Comparison between Visual Thinking using Computer and Conventional Essay

Comparison between Visual Thinking using Computer and Conventional Media - Essay Example This research states that the utilisation of three-dimensional computer-aided design has developed into a routine practice in most design fields including architecture, engineering, archaeology and conservation. Besides these professions, computer aided design has also found much use in science, technology and medical studies. A comparison of the concept generation stage of design between computer-aided design and traditional design is a particularly interesting field of study. Research has been done into computer-aided conceptual design which has been undertaken with quite successful results adoptable to industrial design but the visual thinking undertaken when sketching has not been investigated to significant detail. A critical analysis of a study into the cognition and visual thinking of designers in computer-aided design and how this compares to conventional media concept generation is useful in development of headways in the design of online learning environments. The study ana lysed here-in compares and contrasts computer-aided and conventional media in concept generation in design and whether there are any performance differences when using the two. Narayan et al. defines computer-aided design as any type of design activity that makes use of a computer to develop, analyse or modify an engineering system. The designer creates an image on the computer using geometric elements including lines and circles. Manipulations on the image can then be undertaken through magnification, reduction in size and rotation or other methods until the desired modification is achieved. The impact of computer-aided design on traditional design has been grand with new areas being opened up including shape grammars, database system design, expert systems and knowledge-based systems (Won 2001, p. 320). The traditional theoretical design models can be applied in computer-aided design, for example the Pahl and Beitz model in which the steps involved are clarification of the task, c onceptual design, embodiment of the design and finally detailing of the design (Jaquero 2009, pp. 1-3). Much of the research that has been undertaken has focused on the application of computer-aided design on later stages of the entire design process. There is however need for study into the concept generation stage of computer-aided design. The work of Won and fellow researchers was based on computer-aided design and visual thinking with concept generation as the problem statement. A critical analysis of this study in terms of the statement of the problem, research questions, hypothesis, methodology, results and data analyses and finally the conclusion will be undertaken with an aim to obtain information that is important in the development and design of online learning environments. Statement of the Problem in the Study Won’s study identifies the lack of research into cognitive thinking of designers in computer-aided design as a major source of the problem statement for his study. The fact that computer-aided design is flourishing while research in sketching through conventional media-pen and paper is largely deficient is also identified as another major source of the problem statement (320). Research Questions A review of the study reveals that the major research question that guided the work was â€Å"when designers use the computer as sketching media in the step of concept generation, will cognition and thinking be the same as when using conventional media? If there are differences between the two kinds of media, what kind of differences will there be?† The authors also formulated a minor question for the study; â€Å"if designers use these two kinds of sketching media in the conception generation stage, will there be design performance differences?† (Won et al. 2008, p. 320). Study Objective and Hypothesis The authors identify their main objective as a research into the

Leadership and Mentorship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Leadership and Mentorship - Essay Example On the other hand, a leader is not necessarily a mentor. Although the leader has the decision-making authority yet the subordinates may not necessarily consider him competent enough to make the right decisions. Leadership may not always be like mentorship, which means that the leader may not always have a responsibility of the development of the mentees like a mentor has. For example, servant leadership is a kind of leadership in which the leader works among the followers. Followers and students comply with the instructions of leaders and mentors respectively because they know that doing so would benefit them in some way. In the workplace, workers follow their managers in order to have increments of salary and addition of benefits or to be in a superior position. In the school, students listen to the mentors because they know that their mentors control their academic career, and not complying with the instructions of the mentor might have an adverse effect on their grades. On the oth er hand, leaders and mentors may or may not have personal interest in leading the followers. It really depends upon the circumstances that vary from one case to another. For the leader of a political party, the motivation to lead is intrinsic since the leader’s personal interests are associated with that. ... Likewise, a mentor teaching in a school is just another employee who is assigned the task of teaching a certain subject to certain classes, and the performance of his students depict the effectiveness of the individual as a teacher. Hence, the goal of a leader or a mentor may or may not be of his/her personal interest. An individual can be a leader without being a mentor, but he/she cannot be a good or effective leader until he/she is also a mentor. Not many leaders are able to successfully transfer their knowledge to their followers or let them benefit from their experiences. Leadership is more about the people who are being led than the leader himself. The success of a leader is fundamentally depicted by the level of satisfaction of the followers. The privileges one gets as a leader are obtained not without one’s obligation of service. The leader assumes the prime responsibility of providing the followers with care and stewardship and assuring their well-being. This may be p erceived as the liabilities of being in the position of a leader, but this is all what leadership is about. Had the objective of safeguarding the rights and interests of the followers not been there, there would not have been any need of a leader in the first place. Mentoring is one of the job responsibilities of a leader. One’s obligation as a leader is the development of the followers’ skills and competencies so that they may optimize on their potential to play a constructive role for the progress of the organization they are working for. Without being a mentor, one cannot do justice to one’s responsibilities as a leader. Similarities between Mentorship and Leadership There are many things that a leader and a mentor have in common. The first and the most

