Alfred M. Green Speech Analysis Essay

The Civil War, a war fought during the 1860s, decided a great many things: slavery or freedom, south and north or unification. In the beginning of the war, the Northern African Americans were not allowed to join the Union Army and fight against the Southern oppressors. Alfred M. Green, while giving a speech in Philadelphia at the beginning of the war, urged African American to prepare to enlist. He also spoke subversively about the unfairness of the treatment of African Americans not only in the South but also in the North. Green uses a variety of methods to persuade his fellow African-Americans to prepare for war while also speaking out against the treatment of the African-Am. in the North. Green begins his speech by immediately mentioning the cornerstone of the American ideology, that American citizens believe in â€Å"freedom, and of civil and religious toleration.† By remind the African Americans what America is founded on, he incites in them the desire to go to war against anyone opposing the idea. Green, by the same token, reminds the whites of their unfairness in denying the African Americans their rights. The mention of the â€Å"immortal Washington† and â€Å"Jackson† also appeals to the patriotism in the African Americans, moving them closer to desiring to fight in the war. The appeal Green makes to the religious beliefs of the African Americans is apparent throughout his speech. Because most of the African Americans at the time were Christian, by referring to their God as the â€Å"God of truth, Justice and equality to all men† makes the AFri. Am. feel obligated to help the cause of the Civil War. Because their God believed in â€Å"freedom,† why and how can they deny anyone else that right? At the same time Green also reminds the whites that their same God is the white God and that the African Americans deserve rights as well. Green also wants the African Americans to be â€Å"trusting in God† because their God wants them to go to war and will protect them. Why should the African Americans not go to war under such protection? By the end of his speech, Green begins to remind the African Americans of their â€Å"oppressed brethren† in the South. He reminds them of people under a â€Å"tyrant system† and requests their assistance in overthrowing it. He also  mentions the desire of the Southern leaders to â€Å"drive back†¦civil and religious freedom†¦ and have more slave territory.† By mentioning the goals of the other side, he motivates the African Americans to battle by showing them the future of the nation if the South wins because they did not fight. Green notes that their â€Å"very presence† on the battlefield will urge the slaves in the South to revolt. Green’s word choice throughout his speech helps him to motivate the African Americans to battle without their realizing it. He constantly uses the phrase â€Å"let us† to persuade the African Americans to join the army without directly telling them to do so. A direct order is much less likely to be followed than a softer direction such as â€Å"let us.† He also includes himself in the group by using the word â€Å"us,† making him seem motivated and desirous of joining the army as well. If he desires to join, why should they not? Green also anticipates certain rebuttals to his argument, but he silences them by beginning his arguments with â€Å"it is true.† He wants the African American people to know that he too realizes the problems with the government but his is still willing to go to war. Although Green does make certain condescending arguments towards the white audience by the end of the speech he has â€Å"united† both American Americans and whites by focusing them against a common enemy: the South. He does want change, but he knows that defeating the Southern slavery system is much more pressing and important in the long run. Green is careful to â€Å"hope of the future† but still â€Å"improve the present,† and he hopes not only the African Americans but also the whites will do the same.

Mauritius, Social Housing: Social Movement and Low Income Housing in Mauritius Essay

