10 Questions about Employment - Essay Example

10 QUESTIONS Do you believe of art facilities for s use can be a major competitive advantage? Why or why not? Yes it would definitely be an advantage in the long run. State of facilities for customers gives the customers a sense of security and comfort. Does service with a scowl put you off your lunch? Does romantic, pink lighting encourage you to linger over your fruit salad? A new research centre -- dubbed the restaurant of the future—at the Dutch university of Wageningen hopes to help answer these questions and more by tracking diners with dozens of unobtrusive cameras and monitoring their eating habits. We want to find out what influences people: colors, taste, personnel. We try to focus on one stimulus, like light, (Thomasson, 1) said Rene Koster, head of the Centre for Innovative Consumer Studies. This restaurant is a playground of possibilities. We can ask the staff to be less friendly and visible or the reverse, he said. (Thomasson, 1) The changes must be small. If you were making changes every day it would be too disruptive. (Thomasson, 1)The stylish new facility has self-service tills that allow diners to scan their lunch while they and their trays are being weighed by a set of scales built into the floor. From a control room, researchers can direct cameras built into the ceiling of the restaurant to zoom in on individual diners and their plates. These are just a few examples of the way state of the art facilities can lighten up the customer world and add to the competitive edge. One must keep in mind that Australia attracts people from different parts of the globe. To understand the particularities of taste and comfort it becomes imperative that a detailed research support system is created to keep the hostel industry up to date. It becomes necessary for state of the art facilities to strike a balance between the traditional and the modern, this fine balance is the key to competitive advantage in the market. (Fletcher, 188) 1. How will technology play a role in training the workforce in the hospitality industry? Hospitality patrons demand state-of-the-art technology. They expect fast, uninterrupted. Internet connectivity. They expect seamless traditional and wireless functionality. They expect convenience. Resorts and conference centers have transitioned from static structures to interactive hub of technology. Technology adds value and generates revenue in the hospitality industry Today’s hot technology topics, including e-commerce, wi-fi, electronic payment systems, Web site design, data security, and identity theft have to be included in any discussion on technology and the way it influences the hospitality industry. The new age customer even while unwinding wants to be connected to the technological appendages it carries during the ordinary work hours. Moreover the level of comfort is often measured by the smooth functioning of the technology that a particular hotel is able to provide. One important aspect is to not make the technology involved overtly perceptible. It is important to keep the intricacies of the technology covered by a gloss of easy comfort. (Deb, 323) 2. New facilities will involve require substantial investments by hotel. How would you justify making such an investment? The rate of technological input is directly proportional to the revenue generation. Investment must be and should be justified because of the competitive advantage state of art customer facilities will bring and the edge that technological inputs herald. Investment has to be put in context of the overall customer behavior pattern and the society at large. A society that breathes and lives on the micro physics of technological pervasiveness cannot imagine its hospitality industry to be devoid of the technological drive that characterizes the broader society. Profits from the hospitality industries will only start to assume substantial proportions once the technology and the comparative advantage are welded together to create an attractive enough package. Investors will have to understand the technologized nature of the world around them and invest accordingly. The exploitation of the natural resources like the coral reef for example has to be complemented by the need to take the customer as near as possible to the real experience. Thus underwater scuba diving becomes an important part in this particular example. So it is clear that investment here is not throwing a stone in the dark waters of unknown, rather it is the recognition of the changed needs of the hospitality industry that has to pumping the requisite amount of technology in to it s functioning for the industry to remain competitive and viable. This in turn also speaks about the understanding of the nature of the society at large that an inves6tor should have if he or she is investing in the technologization of the hospitality industry. The fine balance between the naturally endowed resources and the intensive technology used to make those resources more and more accessible is the crucial balance the investor has to strike. (Lamb, 243-245) 4. Explain why it is important to train all