The Mechanicals play Essay Example for Free

The Mechanicals play Essay The Mechanicals play is full of devices which show how incompetent they are as actors. How would you direct the play of Pyramus and Thisbe to bring out the comedy? The Pyramus and Thisbe play is classed as a tragedy but despite this the Mechanicals make it a comedy through their incompetence as actors. As a director I would bring out the comedy by exploring: casting, voices, body, costume, props, movement and blocking. I would choose to put the play on at the Globe theatre because that way the audience could appreciate the words and acting of the play rather than be dazzled by fancy lighting and sound. I would have the people of the court lying down at the edges of the stage so that they are still there but not detracting attention away from the Mechanicals. Quince starts the play with the prologue, lines 108 152. I would cast Quince as a tall, slender man with posh English accent so that he can project his voice out over the court. He would be tall because the play is like his baby, he wrote it and directed it and by being taller than the other Mechanicals he is almost like a father, as fathers are taller than their children when they are young. As Quince speaks I would have him with a fairly neutral expression on his face so that he can introduce each actor in the same way. I would have him in a dark suit with a white shirt and black bow tie almost as though he is a master of ceremonies. As he introduces each actor they should stand forward and bow in an exaggerated manner, Thisbe should curtsey, this is to set the over the top acting style for the rest of the play. Pyramus, who is supposed to be a tall, handsome, hero, would be funny played by a short, balding, fat man with a very camp voice. I would have him in clothes of the period and place, i. e. Athens, similar to those of a king or prince. Thisbe, who is supposed to be a beauteous lady would be funny played by a man in drag, wearing a long flowing dress of the period and place with wig to go with and a scarf and she would have a cockney accent. The wall should wear a sheet with a wall painted on, with a white shirt and trousers underneath, he should have one arm stretched out with the sheet attached and the other bent round with his hand on his hip and a brick in the hole that his arm makes with his body. He should have a Liverpudlian accent so that he seems gossipy, meaning that walls have ears and so hear a lot of gossip and want to spread it around. Moonshine should have a London accent and should wear a white shirt and white trousers to give the impression of shining. He should seem thoroughly bored with the whole production because he doesnt have a very large part. He should have a light bulb to hold to represent the moon, a cuddly toy dog on a lead for the dog and a small bonsai tree to represent the bush. The lion should be very timid to be funny because lions are stereotypically ferocious beasts. He should wear an orangey brown furry all in one with a tail and hairy fur around the head. All the actors should be barefoot to add to their incompetence and show that they are the working classes, i. e. too poor to afford good shoes. At this point in the play, because the people of the court are talking amongst themselves rather than to the actors, the actors would ignore their comments. The wall starts to speak and he should stand across the stage, not facing the front but just turning his head, with his arms in place as before and when he says that had a crannied hole or chink he should remove the brick and slowly wave it above his head so that the whole audience can see it before placing it on the floor, this should be done in a very exaggerated manner. When Pyramus speaks he should do very exaggerated, over the top, arm movements as though he was reaching for something. When Pyramus says show me thy chink, to blink through with mine eyes the wall should point furiously to the hole made by his arm bent round. Then when Theseus interrupts, Bottom should talk to Theseus in a conspiratorial manner when he explains that deceiving me is Thisbes cue to enter. Thisbe enters form the right, seemingly quite bored because he has to play the part of a woman, stands the other side of the wall to Pyramus, puts her hands on her hips and speaks her lines. Then Thisbe exits on the right and Pyramus on he left. The wall then speaks again but this time in a conspiratorial manner to Theseus. The wall then picks up the brick and exits on the left. The people of the court talk together about the play so far, they should be laughing and joking. The lion enters from the right and timidly speaks his lines with his hands up by his face like paws. He then goes to the back of the stage and squats down and stays there. Moonshine, having entered from the left at the same time as the lion and stood at the back of the stage, comes forward and starts to speak, holding up the light bulb as he does so. Theseus interrupts and so moonshine should look upon him with disbelief, annoyance and that they could have the audacity to interrupt him, this happens again. The third time moonshine says his lines angrily and holds up each prop as he speaks about it, he points at himself for the man in the moon. Thisbe enters form the right and looks around, she says her line with no real feeling; the lion roars very quietly and the people of the court joke about his timid roar as he chases Thisbe off stage left, she drops her scarf when shes chased away. Bottom then comes on stage from the right and speaks his lines whilst doing extremely exaggerated arm movements up towards the moon, he should also exaggerate the irony of the words he speaks on line 256 sweet moon, I thank thee for thy sunny beams. He should then catch sight of her scarf, rush over and fall on his knees by it. He then picks it up and says his lines (265 270), he should be very upset and somewhat angry when speaking these lines, made comical by the camp tone in his voice. He then takes out his wooden sword, when he says out sword, and wound on line 280 and stabs himself with it because he is so overcome with grief at the thought that hes lost Thisbe. He then gets up on to his feet and walks about the stage from side to side, swaying as though he was drunk; moonshine leaves the stage form the left when Pyramus says moon, take thy flight on line 289. Then on line 290, Pyramus falls to his knees and keels over, facing the audience at the front, whilst saying his last line. The play is nearly finished at this point and the people of the court talk amongst themselves and say how they are beginning to get bored of the play. Then Thisbe enters from the right and looks around, she sees Pyramus and goes to kneel behind him; she peers over him to look at his face, seemingly upset, she speaks her lines with her face pointing upwards with one hand on Pyramus side. As she speaks she should