Gerdes Psychological Services Essay Example for Free

Gerdes Psychological Services Essay E3-1B| (Transaction Analysis—Service Company) Brown is a licensed CPA. During the first month of operations of her business (a sole proprietorship), the following events and transactions occurred. | | | April| | | | | | | 3| Purchased supplies on account $1,610.| | | | | 11| Completed a tax assignment and billed client $2,530 for services rendered. | | 12| Received $7,360 advance on a management consulting engagement.| | 17| Received cash of $5,290 for services completed for Calunga Co.| | 21| Paid insurance expense $253.| | 30| Owe the secretary-receptionist $2,668 for the month.| | 30| A count of supplies indicated that $276 of supplies had been used. | | 30| Purchased a new computer for $14,030| (LO 4)| | | InstructionsJournalize the transactions in the general journal. (Omit explanations.)Problem #3| | E3-3B | (Corrected Trial Balance) The trial balance of Cervantes Corporation, below, does not balance. | | | CERVANTES CORPORATIONTRIAL BALANCEAPRIL 30, 2010| | Debit| Credit| Cash| $11,824| | Accounts Receivable| 10,480| | Supplies on Hand| 5,934| | Furniture and Equipment| 12,200| | Accounts Payable| | $14,088| Common Stock| | 16,000| Retained Earnings| | 4,000| Service Revenue| | 10,400| Office Expense| 8,640| | | $49,078| $44,488| An examination of the ledger shows these errors. | 1. | Cash received from a customer on account was recorded as $2,760 instead of $3,660.| | 2. | The purchase on account of a computer costing $6,400 was recorded as a debit to Office Expense and a credit to Accounts Payable.| | 3. | Services were performed on account for a client, $4,500, for which Accounts Receivable was debited $4,500 and Service Revenue was credited $450.| | 4. | A payment of $190 for telephone charges was entered as a debit to Office Expenses and a debit to Cash.| | 5. | The Service Revenue account was totaled at $10,400 instead of $10,560.| | (LO 4)| | | InstructionsFrom this information prepare a corrected trial balanceProblem #4| | | | | | | | E3-5B | (Adjusting Entries) The ledger of Chan Rental Agency on March 31 of the current year includes the following selected accounts before adjusting entries have been prepared. | | | | Debit| Credit| Prepaid Insurance| $ 2,700| | Supplies| 2,100| | Equipment| 18,750| | Accumulated Depreciation—Equipment| | $ 6,300| Notes Payable| | 15,000| Unearned Rent Revenue| | 6,975| Rent Revenue| | 45,000| Interest Expense| –0– | | Wage Expense| 10,500| | An analysis of the accounts shows the following. | 1. | The equipment depreciates $188 per month.| | 2. | One-third of the unearned rent was earned during the quarter.| | 3. | Interest of $375 is accrued on the notes payable.| | 4. | Supplies on hand total $637.| | 5. | Insurance expires at the rate of $225 per month.| | (LO 5)| | | InstructionsPrepare the adjusting entries at March 31, assuming that adjusting entries are made quarterly. Additional accounts are: Depreciation Expense; Insurance Expense; Interest Payable; and Supplies Expense.| | | | Problem # 5 | | | | E3-8B | (Adjusting Entries) Dement is the new owner of Fung Computer Services. At the end of August 2010, his first month of ownership, Dement is trying to prepare monthly financial statements. Below is some information related to unrecorded expenses that the business incurred during August. | 1. | At August 31, Dement owed his employees $2,280 in wages that will be paid on September 1.| | 2. | At the end of the month he had not yet received the months utility bill. Based on past experience, he estimated the bill would be approximately $720.| | 3. | On August 1, Dement borrowed $36,000 from a local bank on a 15-year mortgage. The annual interest rate is 6%.| | 4. | A telephone bill in the amount of $140 covering August charges is unpaid at August 31.5.During August, Dement earned $1000 of $6000 that was received from a client at the end of July.| | (LO 5)| | | InstructionsInstructionsPrepare the adjusting journal entries as of August 31, 2010, suggested by the information above.| | | | |