staff in energy management techniques if an energy saving campaign has to be successful. What incentives and rewards? Hotel energy management is the practice of controlling procedures, operations and equipment that contribute to the energy use in a hotel operation. This can include electricity, gas, water or other natural resources. Because hotels can have complicated operations and extensive facilities they utilize many different types of energy resources. Hotel energy usages are tracked and classified by the us department of energy and statistics are regularly published in the energy information and industry annual reports. Modern practices to control energy usage includes contributions by the guests themselves which has been popularized by information cards requesting guests to save water by letting hotel housekeeping staff know if they would care to re-use towels and bed linens. Some celebrities endorse this practice and some for-profit companies such as project planetdistribute or sell these kind of materials and or procedures to hotel operators. This reduces the amount of water and/or cleaning substances used by the hotel laundry department which also reduces the expense to the property owner or manager. Recently consultants have developed entire organizations around advising hotels where they are operating inefficiently or using more energy than necessary. Some of them participate by providing the products to implement their advice for a share of the cost savings. These companies have proliferated over the previous years as public and business energy concerns grow and are known as ESCOs (Energy Saving COmpanies). Other practices include using infrared motion sensors and door contacts to control the heating and air conditioning systems (HVAC) when guests leave them on and leave the room or leave open balcony doors or windows. While energy saving practices are commonplace in Europe and Asia, American guests often do not understand these ideas or mistake the products to be cameras or an invasion of privacy. Because of this the use of these products are not widespread however they can be seen more and more.. Systems in Europe or Asia often include a slot near the front door which turns the room power on or off when inserting or removing the room access card or key. Incentives and rewards must include perks that are to be paid to the employee who conserves th most energy. The entire system should be more interactive where guests should also be allowed to paticipate. Contests of different kinds can be held monthly to increase such participations where the goal of the contest should be energy conservation. Awareness sessions, albeit interactive ones can make both the employees and the guests feel a part of the same constructive setup. (Dev, 78-81) 5. What actions might help reduce employee injuries and what steps can be taken to reduce the chance that guests and employees will injure themselves in the guest bathroom? Safety measuresare activities and precautions taken to improve safety, i.e. reduce risk related to human health. Common safety measures including. such as emVisual examination for dangerous situations emergency exits blocked because they are being used as storage areas. Visual examinations for such flaw such as cracks, peeling, loose connections. to seeX ray analysis inside a sealed object such as a weld, a cement wall or an airplane outer skin. of samples subjects a person or product to stresses in excess of those the person or product is designed to handle, to determining the "breaking point". For instance, a product rated to never be required to handle more than 200 pounds might be designed to fail under at least 400 pounds, a safety factor of two. Higher numbers are used in more sensitive applications such as medical or transit safety. Implementation of standard protcols and procedures so that activities are conducted in a known way. of employees, vendors, product users explaining how to use a product or perform an actividemonstrating proper use of products to minimize physical stress or increase productivity so suppliers know what standards their product is expected to meet. so suppliers know what level of quality is expected. Industry regulation is often imposed to avoid potential government regulation. Self imposed regulation of various types.Statements of ethics by industry organizations or an individual company so its employees know what is expected of them. of employees, etc. to determine whether a person has a physical condition that would create a problem.Periodic Evaluations of employees, departments, etc. Geological surveys determine whether land or water sources are polluted, how firm the ground is at a potential building. All these measures find their specificity in both the employee’s and guests security. The bathrooms have to carefully insulated and kept dry all the time fot these are the two major reasons that cause accidents in the bathroom space. (Stipanuk, 166-7) 6.What are the three major energy costs in a hostel? How can they be reduced? The three major energy costs are that of electricity, manpower and water. The energy cost that eats up the