Tourist Satisfaction Towards Tourist Facilities

Tourism sector has become the third largest source of income from foreign exchange in Malaysia and Melaka is one of the most significant tourism destinations in Malaysia. Tourism sector has helped Malaysia in many ways. Some of the positive sides are that it helps to increase Malaysian quality of life, and promote Malaysia as a fine and save country to visit. As a world class tourism destination nominated by UNESCO in 2008, Melaka has served many tourists throughout the world. Since 2008, many of the study done were focused on heritage conservation and culture appreciation. A study of service quality is important in order to learn on tourists’ satisfaction towards tourists’ facilities. In tourism management, tourists’ facilities are essential to gain tourists’ loyalty, trust and satisfaction. Based on the survey and evaluation, the basis for recommendation and improvements can be allocated for upgrading the physical plan. This research therefore focuses on international tourists’ satisfaction on tourists’ facilities and Melaka has been chosen as the case study. This research’s objectives is (a) to identify tourism facilities needed by the tourist in Dutch Heritage Trail, Melaka. (b) to determine tourists satisfaction levels on tourism facilities. (c) to identify the issues related to tourism facilities. (d) to recommend possible improvements to improve the tourism facilities. This research analysed the current tourists’ satisfaction towards tourists’ facilities in Melaka Heritage Sites. To do so, 100 sets of questionnaire were distributed among the international tourist in Melaka who has experience tourists’ facilities for the purpose of data collection. The data collected were further analysed by carry out Relative Important Index (RII) and spearman test. The results shows that tourists were unsatisfied in certain tourists’ facilities existed despite the fact that Melaka Heritage Sites is the one of the significant tourism destinations in Malaysia. Besides, the results also revealed that there is significant relationship between some of the respondents groups and satisfaction level of tourists’ facilities. Some of the issues identified in this research were cleanliness, pedestrians, quality of information given to tourists and money changes or ATM machines are taken into consideration. Therefore, several suggestions and recommendations were formulated to enhance the existing service quality of tourists’ facilities based on the respondents’ feedback.

Dickens a Christmas Carol and Priestley’s Essay

By bragging about his knighthood and talking about his strong capitalist views; â€Å"A man has to make his own way,† â€Å"community and all that nonsense,† Birling makes himself unpopular to the audience which is Preistley’s intension when Birling talks about the â€Å"Titanic being absolutely unsinkable,† and the fact that, â€Å"nobody wants war,† this creates dramatic irony as the audience know that the Titanic would sink on its maiden voyage, there would be two world wars, depression and strikes however, the characters don’t know this and in this case they don’t know that Birling is completely wrong in what he is saying. All of this creates a negative diction in which Priestley creates this wealthy, prosperous almost perfect family that looks splendid but is the opposite as they are ignorant and the lowest of low, especially to Priestley who strongly disagrees with their capitalist views. Birling can be compared to scrooge in â€Å"A Christmas carol,† as they both are prosperous, both don’t play a part in their community and they are both set up by Dickens and Priestly to be unsympathetic by using the same techniques like negative diction and them both being ignorant. In the opening scene we also learn about Birling’s family; his wife Sybil Birling who plays little part in the opening act, his son Eric who seems shy and close to being drunk, his â€Å"pretty† daughter Sheila who â€Å"is very pleased with life,† and her light hearted conversation shows she is youthful and enthusiastic. There is also one visitor present, Sheila’s fianci Gerald who is, â€Å"attractive,† and â€Å"the easy well-bred young man-about-town. † His father owns a large business; Crofts Limited and when making his speech, Birling says that, â€Å"we may look forward to the time when Crofts and Birlings are no longer competing but are working together,† which means that Birling being the man we now know him to be, sees his daughters engagement as a clear opportunity for a business deal. However things seem unstable between Sheila and Gerald when she mentions, â€Å"last summer,† in a â€Å"half playful, half serious,† tone. Priestly does this to show that although they look perfect, they all obviously have problems creates unease in the atmosphere and causes conflict and anxiety. The Inspectors arrival instantly adds tension as the lighting is changed on stage to be, â€Å"brighter and harder,† which signals a change of mood in the play and also seems to add menace to the Birling family. Priestley describes the Inspector to be man who; â€Å"creates at once an impression of massiveness, solidity and purposefulness. † This tells the audience that this character is important and the fact that he speaks, â€Å"carefully, weightily, and has a disconcerting habit of looking hard of the person he addresses before actually speaking,† also gives the impression that he knows, hopefully as well as the audience, how ignorant and wrong the family is. The inspector speaks to each of them: â€Å"gravely,† â€Å"dryly,† â€Å"slowly,† â€Å"steadily,† â€Å"plainly,† â€Å"coolly,† â€Å"with authority,† â€Å"massively,† and â€Å"sharply,† which builds up a moralising tone. From this early stage Priestley presents him as a judge and jury of the family’s wrong doings and almost a philosopher and social observer rather than a policeman. For example â€Å"it’s my duty to ask questions,† and in the case of Eva Smith, â€Å"what happened to her then may have determined what happened to her afterwards, and what happened to her afterwards may have driven her to suicide,† comments like these would be out of place being said by a police man. In â€Å"A Christmas Carol,† Dickens voiced his opinions through different characters, in â€Å"An Inspector Calls,† Priestley voices his socialist views through the Inspector when he describes Eva Smith by; using the repetition of no; â€Å"No work, no money,† listing; â€Å"few friends, lonely, half starved,† and emotive language. He also uses biblical reference similar to Dickens, â€Å"we are members of one body,† which is part of a communion prayer which means that we are all equal in the sight of God and that he sees no class barriers. Another example is, â€Å"fire and blood and anguish,† which is a biblical reference to hell and links to World War 1 which Priestley fought in. Also like Dickens he unites the speaker and the audience by using the plural, personal pronoun, â€Å"we,† which emphasises his positive views on the idea of community. The Inspector, referring to Eva Smith says, â€Å"There are a lot of young women living that sort of existence in every city and big town in the country,† â€Å"If there weren’t, the factories and warehouses wouldn’t know where to look for cheap labour,† this is a general social point Priestley is making as well as the fact that there is no clear dividing line between different elements of society, for example, Gerald says, â€Å"we’re respectable citizens not criminals! † to which the Inspector replies, â€Å"Sometimes there isn’t as much difference as you think. † This brings out Priestley’s positive views on the community, that we are all responsible for each other, that we are all part of humanity and we need to share our problems. Also like Dickens’ â€Å"A Christmas Carol,† Priestley gives the Inspector the role of mystic, all knowing power; Shelia notices this when she says to him â€Å"I don’t understand you. † This can be linked to Ouspensky’s theory that existence is a cycle of lives, which we can only escape from if we change them with the help of a gifted or extraordinary person; in this case that person is the Inspector. Through the whole play the Inspector rids the Birling family of their respectability as the audience feel, with the persuasive techniques of the Inspector, that not only are they on trial but the whole of the people in their advantaged social position for treating people like Eva Smith badly; â€Å"Public men, Mr Birling, have responsibilities as well as privileges,† the antithesis in this emphasises Priestley’s just spoken message. Before the Inspector leaves he makes a powerful, prophet like speech, which summarises the play’s philosophy; â€Å"We don’t live alone,† and â€Å"We are responsible for each other;† a biblical message, shows Priestley’s sense for community and the antithesis of â€Å"if men will not learn that lesson they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish. † represents the two World Wars to come as the play is set in 1912 and it was performed in 1945, to tell the audience that we haven’t learnt anything. The Inspectors speech is very compelling and is used to voice Priestley’s views to the audience. The repetition of â€Å"we,† is a persuasive technique that he uses as well as Dickens’ to captivate the audience and to make them realise that it also involves them. There is a huge difference in the older and younger generations of the family to the reaction of Eva smith. The eldest, for example Mr Birling is not nearly as effect by the story as Shelia who reacts emotionally. She also readily agrees that she has behaved badly and is prepared to admit her faults. She also is keen to change her behaviour; â€Å"I’ll never, never do it again. † Her brother Eric is also anxious to change his ways for the future and is deeply sorry for what he did, together they are also ashamed of their parents; Eric says to his mother, â€Å"You don’t understand anything. You never did. You never even tried. † She and her husband however are less remorseful, Birling in particular as he refuses to take any responsibility for Eva Smith’s death and seems to be more concerned about the money Eric stole from him than Eric’s treatment to Eva Smith. He is also concerned about keeping his ever so important social status when he says to his wife that, â€Å"It isn’t going to do us much good,† and, â€Å"The press might easily take it up,† this shows how ignorant he is and that he represents Priestley’s disgust of capitalist businessmen who are only interested in making money. From this it is clear that it is left up to the younger generation to learn from their mistakes and to change the future to which the Inspector adds, â€Å"They’re more impressionable. † Priestley makes crucial parts of the play more dramatic by using tension; before the Inspector arrives there is a slight unease as Sheila brought up, â€Å"last summer,† to Gerald, which tells us that something already isn’t quite right in the family, there is also irony as Gerald jokingly suggests that, â€Å"Eric has been up to something,† Eric is not amused and uncomfortable at this remark, Gerald insists it’s a â€Å"joke,† but we later find out he has been up to something. The Inspector enters straight after this and again there is more tension built up by him questioning Birling and Sheila but even more so when he begins to question Gerald who reveals that he was with Eva Smith â€Å"last summer,† the act then ends as the Inspector enters and says, â€Å"Well? † This leaves the audience in huge suspense and anticipating what will happen next. After questioning Gerald and Mrs Birling, which adds even more tension when she says that the boy who got Eva Smith pregnant should be, â€Å"compelled to confess in public,† not realising that this boy was her own son Eric, who enters after the Inspector tells her who the boy is. There is huge anxiety and stress now as the inspector has interrogated them all, he leaves with a compelling speech and after this the tension fades away as the family question the Inspectors presence. Was he an Inspector? Was Eva Smith real? They all start to relax apart from the youngest who are ashamed of their behaviour, the eldest seem to be, â€Å"amused,† and the word, â€Å"joke,† reappears, to which straight away the telephone rings, a moments silence creates worry and large amounts of anxiety build up. As Birling tells his family a police Inspector is on his way they all â€Å"stare guiltily and dumbfounded† as the curtain falls. Ending the play here would leave the play open for the audience to make their own decision on what would happen next again this would add tension. Priestley’s intention when adding tension at crucial parts in the play is to make them more memorable and for the audience to really think about the characters involved. It also highlights his message that he is trying to get across; we should all live as a community and see each other as equals. â€Å"A Christmas Carol,† and â€Å"An Inspector Calls,† are similar as they both contain the supernatural and the idea of fate. â€Å"A Christmas Carol,† involves ghosts and spirits, which give us the message that if we do not change our ways for the better we will be punished. This is also true for, â€Å"An Inspector Calls,† as it has a philosophical theme that society needs to change, however, the supernatural is only hinted at as the characters suspect that the Inspector wasn’t real and they have no proof that he was. The Inspector had a moralising almost prophet like presence similar to the spirits. Priestley’s play follows Ouspensky’s theory, as the Inspector is the extraordinary person who changes the lives of the Birling household. Even though Dickens did not know this theory it can be compared to it, as his novel is based on a very similar theme. In, â€Å"A Christmas Carol,† the gifted or extraordinary people who change lives are the spirits. Both texts also follow the concept that in our lives there are significant moments we make which can lead to disaster or salvation; in â€Å"An Inspector Calls,† the Inspector analyses these moments and tries to make the characters see where they have gone wrong. In, â€Å"A Christmas Carol,† Scrooge sees his past present and future and realises that he too has made the wrong decisions in life and plans to change them. The Characters in both stories can also be compared for their similarities; there are the villains; Scrooge and Birling, who are written to be disliked. Both are ignorant, arrogant and have no sense of community that both authors are for. They both symbolise the capitalist businessmen who turn a blind eye to everyone else. In both narratives there are also the victims of the villains behaviour and actions; Tiny Tim and Eva Smith. These characters symbolise the poor; Eva Smith represents the lives of many women of that time. We learn that even though she has been hard done to, she still has the highest morals; she didn’t accept the stolen money that Eric offered her and reclined his offer of marriage, as he didn’t love her. Preistly writes her this way to show that these women are not bad people and that they should not be judged on their social class. Tiny Tim symbolises the poor in, â€Å"A Christmas Carol,† as he creates sympathy for the reader; he is ill and still tries to enjoy life. In both texts, the victims die as part of the villain cruel and unjust behaviour. Both also have a theme of repentance; Eric and Shelia are deeply sorry and ashamed of how they behaved and plan to change their ways if possible. Marley also carries this theme of regret when he comes and warns Scrooge to alter. Each of these characters represents the authors beliefs that we should change become a stronger community and disregard each other’s differences. In both texts there are differences, the obvious being that one is a novel and one is a play. This variation effects how the messages are conveyed; â€Å"A Christmas Carol,† shows the message clearly, and goes into more detail about characters emotions. â€Å"An Inspector Calls,† illustrates the message in a less obvious way and leaves the audience thinking more about its message. The characters emotions can only really be displayed when acting which would give the audience a much clearer image. The more realistic of the two is, â€Å"An Inspector Calls,† because it contains less of the supernatural which makes it easier to believe. â€Å"A Christmas Carol,† could be called a fairytale, as the idea of ghosts and spirits is very unrealistic. Scrooge changes his attitudes through out the novel and is a totally different person from the beginning to the end. This can be said for the younger members of the Birling family; Sheila and Eric both feel wrong and guilty. They too, plan to change how they behave and act. Nevertheless, Mr Birling and Mrs Birling show no signs of changing their capitalist beliefs and they don’t plan to act any differently than before.

