Increasing Organizational Productivity Essay Example for Free

Increasing Organizational Productivity Essay There is a great challenge in increasing the productivity of organizations particularly to the managers who properly have turned to be experts in their specific fields. Basing on an organizational challenge that is tending to ubiquity, the productivity of the organization is the ratio that evaluates the efficiency of the resources used in the production of services. Production refers to the ratio between outputs and inputs. There are some particular companies that manage to produce more after using less as compared to other companies even when the conditions for productions are quite the same. Two companies may happen to be working in the same industry, deal with the same suppliers and resources, and work in similar business environment and after all, show some differences in organizational productivity. It means therefore the greatest challenge for managers of specific organizations is to have ideas on how to increase productivity. This is one of the manager’s responsibilities that lead to increasing the market share of an organization as well as maintaining profit (Smith, 1995). Goal setting A manager of an organization has to clarify the goals of the organizations, device processes so as to achieve them and in addition control the processes. A Service oriented organization basically shares the same goals with the peer organizations. The goals include developing a service that seems superior as compared to those offered in the marketplace. The second goal involves increasing the market share for the organizations. Sustain the profits and at the same time increase sales volume should be included. Moreover, offering suitable return on investment and using the available technology to increase productivity are also included. The goals also include eliminating waste, fostering the morale of the employees, reaching the best level of functioning efficiency and enhancing the image of the organization. It should be noted that the goals are related to each other and more importantly, their major intention is to increase the productivity of an organization. In all organizations the efforts of the employees basically determine the effectiveness of the organization. Generally, productivity happens in correlation to the interest and concern employees portray to a specific input component. Thus the human resource manager should be actively involved in developing and putting into practice practices and policies which encourage employees’ productivity (Maanen, 1998). Coping with factors that affect production There are some factors that have a great effect on productivity in service oriented companies. These are organization factors, environment factors, factors related to employee and management factors. The management of an organization have the obligation of examining the factors correctively to find out how one factor affects the other. This is because failure to examine a particular factor may lead to lowering of productivity. Since nobody can have a control on the environmental factors, the organization must always strive to be flexible so as to adapt to them. The structure of the organization is influenced by the environment it operates on and the environment has a significant impact on the employees. It is obvious that the style of the management establishes the effectiveness of the organization simply because it affects the reaction and attitude of the employee. Considering the relationship that exists among the factors have an ultimate effect on the productivity of an organization (Smith, 1995). The changing conditions in the economy have intense effect on the productivity of an organization and hence the degree of the stability of the company in terms of economy has effects on decisions concerning growth and staffing. As a result the labour union may change the benefits, wages and work rules and therefore the human resource department have to be cautious of the changes in the labour market conditions. An organization ought to be in a position that it can adapt easily to changing work environment. The organization factors which include structure, climate and technology also affect the profitability, efficiency and more particularly productivity (Smith, 1995). The application of management approaches of economy, efficiency as well as effectiveness as productivity measurement in a service oriented company have been noted not to increase productivity significantly (Bass Avolio, 1998). There is need to incorporate the use of ethical approaches such as empathy and evaluation to increase the production of the organizations to a greater extent. There are limits that seem practical in the level of formalization and specialization of an organization. It may be national, privately owned or publicly owned and to increase productivity, the human practices and policies must match with the complexity and size of an organization. The makeup as well as size of the Human Resource department ought to echo with the organization’s structure. Another thing to consider is the degree of specialization or in other words technology. This involves the technical level of the processes in an organization. To sustain market viability, there is need for a particular scope of development and research. Employees should have the necessary skills basing on varying degrees. An organization ought to focus on whether it wishes to be employee-centred hence encourage employees to attain results. It must bear in mind its reward systems, communicating information, decision making and offering a positive climate for all employees. The Human Resource professionals ought to involve themselves in determining the climate of the organization. If it happens that they do not get involved, it means they lack the power to command a position that seems strong to lead to the implementation of policies created by the climate. Each organization has a basic management style that may be naturally evolved or consciously adopted. Whether democratic, task-oriented, authoritarian, laissez-faire, whether it strives to be reactive or chooses to be proactive or innovative, the managerial style for a particular organization has intense effect on the ability of the HR department in developing and implementing procedures and policies as well as on the employees. The function of the Human Resource is also highly affected by the manner in which resources are attained and used, the question regarding who makes decisions and sets the goals, how communication is communicated and the style of motivation used (Warrwick Organizational Behaviour Staff,2001). Employee attitude is another factor that has effect on the productivity of an organization. It is through the employees that the goals of an organization are attained and as a result they drive the failure or success of the organization. It is important to have employees with the proper educational levels or knowledge and skill concerning the job. Moreover, the employees’ motivation and abilities are also important factors to consider. The organization should avoid setting practices and policies that intensify negatively the employees’ social, personal, religious and political factors since this is likely to affect the workers’ effectiveness hence influencing productivity (Warrwick Organizational Behaviour Staff, 2001) What matters most? Productivity is concerned with what can be derived from the organizations’ resources and hence it is important to clearly list the most significant resource. For example in labour-intensive industries, the major input could be total number of hours worked by an individual and in steel plants could be the equipment. To increase productivity it is good to benchmark the operations