Social Housing Social Movement and Low Income Housing in Mauritius Abstract: The Republic of Mauritius has been a model success story in both economic and social progress among both the African nations and the whole world. Despite many odds, the country has made tremendous economic progress and has succeeded at the same time to uplift significantly the living standards of the population in general. This paper gives an overview of the matter of the low-income housing in Mauritius. The first part of the paper gives the economical background and the evolution of the social movement in Mauritius. The second part introduces the current housing conditions and the situation of poverty and low-income groups in Mauritius. Finally the strategy of social housing is discussed. The Mauritius social housing strategy is discussed in terms of the changes in the institutional structure, and policies. Then the types of social housing and their financing are introduced. Keywords: Mauritius; Welfare State; Social Housing; Low Income Households AUTAR Bhotish Awtar | | Matric No: 2011280122 | Masters Candidate Tsinghua University | School of Architecture | Department of Urban Planning Please submit any feedback to bhotish@hotmail. om Submitted to: |dengweizyh@mail. tsinghua. edu. cn | Submission date: 17th June 2012 Introduction At independence, Mauritius did not appear predestined for the progress that followed. Challenges included: extreme cultural diversity as well as racial inequality; power concentrated in a small elite (of French & British colonial descendants); high unemployment; and high population growth. The country suffered from an economic crisis throughout the 1970s, was remote from world markets and was commodity dependent. It also exhibited low initial levels of human development. Nobel Laureate for Economics, James Meade even said in 1961, as quoted below: â€Å"It is going to be a great achievement if Mauritius can find productive employment for its population without a serious reduction in the existing standard of living†¦ The outlook for peaceful development is poor† Despite multiple factors stacked against it, Mauritius has achieved stellar progress in economic conditions, and has been unique in its ability to take advantage of privileged access to international markets to develop in a sustained and equitable manner. This has been enabled and complemented by effective poverty reduction and equitable improvements in human development. These achievements have been made by means of: a concerted strategy of nation building; strong and inclusive institutions; high levels of equitable public investment in human development; and a pragmatic development strategy (Vandemoortele, 2010). This success against all odds was coined as the ‘Mauritian Miracle’. In independence year of 1968, the country’s GDP per capita was US$ 2601, and in 2010, the figure rose to around US$ 14,0002 in 2010. Comparatively, in 2010 the average GNI per capita (PPP) for Sub-Saharan Africa stood at 2,1083. During the same period of 1968 to 2010, population rose from 787,000 to 1,281,0004. In 2011, an expectancy of life of 73 years5 at birth and the country had a Human Development Index (HDI) score of 7. 26, compared with an average of 4. 6 in the Sub-Saharan African region. The country was also ranked highest on the Earth Institute’s World Happiness Index among the Sub-Saharan African countries7, leaving behind Botswana and South Africa, other regional economic champions. Socialist movement in Mauritius Mauritius is a welfare state. It has a comprehensive social security system for the whole population and various other social protection schemes. Education is free from primary to university level, with 1 2 Source: IFAD, 2005 For 2010, GDP per capita (PPP) of US$ 14,194, according to IMF, 2011 World Economic Outlook, and GNI per capital (PPP) of 13,960 (units International Dollar) according to World Bank, 2011 3 (units International Dollar) according to World Bank, 2011 4 Figures for population for Republic of Mauritius is from various open source, such as Mauritius CSO, World Bank and other online open data sources. Source: UN Statistics, from WorldBank. org 6 Source: http://hdr. undp. org 7 Mauritius Ranking 64th out of 156 countries with 5. 5 points, on a 0-10 scale, 0 being extremely unhappy and 10 being extremely happy compulsory education up to age of 16. Health care including tertiary care, like heart surgery) is also free. Basic foodstuffs (rice and flour) as well as housing for lower middle-income group are heavily subsidized. Income support is provided to household with low income. The government provides nnual grants to a number of NGOs that cater for the specific needs of handicapped persons and vulnerable groups (Deerpalsingh, 2011). There are also price controls on some other commodities such as cement, petroleum products, bread, onions and edible oils. The state plays a key role in social welfare and security. In fact, expenditure on community and social services attracts the largest share of total government expenditure. The percentage out of total government expenditure spent on health, education, social security and welfare, and housing, over the period 1980 to 1988 averaged 43% and by 1999 was as high as 52%. Preferential access to markets in the European Union and the USA has facilitated this strong welfare state (Bundoo, 2006) The construction of a comprehensive welfare state in Mauritius did not emerge out of a smooth and steady process. Each of the three episodes of welfare reform – the formal introduction of noncontributory old-age pensions in 1950, family allowances in 1962 and social insurance in 1976-1978, were borne out of long-periods of deliberation and procrastination from the colonial officials (Phaahla, 2000). It took riots by unorganized sugar estate workers in the late 1930’s and strong trade unions today, to obtain and maintain a particularly socialist environment in the country, despite, a very open and capitalist market economy in Mauritius, it has been succeeded to preserve a considerable labor protection and benefit to the workers. In the more modern times, the social movement is directly related to the democratic governmental system. Around every five years general elections are held, and the public’s voting of a certain party is very sensitive to the economic and social conditions of the country. In many instances in the history, after independence, the government has been ‘overthrown’ out of office, as sanction voting by the population, due to bad economic and social performances. The most popular example, would perhaps in the 1982, elections when the government in office, with the ‘father of the nation’ as the head of the country, faced the worse possible defeat. This was because the unemployment and other economic and social indicators were all in the red. In terms of social services, Mauritius has been practicing a s ‘five pillar’ model as advocated by the World Bank in a report in 2005. But, it is worth noting that the five-pillar system in Mauritius was completed as far back as 1994. So, Mauritius had already been implementing the social model for 11 years (Deerpalsingh, 2011). Providing decent shelter for low-income groups has been another major social priority of the government. In the face of the rising price of rented accommodation, the government initiated projects for the construction of working-class flats in different parts of the country. The National Housing Development Corporation (NHDC) was set up in order to expedite large-scale construction of low-cost housing. House ownership grew from 66 per cent in 1983 to almost 93 per cent in 20018. Current Housing Conditions To understand the access to housing to the low income household, it is important to understand the general housing condition of the Mauritian. This helps in explaining the ownership policies and housing types that are provided to those who have financial difficulty in possessing a shelter comparable to his fellow countryman. With around $ 14,000 per capita GDP (PPP), Mauritius currently has a relatively high housing quality. In the 2011 Housing survey, it was noted that around 89% of the building stock in the country were residential building (with 85% wholly residential). Of which, 77% were separate housing units, 12% were semi detached or apartment types and 5% are mixed residential-commercial. In Mauritius, traditionally the houses are self-constructed by assigning small contractors to the job, who solely rely on their experience and owners design expectations. For medium and large projects, bigger contractors and construction specialists like architects and engineers are employed. The construction of houses were 92% of concrete walls and roof, 3% concrete walls and iron sheet roofs, and 5% were made out of wood and iron sheets. Although the human settlement patterns in Mauritius is quite dispersed, in terms of basic amenities, almost all (more than 99%) of the houses were connected to nation electricity grid and water systems. 96% of all the housing units had running water in the bathrooms and had modern flush toilets facilities. 8% had their waste collected regularly by municipality or other authorized companies. Almost all the housing units in Mauritius are privately owned, 99% in 2011, among which only 12% were reported to be mortgaged. An astonishing low percentage of 0. 3% of housing units was reported to be public housing in the same year. In terms of the tenure rate of the housing in 2011, 89% of the residents were owner of the hous e they were living in, compared to 8% who were renting or sub-renting. Another 3% were living for free in the housing provided by relatives or employers. It is interesting to note that the average monthly rent in 2000 was Rs 2,300 and increased to Rs 4,400 in 2011, however after adjustment for inflation, the housing rent actually remained the same as 2000. Poverty in Mauritius In 2010, the National Empowerment Fund that was created in 2005 to reduce poverty had enumerated around 70009 households in 225 regions of the country. These represented the families that were most in need of social help. But, the definition of poverty in Mauritius is quite versatile. 8 Bundoo 2006, p175 Exactly 6983 families that lived under national poverty line; According to NEF, Poches de pauvrete, downloaded from http://nef. mu 9 Using the poverty line $1. 25 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) per person per day, and data from the 2001/02 and 2006/07 Household Budget Surveys, the proportion of poor people in Mauritius is estimated by the Central Statistics Office to be below 1% in both 2001/02 and 2006/07. For developing countries like Mauritius, the $2 a day poverty line is more relevant. Even, using this line, the proportion of poor people is estimated to be less than 1. % in 2001/02 and 2006/07 household income surveys. So, the concept of ‘extreme poverty’ (as internationally defined) is not used in Mauritius. Instead, the concept of ‘relative poverty’ is used. Relative poverty is assessed using data collected at Household Budget Survey (HBS) and a relative poverty line defined on the basis of median household incomes. Household income c omprises income from employment, property, transfer, income from own produced goods and services and imputed rent for non-renting households. Data published by the CSO in the 2001/02 and 2006/07 Household Budget Surveys indicate that the percentage of households having income below the half median increased from 13. 1% in 2001/02 to 14. 3% in 2006/07. Average monthly household income for the poor is estimated at Rs 7,055 against Rs 22,242 for all households. The poverty line was fixed at Rs 3,821, which is the half median monthly income per adult equivalent. So, the official figure for poverty in Mauritius in 2007/07 was 26,400 households, or 7. 9% of the total 335,000 households in Mauritius. This concerned 8. 5% of the national population. From the 2007 Poverty Report, it can be also seen that 55% of the total government expenditure went to ‘Community and Social Services’. Monthly public transfers (social security benefits paid by government) derived by the poorest decile group of households was estimated at Rs 1,367 per household in 2006/07. Public transfers for poorest decile represented 22% of their total household disposable income against 2. 4% for the richest decile. Public transfers were found to be significant on bringing down poverty; it is estimated that if public transfers would have been discontinued, the overall household poverty rate would be 15. % instead of 7. 9%. Characteristics of Low Income Household Understanding the particularities of the poor or low-income households, are very important to know their economic strength and lifestyle. This would help to understand the type and cost of social housing that is offered to them. Again, in 2006/07, the average of ‘low income’ hou seholds in Mauritius was calculated to be around Rs 7,000 (compared to Rs 22,200 for all household), with an average expenditure on Rs 6,500 (compared to Rs 14,300 for all households). 1% of the income came from paid employment, 24% from government support, and the rest from self-employment and odd jobs. In terms of employment, where the national share of employment by sector in 2006/07 was as followed: Primary sector- 9%, Secondary sector- 32% and Tertiary sector- 59%; the structure was a little different for the poor families, as followed: Primary sector- 21%, Secondary sector- 37% and Tertiary sector- 42%. So, it can also be noted that the poorer people were more dominant in agricultural and manufacturing industries, and less present in the service industry. This explains partly, their low income. This phenomenon is also related to their level of education. The study has shown a very clear correlation with the distribution of income and the education level of members aged 20 and above. The higher the incomes, the proportion of the members having passed the primary and secondary education are larger. The share of expenditure on basic items such as food, clothing and housing over total expenditure was 65% for poor households, against 48% for all households. Figure 1 shows the detail expenditure of the poor against all households. It is interesting to note in the report that the average monthly loan repayment10 was Rs 1400 for poor housing, against Rs 4,353 for all indebted households. The highest loan repayment for poor households was on housing11. Figure 1: Expenditure habits of poor households, 2006/0712 As mentioned above, according to the 2010/11 Household survey, 8% who were renting or sub-renting. In 2006/07 the figure was 8. 