Marketing A Hospitality Program And Its Product

In his dialogue entitled - Marketing A Hospitality Program and Its Product - Jürgen Chopard, Dr. es Sciences (Economics) Director, Centre International de Glion, Glion, Switzerland, Dr. Chopard initially offers: “The recruitment of qualified personnel is extremely difficult in an industry with a poor image; where career paths are not well defined. The author discusses the employment of marketing management techniques to improve the positioning of hospitality education and create a more attractive perception of the hotel industry.” As outlined in the above paragraph, Dr. Chopard vectors-in on marketing strategies from two standpoints; the educational side with its focus on curriculum, and the larger, industry side with its emphasis on public perception and service. These are not necessarily, nor should they be viewed as disparate elements. “ Although some professionals may see schools of hospitality education catering to two markets, students on one hand and industry on the other, in fact, their needs should be viewed as the same and hence a single market,” Dr. Chopard says to bolster his assertion. “The marketing concept is a management orientation that holds that the key task of the organization is to determine the needs and wants of target markets and to adapt the organization to delivering the desired satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than its competitor,” the author confides, with an attribution. From these information/definition leanings, Dr. Chopard continues on a path that promotes the Centre International de Glion, Glion, Switzerland, which he is affiliated with. Why, because they endorse the same principles he is explaining to you. That’s not a bad thing. Essentially, what Dr. Chopard wants you to know is, education and business management are synonymous and therefore should share the same marketing designs and goals. “It is hard to believe that as critically important a sector as education does not use for its own management the techniques which it teaches and which have largely been proved in other fields,” the author provides as counterpoint. Since pedagogical needs so closely relate to the more pragmatic needs of the industry in general, these elements should seek to compliment and engage each other, in fact, collaboration is imperative, Dr. Chopard expresses a priori. “The cooperation of future employers is indispensable in the preparation of the product, so that it is capable of providing the expected services. The need for close relations between training establishments and the hotel and catering industry seems obvious,” Dr. Chopard says. The author reveals some flaws in hospitality marketing strategy, and then contrasts these against how a successful strategy could/should be implemented.

Ethics In The Hospitality Industry: A Management Control System Perspective

Hospitality managers may assume that unless under control, ethics in their operations are out of control. This article proposes a management control system for ethics.

Making Life More Satisfying for Hospitality Managers

Because of the considerable amount of time that hospitality managers spend at work, the relationship between life satisfaction and job satisfaction is of particular interest. Dissonance may result when the role at work conflicts with the role at home of with the family. Food service managers indicate that the top inter-role conflicts area is that work time takes up time that they would like to spend with family and others; that they are too tired to do some of the things they would like to do after work; and that the job makes it difficult to be the kind of friend, spouse, or parent that they would like to be.

Women Hospitality Managers: Perceptions of Gender-Related Career Challenges

In spite of increases in the number of women who are both academically pre- pared and interested in pursuing hospitality management careers, women appear to be leaving the industry at a much higher rate than their male counter- parts. Although women are better represented in lower and middle management than ever before, there has been no corresponding increase in the number of women in top level management positions. The author explores women managers' perceptions of the career-related challenges they confront in hospitality environments and suggests that inadequate access to informal information networks, lack of women mentors, and the impact of unique job characteristics are their most significant concerns.

Standards for Tourism Management Success: U.S. National Park Managers

National park managers are the subjects in the fifth segment of a study examining the skills and abilities needed to be successful tourism managers. The authors discuss these skills and their impact on successful tourism management.

Managing Quality in the Hospitality Industry:

In - Managing Quality In the Hospitality Industry – an observation by W. Gerald Glover, Associate Professor, Hospitality Management Program, Appalachian State University, initially Glover establishes: “Quality is a primary concern in the hospitality industry. The author sees problems in the nature of the way businesses are managed and discusses approaches to ensuring quality in corporate cultures.” As the title suggests, the author wants to point out certain discrepancies in hospitality quality control, as well as enlighten you as to how to address some of these concerns. “A discussion of quality presents some interesting dilemmas. Quality is something that almost everyone wants,” Assistant Professor Glover notes. “Service businesses will never admit that they don't provide it to their customers, and few people actually understand what it takes to make it happen,” he further maintains. Glover wants you to know that in a dynamic industry such as hospitality, quality is the common denominator. Whether it be hotel, restaurant, airline, et al., quality is the raison d’être of the industry. “Quality involves the consistent delivery of a product or service according to the expected standards,” Glover provides. Many, if not all quality deficiencies can be traced back to management, Glover declares. He bullet points some of the operational and guest service problems managers’ face on a daily basis. One important point of note is the measuring and managing of quality. “Standards management is another critical area in people and product management that is seldom effective in corporations,” says Glover. “Typically, this area involves performance documentation, performance evaluation and appraisal, coaching, discipline, and team-building.” “To be effective at managing standards, an organization must establish communication in realms where it is currently non-existent or ineffective,” Glover goes on to say. “Coaching, training, and performance appraisal are methods to manage individuals who are expected to do what's expected.” He alludes to the benefit quality circles supply as well. In addressing American organizational behavior, Glover postures, “…a realization must develop that people and product management are the primary influences on generating revenues and eventually influencing the bottom line in all American organizations.” Glover introduces the concept of pro-activity. “Most recently, quality assurance and quality management have become the means used to develop and maintain proactive corporate cultures. When prevention is the focus, quality is most consistent and expectations are usually met,” he offers. Much of the article is dedicated to, “Appendix A-Table 1-Characteristics of Corporate Cultures (Reactive and Proactive. In it, Glover measures the impact of proactive management as opposed to the reactive management intrinsic to many elements of corporate culture mentality.