Making A Good Decision For Your Child Essay

All parents want their child to become successful. Some parents will go to great lengths to â€Å"help† their child by signing them up for a club, sport, or other extracurricular activities that will be â€Å"good† for them and their future. Usually the child ends up hating it or it causes something bad to happen. Even though parents might think they’re making a good decision for their child, it could end up as the bad decision that could potentially ruin the parent/ child relationship, lead to trouble later in life, or ruining the child’s chance of doing something for themselves. A parent can potentially ruin their relationship with their child if the make a bad decision for their child. If their child disagrees with the decision of the parent, the child could begin to resent them. Like in the story, I Stand Here Ironing, the narrator is the mother of a girl named Emily. The narrator tries to provide a good life for Emily but even then their relationship suffers because she does not show her daughter love like she does with her other children, like when her little sister, Susan, was a baby, the narrator paid lots of attention to her and not to Emily, â€Å"She would call for me, and I would rouse from exhaustion to sleepily call back: ‘You’re all right, darling, go to sleep, it’s just a dream,’ and if she still called, in a sterner voice, ‘now to go sleep, Emily, there’s nothing to hurt you.’ Twice, only twice, when I had to get up for Susan anyhow, I went in to sit with her.† (Olsen). This harms their relationship because Emily knows her mother chooses Susan over her even when she was little. Later on, when Emily is in her high school years, she and her mom are not very close still. Based on this we can see that making a bad decision for your child can leave the parent/child relationship in ruins. Making a bad decision for can also affect the child in the future. It could influence them to a life of despair. In the story Teenage Wasteland, Donny gets into trouble a lot in his high school years but when used to be good  when he was younger so as he has been doing bad things, his parents have been getting stricter and stricter which is only the start. His mother decides to be less controlling and then, â€Å"He said they acted like wardens. On weekends, they enforced curfew. And anytime he went to a party, they always telephoned first to see if adults would be supervising. ‘For God’s sake!’ he said. ‘Don’t you trust me?’† (Tyler). This causes his parents to try not to control him as much to make him happy but he spirals from here into him getting expelled for alcohol possession and later running away. The decision to be less strict on Donny was a mistake because this allowed him to make a mistake that will affect him forever. Bad decision can also ruin the child’s future. A parent’s bad decision for their child can also ruin their hope to do something that will make them happy. The child could want to do something that interests them but based on the decision their parent makes then do not feel capable of doing what makes them happy. A Modern Indian Woman’s Struggle with Arranged Marriage is a great example of this because the author struggles with her parents trying to choose her husband for her like a traditional arranged marriage. Her father goes on different Indian nationality dating websites and picks a man based on a profile and sets them up. She finds it funny that her parents do this for her but she really is limited by this choice and has to only go out with men that are of her dad’s approval (Jain). This makes it hard for the thirty year old to find a husband. This ruins her hope of finding someone that she likes for them and marrying them. Bad choices by parents can hinder the child in the end instead of helping them. Parents should think about the child’s whenever they make decisions for them so they do not hurt them in these ways. Works Cited Tyler, Anne. â€Å"Teenage Wasteland.† 1983. Print. (Tyler) Olsen, Tillie. â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing.† Tell Me A Riddle. 1961. Print. (Olson) Jain, Anita. â€Å"Is Arranged Marriage Really Any Worse Than Craigslist?† New York Print.

Pacific Islands Culture Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Pacific Islands Culture - Research Paper Example These groups of islands have both differences as well as commonalities based on culture, social structure, and historical experience. Populations migrating from other regions such as Africa and Asia began colonizing the islands over 35,000 years ago. Over the millennia, there were numerous encounters of the settlers with the outside world. Of over 6.3 million currently living in the Pacific Islands, the majority of the population of around 84% live in Melanesia, only around 9% live in Polynesia and approximately 7% live in Micronesia (Eccleston et al, 1998). Melanesia is related to the Greek words melas which means black and nesos (islands); it refers to the â€Å"physical appearance of the indigenous inhabitants of Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji and Solomon Islands† (Eccleston et al, 1998, p.249). Polynesia is related to the Greek word poly (many). It forms a triangular group of islands including Hawaii in the north, Aotearoa/ New Zealand in the south-west to Rapanul/ Easter Island in the south-east. The single culture in this unique triangle is reduced by the intrusion of colonialism. Indigenous Polynesians maintain effective sovereignty to some extent only in the inner islands, excluding the peripheral ones. Micronesia from micros (small) encompass the Northern Marianas in the north, Palau in the west, and Kiribati in the south-east. The smaller islands of Micronesia have societies similar to those in Polynesia; they are â€Å"ruled by indigenous hereditary aristocracies both before and after contact with colo nial powers† (Eccleston et al, 1998, p.249). In comparison with Polynesia and Micronesia, in most of Melanesia with some exceptions like Fiji which is on the boundary, the societies are more egalitarian with equality among men; contrastingly however, gender inequalities are greater. Originating from the Fujian province of southern China, seafaring people who spoke the Austronesian language, settled in the distant parts of Melanesia,

Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Law - Essay Example The gang members had sewn black and gold emblems on the prison issue shirts. This prompted the jail management to establish a rule banning the display of such colors that deviate from the established prison clothing. The rule encourages the inmates to wear homemade black and gold Rosary Beads around their necks and thus the prison staff decides to confiscate them, but the inmates threaten to file a suit against such action since action interferes with their freedom of worship. However, as a warden of the jail, I would go ahead and confiscate the beads since laws and regulations must be respected and appreciated by both parties (Singh et al, 2007). Being partisan to one law at the expense of the other is biased since it limits the freedom of other people guided by the foregone law or regulation. Therefore, for the prisoners to complain that their right to practice own religion is compromised due to confiscation of the beads is biased since in observing their right, the gang also deny the prison its right to implement laws that facilitate effective management and promotes equality. In case, the right of the prisoners is observed and respected, then what about the rest of the inmates who do not belong to such religion? They will feel discriminated and not recognized. Moreover, what if the prisoners demand similar treatment, but each one of them belongs to a different religion? This will lead to a mixture of prison uniforms and thus, will compromise the integ rity of the prison uniform and lead to loss of its identity. Therefore, in this scenario, the suit is likely to fail since in observing the right to practice religion, the rights of other prisoners and the prison will be compromised and thus lead to biasness (Siegel, 2009). Based on such considerations, the court will reject the suit considering the above grounds. The right of an inmate to proper medical services is justified and protected in all

Big Tobacco Sues Feds over Graphic Warnings on Cigarette Labels Research Paper - 1

Big Tobacco Sues Feds over Graphic Warnings on Cigarette Labels - Research Paper Example cco has two distinct functions, one as a consumable article and the other as a revenue earner, which at times appears to secure conflicting official treatment" (Breed, 2011). To counter this thought that tobacco is injurious to health, major cigarette manufacturing companies spent millions of dollars. They found anti smoking campaign by the government just to malign the minds of the people since scientific research yet to establish the actual cause of death of a person. Any law or ordinance that prohibits the sale of cigarettes at this stage is unjustified. It backs the American jurisprudence a man or woman is â€Å"innocent until proven guilty† (Breed, 2011). Yet Scientists have to prove that tobacco smoke or any of its constituents in cigarette cause human disease. So far, the research and studies conducted to find out the real cause of death/damages on human body, comes to the conclusion that tobacco cannot be blamed as a solo reason for the death of a person but the weak immune system that vary from individual to individual effects the human body (Breed, 2011). The strong defense of the tobacco manufacturing companies is that they are contributing a lot in shape of taxes to the national exchequers imposed by the concerned state on tobacco products. Further this industry employees a large number of employees. In case of industry, failure there could be two pronged losses: a) loss of taxes that collects by the states b) unemployment. Any effort to undermine the industry would have devastating impact on the jobs of more than 400,000 workers associated with tobacco industry besides losing of jobs of another 300,000 employees of its allied industries. As far as revenue generation through sale of this product is concerned, smokers are contributing approximately ten billion dollars a year, which reflects the sizeable chunk towards total revenue of the United States of America (Breed, 2011). The biased advertisement comprised of pictures of those smokers who have

