic program to accomplish its Vision and Mission as stated in NCT College Strategic Plan ( CSP ) . One of the ends of NCT is to offer high quality of instruction, larning and developing chances to all its pupils in line with the demands of the market [ Goal 2, NCT CSP ] . To guarantee that all the sub-goals [ Sub-Goal 2.a, 2.b, 2.c, 2.d ] pertaining to instruction and acquisition are achieved, the College through the Assistant Dean of Academics ( AD Academics ) encourages all academic staff to implement the ADRI [ QAM, p73 ] analysis in their instruction and larning map. The ADRI theoretical account for learning and acquisition is developed by AD Academics and is traveling to be presented in 13 June 2010 in the International Conference on Higher Education and Quality Assurance in Mazoon College, Muscat.DeploymentIn line with its aims, the first NCT Quality Assurance workshop for the College staff was conducted on 16th October 2008 w here one of the subjects discussed is ADRI theoretical account. In his presentation, AD Academics explained to the participants how to efficaciously utilize the ADRI theoretical account in the assorted procedures they are making in the behavior of their work. He specifically provided an ADRI theoretical account related to class bringing and other related activities. The AD Academics requested the academic staff to get down utilizing ADRI in their instruction and larning map. The execution of the ADRI analysis in NCT started in Semester 1, 2008-2009. To promote more staff to get down utilizing ADRI, the AD Academics launched the â€Å" Best ADRI † competition among the staff for A.Y. 2008-2009. A staff from IT has won the competition by coming up with the most elaborate ADRI for his class in IT Project. A 2nd ADRI presentation was conducted on 26th of May 2009 attended by about 110 NCT lectors. Harmonizing to NCT QAFU Portal, â€Å" the AD Academics emphasized in his presentation the importance of utilizing the theoretical account in placing programs for learning every academic twelvemonth, purely following the said program, analysing the consequences afterwards, and so supplying suggestions for betterment to be carried out in the succeeding academic twelvemonth. He expound on the usage of the ADRI theoretical account in learning by giving illustrations and activities a lector can supply in each phase of the ADRI theoretical account, from attack to betterment. He said that it is really of import for the college to hold a unvarying execution of the ADRI theoretical account, peculiarly in learning and acquisition, so that an institutional criterion can be followed in respects the quality confidence work in this country. † At the beginning, it was observed that merely 10 % of the academic staff is implementing ADRI analysis in instruction and acquisition and most of the staff have doubts on how to implement it decently. Likewise, many new staff has arrived in the College that needed orientation on ADRI so a 3rd presentation was given by the AD Academics on 8th February 2010 to familiarise new staff with how ADRI analysis could be implemented in their maps. Similarly, a new competition for â€Å" Best ADRI † for the current academic twelvemonth was initiated and the engagement is about 40 % . A study on ADRI Implementation in Teaching and Learning as shown in Appendix A was conducted in NCT to verify the consciousness of all academic staff. The study besides tries to get information from staff sing the importance of ADRI in their academic work and acquire feedback on the possibility of ADRI execution in other countries of work. Furthermore, the study tries to obtain feedback on jobs in ADRI execution and possible ways of bettering the usage of ADRI in NCT. The study was conducted in all academic sections of NCT including the Business ( Bus ) Department, English Language Center ( ELC ) , Engineering ( Engg ) Department and Information Technology ( IT ) Department. There are 47 % respondents or 73 out of 155 academic staff interrupt down into 18 respondents from Business, 10 from Engineering, 27 from ELC and 22 from IT section. The questionnaire has a sum of 22 inquiries which take the respondents feedback and perceptual experience on ADRI Awareness ( Aw ) , Acquisition ( Ac ) , Usefulness ( Us ) and Effectiveness ( Ef ) . Open-ended inquiries were besides included in the study to take the respondents sentiment and suggestions sing ADRI execution in instruction and acquisition.ConsequencesTable 1Percept of Staff on ADRI Implementation Harmonizing to Awareness, Acquisition, Usefulness and Effectiveness ( measured on a 5-point graduated table )The consequence on Table 1 shows that the respondents agree that there is an â€Å" mean † consciousness on ADRI in footings of the information posted on the NCT web site, as a clear tool for appraisal and in footings of relaxation in implementing ADRI independently. The respondents besides perceived â€Å" mean † acquisition in footings of similitude to utilize ADRI in their everyday work. Respondents besides perceived ADRI as â€Å" mean † in foot ings of utility in heightening the pupil ‘s acquisition, as a tool for professional growing and for informing the staff how good they teach. In footings of effectivity, the respondents perceived that ADRI as â€Å" mean † in supplying better planning to academic work, increasing pupil interaction and engagement, and in bettering pupil ‘s consciousness.Table 2Percentage of YES Responses to ADRI Awareness QuestionsSurvey ItemsBusinessELCEngineeringInformation technologyPercentageAw1a94 89 100 100 96Aw1b50 74 20 27 43Aw272 78 80 95 81Aw383 70 80 55 72Aw483 89 80 82 84 Based on table 2, it is clear that 96 % of the respondents are cognizant of ADRI and 43 % of the respondents have non used any self-assessment tool other than ADRI in their calling. 81 % of the respondents have used ADRI in their work but 72 % among them think that they still need aid in implementing it. Another 84 % agree that ADRI could be implemented in work other than learning.Table 3Percentage of YES Responses to ADRI Acquisition QuestionsSurvey ItemsBusinessELCEngineeringInformation technologyPercentageAc172 63 90 73 75Ac278 56 50 50 59Ac356 59 60 59 59 Harmonizing to Table 3, 75 % of the respondents agree that utilizing ADRI has increased their accomplishments and 59 % prefer utilizing ADRI to other self-assessment tools and would besides wish to implement ADRI every semester for learning and acquisition.Table 4Percentage of YES Responses to Usability QuestionsSurvey ItemsBusinessELCEngineeringInformation technologyPercentageUs156 59 50 64 57Us244 15 60 32 38Us367 56 90 73 72Us450 48 90 45 58 Table 4 shows that 57 % of the respondents think that ADRI helps in the immediate accommodation of learning pattern and 58 % agree that ADRI could be used to give justification of pupil results. Merely 38 % of the respondents agree that ADRI can be used to turn to all issues of instruction and larning although 72 % of them believe that it could be used to mensurate the booby traps and deficits in instruction and acquisition. Using the same study, feedback and suggestions were taken from the academic staff. Based on the feedbacks gathered, it is singular that utilizing ADRI made the academic staff aware of the importance of planning and good deployment attack in accomplishing the best consequences and covering more learning results. Harmonizing to the study, ADRI is the best tool for self-reflection and in happening out the countries that needs betterment and alteration. Furthermore, respondents agree that ADRI made the class bringing be aftering more effectual and helped a batch in bettering class stuffs, learning AIDSs and other teaching resources and methodological analysiss. They all agree that betterments from self-assessment utilizing ADRI has a great impact on the pupils ‘ category engagement and involvement in the category. Some of the notable and interesting positive responses from the study are as follows: â€Å" It made me more observant of what is go oning in the category and more sensitive to pupil ‘s demands † â€Å" We can measure ourselves in a better manner † â€Å" Better self-contemplation into manners of instruction, improved consciousness of the demand to better and modify certain countries † â€Å" No other better nutrient can replace ADRI in all our plants † â€Å" ADRI is passing the whole instruction procedure † â€Å" Any professional instructor unconsciously uses ADRI without believing about it † â€Å" ADRI is non a new tool, it is an in-built nature of the human existences † Most of the respondents feel that ADRI could be implemented efficaciously if the semester continuance is longer and some of them feel that ADRI becomes uneffective if academic staff is given different classs every semester because there will be no continuity and the betterments made based on the consequences can non be implemented. Some of the important negative responses from the study are as follows: â€Å" It requires more clip and paper work † â€Å" Since we are non certain about learning the same class once more, ‘Improvement ‘ portion of ADRI is less practical † â€Å" Analytic survey utilizing ADRI become less relevant for uninterrupted quality betterment which must be carried out the undermentioned semester or rhythm of learning and larning † â€Å" Deficit of clip † â€Å" It is acquiring progressively hard to make anything because of increased bureaucratism, lesson program composing, memos, meeting, test readying, pupil monitoring, etc. †ImprovementAlthough 81 % of the respondents have used ADRI in their work and hold on the effectivity of utilizing ADRI in learning and acquisition, there is still 72 % that suggests for more information and workshops for better apprehension and execution. Some of the respondents suggested that best ADRI illustrations might be selected and discussed during the workshops so that more staff and pupils could profit from the procedure. Some of the respondents besides suggested that academic staff be required to fix ADRI merely in one ( 1 ) class per semester and ADRI could be implemented in all classs when all the staff is already familiar in utilizing it. Based on the consequences gathered from the study, NCT through the AD of Academic Affairs is be aftering for more workshops sing ADRI execution on instruction and acquisition. The workshops will be by section so that more issues can be addressed. The best ADRI from the 2 competitions will be disseminated to all the staff so that that they will hold more information on how to fix ADRI and same ADRI samples will be discussed during departmental workshops. During the workshops, staff from each section could be grouped together and inquire to fix an ADRI based on a given instance scenario.

Coral Reef Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

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JetBlue Airline S.W.O.T analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

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Partnership vs.Corporation (Taxation) Assignment

Partnership vs.Corporation (Taxation) - Assignment Example Advantages and disadvantages related to becoming a corporation Incorporating a business has many merits attached to it. A corporate business has many structures that make it enjoy protection from liability. Corporation also has ease of growth. It is also easy to transfer ownership to another. It is flexible and never rigid. The major disadvantage of a corporation is the double taxation that is levied upon the firm/corporation (Piper, 2008). The taxation is levied at the corporation level and the individual earnings are taxed. There are also fee charged for maintaining the status of a corporation and that of keeping and running corporate meetings throughout the year. In spite of these demerits attached to the corporation, it is important to note that it is easy for a corporation to go public. A corporation enjoys liability protection. In a corporation, owners and stakeholders are given indemnity from the debt incurred by the corporation. In case of the default and the bankruptcy of a corporation, owners and stakeholders do not come to be part of the debt. Therefore, individuals in the corporation cannot suffer. The personal assets and corporation assets are not interfered with in case a corporation is unable to pay its debts. Thought the corporation face double taxations; there exist cases where they are given tax breaks. A corporate business gains trust from the public and business entities as it is considered a professional entities. These give it business advantage due to its status and legality. Advantages and disadvantages of being in partnership Partnership is an agreement reached between two or more people to finance an organization or a business and run it together. In partnership, the business is independent from the partners however; the losses and profits flow through their individual taxes. Advantages of business partnership include: There are no complex details attached to establishing a partnership. It is easy to form The capacity to raise funds is greater as more partners have a higher bargaining power. They can thus get access to loans easily. There is a wider range of expertise skills. People often have different knowledge and skills; this puts the organization or the business at an advantaged position because of the possibility of varied range of knowledge and skills. Partnership can be cheaper t operate as each partner specializes in a section thus higher level of concentrated output. Partnership is important because partners mean good for the business; they thus provide moral support for each other. They may also open up for creative performance as they brainstorm Disadvantages of Business Partnership Business and the individual partners are directly liable for any action of the business and other partners The profits have to be shared in amongst people. This may raise conflict when one partner or partners feel that their contributions to the business are greater than other. This may create conflicts. There are various limitations associated with partnership, which makes it not conducive for rapid expansion. The main demerit associated with partnership is that individual members are liable to a greater degree for the liability of the business. 2. How partnership minimizes tax liability. Prepare a response as to why partnership was the best option Partnership is advantageous because it limits personal obligation to an individual but it indebts it to the partners in the organization collectively. Partnership is also

Why Projects Fail In Airbus-A380 In Singapore Airline Essay

Why Projects Fail In Airbus-A380 In Singapore Airline - Essay Example From this research it is clear that Airbus had high expectations regarding its most ambitious project of A380. It was a commercial aircraft, intended to guide in the new age of superjumbo airplane. It was also aimed to carry about 800 travellers and crewmembers. The problem with the project arrived during 2006 when the pre-assembled wiring, manufactured in Hamburg, Germany plant failed to be adjusted appropriately in the A380 aircraft frame. The wiring was designed by utilising old version of CATIA, an application commonly used in the aviation industry, where the body of A380 was manufactured by using upgraded version of similar application. Unfortunately, these versions were incompatible with each other and therefore, during the project lifecycle phase, the capability to share the design of aircraft between these two plants was conceded. As a consequence, considerable number of fabricated cabins developed could not be adjusted in the airplane. Hence, Airbus had no other option than halting the manufacturing work, delaying the deliveries of Aircrafts for two years and remodelling the wiring system. The expenses of the project failure exceeded about US$6 billion, positioning the program about two years behind the planned schedule. For any project to be successful, organisations must meet the delivery and production obligations made to its customers. However, Airbus was unable to fulfil its obligations towards the customers owing to the above stated problems causing the Airbus A380 project failure.