Evaluating conservation and fisheries management strategies by linking spatial prioritization software and ecosystem and fisheries modelling tools

Well-designed marine protected area (MPA) networks can deliver a range of ecological, economic and social benefits, and so a great deal of research has focused on developing spatial conservation prioritization tools to help identify important areas. However, whilst these software tools are designed to identify MPA networks that both represent biodiversity and minimize impacts on stakeholders, they do not consider complex ecological processes. Thus, it is difficult to determine the impacts that proposed MPAs could have on marine ecosystem health, fisheries and fisheries sustainability. Using the eastern English Channel as a case study, this paper explores an approach to address these issues by identifying a series of MPA networks using the Marxan and Marxan with Zones conservation planning software and linking them with a spatially explicit ecosystem model developed in Ecopath with Ecosim. We then use these to investigate potential trade-offs associated with adopting different MPA management strategies. Limited-take MPAs, which restrict the use of some fishing gears, could have positive benefits for conservation and fisheries in the eastern English Channel, even though they generally receive far less attention in research on MPA network design. Our findings, however, also clearly indicate that no-take MPAs should form an integral component of proposed MPA networks in the eastern English Channel, as they not only result in substantial increases in ecosystem biomass, fisheries catches and the biomass of commercially valuable target species, but are fundamental to maintaining the sustainability of the fisheries. Synthesis and applications. Using the existing software tools Marxan with Zones and Ecopath with Ecosim in combination provides a powerful policy-screening approach. This could help inform marine spatial planning by identifying potential conflicts and by designing new regulations that better balance conservation objectives and stakeholder interests. In addition, it highlights that appropriate combinations of no-take and limited-take marine protected areas might be the most effective when making trade-offs between long-term ecological benefits and short-term political acceptability.

The effectiveness of parent management training to increase self-efficacy in parents of children with Asperger syndrome

This study was a trial of an intervention programme aimed to improve parental self-efficacy in the management of problem behaviours associated with Asperger syndrome. The intervention was compared across two formats, a I day workshop and six individual sessions, and also with a non-intervention control group. The results indicated that, compared with the control group, parents in both intervention groups reported fewer problem behaviours and increased self-efficacy following the interventions, at both 4 weeks and 3 months follow-up. The results also showed a difference in self-efficacy between mothers and fathers, with mothers reporting a significantly greater increase in self-efficacy following intervention than fathers. There was no significant difference between the workshop format and the individual sessions.

Certification and integration of management systems: the experience of Portuguese small and medium enterprises

The purpose of this study was to characterize the situation of Portuguese Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) concerning the certification of their Quality Management Systems (QMS), Environmental Management Systems (EMS) and Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems (OHSMS), in their individually form, to identify benefits, drawbacks and difficulties associated with the certification process and to characterize the level of integration that has been achieved. This research was based on a survey carried out by the research team; it was administered to 46 Portuguese SMEs. Our sample comprised 20 firms (43%) from the Trade/Services activity sector, 17 (37%) from the Industrial sector, 5 (11%) from the Electricity/Telecommunications sector and 4 (9%) from the Construction area. All SMEs surveyed were certified according to the ISO 9001 (100%), a quarter of firms were certified according to the ISO 14001 (26.1%) and a few certified by OHSAS 18001 (15.2%). We undertook a multivariate cluster analysis, which enabled grouping variables into homogeneous groups or one or more common characteristics of the SMEs participating in the study. Results show that the main benefits that Portuguese SMEs have gained from the referred certifications have been, among others, an improvement of both their internal organization and external image. We also present the main difficulties in achieving certification. Overall, 7 of the Portuguese SMEs examined indicated that the main benefits of the IMS implementation management included costs reduction, increased employee training and easier compliance of legislation. The respective drawbacks and difficulties are also presented. Finally, we presented the main integrated items in the certified Portuguese SMEs we examined.

Portuguese public managers and administrative reform in the global context of competitiveness

Comunicação apresentada no 27th International Congress of Administrative Sciences "Global Competitiveness and Public Administration: implications for education and training" em Abu Dhai, United Arb Emirates de 9 a 14 de Julho de 2007.

