Sunday, January 26, 2020

Analysis of hospitality industry: Kedar Country Lodge

Analysis of hospitality industry: Kedar Country Lodge Kedar Country Lodge It is a four star lodge with 85 employees, its divided into different department namely Food and Beverage, Front Office, Kitchen, Housekeeping, Maintenance, Garden, Sales, Human Resources, Administration and IT. The property is 640 hectors with antelopes animals, it has Paul Kruger Museum, 65 rooms, 7 conference rooms, Restaurant and Bar. Most of their guests come to do conferencing and as well leisure. Task 1 Staff Organization At Kedar Country Lodge they are using Hierarchical structure, where by each department has a leader whom the junior staff report to and then they report to the operations manager then he reports straight to the general manager. The Roles and Responsibilities of a supervisor The supervisor at Kedar is second eye for a manager, he/she deals with staff directly. Their roles and responsibilities are as follows: To check day to day operations To guide and train staff To be present all the times if there’s service To attend to the guest’s complains To make sure company standards and procedures are being followed To solve conflict among staff To motivate staff To make sure that staff complete their jobs before they go home To make sure that staff are safe in their working areas The Roles and Responsibilities of a Manager She is the one who is in charge for everything going on at Kedar property and makes finally decisions, the roles and responsibilities are as follows: To do plans to get business To decide the salaries of staff To make a finally decisions on hiring To make sure the target and goals are being reached To maintain good communication among staff Planning Staff Rota The staff rota is being done by supervisors and double checked by the manager whether it’s correct. They do it according to business occupancy and there’s no favoritism. On staff rota there are only four different shifts firstly from 06:00 -15:00, secondly from 08:00 – 17:00, thirdly from 14:00 – 23:00 and lastly from 23:00 08:00. Staff rota helps them a lot to see who in and who off. They are using excel to do the staff rota, on a first column they put the staff names and followed by how many days offs did the company give you, on first raw they put the number of guests in-house followed by the dates and days, at the end there’s a column of days off being owed to staff or days being owed to the company by staff. They save staff rota in computers to keep their records or for later changes. Staff is allowed to request certain days offs if they do have some appointments but it will depend how busy it will be that day. When staff rota is done it will be taken to the relevant department and put them on notice board so that everyone can see it. The Purpose and Features of Contract of Employment Contract of employment is an agreement between the employees and the kedar owner, it is presented in a form paper with 5 pages and if they are hiring the employee has to sign as well as the employer. It also contains the code of conducts. At kedar the employees are working during the holidays but in return they will be paid each holiday worked. Purpose of a Contract – to define both employees and kedar owner’s responsibilities with respect to a desired development outcome to the level of detail necessary to make both comfortable with respect to the relationship and to specify rights, obligations and conditions of employment Features of Contract of Employment The job title and description Which department will employee be working with Company residential address, post address and phone numbers To whom the employee will be reporting to When the employee will start working For how long is the employee on probation The entitlements of employee (salary, leave, days off) The rules regarding sick leave, family responsibility leave and unpaid leave Which shifts will the employee be working Financial and Legal Implications of Different Types of Contract They are using the permanent or fixed term employees and casual employees. The permanent employees – these are the employees which the company has agreed to keep them forever as long they are still willing to work for the company. They do give them the permanent contract if they have passed the fixed or probation contract for three months and if the company is happy with their performances. Their permanent staff they are entitled to: Holiday offs – their employees are entitled to it and its either they are off or they will be paid double for each holiday worked for. Annual leave – they give their employees 21days leave after 12 months and they will be fully paid. Study leave – they grant them to employees who are doing part time studies when they are writing their exams. The company will give the employee the day off during the day he/she is writing and pay them full. Compassionate leave – they give them three days off per 12 months and pay them full salary. The compassionate leave applies when the employee has to deal with emergency involving someone who depends on him/her e.g. child, husband or wife. Sick leave – They are entitled 12 days off sick in a year, if the employee exceeds then they will subtract the days from annual leave and give them full pay. If it may happen that they have taken the entire annual leave they then notify the employee to take an unpaid leave and they won’t pay any salary to the employee. Time off – they are entitled to off 6 days a month of which they work five and