shuffle around Pyramus, on her knees, until she is by his knees, then at line 325 come, trusty sword she should reach over for the sword and stab herself. She should then keel over in the opposite direction so that they are top-to-tail, both facing the audience. After Demetrius says hi line, the actors playing Pyramus and Thisbe, i. e. Bottom and Flute, get up and ask the people of the court if they would like to hear the epilogue. Theseus is very quick to say no as all the people have had enough of the play and are bored with it. At this point all the Mechanicals enter, half from the left, half from the right, and they bow, Thisbe should curtsey. Throughout reading this it is vital to remember that the characters accents will play a very big part in bringing out the comedy of the play. In conclusion, despite the fact that the play of Pyramus and Thisbe is a tragedy it is appropriate to put it on as a comedy so that it ties in with the rest of A Midsummer Nights Dream, which is also a comedy. The Mechanicals incompetent acting makes the play of Pyramus and Thisbe comical and as director I would have brought out the comedy by considering: casting, voice, body, costume, props, movement and blocking; movement and voice in particular because by exaggerating all the movements the Mechanicals as actors would seem incompetent, thus bringing out the comedy in the play, and by giving all the Mechanicals a different accent or tone of voice that was very inappropriate for that character, for example, Pyramus with his camp voice, would also bring out the comedy in the play of Pyramus and Thisbe.

The Delusional Governess in Henry James The Turn of the Screw Essays

The existence of the ghosts in The Turn of the Screw has always been in debate. Instead of directly discussing whether the ghosts are real or not, this essay will focus on the reliability of the governess, the narrator of the story. After making a close examination of her state of mind while she is at Bly, readers of The Turn of the Screw will have many more clues to ponder again and to decide to what extent the governess can be believed. While critics like Heilman argue that there are problems with the interpretation that the governess was psychopathic, textual evidence incorporated with scientific research show that the governess did go through a period of psychical disorder that caused her insomnia, out of which she created hallucinations. In the prologue, Douglas gave a detailed account of the master from the governess ¡Ã‚ ¦s point of view. She regarded him as  ¡Ã‚ §handsome and bold and pleasant, off-hand and gay and kind; he struck her ¡Ã‚ ¨ (James 4). Later on we learn from Douglas that the governess accepted the job at Bly for the master ¡Ã‚ ¦s sake, and of course the generous salary offered by the master. Without any experience, the governess ¡Ã‚ ¦s passions for the master supported her to accept the job and confirmed her decision to take the challenge even though she feared not having the ability to accomplish the job.  ¡Ã‚ §The moral of which was of course the seduction exercised by the splendid young man. She succumbed to it ¡Ã‚ ¨ (James 5). With the love for the master, the governess had the courage to visit the master again and eventually took the job.  ¡Ã‚ §He held her hand, thanking her for the sacrifice, she already felt rewarded ¡Ã‚ ¨ (James 6). Her obsession with the master was somehow repressed owing to the absence of the master and the condi... ...ose cannot be the proof of the reliability of the governess. The issue whether the governess was insane or not may never be solved. Not only because critics seem to be able to find as much evidence as possible to prove their arguments but also, the reliability of the account of the governess colors the whole story with great ambiguity. We are not certain of the state of mind of the governess when she wrote down the story and when she related the story to Douglas. However, as we closely examine the state of mind of the governess, her reliability does appear to be in question. Beidler provided two readings of The Turn of the Screw and in the second one he declared:  ¡Ã‚ §the governess saw only what she wanted to see ¡Ã‚ ¨ (Beidler 9). She was so exhausted from her prolonged insomnia that she envisioned a story with ghosts for herself to fulfill her growth as a governess. The Delusional Governess in Henry James' The Turn of the Screw Essays The existence of the ghosts in The Turn of the Screw has always been in debate. Instead of directly discussing whether the ghosts are real or not, this essay will focus on the reliability of the governess, the narrator of the story. After making a close examination of her state of mind while she is at Bly, readers of The Turn of the Screw will have many more clues to ponder again and to decide to what extent the governess can be believed. While critics like Heilman argue that there are problems with the interpretation that the governess was psychopathic, textual evidence incorporated with scientific research show that the governess did go through a period of psychical disorder that caused her insomnia, out of which she created hallucinations. In the prologue, Douglas gave a detailed account of the master from the governess ¡Ã‚ ¦s point of view. She regarded him as  ¡Ã‚ §handsome and bold and pleasant, off-hand and gay and kind; he struck her ¡Ã‚ ¨ (James 4). Later on we learn from Douglas that the governess accepted the job at Bly for the master ¡Ã‚ ¦s sake, and of course the generous salary offered by the master. Without any experience, the governess ¡Ã‚ ¦s passions for the master supported her to accept the job and confirmed her decision to take the challenge even though she feared not having the ability to accomplish the job.  ¡Ã‚ §The moral of which was of course the seduction exercised by the splendid young man. She succumbed to it ¡Ã‚ ¨ (James 5). With the love for the master, the governess had the courage to visit the master again and eventually took the job.  ¡Ã‚ §He held her hand, thanking her for the sacrifice, she already felt rewarded ¡Ã‚ ¨ (James 6). Her obsession with the master was somehow repressed owing to the absence of the master and the condi... ...ose cannot be the proof of the reliability of the governess. The issue whether the governess was insane or not may never be solved. Not only because critics seem to be able to find as much evidence as possible to prove their arguments but also, the reliability of the account of the governess colors the whole story with great ambiguity. We are not certain of the state of mind of the governess when she wrote down the story and when she related the story to Douglas. However, as we closely examine the state of mind of the governess, her reliability does appear to be in question. Beidler provided two readings of The Turn of the Screw and in the second one he declared:  ¡Ã‚ §the governess saw only what she wanted to see ¡Ã‚ ¨ (Beidler 9). She was so exhausted from her prolonged insomnia that she envisioned a story with ghosts for herself to fulfill her growth as a governess.