Platos Theory of Knowledge Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Platos Theory of Knowledge - Essay Example The theory rests in the myth that describes people chained within a cave. The only images they see are the shadows of objects and animals held in front of a fire that is behind them that reflects on the cave walls in front of them. That is all they had ever seen so that is what they believe to be real. One day a man escaped the cave and went outside. With the sun he saw what was real in the world and realized all he ever saw were just shadows. He went back to the men in the cave and told them all this. He told them that they too could see the outside if they broke free of their chains but they didn't believe him. The environment of the cave to Plato symbolizes the physical world of appearances. Escaping into the sun-filled world means the transition into the real world that is full and perfect. A world where things are not viewed only in a material sense. It is here that the whole of Plato's philosophy is summed up. Plato's theory of knowledge is devoted to definitions of science and knowledge. Developing the argument from the lower consciousness to the higher consciousness, in which perception, opinion, reasoning are closely examined. Cornford F.M in his interpretations "Plato's Theory of Knowledge", the phrase "degrees of reality" is found in many commentaries to describe the aforementioned hierarchy. Vlastos' "A Metaphysical Paradox" and "Degrees of Reality in Plato." Cornford describes this as "a distinct order of realities." Plato's ethical theory rests on the assumption that virtue is knowledge and can be taught, which has to be understood in terms of his theory of Forms. One of his famous arguments is that to "know the good is to do the good". Being the world of forms, which is the proper object of knowledge. Of interest to our discussion is his later work that features Socrates and his pupil theaetetus in a dialogue named after the latter. Theaetetus is introduced to us as a valiant and a hero of the battle of Corinth and of the dialogue. He is a disciple of Theodorus, a reputed geometrician, whose specialization is thus indicated to be the propaedeutic to philosophy. Theaetetus is introduced as wounded and also as having several similarities with Socrates, same contrast sharp mind and the unattractive features. Theodorus presents the younger man as courageous, intelligent and selfless. These qualities are seen as dialogue heats up.. Socrates is impressed by these credentials and invites theaetetus in a witty discussion on different issues. After overcoming the initial sense of wonder, he rises to the occasion, and begins to follow the flow of the discussion eventually he's able to comprehend the consequences of his own answers. The question about the "nature of knowledge" opens his mind and encourages him to think not only in a mathematical sense which he is used to but also in metaphysical sense. Eventually it dawns on him that "there are universal conceptions of being, likeness, sameness, number, which the mind contemplates in her." In the dialogues Plato devotes himself to coining definitions of knowledge, conception, science and the like but at the same time tearing down the same definitions in an attempt to invoke in the mind of the student a desperation that will cause critical thinking. In the first part when asked his opinion

Strategic Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 12

Strategic Management - Essay Example A combination of competitive advantage and the various activities in Porter’s value chain enables the firm to attain an above average performance in the market. Cost leadership involves offering the goods and services to the consumers at a lower price as compared to the competition. The major goal of cost leadership is to provide consumers with the product at low prices and specific quality level. This approach ensures that, and the firm’s products are availed to the consumers at a price which is lower than that of the competition. Cost leadership is effective in the basic commodity industry such as pulp, tissue paper, food color and other basic products. Differentiation, on the other hand, emphasizes on quality which is the opposite of cost leadership. Differentiation aims at providing quality products to consumers at appropriate prices hence increasing the profits. Cost leadership and differentiation strategies can be achieved by organizing the five activities of Porter’s value chain model effectively. The two main ways in which cost leadership can be achieved through Porter’s value chain model include, the firm may choose to lower the cost of the various activities in Porter’s value chain model or reconfigure the activities in the model to minimize cost. An analysis of the cost of the various value chain activities is done by allocating cost to each of the activities in Porter’s Value Chain. The lowest cost obtained on each of the value chain used in the production process ensuring low-product cost. Cost advantage can also be achieved by reconfiguring the activities in Porter’s Value Chain model. This involves implementing structural changes such as the production process, new procurement and distribution process and adopting a new sales approach. The process of reconfiguring the value chain model activities is done to ensure low cost of production, marketing, distribution and purchasing from the

Customer Satisfaction of Standard Hotels in Tagaytay City Essay Example for Free

Customer Satisfaction of Standard Hotels in Tagaytay City Essay Introduction The hotel industry grew with travel, as people needed places for shelter and food along the routes they travelled, whether by land, water or air. The hotel industry is, therefore, one of the oldest endeavors in the world. (Andrews, 2009) Owners of the hotel realized that a customer has their own demand in services and facilities, that is why they developed what the hotels are offering before through what are the customer’s needs. The Hotel Proprietors Act 1956 provides a clear definition of a hotel: An establishment held out by the proprietor as offering food, drink and, if so, required, sleeping accommodation, without special contract, to any traveler presenting himself who appears able and willing to pay a reasonable sum for the services and facilities provided and who is in a fit state to be received. Hotels can be classified into different types according to their target market, size, location, facilities or ownership. (Baker.,Huyton., Bradley., 2000) Recently, the hotel industry trends towards separating the services sector between hotels. Many hotels nowadays offer recreation for a particular group of tourists. Popular family hotels, hotels for the newlyweds and hotels for people with disabilities, each of them has its unique set of services. Among the services that are indirectly related to the customers, that means that they are not involved in direct care of guests, are marketing service and bookkeeping of the hotel. Reservation, once considered one of the main hotel services, today has become an anachronism. Nowadays, in order to book a hotel clients use the services of the major tour operators. Online booking through the numerous tourist online services is getting increasingly popular. Booking.com says it offers 202,842 hotels globally. STR Global estimates that there are 187,000 hotels, offering 17.5 million guest rooms, around the globe. The Priceline Group’s supply included 200,900 hotels through March 19, Susquehanna estimates, and during the first quarter it was adding about 1,541 properties (hotels, apartment hotels, motels, hotels, residence hotels, BB’s and guest houses) per week. (tnooz.com, 2012) In the Philippines, hotels can be classified into four categories: De Luxe class, First class, Standard class, and Economy class. The higher the star rating of the hotel is, the higher its luxury level. De Luxe has 30, First class has 16, Standard has 83 and Economy has 43 as of September 2011. (tourism.gov.ph, 2011) One of the famous tourist destinations is Tagaytay City. In order for the place to accommodate guests; they have nine hotels that were accredited by the Department of Tourism. Standard Hotels offer an affordable stay and provide all basic amenities to the tourists. These hotels are considered as the best option for all those people who look out for affordable accommodations and dont find it sensible wasting money over unnecessary facilities. (EzineArticles.com) Republic Act No. 7160 otherwise known as the Local Government Code of 1991Section 5. Requirements for a standard class hotel: Location, Bedroom facilities and furnishings, Front office/reception, Housekeeping, Food and Beverage, Engeering and Maintenance, General Facilities, Service and Staff, Special Facilities. (tourism.gov.ph) Background of the Study Tagaytay has a lots of business establishments that can affect ones operations. There are a lot of hotels and establishments in Tagaytay that offer different accommodations, amenities and services such as Bed and Breakfast, Inns, Apartment Hotels, Apartel and other establishments located in Tagaytay City. Hotel Dominique welcomes the guests into a charming European – style chalet in the cool countryside of Tagaytay. The guests can hole up in a Balinese suite or cabana with direct access to the pool. But they’re more than just one place to stay. Hotel Dominique imparts the feeling of â€Å"home† when they greet guests with the warmest of smiles and attend you your needs promptly. And whether the guests spend their days sampling their signature dishes or getting a massage, guests can always come back to a room that looks like the very first day they saw it. (hoteldominique.net,2011) Hotel Kimberly nestled close to Tagaytay City’s cafà © district. It offers elegant accommodation, modern facilities, and genuine hospitality of its friendly and efficient staff. All these set against the floral landscapes, breathtaking scenery, year-round cool climate, and wonderfully idyllic atmosphere of Tagaytay City. (hotelkimberly.com, 2012) The Lake Hotel Tagaytay offers charming, unbelievably serene spaces. With each reasonably priced accommodation you’re sure to finally be in a place where everything becomes unforgettable. (thelakehotel-tagaytaycity.com,2010) Discovery Country Suites in Tagaytay focuses only on giving you these special moments that you simply will never simply forget. Whether being awed by breathtaking views of Taal Volcano and Lake or lounging away at our distinctively themed rooms, every second spent here should be savored. For some, these uninhibited pleasures may seem trivial and even insignificant. But it is these little moments that inspire us the most. (discoverycountrysuites-tagaytay.com,2012) One Tagaytay Place Hotel suites offers a refreshing vibe of Tagaytay, let our hotel’s cozy rooms and amenities tickle your senses. Stay in bed a little longer and enjoy the sumptuous comforts of a richly furnished guestroom. Indulge in local and international cuisine, Tagaytay delicacies, spa treatments, and other pleasurable choices. Go celebrate life’s most important events with friends and family at the Aurora Grand Ballroom. Live that perfect day at One Tagaytay Place Hotel Suites. (onetagaytayplace.com,2012) Days Hotel Tagaytay is an affordable luxury. An ambiance of carefully cultured elegance.Architecture, appointments and amenities of distinction.Outstanding customer service.Awesome cuisines from all over the world.Addictive flavors and captivating tastes.Creature comforts without compromise.Dedication to enhancing everyday expectations.Pleasant surprises that ensure every guest leaves happy. It all comes together in the Best Value under the Sun. (dayshotel.ph, 2012) Statement of the Problem This study will determine the level of guests satisfaction experienced by the customers through the services they offer and help to improve their services on guests. Specifically, the study sought to answer the following questions: 1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of: a) Age b) Gender c) Educational Attainment d) Monthly Income e) Place of Origin 2. What are the levels of guest satisfaction of Standard Hotels in Tagaytay in terms of: a) Accommodation b) Front Office Service c) Facilities and amenities d) Food and Beverage Service 3. Is there a significant difference between the ratings of the respondents based on the criteria set by the Department of Tourism on the different services provided to guests by standard hotels in Tagaytay City? 4. Is there significant relationship between the profile variable of the respondents to the ratings on there level og satisfaction? 5. What action plan can be proposed? Significance of the Study This study will be beneficial to the following: Province of Cavite. This study will benefit by knowing the strategies on how to encourage tourists to visit Cavite by means of this, Cavite may attract more tourists because of the quality of the rendered services and accommodation by the hotels. Tagaytay City. This study will benefit by improving or increasing the tourists arrival in Tagaytay City. Hotel Industry. This study will benefit by helping the hotel industry to improve their service and products to the better service and strategies of their competitive life. As well as the management and staff of the hotel, and also the customers. Students. This study will benefit by helping the students to have an idea concerning the service of an establishment, which can make their study easier and realistic. Future Researchers. This study will benefitby using our study asreference or source of other studies to be conducted. Scope and limitation The researchers cover the guest and employees of standard hotels in Tagaytay city. The study is limited to six (6) standard hotels accredited by Department of Tourism in Tagaytay city. They are the respondents of the study. They will evaluate and analyze the whole production of standard hotel in Tagaytay city.The researchers will conduct a survey to 120 respondents, 20 respondents per standard hotel. Definition of Terms Accommodation- is anything done to adjust with the expectations of others. It is equated so as to address needs and wishes or to reconcile contradictory interpretations of things. Accreditation is a process in which certification of competency, authority, or credibility is presented. Amenities- Something that contributes to physical or material comfort. things that make you comfortable and at ease. Anachronism – an error in which a person, object, event, etc., is assigned a date or period other than the correct one. Department of Tourism – is the executive department of the Philippine governmentresponsible for the regulation of the Philippine tourism industry and the promotion of the Philippines as a tourist destination. Facilities – something designed, built, installed, etc,. to serve a specific function affording a convenience or service. Food and Beverage – which is the sector/industry that specializes in the conceptualization, the making of, and delivery of foods. The largest are in restaurants and bars, including hotels, resorts, and casinos. Front Office – welcomes guests to the accommodation section: meeting and greeting them, taking and organizing reservations, allocating check in and out of rooms, organizing porter service, issuing keys and other security arrangements, passing on messages to customers and settling the accounts. Guest – a person who receives the hospitality of a hotel, a city. A person who patronizes a hotel, restaurant, etc. for the lodging, food, or entertainment it provide. Guest Satisfaction is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. Satisfaction an act of satisfying; fulfillment; gratification. The state of being satisfied or contentment. . The researchers cover the guest and employees of standard hotels in Tagaytay City. The study is limited to six (6) standard hotels accredited by Department of Tourism in Tagaytay City. They are the respondents of the study. They will evaluate and analyze the whole production of standard hotel in Tagaytay city. The researchers will conduct a survey to 120 respondents, 20 respondents per standard hotel. Definition of Terms Accreditation – is a process in which certification of competency, authority, or credibility is presented. Anachronism – an error in which a person, object, event, etc., is assigned a date or period other than the correct one. Department of Tourism – is the executive department of the government responsible for the regulation of the Philippine tourism industry and the promotion of the Philippines as a tourist destination. Guest – a person who receives the hospitality of a hotel, a city. A person who patronizes a hotel, restaurant, etc. for the lodging, food, or entertainment it provides. Guest Satisfaction – is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. Satisfaction – an act of satisfying; fulfillment; gratification. The state of being satisfied or contentment.

