Outsourcing - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 26 Words: 7729 Downloads: 4 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Statistics Essay Did you like this example? Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Introduction Outsourcing is one of the growth industries of our time (Winterton 2000). Today, the outsourcing of selected organisational activities is an integral part of corporate strategy (Lankford and Parsa 1999). Outsourcing has become a significant facet of modern hotel management (Sieburg 1992). Unfortunately there is shortage of prior research in the hospitality management literature concerning outsourcing or maintaining internally business processes in hotel sector. This paper seeks to present critical analysis of factors, varieties, aims and results of outsourcing within hotel industry. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Outsourcing" essay for you Create order The first chapter will begin with stating the problem which is vital in hospitality industry. It will then continue with the presentation of background literature and the purpose of study. Thirdly, rationale will be explained. Subsequently research questions will be raised. Furthermore a definition of terms will identify the key words within the study and how the writer defines them within it. A number of limitations will indicate specific areas in which the research will not be definitive. Finally a summary of the chapter will be provided indicating the main points discussed. 1.2 Statement of the Problem Historically as the kind of contractual relations and commercial activity outsourcing has appeared in 1962 when the successful businessman Ross Perro, whose firm EDS carried out calculations for banks, renting night time on mainframes, has brought General Motors annual economy in 44 % more than 4 billion dollars (Nureev 2002). Over the last few years, the idea of outsourcing noncore business functions has gained huge popularity (Winterton 2000). Nowadays different types and forms of outsourcing are putting into practice and developing in various businesses. Tourism in its turn is a rapidly growing phenomenon and has become one of the largest industries in the world. But also hospitality industry is very unique, and very sensitive to every internal and external changes. And such innovation as outsourcing should have affect the industry in general and the development of hotel sector in particular. As it has been mentioned above, outsourcing within hotel industry has been the subject of minimal literature research. And a question: whether outsourcing will work in hotels and make notable profit still opened for reasoning and conclusions. And if yes or no, how it will be affected by financial crisis which came less than year ago. Just that very case of crisis can cardinally change the relation of business to outsourcing. After all in a crisis situation it is more important not tactical, but the strategic part of the business. In general, up to now the quantity of questions more than answers. And it is very important to understand, why hotels outsource. And what form for them is most attractive and far-sighted. 1.3 Background Literature According to Lankford and Parsa (1999), outsourcing is defined as the procurement of products or services from sources that are external to the organisation. This leads to allowing outsiders to take responsibilities for some aspects of financial management (Winterton 2000). After definition and explanation of previous authors, it is possible to say that outsourcing is something similar to service and support services though it is differs essentially from them. It is not short-term service, on once, given by one company to another. Outsourcing gives longer support, not single. Outsourcing is transfer of certain processes or functions from one company to another. The Company recipient should specialise in this branch. From here it is possible to create one of outsourcings principles: I leave to myself only that I can do better than others, I give to the external executor that it does better than others. Other principles and the most practical types and forms of outsourcing will be con sidered in second chapter. Outsourcing has become an important strategic tool in todays competitive business environment (Zhu, Hsu and Lillie 2001). As any tool of business it has its own advantages and disadvantages. Outsourcing offers several advantages, such as enabling existing staff to concentrate on core activities on organisational specialisations, focusing on achieving key strategic objectives, lowering or stabilising overhead costs, and thereby gaining cost advantage over the competition, providing flexibility in response to changing market conditions, and reducing investment in high technology (Kliem, 1999; Quinn 1999 cited Kakabadse, N. and Kakabadse, A. 2000). Thus it is possible to ear-mark three big advantages of outsourcing in general, not only for hotels and hospitality industry. The first advantage outsourcing allows to pay almost all attention and resources to the core direction of the business and to charge to foreign company noncore functions. Thereby, company will have competitive advantage. Also redistribution and optimisation of human resources of the company will be possible. The second advantage is decreasing of material input. Very often attractions of the foreign execut or essentially cheaper than the maintenance of own department for execution of certain job. It is caused by lower price cost of outsourcers job since the chosen direction is its specific specialisation. And the third advantage using outsourcing, companies can get technologies and the decisions of higher quality level which might be absent at the organisation. Besides this there is a possibility of using specialised functions which only experts can perform. Also it is important to remember about transfer of all responsibilities of the assigned functions to outsourcer. But besides these pluses there are also some disadvantages of outsourcing. Schniederjans and Zuckweiler (2004) introduce very helpful summary of those. They suggested that it is possible to divide this lacks in four groups: 1) Managerial implications. Such as loss of control over critical functions and suppliers. 2) Financial implications. Such as failure to realise cost savings. 3) Operational implications. Such as dependence on suppliers and responsibility for quality of their work. 4) Human resource implications. Such as lower morale of permanent employees. Thus after confrontation these disadvantages and meaning of the process it is possible to ear-mark one of the most important shortcoming of outsourcing. It is possible to criticise it for loss of workplaces. As the result of such process, the company can release many workplaces, replacing the in-house workers with more professional (or cheaper) from other company. As the result of this, first of all, workers are getting in the worst position because very often there is no labour contract or any guarantees about their future job between them and the employer. Remembering all the minuses, lacks and disadvantages but aspiring to benefits, pluses and advantages of outsourcing hotels should understand the reasons, right time and business situation when to outsource. According to William and Faramanz (1999), firms should consider outsourcing when it is believed that certain support functions can be completed faster, cheaper, or better by an outside organisation. Tasks that are not core competencies of the hotel human resources, payroll and benefits, information systems, even food service are ripe for being contracted out. Moreover, Blake (1997) gave three main reasons for organisations for turning to outsourcing: Where others do it better To focus on their core business To reduce their cost base. Therefore the hotels should use outsourcing to concentrate on the primary activity, instead of to be engaged in management of dining rooms, cleaners or catching of computer viruses. Another factor to exploit the outsourcing within hotel industry is the situation when the external provider of services is capable to provide economy and/or higher level of services because of specialisation or cheaper labour. Outsourcing can help to save resources of the hotel. One more not very visible objective to use outsourcing within hotels is to study from the service provider. Consequently, Milgrom and Roberts (1992 cited Lamminmaki 2005) said that understanding hotels motivation for outsourcing is important, as organisation is as important as technology, cost, and demand in determining success. To conclude this part of the chapter, it is useful to remember statement of Kotler (1988): Entrust others that what they will make easier and more cheaply. 1.4 Purpose of Study The purpose of this study was to examine factors that influence on hotel sector for outsourcing or maintaining internally business processes. By analysing existing studies related to outsourcing in general, it can be valuable in applying to the outsourcing within hotel sector where there is little research. In additional, there are few management accounting studies concerned with the hotel sector (Collier and Gregory 1995). Furthermore, the research will evaluate advantages and disadvantages of using outsourcing for hotels. This study will critically assess the innovative part of outsourcing for hotels and what type and form of internal business processes is going to be more successful for them. Specifically, literature will be within the hospitality sector. Moreover, how will outsourcing affect costumers and their needs will be analysed. Finally, based on the findings of the study, solutions for the hotel sector will be provided. 1.5 Rationale This research is about outsourcing or internal business processes within hotel industry. And it is significant for several reasons: 1. Hospitality industry is one of the fastest developing industries. And In many countries, tourism industry is the leading industry, which stimulates development of other sectors. 2. Outsourcing relatively new business idea but it has been used already in numerous sectors of economy including hospitality. 3. Using outsourcing or internal business processes hotels can cut their production cost. 4. There is a high potential to improve quality of hotels services. 5. Most of the hotels have to find some new ideas for their development and reduction of risks during the financial crisis period. And outsourcing could be one of them. 1.6 Research Questions This study aim is to answer following Research Questions: 1. What is considered outsourcing process within the hotel sector? To begin with, it is vital for the research to explain and to make it clearer, what is outsourcing in todays economy. Also it is important to elucidate if this term is innovative method for the business or it is just a new expression of existing already processes within hotel sector. 2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing for hotel sector? As any type of business relationship, outsourcing should have not only advantages and positive moments but also disadvantages and obstacles. To be more objective, it is vital to compare both to be able to make a conclusion whether outsourcing is a big opportunity for the hotels or it will bring more difficulties rather than profitability. In addition, it is significant to understand the specific type of action of outsourcing within hotels and its the most widespread forms 3. What are the factors for outsourcing or maintaining internally business processes within hotel sector? Internal and external factors of using outsourcing for the hotels will be examined. And the research will emphasise specific reasons of starting using outsourcing within hotel industry. Moreover, financial crisis as one of the factors will be discussed. 4. What are the main aims of outsourcing within hotel sector? And last but not least, it will be achievable to acquire the main aims and results of outsourcing within hotel sector. Additionally, after analysing the interview and questionnaires, preferred types and the specific benefits from outsourcing for the hotels will be seen. 1.7 Definition of Terms Core business: Core business means the commercial activity from which the company derives most of its profits (www.resourceconservation.mb.ca). According to Alexander and Yong (1996), there are four main points to define core activities: Activities which traditionally performed in-house; Activities which critical to business performance; Activities which create current or potential competitive advantage; Activities which will drive further growth, innovation, or rejuvenation. Financial Crisis: There is no precise definition of financial crisis, but a common view is that disruptions in financial markets rise to the level of a crisis when the flow of credit to households and businesses is constrained and the real economy of goods and services is adversely affected (opencrs.com). Hotel Sector: Outsourcer: The service provider (outsourcer) is responsible for delivering the contracted services, resolving day-to-day operational problems and managing the request and implementation of routine changes in accordance with the framework of contracts, standards (Kent 1998). Outsourcing: Greaver (1999) defined outsourcing as the act of transferring some of an organizations recurring internal activities and decision rights to outside providers, as set forth in a contract. Later Beaumont and Sohal (2004) explained outsourcing as having work that was formerly done inside the organisation performed by an external organisation. The vendor (hereafter the outsourcer and outsource are, respectively, referred to as vendor and client) may be an independent entity or a wholly owned subsidiary. 1.8 Limitations This study will limit itself to surveying and interviewing hotels only from two countries Greece and Russia and most probably will not represent the complete situation of European hotel industry as well as worldwide hotel industry. Moreover it will not represent the whole situation even in both chosen countries for the reason that researcher sampled only those who have agreed to be sampled. The convenience sampling procedure decreases the generalisation of findings. This study cannot be generalised to populations but may relate to other defined contexts with caution. For the purpose of this study the mixed approach was used, which include utilisation of both quantitative and qualitative data analysis which are always connected with sensibility, reliability and validity. But on the other hand it has also its advantages such as expansion and collaboration. Furthermore, this study will concentrate on outsourcing within hotel sector, but at the same time there may be other factors that influence and affect business processes in the hotels. 1.9 Summary This chapter has introduced the thesis by outlining the topic of this study, the statement of the problem, background literature, purpose of this study, its rationale, presented research questions, definition of the terms and limitations of the study. In this first chapter the studys main focus was identified as examining and understanding the importance of outsourcing within hotel sector. A critical examination of meaning of outsourcing, its advantages and disadvantages should be able to assist in determining how the hotel industry can be affected or altered by using outsourcing process. Finally, this study would determine reasons and forms of outsourcing which are the most recent, available and useful within hotel sector. Afterward, Chapter Two will discuss the theoretical framework and conceptual models of factors for outsourcing or maintaining internally business processes within hotel sector. The analysis will be connected with four Research Questions. Finally, next chapter will classify particular insufficiencies in the literature leading to the need of the present study. Chapter 2: Literature Review 2.1 Introduction The purpose of this chapter is to critically analyse the existing literature on outsourcing or maintaining internally business processes within hotel sector. Based on the research questions discussed in the first chapter of the given study, four general areas have been established. More specifically this chapter will begin with a general description of related texts and then gradually concentrate on the precise areas in which the study has a focus on. The studies in the four major areas provided the theoretical foundation for the research conducted in this study. The areas are: 1. Consideration and explanation of outsourcing processes within the hotel industry. This area relates to Research Question #1 What is considered outsourcing process within the hotel sector? 2. Advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing for the hotel industry. This area relates to Research Question #2 What are the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing for hotel sector? 3. Factors and motives of using outsourcing processes within hotel industry. This area relates to Research Question #3 What are the factors for outsourcing or maintaining internally business processes within hotel sector? 