Hospital Glove Supply Chain Proposal Essay

Team A Hospital has been a successful hospital in San Francisco, California for a number of years. The hospital has often been at the cutting edge of exciting and new technology but as with many other organizations the downturn in the economy has affected the hospital’s bottom line. The CEO of Team A Hospital is looking for any way possible to help cut costs. One way to cut costs would be to use a different supplier for surgical gloves. Currently, the gloves are purchased from a local supplier, but union issues have caused the price of the gloves to rise and have led to many inconsistent deliveries, which has often put the hospital in a difficult situation. The CEO would like management to look into purchasing gloves from an international supplier, preferably in China. Due to the many issues and problems Team A Hospital has had with the local union, the hospital has decided to look into purchasing gloves from Hello Kitty Gloves out of China. Currently Team A Hospital uses an average of 500 boxes of gloves a week. Research done by the hospital shows Hello Kitty Gloves will be able to meet all of the demands of the hospital. An agreement can also be made to guarantee next day delivery in the case of emergency, if needed. Purchasing gloves from Hello Kitty Gloves will solve all of the issues the hospital had been having with local unions. Team A Hospital will no longer have to worry about inconsistent deliveries from the union, and save money in the process. Total quality management (TQM) is a management approach aimed at satisfying all customer requirements, needs and expectations using a Continuous Improvement (CI) approach (Dvir, n.d.). There are six principles TQM follows to improve management. The six principles are customer focus, leadership, teamwork, continuous improvement of processes, measurements, and benchmarking. Customer focus is an important part of TQM. For the new materials requirement plan to be a success the plan needs to focus on the needs of the customer. By contracting with Hello Kitty Gloves, Team A Hospital will be putting the customer first. The hospital will no longer have to concern themselves with missed deliveries and concerns about not having needed supplies. Leadership is another principal of TQM. Management needs to take a leading role in looking for ways to save Team A Hospital money. It isn’t enough for management to look for ways for different departments to cut costs. For the new materials requirements plan to be successful management also needs to look for ways to cut corners in their department as well. Everyone in Team A Hospital needs to be involved for the plan to succeed. Teamwork plays an important role in the success. Each team member that is part of the new plan needs to be on board to help the hospital reach their goals. Without each team member playing their part the plan is doomed to fail. No plan is perfect. When management set up the new plan to purchase gloves from Hello Kitty Gloves they did all they could to ensure there would be no problems, but as with every plan unseen problems are sure to come up. This is where continuous improvement of processes comes in. When problems do come up management needs to address these concerns quickly so the same problems that developed with the previous glove manufacturer don’t develop again. The best way to tell if a plan is a success or a failure is by measuring the results. Some ways to measure if the new material requirements plan is a success is by measuring a few main points of the plan (example- delivery time, stock on hand, inventory turnover). By analyzing these measurements against the old methods used the hospital can measure their success, or failure. Benchmarking is also an important step in TQM as well. Team A Hospital can look at other hospitals and see who is supplying their hospital gloves. Perhaps the other hospitals have found ways to save even more money in purchasing hospital gloves. Also, other hospitals might have a better way to measure results of the plan as well.