in an organization to avoid being left behind in competition. An organization should invest in resources and this does not imply that there is need to use large sums of money. Investment could entail training employees on skills, operations as well as procedures. Training employees help impact in them vital skills that would help them to avoid making mistakes in customer service and manufacturing. For example, investing in technology may assist the organization to speed up in production and reduce the head count hence leading to less wastage. Paying the employees for work done would not bring the best for an organization. There are so many factors that affect the employees’ behavior. The organization needs to carry out an analysis and determine what has been missing in the list of motivating employees. To set things straight, there is need for a balanced approach and studies have revealed that doing away with pilferage of efforts could result to increased productivity (Warrwick Organizational Behaviour Staff, 2001). Best practices Increasing revenues and lowering costs are the major fundamental goals for service oriented organizations. At the same time as a businesses strives to attain its goals and objectives, IT organizations are pushed forward to accomplishing more with less. IT organizations have an added obligation of assisting other organizations comply with the regulatory requirements. Apparently, in the past years, reducing risk in organizations has assumed a different meaning and has become the most significant goal for organizations. For an organization to succeed in increasing productivity, it needs to examine the other perspective of reducing risks. This means that the need to manage and reduce risks is intertwined to increasing productivity. Managing risks involves reliability, compliance and security (Kelly, 2005). From the compliance point of view, development organizations ought to make sure that business processes as well as applications data consistently adhere to the regulatory guidelines and requirements. Failure to do this may imply that many IT departments could be exposing the organization to regulatory and legal risks. Organizations need to meet the requirement of the SOX-type reporting and hence organizations need to perfectly ensure that any alterations in their applications do not interfere but rather meet with other regulations including those of SOX. Basing on the reliability perspective, it is better that organizations continue with the attempts of increasing availability and reliability of the internal and facing customers’ applications. The key component to ensuring reliability is testing. However, many organizations fail in the procedure as they test what they perceive as important since they have little testing time at their disposal. This means that the organization leaves what is most important in real sense. Therefore, to become a bit more efficient and effective, organizations are required to perfect their effectiveness in the testing process and this means that testing should including testing the most important aspects or components and not the easiest components. From a security point of view, this is the real meaning of business in organizations. A breach in the application raises the risks involved in the organizations and therefore there should be a good thought on matters to do with reducing possibility attacks and this henceforth reduce risks linked to data access and applications (Kelly, 2005). The issue linked to managing risks is developer productivity. There is a lot of pressure on service oriented organizations to execute more while utilizing less. There is more job security if there is consequent greater effectiveness and developer’s productivity. It does not count much if organizations purpose to increase productivity without the proper tools as this will not show the practicability of the set goals. This is like purposing to work smarter but not harder. To increase organizations’ productivity, developers ought to come up with new ways of minimizing the time that is not utilized in benefiting the business value. For instance, the time utilized in testing does not particularly give business its value, but instead gives support on the release of an application that is complete which focus on a business need. Looking for ways to effectively and efficiently test will lead to an increase in productivity hence affect positively the delivering of the business value. The best way for efficient testing is creating a good level for best practices and not waste time in rebuilding standards from the grassroots (Kelly, 2005). Nothing comes easy and therefore if in an organization there will be addressing of challenges and risks, more effort and may be more time will be used. This implies that more money will be needed for executing the process. There is no way an organization can increase quality without having to increase time and cost. Organizations need to think on the best manner of reaching quality in the current world in the available time in a manner that is cost effective. This is the challenge that organizations face today. The best practices assist organizations to have a good improvement in the performance and efficiency of the organizations (Kelly, 2005). In the past years organizations considered the top down approach as the best in increasing productivity. However, this can also be achieved by using the bottoms up approach and this helps organizations to define, capture and apply the best practices in particular portions of the cycle of development. For instance, a particular organization may put into practice a limited performance of code of review for specific forms of services or applications. On the other hand, the organization may apply development tools and automated testing that streamline the identification of errors and also educate developers on the appropriate modes of solving errors as well as accomplishing a given job.

Managing Room Division in Hospitality

Managing Room Division in Hospitality 1.0 Introduction: Room divisions is the heart of any hotel as it is the most revenue generating department in the hotel (Chon Sparrowe, 1995). Room division comprises of front office, housekeeping, Maintenance and security. This all department work in hand in hand for the smooth functioning of the organization. several components in room division contribute to having a profitable hotel. The main focus of the hotel is a revenue goal in which the majority revenue comes from selling of rooms. Especially the front desk agent, housekeeping are heros in the room division department as they can lead to better customer service and higher revenues for the hotel. 