Breast Cancer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Breast Cancer - Essay Example According to Weaver (2007), there are two types of breast cancers. One is the ductal breast cancer that takes place in ducts connecting the lobes and the nipple. Weaver (2007) said that this is about 80% of the breast cancers. In contrast, lobular breast cancer that takes place in the lobes where milk production occurs accounts from 10 to 15% of cancer patients (Weaver, 2007). Diagnosis. Diagnosis is â€Å"the process of finding the nature of the disorder† (British Medical Association, 2008, p. 170). In executing diagnosis, a medical professional â€Å"listens to a patient’s account of his or her illness and a physical examination is usually involved† and â€Å"tests may be ordered after the formation of a provisional diagnosis† (British Medical Association, 2008, p. 170). Breast cancer is suspected when a lump is discovered in breast self-examination or mammography (British Medical Association, 2008). However, doctors usually make the diagnosis of a breast cancer based on the results of a biopsy ordered on the patient (British Medical Association, 2008). Pathophysiology. Pathophysiology is â€Å"the study of the disease on body functions† (British Medical Association, 2008, p. 436). The current knowledge on the pathophysiology of breast cancers is that the condition emerges after a series of molecular changes at the cellular level that result in the â€Å"outgrowth and spread of breast ephithelial cells with immortal features and uncontrolled growth† (Swart, 2011, second paragraph).... Etiology. Etiology or aetiology means the â€Å"group of conditions which form the cause of any disease† (Marcovitch, 2005, p. 252). It also means â€Å"that part of medical science dealing with the causes of the disease† (Marcovitch, 2005, p. 16). Based on the work of Swart (2011), it seems that the most important etiological knowledge on breast cancer at present is that the etiology for breast cancer is not random but separable based on â€Å"distinct molecular and cellular origins† (Swart, 2011, 3rd paragraph). Further, according to Swart (2011, 3rd paragraph), based on the current etiology on breast cancer, thinking on the risks factors, prevention, and treatment strategies are now changing. Clinical manifestations. Clinical manifestation or signs refer to â€Å"the physical manifestations of an illness elicited by a doctor when examining a patient—for example, a rash, lump, swelling, fever or altered physical functions such as a reflex† (Marcov itch, 2005, p. 143). In the case of breast cancer, one the clinical manifestations can be a â€Å"painless lump† (British Medical Association, 2008, p. 94). Other symptoms â€Å"may include a dark discharge from the nipple, retraction (indentation) of the nipple, and an area of dimpled, creased skin over the lump† (British Medical Association, 2008, p. 94). Defining the Role of a Breast Cancer Nurse One concept on the role or intervention of the nursing profession among breast cancer patients is the one articulated by St. Vincent Medical Center (2008) pertaining to a â€Å"Breast Cancer Nurse Navigator.† According to the Vincent Medical Center (2008, 1st paragraph), a Breast Cancer Nurse Navigator â€Å"assist breast cancer patients and their families find

What are the organisational benefits of performance review Essay

What are the organisational benefits of performance review - Essay Example While these individuals may differ on how and when performance reviews should be conducted they are all united on the point that such reviews and the review process itself is an essential part of employee growth which in turn leads to the growth of the company. Jack Welch served as the CEO of General Electric for more than two decades and links performance reviews to the overall mission of the company. Welch (2005, Pg. 16) says that â€Å"Every decision or initiative was linked to the mission. We publicly rewarded people who drove the mission and let go of people who couldn’t deal with it for whatever reason.† GE’s own mission, when Welch was running the company, was to be the most competitive company in the world which fits with the two pronged approach of rewarding and doing the utmost to keep the best talent within the company and letting go of those who do not perform to a certain level. Such tactics could only be employed when effective performance review processes are in place and GE’s system for performance reviews has been lauded by critics and copied verbatim by the competition simply because it is one of the best. The current issues faced by our organisation are mostly concerned with the human resource management of the company. Before an outline of these issues as well as a discussion of the problems is made, it must be noted that none of these issues are large enough to cripple the company but they do make the management process more difficult. Additionally, all these issues come with simple solutions and if those solutions are applied with careful consideration there should be no reason why the company can not gain competitive advantages over time. The central issue for the company comes from the fact that many of our senior managers and other personnel have little or no formal training in management which leads to a lack of

Listening Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Listening - Essay Example These definitions do not explain the concept of Jazz music clearly because most people do not understand it. This was one of the early types of music in the United States back in the 1800’s since it had a unique way of improvising everything in music. Some of the best Jazz musicians of all time are part of our modern class discussions, and one of the most famous in courses is Amadeus Wolfgang Mozart. His jazz music is among the best types of Jazz music in the modern world since it has all the elements of music that music students need to learn such as melody, tempo, rhythm, and sound among others. One of the songs that we heard in the class reading on Jazz music is by Mozart, and it is very interesting with all the necessary fundamentals of music. Allegro is one of the most famous songs done by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The lyrics, tempo, and instrumentation in this song pull the attention of the listener, and make them want to hear it over, and again. Mozart Amadeus is one of the best opera, and orchestra conductors in the world of music. There are many musicians whose musical work has been appreciated all over the world for a long time now, but there are also others who are not much recognized   Mozart yet their work s are extra ordinary. The song is very interesting because of the arrangement of its SHRMG, which are the sound, melody, harmony, rhythm, and growth. The introduction of the song is in the form of A-A2-A-A2-B-B-A3 while the instrumental part of the song is in the form of A3-B-B, and the Outro entails a descent string. When the song starts, one can hear the tinkling reverb piano sound, and as the song continues, the sound becomes lush pad synth pads. The harmony of the song has a progression that sounds like V6/VI-i-v-I and the harmony still has a constant piano line. The melody of the song is has a stepwise, modal that is simple. The rhythm of this song depicts the pace of its melody. The sound of the song is very soft and

Desert Survival Situation Essay Example for Free

Desert Survival Situation Essay The desert survival scenario taught me how to think rationally and demonstrate effective interpersonal skills. There is a certain time when we need to act as a group to achieve a goal, maybe to survive. The SDI and the desert survival scenario were intertwined especially during discussions. In a group. In SDI, we have four colors red, hub, blue and greed and each represent behaviors. Red characteristic behaviors tend to be competitive, forceful risk taker and self confident, Blues trust, helpful, modest, devoted, caring and supportive. Green characteristics are cautious, principled, fair and reserved. Hubs posses the three characteristics combined. All these four colors have an overdone side of each. In our discussion during the desert survival, were put in group and each group had members who were in these categories of colors. Interestingly,some group agreed to rank the items in a different ways, while others were able to almost come up with a list almost the experts rankings, Why?.Looking at their color characteristics, if a group had only gree, blue and hub, they were most likely to come up with no challenge. On the other hand, if we had all reds in a group there was not going to gain anything because all the will do is everyone compete and try to dominate. If all were green, they were likely to avoid and start talking out of the discussion. The Kilman conflict mode also can be applied in this analyses.For example,if in our discussion ,we had a competing member and all the others are avoiding mode,what will happen?. The red(competitor) will control all what the others say. No one will object anything and I thing the discussion will yield nothing at the end. If we have majority of accommodating members and avoiders, what will happen?.Everything will be â€Å"yes, I will do it† or avoid all. In order for the group to function, we need to have all the above members balanced. In an organization, if the manager is competing and a subordinate staff answerable to the manager is accommodating, that will lead to overworked, overwhelmed and misuse. In my society, women do not hold powers like men in every aspect of their lives. Although it is now changing the perception has not changed much. They are not entitled to posses or inherit properties. Not like in this country. In our class discussions, the professor does divide students into small groups to discuss the certain topic. I like how small group play because in this class we have members, who are adults and have experiences from their ages. They know how to handle and talk about issues. There personalities and attitudes are positive in how they interact with others. I have not been contributing much to the class and I think that is not being rude but this is something that I have struggle all along in my life.