4. Aims and results of outsourcing for hotel sector. This area relates to Research Question #4 What are the main aims of outsourcing within hotel sector? The general areas were supported by the literature are all directly related to this study. The purpose of the literature review for the author was to obtain a greater understanding and depth of knowledge by having critically analysed all areas pertaining to the Research Questions. These Research Questions are achievable as the researcher has a close and continual contact with the industry and has sufficient access to the information in numerous hotels in Greece and Russia. 2.2 Review of General Area I: Consideration and explanation of outsourcing processes within the hotel industry This section provides the theoretical framework for Research Question # 1. The hotel industry is one of the formidable business in the world but it does not mean that they are strict in incorporating business strategies in their business (https://www.outsourcing-weblog.com). Also, according to Burgess (2007), financial controllers in their turn consider that departmental and general managers do not have enough business skills and finance skills in particular to optimise costs and revenues and hence maintain profits. Thus outsourcing practice might be a very useful and successful way in order to help owners of the hotels nowadays as well as in future. According to Kakabadse, N. and Kakabadse, A. (2000), outsourcing practice dates back to eighteenth-century England and has been in continuous use in numerous industry sectors. However, the term outsourcing English neologism has appeared in the American explanatory dictionaries only in the beginning of 80th (Ostrovsy 2009). Since then this expression is strongly located in a business lexicon of the majority of the world languages. Traditionally, outsourcing has concentrated on activities which are remote from the heart or nerve centre of the company (Brown 1997). Greaver (1999) defined outsourcing as the act of transferring some of an organisations recurring internal activities and decision rights to outside providers, as set forth in a contract. Consequently, outsourcing it is one of interaction form between two organisations which is determined by the contract. And following this contracts experts of one company accomplish duties of other company. Out-sourcing can be understood as use of anothers resources. Moreover, according to Lankford and Parsa (1999) outsourcing is defined as the procurement of products or services from sources that are external to the organisation. In other words outsourcing is a transfer of some functions of the organisation to external highly skilled executors outsourcers. Also it is refusal of own business process, and acquisition of services in realisation of this business process at specialised organisation. For the hotels outsourcing is a transfer to the external contractor of some business functions or parts of business processes of the company. The contractor (outsourcer) adapts his universal means and knowledge, considering this specific business of the customer, and uses them in interests of the customer for payment, more often defined in the cost of services, instead of shares of profit. According to Beaumont and Sohal (2004), wide variety of business process is now outsourced. The use of outsourcing is becoming more sophisticated; more organisations are outsourcing responsibility for business processes. Glickman et al. (2007) in his turn noted that outsourcing is becoming more widely accepted and the argument for outsourcing versus in-house operations is gaining more support. As a result Beaumont and Sohal (2004) confirmed that today outsourcing is a fashionable management technique. Hence, it is possible to mention that the outsourcing market endures rapid growth. The growing demand and supply mutually accelerate each other. Specialised outsourcing companies of cleaning and service of hotels are developing. Outsourcing leads to growth of some professions for hotel sector. More often, it is either low paid and not enough prestigious jobs (such as tidying and cleaning), or very specialised trades where maintenance of necessary professional level of employees or their work-load for the organisation is problematic (an example can be service of computer systems and IT). Consequently, as Glickman et al. (2007) stated, outsourcing has become a widely accepted practice that provides substantial cost-saving benefits for different organisations in general and hotels particular. And hotels will always outsource some activities (the supply of water and electricity) but insource others (Beaumont and Sohal 2004). Therefore, there is a question: what kind of activities should hotels outsource key business processes or non-core functions? As outsourcing is a means of improving the performance of the company (Brown 1997). And the overlay supplier is providing financial expertise which is difficult and expensive to create within a corporate treasury. The overlay provider, by offering the expertise to a broad range of clients, is able to provide it to each client at a lower cost than it would be for them to create their own capability (Winterton 2000). Today outsourcing is considered as the business technology which is transferring to outsourcing companies processes and functions from the in-house business and hence, it is possible to make a conclusion, responsibility for result of performance of these processes as well. So, for how big can be this shifting off responsibility for the hotel sector? The majority of authors consider that core activities should stay in-house, whilst non-core activities can be outsourced, in order to preserve core competencies (Prahalad and Hamel 1990, Bettis et al. 1992, Lacity et al. 1995, Quinn and Hilmer 1994, Rothery and Robertson 1995, Kelley 1995, Peisch 1995, Mullin 1996 cited Kakabadse, N. and Kakabadse, A. 2000). From here it is possible to draw a conclusion that the sense of outsourcing comes to the simple formula: to concentrate all resources to that kind of activity which is the core for the company, and to transfer the other (supporting, accompanying) functions to the reliable and professional partner. But Struebing, (1996) argued that especially relevant is the outsourcing of key business processes and financial functions. Nevertheless, Lankford and Parsa (1999) in their turn stated that focus on core business activities, companies can no longer assume that all organisational services must be provided and managed internally. Competitive advantage may be gained when products or services are produced more effectively and efficiently by outside suppliers. Thus, outsourcing is a direct transfer of non-core business processes of the company to the external organisation outsourcer, for their further performance within the limits of the signed contract. And there may be big benefit for the company if transferred business processes are the exact specialisation of outsourcer. Consequently, outsourcing is management strategy because of which hotels can optimise in-house processes and, without distracting on minor functions, completely concentrate on core activities. As a matter of fact outsourcing is attraction of external sources with the purpose of the decision of internal problems of the hotel. Outsourcing can also be characterised, as the sale to hotels services for maintenance of their activity, i.e. outsourcer can take on the balance almost all non-core activities of the hotel. As a result of that the client can give all his time only to the core business, thus occurs minimisation of risks concerning to not profile kinds of activities (a corporate meal, IT-service, transportation service, installation works, cleaning etc.). In hotels, outsourcing has been used for many years for some operational tasks such as cleaning, but only recently (Cline and Warner 2001, Lamminmaki 2006 cited Burgess 2007), has been considered for accounting, following the example of other industries (Burgess 2007). Holiday Inn for instance created its hotel reservations business as a separate entity based on its relationship with IBMs ISSC to serve the entire hotel and hospitality market (Venkatraman, 1997). Other examples of outsourcing within hotel sector could be: cleaning, laundry service, human resource management, employees meal, IT-service and support, marketing, statistics, security service, creating web-sites, organisation of celebrating and conferences via an event company and many others which are not core competences of business, and could very easily and more economically be contracted out to service companies (Winterton 2000). Nevertheless, according to Lamminmaki (2006), an activity will tend not to be outsourced if it results in a subcontractor being placed in a position enabling it to (wittingly or otherwise) inflict damage on the reputation of the hotels business. Now it is an appropriate and good point to understand how innovative the outsourcing model is. In general, outsourcing is just the variety of cooperation. Outsourcing of the hotel activities is definitely not a new phenomenon. In 1963, for example, Storey (2001 cited Glickman et al. 2007) examined outsourcing in the military (Glickman et al. 2007). From the previous part of the chapter it is possible to mention that benefit of outsourcing consists in more quality and less spend of accomplishment of the transferred function. Higher quality explained by availability of highly paid professionals who have a wide experience in the given problematic. As outsourcer has big amount of works in the specific sphere, he has a possibility to receive solid experience and on its basis to create various workings out for completing the transferred function. When the work is outsourced, the overlay traders are immersed in the market (Winterton 2000). Outsourcer is engaged in this sphere, and not for only one company. Hence, professional specialisation is taking place. And as a result expenses decrease and accordingly, the effect of accumulation begins: the bigger and better specialisation the easier management, easier management cheaper the whole process. Moreover, Glickman (et al. 2007) noted that outsourcers who provide the same functions to a number of different hotels are able to purchase larger quantities at lower prices. Thus, expenses become lower using outsourcing, than at independent accomplishing of matching function. On the other hand one of the biggest problems of this statement is that using by the hotel highly paid professionals will not allow to achieve this with small money. And it is really not so easy to operate this process. So actually, what kind of innovation is here? There were always contract and subcontract works, there was a specialisation of both workers and enterprises, there was a strict selection of suppliers. And can it be differently with modern development of techniques and business? The settled word outsourcing goes today as a new method of work. And this word has become extremely useful. Also, it is relevant to know what place outsourcing takes in the quality management. In standards ISO series 9000:2001 (https://ds1.twirpx.com) this word (not even this but only the verb) outsource has been found by researcher just once in point 4.1. That is why it is especially appropriate to remember the statement of Lonsdale and Cox (2000) with the note that it is some kind of substitute for the once fashionable enthusiasms for conglomeration, horizontal integration, vertical integration, and internal integration. Consequently, considering outsourcing as the business phenomenon of the modern world, it is possible to allocate its pluses and minuses. Also it is possible to separate core services and to understand, by what principles they work and what bring as a result to the hotels: benefit or losses. In addition, it is possible to analyse a situation of loosing work places because of outsourcing processes within the hotel sector, increasing percent of unemployment or, on the contrary, allows hotels to develop and grow faster, increasing their weight in the market. 2.3 Review of General Area II: Advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing for the hotel industry This section provides the theoretical framework for Research Question # 2. According to Beaumont and Sohal (2004), outsourcing is used because it supposedly advantages the organisation. The advantages and disadvantages can be categorized as strategic or tactical, long-term or short-term, and tangible or intangible. The advantages in outsourcing can be operational, strategic, or both. Operational advantages usually provide for short-term trouble avoidance, while strategic advantages offer long-term contributions in maximizing opportunities (Lankford and Parsa 1999). When services are outsourced, it may become easier to handle problem situations because it is possible to go straight to the provider and have them work out the problem instead of having to figure out what went wrong internally (Glickman et al. 2007). For hotels, benefits are substantial: reduced costs, expanded services and expertise, improved employee productivity and morale, and a more positive corporate image (Lankford and Parsa 1999). Moreover, the hotel does not enlarge staff, removes from itself cares on personnel recruiting, and saves on social taxes. At the same time if hotel organise his processes in correct way, quality of work of the personnel remains high. Also hotels can leave taxes, administrative costs, worries about replacing equipment, warehousing, maintenance, and staff turnover to the contractors experts (Glickman et al. 2007). Using outsourcing the company interested in the price and quality of given services only, and financial risks are transferred to the service provider. According to Di Romualdo and Gurbaxani (1998), sharing costs and risks of commercialisation with outsourcing partners can help maximise return investment. And to raise quality and reliability because during solving the similar problems outsourcing companies have already stored a wide experience and can use the newest technologies and the highly skilled personnel. Moreover, outsourcing can decrease the product/process design cycle time, if the client uses multiple best-in-class suppliers, who work simultaneously on individual components of the system, as each supplier can contribute greater depth and sophisticated knowledge in specialised areas and thus offer higher quality inputs than any individual supplier or client (Quinn and Hilmer, 1994). Consequently, each hotel as a client pays only a part of time of each of experts with the purpose of reducing a total cost of services. What is more, Kliem (1999), Quinn (1999 cited Kakabadse, N. and Kakabadse, A. 2000) noted that outsourcing offers several advantages, such as enabling existing staff to concentrate on core activities on organisational specialisations, focusing on achieving key strategic objectives, lowering or stabilising overhead costs, and thereby gaining cost advantage over the competition, providing flexibility in response to changing market conditions, and reducing investment in high technology. Crucially, outsourcing can provide companies with greater capacity for flexibility, especially in the purchase of rapidly developing new technologies, fashion goods, or the myriad components of complex systems (Carlson 1989, Harrison 1994 cited Kakabadse, N. and Kakabadse, A. 2000). Thus, it is possible to draw a conclusion that outsourcing has a number of advantages which are attractive to hotels using it: Allows to receive better quality services and/or cheaper; Improves innovative possibilities of hotels due to interaction and partnership with the suppliers of high level who have the big intellectual potential and rich innovative experience; Provides the big flexibility of the company in case of sudden change of a market situation or consumer preferences: to find new suppliers with necessary possibilities and resources easier and cheaper, than to reconstruct internal activity of the hotel, liquidating one resources and creating the new; Accelerates achievement of resources and skills; Allows to concentrate business on those processes which are effectively carried out by staff of the hotel, and those which are strategically expedient for keeping under its control. For small hotels advantage of outsourcing will be expressed in economy of expenses and office (working, useful) areas. Furthermore, the search of the employee possessing qualification and a practical operational experience in all demanded areas can be quite long, and cost of hiring of such employee will be rather big. On the other hand, the company which is specialised on providing of certain services, faces first with arising problems in some concrete area. This company invests as in improvement of decisions of problems and development of new technologies, as in constant improvement of professional skill of the personnel. Narrow specialisation in a subject domain allows it to provide reliable and qualitative execution of transferred for outsourcing task. And because of caring out the same-type operations for set of clients the supplier can keep competitive prices of his services. To provide the same quality internally, considerable investments into personnel development, the equipment, the software, and also on the maintenance of the personnel involved in business process are necessary for hotels. The service provider, in its tern, does not need to search for new people, to equip for them office and to wait while they completely will accustom to the company. Because of this