Christopher Columbus Hero or Villain Essay - 1788 Words

School taught us about the infamous Christopher Columbus who was known as the hero who found the Americas in 1492, but is that the truth? Is Columbus really the hero that grade school portrayed him to be? Columbus was not. Columbus was a greedy man who destroyed an entire race of people with genocide just so only he could benefit and become a man of money and power. Columbus was a very good speaker and very persuasive. He convinced the King and Queen of Spain to fund his expedition to â€Å"Asia† and he told about all the gold and spices that would be discovered there and how they would be wealthy.# Columbus told them his famous terms which stated that he would receive no less than one-tenth of all the wealth that would arrive from Asia†¦show more content†¦According to Meredith, Columbus had said that the Arawak Indians willingly traded everything that they owned and that they seemed a poor people.# He later states in his log to make himself appear humble that he g ave gifts to one particular man, a red cap, a string of glass beads, and two hawks’ bells which were together worth less than 3 cents.# â€Å"But, should your Majesties command it habitants could be taken away to Castile, or made slaves on the island. With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.†# Columbus noticed that some of these Indians had little golden ornaments in their noses and ears, This made him take some of the Arawak Indians that they help prisoner onto the ship and insisted they guide him to where they were the source of the gold was, this had lead him to sail to what is now Cuba then to Hispaniola.# There bits of gold were visible in the rivers. Columbus and his crew built a fort and left thirty-nine crew members there to collect gold and store all they would find. Koing states, â€Å"I am not going to assert that this was all Columbus’ fault. Although there was no systematic slavery within Europe at that ti me, enslavement of darker races had been considered a matter of course from the first contact with them†¦ Spaniards from that time on become more cruel than any of theShow MoreRelatedChristopher Columbus : Hero Or Villain?884 Words   |  4 PagesRian White Crawford 3rd Christopher Columbus: Hero or Villain? In elementary school students are taught that Christopher Columbus is some godly hero who discovered that the earth was round and a shorter route to â€Å"Asia†. They even have a day dedicated to him. Typically, children are gullible and just believe what they are taught, rather than actually researching and learning the history on their own. As a child one’s brain is not developed enough to possess a sense of moral discernment. Also, childrenRead MoreChristopher Columbus Hero Or Villain1658 Words   |  7 PagesChristopher Columbus is an internationally celebrated explorer, due to his voyages to Central America during the Age of Discovery, a period between 15th and 16th centuries where explorers would be supported by countries to claim land. Columbus was an Italian explorer, on a conquest for gold and riches, who was sponsored by the monarchs of Spain, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, to travel to Southern Asia. Columbus proposed the idea of traveling from East to West, rather than travelingRead MoreChristopher Columbus: Villain or Hero? Essay458 Words   |  2 PagesIn 1492, Christopher Columbus unintentionally discovered America, when he landed in the Caribbean Islands, while looking for a direct sea route to Asia. Despite the fact that Columbus believed he had found a direct sea route to India, he has been called the discoverer of America and hailed as a hero. More recently, however, he has been called a villain, with accusations saying that not only did he not discover America, but also that he was the cause of slavery and oppression in the Americas. TheseRead MoreResearch Paper - Is Christopher Columbus a Hero or Villain2022 Words   |  9 PagesChristopher Columbus found a new world and jumpstarted an age of exploration like no other. After he found the Americas there was massive colonization, giant trade increases and more resources such as gold and silver were being surfaced. Europeans learned new agricultural technique s from the indigenous people, the Europeans also acquired a large number of new crops to farm such as potatoes, tomatoes, corn and cocoa. With all of the pros that the age of exploration brought to Europeans it is hardRead MoreEssay on Christopher Columbus: Villain or Hero?1521 Words   |  7 Pagesmore than five centuries Americans have lifted Christopher Columbus to heights of greatness and god-like. We celebrate his life as though he was a man that had done us a great favor. In resent years Christopher Columbus has come under scrutiny, his life and works being questioned more than celebrated. There have be many great men and women that contributed to the building of our great nation but they do not receive anywhere as much recognition as Columbus. When a person begins to study the actual accountsRead MoreEssay about Christopher Columbus: Hero or Villain?781 Words   |  4 Pagesbelieve that Columbus was one of the greatest explorers of all time. In my mind there is no questio n about whether Christopher Columbus discovered America; of course he did, its Columbus! However, this is a highly debated issue and through writings by authors Jeffery Hart and James W. Loewen we will investigate the true importance of Columbus. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;In the essay written by Jeffrey Hart entitled, â€Å"Discovering Columbus†, he argues strongly that, in fact, Columbus did discoverRead MoreChristopher Columbus was not the First to Discover America Essay652 Words   |  3 PagesPeople argue that Christopher Columbus was the first to find America, but other people argue that the Native Americans were the first ones in America. In 1492 Christopher Columbus voyages from spain to the Americas not knowing what was there. So was Christopher Columbus the first one to find out about America? Would he be a hero or a villain for saying he did, or saying he did but actually didn’t and just wants to get the credit for it. Why people believed that he would be a hero is because, theyRead MoreThe Difference between Myth and Reality about Christopher Columbus606 Words   |  3 Pages Christopher Columbus is a name known to nearly every American that has ever had an elementary education. He is imagined as the brave explorer that against all odds prevailed in his belief of a round earth. Credited with the discovery of America, Columbus has a holiday and even the Nation’s capitol and a powerful Catholic service organization are named after him. What isn’t as well known is the dark side of his arrival to the New World. Though he did make the first steps in founding modern AmericaRead MoreAnother Side of Christopher Columbus Essay755 Words   |  4 Pagesmainland-America. These people could rightly be called Native Americans/Indians. However primitive these people were, they were very organized. In a much busier world (Spain), lived a very adventurous, religious, and loyal man named Christopher Columbus. Born in Genoa, Italy, Christopher Columbus was the son of a very skilled weaver. He was an expert sailor, thus earning the title of â€Å"Admiral of the Ocean Sea† for himself after his successful expeditions. He had a favorite ship, Santa Maria although he had twoRead MoreChristopher Columbus As A Hero1211 Words   |  5 Pagescelebrate Columbus Day; whether Christopher Columbus, the man with a holiday named after him, the man who â€Å"discovered† America, was really hero. There are people who claim that Columbus was, in fact, someone to be celebrated. This is false. Christopher Columbus was, most blatantly put, a villain. He deserves this status because he did not discover the land now known as America, he forced his beliefs onto others, and he utterly destroyed the lives of unknowing, innocent people. Christopher Columbus is mainly