Prejudice, Stereotyping and Discrimination on the Web Essay Example for Free

Prejudice, Stereotyping and Discrimination on the Web Essay People think that racism and discrimination doesn’t exist anymore, but surprisingly they do; both existed throughout human history. Discrimination may be defined as a negative, harmful behaviour toward people based on their group membership. Whereas prejudice which is an opinion rather than a fact; is a negative attitude toward members of a group, that is often very strongly held. Stereotypes are individuals beliefs that members of a group share particular attributes; someone might think that Arabs are terrorists, or doctors are intelligent and compassionate. Unlike prejudice and discrimination-terms that refer to negative attitudes or actions- stereotypes can be either positive or negative. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict will never end, and each individual has a different opinion about it. Ahmed Ramie is a Moroccan-Swedish writer and Holocaust denier, also the founder of the radio station Radio Islam which now operates as a website. Radio Islam is a website owned by a group of freedom fighters from different countries in support of Ahmed Ramies global struggle. Radio Islam is a website that is trying to promote better relations between the West and the Arab and Muslim World; its against racism of all kids and forms also against all kinds of discrimination of people based on their color of skin and faith. Meta-Stereotypes are a persons belief about the stereotype that out-group members hold concerning his or her own group; for example Arabs would believe that Jews hold a negative stereotype of their group (terrorists). Meta-stereotype differs depending on each group; Arabs may hold negative stereotypes against Jews (Occupants). Each group may hold different opinions; Palestinians may consider that their victims of the chosen people (the Jews). Each group believes that they hold the right opinions about others and some of them would never change their opinion. Another hate site that depicts hate towards Jews is Kinsman Redeemer Ministrie, Pastor Mark Downe is strongly honest with his opinion towards Jews, and his title is why we hate Jews. Scapegoat theory is a theory proposing that prejudice occurs because members of dominant groups use discrimination against members of weak target groups to vent their frustration and disappointment. People become frustrated during difficult economic time and tend to take out their frustration on weak targets, for example Jews in Nazi Germany in the late 1930s when Hitler roused anger against Jews by claiming they had too much economic power and blaming them for the impact of the worldwide depression on Germany. Jews were an outcast that many Germans disliked, but when Hitler started his campaign of propaganda, some Germans followed his league. But theres a difference between these two sites; Radio Islam is against Zionism not Judaism, where Kinsman Redeemer Ministries talks specifically about Jews and lists different reasons why people should hate them. One man started this propaganda and changed the whole world, now Hitler is gone but people still carry on with his campaign and spread the hate and racism among others. People should be more considerate about other peoples opinions and beliefs and not hurt them by hate websites or picking on them. Each person in this world is a unique individual who shouldnt be judged based on his/her religion, color, sexuality or ethnicity. Prejudice against overweight women is common now a day, people who are overweight are the targets of widespread prejudice and discrimination, and they may find difficulties finding a job or travelling. Some groups hold hate towards other overweight people, they believe that the fat gene is not an excuse and obesity should not be common among us. If an obese saw a hate website about overweight groups they would feel ashamed and upset that they would eat more rather than fixing their problem. Old-Fashioned Prejudice is one of the forms of prejudice; the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is name of three distinct past and present right-wing organizations in the United States. After the American Civil War the KKK was created on December 24, 1865, this group represents the White Christian civilization they believe in many concepts and rights that should be essential to civilized and moral society. Some people might find them as ignorant and racist but they are certainly convinced about their beliefs and actions towards illegal immigrants and black people. On one of the hate websites KKK they mention white all the time that others might be offended and bothered, their mission is to live in a country with white people only. Again Frustration caused this group it started after the War before that people didn’t mind black people. Martin Luther King has become a human rights icon and he represented all African Americans; he fought for their rights since the 50s. Throughout the history till the present African Americans still might feel discriminated and an outcast. Stereotypes is a huge effect on people and how they feel about others, a kid might not think of a Black man in the middle of the night as a killer or a thief but as this kid grows older and starts watching television and surfing the internet this persons thoughts will change and develop hate towards Black people and somehow fear. In all I would like to wrap up this assignment with saying that Im totally against judging a book from its cover, some people might hate all Jews because some of them occupied Palestine or some Jews would hate all Germans because some of them slaughtered them. But I think thats not only racist but its ignorant, all people should be treated the same and those hate websites can convince teenagers to turn into a hater and Im surprised how they exist from the first place. Websites I visited: -http://radioislam. org/islam/english/index_zion1. htm -http://www. kinsmanredeemer. com/WhyWeHateJews. htm -http://ihatefatpeople. wordpress. com/ -http://www. kkk. bz/.