Front Office Department Yield Management

Front Office Department Yield Management Chapter 1 Introduction The purpose of this chapter is to give an overview of the Front Office department and the yield management. The term Front Office was introduced in the US, but now used in worldwide. Front Office is divided into sub-departments namely reception, concierge, switchboard, bellboys, reservations and guest relations. Nevertheless, as hotels vary in size and type, some of these sub-departments may not be present. Despite the size or the type of the establishment, the department is in many ways the nerves of the hotel. One reason for this is that the sale of rooms generates more than 50 per cent of revenue and profit of a hotel, thus it is compulsory that Front Office department maximize its sales. For instance it might be through the switchboard, in the process of making reservation over the telephone, by entering the hotel to check-in or to make an inquiry. It clearly depicts that Front Office is a strong marketing tool that generates business for a hotel through guests registration. It i s the center for guest activity. Front Office is in fact a hotel department where guests check-in, request information about services that the hotel provides and at the end of their stay they settle their bills and check-out. The Front Office as well generates profit or revenue indirectly, for other departments such as restaurant bookings and up-selling of the hotel in general. Normally, up-selling is done by the team members to increase profit by offering other services to the guests. When guests inquire about those services then it is an opportunity for the staffs to persuade them to purchase these facilities. It is important that the department sets goals and objectives to be able to manage and control yield management so as to maximize sales revenue. The Front Office should however have its own mission statement for a successful management system. Aim: Planning and evaluating Front Office yield management for a better revenue management and for the success of the department Objectives: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Proposing a solution for an effective communication and how to eliminate all barriers à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Understanding the purpose of yield management and how to plan, manage and organize in the Front Office department à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Investigating the link between Front Office Operations and yield management: how it contributes in the department à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Implementing yield management in Front Office department à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Making Front Office department successful in controlling and calculating revenue obtaining from up-selling Problem Statement: There is an increase in communication barriers interdepartmentally concerning sales revenue. Messages are not passed accordingly to right person, to the right place and at the right time. It is noticed that employees are not convince to do up-selling owing to lack of training facilities and procedures. Thus, expectations are not met which results to a low revenue. The fact that there is misunderstanding, conflicts may arise among staffs and supervisors to make decision on how to increase sales. The time scale does not allow the employees to properly plan, organise and implement their task if managers do not set objectives and guidelines. Finally, owing to a miscalculation or a decrease in revenue and sales, it minimizes the profits. In general, team members do not take their planning of task into consideration thus result to ineffective, inefficiently and less productive. Updated information is not usually circulated. Thus, outdated data is given to guests concerning the selling price of the products and services at the hotel. If there has been carelessness, guests get compensation, for instance a dinner free of charge on the beach. In somehow, reducing the revenue and sales. Chapter 2 Front Office department Front Office department is one of the departments within the rooms division. It is the heart center of the hotel and is the most revenue generating. Front Office is a noticeable department in a hotel with the greatest amount of guest contact and highly people orientated. It is designed as the first lasting impression. The front office functions can be divided into six general areas: 1. Reception 2. Guest Relations 3. Bell service 4. Mail and information / Reservation 5. Concierge 6. Cashiers and night auditors Front Office Structure A hotels size and objectives determine the organizational structure of the Front Office. (Abbott,P. and Lewry, S. 1993) A table of Front Office structures is shown below. [Drawing]Front Office Manager [Drawing] Assistant Front Office Manager [Drawing][Drawing][Drawing][Drawing][Drawing][Drawing][Drawing][Text Wrapping Break] [Text Box][Text Box] [Drawing]Reservation Manager [Drawing][Text Box] [Drawing][Drawing][Drawing][Drawing] [Text Box][Text Box][Text Box][Text Box][Text Box] [Drawing] [Text Box] Planning and evaluating operations There are seven management functions that have to be considered when planning and evaluating operations. These points are as follows: 1.Planning 2.Organising 3.Coordinating 4.Staffing 5.Leading 6.Controlling 7.Evaluating Planning Planning is an essential function in the success of different office operations. It is a procedure of setting objectives, developing plans and outlining tasks and schedules to accomplish the goals targeted. An effective strategic planning is done for the contribution of a successful operation and to maintain higher or constant revenue in the Front Office operation. At the stage of planning, the Front Office manager determines the departments goals and objectives. Therefore, the Front Office manager uses these goals as a guide for planning most specific and measurable objectives. Finally, through these goals, the front office manager determines the strategies and procedures to reach these objectives. These aims will thus discuss to the Front Office staffs so as to plan and organise their task efficiently for the success of the department. Organising After setting the objectives, the Front Office manager organised the work to be done through dividing it among Front Office staffs. When organising the tasks, the work is distributed properly and is to be completed in a given period of time. Coordinating Coordination and team spirit are vital. It involves togetherness and using the available resources to attain planned goals. Staffing The right persons and experienced ones are recruited. It is important to introduce training to the employees for a better success of the department. Leading Leading involves supervising, motivating, training, disciplining and setting an example for the Front Office department. Leading is important to maintain the effectiveness of the tasks. Controlling Through controlling, it ensures that the concrete outcomes of operations closely match the plan results. Leading and controlling of task are mostly the duties of the supervisors. Evaluating Through evaluating, it determines the extent to which planed goals and objectives are actually attained. Furthermore, it involves appraising and when necessary reviewing or helping to revise Front Office goals. Moreover, to maintain the successful of the department, every task are planned in advance. The room allocations for arrival of guests are well planned. Before the arrival of guests, the registration card which is a legal form is prepared on the eve of the day as well as concerning the hotel information sheets. The cold towels and the cocktail juice are also prepared in the evening for the arrival of guests on the following day. The departure and arrival check list are prepared one day before. If there are any group arrivals, a planning is done on how to do the check-in. A daily event record is prepared every evening by the Guest Relation Officers; showing all detailed information about arrivals and departures of guests including total guests- in- house. A daily event report is shown in the annex. If there is any early arrival, then, the housekeeping department has to be advised to prepare the room earlier. Establishing room rates The Front Office manager allocates to each room category a rack rate. In fact, the Front Liners are expected to sell rooms at rate unless a guest qualifies for an alternative room rate for example airline rate, commercial rate, group rate, day rate, package plan rate, complimentary rate, cooperate rate, promotional rate, incentive rate or family rate. While establishing room rates management has to consider its operating cost, inflationary factors and competitions. In general, there are three well-known approaches to pricing room: 1)Market condition approach 2)Ruled-of-thumb approach 3)Hubbart formula approach Market condition approach Under this approach management look at comparable hotels in the geographical market to verify the prices charging for the same products. Thus, charge only what the market will accept. In contrary, this approach is endangered to some drawbacks as it does not take into account the value of the property and the strong sales effort to accomplish. Ruled-of-thumb approach In this approach, the rate of a room is à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬1 for each à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬1000 of construction and furnishing cost per room, assuming a 70% occupancy rate. However, this approach does not consider the inflation term, the contribution of other facilities and services towards the hotels desired profitability. The Front Office manager must stay in contact with the General Manager and controller to monitor room rate effectiveness. Hubbart formula approach This approach considers operating costs, desired profits and expected number of rooms sold, that is, demand. Generally, this approach lays emphasis on the factors such as operating expenses, desired Return on Investment (ROI) and income from different departments in the hotel; to establish room rates. This method relies on the Front Office to produce income to cover operating expenses, overhead and ROI for the hotel operation. According to Hubbart formula approach, the procedure of calculating a room rate is shown below: i.Measuring the hotels anticipated profit by multiplying the desired rate of return (ROI) by the holders investment. ii.Measuring pre-tax profits by dividing the anticipated profit by 1 minus hotels tax rate. iii.Measuring fixed charges and management fees. This calculation includes estimating depreciation, interest expense, property taxes, insurances, amortization, building mortgage, land, rent and management fees. iv.Measuring undistributed operating expenses. This includes estimating administrative and general expenses and energy costs. v.Assessing non-room operating department income or loss, that is, Food and Beverages department income or loss, telephone department income or loss. vi.Measuring the required room department income which is the sum of pre-tax profits, operating department losses less other department incomes. vii.Determining the room department revenue which is the required room department income, plus other room department direct expenses of payroll and related expenses. viii.Measuring the average room rate by dividing rooms department revenue by the expected number of rooms to be sold. These methods are guidelines only. Room rates must frequently monitored with regard to market conditions of demand and supply. Furthermore, some more formulae are depicted below: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Doubles sold daily = double occupancy rate x total number of rooms x occupancy% à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Singles sold daily = rooms sold daily number of double rooms sold daily à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Singles sold daily x X + doubles sold daily x (X + Y) = (average room rate) x (total number of rooms sold daily) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Whereby: X = price of singles; Y = price differential between singles and doubles; X+Y = price of doubles. Forecasting Room Availability: Forecasting room availability is to predict the number of rooms available for sale on forthcoming date. The kind of forecasting helps to manage the reservation process, guides the Front Liners for an effective rooms management and is used as occupancy forecast. Therefore, it is useful in attempting and to roster the essential number of staffs for a planned size of a department. In order to predict room availability, the following information is needed à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Number of expected room arrivals/ check-ins à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Number of expected room no-shows à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Number of expected room walk-ins à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Number of expected room stayovers à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Number of expected room overstays à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Number of expected room check-outs à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Number of expected room understays The above mentioned information helps the Front Liners to conduct various daily operational ratios. The formulae to calculate No-show percentage, Walk-ins percentage, Overstays percentage and Understays percentage are as follows: i.No-shows percentage = (Number of no-show rooms) divided by (Number of rooms reserved) ii.Walk-ins percentage = (Number of walk-in rooms) divided by (Sum of the number of rooms arrivals) iii.Overstays percentage = (Number of overstay rooms) divided by (Number of expected check-outs) iv.Understays percentage = (Number of understay rooms) divided by (Number of expected check-outs) The predicted number of rooms available for sale for upcoming date can be likely successful by using the formula shown below: Forecasted number of rooms available for sale = Total number of guests rooms -Number of out of order rooms Number of stayovers rooms Number of reserved rooms + Number of no-show rooms + Number of understay rooms Number of overstay rooms Under non-automated and semi-automated systems, total of rooms available for sale forecasts are measured upon demands and needs which vary from three-day to ten-day forecasts. Nevertheless, under fully automated systems, forecasts are done at any instant for imminent period of time. For instance, on opera system, room forecasts are already registered and considered, thus eliminating monotonous labour work and human error margins. Budgeting for Operations Hotels have to prepare annual budgets, which are profit plans that address all revenue sources and expense items for the next calendar year. Furthermore, the hotel annual operating budget represents against which management can evaluate actual outcomes of operations. In the twelve-monthly budget preparation process, close coordination efforts of all management personnel are essential. The annual operation of a hotel budget is generally divided into monthly