Employee Industry Hospitality - Tourism Dissertations - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 12 Words: 3496 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Medicine Essay Type Argumentative essay Did you like this example? The issue of grievance handling has not been new in organizations and it has been one of the most persistent problems of all times. In the course of running an organization, there are many complaints that are handled daily by the management which constitute the process of grievance handling. Grievances are common not only in organization but also in our social life. However it has been shown that the nature of the grievances is not that important than the process that is used to handle the grievances. Before we look at the process of handling a grievance in an organization, let us look use first understand the nature of a grievance. What is a grievance? (Dentron and Boyd 2005, p. 61) Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Employee Industry Hospitality Tourism Dissertations" essay for you Create order A grievance can be defined as any complaint that is raised by an individual worker of a group of workers in an organization. A grievance is usually raised in allegation of violation of the terms of agreement in the workplace. Therefore it can be said to a complaint that is raised and which is aimed at expressing the dissatisfaction of the employees by what is happening in the organization. A grievance however differs from a complaint in that while a complaint can be verbally expressed, a grievance is usually stated in writing. A grievance can be caused by many things. It has been shown that some of the most controversial issues which usually ends up in a grievance include the discharge of employees from their workplace, lack of a process of collective bargaining for the employees which can be used to express their dissatisfaction, unfair labor practices, and others which are likely to happening in the work places. (Rahul 2005, p. 31) Therefore we can expound on this point by looking closely at the process which is usually used to handle these complaints. For the effective functioning of an organization, there is usually a need to look at the welfare of the employee. Any management will recognize that the employees are the most important asset that an organization holds and therefore the most important thing in the management of the resources of an organization will be first to look at the welfare of the workforces. It has been shown that most of the grievances which hare not well looked at often precipitate to a form of dissident by the workforce which in most case comes as strike. A strike in an organization will not only have economic effect on the organization but it will also have effects on the image of the management of the organization. Therefore many organizations have come up with an effective procedure that can be used to handle complaints of het employees. In order to ensure that there is less participant of the workforce in mass movement of labor unions, many organization came up with human resource departments which are well positioned to handle the complains of the employees. Therefore it is the duty of the human resource department to come up with a well structured way that can be used to look at the welfare of the workforce. The human resource department is the one which is entrusted with the duty of handling all the complaints regarding the employees. Human resource department must come up with a grievance handling procedure. (Finegan 2004, p. 71) A grievance handling produced clearly defines a process which is used by the organization to look at the complaints that has been given by the employees. It presents a process of initial resolving of the complaints through arbitration. It is a process that is used to indentify and resolve the companies in a timely manner in order to promoted the prevail a constructive discussion between the management and the representatives of the employees. therefore the aim of the grievance procedure is to ensure that there is a proper mechanism in place that is used by the management to look at the issues that pertains to employees in order to ensure that there is constructive resolving of the complains at they arises. (Dana 2001, p. 231) The hospitality industry has been one of the rapidly growing industries in the world. In a short period of time, the industry has grown short of its former self. In the last few decades there has been increased travelling by people all over the world. This has been enabled by the increasing wave of globalization which has opened the world and increased the interaction between people. As a result individuals have been able to travel from one corners of the world to the other with no political or legal limitation. The improve modes of transport has been the main factor that has contributed to the rapid growth of the industry. The industry has been one of the most important industries in the world that have been supporting the increased globalization and polarization of world culture. Therefore there has been unprecedented growth of the industry in a very short period of time. The industry has been offering supportive services in the tourism sector. Apparently tourism has emerged to be one of the most important industries in the world. It has been fueled by increased spending culture in the world and increased openness. Tourism has taken many dimensions in its growth in areas of cultural tourism, business tourism, leisure tourism, education tourism, medical tourism, and other areas. In all these segments, individual usually travels away from their homes to go to foreign countries. Therefore they need to be accommodated and given other services. In this regard the hospitality industry comes in hand as it offers them support in accommodation and other necessary services. The hospitality industry has therefore hinged its growth on the tourism sector. (Leornard 2001, p. 52) One of the emerging natures of the hospitality industry has been diversity that has been experienced in the customers that the industry target and also in the workforce. There has been an increasing trend in the industry towards culture convergence in which one hospitality facility in the world is serving people of diverse culture. Therefore there has been an aspect of standardization