the essential economy can be reached. After analysing all factors listed above, the bowl of scales can be inclined to the site of outsourcing. However, Glickman et al. (2007) mentioned that outsourcing can provide many benefits if properly applied, but with these benefits come associated risks. As with any other business decision, there are pros and cons to be weighed in the choice of whether to outsource (Winterton 2000). Researchers suggest the following disadvantages as the risks of outsourcing. Kliem (1999) stated that becoming dependent on outside suppliers for services, losing control over critical functions, lowering the morale of permanent employees are the weaknesses of outsourcing process. Though, Lankford and Parsa (1999) noted that the fear of losing control is a major emotional stumbling block to outsourcing. Furthermore, Beaumont and Sohal (2004) selected five the most common minuses: ascertaining relevant costs, maintaining the relationship, loss of distinctive competencies, change problems and loss of flexibility. Moreover, outsourcing can generate new risks, such as the loss of critical skills or developing the wrong skills, the loss of cross-functional skills, and the loss of control over suppliers (Quinn and Hilmer 1994, Domberger 1998 cited Kakabadse, N. and Kakabadse, A. 2000). As a result, it is possible to conclude that there are some points which every owner of each hotel has to understand before he will decide to outsource. Inexpediency of transfer of some functions of the large hotels since it can lead to distribution of the confidential information, fall of level of efficiency in getting of the necessary data for management of the hotel. Confidentiality loss conducts to loss of competitive advantages of the hotel. Psychological feature: it is hard to entrust the in-hose information to the external company. Transfer of a part of functions on outsourcing, can lead to losses of some kind of activities of the hotel which in cooperation with a core business helped to achieve the organisations success and popularity among consumers. Also it would be important to notice that having transferred to outsourcing a considerable quantity of duties, the hotels expenses can essentially increase, And also important to remember that the excessive amount of services removed to outsourcing conduct to a complete dependence of the hotel from external executors that is extremely adversely reflected the company as a whole. The probability of losses is great in case of the absence of appropriate quality of given services. Also it is necessary not to forget that any commercial organisation can be declared bankrupt and outsourcing firms are not an exception. Because of that the hotel may have additional difficulties of search and selection of new outsourcer. Furthermore, absence of the appropriate control of the quality of the performance of works which have been outsourced is big disadvantage as well. According to Glickman et al. (2007), to outsource or not, is based on financial considerations. But Kliem (1999) stated that the disadvantages of outsourcing outweigh the advantages. To avoid this situation, hotels should be very careful, attentive and considerate to choosing external supplier when they decide to outsource. Behara et al. (1995) suggested to follow and analyse next points during identifying possible impacts out of the outsourcing process: o Impact on company competitiveness; o Identifying services to be outsourced; o The number of suppliers to be used; o Ability to return to in-house operations if required; o Supplier reliability; o Supplier service quality; o Coordinating with the supplier and evaluating performance; o Flexibility in the products offered by the supplier; o Providing the latest/advanced technology and expertise. Moreover, Quinn and Hilmer (1994) stated that small specialised suppliers often offer greater responsiveness through new technologies which have undermined the need for the vertically integrated organisation and have also helped achieve economies of scale. One of the decisions to reach such outcome might be co-branding According to Hemmington and King (2000), today there are many hotel and restaurant companies that have adopted this approach to hotel dining including: Hilton with Benihana and Trader Vics; Holiday Inn with TGI Fridays and Dennys; and Marriott with Pizza Hut, TGI Fridays and Ruths Chris Steakhouse. There are five key dimensions of the hotel restaurant outsourcing relationship as follows: core competencies, brand compatibility, organisational culture, operational tension, and system of review, evaluation and control (Hemmington and King 2000). Thus, it is possible to conclude, that depending on a type of services which hotels are outsource, there are next possible variants: a) Transferring of administration functions (management); b) Transferring of services functions (housekeeping); c) Transferring of internal processes functioning (marketing and promotion); d) Refusal of own resources and their external use (laundry equipment). Besides, depending on a form of services which hotels are outsource, there are next possible variants: The outsourcing contract when the staff of a hotel and/or equipment is given to a service provider for supervising for the period of contract action; The outsourcing contract when the staff of a hotel and/or equipment is borrowed from an outsourcing company for the period of contract action; The outsourcing contract when both hotel and outsourcer are partners in commercial activity. Frequently outsourcing within hotel sector is a long-term decision. Lankford and Parsa (1999) suggested that companies should not focus solely on short-term needs; this is a major event that one wants to avoid repeating. Firms need to take a long-term view of the move to outsourcing. Even, if the contract is short-term, i.e. service appears once and another need for it does not arise. It can be, for example, renovation of the hotels rooms. Further it is possible to work repeatedly with the same outsourcer if quality of service was good, but it will be again short-term service. Even in that case it will be long-term view because hotel will be able to use these rooms in the future for quite long period of time. Therefore, outsourcing within hotel industry is rather difficult and complicated decision. It has its own advantages and disadvantages, various forms and types, the contract actions might be short and long. What is more, there are big amount of outsourcers who provide services with different quality level. For successful outsourcing process hotels have to analyse a lot of internal and external factors, its own business level and place in the market. And only after this analyses and understanding the real need to outsource owners and managers of the hotels may start to search for the best service supplier. 2.4 Review of General Area III: Factors and motives of using outsourcing processes within hotel industry This section provides the theoretical framework for Research Question # 2. The competition growing up every year on the market of services demands from the hotels to increase the production efficiency and to minimise the expenses. The main aim of the owner of a hotel to make business effective, i.e. generating the maximum profit with an optimum level of expenses. But the resources and equipment economy is not enough, also the large part of expenses is payment of workers of the hotel. To solve this problem is possible with the help of outsourcing, allowing to transfer a part of processes of the hotel to the external company. According to Burgess (2007), owners are looking for secure investments that make a good return. As well as stable, safe properties in which to invest (Barnard 2005). And outsourcing can be used to get such return and enhance business (Phillips and Kirby 2002). The range of choices for treasury outsourcing is broad and deep (Winterton 2000). Sometimes for instance decisions to outsource are taken in order to improve motivation within the firm (Chalos and Sung 1998). Furthermore, managers know that the job will be done on time and in a predictable fashion. And if it isnt, they can get somebody else without going through the hassles of hiring and firing employees. Up to now it is possible to find out four main purposes for outsourcing within hotel sector: 1. Concentration of activity on the core business processes; 2. Refusal of the infrastructures which are not bringing in the income for a hotel; 3. Optimisation of number and level of employees of a hotel; 4. Availability to use newest technology. According to Burges (2007), there have been many changes affecting the hotel industry in recent years. Thus, hotels should consider outsourcing when it is believed that certain support functions can be completed faster, cheaper, or better by an outside organisation (Lankford and Parsa 1999). When a hotel decides to outsource some of its operations, the decision is typically driven by considerations of scale economies, costs, the lack of capable/skilled workers to provide the service, and a desire to improve the quality of service. (Gupta et al. 2005, Finlay and King 1999 cited Glickman et al. 2007). However, according to Manion et al. (1993), there are some questions should be asked by the managers of a hotel when they decided to outsource and chose the supplier: What are the proposed savings measured against? Does the outsourcer have economies of scale not available to you? Is the guaranteed price a good deal? Can the outsourcer buy equipment and hardware cheaper? What it is that they do that gives to the hotels competitive or strategic advantage? (Blake 1997). After all these questions have been answered and decision has been made owners of hotels might understand that outsourcing according to Winterton (2000), is a pretty scary idea. It feels like giving ones chequebook to a tradesman and letting him write his own cheque. Hence, the fundamental decision is whether or not to outsource a business process or function. This is the most important of a sequence of actions and decisions listed in maintaining the relationship (Beaumont and Sohal 2004). Currently, it is possible to suggest more specific reasons when hotels outsource: There are vacant places for the short period (holidays, business trips of principal employees); There is a need of the personnel for seasonal works (New Year, summer period); There is a necessity to accomplish the project, but there are no qualified personnel (marketing research, wed-site creating) One of the most important steps for hotels managers is the competent conclusion of the contract with fixing of all necessary points of decreasing of financial, human and other kinds of risks. Nevertheless, every manager has to realise that there are no any outsourcers exist who would provide unique, qualitative and cheap services at the same time. World financial crisis which has forced hotels to count each cent and try to receive highest possible efficiency and return from all business processes can become one more factor pushing hotel sector to outsourcing. And the maintenance of the big departments of non-core orientation became inadmissible wastefulness. 2.5 Review of General Area IV: Aims and results of outsourcing for hotel sector Text 2.6 Summary Text Chapter 3: Methodology 3.1 Introduction Text Chapter 4: Results 4.1 Introduction Text Chapter 5: Conclusions and Recommendations 5.1 Introduction Text Epilogue Text References ALEXANDER, M. and YOUNG, D., 1996. Strategic outsourcing. Long Range Planning. 29 (1), 116-119. BARNARD, R., 2005. Budget, Breaks and Business The Three Drivers for UK Tourism in 2005 [online]. PKF. Available from: https://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/research/chr/news/newsroom/item-details.html?id=4024279 [Accessed 4 June 2009] BEAUMONT, N. and SOHAL, A., 2004. Outsourcing in Australia. International Journal of Operations and Production Management. 24 (7), 688-700. BETTIS, R.A., BRADLEY, S.P. and HAMEL, G., 1992. Outsourcing and industrial decline. Academy of Management Executive. 6 (1), 7-21. BLAKE, S., 1997. Management Summary: International Strategic Sourcing Survey 1996. PA Consulting Group. June, 18-19 BROWN, M., 1997. Outsourcing. Management Today. January, 56-60. BURGESS, C., 2007. Do hotel managers have sufficient financial skills to help them manage their areas? International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 19 (3), 188-200. CARLSON, B., 1989. Flexibility and theory of the firm. International Journal of Industrial Organisation. 7 (1), 179-203. CHALOS, P. and SUNG, J., 1998. Outsourcing decision and managerial incentives. Decision Science. 29 (4), 901-919. COLLIER, P. and GREGORY, A., 1995. Investment appraisal in service industries: a field study analysis of the U.K. hotel sector. Management Accounting Research. 6 (1), 33-57. CLINE, R. and WARNER, M., 2001. Hospitality e-business: the future. Bottomline. 16 (4), 26-33. DI ROMUALDO, A. and GURBAXINI, V., 1998. Strategic intent for IT outsourcing. Sloan Management Review. 39 (4), 67-80. FINLAY, P.N. and KING, R.M., 1999. IT outsourcing: a research framework. International Journal of Technology Management. 17 (1,2), 109-128. GLICKMAN, T.S., HOLM, J., KEATING, D., PANNAIT, K. and WHITE, S.C., 2007. Outsourcing on American campuses. International Journal of Educational Management. 21 (5), 440-452. GREAVER, M.F., 1999. Strategic Outsourcing: A Structured Approach to Outsourcing Decisions and Initiatives. New York: AMACOM GUPTA, A., KANTHI, H. and MIKOUZIA, N.C., 2005. Outsourcing in higher education: an empirical examination. International Journal of Educational Management. 19 (4,5), 396-411. HARRISON, B.T., 1994. Lean and Mean: The Changing Landscape of Corporate Power in the Age of Flexibility. New York: Basic Books. https://ds1.twirpx.com/files/008/08712_iso_9001_2000_sistemy_menedzhmenta_kachestva.rar https://opencrs.com/document/RL34412 [Accessed ] https://www.outsourcing-weblog.com/50226711/hotel_outsourcing.php [Accessed ] https://www.resourceconservation.mb.ca/news/pdfs/RCM%20corporate%20sponsorship%20evaluation%20framework.pdf [Accessed ] KAKABADSE, N. and KAKABADSE, A., 2000. Critical review outsourcing: a paradigm shift. The Journal of Management Development. 19 (8), 670-728. KELLEY, B., 1995. Outsourcing marches on. Journal of Business Strategy. 16 (4), 38-42. KENT, D.L., 1998. The role of service level agreements in IT service delivery. Information Management and Computer Security. 6 (3), 128-132. KLIEM, R.L., 1999. Managing the risks of outsourcing agreements. Information Systems Management. Summer, 91-93. KLEIN, P., 1999. Outsourcings third wave. Informationweek. 15 Novembver, 126-127. KOTLER, P., 1988. Marketing management, analysis, planning, implementation, and control. U.S.A., Prentice-Hall International ed. U.S.A. LACITY, M.C., WILLCOCKS, L.P. and FEENY, D.F., 1995. IT outsourcing maximises flexibility and control. Harvard Business Review. 73 (3), 84-93. LAMMINMAKI, D., 2005. Why do hotels outsource? An investigation using asset specificity. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 17 (6), 516-528. LANKFORD, W.M. and PARSA, F., 1999. Outsourcing: a primer. Management Decision, 37 (4), 310-316. LONSDALE, C. and COX, A., 2000. The historical development of outsourcing: the latest fad? Industrial Management and Data Systems. 100 (9), 444-450. MANION, R., BURKETT, D. and WIFFEN, B., 1993. Why it makes sense to break the I. S. shackles and five reasons why it may not. I.T. Magazine. 25 (3), 14-19. MILGROM, P. and ROBERTS, J., 1992. Economics, Organisation and Management. Prentice-Hall. Englewood Cliffs, NJ. MULLIN, R., 1996. Managing the outsourced enterprise. Journal of Business Strategy. 17 (4), 28-32. NUREEV, M.V., 2002. Outsourcing today. Business Chelyabinsk, 17 September, p.3. OSTROVSY, E., 2009. The best time for outsourcing. Business Block, 693 (25), 22-23. PEISCH, R., 1995. When outsourcing goes awry. Harvard Business Review. 73 (3), 24-30. PHILLIPS, P. and KIRBY, D., 2002. The Impact of Electronic Business on Accountants: A Shareholder Value Perspective. Certified Accountants Educational Trust. Available from https://www.icmap.com.pk/a2_ieba.pdf [Accessed 9 June 2009] PRAHALAD, C. and HAEML, G., 1990. The core competence of the corporation. Harvard BusinessReview. 68 (3), 79-91. ROTHERY, B. and ROBERTSON, I., 1995. The Truth about Outsourcing. Aldershot: Gower Publishing. QUINN, J.B., 1999. Strategic outsourcing: leveraging knowledge capabilities. Sloan Management Review, 40 (4), 9-22. QUINN, J.B. and HILMER, F.G., 1994. Strategic outsourcing. Sloan Management Review. 35 (4), 43-55. SIEBURGH, J., 1992. The time is right for outsourcing. Lodging Hospitality, 48 (6), p. 57. STOREY, W.W., 2001. Contract performance by industry. The Journal of Government Financial Management. 50 (1), 18-21. STRUEBING, L., 1996. Outsourcing is the answer or is it? Quality Progress. 29 (3), p.20. VENKATRAMAN, N., 1997. Beyond outsourcing: managing IT resources as a value centre. Sloan Management Review. 38 (3), 51-64. WINTERTON, A., 2000. Why outsourcing could be good for you. Balance sheet, 8 (6), 17-19. ZHU, Z., HSU, K., LILLIE, J., 2001. Outsourcing a strategic move: the process and the ingredients for success. Management Decision, 39(5). Bibliography Text : Organizations organisations specialized specialised specialisation optimise -sed -sation