Changes to the Urban Population in America

Changes to the Urban Population in America The Urban Frontier The New Immigration Southern Europe Uprooted Reactions to the New Immigration Narrowing the Welcome Mat Churches Confront the Urban Challenge Darwin Disrupts the Churches The Lust for Learning Booker T. Washington and Education for Black People The Hallowed Halls of Ivy The March of the Mind The Appeal of the Press Apostles of Reform Postwar Writing Literary Landmarks The New Morality Families and Women in the City Prohibition of Alcohol and Social Progress Artistic Triumphs The Business of Amusement From the end of the Civil War to 1900, Americas urban population tripled. The advent of skyscrapers allowed more people to be packed in a small geographical footprint. Cities grew to become sprawling metropolises where people commuted to work in electric trolleys. Amenities like electricity, indoor plumbing, and telephones made city life alluring. Department stores like Macys and Marshall Fields provided jobs and shoppers. However, cities had their own issues. Lots of trash was generated, crime was rampant and uncollected garbage made cities unsanitary. Slums were crammed with people with little sanitation and ventilation. Until the 1880s, most of the immigrants were well educated migrants from Britain and Germany, who fit well into American society. In the 1880s, a new wave of immigration was made up of Italians, Croats, Greeks and Poles, who were illiterate and poor. Europeans came to America driven by population growth in Europe and lack of opportunity due to industrialization. America was advertised as the land of opportunity by profit-seeking Americans looking to get cheap labor. However, some 25% of the 20 million people who came between 1820 and 1900 returned to Europe. Those who remained tried to retain their own culture, although their children embraced American culture. The federal government did little to help the assimilation of immigrants assimilate into American society, leading to immigrants being controlled by powerful bosses who provided jobs and shelter in return for political support. The nation gradually awoke to the plight of the immigrants, led by protestant clergymen like Walter Rauschenbusch preaching the Social Gospel. Settlement houses such as Hull House founded by Jane Addams in 1889 and Walds Henry Street Settlement in New York, became centers for womens activism and reform. The cities gave women opportunities to earn money and support themselves. The anti-foreignism of the 1840s roared back in the 1880s, as the nativists gave the new immigrants a rude welcome, fearing the mongrelization of the Anglo-Saxon race. Trade unionists saw the new immigrants as depressing wages. In 1882, Congress passed the first of the anti-immigration, laws, banning paupers, criminals, and convicts from entering the U.S. The 1882 immigration law also specifically barred the Chinese. In 1886, the Statue of Liberty arrived from France as a gift from the French. The changing character of the urban population posed challenges to American churches especially Protestant churches. Older richer churches failed to address the issues of urban poverty and suffering, and were starting to become irrelevant. This resulted in a new wave of liberal Protestant revivalism led by people like Dwight Lyman Moody, a former shoe salesman. Roman Catholic and Jewish faiths also grew thanks to the new immigrants.. The Young Mens ad Womens Christian Associations also grew rapidly. Charles Darwins idea of natural selection published in his boon On the Origin of Species in 1859, resulted in splitting the religious camp into two: A conservative minority that stood firmly behind the Bible and the Accommodationists who take a more liberal view. Public education, especially high schools grew rapidly. The idea that a high school education should be a birthright became popular. The Chautauqua movement, launched in 1874, educated adults. The South lagged badly behind in education where about 44% of Blacks were uneducated. Southern black education was led by many blacks. Most famous was an ex-slave, Booker T. Washington who started by heading a black normal and industrial school in Tuskegee, Alabama, teaching the students useful skills and trades. Another was W.E.B. Du Bois, the first Black doctorate from Harvard University, who founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1910. Numerous colleges and universities were established after the Civil War. Women and Black education also grew at a rapid clip. The Morrill Act of 1862 provided a generous grant of the public lands to the states for education. The Hatch Act of 1887 provided federal funds for the establishment of agricultural research in land-grant colleges. Private philanthropy also played an important role, resulting in universities such as Cornell, and the University of Chicago, funded by Rockefeller. Homegrown influences shaped the American education system. The elective system and specialization gained popularity. Medical schools and science bloomed after the Civil War. Discoveries by Louis Pasteur and Joseph Lister improved medical science and health. William James helped establish behavioral psychology. Public libraries well stocked with books were also being built. Carnegie contributed $60 million for public library construction. The invention of the Linotype in 1885 allowed the press to keep pace with demand. Competition sparked so-called yellow journalism which reported wild and fantastic stories that were either false or hyped. Two new journalistic tycoons emerged: Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, although their influence was not always wholesome. Magazines like Harpers and the Atlantic Monthly, were popular. An enduring journalist-author was Henry George, who undertook to solve the association of poverty with progress and left a mark on Fabian socialism. After the Civil War, dime-novels became the rage. The king of dime novelists was Harland F. Halsey, who wrote 650 of these novels. Horatio Alger rags-to-riches books about virtue, honesty, and industry being rewarded by success, wealth, and honor, were widely popular. Emily Dickinson became famous for her poems after her death. American novelists now wrote about the human drama of everyday life. New notable writers were Kate Chopin, who wrote The Awakening and Mark Twain who wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Bret Hartes California gold rush stories were popular. Henry James often made women the main characters in his novels. Two noted black writers were Paul Laurence Dunbar and Charles W. Chesnutt, who used black dialect and folklore in their poems and stories. Victoria Woodhulls proclamation of free love in 1871 shook conventional morality. Economic freedom for women encouraged sexual freedom and resulted in the increase of birth control, divorces, and frank discussion of sexual topics. Urban life was hard on families who had to take care of everything themselves without support from their clan. Urbanization resulted in families having less children. Marriages were delayed and birth control was used. In 1898, Charlotte Gilmans Women and Economics, advocated for women to abandon their dependent status and contribute through productive involvement in the economy. The National American Woman Suffrage Association was formed in 1890. Ida Wells was a tireless crusader for better treatment of Blacks and formed the National Association of Colored Women in 1896. The National Prohibition Party was founded in 1869. The Womens Christian Temperance Union also crusaded against alcohol, calling for a national prohibition of alcohol. The Anti-Saloon League was founded in 1893. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was founded in 1866 and the American Red Cross in 1881. American Art had proved mediocre so far. Many of Americas finest painters such as James Whistler and John Singer Sargent made their living in Europe. Sculptors included Augustus Saint-Gaudens, who made the Robert Gould Shaw memorial, located in Boston, in 1897. Music scaled new heights with the building of opera houses and the emergence of jazz. Edisons phonograph, brought canned music into peoples homes. In entertainment, Phineas T. Barnum and James A. Bailey teamed up in 1881 to stage the Greatest Show on Earth. Wild West shows, like those of Buffalo Bill Cody were very popular. Baseball and football became popular as well. Baseball became Americas national pastime. In 1891, James Naismith invented basketball. Croquet and bicycling crazes also swept the country The urban population in America rapidly increased following the Civil War. Cities became sprawling metropolises of skyscrapers where people commuted to work. The nature of immigration also changed. Before the 1880s, the bulk of the immigrants came from Britain and Germany. After 1880, a new wave of poor and illiterate immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe came to the U.S., driven by population growth in Europe and lack of opportunity. The federal government did little to help these new immigrants assimilate into American society. Many of them came under the control of powerful bosses who traded them food and shelter for political support. In time, community houses such as Hull House as well as Churches especially the Protestants would help out. The anti-foreignism of the 1840s came back in the 1880s, driven by a fear that the new immigrants would sully the anglo-saxon bloodline. Congress would pass a number of laws restricting immigration. Paupers and criminals were no longer a llowed. A specific law barring Chinese immigration was also passed in 1882. In 1886, the Statue of Liberty arrived in New York as a gift from France. The changing nature of immigration also took its toll on American churches, resulting in a Protestant liberalism wave. Catholicism and Judaism also gained ground. Darwins idea of natural selection also split the faithful into 2 camps, one that still clung to the old orthodox view of the Bible and the other, a more liberal view that sought to have both science and the Bible co-exist. Support for public education as a birthright was high and numerous high schools sprouted. In the South, badly hit by the Civil War, education for Blacks was led by a number of notable black figures such as Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois who founded the NAACP in 1910. Higher education also got a fillip after the Civil War, with numerous universities and colleges being established. Private philanthropy also played an important role in establishing ma ny respected private colleges. The American education system was also shaped by local influences. The elective system and specialization became popular. Medical science also improved with the establishment of medical colleges and important discoveries by Pasteur and Lister. The number of public libraries also increased rapidly. The invention of the linotype in 1885 enabled the popular press to keep pace with demand. Magazines like Harpers also served to partially satisfy the demand for printed material. Yellow journalism which published sensational and often false stories also became widely popular. Dime novels were another fad. The character of American writing also changed from the earlier romanticism to more worldly stories about human drama and life, written by famous authors like Mark Twain. Urban life was hard on families since a family had to do everything themselves without much support from others such as a clan. Urbanization generally caused a reduction in family size, del ayed marriages and the use of birth control. Anti-temperance became popular again, with the National Prohibition Party being founded in 1869 and the Anti-Saloon league in 1893. American painters still had to go to Europe to make a decent living. Music took off especially with the fusion of European and Black music resulting in new music genres such as Jazz. Edisons phonograph also enabled canned music to be brought to American homes cheaply. In the field of entertainment, shows such as The Wild West Show and Barnums Circus were very popular. Baseball soon became Americas sport. Basketball was invented in 1891. Criquet and cycling also became very popular especially with women.

Eleanor of Aquitaine Essay -- Queen Roalty Eleanor Aquitaine History P

Eleanor of Aquitaine Much has been written about the historical life of Eleanor of Aquitane. Her life, Undoubtedly reads like legend, at least in part because it is. It is fairly safe to say that the world had never seen a woman like Eleanor of Aquitane, and it is doubtful that there has been a woman since who could rival her power, intelligence, beauty and sheer force of will. Like many other women of her time Eleanor came from a long line of noble and royal blood. Her lineage can be traced back to the earliest kings of both England and France.(follow link to take a look at Eleanor’s very long family tree http://www.my-ged.com/db/page/scokin/12251) Her father William X was the son of France’s first troubadour, William IX and Eleanor’s early life was saturated with culture and learning. The court of her father and grandfather was thought to be the main culture center of the time. At age 15, with her father’s passing, Eleanor became the sole heiress and ruler of the largest duchy in France – Aquitane. Eleanor was then betrothed to Louis VII of France in order to unite their vast territories. In fifteen years however, Eleanor’s marriage and queenship were over. The pope on the pretext of close kinship ties annulled her unhappy marriage to Louis. At age 30 Eleanor had given up her throne and her daughters and returned to Aquitane to rule. Within a few years Eleanor was married to Henry Plantengent, the Duke of Normandy and ruler of the second most powerful duchy in France (second to her own Aquitane). In 1154 Henry was crowned King of England and Eleanor was now Queen of England, duchess of Aquitane and duchess of Normandy. Eleanor and Henry had eight children together, including Richard the Lionheart and John. In 1173, afte... ... paradigm of sexual empowerment. This empowerment comes in terms of both sexual freedom and gender freedom. Eleanor’s personal family history and her encounters with serious intellectualism as well as serious sexuality at an early age perhaps introduced her to the idea that sex and power were intimately woven together. As such she was raised in world which empowered her and let her loose on a world that demanded her submission. The result was that Eleanor realized part of women’s power lay not just in marrying well, but in embracing and controlling their sexuality. This in turn meant an early redefinition of where a woman’s place was. For Eleanor at least that was not simply in her husband’s bed. Works Cited 1. Main internet sources cited with a link in the paper 2. Weir Alison, Eleanor of Aquitane; a Life ; Ballantine Publishing, 1999, New York. Pgs 1-37 Eleanor of Aquitaine Essay -- Queen Roalty Eleanor Aquitaine History P Eleanor of Aquitaine Much has been written about the historical life of Eleanor of Aquitane. Her life, Undoubtedly reads like legend, at least in part because it is. It is fairly safe to say that the world had never seen a woman like Eleanor of Aquitane, and it is doubtful that there has been a woman since who could rival her power, intelligence, beauty and sheer force of will. Like many other women of her time Eleanor came from a long line of noble and royal blood. Her lineage can be traced back to the earliest kings of both England and France.(follow link to take a look at Eleanor’s very long family tree http://www.my-ged.com/db/page/scokin/12251) Her father William X was the son of France’s first troubadour, William IX and Eleanor’s early life was saturated with culture and learning. The court of her father and grandfather was thought to be the main culture center of the time. At age 15, with her father’s passing, Eleanor became the sole heiress and ruler of the largest duchy in France – Aquitane. Eleanor was then betrothed to Louis VII of France in order to unite their vast territories. In fifteen years however, Eleanor’s marriage and queenship were over. The pope on the pretext of close kinship ties annulled her unhappy marriage to Louis. At age 30 Eleanor had given up her throne and her daughters and returned to Aquitane to rule. Within a few years Eleanor was married to Henry Plantengent, the Duke of Normandy and ruler of the second most powerful duchy in France (second to her own Aquitane). In 1154 Henry was crowned King of England and Eleanor was now Queen of England, duchess of Aquitane and duchess of Normandy. Eleanor and Henry had eight children together, including Richard the Lionheart and John. In 1173, afte... ... paradigm of sexual empowerment. This empowerment comes in terms of both sexual freedom and gender freedom. Eleanor’s personal family history and her encounters with serious intellectualism as well as serious sexuality at an early age perhaps introduced her to the idea that sex and power were intimately woven together. As such she was raised in world which empowered her and let her loose on a world that demanded her submission. The result was that Eleanor realized part of women’s power lay not just in marrying well, but in embracing and controlling their sexuality. This in turn meant an early redefinition of where a woman’s place was. For Eleanor at least that was not simply in her husband’s bed. Works Cited 1. Main internet sources cited with a link in the paper 2. Weir Alison, Eleanor of Aquitane; a Life ; Ballantine Publishing, 1999, New York. Pgs 1-37

Dog Company :: essays research papers

Frontiline â€Å"A Company of Soldiers† To Whom It May Concern: 1st Calvary Division C/O PAO Maj. Phil Smith Building 2800 761 Tank Battalion Blvd. Ft. Hood, TX 76544 Dear Dog Company,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I recently had the opportunity to view your documentary concerning your division â€Å"A Company of Soldiers† with my English 12 writing class. Words can not depict the heroic actions portrayed and emotions generated from within as each second passed before me. I would just like to state how grateful this heart is for the efforts exhausted, they are not taken for granite. The phrase has been given that we don’t relate with the war until it effects us personally and I guarantee that Frontline awoke the soul of every viewer it reached, leaving them with a new perspective.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   An issue was presented that if those willing to protest and fight to bring our folks back home are that organized, they should be signing up to come over seas. I could not agree more with this statement, and the simplicity it exemplified. While we may not agree with the choices that are made we must support the actions that come forth and accept what it may be, making the very best out of the bad. Please know that my-self with this entire school are very proud and happy to know you are providing protection and services so vital. No one deserves to grumble or shout out until they’ve been in your boots and endured all that has occurred. I commend each and every one of you and would just like to say that you’re all heroes. Dignity and loyalty are two words that continue to flash before me as I type this letter. Witnessing the loss of fellow members and the anguish this causes was a dagger to my heart. Never the less you pressed on with your heads held high and the ambition to do even more action the very next morning, depicts the true spirit that lies in each of you.