half days and get off. They will be paid full salary. Worker’s Compensation – If an employee gets injury at work the company will pay hospital bills and pay the employee the employee full salary during those days not at work. Casual employees At kedar they use casual employees when it’s too busy and they pay them an hour rate. They are only entitled to worker’s compensation when they can get injured whilst working. If they use them during holiday they pay them double the amount they are being paid. The Cost of Employing Staff At kedar there is few cost of employing staff which are: Time and cost to do advertising about available position Selecting and interviewing applicants Type of job and number applicants To increase the space to accommodate new employees To buy new equipment for them to use To pay them their salaries To feed them To pay transport for them To train them so that they can be more skillful and to gain job knowledge The cost for their entitlements, .e.g. sick leave, worker’s compensation, public holidays Motivation It is to make someone believe in himself/herself and like what he/she doing. The Link between Motivation and Productivity They motivate their staff to have good productivity. They always do have competition like the employee of the month and the employee of the year, they give prize to the winner, by doing this each employee works harder in order to be a winner and on the other hand there is a good productivity and a lot of job done. There are also the prizes of name of the employee being mentioned most by guests, this makes the employees to get involved with guests or to help them more at the end the guests will be happy for good service and they will spread the word to others by doing so a lot of guests will love the place and visit more often and company gain more profits. The Characteristics of Effective leader They do have good leaders who are leading the company, they treat their staff like their children and they are fair, honest, responsible, trustworthy, strong, competitive and confident. They are good motivators to their employees, they are always active in planning ahead and solving any problems amongst the employees. They are good communicators, listeners and also supportive. They do train and grow them to be good leaders as well. They are mentors of their employees and they make the company to be their second home and everyone is happy. They don’t feel bored and they are patience. An Effective Team The way Kedar employees are you may think they are brothers and sisters, they are one and they can die for one another because of the good unit they have, the following are the characteristics which makes them a good team: They sacrifice for each other They have got clear common goals They are united They always rotate the leadership among themselves Honest to each other If they do have problems or conflicts they solve them in a civilized manner They share same stories They don’t judge or discriminate each other They discuss or argue about work but at the end they will come to conclusion of which its normal They all cooperate They are free to each other The Principles of equal Opportunities in the Workplace They treat their staff fair and equal regardless of where are they coming from, gender, race, age, color, physical abilities, status, language and religion. Equal Opportunities in Employment They respect and recognize staff’s and customer’s religion and culture The employees are happy at the workplace all times The more skillful employees are promoted They are fairly treated at work Whatever decision is being made by management it is fair to all employees They train their employees to be better so that they can deliver good service to customers No employee is being bullied, harassed and discriminated, they are all free Diversity They do understand each other and they have put their differences aside, in a safe, positive and nurturing environment. Their employees are mixed; they do have foreigners, locals, mixed races (whites, blacks, Chinese and Indians), different genders (males, females, gays and lesbians) and different ages. They are one family. They do business with more different countries and all their customers they feel welcome as if they are in their countries or home because of friendly and respectful employees. Diversity makes their company more attractive, their employees are growing and it helps with alternatives solutions when dealing with issue or ideas to grow business. It also motivates the employees. Since they have more different tribes it helps their business grow. Purpose of an Industry Code of Ethics A code of ethics is a vital document for Kedar, as breaches of ethics can land the company in serious trouble with consumers, other organizations or government authorities. Creating a code of ethics makes decision-making easier at all levels for them by reducing uncertainty and considerations of individual perspectives in ethical standards. It is truly a unified effort in which Kedar works to ensure there is no compromise in service, quality, or integrity Purpose A code of ethics guides all managerial decisions, creating a common framework upon which all decisions are founded. This helps them to create a cohesive understanding of the boundaries within an organization and the standards set for interacting with external companies. A formal, well-communicated code of ethics helps them to protect their companys reputation and legal standing in the event of a breach of ethics by an individual employee. Importance