Q2 Essays - Financial Risk, Actuarial Science, Mathematical Finance

Q2 Essays - Financial Risk, Actuarial Science, Mathematical Finance Q2 On account of the widespread use of financial knowledge, risk management has become increasingly crucial. One of the most important risk measures is Value at Risk which is defined by Linsmeier and Pearson (1996) as Using a probability of x percent and holding period of t days, an entitys value at risk is the loss that expected to be exceeded with a probability of only x percent during the next t-day period. In addition, there are numerous method to calculate VaR and the three most commonly used VaR approaches are the variance-covariance method, the historical stimulation method, and the Monte Carlo method. In order to evaluate the VaR, back testing should be involved as it provides the users about the accuracy of the models. Costello, Asem and Garder (2008) also states that back testing ensures that the models are properly formed. Besides, Stambaugh (1996) mentions that each model has pros and cons and they should be viewed as alternatives which may be suitable in different circumstances. Back testing method can be unconditional and conditional approach. Unconditional approach counts the number of exceptions and compare them with confidence level. On the other side, conditional approach test whether the exceptions are independent of each other. According to our back testing, results reveal that in three models accuracy in both conditional and unconditional are rejected for all confidence levels. However, it shows that 95% confidence level performs better than 90% confidence level in all model consistently. Within the back testing, we also found that the number of exception is either too small or too big for the given confidence level therefore this causes back testing may reject a correct model. As a result, choosing a lower VaR confidence level or increasing the number of data observations will be a solution to improve the current framework (Philippe. J, 2007). On the other hand, Corkalo (2011) say that VaR is not the best model for risk management because small firms will find that sensitivity analysis is easier to implement and other non-financial firms use alternative measure at risk. Firstly, all of the VaR approaches take assumptions that the return distribution is based on the historical data directly but history can be a wrong predictor. Besides, the observed time period is also an important factor. For an example, we have observed 9 years historical data of those five assets obtained in our portfolio, however, we dont know whether there is any unusual volatility in that period. Hence, the VaR we calculated is not strong in a changing economic environment. When we calculating VaR of a portfolio, we not only need to measure the return and volatility of individual assets but also the correlation between all assets included in the portfolio. Generally, with growing numbers of assets, the precision rate of VaR will be influenced. The VaR is determined by the past changes in the market factors and their variability in the portfolio. In other words, more variable market factors with greater sensitivities will result in greater VaR. Besides, the VaR is also determined by co movement of both two exchange rates in our case. Due to the high covariance of two exchange rates in our case which is 0.66, we construct the portfolio by taking two positions in order to reduce the risk being taken. Thus, the extension to which changes in the value of long position in USD/GBP are offset by the changes in the value of short position in YEN/GBP. According to our calculation, the highest VaR is not excessed three hundred thousand within three models with both 90% and 95% confidence levels and our portfolio average value is 9.35million after taking the account of VaR. However, we remain two million cash from the pension fund. In conclusion, we are likely to hold too much capital that could be invested in the portfolio to gain th e better return instead of holding it with non-interest. Q4 Difference Models from the VaR Literature The following methods will show how it is possible to get a VaR figure when there are different variables that play a factor in the portfolio. Conditional VaR using the Historical Method Conditional Value at Risk (CVaR) is the expected loss, meaning that it computes the average loss if, under any circumstance

Quotes About the Joys of Winter

Quotes About the Joys of Winter Come winter and the world is covered with a white sheet of snow. Kids welcome winter by catching the first few snowflakes in their mouth. For adults, winter brings a slew of festivities like skiing, snowboarding, sled dog racing, and many others. And then there is Christmas. Christmas on a wintry December night brings families closer as they cozy up around a warm hearth. Revel in the joys of winter while you sip your ale and read these winter quotes. Pietro AretinoLet us love winter, for it is the spring of genius. George HerbertEvery mile is two in winter. Mignon McLaughlinSpring, summer, and fall fill us with hope; winter alone reminds us of the human condition. William BlakeIn seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy. Edith SitwellWinter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home. Victor HugoWinter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my heart. William BradfordAnd for the season it was winter, and they that know the winters of that country know them to be sharp and violent, and subject to cruel and fierce storms. Boris PasternakIt snowed and snowed, the whole world over, Snow swept the world from end to end. A candle burned on the table; A candle burned. Virginia WoolfNever are voices so beautiful as on a winters evening, when dusk almost hides the body, and they seem to issue from nothingness with a note of intimacy seldom heard by day. Charles DickensLooking up, she showed him quite a young face, but one whose bloom and promise were all swept away as if the haggard winter should unnaturally kill the spring. Elizabeth BowenAutumn arrives in early morning, but spring at the close of a winter day. HeraclitusGod is day and night, winter and summer, war and peace, surfeit and hunger. Albert CamusIn the depth of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer. Robert FrostYou cant get too much winter in the winter. Sinclair LewisWinter is not a season, it’s an occupation.

Principles of International Business Management Essay - 1

Principles of International Business Management - Essay Example The ICT services sector is the fastest growing sector in the country, with software development, ITES, BPOs and call centres earning good deal of foreign exchange. Combined with low labor costs, highly skilled manpower and good investments in human capital India is fast exploiting the opportunities of the global economy. India has signed treaties with its neighbors and other countries in the Asian region and streamlined its trade with these countries with the help of Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement, ASEAN and SAARC. But India’s main exporting arena remains the EU and America, as it gets good value for its products and services from these nations. India’s export figures for 2005-06 are US $ Million 103,090.54, while import figures are, US $ Million 149,165.73 (Govt. of India, 2007). The gap between import and export is not much compared to the situation prevailing in pre-liberalization era. During those days India’s exports used to be miniscule in comparison with its imports. But now the manufacturing industry has come to age, while clothing and items like pearls, stones have remained its forte for quite a while now. India’s export to EU Countries stand at US$ Million 23,120.38 as per the Government of India figures (2007). Main components of this export include; Imports to India from the EU nations on the other hand stand at US$M 25,704.03, while from North America this figure is US$M 10,374.61. This shows the edge in favor India in merchandise trade. India has signed bilateral and multilateral agreements to promote economic development through a continuous process of trade expansion, in the form of ‘India-EU Strategic Partnership1, US -India Trade Policy Forum and India-United States Commercial Dialogue2 to further the cause of the trade and industry requirements. The French economy is considered a developed economy as compared to

Japanese Tea ceremony Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Japanese Tea ceremony - Research Paper Example The cult of drinking tea in Japan quickly spread during 794-1185 (Heian period) to the Imperial Court and soon transformed into the simple pleasure. The tea that was used at the time was referred as ‘black tea’ that was made by pounding the tea leaves into the paste and then molding it into the shapes that resembles the dumplings (Mori, 1991). The gatherings that were gathered for these tea drinking sessions sat on the folding stools that were prepared specifically for these events. The characteristic and mood of the tea drinking during the Heian period can be compared to the modern tranquil coffee shop. The powdered green tea that is the focus of the Japanese tea ceremony today and in the ancient times in japan was not introduced until during the 12th century in the Kamakura period (1185-1336) where Eisai (priest) introduced the use of the powder green tea referred as matcha (Mori, 1991). The matcha is whipped in the boiling water with the bamboo whisk and it was the mainstay of the Zen Buddhism meditation as well as acting as a stimulant for helping to keep the monks awake. The match emerged from the confines of Zen Buddhist in the early 14th century owing to its high popularity for the taste and its increased demand, leading to its spread to the rural communities and the Samurai class. This method of the tea drinking advanced and become popularly known as the cha yoriai (tea gatherings) and it has a sharp contrast to the peaceful and quiet pleasure that was enjoyed by the Heian nobility. Additionally, the cha yoriai can be compared to the wine-testing competitions that are conducted in the Europe today. The tea ceremony in japan underwent quick transformation under the leadership of the Takeno Jo-o (1502-1555). Takeno Jo-o brought the tea drinking into the newly established and flourishing merchant class in the native city of Sakai, Nara and Kyoto. While the Shuko’s tea aesthetics largely involved the creation of the harmony