plans which in turn divided into weekly and even daily plans for a better control over the current consequences. In addition, while preparing the Front Office department annual budget, the Front Office manager has to coordinate with the financial department to estimate only rooms revenue and related direct expenses. The hotel controller and the General Manager, therefore, have to revise this budget. Forecasting room revenue In order to predict room revenue, the Front Office manager considers the historical financial data such as past room revenue, past number of rooms sold, past average daily rate and past occupancy rates. Thus, compare and contrast for a better decision making. Forecasting direct expenses Owing to the fact that the Front Office manager is responsible only for his or her department direct expenses, that is, variable costs; the Front Office manager consult past financial data showing variable costs to room revenue ratios, in order to estimate department expenses. Refining budget plans If ever the external strong factors change considerably, in an unpredicted way, then the actual operating budgeted figures have to be revised. Evaluating Front Office Operations A successful Front Office manager has to continuously evaluate the outcomes of the department activities on a daily, monthly, quarterly and yearly basis. While evaluating, the following items and tools have to be considered: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Daily operations report; for example Room move report à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Occupancy ratios à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Rooms revenue analysis à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Hotel income statement; for example Early breakfast sale à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Rooms division income statement or schedule; for example up-selling of rooms à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Rooms division budgets report à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Operating ratios and ratios standards Daily operations report This report is also known as the managers report, the daily report and the daily revenue report. It encloses a summary of the hotels financial activities during a 24 hour period. In addition, it assists as to reconcile cash, bank accounts and revenue and accounts receivable. Occupancy ratios Occupancy ratios measure the enhancement of the Front Office in selling the hotels guestrooms. Some common ratios that are used in the Front Office department are depicted below: i.Occupancy percentage = (Number of rooms occupied) divided by (Total number of rooms available for sale) ii.Multiple occupancy percentage = (Number of rooms occupied by more than one guest) divided by (Total number of rooms occupied) iii.Average guests per rooms sold = (Total number of guests) divided by (Total number of rooms sold) iv.Average daily rate = (Total rooms revenue) divided by (Total number of rooms sold) v.Average rate per guest = (Total rooms revenue) divided by (Total number of guests) Room revenue analysis One prime report to succeed control over room revenue is the room rate variance report, that is those rooms that have been sold at rates other than their rack rates, for instance, airline rate, corporate or commercial rates and so on Another form is the yield statistics, which is the ratio of the current revenue to the sum of the possible potential revenue if all rooms are sold at rack rates. Formula of Yield statistic is shown below: Yield statistic = (Actual room revenue) divided by (Potential room revenue) Hotel income statement This statement provides vital financial data about the outcomes of hotel operations for a given period of time. Room division income statement The room division income statement also known as a schedule has to be referenced on the hotels income statement. Furthermore, the room division schedule has to be prepared by the hotels financial division not by the hotels Front Office accounting agent, that is, the Night Auditors. Room division budget reports These reports are monthly budget form comparing to current revenue and expenses figures against budgeted amounts depicted both in Euro values and percentage variances. Operating ratios Operating ratios for instance occupancy ratios, yield statisticsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ assist managers in evaluating the success of the Front Office operations. In addition, for the ratios to be meaningful they should be compared against proper standards such as prior periods, competitors or budgeted ratios. Front Office Operations A need for communication exists to communicate with other managers and staffs working other shifts. The reservation area is the sales department of the Front Office, thus a revenue center for the department in the sense that reservations determine on occupancy levels. The Front desk staffs must compulsory alert the guests when their credit limit is exceeding. Lastly, the Front Office staff should take the check-out as an opportunity to offer the guest supplementary services; for example, proposing the guest to book a room in the hotel for the future. (Vallen, J.J. 1985) Night audit, reception and Guest Relation are an essential element of Front Office department and claimed to be revenue generating department. The Guest Relation Officers have to convince the guests to accept upgrades. (Jones, C and Paul, V. 1993). There has to be a control process system to monitor the performance objectives targeted. Furthermore, the Front Office controls its cash or revenue sales. Interdepartmental Communication The Front Office staffs cooperate with all departments of the hotel including marketing and sales, housekeeping, food and beverage, banquet, controller, maintenance, security and human resources. Each department has a different kind of communication with the Front liners. These departments view the Front Office as a communication connection in providing guest services. The Front Office is a clearinghouse for communication activities. Marketing and Sales department The marketing and sales department depends on the Front Office to provide data on guest histories or concerning guests prior visit. The guest history is a valuable resource for marketing and sales as it uses the guest registration information to target marketing campaigns, develop promotions, prepare mailing labels and select appropriate advertising media. Housekeeping department Communications between the Front Office and the Housekeeping department is vital as it revolves around room status. Team members of the Housekeeping department provide a room status report to the Front Office department. Thus, follow-up can be done easily through this report. Food and Beverage department There are handovers which are used to communicate a charge to a guests account. It is essential that the Food and Beverage department communicates with the Front Office department to know the meal plan of the guests. This is to charge the guests accordingly prior to their meal plan they paid for. Through interdepartmental communication, information is spread out to all the departments so as to communicate effectively for an enhancement situation of the hotel and to increase revenue. It is also essential for a better planning of work. Intradepartmental communication Communication within the department is essential for a better planning of work. After planning the goals and objectives for the success of the Front Office operation, it is important that all the Front Liners work together and communicate effectively to deliver a proper task. Through effective communication, the Front Liners may achieve their aims and increase their revenue in the operations. The team spirits and understanding are the prime factors to be considered for the enhancement of the Front Office department. There has to be an interaction between the Front Office manager, the supervisors and the Front Liners so as to determine the root of the problem and therefore find solutions to remedy the situations. Interdepartmental exchange of information is crucial to attain goals and objectives. Barriers resulting to a decrease in sales revenue Decrease in sales revenue leads to unsuccessful operations of the hotel. There is lack of co-operation between departments which results to barriers of communication. A decrease in arrival of tourists results to a negative outcome concerning a raise in revenue. That is, a low demand leads to low revenue for instance, a decrease in room sales, products and services revenue. The problem root comes primarily from the reservation department. There may be barriers in departments such as Financial department, Food and Beverage department and housekeeping department relating to sales. For instance, if a guest has an Half Board voucher and that on the opera system it is All-inclusive it creates confusion to the departments concerned. The All-inclusive minibar and that of the Half Board is completely different. If the Housekeeping, Food and Beverage and Financial departments are not advised or change the guests meal plan on the system by the Front Liners, may create loss in revenue. Lack of t raining procedures concerning up-selling will not increase sales revenue. The lack of skills does not convince the employees to make upselling. There may as well conflicts in different tariffs charged to guests for example; a Front Liner may charge a guest Rs 200 instead of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬200 resulting to a huge decrease in sales revenue. Ways to remedy the barriers relating to a decrease in sales revenue Through effective communication, there may be an increase in sales revenue and a successful department. It is important to maximize rates when demand is high but if demand is low, special promotional package has to offer to guests to increase the demand. The Front Office manager has to well-trained the Front Liners to understand the meaning of yield management and how to increase sales or ensure sales revenue. The Front Office management has to set objectives to increase sales revenue and thus discuss with various departments of the hotel. Through these strategies, there is co-operation among the departments for successful revenue generated. Front Liners have to communicate effectively and efficiently to departments such as Food and Beverage, Financial and Housekeeping concerning the guests meal plan. Training allows team members to be successful in delivering good sales techniques. It is vital that each department provides training facilities and procedures to the employees so as to learn the methods to increase the sales revenue. The employees should be product knowledgeable; thus promote more profits and the staffs have to attentive when taking payment from guests. Questions have to be asked properly concerning the booking for accommodation and meal plan when guest reserved a room. It is important to keep a record concerning the financial transactions so as the Financial department may evaluate the ways to remedy the barriers relating to a decrease in sales revenue. Its not always easy and often takes a lot of determination. But making an effort to remove the obstacles tangible and intangible that stand in our way, can be the key to building relationship that really works by Eric Garner Yield Management Yield Management is a demand forecasting technique used to maximize room revenue that the hotel industry borrowed from the airlines. It is based on the economics of supply and demand, which means that price rise when demand is strong and drop when demand is weak. Thus, the purpose of yield management is to increase profitability. Yield management allocates the right type of aptitude to the right customer at the right price so as to maximize revenue or yield per available room. (Kimes, S.E, 1989) Yield management will monitor reservations and based on previous trends. Existing demand determines the number and type of rooms to sell at what price to obtain the maximum revenue. The yield management program will monitor the demand and supply and recommend the number and type of rooms to sell for a given day including the price for which to sell each room. Planning sales revenue The Front Office plays a vital role in promoting sales and the Front Office manager has to develop and implement a plan to the utmost to increase sales opportunities to the Front Office agents. This plan focus on areas of promotions, developing objectives and procedures, incentive programs, training program for staffs, budgets and tracking systems for employee feedback and profitability. Moreover, planning yield management includes setting up objectives, evaluating alternatives, drawing up budgets and developing an evaluation tool for feedback. The plan has to be discussed with the General Manager, department managers and Front Liners from different department to attain goals and objectives. The team members have to ensure that the profitable plan is accordingly developed. According to Narula, (Feb 1987), some goals were provided to the Front Office employees to increase sales. The following are depicted below à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Sell rooms to the guests who have not make prior reservations. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Upgrade is to be made to the guests so as to boost the customers to purchase higher priced product or service; to those guests having former reservations. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Maintain the record of the rooms. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Convey information about the product facilities available in the premises for sale, for instance, Food and Beverage and other facilities. The objective of the Font Office employees is to sell all facilities and benefits available at the hotel. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Ensure that the maximum revenue is generated from the sale of rooms by prominent a stability between overbooking and a full house. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢Achieve guest feedback Planning can only be started if there an increase of communication between Front Liners and Marketing and Sales department. It is essential to formulate an effective marketing strategy when there is a change in the market conditions. The eventual goal of a sales-oriented Front Office is to increase revenue from room sales, Food and Beverage sales and sales in various departments. The Front Office and other departments of the hotel have to plan on how much to increase revenue to accomplish the objectives set. Before decision making, several questions have to ask for a better planning of revenue management. Each moment new objectives has to plan for future months to generate revenue. When developing and implementing a program to increase sales activities, the Front Office manager along with other department managers and employees, have to identify products and services to promote. A list of services and products to be promoted is shown in the annex. Evaluating sales Yield management in Front Office Operations The Front Office team members have to determine which concepts to produce in order to increase sales re