of Ethics Public image Productivity and Teamwork Asset protection Retain good skillful employees Industry Code of Practice Industry code of practice its rules or guidelines to be followed, they are there to protect their customers and Kedar owners. It makes it clear to public or customers what they are allowed to do and what is prohibited. These rules or guidelines are made by the owners to let the customers know how they run their business some by government protecting locals or internationals. Need for industry code of practice To deliver a certain standard of practice To encourage consumers confidence in a particular industry To avoid customers or owners taking advantage Use of IT in Tourism and Hospitality IT stands for information technology, it is the application of computers and telecommunications equipment to store, retrieves, transmits and control data, it can be people who are well trained working with those technologies. Kedar they do have their own permanently hired IT that are responsible for programming the systems, repairing and to assist with technical related issues. Importance of IT in Hospitality Industry To store their important information and history of previous customers To communicate with customers via email To market their lodge through website To use it for checking in and checking out of the guest To do bookings online To do function sheets To do staff roasters To capture and keep records of stocks To print necessary documents To show the prices and customers still to pay To show the forecast and occupancy For guest to access internet The following are the IT applications used from Kedar: Computer systems – to do various different jobs, .e.g. doing emails, writing their menus etc Aloha system – they use it to show prices of different food, beverage and to show them what has been sold when doing their stocks.(Product mix) Reservation system – they are using room master to check in and check out their customers, it also makes it easier to check the availability and it shows how many guests are arriving, departing and staying so that the kitchen can know how many to carter for and housekeeping to know which rooms to prepare and how. Internet – for guest to access or to do money transfer. They have made easier for their customers by having Wi-Fi. Mobiles – managers contact the customers using mobile Business Letters At Kedar they write their business letters using word program from Microsoft office 2003 of which they purchased it from Microsoft company to owner it and they installed into their computers. Their business letters are straight forward. In the letter it contains contact details on the top left and underneath contains the initials of the owners. The general manager is the one who gives the finally decision, she firstly check it. The following are some types of letters being written at Kedar: Apologizing letters Welcoming letters guest on their arrivals Welcome back letters for guests who are coming for the second or third time at Kedar Confirmation letter for booking Quotation letters Anniversary letters if the guests have told them prior to arrival Birthday letters if the guests have informed them Spread sheet A spreadsheet is a paper sheet that shows data in rows and columns, it is mostly used by accounts doing variances to show how company does, sales department use it to show how are they doing with bringing in the clients and to show forecast, kitchen using it to keep the records of their menus and to do their menus of the week and stock controller for capturing, displaying and controlling data. They use it mostly when doing their stocks takes. The software that has this is Microsoft offices excel. Benefits of using spreadsheet It does have formulas to calculate You can keep as many as you can the data on spreadsheet as long you save it You can do the changes and save your work It allows you to put yours inputs indifferent colors It does have futures that allow you to control data on how you want to put it. The Use of PowerPoint and Access Database PowerPoint – it is mostly used by sales and marketing doing presentation to their clients, managers or human resources doing training with employees and the managers presenting what are they planning about the company to the Director, CEO and Chairman. Access Database – they use it to store contacts of clients, Email Email is another way of communicating; it is done through electronic exchanging messages through the use of internet and networks. The use of Email in Hospitality Industry It is cheaper than using telephone, e.g.it will be to cost full using a phone for internationals than just sending an email It can be used as a means of marketing by sending them the information booklets and special about your hotel or lodge It is fast and efficiency Limitation of Email They must be careful when using humour – it is often misunderstood Avoid sarcasm and colloquialisms It’s not safe or private wrong people can hack It may happen that the receiver may not have seen the email and it was urgent Internet Internet is a worldwide system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard internet protocol suite to link several billion devices worldwide, it carries an extensive range of information resources and services and it consists a lot of private, public, business and government packet switched networks. Internet makes it easier for marketing and doing online bookings. If there was no internet it was going to be difficult for Kedar. Internet makes it easier for them to work.