4% for all households, but for the poor households, 16. 7% were renting their housing. The rest owned their houses or were provided free by relative or employer. The average poor household had a size of 4. 0 members, however the house had on average 3. 7 rooms, compared to average of 3. 7 members with 5. 2 rooms for all households. The amount poor households 10 11 Including, loans or purchase on credits, for housing, furniture, electric appliances, personal loans and other loans. 26% of the poor households had housing loans, which on average was Rs 2,491 12 Source: CSO 2007, Poverty Report 2006/07, p59 with two or less rooms accounted for 19%, against only 5% for all households13. There were more than one person per room in 63% of the households, against only 29% in all households14. This gives an idea of how poor households lived in a denser indoor environment than their other country man. Low Income Housing in Mauritius Strategies & Institutions Since the 1980’s Mauritius was still an economy based on mono crop agriculture. Sugar cane cultivation had been the economic backbone for centuries of colonization, and only in the 80’s the diversification help Mauritius get out of the trap. Saying so, after independence in 1968, all successive governments regularly reiterate their will to gradually dismantle the ‘sugar estates camps’, which were the housing provided by colonial estate owner to workers. It was important to do so, as they remain powerful physical and psychological symbols of the sugar plantations hierarchy of the 19th century. A study in 1990 revealed that there were still 125 such estates in the country, and on the basis of finding long term alternatives for such residences, the government put pressure on the sugar estates, to phase out these camps and develop housing programs for their workers. The options offered were either to resettle the workers on an alternative site, out of the master’s property, or to sell the land and house to the current resident on the estate (UN, 2000). As seen above, the poor are usually less educated and work in agriculture. And since the structuring of the sugar industry 15 in the last decade, more and more of these people are losing their job, and because of age and education level, they cannot find other jobs. So, an early retirement scheme, worked out by all concerned parties and government, and involves giving a lump sum and a plot of residential land to the worker. The land given to the worker, are usually sugar plantations16 that have been converted to residential with basic infrastructure of road, electricity and water supply. This helps in reusing the abandoned agricultural lands and reduced the pressure of cash reward to the estate companies. In 1983, the house ownership in Mauritius was 66%, and then it rose to 76% in 1990, rose again to 87% in 2000, to reach a high 89% in 201117. Although official figures indicate a very high rate of owner-occupiers compared with other countries, these figures hide other quite serious problems of housing which may culminate into a crisis in years to come if some issues are not addressed in time Social housing programs for low income groups which had begun in the 1960s, gave way to a new housing strategy based on cost recovery through the setting up of a public company, The National Housing Development Company Limited (NHDC) in 1991 (UN, 2000). 13 14 Author calculation from CSO 2007, Poverty report 07, table 4. Author calculation from CSO 2007, Poverty report 07, table 4. 7 15 which currently contribute less than 4% of the GDP and less than 8% of employment 16 Since restructuring, large areas of sugar plantation have been abandoned by the sugar estates 17 Various Source, Boodoo 2006 for 1983 & 1990; 2011 Housing Survey for 2000 and 2011 Until 1991 the Central Housing Authority (CHA) was responsible for the task of building and administering of the low income housings estates. Medium rise apartment type buildings were built and let to the low income groups. The system was not successful at different levels. Firstly, most of the units were rented to low income households, instead of been owned. So, rents were sometimes not been paid, and the residents paid little attention to the built environment. This lend to a rapid degradation of the buildings and amenities. Secondly, although targeted for low income earners, the middle income group could somehow buy the apartment units. Thirdly, due to the deplorable design and soft policy, the CHA estates turned into undesirable living places where social problems grew. In 1991, the responsibility of providing low income housing has been passed the newly established National Development Company (NHDC), and the CHA was renamed the Housing Management Unit (MHU), which just left to administer these estates and collect rents. Another important institution was restructured shift to be noted during the same period. Since its creation in 1963, the Mauritius Housing Corporation, was governmental body was responsible to create housing for the middle income class, while the CHA was doing the same for low income class, financed by loans through the Mauritius Agricultural Bank18. In 1989, the Mauritius Housing Corporation (MHC) was incorporated and renamed the Mauritius Housing Company Limited, which then was more like a bank, to cater better to the need of the housing demands. Then the new MHC, no longer deals with the construction and policy of the social housing, it provides soft loans to those below a certain income level, and started the Plan Epargne Logement, PEL (in English, Housing Savings Scheme), that offer exceptional loan rates to anyone, who would deposit money in MHC bank. Nowdays, the MHC has developed into a one-stop shop for all need of housing services. In additional to loans, it deals with the providing of architectural, structural, legal, technical, insurances and project management services, at nominal or free of charges. Prior to 2006, the social housing responsibility lied solely within the hands of the government. But, as the demand was growing and the government could only built around 900 units a years, with a waiting list of 25,000 housing units, the private sector was called to participate through various PPP (publicprivate partnership) projects. The aim was to raise the rate of construction to at least 1500 yearly19. Another interesting fact is that as from 2009, the government established a policy of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) that requires profitable private companies to invest at least 2%20 of their profit, into social help, like donation to NGO, or other social and environmental programs, including housing for the poor. The CSR is the concept whereby companies act to balance their own economic growth with the sustainable social and environmental development of their areas of operation. A company performing highly in CSR is one that goes beyond compliance with the legal framework to actively pursue positive impacts on local communities and its environmental footprint. 18 19 Source: Mauritius Housing Company Ltd, website: http://www. mhc. mu/mhc/; retrieved June 2012 Speech of Minister of Lands and Housing, March 2006 20 Source: NEF, http://www. nef. mu/csr/, retrieved June 2012 Low Income Housing Types and Finance Up to date, there are five main players in the housing sector. They are the Commercial Banks, the Insurance Companies, the Mauritius Housing Company Ltd (MHC), the National Housing Development Company LTD (NHDC) and the Housing Division of the Ministry of Land and Housing (Joseph, 2007). The role of the commercial and insurance companies is to offer housing finance facilities, in addition of their usual core activities. However, the other three players have a very important role in the provision of housing to the general public of Mauritius, but to especially the low and lower middle income group. Even if the government continued to build some apartment types housing, single housing or duplex types were more and more practiced. These types of housing created a better environment for social diversity and were more inclusive in term of equality. It should be noted that in Mauritius, these units are not built in large numbers, but in small numbers between 50 to 100 units spread all over the island. This is due to the availability of land for development and the concentration of poverty in the region. The spread of the social housing and its small numbers help social integration and the balance of the local diversity. Currently, these locations are mostly located in the rural area, as part of the National Plan to increase rural population and develop and reduce the burden on the already dense urban regions. Figure 221 shows an example of a type of social housing units that NHDC are building with the help of the Export-Import Bank of China. Site Bois Mangue St Pierre (Circonstance) Dagotiere Highlands Bambous Montagne Blanche Mon Choisy Cottage La Cure Notre Dame Pointe aux Sables (A & B) Pointe aux Sables (C) Units 108 72 52 84 148 100 98 52 120 60 128 70 21 Source: Ministry of Lands and Housing, retrieved June 2012 Rose Belle Camp Levieux Trou aux Biches Mahebourg Total 76 152 76 78 1474 Figure 2: Example of 1474 housing units scattered into 18 sites around the island. The ‘Firinga Type’ is the one most currently built for the lowest income groups. These are semi-detached units of 40m2 each. It provides for bathroom with toilet and a kitchen table with sink. There are better duplexes types that are constructed for lower middle class. Some houses are spread on two stories and have 2-3 bedrooms with balconies. As the types of housing vary from one income group to another, the financing to these group are not the same. As for the Firinga units the interest rate is fixed at 6. 5% per annum, for other types, the finances vary according to the cost of the housing and household income (that is total income of husband and wife). The current loan scheme from the MHC is as below: For household earning up to 7,500 per month: ? ? ? Long term credit repayment period up to 20 years, depending on the age of the applicants; Subsidized rates of interest of 6. % during the first five years, 8. 0% during the next five years, and 10. 0 % during the remaining years of the repayment period; and A non-refundable Government grant equivalent to 20 % of the gross credit amount subject to a maximum of Rs 30 000. For households earning more than Rs7 500 and up to Rs 10 000: ? ? Long term credit repayment period up to 20 years, depending on the age of the of the applicants; and Subsidized rates of interest of 10 % d uring the first five years, 12 % during the next five years, and 14 % during the remaining years of the repayment period. And finally for those earning more than Rs 10 000: ? ? Long term credit repayment period up to 25 years, depending on the age of the of the applicants; and Rates of interest of 13 % during the first five years, and 14 % during the remaining years of the repayment period. To protect those in the most needs, there are strict eligibility criteria to obtain a NHDC unit like they should not be owner of a housing unit or of a plot of residential land, have made regular contributions o a PEL savings account for a period of at least six months; and priority is given to applicant that reside in the region where the house has been constructed. It should be noted that, in order to relief the burden on the government to provide affordable housing, the MHC provide loans at favorable rates to low and lower middle income applicants who want to construct their own house or want to buy a plot of land. A subsidy for the concrete roof construction, which is considered one of the most expensive parts of the construction, and to prevent the houses have iron sheet roofing. Conclusion: We have seen in this paper that the social movement has been present since before the independence and the movement was stronger after the independence, by the pressure of strong trade unions, and the strong democratic system, where the public opinions and demands could not be undermined. In the welfare state of Mauritius, the government has done greatly in terms of policies and investment to provide decent housing not only for the poor, but also for the less poor. In 2011, the housing ownership approached the 90% and the private sector was also made part into the responsibility to provide housing for all Mauritian, in the way the Mauritians like it. The institutional and financial structure in Mauritius is quite mature after evolving for around 50 years now. It is important to note that Mauritius has a large lower middle and middle class population and that housing benefit are also given to them, in terms of favorable loans rates, and subsidies. References: Websites: Mauritius Housing Company Limited, MHC: www. hc. mu Ministry of Lands and Housing, Housing Division: www. gov. mu/portal/site/housing/ National Empowerment Fund, NEF: www. nef. mu National Housing Development Company Limited, NHDC: www. nhdc-online. com Literature: Bundoo S. K. (2006); Financial and Trade Reforms and Impact on Poverty and Income Inequality: The Case of Mauritius; from Pro-Poor Macroeconomics- Potentials and Limitations, Chapter 8; edited by Cornia G. A. CSO (2009) ; Poverty Report 2006/07 CSO (2011); 2011 Housing Census Main Results Deerpalsingh N. 2011); Access to Social Services for Non-Citizen and the Portability of Social Benefits in Mauritius; From Assess to the Social Services for Non-Citizen and the Portability of Social Benefits within the SADC; Chapter 3, edited by Mpedi L. G. & Smit N. Joseph Mathew (2007); Mauritius Housing Company Limited; AUHF AGM Conference, 17th -21st September 2007 in Ghana Ministry of Housing and Land (2006); Speech of Minister A. Dullul; Government Social Housing Projects on a Private Public Partnership Basis; on 1st March 2006 Phaahla L. E. (2000); Development with Social Justice- Social Democracy in Mauritius; Master’s Thesis presented at Stellenbosch University United Nations (2000); Common Country Assessment, Mauritius; Office of the UN Resident Coordinator, Mauritius, May 2000 United Nations Habitat (2004); Human Settlements Country Profile, Mauritius Vandemoortele M. and Bird K. (2010); Progress in economic conditions: Sustained success against the odds in Mauritius; for Overseas Development Institute