majority of the costs is that of the supply of electricity for the supply of electricity is crucial to the smooth functioning of the hotel . We have seen earlier the need for the hotels to invest in intensive technology. Now these intensive technologies require an equlaly intensive and uninterrupted power source. Without the power source the potentiality of the technology intensification can hardly be unleashed. Electricity then has to be used optimally to reduce the costs. Instructions should be given out to both the employees and the guests to use electricity judiciously. Now in case of the guests this has to be done with some tact for there is a possibility that the guests might see such instructions as intrusions in the spaces of their comfort. So the wording of such instructions have to different for employees and guests. Employees can be brought into the ambit of savingt energy through nmakibng them see the proprtional relationship investment has with output. For the output will determine the sqalaries of the employees. On the other hand guests must be made aware of the general problems of wasting and misusing electricity, but this has to be done in a different tone. The ame applies foir the conservation of water. Water reamins crucial to the service provided by a particular hotel setup. Water especailly in a country like australia has to be made a source of recreation and not just a necessity. General awareness programmes clubbed with attractions like deep sea diving can bring about a change in the way the guiests think about water conservation. Costs on both elevtricity and water can be reduced by dissemination of such awareness instruction manuals. It is important to place the general picture of conservation and put in the specifities of hotel particularities in between that genaral picture. (Dos, 441-442) 7. Why do you believe that hospitrality organizations should have a comprehensive risk management programme? Hopitality is an industry. All industrie work within a framework of risks. The investment that is made is done under a set of preassumptions and conjectures. Even after locating all the requisite spheres of detriment, one cannot have a full proog plan or formula of success. Investments then are alwys contingent. The hopitality indsurtry works with its own set of contingencies. It is not seperated form a wider market of capital circulation. The contingencies might be specific and detrmined by the nature of the industry but that does make the industry a hermetically sealed entyity in itself. So quite naturally with the risks that ar involved a comprehensive risk management policy becomes imperative for the hospitality industry to survive. Apart form the sudden relocation of the marjet, the sudden fall in the attractiveness of the location due to natural calamities or political turmoil etc, other accidents might take plaec without any prior warning. The concerned hospitality industry must make clear from the very beginning what it takes responsibility of and what it does not. The purview of of it hospitality must be clear so to speak. Other wise if ambiguities persist guests might be confused about what to expect and what npt ton expect which in turn might lead to unsatisfactory service and consequent dip in the attraction of that particular hotel. Risk Management is a research programme set up by the also known as thGeneva Association International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics. Thus it is linked to the broader movement that capital has , and defines the limit any consumer industry is willing to trace out. Fire caudes by shopt circuits, unforseen accidents have to be covered in accordance to the investment and long term projects of susutainibility that the particular hospitality industry is working with. 8.Water is a precious commodity not to be waste; maje short and long trem projections for saving both for the hotel and the environment. Water conservation refers to reducing use of fresh water, through technological or social methods. The goals of water conservation efforts include: - Ensuring availability for future generations, the withdrawal of fresh water from an ecosystem should not exceed its natural replacement rate. Conserving energy via- Water pumping, delivery, and wastewater treatment facilities consume a significant amount of energy. In some regions of the world. Conserving habitats via- minimizing human water use helps to preserve fresh water habitats for local wildlife and migrating waterfowl, as well as reducing the need to build new kinds of dams and other water diversion infrastructure. Water-saving technology for the home includes Low-flow shower heads (sometimes called energy-efficient shower heads as they also use less energy, due to less water being heated) Low-flush toilets, composting toilets and waterless urinals, which can have a dramatic impact in the developed world, as conventional Western toilets use large volumes of water. Faucet aerators, which break water flow into fine droplets to maintain "wetting effectiveness" while using less water. As a bonus, they reduce splashing while washing hands and dishes. Waste water