Interpretation of Family Life Education Essay Example for Free

Interpretation of Family Life Education Essay Family Life Education has endured multiple evolutions, definitions and criteria since its origins in contemporary family science between 1881 and 1920. Currently, Family Life Education has tightened the reigns of its purpose, created fundamental criteria and yet still leads itself to an assortment of interpretations. For the purpose of this paper, I will endeavor to give my individual definition of Family Life Education based on course readings and research, the guiding principle of FLE, a theoretical perspective that supports and, is most relevant to my definition of Family Life Education and, a personal philosophy of ‘education’. What does Family Life Education signify to me? Depending on the company you keep, this is a potentially loaded question. Within the realm of my present circle, the question does hold a realistic explanation. Family life education has been significant in the historical development of several educational enterprises (Arcus, vol. 1, 1993, p. 46); therefore, lending itself to the family life professional to select a track that best complements their own philosophies and professional preparation. The definition by the National Council on Family Relations (2006) sums up what FLE means to me, â€Å"Family life education is the educational effort to strengthen individual and family life through family perspective. The objective of family life education is to enrich and improve the quality of the individual and the family life. † As a future professional in this distinctive field, I strive to possess the many characteristics of a well-rounded practitioner, including, but not limited to, sound knowledge of the professional content and to function, when needed in a multidisciplinary approach. As the possibilities to individual and family composition are endless, the ability to draw from other disciplines is crucial. It is probable that when working with a family for instance that is struggling with an issue, the family life professional would need to utilize an approach that incorporated all of Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences (1983). In addition, it is also important to note Family life educators have used educational concepts as their solitary approach to ‘multidisciplinary’ intervention (Arcus, vol. 2, 1993, pg. 28) and this approach has created concern amongst scholars and professionals alike. To become multi disciplinary, Arcus (1993) offers that through the use of knowledge from a broader range of disciplines and through greater cooperation among the contributing disciplines, true multidisciplinary approach can be attained. As indicated previously, the composition of individual or family is infinite and special attention needs to be paid to issues of diversity. Within the profession of Family Studies, there is particular emphasis on valuing differences and respecting those distinctions (Arcus, vol. 2, 1993, pg. 28) furthermore, creating effective working relationships with persons served. Lastly, to complete the puzzle of the well rounded practitioner, one must be able to utilize their own life experiences relevant to family life topics and to honestly accept those experiences as not to furnish hypocritical recommendations. To further personalize my definition of Family Life Education, I have compiled some additional ideas. It is unlikely that a professional in the field of Family Studies is wandering aimlessly without purpose or direction. Typically, they are a part of an organization that is providing services to individuals or families with a set of defined needs. Even more likely it is the responsibility of the professional to design, develop and deliver the services needed by means of effective programming. The Family Life professional becomes the program and an effective program does not rest solely on content (Brindis Davis, et al, 1998, part IV). The professional must mobilize for action by increasing awareness and generating support of a program, assess the needs and assets of the populations served and build strong foundations that will serve to protect the potential of the program and last, but surely not least, design an effective Family Life Education program. Designing a new or adapted family life education program frequently entails many planning and management issues. The development is easier when the concerns are planned for at the onset. Think about how to advocate for the program, especially in the face of controversy. Expect controversy (Brindis Davis, et al. 1998, sect. IV). Controversy or conflict is seguing to the subsequent topic, the guiding principles of Family Life Education. Intervention, the anti-conflict: Being proactive in a reactive world. ‘Intervention by way of education’, this statement, in my opinion is the guiding principle to family life education. No matter how you slice it, the opportunity to impart an intervention is endless. Intervention can have many connotations. In day to day life it is regularly defined as an unwelcomed interference. For instance, a wife introduces an intervention for her substance abusing husband, of which does not want to admit to or take responsibility for his addiction. Therefore the husband would characterize the intervention as ‘unwelcomed interference’. For the purpose of family studies, the definition takes a neutral stance to denote the ‘taking of clearly defined actions to induce change’ (Encarta English Dictionary). The change is expected to be positive, indicating harmony or affirmation. Societies evolve along different cultural, religious, historical, economic, geographical, and political paths. At any time, members of different societies view themselves and the world from distinctive perspectives. Yet global trends in communication and information dissemination, entertainment, and other economic and commercial exchanges always affect local realities, sometimes more than people living in those localities fully understand. How children, adolescents, and adults are assigned roles ultimately reflects the convergence of such societal paths and global trends. The preceding statements have the potential to be segue ways and/or roadblocks to the family professional. The professional should establish family life education at an early age, to combat the notion of reaction and to introduce the idea of prevention, lessening the likelihood of ever intervening. The introduction of a program that would counter negative or damaging societal outcomes should implement age appropriate curricula, especially when working solely with school age children, which meets the developmental needs and matches backgrounds and life experiences of all individuals involved. What are â€Å"universal† interventions? As adapted from Family Health International (2001), †¢Offer education and skill-building †¢Engage youth caretakers, including parents, extended family, or other adults such as teachers and youth workers. †¢Engage youth themselves in program design, development, implementation, and evaluation. †¢Ensure access to counseling and other services that respond to the special needs of the individual or family †¢Augment collaboration and effective referrals among existing health and other development agencies and organizations. †¢Coach program site managers, service providers, and others to improve their interactions with individuals and families †¢Have clear goals, target populations, and indicators while building in monitoring and evaluation from the beginning of a project; use such findings to improve strategies and services. The family life professional should strive to maintain balance and realistic programming and to ultimately provide information and activities that encourage skill development that is relevant and useful. Imparting a value system and norms when they are lacking or completely absent to an individual or family is an asset to the overall program, especially when follow through is a potential issue. A basic skill set is at least in place. Last but not least, ensure that your program is based on a solid theoretical model. Ability, Desire and Potential: Why MI theory is relevant to Families â€Å"Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential. John Maxwell During the tenure of this course, Family Study Methodologies, we have encountered many theories and how they are or have been significant to the field of Family Life Education. The theories have run the gamut from their birthplace in social theory and social therapy to a current state of post modern, contemporary status. As indicated by Lavee and Dollahite (1991), there is a weak link between theory and research in modern family science and they go further to say, from multiple points of view, it is imperative to couple theory with research methods. There are multiple approaches to theory and research in the family sciences (Sourcebook, pg. 17) and there is not one that is committed as the ‘flagship theory’ to FLE. Rather the â€Å"interplay between scholars, families and the socio-cultural context that surrounds them† (Sourcebook, pg. 18). These connections should pay special attention to the unique quality of families in society and how these families function within their environment. It is necessary to confirm what I mean by theory within the field of family life education. As defined by Gibbs ( 1972, p.5),sourcebook p 20 theory is â€Å" a set of logically interrelated statements in the form of empirical assertions about properties of infinite classes of events or things†. This definition lends itself to the notion of a conceptual framework, a theory that has not come full circle. Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences fits this description. Although there are several intelligences define which possess a sound theoretical foundation, eight to be exact, there are additional ‘intelligences’ waiting in the wings for validation; therefore supporting the notion of the conceptual framework. Gardner’s theory is relevant to family life education, in part due to its flexible and expandable nature but mostly because the ‘family’ is a phenomenal, progressive body that needs room to evolve, just as MI theory continues to do. References Brindis, C and Davis, L et al. (1998) Designing effective family life education programs. Advocatesforyouth. org. Four sections. Retrieved April 13, 2008, from www. advocateforyouthorg/PUBLICATIONS Lavee, Y. , Dollahite, D. C. (1991) The linkage between theory and research in family science. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 53, 361-373.

Schizophrenia, A splitting of the mind Essay -- essays research papers

Schizophrenia, A splitting of the mind Dementia Praecox, the early term for schizophrenia was presented by Emil Kraepelin in 1898. Dementia Praecox included – dementia paranoids, catatonia and hebephrenia. Whilst these different entities are symptomatically very diverse, Kraepelin believed they shared a common core. Kraepelin noted several major symptoms in his patients, these included hallucinations, delusions, negativism, attentional difficulties, stereotyped behaviour and emotional dysfunction. Kraepelin focused on describing schizophrenia and made no attempt to categorise and explain what he saw. Eugen Bleuler however tried to define the core of the disorder. Bleuler disagreed with Kraepelin on two points. Bleuler believed that the disorder didn’t necessary have an early onset and that the disorder didn’t necessarily lead to total dementia. Since he believed that the disorder didn’t lead to total dementia the term dementia praecox was no longer valid, so in 1908 Bleuler suggested a new term for the condition Schizophrenia. Bleuler had a great influence over the American concept of Schizophrenia. Whilst the European view of Schizophrenia remained relatively narrow. The American view of schizophrenia broadened significantly during the 20th century, with 80% of patients in the New York State Psychiatric Institute being diagnosed with Schizophrenia in 1952. Adolf Myer argued that diagnostic categories where often to stringent and believed that a more flexible approach to defining Schizophrenia was necessary. Kansnin then found that some patients showed signs schizophrenia combined with symptoms from other disorders. The concept of schizophrenia was also broadened by Hoch who believed that schizophrenia often disguises itself has other disorders. As a result a lot of people who would normally have been diagnosed with personality disorders or neurosis, where diagnosed has having schizophrenia. After the publication of DSM III the American definition moved away from the very broad definition of schizophrenia, to a more controlled approach that meant that less people are now wrongly diagnosed with schizophrenia. The symptoms of schizophrenia cause suffers problems in several major areas these include: thought, perception, attention, motor behaviour and emotion. Many patients, who are diagnosed with schizophrenia, only have some of the symptoms. Unlike mo... ...hanism may malfunction or not work. We can guess that stress can trigger schizophrenia because of the EE studies that look at patient relapse rate. Also if we believe that the symptoms are a reflection of the cause it is also not unreasonable to think stress can trigger schizophrenia. Stress is a persons perceived inability to cope with a situation. Therefore they are blaming themselves for their failure to perform. Many schizophrenics experience hallucinations commenting on their actions. This could be caused because they have a problem with their self-image or self esteem caused by stress. If you imagine yourself very stressed maybe at the scene of an accident, you need to do something about the accident, but your finding it difficult to remember what you should do. To avoid panic some people break down complex actions like first aid at the scene of an accident into simpler instructions. For instance at the scene of an accident you would take deep breath then look for danger, c heck the airways of the injured etc. When you are in a stressful situation you comment on yourself. Maybe schizophrenic hallucination is the same response caused involuntary by a brain malfunction.