Saturday, January 18, 2020

Children Dealing With Obesity Essay

Obesity is a sensitive issue for adults’ so one can imagine how a child with obesity is affected mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually; emotionally: children have low self-esteem, mentally: children are stressed, physically: children are overweight, and it affects their well-being altogether. This is why it is so important that mandating that Parent, Teachers, and the community is educated on Childhood Obesity. After closely evaluating the situation and speaking to various parents, physicians, and viewing the actions of the children it has shown that all children are not Obese because of bad parenting. Obesity in children can come from various medical problems in children such as a thyroid issue meaning that his or her metabolism is not functioning correctly, or a pituitary gland issue meaning that he or she is growing too fast. Childhood obesity can also be genetic meaning that the child can be prone to it because of family history; no matter what the issue or problem it is necessary that we as a community be educated and parents should involve themselves in their child’s activities as well. The National Academies (2015) website recommends that the Government, families, industries, communities, and schools should support the children by showing leadership and commitment in evaluating prevention programs, food intake, make the evaluation capacity stronger by having good quality interventions. Schools can begin by monitoring students by placing cameras in the school cafeterias, and also schools and families can monitor the amount of food placed on a child’s plate, making sure that the plates are colorful with adequate fruits, veggies, whole grains, and dairy, caregivers and families should also monitor physical activities and the consumption of water. According to The National Academies (2015), â€Å"There will be a greater likelihood of success when public, private, and voluntary organizations purposefully combine their respective resources, strengths,  and comparative advantages to ensure a coordinated effort over the long term† (Progress in Preventing Childhood Obesity: How Do We Measure Up?). In order for this policy to be analyzed, the cameras had to be viewed, attestation, and possibly re-educate everyone. It seems to be working; the children are drinking more water, and eating healthier, and has included more quality physical exercise in his and her program. Parents are asking the right questions and getting more involved as well, parents are spending more and more time with their children as the teachers. Group sessions are working because the child has begun to speak up more, and is smiling and loving themselves more and more each session. Parents and teachers attended workshops to educate them in the maintenance and long-term prevention of obesity. One in five children are overweight, while one-third are obese that is why parents need to learn major factors that stimulate the development of childhood obesity. There should be some sort of consequences given if the stakeholders: being parents, schools and physicians are not willing to cooperate and get involved, possibly higher insurance premium until he or she cooperates, as for the teachers and or schools, begin by minimizing the school funds, because the schools funds are to educate and make sure the child is healthy and safe. In the conclusion the child’s lifestyle, nutrition, and environment needs to change for the better of the child. Parents need to be more educated on the illnesses that can and will develop unless these workshops are attended. It is understandable that organic foods and even most healthy foods and beverages are expensive and are not affordable, but parents can help by baking and not frying, by not supporting fast foods; schools can help by offering fruits instead of chips and junk food, offer milk instead of soda, and both parents and schools she push more water. References The National Academies. (2015). The National Academies Press. Retrieved from http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11722&page=70 Shi, L. (2014). Introduction to Health Policy. Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press.