Social Influences on Behavior Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Social Influences on Behavior Paper - Essay Example According to Zajonc, people perform better on dominant tasks, i.e., simple, familiar or well learned tasks, when others are around than when others are not around (as cited in D. D. Henningsen, M. L. M. Henningsen & Braz, 2007). On the contrary, on non-dominant tasks, i.e., complex, unfamiliar or novel tasks, the presence of others causes social interference or inhibition, thus impairing the performance. An instance where social facilitation can be seen in effect is in the sports scenario. The differences in performance levels of teams on the home ground and away can be explained by the concept of social facilitation. David Dryden Henningsen, Mary Lynn Henningsen and Mary Braz, through their study on a college basketball team, have very effectively supported this view. For their experiment, data was gathered for "78 NCAA division I men's teams from the 2000-2001 college basketball season" (D. D. Henningsen, M. L. M. Henningsen & Braz, 2007). Statistics were collected for each game te ams played over the season where a home team could be clearly designated. Home and away totals were recorded for shots attempted and made with regard to free throws, field goals and three point shots. The results showed that teams performed better for shooting tasks at home than on the road. Significant home performance advantage was noted for the easier task of field goal shooting while this was not noted for the more difficult three point shooting. This is very much consistent with social facilitation. Interestingly, home performance advantage was not observed for the easiest task which was free throw shooting. The authors conclude that it is possible that free throw shooting is a dominant task and that "anytime a college basketball player shoots a free throw before a crowd, social facilitation occurs and that the benefits of being at home or being a better shooting team are bounded by a ceiling effect" (D. D. Henningsen, M. L. M. Henningsen & Braz, 2007). According to Silva and A ndrew (as cited in D. D. Henningsen, M. L. M. Henningsen & Braz, 2007), the home advantage is "created more by impaired performance by visiting teams than by improved performance by home teams." According to them, free throw shooting levels were overall the same for home and visiting teams while home performance advantage was not seen for field goal shooting. This, according to them, was because free throw shooting is a simpler task than field goal shooting, so social inhibition occurs for field goals and not for free throws when teams are on the road. While Robert Zajonc put forward the drive theory, where he used the term, "dominant response," Cortrell's theory of social facilitation, which uses the term "evaluation apprehension," states that "rather than the mere presence of others, it is the worry of being adjudged that affects performance" (as cited in "Social Faciliation," 2006). Another major theory of social facilitation as put forward by Saunders et al. (as cited in "Social Faciliation," 2006), uses the term "distraction conflict," according to which participants in high distraction condition performed better on simple tasks but worse on complex ones. From the above theories, it is clear that social facilitati

Compare Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Compare - Assignment Example The role of decision making for the recruiters is a complicated as there is a need to evaluate all factors of the candidate based on his qualifications, experience and capabilities to carry out his job responsibilities effectively. Moreover, there is a need that there is no bias attitude by the employer. In this report, two companies are considered namely Qatar Airways and British Airways and their decision-making policies are discussed and analyzed for recruiting members of cabin crew. Decision Making in Recruitment In order to select the right individual, the recruitment team needs to adopt effective methods using technology like recruitment software through which hiring is carried out. Such system weighs whether a candidate is suitable to carry his or her responsibilities effectively or not. The results, which are coming through this process, are more reliable and it is easier to make a decision about the candidate. Interview is the most important feature of the recruitment proces s, however, by using recruitment software it is easier to choose the right person as there is no biasness or personal preferences. Qatar Airways Qatar Airways is one of the premium and leading airlines in this world, which is covering destinations across Europe, Middle East and all regions of Asia Pacific and America. It has more than 27,000 staff members who are representing different functions of the Qatar Airways Group. British Airways British Airways is a UK based airline, which is covering about 160 national and international destinations in the world. Recruitment in Qatar and British Airways Both organizations carry out their recruitment process, which is based on assessment of academic qualifications for the required job and work experience specifics. In order to recruit members of cabin crew, the induction process carried out is based on demonstrating the skills required to carry out this particular job. Candidates go through a series of interviews, tests and group discussio n. Qatar Airways: Recruitment in Cabin Crew Qatar Airways has a recruitment team, which selects the right kind of employees through online applications as well as other means. They take into consideration various individual qualities required to do the job of cabin crew, and also good leadership skills which can allows individuals to provide solutions to complex situations through problem solving techniques. The candidates need to be presentable and dynamic with an optimistic approach towards life and their career. Moreover, the company has a clear set of values, which candidates need to fulfill. Video Interviewing As Qatar Airways is expanding its network at a tremendous rate so the need to hire suitable candidates is on the rise. Hiring is conducted in all major cities of the world. In order to make hiring simpler and easier video interviewing is performed. With this communication with the candidates can be carried out at a personal level and they can be judged of their technical knowledge through these interviews and keeping the cost of the recruitment process low (Hall, 2010). Qatar Airways uses recruitment software by the name of Sonru-QR to make it easier for people who are living in different parts of the world to apply online. Sonru Strength based video Interviewing Even though hiring candidates through telephonic interviews is a good way to evaluate them, but there are some issues, which the recruiters may

Skip navigation links BFS 3440-07B BUILDING CONSTRUCTION FOR FIRE Essay - 5

Skip navigation links BFS 3440-07B BUILDING CONSTRUCTION FOR FIRE PROTECTION (BFS3440-07B) - Essay Example The frame is a structure that holds the sprinkler components together .The frame styles may be of low profile, flush standard as well as the concealed amounts. The frames types depends on the areas that should be covered, type of hazard to be protected and the visual effects that may be required. Thermal linkage controls the release of water from the sprinkler systems. The linkages hold the cap in the right place and prevent water from flowing out of the pipes. (Wallace, and Webber, 2004, p. 285). The function of the cap is to provide the water tight seals over the sprinkler orifices that are held in place by the thermal links. In case the thermal fails to function, the cap is released and water finally flows from the orifice. Orifice refers to the opening in the water pipes at the base of the sprinkler valve. The opening in the water pipe is at a place where the water comes from which is about half an inch in diameter .It varies from the larger hazardous areas to smaller ones in the sprinklers systems. The detector is used in splattering the water streams from orifice to the pattern that is efficient for suppression of fires (Wallace, and Webber, 2004, p. 285). It is therefore important for all organizations to install the sprinklers systems within their organizations so as to protect themselves as well as their organizations from fires. Sprinklers are of different types, and therefore should be used as per their

Molecular Biology of the Cell Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Molecular Biology of the Cell - Assignment Example Be it the way the petals of a sunflower are arranged, or the way feathers are organized on a bird’s wings, patterns will be observed. Even at the microscopic level, biological order exists. Organs, for instance, are composed of a single type of tissues. Tissues, on the other hand, are composed of a single type of cells. An organism is not simply a random collection of individual cells (Gerhardt et al., 1994). Rather, it is a product of an ordered grouping of cells. Next, living things demonstrate the ability to reproduce. According to the Cell Theory, only life begets life (Alberts et al., 1994). Only dogs bear pups; only trees give off seedlings, and only bears deliver bear cubs. The third property is growth and development. Over time, multicellular organisms increase in size, as a result of the increase in the number of cells in its body. Among unicellular organisms, growth can be observed as an increase in the size of its population (Beveridge et al., 2007). Development can not be any simpler than the ones at the cellular level when DNA replicates and microtubules elongate during the course of mitosis. Fourth, living things respond to stimuli. A Mimosa pudica, for example, will close its leaves if you touch them. A sea squirt will release water from its siphons when disturbed. Organisms, whether sedentary or mobile, respond to their environment. Finally, all organisms utilize energy. A butterfly, for instance, obtains food in the form of nectar and transforms it into energy to power its activities. It might not be possible to capture or observe all of these properties within three days (e.g. giving birth) especially if the organism is sedentary. In such cases, taking a piece from the target sample for further examination might be helpful. If these organisms share a resemblance to living creatures on earth, their building blocks are similar to the morphology and properties of cells.