Human Resource Management in the Public Office Essay Example for Free

Human Resource Management in the Public Office Essay Is money the most important incentive tool in the public sector? Is performance-based pay an effective way to motivate employees to be more productive? Discuss the positive and negative benefits associated with broadbanded pay systems. The public sector mainly deals with the economic and administrative delivery of goods and services from the government to the nation’s people. Such a role requires true commitment to service and to the objective of improving the general welfare of individuals. Moreover, public servants uphold such commitments with a unique set of priorities that are not centered on material and financial gains but rather on what their capabilities and achievements could contribute to others’ betterment. This ideal may just as easily set public servants apart from members of the labor force that render their services for profit. This in consideration, financial rewards may not be the top priority of public servants but it is definitely an effective incentive tool across sectors from private to public. A way of granting incentive to employees is thru performance-based pay. This compensation scheme entails salary increases and rewarding of bonuses to employees that were able to achieve or surpass the goals related to their scope of work. Under such a scheme, employees become more motivated to produce high quality service with the end goal of producing evidently positive results. At the same time, since such a scheme requires that the salary increase be justified by the exemplary performance of the employee, there would be less incidences of increases and promotions made on the mere basis of office politics. Once it becomes evident to employees that they now have an equal playing field, this would additionally motivate them to prove themselves worthy of recognition and incentives. In line with effective human resource management, public sectors are developing broadband pay systems, which essentially implement broad pay ranges to groupings formed on the basis of like duties while maintaining high flexibility in order to cater to the needs and demands of a diverse workforce. Such pay systems may pose both advantages and disadvantages to the employees and agencies. An example of advantages to the employees is that the method of grouping may provide an opportunity for their positions to be reclassified to a higher grade as indicated by the complexity and breadth of their responsibilities. This would probably work in the favor of an employee who handles several tasks that are usually performed by more than one person in some offices. Another advantage is for the part of government offices because by utilizing high technology and efficient information systems to implement the broadband pay mechanisms, an optimized data gathering method shall be in place and process will be systematized. This would ultimately lead to more practical and efficient use of available human and financial resources, and big cumulative savings for the government. On the other hand, a disadvantage for the agencies could be that negotiations on job classifications or groupings might require them to disclose to labor unions sensitive information that might result to operational security concerns. How can an organization utilize employee benefits as part of its recruitment and retention efforts? How can an organization’s commitment to learning result in lower worker turnover? How do issues related to employee benefits and learning affect worker performance? Human resource is the best asset that any establishment could possibly have. Every day, a great number of organizations and establishments rise up or crumble by the excellence or mediocrity of their employees. In fact, any institution may employ the best possible technologies and may even be in the most dynamic and progressive industry but all these would not make the business a success if without talented and skillful employees. Thus to ensure the best possible recruits and the capacity to retain the most seasoned and esteemed talents, organizations build attractive compensation packages and employee development programs. By nurturing employees under these development programs and with attractive rewards, organizations hope to keep the loyalty of their talent pool and add new recruits that possess the same aptitude and skills. All these steps are taken by organizations under the knowledge that all employees would base their employer preferences that cater to their needs and growth t he most. Furthermore, these needs and growth expectations must be taken to mean not just financial benefits but more importantly how the organization could enrich one’s talents and allow him or her to maximize potentials. In order to nurture its talent pool, organizations may enroll their employees to various classes that teach or further establish the knowledge that they have related to the tasks that they perform in the office. Through these classes, employees develop a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction because they find that they are able to tap in to more of their potentials. Thus, with the knowledge that there are more things that they could learn and do, they find that they also have more to offer the organization that they are part of. By allowing their employees to grow into high potential individuals, organizations not only keep their employees loyal and their turnover rates low, they also gain from the enriched talents and skills that their human resources apply in their day to day work. An organization’s spending on training and development programs for its employees is part of its human resource investment. As with products sold in banks or stock market, or purchases of equipments by production companies, expenses incurred by organizations related to employee training are acknowledged with the expectation that they will bring forth returns to the organization by way of improved employee performances that lead to better working processes and achievement of the organization’s vision and mission. Pershing, Stolovitch, and Keeps (2006) further support the relationship between employee performance and learning by stating that the latter allows the workforce to become more connected to the organization through an increased knowledge of how better he could be of service, and that the nurturing process offered to these employees allow them to be better prepared for changes and more open to process improvements. In essence, all employees are practical individuals in that they stay in the organization that appreciate them the most and reward them sufficiently for the quality of work that they render. It is with this knowledge that organizations build progressive employee benefit and retention programs. These organizations know all too well that employees perform best under development and reward programs that offer holistic growth. Such growth pertains to several factors in the lives of an individual. Compare and contrast the difference in terminating workers in public organizations versus private companies? What at the implications of at-will employment for public sector workers? One of the major differences between public organizations and private companies is the objective or mission with which their workforce operates. As established earlier, public sector workers can be largely considered as volunteers for social, economic, and even political causes whereas the workforce of private companies are mostly there for profitable gains. This in mind, the mere concept of a decrease in the workforce in the public sector poses several challenges because it may not be easy for the organization to come by public servants who are willing to work for the same cause. One way in which the workforce of any institution is reduced is thru employee termination. Termination is the process by which the organization puts a stop to an individual’s membership or service to the organization against his or her will. There are various reasons why termination is imposed on an individual. It may be that the employee has violated certain organizational policies or ethical standards, or rendered unsatisfactory job performance, or may even have been because he or she had a conflict with his or her supervisor. On the other hand, the employee may also be subject to termination when the company undergoes a restructuring phase that necessitated downsizing in its workforce, or if the employee’s responsibilities have been found to be redundant. Employee termination occurs in both public and private offices but there are some notable differences. One such difference is that employees of private companies are often hired under contract whereas those working in public offices are often employed at-will, meaning that they do not have a formal employment contract binding him or her and the employer. Although all employees are protected by labor laws, employees in the public sector are more vulnerable to termination because of the at-will nature of their employment.