Network Hardening Essay

Network Hardening Network Layout 4 : VPN (Remote Access Domain) – Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) with VPN software and Secure Socket Layer/VPN (SSL/VPN) tunnels A Virtual Private Network or VPN enables a computer or network-enabled device to send and receive data through shared or public networks as if it were directly connected to the private network, while it’s benefiting from the functionality, security and management policies of the private network. It was created to establish a virtual pint-to-point connection through the using of dedicated connections, virtual tunneling protocols or traffic encryptions. Three Strategies for hardening the network environment 1 Firewall Friendly VPN The increase demands of e-business come with a compelling requirement for data security. Virtual Private Network with IP Security Architecture (IPsec VPN) meets this requirement by providing end-to end encryption and authentication at the IPlayer and protecting confidential data that flows over possibly untrustworthy networks. IPsec has the advantage of a wide scope of coverage and agile granularity of protection; however, incompatibilities exist between IPsec VPN and the Network Address Translation (NAT) that firewalls use. 2 Security policy enforcement: Means of enforcement of security policy should be a primary consideration throughout the research, test and implementation phases of any security technology. Careful research, review of manufacturer’s documentation, questions presented to vendors and manufacturers, and testing of the technology can serve to meet this criteria. Without a method of enforcement, effectiveness of security policy is questionable at best. While audit trails, hardware analysis and security logs should be reviewed regularly; it is a time-intensive process and this alone alerts the administrator to violations and security threats after they have occurred. Without a means of  enforcement, the administrator is risking the security of the VPN by relying upon the remote VPN users to voluntarily comply with policy. As the secure network perimeter is being extended to encompass the VPN client, security policy must be enforced in ‘real-time’ to protect the integrity of both the VPN client and t he network. Having addressed security policy issues that require the VPN client to have antivirus software installed and using the latest update; policy also requires a properly configured personal firewall to be running on the client PC or Laptop, and requires a time limit on inactive VPN sessions. How is this to be made obligatory, and remove the responsibility from the VPN user to voluntarily comply with policy? The answer is as stated above – by defining the need and carefully researching solutions available to fulfill this need. The VPN Concentrator, a managed antivirus package, will fulfill the dictated requirements. 3 Web content filtering: Filtering incoming and outgoing traffic, using signatures, reputation ratings and other heuristics. Whitelist allowed types of web content, preferably blocking all executable content by default and use a process to enable individual selected access if a business justification exists. †¢ Preferably disallow ActiveX, Java, Flash Player, HTML inline frames and JavaScript except for whitelisted web sites. †¢ Preferably use a solution that can similarly inspect SSL traffic for malicious content, especially SSL communications with unfamiliar web sites. †¢ Preferably use technology that automatically opens downloaded files in a sandbox to detect anomalous behavior such as network traffic or changes to the file system or registry. †¢ Preferably, since this approach is more proactive and thorough than blacklisting a tiny percentage of malicious domains. †¢ An example implementation is available at http://whitetrash.sourceforge.net Reference www.computer.howstuffworks.com/vpn.htm www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_private_network www.iprodeveloper.com www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs www.cisco.com/web/about/security/intelligence/firewall-best-practices.html

The Relationship Between Speech Production and Speech Comprehension and Thought

The Relationship between Speech Production and Speech Comprehension and Thought 1. Is it possible for a child to have the ability to produce speech without having the ability to comprehend speech? * The child must first able to comprehend the meaning of the language before they themselves can produce it. The basic of all language is meaning and without that, children could not begin to produce language meaningfully. Children need to be exposed to utterances with a clear connection to articles referred to before they themselves can begin sat such utterances.They will not learn language if all that they are exposed to is speech sound, no matter how many times it is uttered. 2. Which part of the brain that is related to language comprehension? * The left temporal lobe is thought to be critical for language comprehension and production. Wernicke's Area is the name of the specific region of the temporal lobe that is associated with speech comprehension, whereas Broca's Area is a region of the temporal lobe associated with speech production. 3.Does experience play important rule to help children in language comprehension and speech production? * Children must first be exposed to utterances and it is also necessary that these utterances are related to objects, events and situations in their physical environment and subjective events in their minds (desire, pain and love). Child’s experience with the environment and the child’s experience of its own feeling are assigning the meanings of the word and sentences. 4. Does imitation help children to learn language? Imitation, copying and repeating words loud, is not the fundamental factor for learning a language by a child. It cannot be regarded as basic factor, because it has some limitation. The first limitation is that â€Å"imitation† can apply only to speech production but not to speech comprehension and the second one is that â€Å"imitation† is not involved in construction of sentences. So , we can conclude that imitation is limited to the development of the articulation of speech sounds and the sound pattern of sentences.