Edmee Ferrer Essay

Professor Anderson Listening to the Women’s Rights was very moving and it really touched me and I learned a lot about what women had to go through and are still going through. I learned about Elizabeth Cady Stanton and what an amazing and powerful woman she was. Stanton was born in November. 12, 1815 and died in October. 26, 1902. She was an American Social Activist, abolitionist, and leading figure of the early Women’s Rights Movement. Besides focusing on Women’s Rights she also addressed issues pertaining to voting rights, women’s parental and custody rights, property rights, employment and income rights, divorce, the economic health of the family and birth control. She was also an outspoken supporter of the 19th century temperance movement. In 1920 women gained the right to vote, right of citizens of United States to vote shall not be denied by the United States or any state on account of sex. In the 1940’s and the 1950’s men had to go out to war so it left women to depend on themselves and started working to provide for their family. I also learned about the first-wave feminism and the second-wave feminism. The first-wave feminism focused more on suffrage and overturning legal obstacles to gender equality, voting rights, and property rights. The second-wave feminism broadened the debate to a wide range of issues like sexuality, family, the work place, reproductive rights, and official legal inequalities. The second-wave feminism also focused on domestic violence and marital rape issues, establishment of rape crisis and battered women’s shelter, also changes in custody and divorce law. I can say that I am very proud to be a woman, we have had to go through many challenges, having to be slaves of our life as wife’s and mother’s and home makers. Being sex slaves to our husbands, looked down at or feel less than a man. Not able to work or feel independent. We women are powerful and strong and capable of changing the world forever, capable of showing how we can be as amazing as any man can. Women now have as many rights as any man have. An example of these rights are: the right to vote, to hold public office, to work, to fair wages or equal pay, to own property, to education, to serve in the military, ent er into legal contracts, and to have marital and parental rights.