Risk Management in Childcare Services

Risk Management in Childcare Services Adults are faced with a dilemma: on the one hand, children need opportunity to become competent risk managers; on the other, adults have the responsibility to keep them safe. Critically assess whether this dilemma can be managed within the delivery of services for children. Risk management has become a high concern in childcare services. Increasing changes in policies and procedures to ensure that risks are minimized have resulted into children not been given the same opportunities that we would have had as a child when we were growing up. Over recent years increasing attention has been focused on childcare services to reduce risk and ensure children are kept safe from danger. In this assessment I hope to identify what is risk and looking at how society has changed over the years. I will look at both the dilemmas faced by both parents and children’s services, looking at the how anxiety has changed the thinking of risk management. The subject of risk management is causing great concern in the children’s services. Practitioners face the dilemma of given children opportunities to explore while at the same time ensuring that they are safe. When looking at risk we have to consider what is a risk? We face risks in everyday life from the moment we get up. When heading to work either in the car or walking it is a risk as we may have a car accident or get knocked down. Children from the moment of birth face risk when growing up. A baby may choke on their bottle or a toddler may fall when taking their first steps. The severity of the risk depends on the consequence. In our current society parents have become more anxious when allowing the children to explore and learn about risks. Today’s generation have moved from allowing children the opportunity to experience risk to the extreme where children are protected from risks by not allowing them to have the same challenges and opportunities we would have had at a young age. Stover et al., 2013 evaluates asome very valid reason to why this may have come about. It has looked at how parents have become more anxious on where there child plays or goes and the quality of freedom they have, ensuring they are safe from risk and harm. Over resent years it can be seen how attitudes have changed and children are spending more time under adult supervision play area, non- risk environments or indoors in what is seen as safe and secure, replacing adventures play. Children’s play has moved from the positive play also known as risk play where children developed motor skills, control through physical rick, learn new skills and develop confidence. When looking at comments made during learning guide 13.4 discussing wherediscussing where we played at 11 years of age it can be seen that we were given as children were given more freedom and parents did not have the same concerns about risks as they do today. With growing up in the country side it was normal to take risks and was seen as a safe place for children to develop to their full practical skills. We were rarely questioned about where we played, but rather we had more fears of being caught by our parents and getting in trouble. When looking back on my childhood and growing up with my six siblings, I can also state that we did not have any serious accidents due to the risk play rather than the normal bumps or bruises that every child faces. In today’s society attuides have changed due to growing changes and trends in young children today. They are not allowed to explore the fields or visit friends without adult supervision. It can be even said that children today are not as outgoing and street wiseh but rather spend more time playing with the latest technology or game. Modern technology such as internet and influence of media has escalating fears in parents and therefore made them more curious or is it simply of the mistakes we learned as a child and we are being over proactive? Furedi’s (2001) work on paranoid parenting cited in Gladwin and Collins 2008 cover issues on how these changes result from parents lacking the confidence and rather than set boundaries being their child’s best friend. Are we as parents protecting or children or is it our own fears we have of them facing risks. It can be critically argued that yes while parents are seen to lack confidence in today’s society parents are under a lot more pressure with keeping up with media and how children are exposed today to media trends e.g. Through social media, Facebook, mobile phones. When I was growing my time was spend outdoor with friends creating our own play. It was also taken to my attention the article by Stover et al., 2013 (2013) on how parental responsibility has changed from children not having freedom to protect them from risk, but also society has changed to where children today are seen as ‘human capital’. Children are not given the opportunity to play but rather institutionalising children to education. It can be critically argued that while yes this has been seen over recent years but it has changed around again, that while education is an important aspect of live studies has shown that children need play and the value of play is the developmental stone for lifelong learning. Piaget cited in Springate and Foley (2008) research has an important conclusiontusion to this as he believes that not only the play is important but involving children in risks contributes to a child’s development. As citied in Maynard (2007) ‘Encounters with forest school and Foucault article learning guide 13.3 shows how two different approaches on risk taken in play. When looking at the forest schools created by McMillians Sister and the video clip 2 on Risk both using a ‘hands off approach allows children the freedom of play and learning to risk manage. Children on the video also have the responsibility of looking after their own health and well-being. Comparing this to our schools today while there has been develops on the importance of play in the child’s development and through the Plowden Report cited in Springate and Foley (2008) we have changed to a play based curriculum like Foucault suggests in learning guide 13.3, teachers still focus on the sense that we must keep our children safe from harm. In my own setting yes we use the hands off approach but will interveneal before a children comes to risk for example when on balancing beams and unsteady we will help rathe r than allowing the child the risk of falling. While Foucault suggests that teachers like to keep power and maintain control through not being allowed to take part in risks and adventures play I have to critically disagree. As an early years leader I feel that it’s not being in control but rather the pressures we have to follow. We are protecting or children from risk and not allowing them the freedom due to the extreme pressures put in place from â€Å"the social care trust regulations (2012) coming from the Children Order (1995) and it could be said we are keep ourselves safe. Like Power (2004) cited in Gladwin and Collins (2008) states it the uncertainty of known what is right and wrong. As practitioners we carry out risk assignments on a daily basis however we still are responsible if something goes wrong. In my own setting children are be given the opportunity in the outdoor area were we have adventurouses play. We have having types of challenges where children can climb and learn how to be safe. Children make mud pies and have learned that it’s important to wash our hand after so they don’t become ill. We have had no serious injuries beyond the usual bumps and bruises which we would expect with any young child. While we do allow this type of play children are limited to the extent of risk play we can provide. We are located beside a lovely glen where the river runs alongside the playgroup, we are unable to have logs untreated in case of infection or children being able to stand on steps to see the river in case they fall. I feel that this is a shame as it limits their ability to explore and learn thorough the natural environment. Unfortunately due to the minimum standards (2012) and regulations we are unable to experience the adventures play in our local woodland where children can experience climbing trees and explore in the natural environment. This is seen as a high risk to children and the safe ratio is seen as too low. I have to critically disagree as it is a rural area and it’s a safe environment but children are being neglected from the experience like the forest schools these risks gain where children learn about keeping safe through the natural environment. It also defines the legal framework of the UNCRC(1989) citied in Foley (2008) where children have the right to play. As pre-school teacher we are inclined to put away the sharp edge object, not allowing children to run and ensuring that benches and tables are bleached to reduce risk. We have to ask ourselves are we preceding the children or ourselves. Do children learn from protecting them or would it not be better to turn risk into a learning experience for children? Lindon (2003) citied in Gladwin and Collins (2008) studies believes that involving children in risk allows the child to understand why we can’t do something and allows them to value the harm it can cause, giving children the values of life and making their own decisions. I feel that while this is vitally important and we should allow our children more risks again it relates back to adults protecting themselves in case of serious injuries. While we are restricted to how much risk we allow our children and have an implication on practice it can be critically argued like Power 2004 citied in Gladwin and Collins (2008) in maintained has come from failure within the health services. While Both social workerss failing the system causing deaths to children e.g. Victoria Climbie (2003) and Baby P citied in Blewett and Foley (2008) and other high profile cases, but also hospitals where deaths have accrued due to lack of services has affected the freedom of our childcare service like playgroup, after schools etc.. and what was seen as good risks have been come into the classification of putting children at danger. These high profile cases have led to government relooking at Legislation. Government published green papers â€Å"Every Child matters† (2003) Lord Laming report identified changes needed introducing the children’s Act (2004) citied Blewett and Foley (2008) in which made developed the child protection register. UNCRC give children the right to grow up in a safe environment free from abuse and neglect. In 1997 New Labour government relooked at the health services and while child protection was still and main concern it also came into play the identification of children ‘at risk’. Through the Assessment framework (DH et AL2000) citied in Blewett and Foley (2008) give more responsibility on practitioners to report any concerns on child protection issues. While this has been a break in the system for safe guarding children and has joined together multi agencies it has left increased concern for childcare services. Practitioners are worried about getting it wrong or likewise missing something. This again results to adult reducing risk to children in their care to not only protect the children but themselves. While this is the case it has been equally as important for these changes to happen as children today are more aware of what is right and wrong. Stanger danger has become a focus in child education Scott et al. (1998), cited in Gladwin and Collins, (2008), points out it is such a big worry when the objective risk is so tiny clearly demonstrates the distortions of popular risk perceptions. While this has had great impact on making children more aware the NSPCC have campaign on ‘underwear rules’ has been of great impact in terms of abuse as it also someone makes children aware that a person we know can also cause use harm. Therefore as adult we have to empowering children to speak out about abuse whenever it is within the family or by people they know and trust. In conclusion to looking at risks and what is seen as risk management it can be seen that while society today has left more concern for both parents and practitioners there has been tremendous work done in this area. While we still face the challenges of known how fear we can provide opportunity for children to be confident learner, creative and learning from their mistakes and being able to explore freely under supervision but without the direction of the adult, we have to also look at our work as practitioner. Sandseter Hansen (2012) identifies some relevant points where it is seen how practitioners look at how risk decisions are made by the adult as they are managing their own anxieties rather than the risk. Policies and procedures preducces are in place to help safeguard ourselves, but as practitioner we have to be able to define what is a safe risk and when does it become a danger. It can be seen that a lot more work is done with children through different school programmes like the school bus in learning guide 13.3 it gives children the opportunity to learn about risk taken and making the right decisions in life. As disused earlier this will help with parent’s anxieties about their children. Professionals working in partnership with other agencies and organisations will help to ensure the safe guarding of children. Bibliography Springate D Foley P (2008) ‘Play Matters’ in Collins, J and Foley P (eds), Promoting Children’s Wellbeing’ Bristol, The Policy / Milton Keynes, The Open University. Gladwin M Collins J (2008) ‘Anxieties and Risks’ in Collins, J and Foley P (eds), Promoting Children’s Wellbeing’ Bristol, The Policy / Milton Keynes, The Open University. Blewett J Foley P (2008) ‘Staying Safe’ in Collins, J and Foley P (eds), Promoting Children’s Wellbeing’ Bristol, The Policy / Milton Keynes, The Open University. KE312 Working together for children Activity 13.3 KE312 Working together for Children Video clip 2 Journals Stover, S. (2013) ‘Odd alliances:Workingtheorieson unintended consequences ofearlychildhoodeducation in Aotearoa, New Zealand’ .Australasian of Early Childhood’ vol.3, no p4-8. 5p. Available at http://www.open.ac.uk/ Sandseter, Beate E, Hansen.(2012)Restrictive Safety or Unsafe Freedom? Norwegian ECEC Practitioners Perceptions and Practices Concerning ChildrensRiskyPlay. Child Care in Practice., Vol. 18 Issue 1, p83-101. 19p. Available at http://www.open.ac.uk/ Internet http://www.nspcc.org.uk/help-and-advice/for-parents/keeping-your-child-safe/the-underwear-rule/the-underwear- Sinead Bartley (C6449275)Page 1

The Birthmark Essay: External and Internal Conflict in The Birthmark

External and Internal Conflict in â€Å"The Birthmark†Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚        Ã‚   This essay will analyze Nathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"The Birthmark† to determine the external and internal conflicts in the tale.    In the opinion of this reader, the central conflicts in the tale – the relation between the protagonist and antagonist usually (Abrams 225) – are the external one between Aylmer and Georgiana over the birthmark on her cheek, and internal ones within Georgiana between love and self-interest and alienation, and within Aylmer regarding scientific good and evil, success and failure.    Hyatt Waggoner in â€Å"Nathaniel Hawthorne† states:    Alienation is perhaps the theme he handles with greatest power. â€Å"Insulation,† he sometimes called it – which suggests not only isolation but imperviousness. It is the opposite of that â€Å"osmosis of being† that Warren has written of, that ability to respond and relate to others and the world. . . . it puts one outside the ‘magic circle’ or the ‘magnetic chain’ of humanity, where there is neither love nor reality (54).    Waggoner’s theme of alienation does play a part in the tale, but the theme which dominates is that of love conquering self as exemplified in Georgiana’s growing love for Aylmer. Her love transforms her very soul. â€Å"Everything he has to say is related, finally, to ‘that inward sphere’† (McPherson 68-69). â€Å"When he desired to build the kingdom of God, he looked for the pattern of it, not in history nor in the fortunes of those about him, but in his own heart (Erskine 180).    In the opening paragraph of â€Å"The Birthmark† the narrator introduces Aylmer as a scientist who â€Å"had made experience of a spiritual affinity more attractive than any chemical one.† Hawthorne’s... ... Erskine, John. â€Å"Nathaniel Hawthorne.† In Leading American Novelists. New York: Books For Libraries Press, 1968.    Hawthorne, Nathaniel. â€Å"The Birthmark† Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=HawBirt.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=1&division=div1    McPherson, Hugo. â€Å"Hawthorne’s Use of Mythology.† In Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne, edited by Clarice Swisher. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1996.    Waggoner, Hyatt. â€Å"Nathaniel Hawthorne.† In Six American Novelists of the Nineteenth Century, edited by Richard Foster. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1968.    Williams, Stanley T. â€Å"Hawthorne’s Puritan Mind.† In Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne, edited by Clarice Swisher. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1996.   