Improving Breakfast Guest Satisfaction Tourism Essay Essays

Improving Breakfast Guest Satisfaction Tourism Essay Essays Improving Breakfast Guest Satisfaction Tourism Essay Essay Improving Breakfast Guest Satisfaction Tourism Essay Essay excessively low compared to the trade name criterion ( 72 % ) and merely under the RAH end ( 62.7 % ) for breakfast ( appendices 2-3 ) In this assignment it will be researched if guest satisfaction can be improved by preparation, actuating and prosecuting the employees. Breakfast service and dinner service should be up to the same criterions, invitees leave a hotel largely after holding breakfast, non after holding dinner. If the breakfast experience is truly bad, invitees will bury the good dinner they had and the overall nutrient and drink experience will be downgraded. 1.3 Problem statement and research inquiries The job statement is derived from the above described job in the Renaissance Amsterdam Hotel. Bettering breakfast guest satisfaction by bettering employee satisfaction A instance survey in the Renaissance Amsterdam hotel The undermentioned inquiries are designed to reply this job statement: 1. What is the hotels current place? 2. What is guest satisfaction? 3. What is employee satisfaction? 4. How is the breakfast service presently operated? 5. How to actuate and develop the employees of the Renaissance Amsterdam Hotel? 6. What is the relationship between employee- and guest satisfaction? 1.4 Overview The following chapter will lucubrate on the methodological analysis of this research. It will give a theoretical overview of different research methods and instruments. Furthermore all research inquiries will be discussed together with the research method and instrument chosen for this inquiry. At the terminal of this chapter there will be an overview of all research inquiries, methods and instruments applied and there will be explained why certain picks have been made. Once all research methods and instruments are decided on, the existent research can be done. Chapter 2: Methodology 2.1 Preview In this chapter the methodological analysis of the research will be discussed. A theoretical overview over different research methods and instruments will be given and for every research inquiry it will be discussed what method and instrument will be used in order to acquire the best reply to the inquiry. And the terminal of this chapter an overview can be found of the different research inquiries and the different methods and instruments. 2.2 Research methods and instruments 2.2.1 Research Methods When planing a research, it is really of import to see the different research methods in order to acquire all the information relevant to the research. In this paragraph it is described wich research methods can be used and when these methods are applicable. After discoursing these methods a determination will be made which method is usefull for this assignment. Qualitative research vs. Quantitative research When carry oning a research, a differentiation between qualitative and quantitative research is made. Quality is the indispensable character or nature of something ; measure is the sum. Quality is the what ; measure is the how much. Qualitative refers to the significance, the definition or analogy or theoretical account or metaphor qualifying something, while quantitative assumes the significance and refers to a step of it ( Steinbeck, 1941 ) Qualitative research is a type of research that provides information about the human side of a topic. The information of a qualitative research will reflect behaviours, beliefs, sentiments, emotions and relationships of people. Qualitative research is a good type of research to utilize when researching the behaviour, perspectives or feelings of a little population. ( Denzin NK, 2001 ) Qualitative research methods are for illustration ; in deepness interviews used for roll uping more personal information, or concentrate groups where a group of people are asked about their perceptual experiences, sentiments, beliefs and attitudes towards a certain topic, largely inquiries are asked in an synergistic group puting. Quantitative research is a research technique that is used to garner quantitative informations, information covering with statistics and Numberss, everything that is mensurable. Statisticss, tabular arraies and graphs are methods to show this type of information. The most common quantitative research method is a study questionnaire done by a big population ( over 100 ) . The chief difference between qualitative and quantitative research is that the result of a qualitative research is more dependable on the accomplishments of the research worker, interview accomplishments and observations accomplishments for illustration are really of import. On the other manus the result of a quantitative research is more dependable on the strength of the research instrument. ( Clark M, 1998 ) A good set-up study with the right inquiries is truly of import in order to acquire a good overview of the population. Furthermore quantitative studies use pre-coded closed inquiries. If a research is done to how muchaˆÂ ¦ or how oftenaˆÂ ¦ those inquiries are perfect, but, when a research worker wants to cognize more about for illustration how people feel about a certain subject a qualitative research would be more appropriate. Although people can scale their negative feeling towards the working ambiance between 0 and 5, with 5 the most negative, you neer know pre cisely how much this negative feeling truly is. Amongst a batch of research workers it is discussed what would be the best type of research. But, the type of research should ever be driven from the type of capable and hence be the most applicable to that topic. ( Andrew Sanchez, 2006 ) Into add-on to this separation between qualitative and quantitative research methods, there is besides a differentiation between desk research and field research. Desk research is a research of information already gathered for other intents that the current research. This information or information are besides called Secondary Data . The chief intents of desk research are to derive information about the company, hotel, topic of the research, the rivals, economic tendencies, market tendencies and demographic tendencies. All already produced information is used to derive more information about the research subject. Desk research is frequently done throughout the research and therefore can besides assist to make a proper field research. A field research is done by direct contact with the research worker and the topic of research. The information derived from this research ca nt be found by making desk research. The information gathered by this research is called Primary Data these a re informations that has been merely gathered for the intent of the specific research. Research I 2.2.4 Research Instruments Research instruments are data aggregation tools assisting the research worker to reply the research inquiry. Different research instruments can be used to reply the same research inquiry. Different research methods request different research instruments. In this paragraph different instruments are discussed and the instruments utile for this research will be chosen In-Depth interview This instrument is a qualitative instrument and can besides be called a personal interview. This is a two manner conversation initiated by a research worker to obtain information from a respondent. The greatest advantage is the deepness of information and item that can be secured. It far exceeds the information secured from telephone and self-administered surveies, mails studies or computing machine. The interviewer can besides make more things to better the quality of the information received than with another method ( Cooper, 1998 ) . The interviewer does hold more control, they can see the behaviour of the respondent, if the individual is misanthropic, emotional or angry about a certain topic. A disadvantage is that personal interviews are clip devouring. If a high sum of respondents is needed, a batch of interviews have to be done. Besides that, people can be loath to speak with aliens ( if the interviewer is a alien ) or on the other manus does nt desire to give excessively much personal information or show feelings if the interviewer is known to the respondent. Focus groups A focal point group is a panel of people led by a moderator who meet for 90 proceedingss to 2 hours. The facilitator or moderator utilizations group kineticss rules to concentrate or steer the group in an exchange of thoughts, feelings, and experiences on a specific subject. Focus groups can be used to bring forth and measure thoughts or appraisal of demands ( Cooper, 1998 ) . The advantages of focal point groups are that they provide a director or researcher a speedy appreciation of the nucleus issues of a subject or job. Participants can react in their ain words and they can respond to each others responses what can take to interesting treatments about the topic. A disadvantage is that there is a limited sampling truth and to acquire a better overview quantitative instrument will be needed. Case surveies Case surveies place more accent on a full contextual analysis of events or conditions and their relationships ( Cooper, 1998 ) . Single instance surveies can be done every bit good as multiple instance surveies. The advantage of a individual instance survey is the in-depth information and cognition that is gained about a individual topic. The disadvantage of a instance survey that it relies on a batch of qualitative and quantitative informations. Self-Administered ( mail ) Surveies In a mail study, the respondent can take more clip to roll up fact, talk with others, or consider answers than is possible with personal interviews. May studies are more impersonal and supplying more namelessness than other interview methods. The chief advantage is that it is non excessively clip devouring and namelessness will excite people to give honest replies. The major disadvantage is that there is no control over the response. Furthermore there is a restriction on the length of an interview, as respondents will decline to collaborate with long or complex questionnaires. Document analysis Document analysis is a systematic process for reexamining or measuring paperss. The paperss contain text or images that were non recorded for the intents of the research. It is a qualitative research that requires that informations are examined and interpreted by the research worker in order to arouse significance, addition apprehension, and develop empirical cognition ( Corbin A ; Straus, 2008 ) . This instrument is frequently used prior to a survey and the information will be incorporated in the study. It is frequently used in combination with other qualitative instruments. The advantage of this instrument is that it gives a batch of in-depth information about the topic. A disadvantage is that there is a batch of information available and it depends on the research workers accomplishment to divide the utile information and construe it in the right manner in order to do it applicable for the research. 2.3 Chosen research methods Due to the topic of the research both types of research are needed in order to come to a proper result. Nevertheless most of the research will be Qualitative research. This because, as mentioned earlier in this chapter, qualitative research is all about the human facets. Satisfaction is an emotion or a feeling people have in a certain state of affairs and is hence really human. Qualitative research will assist replying the research inquiries about guest satisfaction and employee satisfaction, and to acquire an overview of the current breakfast operations in the Renaissance Amsterdam Hotel. Quantitative research is needed to acquire an overview over a larger population of invitees and employees. This will give an result that can be measured and presented in a tabular array. All these informations used for the research are Primary informations gathered through field research. Furthermore secondary informations will be gathered by carry oning a desk research seeking information about th e hotel, and theories about guest- and employee satisfaction. 