Dissertation: Employment and Workplace Design

[Impact of Workplace Design] Institute of Hotel Management Aurangabad The Impact of Workplace Design â€Å" A study of the Employee on the Job Performance in Taj Palace, Delhi† Varun Sahgal (H-18095) Submitted in fulfillment of the requirement of B. A (Hons) in Hotel Management University Of Huddersfeild United Kingdom March 2013 [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 1 [Impact of Workplace Design] Declaration I declare that this Dissertation is the result of my own individual efforts and that it confirms to university, departmental and course regulations regarding cheating and plagiarism.No material contained within this Dissertation has been used in any other submission, by the author, for an academic award. Varun Sahgal (H-18095) Third Year Hotel Management Course Institute of Hotel Management, Aurangabad Date: 19. 3. 2013 [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 2 [Impact of Workplace Design] Acknowledgement Every professional endeavor requires the hard work of many worthy minds and this work is no different. I would begin by thanking my Dissertation guide ‘Mr. Ananad Iyengar’, his patience and support, were instrumental in accomplishing this task.I thank my year tutor ‘Mr. Rakesh Katyayani’ and my dissertation coordinator ‘Mr. Saurabh Krishna’ for their amazing organizational skills that kept me focused on my work. Many of the arguments and facts mentioned in this work were sourced from books, journals, newspapers and websites. Though I have tried to acknowledge most of the sources to the best of my abilities, there were certain sources whose roots were not available making it absolutely impractical and difficult to provide accurate acknowledgement.Regardless of the source I would like to show my gratitude to these anonymous works as they may have contributed greatly towards my endeavor. Last but not the least I would like to thank my college ‘Institute of Hotel ManagementAurangabad’ for providing the necessary guidan ce and resources and I would also like to extend a vote of thanks to the ‘Summons’ online library of the ‘University of Huddersfield’. This work would have been incomplete without their academic support. [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 3 [Impact of Workplace Design] Table of Contents 1. Introduction 1. Research Questions 1. 2 Subsidiary Questions 1. 3 Aim of the study 1. 4 Purpose of the study 1. 5 Limitation of the study 1. 6 Dissertation structure 6-8 8 8 8 9 9 9-10 2. Literature Review 2. 1 Introduction 2. 2 Ergonomics 2. 3 Workplace Motivation 2. 4 Supervisory support 2. 5 designing the new workplace 2. 6 Flexibility at workplace 2. 7 Health factors and wellness programs affecting on the job behavior 2. 8 The impact of technology on, on the job behavior 2. 9 Environmental concerns regarding workplace design 2. 10 Managing underperformance 2. 11The people involved 1 11-12 13-14 15 16-17 17-18 18-19 19-20 21-22 21-22 22-23 23 3. Research Methodology 3. 1App roach 3. 2Research Question 3. 3 Research design 24 24 24 24 4. Results and discussion 4. 1 Interview 4. 1. 1Mr, Avijit Sen, G. M. , Vesta Hotels, Jaipur 4. 1. 2 Mr. Akesh Bhatnagar, G. M. , Golkonda Hotel, Hyderabad 4. 2 Structured Questionnaire Analysis 25 25 25-27 28-30 30-40 [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 4 [Impact of Workplace Design] 5. Conclusion and recommendation 5. 1 Summary 5. 2 Major Findings 5. 3 Scope for future research 41 41 42 42 6. References 43 LIST OF TABLESFIGURE 1 ATTRIBUTES AFFECTING EMPLOYEES†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 31 FIGURE 2 ATTRIBUTES AFFECTING MALE EMPLOYEES †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 32 FIGURE 3 ATTRIBUTES AFFECTING FEMALE EMPLOYEES †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 33 FIGURE 4 COMPARITIVE STUDY OF ATTRIBUTES AFFECTING MALE AND FEMALE EMPLOYEE †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 34 FIGURE 5 ATTRIBUTES AFFECTING EMPLOYEES AGED 18-25 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 35 FIGURE 6 ATTRIBUTES AFFECTING EMPLOYEES AGED 26-35 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 6 FIGURE 7 ATTRIBUTES AFFECTING EMPLOYEES AGED 36-45 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 37 FIGURE 8 ATTRIBUTES AFFECTING EMPLOYEES AGED 46-55 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 38 FIGURE 9 COMPARITIVE STUDY OF ATTRIBUTES AFFECTING ALL AGES †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 39 [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 5 [Impact of Workplace Design] Chapter 1 â€Å"All work is seed sown. It grows and spreads, and sows itself anew† Thomas Carlyle Abstract Workp lace design in the hospitality sector has become a very important phenomenon; people do not only wish to see a luxurious front of the house but also an amazing back office.Workplace does not only imply to external and architectural design, it also in its folds covers the topics like motivation, wellness, supervisory support, environmental concerns, learning and development etc. This project deals with understanding proper workplace design as a tool for improving on the job performance of an employee. The researcher plans to conduct a research on some of the employees working in the food and beverage department of Taj palace Delhi to understand which attribute of workplace affects them the most and till what extent.The project also involves semi structured interviews with professionals at high designation in the industry and what is their take on the importance of work environment as an overall change maker. The objective is to completely understand workplace modeling and how innovat ions in the same can make it better in the future. 1. Introduction In the changing world of today where luxury and fashion make up for eighty to ninety percent of emotional content in an individual, people look for fashionable and comfortable work places also.The researcher aims to study workplace attributes in the hospitality industry and its affect on, ‘on the job behaviour’ of the employees The researcher while working will adopt ‘contingency orientation’, he will aim to understand that organizational behaviour/on the job behaviour is complex and is driven by a lot of factors. No two employees are alike and different situations means different to each and every individual. Managers therefore must learn to adopt workplace policies that answer not only the grievances of few but provides solutions for the problems of the many. [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 6 Impact of Workplace Design] The researcher aims to follow a three point approach while achieving obj ectives for the given topic. ? Identifying the causes of current behaviour through a questionnaire analysis on work and its attributes ? ? Sidelining strategies that would help mitigate current causes of disengagement Studying the impact of change implemented for the same Managing workplace and workforce in the twenty first century is all about embracing a change. In many ways the job of the workplace is to perform the same functions as it performed earlier which is to manage, motivate and influence employees.Current scenario is that, the workplace’s expectation from the employee is the same but the employee’s expectation from the workplace has changed drastically. The complex variety of social, personal, environmental, recreational and technological changes that have taken place recently makes the task of managing workforce and designing workplace even more challenging. Someone rightly quoted ‘Managing on the job behaviour today is like pushing water uphill usin g a rake’ (Anonymous, n. d. ). Time is short and stakes are high. Corporate are running a race to achieve perfect face value amidst their competition.Companies that manage their workforce well get higher returns on productivity. After all, a lot depends on the produce of a company. Recently many companies have focused their attention towards IT; they feel technology gives them an added advantage since it evolves rapidly. Managers forget that technology can only seldom provide an organization with a competitive advantage but in the end, it is the people that matter. Research has also shown that investment in IT workers pays greater dividends than investment in hardware or software.When employees quit they are not leaving their jobs, they are leaving their workplace. Therefore a great workplace atmosphere creates a better on the job performance thereby creating a cadre of the finest productive workers. Products can easily be aped but not the workplace on which the productivity and behaviour of the human resource depend so an organizations greatest competitive advantage is its own workplace and the behavior of its [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 7 [Impact of Workplace Design] employees in the workplace.Implementing methods for the improvement of a workplace should be the first and foremost decision of any company. This is why companies like CISCO, Harley Davidson and Merek are different they invest in manpower more than any other attribute. They understand the importance of work and workplace systems alike. One must know that implementing a straightforward management strategy is easy but what really counts is what the management does in difficult times when on the job behaviour is not good and there are high rates of employee attrition and abseintism. . 1 Research Question ? Is On the Job Behaviour influenced by workplace design? 1. 2 Subsidiary Questions ? ? Would a better on the job performance affect organizational productivity? Why have no strong laws in workplace design been implemented in the past twenty years? ? Will factors like goal setting, performance feedback, role congruity, defined processes, workplace incentive, supervisor support etc influence ‘On the job behavior’ of an employee? ? Have there been improvement trends in workplace design? 1. Aim of the study The aim is to analyze the effect of the Workplace attributes on the employees ‘On the job behavior’ by performing a structured research in the Food and Beverage department of Taj Palace Delhi. [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 8 [Impact of Workplace Design] 1. 4 Purpose of the study Workplace and jobs have become a complex phenomenon in today’s times. Employees today have a large number of alternatives and selections at their disposal and hence workplace becomes a crucial factor for keeping or leaving the job.It is imperative that an Employees working environment is well kept and maintained because ultimately the workplace environment is what defines on the job behaviour and employee motivation. How well an employee adapts to his psychological, psycho motive, desire and health factors at his workplace will determine his workplace behaviour, productivity and errors. Through this research the researcher aims to prove the relation between workplace factors and on the job behaviour of the employee thereby being able to prove that workplace design factors definitely impacts on the job performance of an employee. . 5 Limitations and scope of the study: Broad research in this field would bring about data collection complications. The research only analyses the data collected from a few employees in the food and beverage department. The semi structured interviews will also not show the bigger picture as different people have different opinions about their own workplace, to some the workplace seems perfect to others it may require a lot of change.Although the study covers only a small department in one business unit of the h ospitality sector research on this subject in the near future on a macro level would provide managers with an all new level of understanding in employee motivation and workplace design. The research can be extended to hotels resorts or even company policies. 1. 6 Dissertation Structure: The 1st chapter, the Introduction essentially covers the topic of the research and a brief on its relevance to the industry today.The chapter summarizes the approach of the researcher and the hypothesis and other objectives. The chapter speaks of limitations and scope of this dissertation in the next decade. It also covers some of the questions that the researcher will analyze during the course of this project. [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 9 [Impact of Workplace Design] The 2nd chapter, the literature review forms the basis of the dissertation. It carries a vivid description of each of the workplace attributes, their current scenario in the industry, prior research and the researcher valuable critiq ue.The literature review provides a structure to the dissertation and also helps to prepare a structure for the data analysis and research methodology. The Literature review also decides the scope for future research on the given topic. The 3rd Chapter, the research methodology deals with the steps the researcher has taken to obtain the desired data to conclude his hypothesis. It also gives a comparative understanding of how the researcher has composed the models for analysis and what was the approach.The 4th Chapter, the data analysis contains the conducted interviews and the analysis of the data collected from the employees in the form of a structured questionnaire, the chapter has the analysis of the data which proves the researchers hypothesis and also answers the subsidiary questions as given on the first chapter The 5th Chapter, conclusion and recommendation summarizes the dissertation and the results of the analysis. It has the critique of the researcher on the existing proce dures and how they can be changed in the near future to achieve outstanding results.The chapter also provides a valuable insight into how future research can be conducted for the same [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 10 [Impact of Workplace Design] Chapter 2 (Literature Review) â€Å"When people go to work, they shouldn't have to leave their hearts at home. † -Betty Bender 2. 1 Overview It has always been argued that distraction, lack of interest, poor decisions and high absence are the major causes of employee disengagement; but what organizations actually forget are that these factors might be just the symptoms; – the root cause may be very different (Slade, 2010).Recent scenarios also indicates that subtle productive changes in the workplace environment today actually reduce employee absenteeism and attrition, which in turn improves on the job performance thereby impacting productivity in a very positive way (Roeloefsen, 2002). Today it has been proven that employee sa tisfaction is directly proportional to job satisfaction, which is directly dependent on the working environment. Workplace factors are a major catalyst in productivity and on the job performance of an employee.In fact, research has focused on ergonomics or biomechanics because of workers’ demands for more comfort at the workplace (Wells, 2000). Theorists believe that everyone seeks a balance between what one puts into his work and what one expects to get out of it. Most of the time one tends to compare his own situations with that of other employees in the market place, before he actually decides to work with a particular organization (Adams, 1963). In the recent past the nature of employee and employer relations has actually been distorted because of the changes in job structures and way of living.There are a number of companies in the market and therefore not only employees but employers also need to focus on their conduct to make a mark in the business. Higher salaries and better perks may seem the most obvious way of increasing an employee’s on the job performance but this is influenced by other important factors that include work motivation, training and development opportunities, physical, psychological and psychomotive factors (Leblebici, 2012). [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 11 [Impact of Workplace Design]Maslow’s hierarchy of needs’ theory argued that the measure of anthropogenic attitudes to work was slowly and steadily being extended to workplace and work environment as well for understanding human psychology and motivating factors. The study involved synthesizing success stories of exemplary people like Einstein, Roosevelt, Douglas and Adams rather than studying the so called neurotic or mentally ill. The model involved looking at human psychology from scratch – basic needs like food, water, lifestyle, love etc. Going step higher, needs evolved to less basic ones like security, employment, morality, family etc.At f urther higher levels, needs were more exclusive and included a need for creativity, belonging, selfesteem, motivation and culture. It was realized that if all these factors were well taken care of in a workplace environment, they would boost the on job performance of the individual , which would reflect on the team thereby boosting productivity on a whole (Janet A Simons, n. d. ). McGregor’s theory on the contrary involved classifying workers as X or Y elements, where the X elements are idle, destructive and redundant and require motivation and training to bring them up to speed with work and business.Elements Y on the other hand, are selfmotivated workers flushed with creativity, who actually make up the strong pillars of the business and require less support as compared to the element X. McGregor’s theory differs from Maslow’s theory where he states that it is the worker who should be motivated. According to him, the workers should have a positive relation wit h the workplace to ensure all psychological and self actualization needs are being fulfilled for better performance and productivity. Stuart, 2010) Finally differing from all other theorists Herzberg found out that factors that were cause for concern were company policy, relation with the boss, working conditions, salary and relationship with peers. On the other hand , the factors that kept them motivated were achievement, recognition, business as usual, responsibility , advancement and growth, which again linked the theory of Herzberg to Mcgregor and Maslow (Anonymous, n. d. ) Therefore it may be said that a workplace is the result of various decisions, feelings and emotions working together in a close and cohesive work environment.So to actually determine what is it that actually impacts on the job performance of an employee. The researcher will look into biomechanics which has been a very recent breakthrough in research better termed as Ergonomics at workplace. [Varun Sahgal (H-1 8095)] Page 12 [Impact of Workplace Design] 2. 