Comparing the Vietnam War and the Watergate Scandal to the Film Essay

Comparing the Vietnam War and the Watergate Scandal to the Film Forrest Gump - Essay Example Usually, the involvement is categorized into three phases. First and foremost, there was the covert operations phase that covered the first decade of the entire operation. The second phase is commonly described as the advising phase that covered the subsequent eleven years thereafter. The third phase covered the last years of the war, and this was the time when a direct involvement of the American forces in Vietnam was witnessed. The country escalated the war in this region. However, after the â€Å"1968 Tet Offensive,† the country began the process of disengagement and, five years later the country completely withdrew its troops from the region i.e. after the Paris Peaces Accord. This marked the end of the country’s three-year decade involvement in the war. The Watergate scandal on the other hand took place during Nixon’s presidency. In mid 1972, a group of men armed with certain highly developed eavesdropping devices broke into the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters situated in the Watergate Hotel Complex in the nation’s capital. The following two years were trying moments for the president and his close allies, as the country would be shocked to realize that the Watergate incident that was initially thought to be a â€Å"third rate burglary,† actually had the approval of the state. This was the first time in the history of America that a sitting president was forced to resign due to public pressure. The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast these two historical events to the movie, ‘Forrest Gump’. Discussion The movie Forrest Gump narrates the story of an implausibly kind and affectionate individual who is also the kind that some people may refer to as â€Å"mildly retard ed.† The fact that this individual may not be very smart is quite true. However, the fact that he is fortunate is not in doubt. Some would say this is so because he is blessed with a mother and friend who loved him greatly. Forrest is a native of rural Alabama and is raised by his mother who rents out rooms in the family house to tourists visiting the area in exchange of cash (Ciao 17). Even though this character is viewed to be less refined and was raised not any close to the major cities, he manages to become part of some of the most significant events that took place in the American History i.e. from the late 1950s to the early 1980s (Dlugos 88). Among these events are the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Anti-Vietnam protest movements. He even gets the privilege of personally meeting three American presidents during this time. Other prominent personalities that Forrest is privileged to get acquainted with include Elvis Presley and John Lennon. This film focuses on a period of American history from the perspective of a calm soul who is devoid of skepticism. Generally, the film exposes to its viewers some of the relationships that the character develops through his life. For instance, there is his mother who is committed to ensuring her son’s well-being, his two best friends from the days in the military, Bubba and Dan, and most importantly Jenny who is his true childhood sweetheart. Even though Jenny experiences the changes in the country’s culture from a very different perspective to that of Forrest, she still manages to remain loyal and true to her childhood ally, whose genuineness, compassion, and steadfastness she would find in no other (Dlugos 88). Agreeably or disagreeably to different people, at the end of the day, the disgrace of the Watergate scandal is what the Richard Nixon presidency will largely be remembered for. Over three decades down the line, its effect and how it influenced the

Victim impact statement Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Victim impact statement - Term Paper Example It can be oral, presented by the victim, or a secondary party to the crime, during the hearing process, or can be written. If presented in a written form, the victim impact statement is handed in to the Attorney’s office. The office then submits the statement to the Probation Office and it is considered as part of retrieved evidence that the office offers to a presiding judge during a hearing. The definition of a victim impact statement also includes informal letters to a judge and this is an exception from the formal approach. It applies when the victim is not in a position to complete the formal process of presenting a written victim impact statement. The victim’s personal discomfort may lead to the need for a personal letter instead of the formal statement (Justice n.p.). Literature research The definition of victim impact statement identifies the objective communicating effects of a criminal act on the victim and other people who could have been round the crime scen e. Diversified purposes that the statement serves are identifiable from the purpose. One of the statement’s purposes is to offer the victim a chance to explain effects of the crime on their lives. Physical, emotional, and financial effects are the major types and explain the extent to which the victim’s rights were infringed by the crime and the need for justice. Crimes on a victim identify vulnerability that may persist after the crimes. The accused may also want to tamper with evidence in order to avoid punishment and this increases vulnerability to intimidation from the accused or associates. Victim impact statement helps in resolving the vulnerability by allowing the victim to point vulnerability concerns that the court can address towards justice. The concerns may relate to granting the accused bail or protecting the victim from possible harassment. Another role that the victim impact statement serves is offering an avenue through which the victim can obtain infor mation about his or her case. The victim needs to state in the statement such required information as the progress that the case has made. Victim impact statement also offers victims opportunities for informing relevant authorities of needs for claims or help. The suffered losses may warrant compensation or help towards recuperation and victims can state any related needs in the statement. Victim impact statement also avails statistics for understanding trends in crimes and effects of the crimes on victims. Such information can then influence decisions and policies for crime prevention and management of effects of crimes on victims (The Crown Prosecution Service 1). Implementation of the roles of victim impact statement follows stipulated principles for consistency with rule of law and natural justice. One of the principles governing the statement is admissibility of the effects. Losses that the victim suffers and the extent must be in such forms that the judicial system acknowledge s and can incorporate in making judgment. Admissibility is subject to existing laws. Another principle that governs application of the statement is incorporation of the effects in the basis for making decisions on a case. Judgment must however rely on other factors such as nature of the crime and the accused. Victims’ personal perspectives or those of the victims’ close associates do not however influence judicial decisions on cases (The Crown Prose

Taking the Steps towards Economic Stability Essay

Taking the Steps towards Economic Stability - Essay Example   Every country of whatever government structure has balance deficit that needs to take care of by current government officials as well as incoming officials. However, this subject is not only a concern by those of the government but also those of the citizens of a certain country or place. However, looking at this concern, one must have intelligence and knowledge as there are many terms and conditions apply. Is reducing balance on the payment deficit important? If you are winding around trying to find the perfect answer to this question the main answer is yes. It is at all. Deficits on payment will simply find your status in the global market. Good reputation in the global market is necessary to set up rapport and increase market demand and supply. Study shows that those markets with good reputation have big chances of development. There are lots of consequences brought about reducing balance of payment deficit.   It is important to increase the economic status of a certain coun try to cope with the balance in deficit. A perfect way to increase economic state is by enhancing the foreign exchange capacity of a given country. It is important to have a sense of balance. The two main things that need to balance is the export and import capacity of a country. These two is  in a unified balance. The demand for import is always reciprocal to the export demand. Any disequilibrium among the two will result into chaos.   There are lots of consequences and factors that could greatly affect the payment balance. While most of these factors are greatly controlled there are also factors that have no control over. First and most important factor is the economic situation especially the economic growth of a certain economy. If the economic state is running smoothly surely demand on the common commodities will raise as most  person  have the buying capacity for such commodities. Once the supply for basic commodities as well as complex needs is not enough for the cons umers the perfect remedy is to import goods from other countries. The importing capacity of a certain country is a good sign.   Another important factor is the exchange rate of the monetary fund in the international market. It is important for a certain place to have a great exchange capacity. Once a country has increase exchange rate importing power is highly good. This is a good  sign  of growing economic state. Another most important result  that needs  to mind  about is the  borrowing  of funds. Most of the third world country borrows funds in the international bank to pay their balance on the payment deficit as well as to have budget on other projects of the country. Lending a fund is good but it needs a lot of intelligence in spending capacity to properly budget each funds. Properly spending the funds is necessary to have the power to pay any balance deficit. In reality, balance of payment is not good at all. Hence, borrowing is not good either. It may just inc rease the burden of accumulating these payment deficits. One helpful thing that a country might consider  is to increase its exporting capacity. In this effort, income generating ability of a country will boom and so with the economy. Exporting is also a beneficial way to  provide  adequate livelihood for  people.   If the Income Account shows a negative result, then the

The future of intrusion prevention Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The future of intrusion prevention - Essay Example The reasons for conducting a risk assessment are (Neumann, 1995; Smith, 1993; Reid and Floyd, 2001; Katzke, 1988; Hancock, 1998; Brewer, 2000): new threats, new technology, new laws and new available safeguards. The issue taken for the risk analysis and threat assessment was the students' violent behaviour at school. The aim of the assessment was to identify the next rebel by developing the profile of a typical rebel. To achieve this, a four spiked model of assessment was designed. This model provides a framework for evaluating a student in order to determine if he or she has the motivation, means, and intent to carry out a proclaimed threat. The assessment is based on the sum of the circumstances known about the student in four major areas. Spike 1 (Personality of the student): Evidence to a student's personality can come from observing behavior when the student expresses characteristics like, managing with conflicts, disappointments, failures, insults, or other stresses encountered in everyday life, anger, frustration, disappointment, humiliation, sadness, or similar feelings. Spike 1 (Personality of student): There may be involuntary signs shown by the student about his inclination to violence in his behavior, thoughts or attitudes. The student might often show out frustration and tries to alienate. There is a collection of acts of "injustice" done against him registered in his mind. The student often shows signs of depression such as lethargy, physical fatigue or lack of interest towards any activity performed. He exhibits selfishness and has self-centred thoughts with great inclination towards entertainment filled with violence. He behaves inhumane and has low tolerance levels. Spike 2 (Family Background): The student might have a damaged relationship with parents. He might have easy access to weapons at home, unlimited non-monitored access to the media and internet. Spike 3 (Academic History): The student might have a low tolerance for punishments and bullying at school. He might be with a school having fixed culture with unsupervised computer access. There might little trust with the teachers. Spike 4 (Social History): The student might have companions who have great inclination to violent activities. He might have unlimited access to internet, computer and media. The knowledge of a student and his attitude towards the use of drugs and alcohol too play a vital role. The Intervention Process An effective intervention process by the school would be to manage the threat effectively by taking the following measures: 1. Inform the students and parents of the school policies 2. Appoint a Co-Ordinator for threat assessment 3. Enforcement of law in three levels - low, medium and high - while the intervention at low level would involve interview with the student and parents; the intervention