2.4 Chosen research instruments In order to happen replies to the research inquiries different research instruments will be used. First of all papers analysis will be used to garner in-depth information about the topic, but besides to acquire a better understanding about the topic. In order to acquire a good overview of the hotel, paperss will be analyzed that give information about the environment in and outside the hotel. To analyse this information different strategic analyzing tools will be used. To derive better cognition about guest- and employee satisfaction, literature about these topics will be reviewed. This instrument is chosen because it is necessary to hold in-depth information about guest- and employee satisfaction before it can be analyzed for this specific hotel. Case survey will be used to acquire a good overview about how the breakfast is operated in the hotel. This will be a individual instance survey. As it has been said, instance surveies do rely on qualitative and quantitative informations. This information will be gathered through the usage of focal point groups and self-administered studies. To find guest satisfaction, email studies will be used. Every invitee that visited gets the chance to go forth there email reference upon check-out. After the check-out procedure, studies about the overall experience during the invitees stay will be send to these email references. In these studies invitees can hit there breakfasts experiences from 1-10, judging on the nutrient quality experience and service quality experience. All rates above 7 will be counted as satisfied to cipher the guest satisfaction per centum. The expected response will be 30 per month based on old months. A higher response would be preferred but harmonizing to Marriott Standards, it is non allowed to force a invitee to make full in a study, or inquire the invitee to make full out studies during their stay ( MGS ) . However, these 30 invitees will be representative for the other invitees that stayed in the hotel at that minute. This instrument in preferred above in-depth interviews because more honorable repl ies will be given, as the invitee will respond anon. . The employee satisfaction is measured by a self-administered study. This study will be an machine-controlled study and every employee can make full this out anon. . Therefore it is excepted to have honest replies from all employees. The inquiries of this study can be found in appendix.. This is non the original mentality of the questionnaire, which is conducted by computing machine, but gives an overview of the inquiries asked. As all employees are obligatory to make full out this study a response of 30 is expected. Although this study might hold the restriction that less in-depth information is received, the result of the study can be discussed in a focal point group when necessary. The focal point groups instrument is used to find the preparation and motive demands of the employees. In this focal point group will dwell of all breakfast employees, both full clip and portion clip. The breakfast squad consists of 30 people in entire. Not all people will be reached at the same clip, hence 3 Sessionss with 10 people each clip will be scheduled. During these Sessionss the preparation and motives demands of the employees will be the chief treatment point. In appendix.. the design of this focal point group treatment will be presented. As the employees are working in a squad and interact with each other, this method will be more utile than in-depth interviews. Furthermore in-depth interviews will be more clip consuming and hence found of less usage for this research. 2.5 Research instruments applied 2.5.1 Overview In the undermentioned tabular array for each research inquiry is stipulated what sort of research will be done and what instruments will be used to reply the research inquiry. Problem statement Quantitative or Qualitative Desk or Field Instruments What is the hotels current place? ( strategic analysis ) Qualitative Desk, usage of secondary informations Document analysis. Several strategic analysing tools from direction books. Hotel Data Milligram What is guest satisfaction? Qualitative and quantitative Desk, usage of secondary informations Field, usage of primary informations Document analysis Hospitality books ( literature reappraisal ) Hotel informations. GSS studies What is employee satisfaction? Qualitative and quantitative Desk, usage of secondary informations Field, usage of primary informations Document analysis Hospitality books ( literature reappraisal ) Hotel informations Employee studies How s the breakfast service presently operated? Qualitative Desk, usage of secondary informations Field, usage of primary informations Hotel informations, guest remarks, employee remarks, focal point groups. How to actuate and develop the employees of the Renaissance Amsterdam hotel? Qualitative Desk research, Field, analysing motive A ; preparation demands Document analysis HR books. Focus groups Remarks from employees What is the relationship between employee- and guest satisfaction? Qualitative Desk research Field, GSS Document analysis GSS remarks 2.4.2 Explanation overview What is the hotels current place? ( strategic analysis ) This inquiry is chosen in order to acquire more inside information about the hotel. To come up with recommendations, an in-depth vision of the hotel is necessary. Therefore is chosen to make a strategic analysis of the company. This analysis is a qualitative research since the purpose is to happen out about the indispensable character ( Cooper A ; Schindler, 1998 ) of the company, and can besides be characterized as a case-study. Both desk and field research will be applied to reply this research inquiry the best manner. Desk research will be done by papers analysis, reexamining informations gathered from the hotel ( Secondary information ) . All this information will be put together in order to analyse the company with the aid of strategic analysing tools from direction books. What is guest satisfaction? This inquiry is chosen to understand the definition guest satisfaction . To reply this inquiry a literature reappraisal will be conducted. This analysis is a qualitative analysis and can every bit good be characterized as papers analysis, desk research. What is employee satisfaction? This inquiry is chosen to understand the definition guest satisfaction . To reply this inquiry an extended literature reappraisal will be conducted. This analysis is a qualitative analysis and can every bit good be characterized as papers analysis, desk research. How is the breakfast service presently operated? This inquiry is chosen to acquire a better position of the breakfast in the hotel. The inquiry is separated from the first inquiry ( a position of the hotels current place could besides discus breakfast ) because this is the chief focal point of the research. This analysis is a qualitative research and can every bit good be characterized as a case-study. Desk and field research will be done. Information from the hotel will be used in order to acquire a better penetration in how breakfast is presently managed. The breakfast service operations will be studied and employees will be interviewed through focal point groups. In this portion the existent guest satisfaction of the RAH will be measured. This will be done trough an study conducted by electronic mail. This will be a quantitative research done by field research. Furthermore the existent employee satisfaction of the RAH will be measured every bit good. This will be done trough a self-administered study conducted with all breakfast employees. This will be a quantitative research done by field research. How to actuate and develop the employees of the Renaissance Amsterdam hotel? To reply this inquiry a literature reappraisal will be done to acquire more penetration in motive and preparation employees. This analysis is a qualitative analysis and can every bit good be characterized as papers analysis, done by desk research. Furthermore another qualitative research instrument, focal point groups will be used to detect the motive and preparation demands of the employees. What is the relationship between employee- and guest satisfaction? With this inquiry the relationship between employee- and guest satisfaction will be researched. There for an desk analysis will be done by papers analysis ( Qualitative Research ) Furthermore the information of the Guest satisfaction studies and employee satisfaction studies ( Quantitative information ) will be discussed and linked to the theory, this field research can be characterized as a case-study. 2.5 Drumhead In this chapter the different research methods and instruments were discussed. After a survey of the theory about these topics, the methods and instruments for this research were chosen. The chief research method will be qualitative, this because satisfaction is a experiencing a individual has about a certain experience and hence really human. Qualitative research is about the human facets of an topic, opposed to quantitative research, where results are measured and can be put in tabular arraies or artworks The chief instrument will be document-analysis ( secondary informations analysis ) , this papers analysis will be done by utilizing literature about the topics discussed in this study. To analyse the current breakfast operations, the breakfast operation will be observed and the employees will be able to discourse their sentiment in a focus-group. The focal point groups is of import to analyse the interaction between the different employees en acquire a more in-depth position in their sentiments and experiences. There will be besides quantitative methods used in this research. This is used to give invitees and employees the chance to give an anon. feedback on the breakfast service. This is used alternatively of in-depth interviews as people can experience more limited when non being anon. . These methods and instruments are used to give a proper reply on all research methods. The information gathered by utilizing these instruments are displayed in the following chapter of this study. Chapter 3: Consequences 3.1 Preview In this chapter the consequences of the research will be presented. The consequences will be presented per research inquiry .etc etc nog niet af .. 3.2 What is the hotel s current place? 3.2.1 Internal analysis The internal analysis was done utilizing the 7 s Model, developed two advisers of the McKinsey Company in the early 1980 s ( Proven Models B.V. , 2011 ) . This theoretical account discusses internal facets that should be analyzed and aligned in order for a company to work decently. These factors are the undermentioned ; scheme, construction, systems, staff, manner, accomplishments and shared values. In the debut the Renaissance Amsterdam Hotel major features have already been described. In this chapter the internal environment of the hotel will be described harmonizing to the old mentioned 7 S Model. Scheme The vision, mission, aims and nucleus values of MI are the drive forces behind every hotel portion of the Marriott concatenation. Vision: To be the Global Hospitality Leader . This vision is grounded in the intense focal point on taking attention of the invitee, extended operational cognition, the development of a extremely skilled and diverse work force, and offering the best portfolio of lodging trade names in the industry. As MI is considered in the top three of hotel ironss worldwide, this is an accomplishable vision. Mission: To construct trade name trueness and penchant to maximize stockholder value . The ideals from the vision are expressed in this mission statement. A mission statement guides a hotel as it seeks to accomplish the long term aims ( Olsen, 1998 ) . This mission statement indicates that through trade name trueness and penchant, which includes invitees every bit good as employees, the stockholder value will be maximized. As about all Marriott Hotels are managed by the concatenation and non owned, it is really of import maximise the stockholder value and be able to turn. Goals: as an extension of the mission and vision ends were designed. The first end is: Solidify merchandise and service leading, drive net income and optimise growing . This end gives a method for accomplishing the mission. The 2nd end gives a more mensurable indicant of the vision: Double the presence of Marriott in Europe Core Valuess: The nucleus values are based on the construct of the Spirit to Serve this spirit includes cardinal ideals of service to associates, clients, and community which serve as the basis for all Marriott Associates ( MGS ) To adhere to this scheme, the Renaissance trade name has developed its ain set of criterions and enterprises to reflect on the values stated above, these are called the R-Ways. There are 20 R-Ways and those are scheme, behavioral or community based ( Appendix.. ) . The R-ways are revolving every twenty-four hours and discussed at pre-shift meetings. Herewith the operational staff is able to discourse the different R-ways and acquire more involved in the aims of the hotel. Another really of import scheme is the selling scheme of the hotel, as how the hotel performs depends on the sale of suites. The most of import channels for this are on-line engagements and the group bookings done by the Events Booking Centre. The pricing scheme used for the sale of suites is rational this means that it is easy for the invitee to understand why a rate is asked for a specific room. Therefore a basal monetary value is set for the Deluxe room ( standard room ) and between the different room types, ever the same monetary value difference is used. Furthermore MI has the look no farther warrant. Herewith it is guaranteed that the monetary value listed on the Marriott web site is the best rate available everyplace, with exclusion of corporate rate publicities. The day-to-day rate is based on an estimated demand. This estimated demand is determined by the system Marriott One Yield LRTP ( Long Range Project Tool ) . This system uses historical informations and current res erves to find tendencies that help to foretell the demand for that specific twenty-four hours. In appendix.. a tabular array is shown that compares the figures of the RHI to the figures from the Hosta Benchmark Report. This figure shows that the tenancy and room rate are higher than benchmarked. Structure The Renaissance Amsterdam Hotel employs about 215 employees of at least 25 different nationalities. The construction of the hotel is of functional design. This means grouping directors and employees harmonizing to their countries of expertness and the resources they use to execute their occupations ( Hellregiel et al, 2005 ) . This construction has economical benefits because the simple construction keeps administrative disbursals low as everyone in a section can portion preparation, experience and resources. Furthermore, calling waies are clearly to be seen by employees within their ain section. An organisational chart can be found in appendix Disadvantages of the construction can be that an unequal communicating between units can happen as sections focus more on their departmental instead than organisational issues and ends. Furthermore horizontal linkages are hard to do as employees are specifically trained. For illustration an nutrient and drink