2.0 Room Division Supervisory Function: Room division is a combination of front office, housekeeping, Maintenance and the security. There-fore the room division supervisor should have the experience in all this department and should have the skill required for this job. He should be able to communicate with all these department to carry out the day to day activities. Albona (Jan 2008) stated that training of staff in the workplace is vital. As a supervisor, he need to take a proactive approach to training and developing the employees and not being reactive. Reactive means that we train the employees when there is an emergency or when we are forced to. Thinking it through making a good plan, a good place to start are based on the annual goals and objective for our organization and for our department and starting from that point you have a good plan and vision and you could see well if this is going to happen. Formulating a training plan that is proactive when looking at skill to develop also we want to look at both hard and soft skills. how they communicate with us and others, this are becoming more and more crucial especially as we develop or want to develop more teamwork because team work requires people to be able to work together to grow to solve problems together and the more that they interact more we allow them to make decisions. Marketplace is becoming competitive so we could be competing globally, nationally or locally but having a better develop work force a better trained workforce gives us that competitive advantage (Lenehan, 2000). Proper training should be provided to the staff to work efficiently and smoothly and they know about the work place safety and procedures. It is the duty of the room division supervisor to conduct training programs frequently as training is considered to be an ongoing process. He should develop guidelines and the standard procedures to carry out the plans. Controlling the cost is one of the major responsibility as this department has the largest staff employed. Employees should be crossed train in order to overcome any inadequacies. He should create plans to maximize the average daily rate and the percentage. Handling customer complaints is important because the quality and style of service is a major factor in providing an enjoyable, relaxing and satisfying experience for the guest. He must be up to date with the events taking place in the market, in market segments, and in the competition Maintenance, decoration and furnishing: As most of the rooms are sold 365 nights a year, they need regular attention and inspected by the supervisor. Freshing up and refurbishment is required on a regular basis. This may mean that rooms are decorated, painted and refurnished by a regular team of people or contractors. Maintenance team under the supervision of room division supervisor will make sure all the structural problems are dealt with swiftly and efficiently and that all the equipment and machinery are working well. 3.0 Cost control and the necessary resources for room division In response to Learning Outcome of cost control and the necessary resources for room division, the author has learnt number of cost control method used in the room division department new ideas developed and learned which lead to green practices and sustainability which can indirectly lead to cost control. The following practices are followed in the room division to cut down the cast which can add up to profit for the organization 3.1 Labor cost: Room division is the department where large numbers of staff are required. Labor cost can make huge impact on the overall profit of the organization (Rees, 1974). Managers need to manage the staff based on the forecast report. Managers are looking to improve the effectiveness of the management of the labor, the time management making sure that we had the right amount of people, the right shifts, making sure the minutes per room were being done. Labor management tool helps managers to schedule right amount of people for the required day thus saving labor cost by overstaffing. Cross training of employees is other way of cost control where same employee can be trained to get the desired skill in different section and can be used whenever needed 3.2 REUSE OF LINENS TOWELS Many properties have adopted a more environmentally friendly linen change policy to avoid the wastage practice washing on a daily basis. Although there is no common standard linen change policy in most cases bed linens can be replaced every two or three days and of course when soiled to ensure the program operates smoothly. The head housekeeper must keep control to indicate room list which bed require full linen change. A simple alternative to two day linen change program is the top to bottom method in which the bottom sheet covering the mattress is removed and replaced by the top sheet and then new bedsheet is used as a top sheet to finish making the bed Accommodation unit often change guest room towels every day and it consume large amount of water, energy and the detergents for washing towels and linen that have been used only once. Partly as a result of the growing environment awareness and concern shown by tourist and tour operators many accommodation units have implemented a towel reuse program which is explained to gust via a simple text card. This program invites guest to use their towel for more than one day, instead of having them replaced. By using this there simple techniques a large amount of money can be saved which is required for cleaning of this linens and towels. 3.3 Energy efficient appliances: Lighting in accommodation units can account up to 25 percent of their total electricity consumption. How- ever energy efficient lamps can be used to save energy and reduce cost (Adelaar Rath, 1997). This lamps consume 75 percent less energy and last eight to ten times longer than tungsten light bulbs as they are cost effective lighting options. Motion sensor light can be installed outdoors as it saves lots of energy that often remain unoccupied for a long period of time. It is not just light other electrical equipment can be controlled by timing devices to ensure they only run when necessary. Jacuzzi pumps can be controlled by electronic or windup timers to ensure they switch off after an appropriate time. The housekeeping staff should be trained to turn off the lights and appliances when not required. 4.0 Safety security measures practiced in room divisions including risk assessment external threats: When we talked about hotels problem first in mind come safety second security. Everyone wants to be secure but no want to face security. The management ensure safety in several areas by installing sign, training, cctv cameras and other installation. This is followed by health safety and non-toxic cleaning material. Various safety and security measured were learned by the author to make it a safe and protected place for the guests. Housekeeping and front office are the important and responsible position in any hotel or motel. It takes a lot of hard work to meet the schedules but that what the business is all about providing service to the guests. Hotels are required to ensure guest safety. However, must exercise reasonable care of guest and employee safety. Safety of guests and security of the hotel is the duty of every employee, supervisor and manager of the hotel. Hotel provides training on the safety of employee which provide them adequate training to ensure the safety of guests, fire safety and work environment. Employees are trained in such a way that they can respond to emergencies. The safety and security of employees should be the first priority, a proper orientation is required in housekeeping department as this is the place where employees are in contact with chemicals, electrical machines, mounting ladders and unhealthy positions can damage the health of the employees (Kappa et al, 1997). video recor der can be used to record activities at the reception, the car park and nearby surroundings. CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) are installed on a property at several points where management wants to monitor activity at each entrance. Internal alarms are the Server to determine criminal activity. It can Report an area within the hotel if the alarm is activated, protecting storage areas, hotel facilities (pool, spa and exercise area) and the hotel and nearby surrounding. Recodable locks can reduce the possibility that guests are victims in their rooms by someone who had rented the same room one night before, helping to reduce employee theft incident room (Rushmore Malone, 1998) External threats can be in the form of cash robber, theft, and terrorist attack. Robbery of Cash is not the time to try to protect cash resources. Protecting the staff at such time should be the first priority. At the time of robbery employee should observe the theft and his moves and should follow whatever they say. If the contact alarms are not installed, employee should contact the police or the local authority and report the same to the concern person on duty to take immediate actions. hotels attempt to generate an environment which is welcoming as well as secure against various manifestations of criminality (Gill et al 2002). Hotels are often the key targets of terrorist. Suspicious activities of visitor or the employees should be reported to the supervisor, security department or a designated staff member (Stafford et al 2002). The cleaning staff is trained to report doubtful items, drugs and excess liquidity that are found in the room. Today hotel uses different security techn ology and security system to protect the guests. It is the priority of the hotel and hotel employees to make the guest feel safe as they would feel in their homes. 