Busi 650-ILP Final Essay Example for Free

Busi 650-ILP Final Essay Table of Contents I. Abstract II. Organizational Setting III. Key Concepts a. Quality b. Total Quality Management c. Innovation d. Strategy Map e. Balanced Scorecard f. Six Sigma g. Bench Marking h. Inventory Management IV. Conclusion V. References Abstract The main purpose of the Integrative Learning Project (ILP) is to introduce an authentic or fabricated company/industry to research. The company’s organizational setting includes the mission statement of the company, who the internal/external customers are, what aspects can be contributed to achieve the organizations mission, and what role Christianity has with the organization. The research includes using eight different concepts learned throughout the course, explaining in detail how these concepts relate to the organization and the benefits the concepts offer to the organization, and what needs to be done to implement these concepts into the organization  successfully. This ILP will prove that a successful business can be run effectively and efficiently when implementing the key concepts. Organizational Setting Dover Saddlery, Inc. is a leading specialty retailer in the English-style horseback riding industry in the United States. The company offers a large selection of quality and premium equestrian products to care for, ride, train, and compete a horse. Founded in 1975 by Jim and David Powers, the company has grown to be the largest multi-channel marketer of premier equestrian products by selling through direct and retail sales. The company serves the English rider through Dover Saddlery and the western rider through Smith Brothers. The company sells their products using catalogs, the internet, and retail stores. The product line includes a variety of items such as tack, horse clothing, horse health, footwear, and specialized apparel. Dover Saddlery, Inc. is headquartered in Littleton, MA, including a warehouse and call center facility. The company has 18 retail locations in Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolin a, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, and Virginia. The company’s third quarter 2013 total revenues were $63.6 million, a 6.4% increase from the $59.7 million achieved in the corresponding period. Dover Saddlery, Inc. stock trades on the NASDAQ Stock Market under the symbol DOVR. The company’s mission is to grow the business by providing a broad variety of quality and most advanced equestrian apparel, equipment, stable, and horse care products to all equestrians, while operating efficiently and being profitable. The company carries 5,800 items comprising of approximately 28,000 different SKU’s. The company carries entry-level price points to the premium high-end price points to meet the wide range of customer needs and expectations. The company carries a distinctive and broad selection of need-based and high quality products at competitive prices with prompt order fulfillment ability. The company differentiates itself from competitors by their large inventory consisting of non-branded products, private label products, and premium brands. The current equestrian products market is  estimated by the American Horse Council at $7.6 billion with an estimated 9.2 millions horses in the United States. American Sports Data estimates that over 16.8 mill ion people ride horses. The equestrian industry has many indicators that the equestrian products industry will continue to grow. The company is known for their excellence in customer service and large comprehensive selection. The company promotes a culture of courteous, knowledgeable, and prompt customer service representatives. 90% of the sales and customer service representatives are horse enthusiast. The company offers customers a 100% satisfaction guarantee. The company has one of the largest detailed customer databases. The database consists of customers that have purchased items with the last 12 months and their demographic information. The use of the catalog, internet, and retail stores has enabled the company to capture customer information, cross-market products, and provide a convenient shopping experience for customers. The company’s customers are primarily females with a passion for the riding sport. The customers are affluent and luxury oriented who tend to choose to buy from the company for the high quality and premier products. The customer base shows high repurchase rates and has been ve ry loyal customers. The role Christianity has in this organization is customer service is essential and Matthew 10:31 states, â€Å"Fear not, therefore; you are more value than many sparrows† (ESV). In the service industry, customer satisfaction is key and the company has to recruit the right people and reward them for there expertise. Colossians 3:23-24 states, â€Å"23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving† (New International Version). Another verse that can be applied in this organization is 1 Peter 4:10, â€Å"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace†. The company uses the gifts God gives us and pass them on to consumers to benefit from. The role of Christianity plays a great role in this company. Key Concepts The first key concept that is applicable to Dover Saddlery is Quality. Quality has a huge impact on the quality of products and the success of the organization. According to Dinh, Igel, Laosirihongthong (2010), â€Å"quality, considered a key strategic factor in achieving business success, is more than ever required for competing successfully in today’s global marketplace and it has become the key slogan as organizations strive for a competitive advantage in markets characterized by liberalization, globalization, and knowledgeable customers† (p. 931). The design and performance of the product are two very important concepts of quality. Quality should start with the customer, the experience the customer has with the product or service will impact the customer’s satisfaction with the total experience. The management and control of the quality of the products and services is very important to the success of the organization. It is very important for organizations t o implement a quality assurance program (QAP) to ensure the quality of the products and services. According to Rouse (2007): In developing products and services, quality assurance is any systematic process of checking to see whether a product or service being developed is meeting specified requirements. Many companies have a separate department devoted to quality assurance. A quality assurance system is said to increase customer confidence and a companys credibility, to improve work processes and efficiency, and to enable a company to better compete with others. Quality assurance was initially introduced in World War II when munitions were inspected and tested for defects after they were made. Todays quality assurance systems emphasize catching defects before they get into the final product (Quality Assurance). There are many advantages for the company to have a QAP in place, include a competitive advantage, increase in sales and market share, increased customer satisfaction, better management control, clearly defined organizational tasks, structure, and responsibilities, more effective recalls, and price premium (Aramyan, Meuwissen, Oude Lansink, van der Vorst, van Kooten, van der Lans, 2009, p. 624). According to Yang (2006) â€Å"several studies on quality management have demonstrated that delivering superior service quality enhances productivity, reduces costs, increases customer loyalty, improves market share, and brings other general benefits to a service organization (p.1129). The QAP helps fulfill the needs  and expectations of the customers and improves the quality of the products and services. The second key concept that is applicable to the company is total quality management (TQM). According to Richards (2012), TQM can be defined as an integrative approach to management that supports the attainment of customer satisfaction through a wide variety of tools and techniques that the end result is higher quality of goods and services (p. 37). TQM is an organizational-wide concept of continuous improvement to ensure the products and services exceed their customers’ expectations. According to Richards (2012), â€Å"this kind of quality management requires the company to always check to make sure that product or service is at the standard that both the company and customer wants is maintained† (p. 37). Exceeding the internal and external customers satisfaction is a key focus of TQM. According to Talib, et al. (2011), TQM â€Å"has received a great attention due to its effectiveness in achieving sustainable competitive advantage and enhanced business performanceâ₠¬  (p. 1331). TQM is â€Å"a total look at the quality of the organization† (Richards, 2012, p. 41). â€Å"All service industries should seek to adopt and implement TQM so that proactive identification and response to needed changes can lead to continuous improvement† (Talib, et al. 2011). â€Å"Quality-conscious companies normally have a strong quality culture, which is helpful for achieving customer satisfaction† (Delgado-Hernandez Aspinwall, 2008, p.1016). The practice of TQM can grow a company to have a sustainable advantage in local and international markets (Richards, 2012, p. 36). The third key concept that is applicable to the company is innovation. â€Å"In the modern business world, innovation is just as important as quality, so they must go hand and hand and one complements each other† (Perodomo-Ortiz, et al. 2009, p.5088). Innovation is one if the driving forces of a successful business and allows an organization to introduce new and improve products in the market place. According to Bigliardi (2013), innovation is a complex phenomenon that involves the production, diffusion and translation of knowledge in new or modified products or services, or the development of new production processing techniques. Innovation is very important to the  success of an organization, it creates jobs and promotes the growth of organizations. The fourth key concept that is applicable to the company is the strategy map. As a strategic part of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC), a strategy map provides an organization â€Å"with a tool that helps them better monitor important details about their strategic business processes, thereby enhancing their employees’ understanding of the strategy interactions, which in turn facilitates implementing the business strategy† (Meredith and Shafer, 2013, pg. 99). According to Kaplan and Norton (2004), â€Å"the strategy map provides the visual framework for integrating the organization’s objectives in the four perspectives of a Balanced Scorecard† (pg.45). According to Markiewicz (2013), a strategy map is a tool integrating the developed strategy with operating activities of various organizational units operating in an organization. A specific feature of strategy map is that it describes in a clear manner the process of creating values in organization by indicating a number of cause and effect relationships between four perspectives (learning and growth, intemal-business-processes, customer, financial) and goals adopted within these perspectives. (pg. 161-162) The four perspectives a strategy map addresses include the financial perspective, the customer perspective, the internal business process perspective, and the learning and growing perspective. According to Markiewicz (2013), a strategy map â€Å"enables illustration of cause-and-effect relationship between the processes in all four perspectives and performance indicators at the organizational level. Strategy map and performance indicators at the organizational level constitute the basis for different departments when preparing their individual effectiveness indicators† (pg. 160). The top of a strategy map is the goal that has been specified by management, the next step is how the goal be accomplished, and the remainder of the map shows the cause-and-effect relationships that manag ement has developed on how the goal can be accomplished. The strategy map is used very frequently by all organizations as a simple strategy development tool by management to report the progress of the strategy implemented in their organization to achieve its vision or mission.  The strategy map is a powerful technique that can be applied to any type of business from a public sector organization to a non-profit organization. It is very important to organizations because it encourages its managers to think logically about the elements of their strategy and how the strategic elements interact. This effective tool ensures the managers understand the role of the strategy and how the effective strategy embraces all of the organization’s activities. According to Umayal Karpagam and Suganthi (2012), the strategy map describes â€Å"how the four perspectives: financial, customer, internal process, learning and growth are linked and how they create a balance between the more tangible outcomes through intangible resources† (pg. 7). The fifth key concept that is applicable to the company is the balanced scorecard. Kaskey (2013) says the balanced scorecard â€Å"provides an organization with ways to develop and evaluate strategic objectives and goals† (pg. 22). The balanced scorecard uses financial and nonfinancial strategic information and is â€Å"an accounting report that includes the firm’s critical success factors in four areas: financial performance, customer satisfaction, internal processes, and learning and growth† (Blocher, Stout, Juras, Cokins, 2013, pg. 11). The benefits of the scorecard include ability to implement strategy, ability to track the process of the organization in their achievement of the strategic goals, the organization’s ability to determine manager’s compensation, achieving organizational change, and the ability to achieve the critical success factors. According to Werner and Fuyuan (2012), â€Å"when the score card is adopted, employees become awar e that their performance will be judged based on these measures and targets. Accordingly, employees will act to achieve the established performance targets† (pg. 92). The balanced scorecard is a critical tool for organizations in todays challenging and competitive business environment. It is very important for organizations to achieve its critical success factors to help the overall performance of the organization and to stay competitive. The sixth key concept that is applicable to the company is Six Sigma. This concept is a strategy to increase employee engagement that will then increase customer satisfaction. According to Meredith and Shafer (2013), six  sigma is a comprehensive and flexible system for achieving, sustaining and maximizing business success. Six Sigma is uniquely driven by close understanding of customer needs, disciplined use of facts, data, and statistical analysis, and diligent attention to managing, improving, and reinventing business processes. (Page 129) This method is an inspiring factor for employees and employees have to be completely engaged in the program for it to be successful and impact employee satisfaction. Six Sigma has been embraced by many organizations, that drive’s improvements in processes, products, and services. When implementing the Six Sigma approach, first provide necessary leadership and resources, implement a reward system, provide ingoing training, select early p rojects, break up difficult projects, and avoid employee layoffs. â€Å"Six sigma’s popularity and success is catching fire throughout the service industry across the globe as no other process improvement (PI) movement before (Sunder, 2013, pg. 34). The seventh key concept that is applicable to the company is benchmarking. According to Cruceru (2013), benchmarking is â€Å"viewed as a continuous process of evaluation of products, services, processes and performance of competitors in order to obtain competitive advantage, benchmarking involves knowledge of all elements occurring when implementing in practice† (pg. 6). Benchmarking is a strategy where the desire to be competitive is a challenge for managers to become knowledgeable and analyze their competitors in the industry and implement competitive strategies to be successful. According to Meredith and Shafer (2013), benchmarking is used for a variety of purposes, including the following: Comparing an organization’s processes with the best organization’s processes. Comparing an organization’s product and services with those of other organizations. Identifying the best practices to emulate. Projecting trends in order to be able to respond proactively to future challenges and opportunities. (pg.133) Benchmarking involves three steps: the first step is concerned with preparing the study, the second step is collecting the data, and the third and final step is what was learned to improve the organization. This process has become one of the most valuable processes to identify performance improvement areas. Benchmarking allows an organization to analyze and improve performance, profitability, business  processes, and market share. There are many types of benchmarking including: process benchmarking-compares business processes and operations, product benchmarking-compares products and services, strategic benchmarking-compares organizational structures, internal benchmarking-internal comparison, competitive benchmarking-comparison of direct competitors, functional benchmarking- comparison of organizations in the same field, and generic benchmarking- comparison of the best com petitor in other fields. According to Cruceru (2013), â€Å"those competitors who will know to focus on benchmarking implementation in management and marketing activities of the organization will achieve increased performance and competitiveness in terms comparable to the best competitors of the time† (pg. 9). Appendix A In order to implement benchmarking in Dover Saddlery the following steps are needed: 1. Understand the company’s current process performance gaps. 2. Obtain support and approval from the executive leadership team 3. Document benchmarking objectives and scope; document the original process. 4. Agree on the primary metrics and put them in writing. 5. Agree on what to benchmark. 6. Develop a data collection plan. 7. Identify research sources and initiate data gathering. 8. Determine how to contact and screen companies. 9. Design a detailed survey to gather information. 10. Decide if gathered information meets original objectives. 11. Conduct a site visit. 12. Apply the learning to performance gaps. 13. Communicate to the executive leadership to ensure continued support. 14. Develop a recommended implementation plan with process owner. 15. Know when to update and recalibrate. The eighth key concept that is applicable to the company is inventory management. Inventory management is extremely important for the success of a organization and having the correct number of items in inventory that is necessary for operation is vital for inventory management. According to Chen (2011), â€Å"the inventory in an organization may contain a large amount of items. A logical inventory classification is necessary for managers to have efficient plan and control of the items† (pg. 1702). Inventory management can be a challenge for any business, but can be even more important for businesses with changing product life cycles or product needs. The development of information systems, has eased some challenges faced with inventory management. The introduction of advanced information system, which aim at better performance than manual product identification and inventory data-keeping procedures, hold much promise for the reduction of inventory inaccuracies. Inventories include work-in-process, raw materials, finished goods, component parts, and so on. By eliminating storage space to business is not only saving on space but also removing defective parts from being hidden until no one knows who had made them (Meredith Shafer, 2013, p. 176). Appendix B Inventory An additional way that we differentiate ourselves from our competition is through our breadth and depth of inventory. We believe our inventory is deeper than our competitors with $10.1 million in on-hand inventory as of December 31, 2005 and more than 5,800 items comprising approximately 28,000 different SKUs. With our extensive inventory position and rapid fulfillment capability, we have historically been able to fill approximately 95% of the items ordered within an average of 1.5 business days. Based on our inventory management systems, continuous monitoring of the products we carry and the fact that we carry very few fashion products, we have historically had very little obsolete inventory. Despite the high level of inventory we have historically maintained, we have turned inventory approximately four times per year and we historically have had no material inventory write-downs. All of the products that are presented in our catalogs are available online and customers can use our websites to enter orders, shop online and check order status and inventory availability. On average, our retail stores stock inventory items represent over 70% of the merchandise  sales we make available through our direct sales channel. All items are available to customers entering our stores by either direct shipment to a customer’s home or for in-store pickup. Conclusion Dover Saddlery is a company that prides on their success and always providing 100% customer service to their customers. Utilizing these eight key concepts, along with successful implementation into the company’s initiatives, they will produce overall success and a winning organization. References Aramyan, L. H., Meuwissen, M. M., Oude Lansink, A. M., van der Vorst, J. J., van Kooten, O., van der Lans, I. A. (2009). The perceived impacts of quality assurance systems on tomato supply chain performance. Total Quality Management Business Excellence, 20(6), 633-653. Bigliardi, B. (2013). The effect of innovation on financial performance: A research study involving SMEs. Innovation: Management Policy Practice, 15(2): 245-256. Blocher, E. J., Stout, D. E., Juras, P. E., and Cokins, G. (2013) Cost Management: A Strategic Emphasis (6th Ed). McGraw Hill: New York, NY. Chen, J. (2012). Multiple criteria ABC inventory classification using two virtual items. International Journal Of Production Research, 50(6), 1702-1713. Cruceru, A. (2013). Benchmarking a method of improving organizational competitiveness. Romanian Journal Of Marketing, (1), 6-9. Delgado-Hernandez, D., Aspinwall, E. (2008). A framework for building quality into construction projects Part I. Total Quality Management Business Excellence, 19(10), 1013-1028. Dinh Thai, H., Igel, B., Laosirihongthong, T. (2010). Total quality management (TQM) strategy and organizational characteristics: Evidence from a recent WTO member. Total Quality Management Business Excellence, 21(9), 931-951. Inventory. (2011). Appendix B of Dover Saddlery, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.hotstocked.com/companies/d/dover-saddlery-inc-DOVR-description-52723.html Kaplan, R. S., Norton, D. P. (2004). How Strategy Maps Frame an Organizations Objectives. Financial Executive, 20(2), 40-45. Kaskey, V. L. (2013). The Balanced Scorecard: A Comparative Study of Accounting Education and Experience on Common Measure Bias. Advances In Management, 6(7), 22-25. Markiewicz, P. (2013). Methodical Aspects of Applying Strategy Map in an Organization. Business, Management Education / Verslas, Vadyba Ir Studijos, 11(1), 153-167. Meredith, J. R., Shafer , S. M. (2013). Operations management for MBAs (5th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley Sons. Perdomo-Ortiz, J., Gonzalez-Benito, J., Galende, J. (2009). The intervening effect of business innovation capability on the relationship between Total Quality Management and technological innovation. International Journal Of Production Research, 47(18), 5087-5107. Richards, J. (2012). Total Quality Management. Business Management Strategy, 3(2), 36-42. Rouse, M. (2007, Feb). Quality Assurance (QA). Retrieved from http://searchsoftwarequality.techtarget.com/definition/quality-assurance. Sunder, V. (2013). Six Sigma— A Strategy for Increasing Employee Engagement. Journal for Quality Participation, 36(2), 34-38. Talib, F., Rahman, Z., Qureshi, M. N. (2011). Prioritising the practices of total quality management: An analytic hierarchy process analysis for the service industries. Total Quality Management Business Excellence, 22(12), 1331-1351. Umayal Karpagam, P. L., Suganthi, L. L. (2012). A Strategy Map of Balanced Scorecard in Academic Institutions for Performance Improvement. IUP Journal Of Business Strategy, 9(3), 7-16. Werner, M. L., Fuyuan, X. (2012). Executing Strategy with the Balanced Scorecard. International Journal Of Financial Research, 3(1), 88-94. Yang, C. (2006). Establishment of a Quality-Management System for Service Industries. Total Quality Management Business Excellence, 17(9), 1129-1154.