employee wo nt be able to help at the front office. However, since the undertakings and duties are really specific and different per section, it is of import to hold the company structured clearly and hence this construction beneficial to the manner of operating in the hotel. Furthermore the lines of communicating are really clear to all employees, an operational employee will describe merely to the Supervisor on Duty and the supervisor will pass on if necessary upwards to their director. In this same manner directors or managers will pass on information to operational employees. Systems The Property Management System that is used in the RAH is OPERA used chiefly by the suites section. Used by the suites section but besides the gross revenues and selling section is MARSHA an Global Reservations System used by all Marriott s over the universe. The F A ; B section uses MICROS as an Point of Sale System. Each section has its ain system to treat, analyse and update informations, but the chief systems mentioned above are used to hold all sections informed about of import invitee informations. Another of import system is MGS, Marriott Global Source. This is a website merely accessible for Marriott employees and is a beginning of information and cognition for all Marriott s worldwide. Following to the computerized systems, the Renaissance Amsterdam Hotel besides has operational systems in topographic point. One of these systems are the Brand Standards. These criterions are developed by the Head Office and every different Marriott trade name has the same criterions a hotel has to adhere to. These criterions range from reserve processs to check-out processs and all procedures in between and make non merely depict the processs for guest contact, but besides, for illustration, the design and equipment for a invitee room, the coveted cleanliness of a storage room or the coveted sum of developing given to the employees. To interpret these trade name criterions into operational systems, every hotel can develop their ain Local Standard Operation Procedures, or LSOP s. This allows the hotel to still adhere to the Brand Standards, but do it more practical, informal and adjusted to local criterions. Nevertheless these LSOP s have to be approved by the manager of the section, in order to do certain it is still up to Brand Standard. These criterions are checked by an external auditing squad, that visits the hotel on a regular footing. After each audit an study is send to all section caputs in order to follow up on the feedback given. Staff The staff of the Renaissance Amsterdam Hotel are non called employees. Harmonizing to the Renaissance trade name the employees are the trade names Ambassadors . This name is given in order to give the employees a feeling of engagement, and engagement towards the hotel in order to experience more responsible and experience less hierarchy. However in this study the term employee will be used. As mentioned before in this chapter, the hotel has employees of 25 different nationalities. This is divided in 65 % Dutch employees and 35 % other nationalities. Furthermore it can be seen that the per centum of international employees is higher in the operational sections. Marriott International has strict regulations about equal intervention and a zero-tolerance policy towards racism ( MGS ) , and hence there is a low sum of cultural misinterpretations. The official linguistic communications spoken in the hotel are English and Dutch and it is non allowed for people from other nationalities t o talk in their ain linguistic communication if there is an employee involved who does non talk or understand that linguistic communication. Furthermore, since a hotel is an international environment, the Dutch indigens are used to cover with international people. Besides, many of the international employees in the hotel have taken the clip to larn the Dutch linguistic communication. The lissome integrating of employees into the on the job environment and is good to the working-culture of the Renaissance Amsterdam Hotel. And this non merely works positive on the work floor, but besides has an extra benefit for the international invitees ; frequently guests can be served in their ain linguistic communication. Another of import facet about staff is the employee motive and satisfaction. This topic will be extensively dealt with in paragraph Marriott International has al broad scope of developing stuff and educational stuff available on the MGS web site. However, when it comes to pattern, it seems that non all available resources are used to develop or educate the staff. Although the work environment is acceptable, the wages paid are above lower limit, there are good company policies in topographic point and employees and directors are encouraged to make a pleasant and sociable work environment, the Hotel merely scored 65 % ( mean ) on satisfaction harmonizing to the employee satisfaction study of January. The nutrient and drink section scored higher with an mark of 76 % on satisfaction. Manner The direction manner of the Renaissance Amsterdam Hotel can be best characterised as bureaucratic. In a bureaucratic civilization, the behavior of employees is governed by formal regulations and criterion operating processs, and coordination is achieved through hierarchal coverage relationships ( Hellriegel et al, 2005 ) . As discussed in before the construction of the concern is hierarchal ( organisational chart, appendix.. ) there is small communicating between operational staff and higher direction. Decisions by higher direction will be made with consideration of all employees, but the employees are non portion of the determination devising procedure. This leading manner is non as stiff and commanding as the bossy manner, but besides non every bit free as the democratic or individualistic manner. In big companies like the Renaissance Amsterdam Hotel, rigorous and clear regulations are needed, and hence this leading manner is chosen. However, within each section other leadings ma nners can happen in order to affect the employees more into the day-to-day operations. Skills Skills refer to the existent accomplishments and capablenesss of an administration as a whole ( Proven Models B.V. , 2011 ) . The Renaissance Amsterdam Hotel has a some procedures in topographic point that make certain the people working in the hotel are skilled. One of these procedures is the enlisting procedure, which is used in every hotel portion of Marriott International. Equally shortly as a there is a vacancy, the human resources embassador will fix a internal notice. As MI believes in publicity from within, the vacancy has to be posted for 72 hours internally before it will be placed on the Marriott Careers website. On the website appliers can use online, where the first measure is to direct their CV, Reason of involvement and personal information. If the applier is found suited for the place by this first information, he or she will be invited to make an online appraisal. The appraisal consists of multiple pick inquiries related to the occupation applied for where several instances are presented. The applier has to take how he or she would respond on or cover with every state of affairs. Merely app licants hiting green on this trial are invited for an interview. This method is really efficient as the accomplishments and cognition of the applier is already tested before the interview. Because of this the interview can be an behavioral interview where the applier is asked behavioral inquiries and is looked ad how the applier would suit within the squad. Behavioural interviewing is done trough the STAR method. ( Situation-Task-Action-Result ) This method allows the interviewer to hold an easy cheque if every inquiry is to the full answered. When all appliers are interviewed, the human resource section and the several section decide who will make full the place, where precedence is placed on appliers from the Marriott Chain ( internal ) over external appliers. This enlisting procedure is the same for every degree of the company, from operational staff to managers. In this manner MI insures that the enlisting procedure is consistent and just. After being hired, every new employ of The Renaissance Amsterdam Hotel has to follow the Renaissance official preparation plan, called In The Beginning . Again, every degree of hierarchy is compulsory to follow this two-day preparation which is given in the first month of employment. In this preparation, new hires are introduced to all facets of the Marriott Chain, the Renaissance Brand and the specific hotel. The new hires are treated as invitees in the hotel to acquire the full experience they will supply to the invitee. After three months a follow-up preparation is will be given, called the Plot Thickens . In this one-day developing the old preparation will be reviewed every bit good as first experiences in the workplace. Furthermore the accent of the preparation is team work and service. In this developing the Renaissance vision of service is explained and implemented. These preparations are given to guarantee the people working for the hotel are skilled and have knowledge ab out non merely their section, but besides the vision of the Renaissance trade name. The employees are encouraged to be an Ambassador of the Renaissance trade name. Although this intensive preparation at the beginning of employment, supervisors and directors fail to travel on with uninterrupted developing for every bit good long-run employees and reasonably new employees. As mentioned before, MGS has a broad scope of preparation stuffs able for all employees. Every beginning of the displacement a 15-minute preparation should be done, where the R-way of that twenty-four hours is discussed, the squad is briefed, fortes of that twenty-four hours will be discussed and a tasting of the dish of the twenty-four hours will be given. This could be a really effectual manner for the employees to derive more cognition and ask inquiries, but it seems non to be done systematically in pattern. Furthermore there are a batch of preparations provided, but the directors and supervisors pay small consideration to these preparations and do non promote the employees to go to. Another tool to see the employees are skilled is the Passport to Success plan. This plan consists of specified preparations per section and alteration every twelvemonth to do certain all employees are up to day of the month. The preparation has trials 12 subjects ( such as: Host , Breakfast service , or Bar-Arts ) and every twelvemonth the section should hold full conformity. As observed in the F A ; B section this is non taken excessively serious. The supervisors do nt hold or do the clip to develop the employees decently and make full out the trial themselves in order to obtain this full conformity, instead than do certain the staff is up to day of the month. Shared values The nucleus values of Marriott International were already set in 1927 when the first hot-shoppe was opened. These are the words of of Marriott co-founder J. Willard Marriott, When you take good attention of your people, they ll take good attention of the client, and the client will come back and back and back, and the concern will take attention of itself. Or, his married woman, Alice S. Marriott, said it more merely by saying, Happy people means happy clients. ( MGS ) . All Marriott Hotels still work harmonizing to these values, although they changed in words and are more analyzed and expanded by know. Marriott now sets the following nucleus values: Put Peoples foremost, take attention of associates and they will take attention of the clients Pursue Excellence, dedication to the client through service excellence Embrace Change, success is neer concluding Act with Integrity, how we do concern is every bit of import as the concern we do Serve our World, Our spirit to function makes our civilization more vibrant, our concern stronger and the universe a better topographic point ( MGS ) . These values are shared with all employees in the In the Beginning preparation and are interlocked in the days are the Associate Appreciation Week were directors and managers organize and help with a hebdomad of celebrations for the employees and the annually breakfast that the hotel arranges for a child infirmary in Amsterdam. Following to the MI nucleus values does the Renaissance Amsterdam Hotel besides have its ain values. These values are shared with the employees during the in the In the Beginning preparation every bit good on a day-to-day hebdomadal footing through R-Way figure 1: Live Renaissance Core Values Intriguing, Indigenous, Independent. When person is intrigued he is funny for something. The Renaissance Amsterdam Hotel calls it guests Explorers and adventurers are ever funny for something new. Employees can portion these value by sharing indoors information, non known by tourers, or tourers ushers, such as a merely opened museum or an new eating house. Employees are encouraged to make so and besides a particular Navigator usher is made for employees to cognize about new, challenging topographic points. Autochthonal means that the invitee has the feeling that the hotel is connected to the local community and has a history of its ain. Mugwump can be seen in the design of the hotel. Not one Renaissance Hotel is the same, all hotels have different design and mentality. The Renaissance Amsterdam Hotel shows to be both autochthonal and independent as it has The Koepelchurch, a sixteenth Century dome church connected to the hotel and now used for events. Another autochthonal facet is the Koepel Cafe , a typical Dutch brown cafe , visit non merely by tourers, but besides by locals, which give the invitees the feeling that they are portion of the local community. These