5.0 Conclusion: Managing room division is an applied unit and the author was required to applied rooms division experience comprising of hours in both housekeeping and front office department. All hours were predominantly held at the Sydney campus with some in Leura campus experiences. The campus created exceptional applied environments at the front office and the housekeeping demo lab. This environment set the seam for what it is like to be in the industry. Room division is an effective part of operation of a hotel and resort. The applied training received from the enthusiastic trainer from both operational area prepared the author for the industry. I learned about the role of room division, work health and safety, guest satisfaction, emerging technologies and worked on the opera property management system. I experienced lecture, workshops and tutorials activities in the applied learning how to check in and check out. We learn about the sequence to cleaning a room and how laundry operates to effici ently make the daily demands. We were introduced to terminology used in the industry 6.0 References: Adelaar, M and Rath, A (1997) Energy efficiency and tourism: focus on the Caribbean A discussion  paper, Roundable on energy efficiency tourism sector, Kingston, Jamaica, December9-11, 1997,  http://www.irdc.ca/industry/jamaica_e7html, as accessed 2.10.2000 Albino, M., 5th Jan 2008, How important is staff training? Retrieval on 9th Sep 2008 at  http://monado2.blogspot.com/2008/01/how-important-isstaff-training.html Gill, M., Moon, C., Seaman, P. and Turbin, V. (2002). Security management and crime in hotels.  International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 14(2), 58 64 Jaswinder S (2014) International Journal of Management and Commerce Innovations. Vol. 2, Issue 2,  pp: (1-5), Month: October 2014 March 2015, Available at: www.researchpublish.com Lenehan, T. (2000). A study of management practices and competences within effective organizations in   the Irish tourism industry. The Service Industries Journal, 20(3), pp. 19-42 Rees, Albert. 1974. An overview of the labor-supply results. Journal of Human Resources 9: 97-100. Rushmore S., Malone C. (1998). Keys and hotel security. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant  Administration Quarterly, December, 9195 Rutherford, 2007, hotel management and operations, 4th edition, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., Hoboken,  New Jersey Chon, K.S. Sparrowe, R.T. (1995). Welcome to hospitality: An introduction. South-Western  Publishing Co. Stafford, G., Yu, L. and Armoo, A.K. (2002). Crisis management and recovery: How Washington D.C.   hotels responded to terrorism. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 43(27), 27- 40.

comparitive book review :: essays research papers

Comparative Book Review Rediscovering church – Lynne and Bill Hybels This book was written the founder and senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church and his wife. Willow Creek is located in suburban Chicago. It has a weekly attendance approaching 20000. In this book the Hybels share part of their story in pasturing Willow Creek and a little bit of their philosophy of ministry. The underlying theology assumed by the author is that the church has the power to change the world. His theology seems to be more church-centric rather then Christocentric. I would not call Hybels a theologian. He presents very basic evangelical theology. This is in sharp contrast to Guder’s book, which has very sophisticated theologically developed views on the nature of the church. There is no discussion of God’s relationship to his creation or the kingdom. Actually there is very little kingdom talk. The emphasis seems to be that the local church is very important. But there is no connection to the global catholic (universal) church. This again contrasts Guder’s global outlook. Guder does not discount the importance of the local church, but wisely sets it within the context of the global communion. The local church is primarily seen as a vehicle of evangelism and fellowship. I was surprised that Hybels says nothing about the importance of worship. I have come to the conviction that churches should be primarily worshipping community. All other activities (evangelism, teaching, discipleship, social care etc.) flow from this primary calling of worshipping the triune God. But Guder also does not address the issue of worship. Rather he is setting out a â€Å"map† for our missional witness in the world. The philosophy of ministry is outlined by Hybels most clearly in ten and twelve. In chapter ten he basically presents a message given by Dr. Gilbert Bilezikian at a church leadership conference at Willow Creek. The four key elements of a healthy church are: teaching, fellowship, evangelism and helping those in need. Preaching is seen as something that should be done only by those who are gifted, spiritually disciplined and anointed by the Spirit. Hybels fails here to clearly spell out what biblical preaching is. He does not identify exegetical, expositional, narrative or topical as being the preferred method. Fellowship is seen as the opportunity to share deep needs in the context of small groups. There is nothing really groundbreaking here. The usual critique of superficiality in churches is given.

Genetic Factors and Criminal Behavior Essay -- essays research papers

In this article the two authors research the connection between genetic factors and criminal behavior. They look at the causes that make someone act in a criminal way. There are several factors looked at in connection to the cause such as social factors and environmental variables. The social factors being the more examined of the two. They hypothesized that other factors in performance or alone with environmental variables would lead to better understanding of why some people become criminal. The genetic factor of influence due to mental disorders was posed to have a slight role in affecting people to show criminal behavior. Another cause looked at was the combination of genetic and environmental factors, with a possible result of having a higher risk for criminal behavior. They also explore the myths about the connection between genetic factors and criminal behavior. The first myth they looked at was â€Å"Identifying the Role of Genetics in Criminal Behavior Implies That There Is a â€Å"Crime Gene.†Ã¢â‚¬  This myth is dismissed because of the unlikelihood that that a single gene is responsible for criminal behavior. The second myth they look at is â€Å"Attributing Crime to Genetic Factors is Deterministic.† This myth is also easily dismissed because of the fact that just because someone has a predisposition to a certain behavior doesn’t mean that the person will take on that behavior. They also look at Genetic Epidemiological Studies. These three studies deal with twins in relation to th...