Biblical Symbols and Symbolism in John Steinbecks East of Eden :: East Eden Essays

Biblical Symbolism in East of Eden    John Steinbeck includes more of the tale of Genesis: 4 than is actually told in the bible.   The basis of this is a Jewish story involving twin sisters of both Cain and Abel.   The two disputed over Abel’s twin whom Abel was to marry.   Cain murdered Abel and wed the twin sister of his brother (Fonterose, Joseph. p.3380).   The story differs also in that it is Abel who leaves his home instead of Cain.   Abel found his Eden, represented by Salinas Valley, but lost it after fathering a second generation very similar to the first, Caleb representing Cain and Aron representing Abel (Fonterose, Joseph. p.3379).   The story is changed by Steinbeck to illustrate the idea that men naturally have both good and evil tendencies within them, and that this mixture compels men to choose between the two.   The story told is similar to an alternate interpretation of Genesis: 4 called timshel.   This alternate reading introduces the idea that Cain feels evil and kills Abel beca use of the jealousy he feels towards his brother and God’s love for Abel (Levant, Howard. p.243).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The relationship of good to evil is found in many different ways throughout East of Eden.   One way is the opposition between the two.   Such a relationship is illustrated through the Cain and Abel allusions in the novel.   Another relationship is that the two must coexist.   This relation is represented by the arrival of both the church and the brothel in town at the same time.   Good comes from evil is the third relationship.   Cathy making Adam appear all the more pure shows this relation.   The last relationship is that both terms are relative (Fonterose, Joseph. p.3381).   Caleb Trask is illustrated as being a man more evil than others are. This innate wickedness varies from the immoral values of other characters such as Charles or Cathy-Kate.   The wickedness is attributed to Caleb’s ability to choose between good and evil and his choosing of the latter (Levant, Howard. p.240).   In East of Eden, good is associated with individual morals.   Examples of such would be abstinence from sexual activity and virtues like generosity and self-respect.   Evil is illustrated through acts such as prostitution and murder (Fonterose, Joseph. p. 3381).   Sex is treated as a carnal act that cannot be good.   It is a sin; where in other Steinbeck novels, it would be easily accepted.

Shakespeare’s Audience: Research Synthesis

The uneducated lower class audience was interested in the violence Shakespeare's plays consisted of. The Elizabethan era's culture was violent and cruel. For example, if an individual did not enjoy plays, they could witness a â€Å". public execution by hanging, beheading, or any number of gruesome ways. † (Wave ; Davis, 109). To keep his violent audience entertained and engaged in his plays, Shakespeare had to include an ample amount of violence throughout them. Sometimes, audience members would become fatigued.To really excite and give them a rush to awaken his audience members, he would spontaneously throw in ction scenes right after, or in the middle of a tragic, or comedic event. One example can be found in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Not too long after Romeo and Juliet are married, a fight occurs, and after Romeo heard Tybalt has killed his beloved friend, Mercutio, he tells Benvolio â€Å"†¦ La] fire-eyed fury be my conduct now!†¦. for Mercutio's soul! â €Å"(Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare). Romeo, who had remained calm throughout Tybalt and Mercutio's dispute, later kills Tybalt to avenge Mercutio.Directly after their marriage, a calm and Joyous scene, Shakespeare has an abrupt ction scene imputed to thrill his audience. Although the lower class enjoyed a good comedy, they also went to the theater to watch the newest foray into suicide, debauchery, and murder. Once again in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, he has a thought out plan that seems well, transform into a violent and disastrous one. After Juliet sees her lover has killed himself, she is left alone by Friar, while she is awaiting Friar, she becomes frightened by the watchman entering the tomb and says â€Å"O happy dagger!This is thy sheath; there rust and let me die. â€Å"(Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare). She was fearful of the watchman seeing she was still alive, and in turn committed suicide. Shakespeare mislead his audience through a bloody, twist ending, which was exac tly what they would have enjoyed watching. The lower class members of Shakespeare's audience enjoyed his anatomical humor. He wanted his audience members to have sterling Junctures while watching his plays, so he included an abundance of sexual innuendos.Shakespeare was at times too â€Å"bawdy, sometimes vulgar, many times pushing the bounds of good taste. † (Cork Milner). Shakespeare at some points was abrupt and too direct with ome of his Jokes, but audience members still enjoyed them. Shakespeare is known for his masterful way with words. Some say he was clever at playing around with them. One area where he used this talent is when he inserted sexual innuendos into and find that the clever wit of his sexual innuendo not only has comic significance, but is used to develop character, themes, and plot as well. â€Å"( transmedialshakespeare. ordpress. com). While using sexual innuendos to appeal to the lower class, Shakespeare was also using them to mold parts of his plays, which is why people often refer to him as one of the greatest play writes of all ime. He used every bit of his plays to his advantage, and through the use of sexual innuendos, he was able to mold parts his plays, while still entertaining his audience. Shakespeare knew how to give his audience members individually what they came for because â€Å"Shakespeare realized sexual Jokes, especially double entendres, put the twinkle in the performance,† Oohn Basil).He used his specialty of wordplay to conjure clever sexual innuendos and naughty puns throughout his plays. William Shakespeare's educated spectators were allured by his use of mythological allusions. Only the upper class was able to afford an education and were able to understand all of the â€Å"references from Greek & Roman mythology in his plays†¦ they are an identifier with ancient tales, and also tie in stories most of the populace was familiar with†(wcuenglish. net).Shakespeare's use of Theseus as the Du ke of Athens and Hippolyta as his queen immediately allows the educated audience to make a mythological connection in A Midsummer Night's Dream. As the audience identified one character from Greek mythology, they then naturally associated the other characters with this mythology if they were a member of the pper class and had an education. For example, two other characters, Oberon and Titania, could be compared with their mythological traits to be viewed similar to Zeus and Hera.His audience could make connections and know when that when Theseus says â€Å"Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour Draws on apace† (A Midsummer Night's Dream Shakespeare) that the story was a mythological allusion of Theseus and could recognize his Amazonian queen Hippolyta, and understand the specific myth being drawn. Another example that the upper class would be able to point out would be Puck relating to Eros, the Greek god of sexual love and beauty. The love Juice that Puck places over characte rs' eyes to make them fall in love with the first thing they see after waking is equivalent to Eros' golden arrows, having the same effect.The audience could correlate these distinct characters due to their connection to Theseus. Shakespeare more directly compares the two characters when Oberon says â€Å"Flower of this purple dye†¦ Hit with Cupid's archery†¦ Sin in apple of his eye† (A Midsummer Night's Dream Shakespeare). Lastly, Shakespeare appealed to the upper class through clever wordplay. Shakespeare was an ingenious man, an ample amount of these puns are in all of his plays and â€Å"Like most Elizabethans, Shakespeare loved puns†¦ the average per play was around eighty.Many of Shakespeare's original puns depended on words that were spelled different, but sounded alike† (Wave & Davis, 54). Shakespeare's brilliant word play could only be enjoyed by the upper class, because of their education; they were able to understand the multiple meanings of s ome of the words. Enjoying the genius and humor in Shakespeare's work of clever word play, was something the ower class was sadly not privileged with. One example of the clever word play Romeo that â€Å"tomorrow you shall find me a grave man. â€Å"(Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare).In this Shakespeare meant grave as Mercutio being serious, but here it also alludes to his imminent death, aimed towards his educated audience members who would be able to infer this. Shakespeare's clever word play required a trained ear to be able to fully understand all of what Shakespeare intended to get across. For instance when Mercutio says â€Å"Sure wit, follow me this Jest now till thou ast worn out thy pump, that, when the single sole of it is worn, the Jest may remain, after the wearing, solely singular. † (Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare).This one is a double pun. One meaning is that the sole of the shoe, the pump they are talking about, is single, which is to say, it has only one layer of leather. Shakespeare puns the sole of a shoe with â€Å"solely† trying to say only, exclusively and puns the word single with â€Å"singular† meaning one of a kind, unique and says that his Joke is exclusively unique, or solely singular. Shakespeare knew only the educated would be able to atch his double meaning wordplay and perhaps, he would also test them on how much they would receive from his word play.William Shakespeare tried captivating his audience while they watched his plays, but certain aspects included in they were specifically aimed for different classes. He used mythological allusions and clever word play for the upper and the violence and sexual innuendos were meant for lower uneducated class audience. Shakespeare was an ingenious play write and knew what his audience members were entertained by and he knew exactly how to appeal to their tastes of theatre.