Social Learning Theory and The Effect of TV Violence on...

Social Learning Theory and The Effect of TV Violence on Children In the United States children watch an average of three to fours hours of television daily (Cantor Wilson, 1984, p. 28). Television can be a powerful influence in developing value systems and shaping behavior. Unfortunately, much of todays television programming is violent. Studies of the effects of TV violence on children and teenagers have found that children may become insensitive to violence. Consequently, they tend to gradually accept violence as a way to solve problems by imitating the violence they observe on television; and they identify with certain characters, good or bad. Therefore, extensive viewing of television violence by children causes greater†¦show more content†¦Children who watch television shows in which violence is very realistic, frequently repeated or unpunished, are more likely to imitate what they see, ( p.25). Children with emotional, behavioral, or learning problems may be more easily influenced by TV violence (Bandura, 1977). The impact of TV vi olence may be immediately evident in the childs behavior or may surface later, and young people can even be affected when the family atmosphere shows no tendency toward violence (Cantor Wilson, 1984). Therefore, while TV violence is not the only cause of aggressive or violent behavior, it is clearly a significant factor. The Good in Television Not all television is bad. There are several excellent programs dedicated to young children. Some programs incorporate entertainment and education to help children learn and identify characters, shapes and colors. Programs such as Mr. Rogers Neighborhood and Sesame Street also help promote good behavior and cooperation. Dr. Ernest Boyer, President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and former US Commissioner of Education, stated: Television sparks curiosity and opens up distant worlds to children. Through its magic, youngsters can travel to the moon or the bottom of the sea. They can visit castles, take river trips, or explore imaginary lands. . .With selective viewing, television can richly contribute to school readiness. (Chen, p. 122) Unfortunately, mostShow MoreRelatedMedia Effects On The Media Essay1273 Words   |  6 Pagestelevision (TV), however many experts feel we are constantly affected by the media whether we think we are or not. Theorists believe that too much media exposure can lead to knowledge, attitudes or behavioural changes within a society, this is called ‘media effects’ (Kuehn, â€Å"Media Effects†). These media effects consists of several Paradigms, a Paradigm is described as â€Å"a typical pattern or model† (Kuehn, â€Å"Media Effects†). 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Does Language Shape Culture Free Essays