Planets and Solar System Essay -- Science Astronomy Astronomical Essay

Planets and Solar System "A planet is a celestial body that revolves around a central star and does not shine by its own light " (Grolier, 1992). The only planetary system that is known to man is our solar system. It is made up of nine planets which range in size and make-up. The nine major planets in our solar system are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. There are also many other minor planets which are also in our solar system, but they are unimportant compared to the nine major planets. In this paper I will discuss the planets and how they are each unique. Mercury which is the planet that is closest to the sun is the first planet I will discuss. Mercury is the smallest of the inner planets. It is speculated that the heat from the sun made it impossible for the gases present to become part of the planetary formation. The surface of Mercury is extremely hot. It is approximately 470 degrees celsius on the surface and is thought to be even hotter at the two " hot spots." These " hot spots " are on opposite ends of the equator. It is the heat of the surface that makes it impossible for Mercury to have any type of atmosphere. Mercury orbits the sun once every 88 days and has a true rotation period of 58.6 days. " It is the closest planet to the sun and therefore orbits faster than any other planet " (Thompson/Turk, 542, 1993). It is said that Mercury rotates three times for every two trips around the sun, so that during every alternate perihelon passage the same face points directly at the sun. " Geologically, the most remarkable features of Mercury are compressional cliffs or faults, just the sort of wrinkles that might form in the crust if the interior of the planet shrank slightly " (Morrison, 74, 1993). It is speculated that it was the solidification of Mercury's metallic core that caused this global shrinkage. Mercury is also " . . . enriched in metal or depleted of rock " (Morrison, 74, 1993). It is also believed that some of the inner core of Mercury is still in a fluid state. Scientists also believe that Mercury's surface is made partially of silicate rock. The best way to describe Mercury is, " . . . small, heavily cratered and airless " (Morrison, 71, 1993). Venus is the second closest planet to the sun and is said to " . . . most closely resemble Earth in size, density, and... ...n see the planets of most importance are the ones closest to the sun and Earth. Little is known about the far off planets therefore it is hard to give them full recognition. Much is known about Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The other three planets are not as well known as these six are. Whether more planetary systems exist doesn't really matter. There are still plenty of things we don't understand about our own solar system. Scientists will have their work cut out for them in the future. Each and every planet has distinct differences and that helps show us how truly great God is. The planets will never fully be understood and will always be a great topic of discussion. Works Sited Cattermole, P. (1995). Earth and Other Planets. New York: Oxford University Press. Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc. (1992). Hunt, G. & Moore, P. (1983). Atlas of the Solar System. Chicago: Rand Mc Nally & Company. Morrison, D. (1993). Exploring Planetary Worlds. New York: Scientific American Library. Thompson, G. & Turk, J. (1993). Earth Science and the Environment. New York: Saunders College Publishing & Harcourt Brace College Publishers.

Exploring the essence of self in the western context Essay

Statement of authorship I certify that this literature review is my own work and contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any degree or diploma in any institute, college or university. Moreover, to the best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference is made in the text of the dissertation. Name Signed _________________________________________________ Date ___________________________________________________ The most fundamental of the questions man asks himself in his lifetime are, â€Å"what/who am I ?†and â€Å"what is my purpose?† The curiosity over this issue of ‘the self’ has spanned human thought for millennia rooting from societal notion that â€Å"life cannot be just bricks and cement†. Due to the inherent nature of these fundamental curiosities mankind has struggled from ancient times to uncover these mysteries. In the western-context, this brief essay will try to explore the dimensions of the â€Å"essence of self† ranging from medieval to the modern conception of self. It will review the theories of self starting with Aristotelian science and Christian doctrines and their eventual marriage by St. Thomas Acquinas’ moral theory. In effect, it then explores critical viewpoints and traces the development of Scientific Rationalization. Progressively, it debates Rene Descartes’ rationalist views  shaping his dualistic conception of the self. Furthermore, it poses the contrasting empiricist views of John Locke where he places self-consciousness and memory as the variables to comprehend self. In addition, it contests David Hume’s proclamation of the self as fiction (Robinson, H., 2012). The theories of self and identity gradually developed over a historical timeline resulting in modern thought on the subject. In this regard, it is important to understand its development initiation from religious conception in the west. Curiosity on these issues can be traced back to accounts of Aristotle, where he is of the view that everything in nature has a purpose and everything can be rationalized based on its intent and the purpose it served (Greetham, B. 2006, p.213). This is referred to as the ‘teleological’ view, which contributed to the formation of medieval world view formed by Christian dogma and the Catholic church (Cavalier, G.,1989). This Christian conception viewed the world as being God’s creation and expression of his will which was cosmologically meaningful and structured. The purpose of things under this theology is God given and is a part of the ‘grand plan’ (Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy). This categorises the medieval belief of self, where humans have a certain place and purpose and the self is understood in terms of the role it plays in the grand plan of things. The medieval Christian conception of self was greatly inspired by the work of 13th century theologian St. Thomas Acquinas. In his opus he bridged the gap between faith and reason by linking Christian dogma and Aristotelian thought (O’Callaghan, R., 2010). In essence, he lived in a crucial juncture of western culture when the Latin translation of Aristotelian corpus was made available which in effect reignited the debate on relating faith and reason. His theories borrowed from Aristotle and Christian dogma and ethi cs which were consistently reaffirmed by the church over the centuries (auquinas from stanford). The aforementioned medieval religious conception of self forms the basis Acquinas’ ethical premise on how we ought to act (Greetham, B., 2006). Right and wrong actions based on their compliance with human nature and its place â€Å"God-given natural order†, categorized as natural or unnatural. Hence, the self bounded and confined to serving a purpose. However, this religious world-view came under intense criticism  with the advent of scientific advancement and rationality in the 16th and 17th centuries. Scientific thinking developed under the likes of Descartes and Locke and was reasoned based on the accomplishments of Galileo and Newton(Zalta, E., 2011). They disregarded the place of divine-will in their conception of self, basing it on mere experience, empirical evidence and mathematical formulations. This shift of conception is termed ‘demythologization’, where everything works without a purpose and results from mechanical interaction of particles regulated by universal laws which can be mathematically formulated (Greetham, B., 2006). Consequently, began the search of the self by looking within for purpose and meaning. The modern view of self is articulated in the works of 17th century philosopher Rene Descartes. He pioneered the dualistic understanding of the human being, which is made up of the â€Å"mental substance (mind) and the physical substance (body)† (Warburton, N., 1992). Here, the body has physical properties like having weight and using space, whereas the mind is a non-material substance, responsible for thought and experience and hence is the abode of consciousness. In his view, the self is a spiritual â€Å"subject of experience† which is fundamentally different from the body and nature, where the body inessential and the mind can exist independently. His radical scepticism led to the formation of the â€Å"Illusion argument†, where the bodily senses are deemed unreliable and thus the existence of the external world and body is uncertain. The only thing one can be certain of is that ‘I exist’. This is categorized under his famous proclamation -â€Å"Cogito ergo sum†, meaning â€Å"I think, therefore I am† (Cavalier, G., 1989). In essence, â€Å"the self is essentially mental† and the search for purpose and meaning should be searched within ourselves instead of classifying it under totality of nature. In his endeavours, Descartes used the â€Å"rationalist approach† to knowledge, which solely relies on logic and scepticism . In contrast, his contemporary, English philosopher John Locke relies on the â€Å"empiricist approach†, where knowledge is acquired by the means of watchfulness and experience. His theology of self underlines the role of reason, consciousness and self-consciousness. As for Locke, he sees self-consciousness as a  inseparable element in the conduct of any conscious action, like thinking and observing. The perception of the world by the senses, awareness of personal identity, actions performed and its retention (memory) over time is what constitutes self-consciousness (Robinson, H., 2012). Personal identity here is quintessentially the self, in which memory is decisive variable as the consciousness of past actions is critical to being the same person; and selfhood is reliant on the consciousness and not the body. For instance, if a person has memories from a past life as Salvador Dali, then he is the same person in the current life with a different body. These arguments however appear ambiguous upon correlation with Descartes’ accounts. However, Locke’s accounts differ where cites that it is not necessary that thinking, observation etc. to be the products of a non-material substance and leaves a prospect open that they could be of material origin. The self, Locke argues, is resultant from â€Å"continuity of consciousness† and not a ‘substance’ as proposed by Descartes (Greetham, B., 2006). Then again, there is a fallacy in these arguments; if the self is continuity of consciousness and memory retention then without the memory of past actions accountability for the actions is cannot be held (Cavalier, g., 1989). For instance, it could be hypothesized in Locke’s view, that a person who committed murder as a child, who grew up to become a doctor and then as an old man he cannot remember his crime as a child, hence in effect, he cannot be held responsible for the murder. Eighteenth century philosopher David Hume continued in the empirical approach, maintaining that authentic knowledge is solely acquired on the basis of direct experience (Robinson H., 2012). He borrows from Locke, however, he reaches drastic conception where he conceives the self as fiction. Thereafter, he entirely disregards the â€Å"substance view of the mind†. He bases his conception strictly on experience or ‘perception’ and maintains that the existential claim for the inner substance should be discoverable by experience (Greetham, B., 2006). Through his experience, Hume, found no such substance but instead only a variety of perceptions where there is no identity or self binding them. Academics refer to this view as the â€Å"bundle theory of substance†, where different perceptions are in eternal flux (Robinson H., 2012). However, Hume fails to identify a unifying  factor and puts forth a vague understanding of the mind just being a bundle of perceptions. Consequently, the Cartesian theory of self gained an upper hand as it offers the unifying substance of mind in the conception of the self (Greetham, B., 2006). The aforementioned theories of self significantly influence the post-modern conception of the self, as the subject has a tendency to develop over time (Cahoone, L., 2003). These western theories have borrowed from Eastern conceptions of self, which indicates ancient interaction between the west and the east. (Cavalier, G., 1989). In the contemporary world, the twentieth century has been the fore-bringer of brisk industrialization in the western world, begetting fast-paced consumer societies, where the people have little or no time for personal fulfilment (Cahoone, L. 2003). This along with advent of cultural pluralism, scientific rationalization and secularization of notions of religion has led to burgeoning interest in the conception of self (Olsen and Timothy, 2006, p.139). On