of culture in the industry. Cultural homogeneity is considered to be one of the competitive factors that need to achieve in order to survive in the competitive market. With the market become more diverse due to divers needs of the customers, the hotel industry have therefore tended to have a divers nature of employees in order to help their customers to feel at home every time they are being served. Therefore there has been an increasing trend of multicultural workforce in the industry. This of course has come with its own challenges to human resource management. One of the most challenges that faces any human resource management is a multicultural workforce is the way to handle complains by the employees. Many a times, employees feel that their welfare is not looked at as needed in the organization and there are usually incidences of unfair treatment of the employees. But due to the diverse nature of the employees, the human resource department may not be in a position to come up with standardized way of dealing with all the demands that employees have. Therefore there are incidence of complaints that are based on the favors in the workforce and discontent in the allocation of duties. Many of het case studies that have been presented about complain in the hospitality industry have all been based on issue of favors in the workforce which arise due to the diversity in the workforce. Therefore in the contemporary human resource management issues, diversity in the workforce in the hospitality industry have been one of the causes of complains in the workforce. The hospitality industry is one of the most hectic industries as visitors check in and checks out. As a result there is a lot of work that needs to be done by the workforce. The nature of services in the industry is based on the fact that the visitors have to feel as comfortable as they want and find value for the amount of money that they are charged. Therefore there has to be a lot of work that is done by the employees in order to meet the demands of the visitors. Some of the visitors can be a little nagging and may require excessive attention than others. Going by the nature of definition of the duties the employee have to perform some employee will always find themselves doing extra work that they have not bee assigned at the time they were hired. Therefore there is usually a conflict with their supervisors who have to make sure that the guest gets all what they want and therefore will have to assign extra duty to the employees. At the end to the day employees will feel that they have done more that they are supposed to do in their duties. This has been shown to be another source of complains from the employees who feels that they are unfair treated and their initial duty assignment is not respected. (Andrew Kurth LLP, 2008) In most cases supervisors are faced with a hard task of ensuring that employee perform all the duties that they have been assigned to and also perform the extra duties that the guests wants to be attendee to. Therefore there is a situation between the supervisors and the employees. The hospitality industry peaks with seasons. This means that there are periods when there will be an inflow of guest while there are other seasons when there will be less guest checking in. In there regard there is a fluctuating need of employees in the industry. When the season peaks, the industry will need to hire more employees and when the season is low the industry will need to lay off some of the employees. In this regard the tourism industry is most affected by the seasonality. Most of the hotels which operation in leisure industries will find the there are periods when there will be more guest especially during holidays and weekend while there are other when there will be less guest. The industry is also prone to political stability and other factors and therefore the times when there is a serene atmosphere will see an inflow of guest while the times when there is political turmoil there will be less guests who will be checking in. As a result the industry is force to keep on hiring and lying off some of the workers. It has continuously become difficult for the industry to hire more employees on permanent bases due to the fact that there are period when the industry will need more workers while the off seasons will need less workers. Therefore there is a factor of the way in which employees are hired and retained in the industry. This has been one of the most contentious issues especially when it come to the labor unions which have been arguing that there is need for the industry to hire employee on permanent bases. There are a times when the industry is forced to lay off the employee unexpected due to the prevailing circumstance. For example in Kenya which is one of the famed tourism destinations in Africa, the last year skirmishes had a negative effect in the industry. It is recorded that though it was the high season when the tourism and hospitality industry expected a great inflow of guest, more than 10,000 employees were laid off. This was due to massive cancellation of bookings that had been done. The industry has apparently hired more workers in anticipation for the high season that had just started to pick up. There has been a conflicting situation in the industry as the employee who had been hired on contracted bases want to be paid all the money as their contract had defend while the industry is trying to recover from a massive losses incurred due to the massive cancellation. The hospitality industry has also been shown as one of the industry which pays the workers low salaries. This has been caused by the fact that the industry sometime will need to hire more employees and other times it will have to lay off some the employees. Due to the fact that the industry goes on of very lean seasons when it has to maintain its operation, there have been incidence of some players in the industry paying their employee very low salaries in a bid to cover the expense in the low season. Therefore there have been conflicts between the workforce and the management on the issue of salaries. This is one of the most conflicting issues that have led to formation of labor unions in the industry. Most of the operators in the industry agree with the fact that the industry pays less money to its employees especially during the low seasons but they try to equate that with the operation of het industry during that period. It has been shown that although the industry has been growing at a high rate, there have been fewer incidences of increased salaries for the workforce even at times when the industry is performing well. There has also been incidence of customer complain in the industry. It has been shown that in most cases customer have been complains about the quality of service that they receive from particular employees in the industry and also from the facility in general. This has been a difficult situation for the human resource department especially since it has to ascertain the nature of the conflict between the employee and the guest. In most case the guest may have rubbed the employee on the wrong side and therefore