The Defeat That Won A Life Essay Example for Free

The Defeat That Won A Life Essay Throughout History man has suffered from many setbacks and even though these have slowed his progression it has never defeated him. In the fiction novel The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway the main character Santiago undergoes many challenges while fighting the big fish. Even though in the end Santiago lost the fish, he was never defeated. Throughout the novel The Old Man and the Sea Hemingway uses symbolism through Santiago, the marlin, and his nemesis, the sharks to contribute to his theme that â€Å"A man can be destroyed but not defeated. † Throughout the novel Santiago represents determination, bravery, patience, and the ideal everyman through his actions when dealing with obstacles. During Santiago’s fishing expedition the marlin represents the ultimate goal we must obtain. Lastly, the sharks represent our enemies in life and that no matter, what we cannot let them break our spirits. Santiago’s struggle with life shows his true character and that he is the ideal everyman. His struggle defines determination, patience, and bravery. Santiago first shows his inner character when he maintains his daily fishing even after eighty-four days of coming back empty handed. On the eighty-fourth day the old man comes in empty handed again, but something about him seems strange. When Santiago’s friend, Manolin, looks at him â€Å"everything about him was old except his eyes and they were they same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated†(10). Even though Santiago’s body might be starting to fail him his spirit has not. Santiago also represents the highly valued ability to have patience. After the big fish has been hooked and starts swimming at its steady rate out to sea Santiago realizes that this fish will not give up soon. As the sun starts to go down Santiago says softly, aloud â€Å"Fish, Ill stay with you until I am dead†(52). Santiago demonstrates patience here and that time cannot defeat him. Lastly, Santiago proves his bravery when he realizes that he is probably out matched. After one day of swimming below the surface the marlin jumps out of the water in an attempt to break the line. This will be the first time Santiago will be able to look at him. Once Santiago sees him during his breath taking jump Santiago is awed and panic stricken. Santiago has seen many great fish but, â€Å"Now alone, and out of sight of land, he was fast to  the biggest fish that he had ever seen and bigger than he had ever heard of†(63). He decides to stay with the fish and test his luck. Santiago shows that the big fishes size will not daunt him or let it scare him into defeat. Santiago will fight with all his might to capture this fish. All of these characteristics contribute to Santiago being the ideal everyman and the idealistic vision of man cannot be defeated. In every person’s life he or she encounters some very difficult obstacles and the rewards to them can be the ones they most highly prize, Santiago’s is the great fish. One of Santiago’s obstacles is his worn body and he pushes it hard. On the second day his left hand begins to cramp and eventually tightens into a form of claw. Santiago is disgusted and says, â€Å"What kind of a hand is that, cramp then if you want. Make yourself into a claw. It will do you no good†(58). Here Santiago is battling with his endurance. He knows his body is to old to catch the big fish but he won’t admit it or even acknowledge it because he knows that once he starts to believe it he will give up and the fish will have won. Another challenge Santiago is put through to obtain his goal is one in his mind. After Santiago first sees the fish he is dumb founded by its sheer beauty and then he realizes it is the biggest, strongest fish he has ever beheld. To succeed he must not let the size of the marlin break his mind set on catching it. After seeing the fish for the first time Santiago says to himself, â€Å"I must never let him learn his strength nor what he could do if he made his run†(63). Even though Santiago is up against the greatest fish he has ever seen he must keep his wits about him and not forget what he has learned his entire life about catching fish. No matter what Santiago cannot be defeated by the fish as long as he doesnt let the fish beat him mentally. After three long days of wrestling with the big fish Santiago finally succeeded. Once the fish went belly up he laid back and let the fish sit in the water by the boat for a bit. He then said to himself, â€Å"I am a tired old man. But I have killed this fish†(95). Santiago’s victory over the big fish proved that if a man kept his spirit strong the he could never be defeated no matter how strong or massive his opponent is. Santiago’s overcoming of his physical and physiological obstacles resulted in victory over the great fish and proving the statement that a man can be destroyed but not defeated. The worst way to loose is to give in to an enemy and let them break his or hers spirit. Santiago did exactly the opposite when dealing with the sharks. Once the huge fish was caught and killed Santiago started preparing to leave for home. He tied the fish to the side because it would sink the boat if he tried to bring it in and he hoisted the sail so that the winds could bring him in. No long after starting his long journey home the first shark came. When it first appeared Santiago was determined to not let his prize be ruined. He took out his harpoon and â€Å"he hit it with his blood mushed hands driving a harpoon with all his might†(102). Here Santiago shows that he will not let a shark beat him and take all his hard work away. If he can’t protect the fish he’s going to at least die trying. Even after his harpoon is lost Santiago doesnt stop fighting. He sees two more sharks coming and takes â€Å"up the oar with the knife lashed to it† to defend his prize. Santiago shows that he will go as far as it takes to keep himself from being defeated by lowly scavengers. In the end Santiago was beat and his prize destroyed but he was never truly defeated. As Santiago stumbles ashore and towards his shack he feels the pain of the long fishing trip in his muscles. As soon has he gets home his first and only priority is sleep. Santiago stumbles into bed and pulls the sheets over him. He closes his eyes and immediately falls asleep, â€Å"The old man was dreaming about lions†(127). The old man was never defeated. His body, the marlins strength, and the sharks predatorial attacks were no match for Santiago’s mind and his ability to overcome setbacks. Santiago’s dream about lions shows that this fishing trip was just another challenge life had thrown at him. Loosing the fish was only a small setback in Santiago’s life and minuscule in comparison to catching the fish itself. Throughout this novel Hemingway uses Santiago, the marlin, and the sharks as symbolism to contribute to his theme that â€Å"A man can be destroyed but not defeated.† Throughout the novel Santiago represented the ideal everyman through his actions which depicted determination, patience, and bravery. He showed the characteristics of a man who could leave any battle feeling undefeated and knowing that he gave it his all and didn’t back down. The marlin represented the ultimate goal we must achieve and how the fight to obtain it is the most strenuous one. In the end the sharks represented our  enemies and even if they take what we have earned earning the prize is more valued than the prize itself. Men are the most prize driven creatures and even though sometimes the prize is destroyed by others man has never let that defeat him.