a personal basis, the theories of self explored here provided a clearer picture on the gradual development of understanding of self with a historical context and an insight into how these theories have shaped post-modern notions on the same (Collinson, P. et al, 2000). Descartes’ accounts and his emphasis on the soul substance worked as a bride between my eastern thought origin and modern western conception on the subject. However, Locke’s and Hume’s empirical approach and their emphasis on discovering self through experience is also profound to my conception of self. Their conclusions however appeared radical and absurd especially in the case of Hume where proclaims the self as being fictional. References: Cahoone, L. (2003). From Modernism to Postmodernism: An Anthology. Carlton: Blackwell. Cavalier, G. &. (1989). Ethics in the History of Western Philosophy. New York: St. Martin’s Press. Collinson, P. &. (2000). Fifty Eastern Tihnkers. London: Routledge. Greetham, B. (2006). Philosophy. Norwich: Palgrave Macmillan. Jamal, T. a. (2009). The Sage Handbook of Tourism Studies. London: Sage. O’Callaghan, R. et al. (2010, December 21). Saint Thomas Aquinas. Retrieved May 1, 2012, from http://plato.stanford.edu/: Olsen, D.H. and Timothy, D.J. (2006). Tourism, Religion and Spiritual Journeys. Oxford: Routledge. Robinson, H. (2012, Demember 21). Dualism. Retrieved May 1, 2012, from http://plato.stanford.edu/: Warburton, N. (1992). Philosophy. Abingdon: Routledge. Zalta, E. (2011, September 21). Aquinas’ Moral, Political, and Legal Philosophy. Retrieved May 1, 2011, from www.http://plato.stanford.edu/:

UNlQLO-Hong Kong Essay

Introduction: This essay sets out to strategically analyze UNIQLO which IS a new Japanese ca wear brand invest in Hong Kong. I will analysis UNIQLO internal factor and external factor. After that, I will recommendation some area of digital marketing to UNIQLO Company background: UNIQLO is the well-known casual clothing brand in Japan, and to Show footprints across four continents, 17 places. UNIQLO is mainly developing the† business market in Asia such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Korea and Japan. In a few years, UNIQLO upgrade to the world‘s fourth largest casual wear brand, just behind ZARA, H&M. and GAP. Also, Giordano is the main local competitor of UNIQLO in Hong Kong. In 2005, UNIQLO started to invest in Hong Kong. They open the first branch in Tsim Sha Tsui. Today, UNIQLO is one of the popular brands in Hong Kong where have 22 branches. Many teenagers or student will buy their clothes because. there have many types of clothes such as T-Shirt, coat, jacket, sweater and jeans. Internal analysis: Business Model UNIQLO is a business to customer (B2C) company, as their company philosophy is MADE FOR ALL’. They want everyone can wear the best quality casual wear. So their product lines divide to man, woman, kids and baby. Also, UNIQLO products have different series such as casual wear, formal suit, underwear and sportswear. They want customer can purchase their clothes more concentrate and convenience. Then main objectives of UNIQLO’s marketing program are enhancing its brand image, In the target market and maintaining relationships with customers  through digital communication. Digital marketing communication is very useful which can attract the potential customers. For example, we are developing the online shopping system to our customers. It can attract the potential customers who are looking our website. Also it can build our brand image, increase our market share. In addition, we are planning to cooperate with local university, Sponsor some clothing to their student. Establish long term relationship with media channels. Target Customer UNIQLO slogan is â€Å"MADE FOR ALL† their target market would be anyone and everyone, no matter what yours gender, ages. In UNIQLO, you can purchase what you need. However, they will not set their products prices too high as they want everybody can afford it. In Hong Kong, teenager and student are their main target customers because teenager and student are care more about their dressing than adult. Competitive Analysis (International competitors in Hong Kong) UNIQLO is the world’s fourth largest casual wear brands, their ,main competitors are H&M, GAP and ZARA. These three companies also sell inexpensive causal wear and thief style is very similar. (What about Giordano, Bossini) GAP & ZARA are UNIQLO big competitor because they want to develop their business in Asia too. They want to infuse the Europe style to Asian. However, UNIQLO is a Japanese company, their products maybe have some Japanese style. In Asia, Asian like Europe style more than Japanese style. 50 it will affect their sales in Asia. In digital marketing, I find online shopping system only GAP website have, UNIQLO, H&M and ZARA haven’t online shopping systems. Also, GAP have the after sell service, it can help customer to reduce the risk of shopping  online. Nowadays, customers like shopping online because they can know the news products and purchase them on the internet, it is more convenience than shopping in branches. ln Hong Kong, UNIQLO only have 22 branches, not everywhere can see UNIQLO stores, so online shopping system can really help UNIQLO to promote their products. However, UNIQLO has used other social application such as ‘LINE’ to interactive with. customers. For example, UNIQLO every week will send message in their fans page, they will ask some question, if follower answers their question correctly, they will give some discount to them. It seems more interesting because customers can interactive with UNIQLO. (Local Competitor) Recommendations Part B(Strategy) ESPN has become part of the American culture for more than forty years. This provision mummy Sports information is becoming integrative to the global phenomenon. In general. world-of-mouth marketing can be cleverly driven Into electronic marketing and social network marketing via the social media in the form of online communities and forums, blogs and social network. Such includes Facebook. Twitter and YouTube. Electronic marketing and social network marketing will be important for ESPN (Dijkmans. Kerhof & Beukeboom, 2014) to continue to keep their position in world culture and remain as one of the top choice of quality sports information provider among consumers. The social network marketing will continue to reach their target customers. ESPN must help her customers in engagement with ease to exchange her brand virally. The business branding of ESPN is to be extended onto Google+ aside Facebook and Twitter since this