Csecsei Luca 12. IB Does language shape culture? Most questions of whether and how language shapes thought start with the simple observation that languages differ from one another. And a lot! Just look at the way people talk, they might say. We will write a custom essay sample on Does Language Shape Culture? or any similar topic only for you Order Now Certainly, speakers of different languages must attend to strikingly different aspects of the world just so they can use their language properly. The word order can be completely different among languages. And also there are tenses in some languages that we do not have, use or do not know what it really means. Such as the subjunctive in spanish language. It is a tense which is the hardest to learn while learning spanish, because such a tense that has so many meanings does not exist nor in hungarian, neither in english. I had the chance to spend a year in the U. K. and i also to take spanish there, i experinced that to learn this tense is just as hard for the english as it was for me when I learned spanish in my previous school, which was a spanish-hungarian bilingual school. Culture is learned, but taught through the language. Language is never the entity which has been invented in isolation. It certainly has evolved gradually with the continuous development of a culture. A culture being a building made of different beliefs in supernatural, social behaviors, human emotions, or way of expressing feelings, the language has continually adapted accordingly to accommodate these identified notion and gesture of human activity. Finding a symbolism every time to register it in the language, thus contributing to its growth. A language has always been a weapon to express one’s ideas and feelings. And the reason enough to make this weapon more efficient to handle one’s need of expressing things with intended accuracy. It has been tuned-up with each new finding, getting honed up continually to get its flawless shape with developing culture. Culture is determined by the language it uses with a great extent. The first thing that comes to my mind is always slang. Language clearly shows where people belong, if someone speaks really mincing his words that shows he is educated nd nor grown up on the streets like most of the people who use slang words and developed a whole new language between them. We are all members of a social group and members of `society? as a whole. People interact in many ways and communication is just about the most common and among the most important. Whatever is meaningful to a group, from their everyday life to their traditions constitutes their very own culture and is ge nerally respected by all group members. Language is only one of such items. For ethnic minority groups that may have a language of their own, their language is a cornerstone in their culture. Take a look at dialects anywhere int he world. It clearly shows different customs, not just in language or communication. There a lots of dialects in South-America, for instance. Spanish in Latinamerica differs a lot from nations to nations, or we can also say, from culture to culture. There are dialects also in our country, Hungary. And people on the north of the country speak in a different way, like pronounce sounds so much different. Use words and expressions that we do not use at all. They also have differently built, constructed and decorated houses, songs, tales and wear different clothes as their costume. Taken together I do think linguistic processes are obtrusive in most fundamental domains of thought, unconsciously shaping us from the nuts and bolts of observation and perception to major life decisions. Language is central to our experience of being human and is central to our beliefs, and the languages we speak profoundly shape our culture. How to cite Does Language Shape Culture?, Essays