usage or recycling systems, allowing: Reuse of gray water for flushing toilets or for the garden, and Recycling of wastewater through purification at a water treatment plant. Having 4-minute showers using an hourglass timer. The particular technological solutions that I have outlined are pertinent particularly to the hotel industry. There is a tendency to overlook the enormous waste that is involved in the hospitality busines. The outlined procedures in themselves are not exhaustive but remain directions that one ought to take up in the conserving water in the specific case of a hotel industry. (Dollard, 89-92) 9. The Canadian Pacific hotel recycles wate soap by donating it to charity and installed shampoo dispensers. At the London hilton in Park Lane empty wine bottle are divided into colours and collected twice a day for recycling. What kind of recycling programme would you implement? One major matreial that I think should be recylced is pape. Satring from thetissue paper used to every other kind of paper that is used in the entire system of the hospitality industry should be recycled. Along with paper water should be purified and reused. But this involves having the proper arrangements for having a atate of the art water purifier that would be be in excellent working condition. The glass from empty bottles can go into making glass awres of different kinds. Another importantr aspect can be looked into throught he use of recyclable solar energy. This reduces the energy cost while at the same time keeping a regular system of energy supply source in place. The enitre concept of recycling has to do with conservation of one kind or the other. Reducing the cost is a major consideration. The need is then to firstly prioritize the essential energy expenditures and then work on recycling accordingly , always keeping the needd for cost reduction in the horizon of things. Thus recycling has to be put into the broader framework which comprises cost effective measures as well as ecological concerns. The secret is to weld these two together and thereby project the elememts of recycling through this lens. The waste that accumulates in th hotel must also be carefully sifted to look for materials that can be recycled. Plastic and polythene if is in use at all should fall under the strict purveiw of such recycling methods. (Kar, 145) 10. Since speed has to be factored into customer satisfaction equation, list steps that you might suggest that a hospitality organization take to improve in this area. Speed is the buzzword . In circulation of capital velocity of capital is the most crucila thing. The return from the capital invested is directly prortional to the the velocity that capital can generate. One cannot but repet the importance of placing the hospitality industry in the broader frame of market regulations, Any consumer industry has to inject velcity in its sytem to commensuarte to the investment made in it. Consupmtion depends on how quickly the good of consumption can be delivered to the targeted consumer. Hospitality industry has cater to the specifities of variuos gusets. Their needs and wants are varied and yet the setup that is the concerned hotel cannot delay the process of providing the required services. The reception always has to be on alert, the engineers have to make sure that the electricity supplya nd the water supply is always just round the corner. The food service has to be always keep to the schedule irrespective of the hours of the guests. Other accessory service like providing car and travel services have to be coordinated to keep the guests satisfied. All this has to go work according to the clock. The time that is saved can be used up in providing other services that in turn will add to the uniqueness of the particular hotel. Time has a direct relationship with capital. One can be translated into the other through methods like the ones stated above. Speed has to be one of the essential compoments of the working of a hospitality industry. (King, 126) References: Deb, J; Introduction to Facility Management: Technology for Mankind. (Dunedin: ABP Ltd. 2005) Dev, S; Evaluation of Management (Dunedin: ABP Ltd. 2006) Dos, M; Future of Thought Process in Management (Christchurch: Alliance Publications; 2005) Dollard, John; Modern Fiscal Policies in Australia: A look into Tomorrow. (New Haven and London: Yale University Press. 2006) Fletcher, R; Management Industry: Beliefs and Knowledge; Believing and Knowing. (Mangalore: Howard & Price. 2006) Kar, P; History of Australian Consumer Market Applications (Kolkata: Dasgupta & Chatterjee 2005) King, H; Facility Management Today (Dunedin: HBT & Brooks Ltd. 2005) Lamb, Davis; Cult to Culture: The Development of Civilization on the Strategic Strata. (Wellington: National Book Trust. 2004) Stipanuk, David M & Roffmann, Harold; Facilities Management; Educational Inst of the Amer Hotel; Feb 1996; (Reprinted: Mumbai: National Book Trust, 2006) Thomasson, Emma; Big Brother restaurant; Daily Telegraph; October 19, 2007 12:00am; Reteved on 22.10.2007 from http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22612791-5006007,00.html Read More