platform supports the best practice tactics in viral marketing. After all, these social media platforms are to be integrative with EXPN website via the Cell phone technology by the implementation of mobile apps with updates the call for action buttons site structure with search functions enhancement retrieve of comment posting on social platform in display on home site(and vice versa) Google analytic tools (Pan, 2014) in tracking the status of EXPN against her Competitors The implementation allows for provision of 1 visual content sharing of images and videos (for gasping of attention) 2 educational and insightful content to attract more serious people (parents and Young adults) 3 Provide frequent and consistent updates of content of new stories and sports- specific blog posts 4 Provide prominent sharing button of social media platforms for easing Customers in sharing the content ESPN needs to focus on her sport cultural customers especially in creating her evangelists by asking them to encourage their peers into using ESPN. In particular, the youth audiences would be highly influential to continue to appreciate the service of ESPN and help to pass that same appreciation down to their next generation as it has been a part of their culture. Her role as an advisory agency for her sports customers allows the advantages at two levels (Domegan, 2008). At commerce level, cross-selling is possible between ESPN and her other business partners and such saves the operation cost of her sports partners and the time cost of their Customers. At marketing level, her mission and vision in helping the SWOT Analysis SWOT Analysis is a useful technique for understanding the UNIQLO strengths and weaknesses, and for identifying the opportunities open and the threats of UNIQLO. Used in a business context, a SWOT Analysis helps UNIQLO carve a sustainable inche in its market 1. Strengths: -Products diversification -Great service attitude -Pricing First, UNIQLO’s products have many types such as formal suit, sportswear and casual wear, it can provide more choice for customers purchase in the same place. Second, shopping in UNlQLO can enjoy the best service. When the customers entered the stores, the staff will say ’Welcome to UNIQLO’ and show their smile face to customers to keep the impression better. Also they will solve all about products question to customers. I think this is better than other competitor. Third is UNIQLO products price, they offer discounted prices which increase footfall in store. Also, their price is cheaper than other casual wear shop, but their product quality will not decrease. 2. Weakness: -Employee flow too much -Can’t shopping online No membership (preferential) First, UNIQLO invest much money into training which increase the human resource cost. UNIQLO always have the employee outflow, it will waste their training and money. As UNIQLO hasn’t enough employees discount and welfare so they are difficulty to attract teenager join. Second. UNIQLO hasn’t online shop, they only have online website. Customer only In Hong Kong, the local competitor is Giordano which has 73 branches that more than UNIQLO 22 branches. So, Giordano‘s market share is more than UNIQLO so much. Also, Giordano has perfect online shopping system. it attract more customer purchase Giordano product. This is the main different  between UNIQLO and Giordano. As Giordano has these kinds of service, they can help customer purchase convenient. Giordano’s advertisements do very well and enough that make them to be a well-known brand in Hong Kong. Product Analysis As teenager and student are UNIQLO target customers, their products need to be younger and colorful. Also, UNIQLO is always crossover with some famous designer and other brands such as +J Collection, SPRZ NY, Jeffrey Fulvimari and Disney. It will make UNIQLO products more special and limited. UNIQLO products are very diversification which has four main series products such as women, man, kids and baby. UNIQLO products can fulfill yours need because they have different product lines such as sportswear and casual wear. Their goal is everyone has the chance to come in UNIQLO to purchase. Corporate Social Responsibility UNIQLO not only a business company, they also is a social responsibility company. They have the concept is through clothing to bring the social have the good way development. UNIQLO sponsor some famous sports athlete such as NOVAK DJOKOVIC, Adam Scott, KEl NISHIKORI and SHINGO KUNIEDA. UNIQLO hope they can promote their brand to the world and attend more charity function. The aim is through the star effect to attract more people to care the poor countries. UNIQLO also has the clothing recycling program, they will send the old clothes to the disaster affected countries such as 2013 Nov Philippine typhoon disaster. They donate many recycle clothes to victims. Situation Market Analysis: Situation Analysis ESPN is the leading American cable television network of sports entertainments, entering its first year of operation in cell phone venture in 2003. its premium products were well received and niche marketing has been the key to develop brand and product awareness as well as grow the customer base. ESPN offers sophisticated cell phone with highly specialized content at sports information, serving the growing web industry. The entrance to the Western European markets in 2009 demonstrated the business design and its distinctive capabilities of ESPN as being a leading multinational sports entertainment company. ESPN is shown successful at marketing, capabilities such as understanding customer value, creating customer value, delivering customer value, capturing customer value, and sustaining customer value. Market Summary and Target Customers ESPN possesses good information about the sports entertainment and knows the specifics about the characteristics of a particular sports entertainment follower. This knowledge and the accumulated customer base of customers can be leveraged to better the product and service provision in addressing the needs of the target customers. The common attributes of the target markets of ESPM are as follows: Entertainment Speed Sportsmanship Excitement Culture SWOT Analysis A SWOT analysis evaluates an organization to assess the internal and external factors, Which in turns impacts on the market organization of the organization. The assessment is Critical in the development of goals and the implementation of strategies (Kotler & Keller, 2009). The following SWOT analysis captures the key strengths and weaknesses within the company. and describes the opportunities and threats facing ESPN.