Describe Key Aspects of Public Health Strategies free essay sample

Describe key aspects of public health strategies There are many different strategies developed by the governments to monitor and care for the health of its people. These strategies help the public to live a healthy lifestyle and lead towards the betterment of their health. Controlling communicable diseases The Communicable Diseases Branch develops policy to help with the surveillance, prevention, and control of communicable diseases. As well as advising the Government about individual diseases and immunisation. The branch also works to ensure the safety of donated blood supplies, to prepare disease outbreak plans, and to monitor disease levels elsewhere in the world. The prevention of infection includes, standards precautions such as; Hand Hygiene, Use of personal protective equipment (PPE): gloves, aprons, eye protection, face masks etc. Handle and dispose of sharps safely, Dispose of contaminated waste safely, managing blood and body fluids: spillages etc, and Place patients with infections in appropriate accommodation. We will write a custom essay sample on Describe Key Aspects of Public Health Strategies or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page These are some prevention methods which could be used to control infections from spreading. Controlling communicable diseases is important to public based individuals in improving their health by keeping them away from spreading germs and illnesses. Also, the government and the local authorities as it is their job to ensure that the public is protected from such infectious diseases which are becoming a major of the illnesses. Promoting the health of the population Health- promoting activities to reduce ill health in the population. Health promotion is a process directed towards enabling people to take action. Thus, health promotion is not something that is done on or to people; it is done by, with and for people either as individuals or as groups. The purpose of this activity is to strengthen the skills and capabilities of individuals to take action and the capacity of groups or communities to act together to control over the matters of health so positive changes could be achieved. It is an essential strategy which addresses the major health challenges faced by developing and developed nations, including communicable and non-communicable diseases and issues related to human development and health. This is important to the service users and the authorities as it helps in the betterment of their health through the promotion of various activities and guidelines for the public. It is essential to the government as they carry the responsibility to care for the public and protect them from any diseases or illnesses. As well as this is important to the authorities due to its being their responsibility to promote health and fulfil their responsibilities towards the public. Developed programmes to reduce risk and promote screening Developed programme to reduce risk and promote screening is a beneficial strategy used for the protection of the public so illnesses could be prevented from an early stage. So the risks of a developing disease are controlled beforehand. There are different screening programs for cancer such as, the NHS breast screening programme, the NHS cervical screening programme and the NHS bowel screening programme. However, screening cannot always prevent cancer but help in trying to reduce it by slowing it down. These screening programs are essential to the government and the authorities as it is their job to ensure that the public is protected from any major illnesses that increase the mortality and the morbidity rate. It has importance to the public as it assist them in having a better health and being able to protect themselves from death causing illnesses through using these screening programs.

Animal Cruelty on Factory Farms free essay sample

We can promote humane treatment of factory farm animals by prevention through education, by enforcing humane laws by being an example of humane animal treatment, and by donating and/or volunteering at local humane law enforcement agencies. Cruelty and abuse of animals on factory farms cause loss to the business. Animals at the farms are injected with growth stimulants so that they can grow faster. According to Professor Ronald J. Adams, â€Å"A three-pound chicken can now be grown in approximately 6 week, a process that used to take four months (Adams, 2008). The cost of the growth hormone is costing the company unnecessary money when all the animals need is more time. The use of growth hormone has been found to â€Å"increase bacterial udder infections in cows†¦increasing the need for antibiotics (Food safety, 2007). † Antibiotics are mixed into the animal feed â€Å"to fight disease associated with close confinement and stress (Adams, 2008). † Animals on the farms are forced to be inhumanely closely confined which creates great stress to the animals. We will write a custom essay sample on Animal Cruelty on Factory Farms or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page One farmer who â€Å"stopped using antibiotics saved $12,000 a year (Weeks, 2007). According to an article from Food and Water Watch, seventy â€Å"percent of all antimicrobials used in the United States are fed to livestock†¦25 million pounds†¦annually, more than 8 times the amount used to treat disease in humans (Food safety, 2007). † Without the use of antibiotics and without confined space, factory farms would save a great deal of money. According to an Instructor of Business Ethics, Zuzworsky stated, â€Å"Because (chickens) spend their lives in cages too small, their bones become to brittle†¦. the chickens go to slaughter unstunned (Zuzworsky, 2001). The electrical device or gun that stuns the chickens is a costly item that goes unused many times and the chickens have to suffer. If the chickens were not kept in such small cages, their bones would not be so brittle and stunning would be not only humane, but effective. Cruelty and abuse of animals on fact ory farms reduces the quality of the product produced. Contamination of the meat is a problem from poor conditions that the animals have to endure such as standing in their own waste and next to carcasses of diseased animals. The animals at these factories go at times without food, water, or rest. This makes the animal deteriorate. The deterioration of the animals then causes the protein in the animals to decrease. Cruelty and abuse of animals on factory farms endangers the health of those who buy the product. As mentioned earlier, antibiotics are given to the animals. Professor Ronald J. Adams states that â€Å"use of antibiotics lead to increased antibiotic resistance in humans (Adams, 2008). † This is becoming a widespread problem for the treatment of infections. Humans have to complete a longer course of antibiotics which often have to be given under the care of a healthcare provider due to the need of intravenous antibiotics. â€Å"Countries that have banned the use of antibiotics in animal production have seen a decrease in resistance (Food safety, 2007). † Also mentioned above was the injection of growth hormones, which â€Å"could affect the hormonal balance of humans, causing reproductive issues and breast, prostate, or colon cancer (Food safety, 2007). † People living near the factories are at a higher health risk from the waste of the animals contaminating the water. These facilities cannot process the enormous amounts of waste produced by thousands of animals, so they pour and pile manure into large cesspools and spray onto the land†¦causes health problems for workers and for neighbors (Food safety, 2007). † The decrease in protein, as mentioned above, can be linked to the obesity issue that has swept across America. â€Å"American’s have the highest obesity rate (Weeks, 2007). † Minimize the loss to the business by treating the animals humanely. Instead of injecting the animals with growth hormone, let them grow naturally. Cows won’t get udder infections and won’t need antibiotics (an unnecessary cost to the business). Give the animals more space and let them graze on the land as they would naturally and you won’t need preventative antibiotics. More space will help the animals grow and live as they were meant to. They will not be stressed. Their bones will not be brittle. Chickens can be stunned as they were meant to be before being slaughtered, the humane way. The products of the factory farms can increase in quality by treating the animals humanely. Cleaning up after the animal aste and getting rid of the carcasses will create a better and healthier environment for the animals. Allowing the animals to eat, drink, and rest when at their choice will allow them to grow healthier and not deteriorate as they do now. The protein in the animals will be as it should in a naturally healthy animal, creating a better product. The health of consumers will not be endangered if we treat the an imals humanely. Antibiotic resistance caused by factory farms cannot be reversed but we can prevent further resistance from happening just by giving the animals more space so that the use of preventative antibiotics will not be necessary. Stop using growth hormones and there will be a decrease in the imbalance in humans and a decrease in the rate of breast, prostate, and colon cancer in humans. Waste can be treated instead of being placed in a cesspool, affecting the health of all nearby. â€Å"The sustainable agriculture approach dries the manure and often adds other dry material to keep waste from running off, or seeping into water supplies†¦. these approaches benefit the environment, the producer, the animals themselves, and the communities that surround them (Marks, 2001). There are things that can be done to help prevent cruelty on animal farms. When buying the products offered from factory farms from the grocery store, look for labels that say â€Å"free-range† or â€Å"organic. † Not all labels are what they say. There is a labeling fact sheet to help on what to look at on the website www. foodandwaterwatch. org. We should look for labels that state â€Å"free-range† and â€Å"organi c. † To find local stores or restaurants that have â€Å"free-range† and â€Å"organic† items, go to the website http://www. eatwellguide. org/. Buying local and buying direct from the farmer is another way of helping. There is a website so to find local farmers markets at http://www. ams. usda. gov/farmersmarkets/map. htm. Discuss with the farmer how the animals are fed and how they are raised, if they have access to the outdoors or if they are antibiotic free. There is a question guide with other questions to ask found at http://wwww. sustainabletable. org/shop/questions. To help end animal cruelty, vote for political parties who are against animal cruelty and/or factory farming. Check which party has an animal friendly program by asking them in person, through email, or through their party programs (Food safety, 2007). There are many organizations to support that are there to protect the animal welfare at factory farms by donation or serving as a volunteer or a voice. Persons for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Animal Liberation Front (ALF), Earth Liberation Front (ELF), and Safe Tables Our Priority (STOP) are a few organizations that support the humane treatment of factory farm animals (Adams, 2008). There are recommended guidelines that all factory farms should follow. They include â€Å"the requirement that each of its suppliers have a documented animal welfare program in place, including a formal employee training program, reasonable precautions in the catching of poultry designed to minimize injury when they arrive at supplier processing facilities, space provisions for poultry in transport and/or held in storage sheds, and provisions for humane stunning and slaughter procedures (Adams, 2008). The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) shows how humane farming can be cost-effective and create a sustainable and secure food supply through the â€Å"Model Farm Project†. According to the WSPA, â€Å"Establishing model farms is necessary to demonstrate real humane alternatives to poor welfare farming practices and to develop practical solutions that are relevant in terms of culture, science, climate, species and topography (Factory farming, 2012). † The goals/objectives of the project can be found through its website at http://www. wspa-international. org/wspaswork/factoryfarming/default. spx. One goal is, â€Å"To provide an alternative to the industrial factory farming of animals-the cruel management, long-distance transportation and inhumane slaughter of animals for food or products. † Another goal of the project is, â€Å"To develop humane, sustainable farm systems which provide discernible benefits to animal welfare, the environment and human health. † The project states their goal is â€Å"to act a s a center of excellence for good farm animal welfare practice, and share this knowledge with commercial farmers and other interested parties as widely as possible. The Model Farm Project’s objective is to â€Å"demonstrate to governments and the public that humane and sustainable farming is a practical reality,† and to the community that it is â€Å"possible, and obtain their support for this highe r welfare method of farming (Factory Farming, 2012). † We need to end the cruelty and abuse that these animals have to endure at the factory farms. Teach others what you know and you can make a difference.