Enhancing Security Process And Systems In Hotel Industy Tourism Essay

Enhancing Security Process And Systems In Hotel Industy Tourism Essay Introduction Since its inception hotels have provided travellers with a place to stay away from home and which offers them amenities that would ensure their comfort and security. The hotel industry core value is to deliver quality service to their guest, and with it also comes the obligation of being responsible for their security while under their care. The security of a hotels guest and how the hotel management and staff take the steps to ensure this spells the success or failure of any establishment. A lax security would mean exposing the guest to a different number of risks and would also reflect poorly on the hotels reputation. Therefore security is something the hotel industry should invest upon to ensure its success, because the bottom line is the question of whether or not a guest will choose to return to a hotel depends solely on how safe and secure they feel while staying in a hotel. However this basic premise is not that easy to put in practice. While different establishments have endeavoured to put in place security measures that would ensure the safety of its guests such as ensuring confidentiality of its guests personal data, using surveillance equipment and the like; the fact is technological advancements have also been used by some criminal elements to circumvent security measures for their own unscrupulous intentions. Cases of identity theft using information stored in a hotel guests key cards, and the recent threat of terrorist attacks are but some of the security issues that the hotel industry has to contend with. This paper seeks to study the security measures being put in place by the hotel industry and how it relates to their operational effectiveness. In particular this research study shall aim to achieve the following: To identify the forms of breaches in hotels security system; To identify the security system and other safety policies of three hotels; To determine recommendations that will enhance and further develop the security system of the hotel industry. The method that will be used in this research paper is a case study of the security measures of three hotels: the Hotel Marriott, the Intercontinental Hotels Group, and the Shangrila Hotel. The three hotels were selected in this study because they are known to be among the leaders in the hotel industry; they have faced or are in danger of facing serious concerns related to security (the Marriot Hotel was attacked by terrorist bombers in the past); and they are also leaders in the field of hotel security. The analysis that will be used in this case study will be based on the assessment paper by Alan Orlob the Vice-President of Corporate Security for the Marriott International, the talk delivered by David Bradley Bonnel who is the Director of Global Security for the Intercontinental Hotels Group, and the Security protocol issued by Shangrila Jakarta. This research paper shall also review related literature concerning the hotel industry its values and principles in relation to ensuring security, and related internet sources concerning hotel security procedures and measures. Literature Review According to Capparella J. (2002), the word hotel is derived from the 14th Latin word hoste meaning person or thing that provides something for a guest, usually lodging, and sometimes food. The concept of a hotel was to provide some sort of temporary lodging accommodations for transients. Hotels varied little in ancient times when they were first described as simply being a boarding house providing a place to rest and nothing more. Throughout the early centuries (1 AD forward) the evolution of the hotel was also minimal. In the middle ages the hotel began to transform. European and English inns became the variations of the hotel during the middle ages. More specialized functions and amenities were included in the inns services. Among these amenities include the private rooms, public kitchens and public gathering rooms. Some inns have also constructed small taverns which were aimed to bring comfort and convenience of the traveller. During this period, the hotel variations were no longer treated and viewed as merely a place to spend the night. This development in the middle ages provided the transition of the hotel concept which will later on become part of the hospitality industry. As the said development emerged during the middle ages, the latter part of the period provided another significant advancement in the inns. Laws, rules and regulations pertaining to the operations of the hotel as well as the corresponding responsibility of the owner were imposed. A French law during the 1300s dictates that any lost property of a client must be replaced by the landlord. A century passed when another French law mandates the registration of every hotel to the state. The English around this period has also formed another set of guidelines and regulations that discusses in detail the comfort and cleanliness provided by the hotel to their guests. The said guidelines eventually served as the European standard for hotels. However, in spite of these advancements, a number of hotels and inns remain lacking on measures involving the privacy and security of guests. Rooms that are considered private have no locks and the guests are exposed to an unsecured communal setting. In the 16th century, France established culinary requirements for hotels that offered dining services that were based on a rating system geared toward quality, promotion, and competition. In the next century, this system of rating a hotel was formally established throughout Europe. By the 1700s, particularly in France, is when the hotel industry or hospitality business formally established itself. Lodging also transformed into a mixed-use business that now offered a variety of services and amenities. The standards for quality, comfort, value, and service were now synonymous with any place of lodging adding to its definition of being a temporary place to spend the night. (Caparella, 2002) In America the concept of the hotel as we know it was further developed with the appearance of larger hotels during the 1800s. These hotels differentiated themselves from other lodging types by their size and by offering of luxurious amenities. Most of these hotels were in large cities and along the major travel routes of stagecoaches, and later the railways. (Ibid, 2002) With the passage of time the core aspects of the services provided by the hotel industry was already well established with good service and security as one of the key concerns. Based on common law hotel patrons commonly assume that hotels have created a relatively safe environment, and that the, common law concept of the innkeepers doctrine addresses the hoteliers role in maintaining a safe and secure environment by requiring the hotelier to take all reasonable measures to provide a secure environment for guests and to safeguard guests property. (Feickert, et.al. 2006) The concept of reasonable protection was further advanced by the courts upon which the levels of liability of hotel owners were increased. The small and independent hotels were also similarly held liable to the standards imposed on large and popular hotels thus giving emphasis on the issue of security among the industry regardless of the size and popularity of the establishment. The said impression of the innkeepers doctrines common law aims to highlight the role of the hotelier in sustaining a safe environment through the adaption of all logical measures to ensure a secure environment to be enjoyed by the guests. The concept of reasonable protection was advanced by the court and has developed into increasing levels of liability of hotels. To date, the issue of security within the hotel industry remains a primary concern among hoteliers. The said issue remains foremost in the minds of both the guests and hotel managers particularly in light of the turmoil of world events. Such concerns of managers often dwell on the most acceptable security measures to hotel guests which will directly be viewed as a measure that will ensure safety and security. With these concerns, hotels must also ensure that providing a welcoming environment remains their highest priority. The hotel guests needs reflect their view on the hotel industry. While a traveller looks for adventure in his travels in each area and country, he still expects to rest and relax within the confines of his hotel room. While he expects to experience thrills out of exploring places, he would need to have access to recreational facilities of the hotel such as the use of the pool and the services in the hotel bar. The guest anticipates the best treatment from the employees and expects traits such as honesty and respect for privacy to be recognized. Being on a holiday, the guest does not expect neither hassles nor inconveniences to hamper his trip. Adapting this perspective of the hotel guest, hotels have formed several quick and effective measures to ensure the security of the guest without invading the privacy. Hotels have also become the ideal target for terrorists since 2004, the post-9/11 period. Militants can assume the same type of strategies to give a statement against the Western imperialism. Hotels remain one of the best targets for such terroristic acts since Western businessmen, government officials, diplomats and intelligence officers frequent the hotels. Such place provides the ideal scene for inflicting terror through international media without penetrating the security ranks of Embassies. The shift towards the targeting hotels was traced to the attacks against hotels in several parts of the globe i.e. Pakistan, Iraq, Jordan, India, Afghanistan, and Egypt. Attacks instigated in Amman, Mumbai, Jakarta and Sharm el-Sheikh were coordinated to hit more than one hotel. Addressing this issue, hotels have adapted measures that will develop security within hotels. The hotel security was perceived to have improved since 2004. Such security mechanisms in several hotel have helped saved lives such as the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad. The hotel industrys vulnerability to attacks is caused however by the strategic nature of hotels. In addressing security issues, the typical notion of general manages and security manages is that the installation of obtrusive and indiscrete security mechanisms will only generate more concern from the guests instead of creating a safe and secured environment. Other hoteliers often see security measures as unnecessary and merely increase the hotel expenses. Nevertheless, the security department and its managers role increased throughout the years. A main concern of hotel owners is the merging of security measures in the operations of the hotel. Instead of isolating the security department from others, security must be integrated within the operating procedures of the hotel. Security measure served as part of the hotel security routine particularly different types of technology such as electronic card-locking system, camera and communication system, as well as a closed circuit television. Additional security features can include safe-deposit boxes, guest-door locks as well as the re gular life-safety systems i.e. sprinkler systems, alarms and fire extinguishers. Hotel security features have been increasingly developed in the past years. This can attributed to the increase in neighbourhood crime, technological advancements and a shift in the demographics of the hotel guests. Such is the case of the electronic door locks which generates a feeling of security expected from the safety measure. Hoteliers have also taken a closer look at the needs and wants of the female traveller being primarily concerned over safety and security measures. As expected, hotel managers may face challenges as the media continuously work on bringing criminal actions to the limelight particularly since the news of the 9/11 attack have changed the perceptions on travelling and safety. Body of the Study and Research Results Case Study Number 1: The Marriot Hotel Experience On July 17, 2003 the JW Marriot and the Ritz Carlton in the upscale area of Jakarta, Indonesia were attacked by two suicide bombers. The bomb blast killed nine people and injured about 52 individuals. Based on the investigation following the attacks it was found out that the suspects checked into the hotel as guests, and that the explosives they used were smuggled into the hotel in their luggage which was not checked because it was too big and had to be placed in a trolley. The hotel staff did not noticed anything because they assumed that hotel guests cannot be terrorists. On September 20, 2008 another Marriott hotel was attacked in Islamabad, Pakistan. A dump truck which was filled with explosives was detonated in front of the hotel killing 54 persons and injuring 266 individuals. Based on the report that the Vice-President for Corporate Security Alan Orlob made before the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs in 2009, the Marriott security measures helped in preventing a much bigger casualty in both the Jakarta and Islamabad attacks. In Jakarta during the time of the attack the hotel security were on Threat Condition Red. Orlob claims that the checkpoint placed at the hotel gates prevented the suicide bomber from driving a vehicle laden with explosives straight into the lobby of the hotel. Orlob also states that because of the alert response of the Merriotts three security personnel who were manning the checkpoints that day, helped in preventing the driver from entering the lobby of the Hotel. In the Islamabad attacks a combination of a hydraulic barrier and a drop down barrier prevented the vehicle of the suicide bombers from approaching the main premises of the hotel. The vehicle filled with explosives was detonated at the barrier killing 56 people out of the 1,500 people who were billeted at the Marriott during that day. Orlob claims that the casualties would have been larger if there were no security measures that were put in place. During the attacks in Islamabad, Orlob states that the hotel had 196 security personnel, 60 of which were on duty during that day. They also had sixty two CCTV cameras placed on the inside and outside of the hotel and bomb sniffing dogs. However a paper by security expert, John Solomon the Head of Terrorism Research, World Check (2009) states that in both the Jakarta and Islamabad Marriots security program has had shortcomings on two aspects. First is that the hotel did not have adequate measures for screening guest and staff for possible terrorism risk. Solomon pointed out that in both the Jakarta and Islamabad attacks the terrorists were able to study the area of the hotel and gather intelligence information by checking in as guests. The second shortcoming relates to the failure of the hotel security and risk manager to correctly analyze the possible security risks that the hotel faces. According to Solomon the problem is due to security and counterterrorism specialists penchant for analyzing a security threat exclusively on historical patterns. The common practice of hotels is to hire these security specialists to make a risk assessment which the hotel faces. However by seeing terrorist attacks as recurring patterns what happens in the future will be the same to what is occurring in the present and what transpired in the recent past fails to grasp the fact that terrorist tactics are constantly evolving and developing. The result of this way of thinking is that security experts fails to adopt concrete measures that are applicable to the possible dangers the situation poses. Ironically Orlob also had a similar observation when, as part of a team of hotel security specialist, he visited Mumbai, India after the terrorist attacks in 2009 to the Taj Mahal, Oberoi, and Trident hotels. Orlob included these findings in the same Senate Committee hearing that i have mentioned above. According to Orlob the Taj Mahal hotel failed to address the following security concerns: Before the attacks the terrorists were staying in the hotel for several months posing as guests. They were seen taking photographs and have been studying the layout of the hotel; The police who responded to the attacks were not familiar to the building layout and the plans that were outdated and did not indicate the renovations that has taken place; The Taj Mahal hotel lowered their security measures due to a wrong intelligence report that was given to them; The hotel did not have physical security measures such as barriers, sprinkler systems and the like which could have helped to slow down the terrorists if not deter them. Orlob has noted during the Senate Committee report that after the attacks on the Marriott the security measures in placed have already been reviewed and developed to cope with the threat of terrorists groups. Case Study Number 2: The Intercontinental Hotels Group The Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) is one of the leading international hotel chains in the world today. Currently there are about 4,186 IHG hotels operating worldwide bearing the IHG brands of InterContinental Hotels, Crowne Plaza Hotels, Holiday Inn and many more which are franchised and are owned by private companies. The IHG main headquarters is based in the United Kingdom and there are regional offices for the Americas and Asia Pacific region. During the 2009 Mumbai terrorist attacks the Intercontinental Hotels Group were able to send out instructions to two of its hotels in the area concerning security measures they should put in place. According to the Director for Global Security of IHG David Bonne, this quick response helped to shield the IHG properties from the attacks. Bonnel points out in a report dated March 11, 2009 that the IHG were able to address the threat posed by the Mumbai incident due to the timely and relevant information shared by individuals who are in charge of the security and counter terrorism program in their respective corporations. This association of professionals dealing with corporate security were instrumental in providing intelligence that helped to facilitate appropriate response to the crisis, effectively deploy resources, and ensured the flow of information between the corporate headquarters and the hotels that were affected by the attacks. Bonnel states that after 9/11 attacks the IHG has developed a security plan that specifically addresses the threat posed by global terrorism. This security plan is based on the provision indicated in Title IX of the 9/11 Commission Act which has mapped out crisis management as the preparedness of the private and public sector on three aspects of operation which deals with rescue, restart, and recovery. According to Bonnel the IHG crisis management system is an integral part of the whole structure of the corporation, organizational culture, and operations of the company, and provides an effective and flexible response to probable and expected threats to security. The IHG system works through different but interconnected aspects which focuses on the following: constant threat assessment; emergency action plans and business continuity plans that are specific to the site involved; a crisis response plan for senior executives; crisis response teams; a network for internal communications; and a training program for emergency response. The IHG crisis management systems main thrust is to ensure that in the event of a threat or crisis its investments and guests are protected and rescued if the need arises, and in the event of damage to the corporations asset, the system ensures continuity in operations and business functions. One of the core aspects of this crisis management system is the development of a comprehensive counter terrorism program which is based on responding to threats and leads gathered from a reliable intelligence network connected with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This counter terrorism program works by evaluating and then categorizing all of IHGs hotels against a profile on terrorist risk. Each hotel location will also be assessed in a regional strategic threat assessment. The entire IHG hotels capability to resist an attack will also be comprehensively assessed, and management will be provided with an action plan that would increase the hotels security capability. A strict monitoring of compliance to the plan will also be carried out to ensure its implementation and in order to have a constant evaluation of the whole implementation process. According to Bonnel the IHGs counter terrorism program was designed with the view of implementing it within the framework of mandator y compliance with standards regarding operational and structural safety and security. Case Study Number Three: The Shangri-la Hotel Jakarta Hotel Shangri-la Jakarta is one of the hotels that are in operation in the Southeast Asia region. The information issued by Shangri-la Jakarta states that it has a superb reputation when it comes to ensuring the safety and security of its guests and personnel, and the hotel claims that many experts in security has considered it to be a preferred base in the city in case of emergencies. The security measures implemented by Shangri-la Hotel Jakarta are quite similar to the Marriot and IHG. It has a UVS or Under Vehicle Scanning system which is located at the main gate of the hotel; it has EVDs or Explosive Vapour Detectors; it employs bomb sniffing dogs that have been certified by the Australian Law Enforcement and Working Service Dog Handler Association; its X-ray machines for luggage scanning are state of the art; around 330 CCTV cameras are installed in the hotel; there are around 200 highly trained security staff; there are satellite telephones in case normal phone communications a re cut off; and the hotel also has a helipad on its roof. The Shangri-la Jakarta also boasts of a comprehensive Civil Disturbance Plan designed to address different possible situations that might arise in its country of operation. Like the Marriott and IHG the Shangri-la Hotel Jakarta hires security experts that acts as consultants to the hotel. Reliable intelligence is provided for by these security consultants. The Shangri-la hotels team of local and international experts in security helps in keeping the hotel abreast to the security situation in Jakarta which develops its readiness and capacity to respond to any potential threat to its guests safety and security. The chart below shows the comparative data of the three hotels based on the reference material used: Hotel Marriot IHG Shangri-la Hotel, Jakarta Secondary 1 deadbolt lock Smoke detectors and fire sprinkler systems CCTV cameras Explosive Vapour Detectors X-ray machines CCTV Cameras X-ray machines Smoke detectors and fire sprinkler systems Other security measures possibly use but not identified in reference material used by researcher. UVS (Under Vehicle Scanning) system EVDs (Explosive Vapour Detectors) X-ray machines CCTV cameras Satellite telephones Highly trained security personnel Bomb sniffing dogs Expert Consultant Highly trained security personnel Bomb sniffing dogs Expert Consultant Highly trained security personnel Bomb sniffing dogs Expert Consultant Viewports in all guestroom doors interior corridor access only access control on all guest exterior access doors Viewports in all guestroom doors bollards and barriers Same although not indicated expressly in the reference used by the researcher. Same although not indicated expressly in the reference used by the researcher. Roof helipad Security Guidelines and Emergency Plans Cooperation with International Security specialists groups and Government Agencies concerned Security Guidelines and Emergency Plans Cooperation with International Security specialists groups and Government Agencies concerned Security Guidelines and Emergency Plans Cooperation with International Security specialists groups and Government Agencies concerned Conclusion The case study of the security measures being implemented by the Marriott, IHG, and Shangri-la shows certain similarities in terms of the equipment used, personnel involved, physical structures built, and development of a comprehensive security and crisis management plan. All three has hired security experts to provide detailed intelligence reports and to conduct and develop a crisis and threat assessment in order to develop the hotels preparedness in the event that such threats will occur. It is also clear that security plans are directly related to the hotels image and reputation, and most security plans is actually part of the hotels commitment to its guests to ensure that their peace of mind and security are taken cared of while under their care.