2 Ergonomics: Today ‘Ergonomics’ or innovation in workplace procedures has become the hip word in the United states of America as the workplace is going through major changeovers during this particular era.The Modern Office Procedure Council has even moved up to publish an article fashionably, entitled ‘Ergonomics; the outbreak of a newer discipline’ (Anonymous, n. d. ). The article though not very acclaimed has covered: work-stations, work-environment, behaviors at work and many other minute issues that are generally overlooked while discussing on the job performance. The research brought together problems that had been collected and researched over a period of thirty years to prove that employers could actually boost employee on the job performance through workplace design.Thi research is mainly being focused on the employees’ reaction to workplace and workplace design. Working all day at a desk in an office takes its toll on the eyes, neck and hands which are sometimes termed as Musculo Skeletal disorders or simply (MSDs) (Anonymous, 2010). Workplaces have today initiated Healthy Work Practice Programs (HWPP), these programs provide a proper checklist for office ergonomic design and also help develop strategies to implement the same (Anonymous, 2010).A study conducted in 2000 also states that in the workplace today where technology has taken over a lot of the workplace space there should be supplementary breaks in between to reduce eye strain and over exertion of the eye muscles (Anonymous, 2007). Theorists have argued that the rate of production per industry per day has been increasing daily to maintain a competitive advantage in the market place. Technologies are being upgraded, work lifestyle is changing and most importantly, recreation time is being diminished. In such an environment, where humans are actually becoming synonymous to machines, the importance of rgonomics is p aramount. If the principles of Ergonomics are not applied to the work task and tools, workers might go through undue stress and mental strain, which in turn decrease on the job performance and have a negative impact on productivity as a whole. Recognizing the ergonomic factors in a workplace is the first step to recognizing the hazards related to workers on the job conditions. Engineers believe that removing physical stress from the working environment could actually eliminate many serious work related injuries each year.Employers should learn to understand employee mindset and work design to make the workplace safer. [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 13 [Impact of Workplace Design] Ergonomics can help reduce many (MSDs) while working in operations like hotels, as the work involves giving more than eight hours a day to operations. The process also helps increase the productivity as it provides safer working conditions that motivates the workers to work better in an environment. Ergonomi cs would also help decrease the absenteeism rates due to less MSD’s and more energy among the work force.A workplace can substantially reduce turnovers if new recruits find their workplace properly designed to suit their mindset. Reduced expenses, resulting from a decrease in the rate of (MSDs) would require less cost for covering illness and reduced organization and personal medical costs (OSHA, 2000) OSHA also agues that Reducing Ergonomic Hazards at a workplace is probably the easiest of operations to perform. If one is an employer and his employees frequently complain of ergonomic hazards, all he has to do is incorporate an ergonomics program in the foundation of his organization.The program should motivate employees to participate and should provide scope for valuable feedback to supervisors. The program should be checked regularly by the executive in charge to ensure transparency and productivity. The program at the end of the day should be successful and should be a pr oper training and development task for employees as well as employers (OSHA, 2000) Though from personal work experience it is strongly believed, Employees in the Hospitality ndustry have an inner belief that it is the organizations outlook to provide them with safe, healthy and balanced working conditions. Over a period of the past two years the researcher has completed successful working hour within the premises of three Hospitality establishments and has nowhere experience a proper Ergonomic design program in place. Apart from workplace design 58% of the employees strongly agree that the motivation factor is a major discipline if one wishes to measure the relation between job performance and workplace.Each and every employee feels that to sustain and work happily in a working environment there are only two things of paramount importance, the first being workplace design which has been explained above by the researcher in great detail and the other is Motivation factor. [Varun Sahg al (H-18095)] Page 14 [Impact of Workplace Design] 2. 3 Workplace motivation Motivation recently has been a keen area of research among industrialists and psychologists as it impacts on the job performance of an Individual. It is being taken as a very serious process in a workplace.The beginning of motivation for any personnel in any field of work is very simple, ‘he deserves to be treated fairly and with respect’. On the job behaviour is a pure reflection of how one is treated within the organization. The second step to why motivation is an important fact is because ‘motivation leads to a change in behaviour, which in turn decides changes in the productive aspect of the employee at workplace’. Slowly but steadily managers in many concerns have started taking the concept of motivation seriously.The assessment of satisfaction in the workplace has been a very common occurrence in the recent times and has been used as a tool to measure employee well being and satisfaction in a particular department (Spector, 1997). General Research has shown that out of twenty candidates, seven prefer to go to work happily i. e. They are the category X employees according to the X and Y theory. Ten employees have a feeling that they wish to remain neutral some days can be happy and well other could be boring. The remaining three who are the Y candidates feel that their orkplace requires drastic improvements. There was a similar answer from all the candidates when they were questioned about appreciation, belonging, scope of improvement, salary, supervisor support goal setting and feedback. Therefore as gathered from work experience at a diverse number of workplaces, the general feeling is that workplace motivation is a very important aspect. If the behaviour of the supervisor or the senior does not motivate the employees at work then the employee tends to abhor their work leading to increased abseintism and attrition.The researcher feels that out of a ten hour work shift an employer must at least spend thirty minutes with his employees to evaluate what they have done and what they should do in the near future to establish success in their working methods. An employer should be able to successfully develop a sense of confidence and optimism in his employees. The employer should also once in a while allow the employees to volunteer for tasks that are beyond their abilities so that even the failure can help generate self learning through a method of retrograde training.Apart from this the researcher also feels that an employer must successfully be able to map his employee’s goals and aspirations to help them achieve the same through directed learning and development opportunities. Apart from all this the general feeling is that beyond motivation a good supervisor at the workplace is also an important factor for retaining and satisfying employees. [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 15 [Impact of Workplace Design] 2. 4 Supervisory Supp ort Today Supervisors are a very important factor in the workplace.They are epitomes of knowledge and mediums of effective feedback for employees who are working under them (Durham CC, 1997). The level of supervisory support is directly proportional to the teams introduced in workplace today. A supervisor today should be able to comprehend the mood of the individual and the team and work accordingly. With increasing number of team members under a supervisor the need for traditional support reduces. Today a supervisor is expected to possess the qualities for performing diverse roles as with changing scenarios the rolls of different teams.With the drastic changes in the environment it is necessary that the supervisor is chosen before the contingent team is prepared and his behaviour and attitude towards his work must be assessed before-hand so as to give a complete sense of satisfaction to all employees as theorized by (Tannenbaum SI & JA, 1996). A supervisor’s major focus shou ld be on the job enhancement practices for his subordinates, feedback and training. This will help bring about a change in the employee’s behaviour, motivating him to redesign the workplace.A supervisor must allow an employee to learn from mistakes rather than spoon feeding and directing each and every time as there is a line of research that states that ‘autonomy without doubt is the best form of learning’ (Parker Sk, 1998). Sometimes theorists do say that leadership and supervision have a lesser impact on satisfaction but that does not mean it has no impact at all. Supervisory support has critically been recognized as an imperative process for continuous development of new teams on the aspects of satisfaction. BM, 1997) The effect of supervisory support on employee satisfaction is an attribute which has scarcely been researched over time. What really matters is the ability of the supervisor to stay within a team and work as an equal and at the same time being a ble to stand out from the rest in some unique way or the other such that, he is successfully able to motivate and supervise the employees he has to lead. No supervisory support is complete without a super workplace design. [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 16 [Impact of Workplace Design] . 5 Designing the new workplace Today ‘on the job behaviour’ is becoming an important aspect of workplace productivity, architects and interior designers have been working hard to provide employees with the most exquisitely modeled workplaces possible. But the time has come to look beyond architectural innovation because (Jusko, May,2000) says that a study conducted in office design and workplace survey in some of the best offices in the US states that most of the managers gave working conditions a grade ‘c’.Hence, it was proved that there are some things beyond architectural design that prompted workers to do well, which were none other than ‘wellness and recreation desi gn’ Healthcare expenditure is soaring high, there is a definite need for reducing hospital and sickness costs in each and every organization. The United States of America and the European nations have adopted structured wellness programs in their office design (Kutler, 2010). Research widely shows that prevention of injury and disease decrease working cost by $3. 47 per employee per day.This average return on investment clearly highlights the fact that incorporation of wellness programs within an organization would help profits greatly and would positively influence on the job performance with reduced health concerns, injury and cost of treatment Theorists’ believe a key factor of human resource is to promote employee satisfaction thereby promoting customer satisfaction. Referring to ‘Maslow’s triangle’ , it can be easily seen that a sense of belonging, friends, culture, team work, co-worker support and supervisor support, games and recreation make an important part of an employee’s ‘self-actualization’ needs.Workplace recreation and design is very evident in organizations that bring together people and processes and its introduction into the hospitality sector is a highly necessary evil. The question to ponder over is why again is a recreational design required at a workplace? The answers though are pretty simple. Today Recreational activities provide a form of intrinsic reward, a sense of self satisfaction from within, which boosts employee motivation. Participation in recreational activities and retreats, help put a balance between work and life.Recreational activities that require participation of staff teams provides scope for individual behaviour and attitude feedback. Recreation in a way helps an employee connect his aspiration to his organization and last but not the least, recreation provides the best forum for self development (Mokaya, february,2012) [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 17 [Impact of Wor kplace Design] So, when it comes to linking recreation and health with on the job performance it has been well seen that both help in strengthening the social bond between customer and employee.They help in developments of skills like leadership, team work and communication, which are invaluable assets for the service industry. The activities also provide a good social forum for discussion and understanding of topics like goals, vision and mission of the organization and future endeavors; it also provides scope for innovation and brain storming at work, coupled with increased friendship and cohesiveness among the staff.Other than wellness and recreation Work stress is also a major cause of not liking ones workplace so to provide a better relationship among staff and employers it is necessary also to act upon the concept of workplace flexibility. 2. 6 Flexibility at workplace Today flexibility means defining how and when a work is done and how does one organize his career in such a c ritical way that there is improved workplace effectiveness. Companies use workplace flexibility as a major tool for managing, customizing, recruiting, retaining and strategizing workforce load as said by (E. Friedman, 2002).There have been several studies in this field that have successfully been able to prove that flexibility has a major role in reducing stress, increasing effectiveness and improving performance. Flexibility at workplace can be of many types depending on what the work demands and how the superior wants to maximize the amount of work done by a particular employee. Today Traditional flextime at a workplace allows employees to choose their own times of coming and leaving the office such that their times will be surrounding the time of core operating hours and the work meted out to them should be done.Employees are given a certain amount of time in a week to complete their work for e. g. ; the employee is to work ten hours a day for four days a week or has to complete eighty hours of work over a period of nine days and so on and so forth (E. Friedman, 2002). Many companies also do offer a concept better known as summer hours, i. e. , increasing an hour per day and completing the time allotted before the designated day, to apply for an extra off. Theorists believe that Flexibility is many times wrongly termed as an employee perk whereas it is only a tool to successfully manage employee on the job behaviour/performance.Its importance is such that it can be used over a range of managerial jobs and at different levels of the hierarchy. Most importantly it is a precise tool and should only be applied only [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 18 [Impact of Workplace Design] where the management feels apt to do so, everyone cannot ask for flexibility and not all jobs can be given flexibility. There are instances wherein on a permanent job an employee can be provided flexibility for a temporary period to boost his morale so as to help him change his outlook tow ards his work (E.Friedman, 2002). It is imperative that a company realizes the problem it wants to deal with, using the tool of flexibility. It is wise always to look into flexibility issues of comparable companies before such a step is taken to boost employee esteem. The company should conduct internal studies and should actually be completely sure about the attitudes of the personnel for whom they are allowing flexibility as the company’s entire working schedule will be centered on flexibility.Going by what theorists say, coping with flexibility is also not an easy factor so it is always better if the supervisors of a company are better trained to monitor staff that are flexible and are trained to calculate output from a flex oriented workforce and last but not the least, a company should make its staff well aware of the continuing improvements and should regularly appreciate staff who have done well on a flexi schedule through accolades and newsletters.Though flexibility i s not a very common answer to problems in the Hospitality sector as it is a very human oriented industry, what can actually become the solution is concentrating on improving the health of an employee. 2. 7 Health Factors and Wellness Program affecting on the job behaviour Today a workplace is viewed from the health perspective, research so far has looked into workers health in two aspects, the former being – do organizations today promote wellness and health programs for workers?And the latter being – Are healthy workplaces also the ones which are more productive? The first question generally covers human resource, employee motivation, hazard free environment, wellness programs, supervisor support, training and development. The latter question though here is significantly more important for this particular research as it is looking into improvements in ‘on the job performance’ of a worker in the organization. Looking at a very three dimensional view of the situation, the answer to the latter appears to be more qualified and complex.Organizations are slowly incorporating workplace wellness programs in their work schedule but actually translating the measure of wealth to on the job productivity is a very difficult task that is required to be accomplished. The research on this front appears to be very weak because in the service industry where work is supposed to be inconspicuous, the industry has shown graphs of deteriorating worker [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 19 [Impact of Workplace Design] health and wellness because of the amount of hard work required and less time available for one’s own self.One must identify the gaps in the health environment of a workplace and should aim to understand the synergistic effects of certain health promotion exercises by combining psychology with job behaviour to research factors like motivation, productivity , sickness ,absenteeism , leave and other psycho social outcomes that can be measure d through wellness studies conducted on the job. Organizations must invest in a healthier working environment and employee care as it will no doubt increase productivity and will be a smart investment in terms of future returns.It is highly imperative that employees coordinate with employers for such programs and understand the effects of team related, work related and family related healthcare. But then again by incorporating better technology also, one can reduce the stress on the Human workforce of the industry. 2. 8 The impact of technology on, ‘on the job behaviour’ Technology has not only changed the workplace today but has also become the lifeline of success of any company. The world has changed after the advent of fax, internet, Wi-Fi, e mail and holograms. Technology is upgrading itself each minute and will continue upgrading itself at a fast rate.Imagining work without access to technology is unimaginable. Technology has not only changed the lives of the physi cally able but has also given equal power to the disabled to compete and even be more productive than normal. With the advent of technology, more and more physically challenged people are entering the business today that probably earlier, just had one or two options. Before technology the differently abled could only earn from supplement programs of the government or could attend ‘training and retraining’ in schools for the challenged, but their life was neither challenging nor productive.The knowledge of assisting devices – how they work and how easily they can be serviced, has empowered the physically challenged to reach newer heights, today even they can be workers, coworkers, self-earning individuals and most importantly with technology boosting their self-esteem, they have become successful and productive employees of today. Theorist believe Whether disabled or not , technology will continue to assist individuals in a job where precision and time management are required, and before joining a job the employer [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 20 [Impact of Workplace Design] s often riddled with questions about what technology will the employee be using and can the technology be remodeled as per his convenience of use (Cohn, 2000). Therefore it is imperative that technology keeps changing so that work becomes easier as ease of work is another incentive/tool to improve on the job performance and quality of service. Before we close the topic of technology, we must not forget that a very simple technology that has been around for the past few years is the one on which the foundation of every successful business industry is based is the e-mail, which is viable proof that technology is a burning need.Though technology is indispensable, policy makers in every country should take an important stride to maintain on the job wellness and a healthy workplace environment. A healthy environment is the first installment of better and greater future return s and for that technology must go hand in hand with the Environmental concerns of Today. 2. 