The eNotes Blog Yale Makes Its Vast Collection of Images AvailableFREE

Yale Makes Its Vast Collection of Images AvailableFREE A True Description of the Naval Expeditions of Sir Frances Drake ca. 1587 Looking for the perfect image for your paper, study, blog, or article but just not finding what you need on Google? Help is here. Yale University recently made over 250,000 of its images available for free. Even better, Yale is allowing   unlimited and licensing-free usage.   Eventually, the entire catalog will be available to users but it will take several years to digitize the millions of items in its collection. Yale is the first Ivy League institution to allow such uninhibited access. In a statement to the New York Times, Marià «t Westermann, vice president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, applauded Yales decision and hopes Yale will only be the first of many universities to make their collections available to the public.   In the past, she argued, the (h)igh costs of reproduction rights have traditionally limited the ability of scholars, especially ones early in their careers, to publish richly illustrated books and articles in the history of art, architecture, and material and visual culture.    Now, much of that has changed. What can you find among the quarter-of-a-million images? Everything from paintings, to sculptures, to musical scores, to artifacts, and fossils. Click on the link below and enjoy a 90 second slideshow which samples fifteen of the accessible works, set to the music of Haydn. What will you do with this treasure trove of images?

Lockheed Martin Corporation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Lockheed Martin Corporation - Essay Example The operations of the corporation are divided into different segments comprising electronic systems (27%), aeronautics (27%), information systems and global solutions (27%) and space systems (19%). Today, US government contracts account for much of the corporation’s revenue while foreign government contracts also make up a substantial share of the revenue. On the other hand, orders from commercial clients only make up a mere 2 % of the total revenue the corporation nets in a year. In 1996, the corporation finalized the plans to acquire Lorad Corporation which subsequently became part of the Corporation at a cost of $9.1 billion. Like any other global corporation engaging thousands of employees across the world, Lockheed is certainly faced with a myriad of challenges that normally define business operations in the present world. One of the greatest challenges facing the corporation is the need to address employee concerns and effectively tackle the aspects of employee and indus trial relations without many problems like is always the case. On certain instances the corporation has had to face the challenge of striking workers and go slow as employees complained about various aspects relating to their operations in the organization (Terris, 2010). In that regard, the aspect of dealing with these employee concerns has been one of the greatest employee challenges affecting the organization. Like most workers in the industry, most of Lockheed’s workers are unionized under the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace workers and are always part and parcel of the activities steered by the association. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers is a worker organization which draws its origin in 1888 when a group of nineteen machinists came together and formed the Order of the United Machinists and Mechanical Engineers. With time, the small organization grew up in membership and adopted the present name. The organization h as had a turbulent history characterized by the growth of labor movements in the twentieth century. The growth of the union went in tandem with the development of the transport industry throughout the years as more and more workers became employed in the industry. During its formation, the organization was generally a secret affair given that employers of the time were very critical and hostile toward organized labor movements. However, the Order rapidly spread beyond its formation zone of Georgia and was soon a recognized affair in the United States. Much of the growth in the membership of the union was mostly evidenced during the World Wars when workers in the transport industry increased owing to the increased demand of vehicles and airplanes. In the course of the 1970s, the union was segmented into several divisions dealing with specific issues affecting the members. These included civil right, organizing, older workers and retired workers and women. At a convection held in 1984 in Seattle, Washington, the delegates voted and decided to use the Placid Harbor Education Center in order to train and educate the members of the union. In 1998, the center was renamed to the Winpisinger Education and Technology Center in order to recognize and honor the late President of the union. Throughout history, the union has always addressed the issues affecting

Will Private Equity Overtake Public Equity Term Paper

Will Private Equity Overtake Public Equity - Term Paper Example Private equity groups like Slater-Walker in the 1960s and Hanson Trust in the 1980s have been providing an alternative form of financing to public financing for many years now. These were the first firms or conglomerates that tended to fiancà © slumping companies and turned them around for cash generation. These private equity firms were seen as corporate saviors, which helped to revive poor performing firms and gave big returns to shareholders (BBC, 2006). Yet there may be downsides to private equity financing and in one recent analysis and news report, by Times, private equity companies are to face major tax deductions. The Times reported that firms financed by private funding may have to pay millions of pounds in extra taxes as commissioned with changes by the Treasury and Revenue & Customs. The report suggests that such heavy tax burdens can be a downturn for an industry that has created millionaire bosses. The tax rate on capital gains is set to rise from 10% to 40% (Timesonlin e, 2006). According to the report, private equity firms own companies that employ more than 20% of the UK private sector workforce. The Somerfield and Debenhams are major companies in the UK backed by private equity. Private equity bosses carry compensation packages of  £2billion a year so sudden tax burdens could go up to a few million pounds. However despite this sudden tax problem, which may have to be resolved by the BVCA, it is important to analyze why private equity firms have recently been more attractive than public equity firms and why has there been an exodus of top executives who moved from public companies to privately financed companies within the UK and indeed in many other emerging markets of the world. According to a recent cover story by Businessweek Online (Feb 2006), more and more of business firms are keeping away from public companies because of the ‘money, freedom and glamour’ of private companies.