Descartes †Meditations on First Philosophy Essay

â€Å"Give a detailed account of Descartes’ systematic doubt or methodical doubt in Meditation 1, making it certain that you distinguish between real doubts and so called hypothetical/metaphysical doubts. Then, explain in detail, exactly how Descartes dispels each and every one of these doubts during the course of the subsequent Meditations beginning with the cogito. Do you think that Descartes has been completely successful? Explain.†The main goal of Descartes in Meditations on First Philosophy was to find truth behind all of his beliefs in order to build a solid foundation of certainty, and to focus his beliefs strictly on his idea of certainty; essentially to question knowledge. Descartes beliefs are mainly based on the theory that, if someone thinks that they really know something, they must be correct. Descartes meditations bring about 3 key issues that are discussed throughout the entire book; the existence of him being a thinking thing, God as a supreme being and being deceived by the Evil Genius, as well as the idea that the body is an extension of the mind. Descartes provides a solid argument throughout the entire book, calling into question every aspect of what I is, and the world around him. Descartes is trying to decipher whether or not he, anybody or anything in fact is real and he also goes on to argue that our knowledge is gained via our everyday experiences. Through examining each meditation, discussing the cogito, as well as what he discusses in terms of his senses and the external world, the dream hypothesis and his evil genius theory; I will conclude that in fact he does exist, knowledge exists, and God exists. There are two real doubts in which Descartes talks about throughout the meditations. The first being the senses and external world in which he believes causes one to doubt. He claims that in order for him to believe that of his senses he must acquire complete certainty, and he says that we should ask ourselves whether perception is really a legitimate means for attaining knowledge, can we trust our senses? If not, what grounds do we have to deny? Descartes claims that at times the senses can become deceiving under certain circumstances. He says that certain lighting, distance and even depth perception can cause one to conclude incorrectly with regards to their senses. With this in mind, he introduces the lunatic hypothesis. He believes that he can doubt his senses even if the external conditions are  perfect as long as the internal conditions are not. The idea of common sense realism is also established which is the idea that truth come from the senses and the way that they appear. Common sense says that the only way to know the body is through the mind because it is visible and touchable. Descartes then dismisses the idea because he says he would not be able to perceive with his meditations if he were to deem this belief as being true. The second real doubt that Descartes brings to our attention is the dream hypothesis. This is the idea that sleeping and reality cause one to doubt. Descartes says that everyone is prone to dream and that if he is dreaming, everything he thinks he is experiencing is in fact false. This doubt then goes from a real doubt to a metaphysical doubt. He asks, if I am dreaming, is there anything that is true, reliable and certain? If not, then everything must be an illusion. He says that we sense while we are sleeping therefore when we are awake, or what we believe to be awake, how do we know that we are not actually asleep? He says †¦let us assume that we are sleeping and these particulars are not true; that were opening our eyes; moving our head, and extending our hands (pg 60). He claims that if in fact we were dreaming these issues they must be true because in order to dream something, one must have had to experience it at some point. Therefore we must acknowledge that things seen in our dreams are painted images which must be true and exist. The idea of the Evil Genius is a metaphysical doubt, logically speaking. In this sense, God is perfect, and would never allow deception and error to take place because they are imperfect and God consists only of perfect qualities. God would not allow one to be deceived because he is supremely good, therefore deception and error must be a result of another source. He says that if his origin is from something other than God, he could have easily created him so that he makes mistakes and until he finds his origin doubt is going to occue. Descartes supposes that God is just a tale so he says let us just fraction him out of the equation entirely. Descartes decides that he is just going to doubt everything based on two principles. The first being that everything should be doubted at some point by those who seek the truth and the second being that things that are considered doubtful  should be treated as if they are false. With that in mind he concludes that he does exist even against all doubts because the Evil Genius can never say that Descartes is non-existent because he thinks he is something therefore he must be. I think, therefore I am. In meditation one Descartes starts off talking about the foundations of his beliefs in order to gain better knowledge on the grounds of certainty. He says that any sort of knowledge he has previously to the meditations he received through his senses and that they can at times be deceptive. What grounds do we have to deny the idea that knowledge comes from the senses. Descartes claims that because we sense while we are dreaming, there is really no way of determining whether or not we are awake or asleep. What we perceive through the senses could have be obtained during slumber and we would be none the wiser. He says that I extend this hand consciously and deliberately, and I feel it (pg 60). He argues that if he were in fact sleeping while doing so, it would not have been so clear and distinct. He uses the example that what we dream of are like painted images. For instance, he uses the example of an artist creating a siren or a hippogriff, they combine parts of other animals or something that we have never seen before to make it even though it is false. However Descartes goes on to argue that what her perceives through the sense could in fact be false, but since other things that are simple and universal are true, what is to say that we cannot trust our senses. He states..it is not improper to conclude from this that physics, astronomy, medicine, and all other disciplines that are dependent upon the consideration of composite things are doubtful and that on the other hand, arithmetic and geometry, which are simple and general and indifferent as to whether these things do or do not exists, contain certainty†¦ (pg 61). Descartes believes that it is completely impossible that these obvious truths are all under suspicion for being false. Going back to the argument regarding whether or not God exists he claims that the idea of God has been inside him forever and it must have been put in him by his creator. He begins to question if he is a deceiver or not, God is said to be supremely good so it must be something else, something foreign that allows him to be  deceived since deception is an imperfection and God does not contain any imperfections. Thus the idea of the evil genius is born, the idea that this clever and deceitful being is dedicating every bit of energy into deceiving and misleading him. By creating this theory, Descartes now believes that all of his former opinions and views are false and he continues on with his meditations. In the second meditation, Descartes is trying to determine what truth is, and what is not. He claims that he feels as though he is lost at in a sea of knowledge and he cannot keep his head afloat. His main goal throughout this meditation is to find something that is certain and absolutely unshakable. He believes that if nothing in his mind exists and it is only deceitful, what is true, maybe nothing is. Descartes says is there not some God who puts theses thoughts in my head? I could be the creator. Am I not something? Am I so tied to a body and senses that I cannot exist without them? (pg 63) He believes that the deceiver can never bring about that he does not exist because as long as he thinks that he is in existence, then he must be. This is where the Cogito comes into play, the idea that whatever thinks, I think therefore I am. With that in mind, Descartes spends the next little bit trying to find what I is. He says that he has a face, hands and arms in which he refers to as his body and that surely sensing does not take place without the body to feel, touch, smell, taste etc. Descartes also argues that thought does exist and it cannot be separated from him, he believes I am, therefore I exist, and as long as I continue to think I will continue to exist. If he ceases to think, he then ceases to exist. He says that he is †¦nothing but a thinking thing; a mind, or intellect, or understanding, or reason†¦ and that †¦knowledge or I does not depend on things of whose existence we have zero knowledge (pg 65). In other words, he means that knowledge, or I does not depend on things of which we have no knowledge of. He even says that corpeal things [images formed by thought and which the senses themselves examine]; are more clearly and distinctively known to the I. He believes the mind is prone to error and that one must try to differentiate between perceiving through the mind as opposed through vision. Descartes then introduces us to the example of wax. He says that  although it has melted, and that the shape, smell, taste and everything else that he once witnessed no longer exist, the wax is still the same wax and it is the essence that has not changed. He claims that he knows wax not through what he saw but through the inspection of the mind alone. He states that what he thought he saw in terms of the wax was really only a result of his judgement, which is a part of his mind. He claims what when he first saw it, it was perceived through an external sense or common sense and that it cannot be perceived without human mind. If I judge that the wax exists from the fact that I see it, certainly from this same face that I see the wax, is more evidence that I must exist (pg 69). He believes that since he knows our bodies are not professed through senses or imaginations but rather from the mind and intellect; he now knows that nothing can be perceived more easily and readily then his mind. He is basically saying that the senses provide us with observable traits about a subject whereas the mind and intellect give us understanding; his main point is that our perception is nothing but judgement. The third meditation brings up the idea of the Cogito again. He cannot be doubted when he says, I think therefore I am, and that the ideas in which he has are real. Descartes says that †¦there can never be more objective reality produced then formal reality because it is impossible to create something out of nothing (pg 70). He says that he has an idea of what a perfect or infinite substance is and that is God, and since everything he perceives clearly and distinctively is true, then God must be perfect and infinite. Because I have no reason for thinking that there is a God who is a deceiver, the basis for doubting, depending as it does merely on the above hypotheses [whether God exists or not], is tenuous or metaphysical (pg 71). He says that the certainty of the belief of the cogito lies in his clear and distinct perception; saying, thinking, and believing it make it true. Then he asks, what if something clear and distinct turned out to be false, but he quickly answers by claiming that he would not have known because he has already accepted it as being true. Descartes then begins to talk about his thoughts and puts them into three classifications: ideas (images of objects), volitions or emotions (adding  something to ideas), and judgements (either affirm or deny). He claims that there are three different kinds of ideas out there; innate ideas which are ideas that are born into a person and exist as long as the mind exists in which every mature rational being would have these. The next would be adventitious ideas which are acquired through sensations, he says these are ideas that are gained again his will for example hearing a noise or feeling heat. The final type of idea Descartes believes exists is fictitious or fabricated ideas which are ideas that are invented by the imagination. These ideas cannot be trusted and it is in this sense that one must learn to separate mind from imagination. The mind perceives through the senses; and sense perception does not occur without the body, therefore the body must exist. Descartes uses an example of the sun, which he says arises from two different ideas, one which comes from the senses [derived from outside of him] and one which arises from astronomy or innate ideas. Through that notion the sun is known to be a large ball of fire, but through the senses the sun is perceived as being rather small and bright. He says that †¦if we assume that something is found in the idea that was not in its cause, then it results from nothing (pg 75). For example he uses the idea of hot and cold. He says that cold could be a privation of heat and vice versa but since ideas can only be of real things, the idea that cold is determined as a result of the absence of warmth, the idea of cold as something real is not true. In sum, the perception of what is infinite was placed in my mind previous to the idea of finite substance, that is that what he believes God to be came before his idea of himself because God is infinite and you cannot add to perfection. Descartes said that he now knows that he depends on another being for existence and that he gained his idea of God not from his senses or unexpectedly but from his innate or natural ideas. He concludes that it would be impossible to exist unless God did exists because: †¦it is manifest by the light of nature that all fraud and deception depend on some defect (pg 80). In meditation Four Descartes is trying to clarify why God is no deceiver. The main question that needs explanation is if God is no deceiver then why and  how do we make mistakes? He believes that all men are prone to make mistakes because like God, our wills are never-ending but our intellect and understanding unfortunately is not. Our mind only allows us to observe things clearly and distinctly which is how we know that they are true. He says when I take note of the fact that I doubt or that I am a thing that is incomplete and dependent there comes to mind a clear and distinct idea of a being that is independent and complete, that is the idea of God (pg 81). Descartes believes that it is possible; if we use our ability properly we will not agree with false judgments. He says I note that these errors depend on the simultaneous concurrence of two causes: the faculty of knowing that is in me and the faculty of choosing, that is the free choice of will, in other words, simultaneously on the intellect and will. Through the intellect alone, I merely perceive ideas about which I can render a judgement (pg 83). God has created us in a way that if we perceive things in a clear and distinct our, way of thinking will not be incorrect. In the fifth meditation, Descartes is basically trying to examine the essence of tangible things. Since Descartes proved that we gain our beliefs and understanding through ideas, he is able to prove that God exists. He then uses the example of a triangle by saying that if God does not exist then a triangle does not have three sides. Since God is believed to be a supremely perfect being, there is no way that he would deceive because then that would conclude that he lacks some perfection. Descartes then attempts to explain the separation between mind and imagination. At this point doubt again gets the best of him and he must try to look beyond the unreliability of the senses. Descartes goes on to say that what I believe must be considered above all here is the fact that I find within me countless ideas of certain things, that, even if perhaps they do not exist anywhere outside me, still cannot be said to be nothing (pg 88). He believes that our knowledge of material things is based on our belief that God exists. I cannot think of God as not existing no more than I can think of a mountain without a valley, nevertheless it surely does not follow from the fact that I think of a mountain without a valley that a mountain exists in the world (pg 89). Material things must be real because God does not deceive. In meditation six Descartes is trying to prove once and for all if material things exist. Descartes then reflects all of the previous meditations to figure it out. He believes that material things can and do exist and that it is through our understanding that this is proven. He says that his senses perceive his body, therefore he must have one. assumes to have a body based on what his senses perceive. He begins to explore this notion that he had previously dismissed to doubt. He inquires whether his senses give him reason for bodies to exist. He says that God has given us a great inclination to believe that these ideas proceeded from corporeal things† (pg 94). Descartes thinks that it is from life that we differentiate other bodies and their explanation. He believes entirely that the mind is a thinking, un-extended thing, but the body is a physical and extended thing because the body can be separated. Descartes then dismisses the dream hypothesis because he realizes that being awake is a part of both the mind and body. He proves that our essence is of the mind and is a lot more known to us than the body. Throughout all the meditations Descartes constantly re-examines each belief and attempts to find the grounds of absolute certainty. It is through the dream hypothesis, the idea of the Evil Genius and his ideas about the senses that he concludes in fact that he is an existing thing, God does exist and so does knowledge. His arguments, although confusing at times were pretty accurate in deciphering between what is false and what is reality. By the end of the meditation it seems as though he is right back where he began and that in fact he did not get anywhere. He was better off to just believe what he originally believed then to question it and put him through such torture. In essence it was almost as though the only thing that he proved was that his senses were intended to help him figure out the world and everything about it not lead him to discovering the truths of the universe. â€Æ'Bibliography Descartes, Rene. Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy. 4th ed. Indianapolis: Hackett Company, 1998.