three nucleus values give the invitees the feeling that The Renaissance Amsterdam Hotel is an alone hotel and that their stay is an alone stay. Especially operational staff is encouraged to portion these values with the invitees and to larn and research every bit much as possible to be able to supply the invitees with the best possible recommendations and service during their stay. 3.2.3 External Analysis To acquire a good overview of the development outside a hotel it is of import to make an external analysis. This environment is besides called the Macro environment. The macro environment is the environment the organisation has no influence on. Nevertheless outside forces can hold a great influence on the organisation. Analyzing this macro environment gives a good penetration in the chances and menaces of a hotel. For this analysis the Environmental Scanning theoretical account by Kotler is used ( Kotler, 2002 ) . This theoretical account identifies the six most influential forces in a hotels macro environment. These 6 forces are as follows ; Demographic forces, Economic forces, Natural forces, Technological forces, Political forces, and cultural forces. In this paragraph every force will be discussed The Demographic Environment Demography is the survey of human populations in footings of size, denseness, location, age, sex, race, business and other statistics ( Kotler, 2002 p.124 ) . Demographic forces are really of import for a hotel as it involves people, the invitees of the hotel. In order to analyse the right group of people foremost the market mix of hotels in Amsterdam should be considered. Therefore the HOSTA 2010 study is was used. This study is presented every twelvemonth by Horwath HTL ( appendix 4 ) . After reexamining these informations, there can be concluded that the market mix of hotels in Amsterdam is dwelling of Dutch, British and American invitees ( printed bold ) . Therefore the demographic portion of the external analysis is based on these three population groups. In the following figure the demographic mix of the three population groups is presented ( appendix 5 ) . Out of this figure can be concluded that the three populations are reasonably the same demographics such as age distribution, growing rate, faith and life anticipation. Therefore, in this analysis the same tendencies can be applied to all three populations. Appendix 6 shows the cardinal factors of demographic alterations in the Top 10 beginning markets. The top 10 beginning markets consists of ; the Netherlands, the USA, the UK, Switzerland, Italy, France, Austria, Belgium, Denmark and Japan ( Grimm et al, 2009 ) . The altering age construction of the population The individual most noticeable demographic tendency in Europe and other industrialised states including the US is the altering age construction of the population ( Kotler, 2002 ) . Harmonizing to a study of the United Nations the older population is turning at a much faster rate than the rate of the entire population. The entire birthrate rate is below the replacing degree in practically all industrialised states ( United Nations, 2008 ) . The population has been progressively ageing for the past 60 old ages and it is predicted it will go on to make so ( Appendix 6 ) . The altering age construction will act upon different facets of the society. Investings are predicted to diminish, while nest eggs will increase, which influences the economic growing in a negative manner. Furthermore the older the population, the lower the work force while the demand of health care will be turning. The lifting figure of educated people The United Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO ) has been roll uping informations for old ages sing the instruction of the universe s population. What has been observed is that the universe is going more educated in general. More and more first universe citizens are inscribing in third educational plans ( Appendix 7 ) . This in writing shows that the registration in third instruction has increased in North America and Western Europe every bit good as worldwide over the past 10 old ages. When looking at The Netherlands, instruction is besides an of import facet in the society. In order to increase the return on educational disbursals, the Dutch authorities focuses on the usage of endowment, on every educational degree. Therefore quality of instruction is really of import. Although the crisis, there will be less nest eggs on instruction in comparing to other nest eggs done by the authorities. This all is done to fix the Netherlands for the expected knowledge-driven economic system ( Miljoenennota 2012 ) . The economic environment Economic growing can hold a big impact on consumer demand for cordial reception services. Economic forces influence organisational behaviour and public presentation. Forces that create growing and net income aid organisations to take actions that will fulfill all stakeholders such as proprietors, employees and providers. But, on the other manus, negative economic tendencies make an organisation face high force per unit areas to cover with the different involvements of the different stakeholders ( Harrison, 2005 ) . For illustration, diminishing grosss will do the proprietors of a hotel less satisfied. They might make up ones mind to diminish labour costs in order to still make net income ends. Employees in this instance will be less satisfied as they will experience there is more force per unit area on them to work harder. Below an analysis of 3 different economic indexs can be found. The indexs are based on an analysis of the features of advanced economic systems by the International Monetary Fund. There is no constituted definition for an advanced economic system, but Kofi Anan, former Secretary General of the United Nations defined an advanced state as follows: A developed ( advanced ) state is one that allows all its citizens to bask a free and healthy life in a safe environment. The states where the most invitees of the hotel come from can be considered as developed states. Gross domestic merchandise The Gross domestic merchandise is frequently considered the best step of how good the economic system is executing ( Mankiw, 2003 ) . GDP can be viewed at in two ways, foremost as the entire income of everyone in the economic system, 2nd, as the entire outgo on the economic system s end product of goods and service. An economic system with a big end product of goods and service can break fulfill the demands of families, companies and the authorities. In this analysis the per centum growing of Real GDP is used. Real GDP measures the value of goods and services utilizing a changeless set of monetary values. This better represents how an economic system is making, as a society s ability to supply economic satisfaction for its members finally depends on the measures of goods and service produced. Appendix 8 shows the lessening of GDP during the economic crisis. A negative growing in existent GDP means that the economic end product was less than the entire outgos. A little growing after 2011 is expected. Private consumer outgo The private consumer outgo ( PCE ) is a major constituent of the GDP. It covers consumer disbursement on goods every bit good as services. Appendix 9 shows the per centum alteration of the PCE. It shows one of the grounds the GDP has grown negatively in past old ages. If the disbursement form is non every bit much as old old ages and the end product continues as earlier, there will be excessively much supply and less net income. Domestic demand Another of import constituent of the GDP is domestic demand. Domestic demand shows the demand for goods and services in a state. If there is a diminution in domestic demand, the first constituents affected are largely luxury merchandises and non-essential services. Appendix 10 shows the bead in demand when the consumers were affected by the crisis. Again a little addition is expected, when the economic system will be more stable and the consumer will swear the economic system once more. Continuing economic uncertainness Since 2007 the universe knows a fiscal crisis, besides called the Global Financial Crisis. This crisis started with the prostration of the lodging market in the United States in 2007. This had a great impact on planetary economic markets and reduced investor assurance which finally led to great losingss on the stock markets in 2008-2009. Economies worldwide weakened and authoritiess and cardinal Bankss needed to take action and tried to work out the economic jobs with financial aid and alteration of pecuniary policies. The economic status of European authoritiess deteriorated as the income from revenue enhancements declined but the authorities costs increased. This all makes the cardinal Bankss going more cautious ( European Tourism 2011 ) . The European Central Bank was the first major cardinal bank raising rates in 2011. This indicates the concern about credibleness. The Social-Cultural environment The cultural environment is made up of establishments and other forces that affect society s basic values, perceptual experiences, penchants and behaviours ( Kotler 2002 p.140 ) . When sing the cultural environment of Amsterdam there has to be thought of all the tourers sing the metropolis, the different civilizations act uponing Amsterdam short term ( tourers ) and Long term ( dwellers ) . To happen out the consequence of alterations in the social-cultural environment on the cordial reception industry, there has to be looked at tendencies that affect the Dutch or Amsterdam cordial reception market. An recent article published in the New York Times ( Benhold, 2010 ) analyses the tendency toward parttime and more relaxed working hours called the new universe of work with the Dutch as innovators of this new tendency in work and life balance. Predicted is that, within the coming old ages besides work-focussed states such as the United States and The United Kingdom will get down cut downing working hours to pass more clip with their household, or for diversion or relaxation clip. This is a consequence of more adult female come ining the work force, but besides productiveness is going more of import than existent worked hours. In add-on to this, Carslon Wagonlit s concern travel tendencies study ( Koetting A ; Widener, 2010 ) predicts an lessening of measure of concern trips, concentrating on minimisation and productiveness of each concern trip. This means that companies will extinguish the unneeded concern trip and acquire more productiveness out of less concern trips. This will act upon the Amsterdam Hospitality market negatively ; as concern trips are a big market for Amsterdam Hotels, including the Renaissance Amsterdam Hotel. Another tendency in the social-cultural environment is sing the leisure guests. Amsterdam is globally celebrated for its tolerance towards drugs. Coffee stores are every bit much as an touristic attractive force as some celebrated landmarks in Holland. 26 % of leisure invitees sing Amsterdam visits a java store ( Gemeente Amsterdam, 2007 ) . For over already 10 old ages the authorities maintain stricter regulations towards java stores, a so called extinguish policy . This policy forbids java stores to go on their concern after interrupting the set regulations for 3 times. Furthermore, since 2007 it is non allowed to function alcoholic drinks in a java store and at that place had to be decided to either go on selling soft-drugs, or continue the same constitution as a regular cafe . In 2011 the authorities decided to even beef up the regulations even more to diminish people from outside the state sing java stores ( Tweede Kamer der Staten Generaal, 2011 ) . This will be the terminal of the open-door policy as java stores will merely be allowed to sell to their club members . This new policy will be effectual from January 2013 in the whole Netherlands. Although the Renaissance Amsterdam Hotel is a 5 star hotel and non taking for drugs tourers it is likely that this will impact the whole Amsterdam Hospitality Industry. The Natural environment The past old ages at that place has been a turning force per unit area on the cordial reception industry to Travel Green . This force per unit area comes from both the authorities as the populace. ( Brymer et Al, 2012 ) . This because the people are acquiring more and more aware of natural resources. With the increasing population, besides more natural resources are needed. Environmental consciousness additions, and hence people are willing to make more to maintain a sustainable environment. As hotels are frequently large companies and hence can hold a large impact on the natural environment. The Technological Environment The technological environment is possibly the most dramatic force now determining our fate ( Kotler, 2002 p.135 ) . Social Networking is one of the fastest turning technological tendencies at present clip. Most used are Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and Flick but besides these good known web sites there were in 2012 246 societal media sites available on the cyberspace ( Brymer et Al, 2012 ) . Social networking sites have become frequently used method of communicating all over the universe. It is a fast manner for hotel to portion information with ( hereafter ) invitees and update people on approaching events or publicities. Furthermore a broad scope of people can be reached at comparatively low costs as the web sites are already created by a 3rd party. However, because this is a fast paced communicating tool, it is really of import to maintain all information up to day of the month. 3.6 Drumhead Chapter 4: Decisions and recommendations 4.1 Preview 4.2 Decisions 4.2.1 Sub subdivisions 4.3 Recommendations 4.3.1 Sub subdivisions 4.4 Contributions and restrictions of the assignment