Managing Business Organizations Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Managing Business Organizations - Assignment Example Your organizational culture is a key component of a person's willingness to become a part of the organization. Business politics starts with the gain of power within the firm. Avoiding politics in your organization can have negative effects. Successful management means to understand the importance of managing employees at all levels through leadership and influence, using strategies to convert your foes into your friends and Manage power and politics at levels. Managing communication is a very important role of all managers in the 21st-century work field. Nowadays with the increasing diversity and ever growing technology being able to communicate with the people in the organization and having a continuous and smooth flow of information is vital for the survival of the organization. (Source: www.rebeccamorgan.com) Decision-making steps help you to make the appropriate decisions with the information available. This process helps you figure out how to solve business problems, choose the best course of action to take, the consequences of decisions and the importance of individuals in the organization. (source: www.mindtools.com) In businesses, managers should now prepare themselves how to handle an increasingly diverse workforce and work effectively across globally. Multicultural Environment exists when people from all backgrounds work together, share knowledge, understand and cooperate with each other. (Source: www.chariscorp.com)

Client Server Network Architecture Essay

Client Server Network Architecture Essay Abstract This report is about the client server network architecture in which each computer or process on the network is either a client which is low end computer which request services and or a server which is high end powerful computer which is highly capable of providing services to many different clients at the same time. The task which servers performs are like managing disk drives which are called file servers, managing printers which are called print servers or managing network data traffic known as network server. Clients are PCs which require or use these facilities from servers which include sharing files, printers, storage and sometimes processing. All the clients and servers in a network communicate by using different protocols which are set of rules or standards which govern the communication between any computers or devices connected in a network. This client server architecture is also known as two-tier architecture.(1) Introduction The advent of personal computers gave birth to the idea of client/server architecture. Before personal computers, programs were written for mainframes. Software written for mainframes was often coded in a monolithic format that is the user interface, business logic and data access functionality are all contained in a single application. Because the entire application ran within the mainframe this was not a problem.(2) Client/server model, needed to share many kind of services. As time passed the need of these services increased so servers also evolved. Many clients started sharing services of common server. Example can be of our web browser which is a client and requests services from web server like web pages or files. This is sometime also knows as Hyper Text Transfer Protocol server (HTTP) also for computer to make requests like a client Transfer Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and for transfer of files over internet File Transfer Protocol (FTP).Protocols are set of rules or standard that which governs the communication of two or more nodes in a network.(3) The relationship between two computer programs in which one program makes a request and other which provide the required service is called a client/server relationship. It is a backbone of interconnection of two or more programs or computers anywhere across the network. Example could be an ATM machine in which we send request for balance check or money withdrawal and through this machine which is like a client and bank has supercomputers which acts as servers and the transaction are handled by them and result is sent back to the client to display in front of user.(4) Client Server Architecture has two common architectural models. The two tier and the three tier architecture. In two tier architecture the application will be on the server instead of client because server has more disk space and power as compare to PC also the data will also be in server along with the application. In three-tier architecture the load is divided between two different servers instead of putting load on one and jamming other clients. These servers are database server and application server. The data and application are divided between these servers. Client would only request and display data. In this tier more manageable and less contention system for resources will be available because each server will be used either to process data or application requests.(6) Literature Review In modern world because of rapid changes in user requirements and increasing amount on daily basis of users sharing data among them the needs of faster and better network system growing tremendously companies are bound to upgrade their system every six months. Now Hures is also facing same problems. This is very common problem in any company because of the rapid development of business systems so to cater these problems any company should keep this in mind while developing new system is that they may need to upgrade very soon. Hures analyst did not plan the future scenarios properly and because that even internal and external environment is affecting the company. The business is affected by many changes like political, social and technological. Client/Server technology is often introduced for flexibility of coping with these changes. However it comes with its own challenges which we will discuss here. Client/Server is built on three basic building block they are client which is a small or less capable hardware or software then middleware which is a software which lies in between and server more powerful then client. The first block client runs different applications on its operating system which provides graphic user interface. Clients could have web browser for example as an application requesting services now operating system transfers these request to the middleware. Client also runs a DSM (Distributed System Management) it could be simple element to the entire front-end managing application. Middleware is application which has three categories: transport stack, network operating system (NOS) and server-specific middleware. It runs on both the client and the server. It also have DSM like clients and is the backbone of client/server architecture. Server is typically intelligent software or hardware it runs some application to make an interface with middleware. Server consists of five main components SQL database, TP Monitors, groupware , object and the web. Server also has DSM in it which can be a simple agent or entire back-end of the system. The Distributed System Management application runs on every node in the Client/Server network. The additional server like email could be used depending on size and usage of the network. Hures could also use similar OS in all workstations it also plays very important part in Client/Server. Same OS on all sides in network can reduce a lot of problems and it will increase server efficiency and will cause less strain on servers. The Alternative architecture which could overcome Hures problem can be client queue client or another one called peer to peer architecture. Client queue client Architecture is also called passive queue Architecture. In Client queue client all points including servers are simple clients. It was developed to continue on traditional Client Server Architecture. In this they were trying to make one client as a server for different clients to multiply the usage for clients. Hures could benefit from this track and order number of clients for better efficiency also there will be better resources distribution and sharing. Example is search engine which uses spidering for faster and better results. Peer-to-Peer Architecture rather than focusing on power of server it distinguishes itself by distributing power and function. It depends totally on bandwidth and power of different nodes in the network. This architecture goes against previous client server architecture where there is one central server it replaces it with nodes which function as clients and servers simultaneously. Hures could use this architecture because due to its encapsulation it makes it easier to repair or upgrade without clients being affected and its more secure and easy to maintain. Intranet is one of the oldest and safest way for any company to have communication among themselves. It works just like website on internet. It gives you options to log ons to access only authorize data at your level in company. Most of the corporations use intranet for sharing important data among the employees. Intranet is a kind of network which is built by using same tools and protocols used by internet or World Wide Web (WWW) but is only restricted to the network of this company only. It uses same HTML, Java and CSS and also provide same database to store data within network server. Security features are fully customizable so its your preference whether you want to change password every 30 day or to set different accessibility for employee depending their post and work in the company. Any outside person trying to access company files will be blocked by firewalls. The Advantages of this internal network is that inside employees can do very important information interchange very quick and secure. It makes the data sharing more effective, easier and effective manner. It can also be used for internal applications such as newsletters, policy manuals, and price list etc. It can also gather information related to expense and programs that can help to transact application. As it is a private place on internet its safer and secured because only authority can access the website. The Disadvantages of this intranet to be considered would be like firstly it is very expensive to setup and maintain because a special team of people need to be hired and trained for handling the process of managing resources of this particular company and organizing them in the website. This process will also be very time consuming to develop and also the number of individual users would have to be considered in the overall budget for planning, designing, implementing. Also to maintain the quality, testing and maintenance needs to be done at all time. Obviously once whole site is developed now each user in company needs to be trained also how to use and set up your passwords which will also affect overall budget. It is very true that the popularity of intranet software and the internet pose threats towards traditional client/server system because intranet software have more advantages as compared to peer to peer or client/server architectures. It takes the most advantage of networking technology in the business world and because it enables us to take full use of wireless and internet technology at the same time it is the most flexible most secure and gives more privacy as compared to offered by traditional client/server system. As a result it is the most popular choice among many companies. However it is also very important to keep in consideration that even though intranet is the most popular and successfully used and accepted worldwide, there are still parts in the system or particular company which needs to use traditional client server system. As far as security is considered there are always threats to any open network system. To reduce the risk of infiltration from outside sources prope r monitoring of network on continues level is severely needed. The most important aspect of any company/corporation should be the network security. Cctv could be installed in various places to remotely monitor all the activities of users within the office and no one should be allowed to use their plug n play devices to any individual workstation. Maintaining the network integrity should be of the highest priority and could reduce the unplanned damages to revenue but again the cost of doing all these procedures will be substantial.

Strategies Designed to Motivate Employees Essay -- Business Management

Strategies Designed to Motivate Employees One of a manager's responsibilities is to inspire employees and encourage them to strive for excellence and remain motivated even during the difficult times. While this task is challenging, there are measures a manager can take to generate enthusiasm in any working environment. Although different people are moved by different desires, values and goals, there are a number of generally agreed-upon motivators to which most people respond. The employees at Gullivers are de-motivated because of the poor environmental conditions. The employees work alone for long periods of time. This leads the worker to feel isolated. As well as this the tasks that some employees carry out are repetitive and boring. This is brought on by the use of a production line. The employees also work in two day time shifts. The hours of these shifts might not be suitable for some people, such as mothers. The times that shifts start and finish might clash with school hour, leading to people coming in late or leaving early. F. W. Taylor developed the early idea that to motivate the worker you have to pay him/her at the highest possible wage, through working in the most efficient and productive manner. This approach was called the rational-economic concept of motivation. Taylor believed if an organisation first evaluated the job to be done. Then came up with the best way to do each stage of that job. The lastly put the people in the right place to then carry out that job effectively. So the job would be completed in an efficient, producing more profit, which would lead to higher wages. Taylor believed that this alone wo... ...d the team leader allow discussion of any disharmony. Maintaining a highly motivated staff is key to a company's success. A lack of employee enthusiasm can alter your company's productivity, and ultimately, your bottom line. There are several factors which effect motivation. A combination of techniques that matches the unique needs and personalities of your employees will bring the most effective results. However any measures taken is only effective as far as the employee is willing to be motivated. Bibliography Laurie J Mullins 2002, Management and Organisational Behaviours, Financial Times Pitman Publishing imprint, Great Britain Susan Jarosz 2003, Class Notes, Borders College, Galashiels W.H. Weiss 2001, Building Morale, Motivating and Empowering Employees" Supervision. Vol. 62, Issue 1 pages 1-2