Friday, January 10, 2020

Ability of Humans to Think Essay

As people rely more and more on technology to solve problems, the ability of humans to think for themselves will surely deteriorate. As people rely more and more on technology to solve problems, the ability of humans to think for themselves will surely deteriorate. Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position. In the era of advanced technology, technology has undoubtedly changed the way people live. With the use of calculators, people gradually get rid of mental arithmetic. Due to this fact, some people argue that the ability of humans to think for themselves will undoubtedly decline. This is because when relying excessively on instruments, people may hardly figure out the right number without calculators if the calculation becomes somewhat complicated. Admittedly, it is true that human’s ability of calculation might diminish to some extent. However, technology decidedly facilitates humans to think deeply for themselves through freeing them from trivial things. This is an indisputable fact that with versatile and state-of-the-art computers, especially mainframe, scientists no longer take pains to deal with complex and numerous formulas. Therefore, these talented scientists can spend their time and energy in doing more meaningful things by avoiding being bogged down with trivial computations. For instance, engineers who major in aerodynamics, can use the latest computers to simulate how the attitude of airplane will change with respect to different levels of wind. Thus, due to the assistance of modern instruments, these engineers can focus more on how to design planes to fly more safely and efficiently. See more: Strategic Management Process Essay In contrast to the statement, we can see that people begin involving themselves in some more complex problems that did not occur in the past, which motivates humans to think assiduously for themselves. By utilizing technology, for example, people build large dams to store the water as well as preventing devastating floods. However, this approach also has led to consequences people never thought of. The Three Gorges Dam in China is an excellent instance of this point. After construction of this huge and marvelous dam, some unpremeditated problems emerged, such as undue fluctuations in temperature in local areas and sediments and silt deposited excessively under on the bottom of the Yellow River. As a result, this phenomenon forced experts in China to contemplate whether altering the local topography might negatively influence climate and to what extent. Therefore, humans’ ability to think for themselves has improved rather than deteriorated In addition, technology also inevitably leads humanity to think of moral questions that did not appear in the past. One of the most profound and contentious moral questions is cloning. While cloning will definitely help sick people with deteriorating organs by cloning new ones, this technology is also likely to raise a debate of whether cloning is illicit or not. Will cloning finally crumple up our established morality, or must scientists stop doing research on cloning even if the advantages of cloning far exceed the disadvantages arising from this advanced technology? By answering these controversial questions, we, human race, are unquestionably engaged in thinking for ourselves. All the evidence put forward supports an unshakable conclusion that although some human abilities, such as computation, are slightly worse because of reliance on calculators, the ability of thinking is expected to improve rather than deteriorate. On one hand, people, especially sophisticated scientists, will have more time to focus on significant as well as knotty problems. On the other hand, new questions that pop up appear as a result of technology involve humans in more profound contemplation.

Thursday, January 2, 2020

A New Take on Writing an Essay Order of Importance Is Here to Stay

There are many approaches to organizing one’s essay, and the only thing they have in common is that an essay needs organization – otherwise it becomes a pain to both write and read. One of the most widespread and commonly used methods utilizes an essay order of importance – in other words, all facts are introduced in decreasing (or, in rare cases, increasing) order of importance. For obvious reasons, this approach is most popular in professional journalism, as it allows the reader to get the gist of an article from the first few phrases (or, preferably, from the headline). Nevertheless, it is widely used in other types of writing as well. Here are a few reasons why. It Grasps the Reader’s Attention from the Very Beginning An essay that begins its argument in support of a certain idea with an insignificant and easily dismissed point is going to be, in the very least, confusing. There may be something in trying to keep your most striking proof for the end, but it goes against one of the most important principles of writing – to try and influence the reader near the beginning, before he has a chance to stop reading or let his attention slip. It Is Realistic Let’s face it – in most cases readers don’t read texts in their entirety, especially in our age of omnipresent TLDR attitude. If you submit your paper to a professor or an application committee, be prepared to receive a mark judging the first couple of paragraphs at most, especially if they have to deal with lots and lots of essays in a short period of time. Don’t expect the reader to plod along, patiently waiting to get to the â€Å"clever part†. It Allows for a Better Structure The nature of the most important fact concerning the issue is usually that it is in this or that way connected with all the other supporting evidence, and you can’t avoid mentioning it when covering other, smaller subjects. When you get it out of the way in the very beginning, you give a very solid foundation for your argument and can use the rest of your word count providing additional proof in support of your idea. It Shows That You Understand What You Are Writing about The fact that you’ve placed the most significant paragraph first clearly shows that you are able to navigate in the situation and are capable of separating wheat from the chaff. In a sense, it shows your expertise even before the reader starts studying your essay in earnest. On the contrary, when you start covering smaller points first, it shows that you are bad at prioritizing and putting first things first. The order of importance cannot be called the most effective and useful way of arranging your essay, but only because each assignment requires an individual approach, and sometimes it simply doesn’t fit. However, it is certainly prevalent in academic writing – and you should first consider using it before you resort to other means.