there must be a way of asserting the truth before punishing the employee. Though the issue of customer complains has been shown to be a responsibility attached to the customer service department, at the end of the day it ends up as a management issue that has to be resolved. Both hotel and hospitality industries fall under any industry in the country. Therefore they are exposed to the same labor laws like any other industry. However the nature of employee relation in the industry has been changing due to some of the factors that have been shown. Although there has been increasing labor unionization of the industry there has also some legal aspects that have been protecting the employees in the industry. One of the laws that protect employee in the industry has been the National Labor Relation Act which are aimed at redressing complain of any employees that has been unlawfully discharged from their duties. Through the law the employee is able to seek redress in the law court. However there has been conflicting situation when it comes to address this issue and when it comes to the application of the law. This is because every time an employee is dismissed from their duties for a genuine reason, they run to the court to place complains and what follows is an argument about the rights of het employees. Although the employer has the responsibility of recognize the rightist of the employee, there has been the question of the responsibility of the employee especially when it comes to the nature of the operation of the industry. Being in an industry that calls for meticulous performance of duties in order to ensure the satisfaction of the employee, there has been incidence where the employee have been dismissed on the ground of misbehaving with the guest or failing to perform their duties and what follows is a lawsuits for the company. (Mitchell, 2007) There has been increasing misinterpretation of the National Labor Relation Act when it comes to the employees working in the hospitality industry. There has been a need to becoming familiar with the law and its interpretations. There has been misinterpretation of the act when it comes to the employers also. It has been shown that there are many incidences when the employers back off from their earlier salary agreement and fire off employee who complains. But the law has shown the act is inclusive even of the employee who works in the hospitality industry who are likely to work for part time bases. Holiday Inn has been one of the most prosperous hotels that have become major player in the hospitality and tourism industry. It has been able to spread its wings all over the world and has grown to be a multinational in a very short period. It has positioned itself in all the corners of the world which have tourism potential and therefore it has a world wide presence. Like any other play in the industry, the hotel has been receiving a number of complains from the customers as well as from the workers themselves. Since the hotel has been relying on tourism activities in its overseas operation, the hotel has been experience same problems as we have mentioned above which are all hinged on the satisfaction of the employee and on other factors. But is has successfully put in place a mechanism that is used to handle all these complains. It has been dealing with a range of complains about its employees and at the same time there have been complains from the employees on the way they are beign treated. (Dilts 2006, p. 34) In order to handle all these complains, the hotel first steps which were aimed at streamlining it relationship with the employees was the formation of the human resource department which was supposed to look at the welfare of the employees. The human resource department was apparently responsible for looking at the welfare of the employee and also it was to handle complains from the employee. Therefore it was given the authority to deal with issue of hiring and firing of the employees. In areas where the hotel has been hiring seasonal workforce, it has been putting the employee on a contractual agreement where they are supposed to be paid according to there performance and not on the bases that eh were hired. This has been made in order to avoid many complains that come from the workforce once they are dismissed from their employee when the low seasons comes. The hotel has also made sure that it has put in place a board that is supposed to scrutinize all the complains that are received from the employees so that it can look into the way of making sure that they are well addressed. The board or the arbitration body is supposed to work in close conjunction with the human resource department to make sure that there is a well defined procedure that is followed while dealing with the complains. Therefore there have been systematic efforts by the hotel that has been aimed at reducing the level of complains with the workforce. These efforts have also been aimed at ensuring that all the employees are handled as equal and that complains are dealt with as a matter of urgency. From time to time there will be complains from the workforce. These complains are most of the time genuine and they indicates that there is a problem that need to be fixed somewhere in the work process. The human resource department that has been given the mandate of dealing with the issue of these conflicts understands that employees are the most important treasure that ht organization holds. It has to deal with the employee well, so that it will gain a competitive edge in the market. Therefore it is good for the management to come up with proper way of dealing with these complains in order to avert further action from the employee. Most of the time if these complain is not dealt with they are likely to precipitate to strikes which will have a negative effect on the productivity of the industry and also on the image of he industry. The tourism and hospitality industry has been one of the industries that have been suffering major grievances from employee due to issues of off and on season employment and low payment. There have been major labor action in the industry which has been caused by these complain that has been expressed by the workforce. Therefore there is need for the players in the industry to handle some of these complains well and take the example of Holiday Inn which has come with effective mechanisms that are meat to deal with the problem firmly. Andrew Kurth LLP, 2008, Hospitality and Hotels: Employment and Labor, Retrieved from https://www.andrewskurth.com/industries-22.html on 10th May 2008 Dana, D 2001, Conflict Resolution, McGraw Hill Dentron, K. Boyd, C 2005, Employee Complaint Handling, Greenwood Publishing Group Dilts, D 2006, Cases in Collective Bargaining industry relations, McGraw Hill, New York Finegan, J 2004, The rigorous customer-complain, Harvard Business Review12 Leornard, A 2001, The service Driven Company, Harvard Business Review 69 Mitchell, M 2007, Union organization Trend in the Hospitality Industry, Retrieved from https://www.4hoteliers.com/4hots_fshw.php?mwi=2363 on 10th May 2008 Rahul, J 2005, Corporate Reputation, John Willey, New York