@neurIST infrastructure for advanced disease management through integration of heterogeneous data, computing, and complex processing services

The increasing volume of data describing humandisease processes and the growing complexity of understanding, managing, and sharing such data presents a huge challenge for clinicians and medical researchers. This paper presents the@neurIST system, which provides an infrastructure for biomedical research while aiding clinical care, by bringing together heterogeneous data and complex processing and computing services. Although @neurIST targets the investigation and treatment of cerebral aneurysms, the system’s architecture is generic enough that it could be adapted to the treatment of other diseases.Innovations in @neurIST include confining the patient data pertaining to aneurysms inside a single environment that offers cliniciansthe tools to analyze and interpret patient data and make use of knowledge-based guidance in planning their treatment. Medicalresearchers gain access to a critical mass of aneurysm related data due to the system’s ability to federate distributed informationsources. A semantically mediated grid infrastructure ensures that both clinicians and researchers are able to seamlessly access andwork on data that is distributed across multiple sites in a secure way in addition to providing computing resources on demand forperforming computationally intensive simulations for treatment planning and research.

Welcoming New Iowans: A Guide for Managers and Supervisors; The Best Practices of Iowa Employers with Immigrants and efugees in the Workplace, 2002

This guidebook has been published by the University of Northern Iowa New Iowans Program to assist employers, managers and supervisors with the unique challenges associated with hiring, training and integrating immigrant and refugee workers. Its purpose is to promote proactive engagement of newcomer workers to assure the vitality of Iowa businesses. Successful integration of immigrants and refugees in our workplaces and communities is essential to insure Iowa’s long-term economic and social health. This book provides essential information for human resource directors, trainers, supervisors and others as they meet the challenges and rewards of hiring immigrants and refugees. Of course, no guidebook can provide simple solutions to complex issues in a great variety if workplaces. This is not a “cookbook” with recipes that provide easy answers to challenges facing every company and worker. All employers are unique and approach problems differently. What works in one company might not work as well in another.

Postoperative management of adult central neurosurgical patients: systemic and neuro-monitoring.

Postoperative neurosurgical patients are at risk of developing complications. Systemic and neuro-monitoring are used to identify patients who deteriorate in order to treat the underlying cause and minimize the impact on outcome. Hypotension and hypoxia are likely to be the most frequent insults and can be detected easily with blood pressure monitoring and pulse oximetry. Repeated clinical examination, however, is probably the most important monitor in the postoperative setting. Clinical scores such as the Glasgow Coma Score and the more recently introduced FOUR Score are important tools to standardize the clinical assessment. Intracranial pressure monitoring, cerebral blood flow monitoring, electroencephalography, and brain imaging are often used postoperatively. Despite the numerous publications on this topic only few studies address the impact of postoperative monitoring on outcome. Accordingly, in most patients the decision on which monitors are to be used must be based on the patient's presentation and clinical judgment.

Integrated Project Portfolio Management as a Tool for Strategic Steering and Business Control

Tutkielman päätavoitteena oli tutkia miten projektisalkun hallinnalla voidaan tukea organisaation strategista ohjausta ja liiketoimintaa. Tämän lisäksi avaintavoitteina oli kuvata projektisalkun hallinnan nykytilanne kohdeyrityksessä, paljastaa erityisiä kehitystarpeita ja lopulta luoda kohdeyrityksen projektisalkunhallinnalle tavoitetila. Kirjallisuuskatsauksessa pohdittiin projektisalkun hallinnan roolia ja tavoitteita, projektisalkun hallinnassa käyttävää prosessia, sekä menetelmiä ja tekniikoita, joilla salkkua hallitaan. Työn empiirisessä osassa syvennyttiin tutkimaan projektinsalkun hallintaan liittyviä erityispiirteitä kohdeyrityksessä. Tutkimustulosten huolellinen analysointi osoitti, että aikaisempi kirjallisuus ei riittävästi huomioi kokonaisvaltaisen, integroidun lähestymistavan tarvetta ja viestinnän tärkeyttä projektisalkun hallinnassa. Tutkimuksen johtopäätöksinä luotiin uusi integroitu projektisalkun hallintamalli ja määriteltiin kohdeyritykselle projektisalkun hallinnan tavoitetila sekä ne kehitysaskeleet, joita yrityksen tulisi lähitulevaisuudessa ottaa.

The Articulation of Different Life Domains among Female Senior Managers and Their Subjective Well-Being : Focusing on Meaning Constructions in Everyday Life

Work-life issues have become a major concern across Western societies with the objective to promote women's careers and well-being. However, despite growing attempts to increase the number of women in senior management positions in European countries, such as Switzerland, they remain highly underrepresented. Inspired from the cultural approach in psychology, this article focuses on these women's concrete everyday life to understand how they articulate different life domains and how this influences their subjective well-being. A narrative approach based on reflexivity is adopted to analyze women's activity. Results show meaning intertwinements between life priorities that are often conflicting. Two psychological functions are identified: the feeling of control and the letting go of control. Each of these contributes to women's subjective well-being through the use of diversified supports, but their structuring roles appear only in relation to one another. Results are discussed in the light of existing literature and of their implications.