9 Environmental concerns regarding Workplace design Environment issues at workplace should be a growing concern for any company today after the green laws and threat to the ozone layer.Apart from all this it also affects employee performance and on the job behaviour. Who would like to work in an office with bad ventilation and the smell of asbestos around? An infected work environment is a health issue; it not only decreases productivity but also has a direct impact on employee health causing diseases like asthma, claustrophobia and lung infections. This in turn again increases employee absenteeism and health costs of the company. The Employers should take necessary steps to ensure a healthy work environment.The organization should maintain and keep to the guidelines provided by OSHA and EPA to maintain cost effective ways of managing work environment and reduce absenteeism and attrition to i nfluence on the job behaviour and employee productivity. Theorists argue that employees should also understand greater concerns related to the environment when they are working in a service industry where 75 to 80 percent of the waste generated is biodegradable and can be managed simply by doing CSR initiatives and nonprofit work.Restaurants generate around seventy to eighty kilos of edible waste per day. If a company plans successfully, the food waste can safely be disposed off to NGO’s for the poor as a CSR initiative which would give employees a sense of belonging and goodwill and [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 21 [Impact of Workplace Design] would motivate them to innovate on better and unique methods of waste disposal for the greater good and environmental concern.The reason for bringing in environmental concerns while studying employee productivity is the simple fact that â€Å"waste should be eliminated in the surroundings where it is generated’ then only is it said that the company follows a policy of successful waste management. Therefore, every company should have a method of connecting with the experts for complete understanding of environmental concerns relating to a guest service industry. Proper training and development sessions on how to manage cleanliness and environment around and in the workplace should be well followed by employers.The employees should be trained in the art of environment management by their given organization. After discussing every aspect of workplace design one must not forget that an Employees reason for discord may also be underperformance which also sadly makes up a large part of the workplace design. 2. 10 Managing underperformance Workplace is marked by unsatisfactory work performance or the failure to comprehend and act on the tasks which are to be done by the individual in the position of power he holds.The reasons clearly stand to be; a high degree of non compliance with workplace policies and/or rul es, unacceptable behaviour from peers at workplace and disruptive or attitude clashes with bosses or superiors. Apart from this the reasons that are more importantly missed while carrying out a feedback are an employee’s problem in understanding what is expected, his incapability to perform in the given position due to a mismatch between job profile and skill set, lack of regular counseling thereby paralyzing the employee technically, family issues, drug abuse and work culture.It has been frequently argued that dealing with underperformance has always been challenging for employee and employer alike. Managers with formal education require the 5Cs to deal with underperformance which relatively are character, commitment, conviction, courtesy and courage (Khera, 1998). It is crucial to resolve underperformance problems in the location where they arise. Not necessarily does every underperformance issue require a structured approach but the mind must always be free to explore addi tional options.Employers must remember in all contexts that underperformance affects a work environment adversely. [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 22 [Impact of Workplace Design] There exists certain incapability among managers to identify the source of underperformance and then assess it successfully. Never has one seen all companies perform at the same level and if they would have, the existence of competition would not have been a paramount feature hence it is important to understand who controls the situation and who manages the workforce. 2. 1 The people involved After discussing all the attributes involved in a workplace design that lead to positive on the job performance, one must not forget the major question of who should be involved in the major processes. An article published by (Frenburg, 1985) stated that flexibility, health, environment, recreation and motivation impacted on the job performance as it involved a sense of well being and belonging in an employee. The resear cher also found that whatever gaps were left in progressive work design was the lack of consultation between employee, employer and workplace designer.It is undoubtedly very clear that a workplace benefits more from staffs who are motivated and trained and understand who the boss is. Effective performance management individuals can create better employees and better effectiveness at workplace. Non compliance with workplace issues, negligent behaviour and hostility in the workplace environment leads to leadership, teamwork and managing the workplace issues. It is rare that an employee knows what is expected from him. Many a times it has been seen that for all the processes mentioned above, there are as such no ground rules laid down by the department to help employees with the same.Unless employees are made to understand that they are underperforming, it is very difficult for them to actually understand that they are underperforming (government, n. d. ). It is essentially required th at the head HR managers and executives , properly look into the tasks mentioned above so that proper coordination is maintained and all the processes followed very closely and carefully†¦ [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 23 [Impact of Workplace Design] Chapter 3 (Research Methodology) 3. Approach The researcher has adopted a mix of â€Å"quantitative† as well as â€Å"qualitative† approaches to carry out this particular study. The Qualitative analysis involves the primary research which draws inferences from the working environment and its effect on the employees in the food and beverage department of the Taj Palace Delhi. The secondary research of this analysis involved conducting literature reviews through thorough study of journals, books and websites to get a global understanding of employee and employee workplace to substantiate the primary research.The quantitative approach involved conducting a survey of thirty employees in the food and beverage department of the hotel, the questionnaires were distributed to equal number of men and women and were spaced over a span of different age groups to understand how employees today feel about their workplace and what is the change they would like to see in that particular department or their working conditions in the near future.After which the researcher conducted semi structured interviews of certain industry personnel who have given sufficient amount of years to the industry and who can successfully compare and contrast the difference between workplace scenarios then and what change they have undergone now. 3. 2 The Research Question/Hypothesis Do workplace attributes affect on the job behaviour of an employee? 3. 3 Research design The primary design of the research is an empirical deductive research. The questionnaire data has been collected from thirty employees belonging to different societies and spread over different ages and genders.The qualitative data involves deducing data from semi st ructured interviews of hospitality industry professionals with sufficient experience of the topic. [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 24 [Impact of Workplace Design] Chapter 4 (Results and Discussion) 4. 1 Interview 4. 1. 1 Mr. Avijit Sen, General Manager, Vesta Hotels Jaipur How critical is the physical work environment to office space designing today compared to when you began your work in the industry? Things were indeed very different when I began in the hospitality sector. The industry was still going through a phase of metamorphosis and things were very new.Then, every HM student was considered to be a waiter and a culinary guy a ‘bawarchi’. There was no defined workplace design as such, people were staunch followers of the phrase work is worship and no matter whatever be the condition work is our livelihood so good or bad pleasing or not so pleasing it did not matter. But yes things are very different now. People are being judged on their overall efficiency more and m ore jobs are being replaced by technology and a small number of highly qualified individuals are required in a business unit. Workplace or the so called physical environment of the employee has become an epicenter of change.Innovation and efficiency are today’s mantra and are the keys to employee motivation. Everyone wishes to have an environment with his own physical space. There has been more stress on scientific design lately to suite the body and physical needs of employees and with labor becoming more and more costly, one has to design to retain. When did you first begin to realize that the work environment or the workplace itself has started affecting your on the job behaviour? Well to be very honest, it was not very tough to realize that. When you are at the level of assistant managers you are young in the industry and the world seems to be a gift of Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 25 [Impact of Workplace Design] unlimited possibilities. At that time when you are in the p eriod of frequent transfers and property changes you seem to notice designs and patterns I am from a food and beverage background for me at least I knew that the design of the bar or the restaurant definitely mattered. Better ambience better origination would not only please customer but also employee alike. The major difference always will be that some places the organization would have designed well at other places it would have not shown much interest so the working attitude really differs from place to place.I preferably found the Private hotels and their designs better and hence changed over from ITDC. Why do you feel that the industry is taking so long to incorporate workplace innovations even after realizing that it has a significant impact on the on the job behaviour? Unlike all other product oriented businesses which have been there from time immemorial the hospitality industry is relatively knew and mapping all aspects of its production is very difficult.Plus recent insigh ts show that the hospitality industry is still in need of a lot of qualified professionals Workplace design though essential is a very hi-fi concept, the education system in India is definitely not equipped to produce out of the box thinking individuals and that is why there are very few. It is not that the workplace engineering concept has not been introduced, the fact still is that hospitality professionals are still not mentally prepared to embrace the realities of the concept. If you wanted to create the ideal workplace environment, what would you envision it to be if you were an employee?Honestly, if I were to view workplace as an employee, India is far from achieving the vision I have seen. Improvements are not only required in staff line motivation but also infrastructure [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 26 [Impact of Workplace Design] Life in hospitality is fast paced, the job is demanding and work hours are eerie. In a scenario like this, employees are forced to come and chang e in a changing rooms cramped with lockers that would not even hold two pair of suits. The washrooms of the back area are cramped and employees literally have to bend to accommodate.The bunk beds placed for employees on night parole too are rough and uncomfortable When I began as an hotelier we had a few prestigious properties of hospitality scattered in the regions of Delhi Madras and Bangalore and sadly when today hospitality is growing its staff sector is still underdeveloped. The resources are not proper and the facilities are scarce. What do you feel have been the most repetitive complains regarding workplace issues in the industry? Being a manger you face those complains in abundance, you can never categorize these complains as important or non important.Many of them are linked to issues I have already discussed with you in previous questions. I often get complains like the environment smell rancid, the cleaning in the back areas are, not proper. Technological failure, softwar e’s not working. Then you will also not be surprised to find complains like space in washroom is not sufficient or the staff rooms are too claustrophobic. Lack of basic amenities and training programs and less motivational factors related to work. Office innovation or workplace change is actually the development of technological social and personnel aspects, what are your comments on this statement?It is definitely that but a lot more is what I would like to say as I have mentioned every aspect in my answers above. [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 27 [Impact of Workplace Design] 4. 1. 2 Mr. Akesh Bhatnagar, General Manager, Golkonda Hotel, Hyderabad How critical is the physical work environment to office space designing today compared to when you began your work in the industry? Interesting Question, you see physical work environment or office design now is like the rotation of the earth, there is day and there is night. Some changes occurred for the best and well others were no t that successful.Office design was critical then and is critical now the only difference today is that people are more aware of what is expected of them. In the 1980s when I was still in my twenties I remember the laws of transparency at work and overtime were not strict. People could get away with anything and everything and honestly we did not bother much we did what our elders had done, we were told work was for a living and it had to be done come what may. Today though things have taken a drastic turn with people today aping the west and with more flexibility in laws and awareness employees tend to choose their own workplace.If it is good and up to their level of comfort they will do the job and if not ‘it’s not their cup of tea’, so today office space design has actually become a mirage of what the employee wants to see. It is his job and his way. When did you first begin to realize that the work environment or the workplace itself has started affecting you r on the job behaviour? Well it is actually hard to recall but if you ask me personally, I would say I realized it when I was training with ITDC on a banquet operation. I remember I had a very grumpy supervisor who would snap at us every time we moved a glass from here to there.It was actually intimidating the way he would actually direct us in each and everything how to walk, how to talk and how to serve, what to say and what not to say. One must understand that people do not like that. They prefer an environment that gives the ease of working not overstress them From there on I started judging my workplace by how my peers were, how my colleagues were, how well kept my workplace was and most importantly whether I can expect to get back what I put in. [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 28 [Impact of Workplace Design]Why do you feel that the industry is taking so long to incorporate workplace innovations even after realizing that it has a significant impact on the on the job behaviour? We ll Varun, I do not know if you realize this or not but hoteliering is not the most happening profession in the world today. You will actually be surprised to know how many people keep this as a second option, honestly hoteliering was my second option too it was much later when I came face to face with my work that I realized it is not that bad after all. If you see figures the industry is actually in need of more than twenty thousand educated professionals but alas!People with brains either become engineers or doctors or join other professions with other noble roots. There is a shortage of skilled personnel in this industry and people knock on the doors of this profession when they have realized that they do not stand a chance elsewhere. People like you that is if hotels was your first option are really hard to come by so you know bringing in an innovation which few seem to understand feels like a waste of time so the process of workplace change though slow seems even more redundant because of the lack of skilled people for its execution.If you wanted to create the ideal workplace environment, what would you envision it to be if you were an employee? Well if I were to envision my work place I would see myself sitting on a chair that floats above the ground and be able to move in an out through walls unnoticed eat sleep work and enjoy when I want. Jokes apart, I am just trying to say that there can never be one vision. The vision of workplace for every person changes with the change in his seniority and his mindset.When I was at the Front office manager I wanted a bigger desk today when I am a General Manager I want a bigger and much more technologically improved office What one envisions to see will always be steps away from reality, so if you wish to sum up what each and every one of us in this industry wants it would just be ‘paradise’. [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 29 [Impact of Workplace Design] What do you feel have been the most repetitive c omplains regarding workplace issues in the industry? Well when you talk of complains in this industry they are more like tantrums of kid.It is like when the kid wants something he wants it without even realizing whether or not the company would actually be able to provide him with the same. I get complains like ‘the staff washroom is to small’ or ‘ we need better lockers’ or ‘the work hours are killing’ or ‘sir, I did not get my designated of’ and last but not the least ‘ my supervisor and colleagues do not respect me’. This world is a battlefield of conflicts, people strive to achieve better and better. To people there will always be a scope for change so workplace design or change is like polishing a diamond with each intricate cut it shines better and its value doubles.Maybe many of the complains do not have a solution but many also do but the irony is if you solve one they come up with upgraded versions of previous complains so you have got to keep improving yourself so that you can face the challenges of the future. Office innovation or workplace change is actually the development of technological social and personnel aspects, what are your comments on this statement? Definitely, very truly spoken because work and its outcomes depend mainly on personal social and technological aspects, enhancing all of the above would definitely enhance productivity. . 2 Structured Questionnaire Analysis A structured questionnaire was provided to thirty staff members selected randomly from the food and beverage department of Taj Palace Hotel, Delhi. The questionnaire involved ranking workplace as an important attribute affecting job satisfaction and on-job performance on a scale of one to five, with one being the lowest and five being the highest. After the data was collected, it was analyzed for the importance placed to different attributes with regards to the employees’ job satisfaction and on-job p erformance.An average of the [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 30 [Impact of Workplace Design] data submitted by all participants of the study was calculated and a bar chart was generated as follows. Attributes of Job Satisfaction 5 4. 5 4 3. 5 3 2. 5 2 1. 5 1 0. 5 Attributes 2. 6 2. 6 3. 7 4. 4 4. 1 3. 9 3. 6 3. 6 3. 7 3. 7 4. 1 4. 2 4 4. 5 3. 8 4 4. 5 0 Figure 1 The analysis of this questionnaire presented to employees of different ages and working at different levels in the Food and Beverage Department of The Taj Palace Delhi yielded very interesting results.Looking at the bar chart from the average of all attributes of work and workplace design , it is naturally seen that Learning Opportunity, Promotion, Motivation and Workplace Architecture play a major role in employee satisfaction, which in turn is known to be directly proportional to the on the job behaviour of the employee. Many employees have also marked Wellness Programs and Job Security as important reasons for retaining a j ob. The analysis also included ideas collected from, The Restaurant Manager, supervisors, the stewards and also management trainees working in the department.The questionnaire by design was circulated to an equal number of male and female employee’s in the study. [Varun Sahgal (H-18095)] Page 31 [Impact of Workplace Design] Next, the researcher segregated the study findings by gender to see if any deviations occurred in the result. It was realized that different workplace attributes motivated male and female employees differently. Given below is a Bar chart of the attributes that the male employees considered essential for job satisfaction. 5 Job Satisfaction Attributes for Male 4. 7 Employees 4. 1 3. 4 3. 8 3. 7 3. 4 2. 8 2. 5 4. 1 4 4 4. 2 4. 2 4. 2 4. 1 4 4. 5 4 3. 5 3 2. 5 2 1. 5 Attributes(M) 1 0. 5 0 Figure 2 It was clearly noticed that for male employees working in the Food and Beverage department of The Taj Palace Hotel, Delhi that what motivates them the most is the physical attribute of workplace, which includes working desk and back area design. Workplace architecture is closely followed by job security, training and development, motivation while attr