The History of Early and Modern Screws and Screwdrivers

The History of Early and Modern Screws and Screwdrivers A screw is any shaft with a corkscrew-shaped groove formed on its surface. Screws are used to fasten two objects together. A screwdriver is a tool for driving (turning) screws; screwdrivers have a tip that fits into the head of a screw. Early Screws Around the first century CE, screw shaped tools became common, however, historians do not know who invented the first. Early screws were made from wood and were used in wine presses, olive oil presses, and for pressing clothes. Metal screws and nuts used to fasten two objects together first appeared in the fifteenth century. Mass Production of Screws In 1770, English instrument maker, Jesse Ramsden (1735–1800) invented the first satisfactory screw-cutting lathe. Ramsden inspired other inventors. In 1797, Englishmen, Henry Maudslay (1771–1831) invented a large screw-cutting lathe that made it possible to mass-produce accurately sized screws. In 1798, American David Wilkinson also invented machinery for the mass production of threaded metal screws. Robertson Screw In 1908, square-drive screws were invented by Canadian P. L. Robertson. Twenty-eight years before Henry Phillips patented his Phillips head screws, which are also square-drive screws. The Robertson screw is considered the first recess-drive type fastener practical for production usage. The design became a North American standard, as published in the sixth edition of Industrial Fasteners Institute Metric and Inch Standards. A square-drive head on a screw can be better than a slot head because the screwdriver will not slip out of the screws head during installation. The Model T car made by the Ford Motor Company (one of Robertsons first customers) used over seven hundred Robertson screws. Phillips Head Screw In the early 1930s, the Phillips head screw was invented by Henry Phillips. Automobile manufacturers now used car assembly lines. They needed screws that could take greater torque and could provide tighter fastenings. The Phillips head screw was compatible with the automated screwdrivers used in an assembly line. Allen Key A hexagonal or hex screw head has a hexagonal hole turned by an Allen key. An Allen key is a hexagonally shaped wrench. Screwdriver In 1744, the flat-bladed bit for the carpenters brace was invented, the precursor to the first simple screwdriver. Handheld screwdrivers first appeared after 1800. Types of Screws Cap screw has a convex head, usually hexagonal, designed to be driven by a spanner or wrench.The wood  screw has a tapered shaft allowing it to penetrate the undrilled  wood.Machine screw has a cylindrical shaft and fits into a nut or a tapped hole, a small bolt.The self-tapping  screw has a cylindrical shaft and a sharp thread that cuts its own hole, often used in sheet metal or plastic.Drywall screw is a specialized self-tapping screw with a cylindrical shaft that has proved to have uses far beyond its original application.The set screw has no head and is designed to be inserted flush with or below the surface of the workpiece.The double-ended  screw is a wood-screw with two pointed ends and no head. It is used for making hidden joints between two pieces of wood. Shapes of Screw Head Pan head: disc with a chamfered outer edgeCheesehead: disc with a cylindrical  outer edgeCountersunk: conical, with flat outer face and tapering inner face allowing it to sink into the material, very common for wood screwsButton or dome head: flat inner face and hemispherical outer faceMirror screw head: countersunk head with a tapped hole to receive a separate screw-in chrome-plated cover; used for attaching mirrors Types of Screw Drive A variety of tools  exists  to drive screws into the material to be fixed. The hand tools used to drive slot-headed and cross-headed screws  are  called screwdrivers. A power tool that does the same job is a power screwdriver. The hand-tool for driving cap screws and other types is called a spanner (U.K. usage) or wrench (U.S. usage). Slot head is driven by a flat-bladed screwdriver.Cross-head or Phillips screw has an X-shaped slot and is driven by a cross-head screwdriver, designed originally in the 1930s for use with mechanical screwing machines, intentionally made so the driver will ride out, or cam out, under strain to prevent over-tightening.Pozidriv is patented, similar to cross-head but with better resistance to slipping, or cam-out.Hexagonal or hex screw head has a hexagonal hole and is driven by a hexagonal wrench, sometimes called an Allen  key or a power tool with a hexagonal bit.Robertson drive head has a square hole and is driven by a special power-tool bit or screwdriver (this is a low-cost version of the hex head for domestic use).Torx head has a splined socket and receives a driver with a splined shaft.Tamper-proof  Torxs drive socket has a projection to prevent a standard  Torx  driver being inserted.Tri-Wing screws were used by Nintendo on its  Gameboys. This discouraged even minor home repairs to the units. Nuts Nuts are square, round, or hexagonal metal blocks with a screw thread on the inside. Nuts help fasten objects together and are used with screws or bolts.

Microplex Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Microplex - Essay Example If the company directors know it, they can stop any body from purchasing the land by convincing peter not to sign for it. But here the problem is not about purchasing land but the amount owed to Burkes and Wills and the clause that it was a heritage land and cannot be used for private commercial purposes. Here there was a provision in the corporate act (2001) to get enough time by applying for compensation. Microplex can get compensation from the Katrina family for deliberately hiding the legal tangles bebind the land scape (water front) they wanted to purchase from them. If they get the compensation then they can successfully get rid of burden of Burkes and Wills. If they did not get it they can get at least time for settling the legal tangles in Babinda trust and get credit from them to pay the dues of Bukes and Wills. The company can approach court according to the following provisions. (1) If the information in the application for a market licence in Australia contains information about the proposed compensation arrangements according to paragraph 881B(2), the minister can be compelled to treat the application as a thing for approval of the compensation arrangements and, for that action, he must consider the proposed arrangements were adequate. (3) When it was felt by the minister that the proposed compensation ar... (3) When it was felt by the minister that the proposed compensation arrangements are adequate the minister can grant the licence. But while granting the licence the minister must approve the compensation arrangements. Note: The other provisions about granting licences are in Subdivision A of Division4 of Part7.2. (4) The minister must follow the following in the conditions of licence. He must deal with the least amount of cover required in relation to the compensation arrangements in such manner as the minister thinks appropriate and He can identify the source of funds available to cover the claims and he can approve arrangements on the basis of them. (section 885H) 882B How to get compensation arrangements approved after licence is granted (1) There will be operators of licenced market. It any one of them wanted to have a compensation arrangements for the market approved after the granting of the licence, the so called operator should apply for approval according to the provisions of this section. (2) The application must: funish the information regarding and relevant to the compensation arrangements proposed. Those must be the arrangements required by regulations made for purposes about this paragraph and must accompanied by a copy of the proposed compensation rules and (b) can be made to the minister through lodging the application with the help of ASIC. Note: For fees in respect of lodging applications, see Part9.10. (3) The minister has a right or rejecting the application if he consider that the proposed compensation arrangements are not adequate according to the things mentioned in the law. (4) If the above (3) is not the case and if the minister considers the proposed arrangements are adequate then he must: (a) approval of the arrangements of

PUBLIC MANAGEMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

PUBLIC MANAGEMENT - Essay Example This was seen to have fewer negative effects on other objectives and considerations that governments may have in considering projects and offering of services to citizens in a country. Studies reveal that the new public management philosophy is more outcome and efficiency oriented as it employs better management techniques for public budgets and other key objectives with public interest. The techniques applied may include: the application of competition such is evidenced in the private sector, public organizations through the emphasis on leadership and economic principles, and a range of other approaches. Secondly, such an approach encourages new developments via the process of splitting large bureaucracies into smaller and more fragmented ones. This can be done through the introduction of competition between different public agencies, and between public agencies against private firms. Or, it can be achieved through incentivization while basing the change purely on more economic line s. This will allow the alignment of events towards the natural capitalistic systems that already exist within the markets. Furthermore, this is one of the easiest ways to impose values and techniques on the private sector management into the public sector organization and improve service and product delivery at the very same time. Incentivization theme On the other hand, it is important to look at one of the themes applied in public reform in forming the basis of furthering the paper discussion. Incentivization is a process that facilitates the shifting away from the involvement of managers and staffs rewarding performance in terms of a diffusing public or professional ethos and instead shifting towards a greater emphasis on financial-based and specific performance incentives (Lane 2000, p.54). This, in terms of the public sector, implied that there is a movement involving a down group and at the same time a down grid with relation to the existing cultural theories. It is said that the impact of this particular involvement has been marked by many professional groups that then chose to focus upon this as a means of encouraging an improved level of performance. Studies show that ‘incentivization’ mechanisms show the highest percentage of emerging the ‘new public management’ developments. This is evident because of an increased diversity involving public agencies in several countries to include: the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States. However, the expectations that performance related pay will improve performance of agency staffs has oftentimes been viewed as impossible by many scholars/researchers. Recent reforms in the United States Suggestions from an array of studies show that, the United States has engaged in various reforms within the past several decades; from healthcare to taxes and other sectors of the economy and society. Regarding the incentivization theme, it has been found that the current United States corpora te tax codes have had a large impact of incentivizing companies to relocate their business operations to other countries; thereby making these companies more multinational. This has been viewed as a technique of providing employment that will