Customer Satisfaction Of People With Disabilities Tourism Essay

Customer Satisfaction Of People With Disabilities Tourism Essay Abstract Purpose of the paper: The aim of this paper is to address the potentiality, requirements and expectations of people with disabilities and its implication on customer satisfaction in hotels. Design/Methodology/Approach: This article is based on secondary data collection: journal articles, websites, textbooks, pamphlets on people with disability, customer satisfaction and hotel marketing. The methodology of this article is by analysing the people with disability as potential market segment to the hospitality industry and identifying approaches, that hotel could inculcate for better customer satisfaction. Findings: In the hotel sector people with disabilities are tend to be seen as a marginal segment with limited service options available, thus the motivation, experience and satisfaction is greatly affected. However, suggestions provided addressing this issue could enable hotels improve on customer service thus facilitating satisfaction. Research Limitations: This paper exclusively based on secondary data brings out limited outcomes and limits the findings and interpretation compared to primary research data collection. Practical Implication: Hotels catering to tourist with disabilities than just being compliant with the law can do more in order to increase satisfaction and loyalty. This article is useful to organisations to understand this market segment and help develop better service operations. What is original / value of paper? The paper addresses the issue of customer satisfaction focusing on particular tourist segment i.e. people with disability in hotels. The main target audience are hotel managers and employees desiring to understand and achieve customer satisfaction through services offered to tourist with disabilities and in-addition would help hotels aspiring to open doors to this niche market segment. Introduction Customer satisfaction is of utmost importance, often given high priority and frequently is of a matter of concern to managers, employees, marketers of hotel and hospitality service providers (Yuksel and Yuksel, 2001 and Oh and Parks, 1997). Hospitality industries such as hotels strive towards making guest feel more than welcome, provide customer service in such a manner that would satisfy, delight, and make guests come back. Hotels commonly serving non-disabled customers could take step ahead and provide customer service to older and disabled people by making services offered more than accessible, providing accurate information and assistance in a friendly manner, which would enable the industry to secure a more loyal niche growing clientele that remains not quite touched upon (ADA Business Connection, 2006). From the late 80s until early 90s researchers focused on, people with disability within the hospitality and tourism context, yet the study in this area lost impetus (Yau, McKercher and Packer, 2004). However recently Burnett and Baker (2001), Darcy (2002), Ray and Ryder (2003) and McKercher, Packer, Yau and Lam (2003), have recalled this area of study. Hence, research regarding People with disabilities in hospitality context is limited (Burnett and Baker, 2001; Darcy, 2002; Ray and Ryder, 2003 and Israeli, 2002). People with Disabilities are an emerging market segment, which is of interest, with approximately 50 million individuals and expected to double by 2030 (Stumbo and Pegg, 2005). Moreover, the growth of People with Disabilities would also comprise majorly of ageing senior citizens or ageing baby boomers and this market segment would gradually prove to be of importance for the continuing success of the travel and hospitality industry (Burnett and Baker, 2001). Hence, this article focuses on customer satisfaction of people with disabilities as holidaymakers in hotels, which is of importance in order to capture a loyal market not only from a business point of view but also as a responsibility towards society. Moreover, the impending 2012 Paralympics games would certainly witness large number of disabled players and an increase in arrivals of disabled tourist. If hotels wish to exploit the benefits from the disabled tourist, it would be of importance to provide an exceptionally satisfying welcoming experience that would capture a loyal market and ensure return in the future (Department for media culture and sport, 2007a). Thus, customer satisfaction of people with disabilities becomes all the more important. Review of Literature: Disability Defined: Disability under the UK Disability Discrimination Act is defined as a ‘physical or mental impairment, which has a substantial and long term adverse effect on a persons ability to carry out normal day to day activities (Office of Public Sector Information, 2009a, p.2). However, British Council of Disabled People defines disability as a ‘disadvantage or restriction of activity by a society, which takes little or no account of people who have impairments- that is caused by physical, mental or sensory condition; and thus excludes them from mainstream activity (Busby et al., 2000,p.3); ‘Thus, disabled people are with impairments disabled by society'(ibid). Types of disability would include people affected in mobility, manual dexterity, speech, hearing, eyesight, memory or ability to concentrate learn or understand, also people suffering from diabetes, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, HIV, cancer are some of the conditions considered under disability (Department for Work and Pension, 2006). Hence, people with disabilities are not a small group but varied and hotels to achieve customer satisfaction will have considered serving the needs of people with different disabilities. The implementation of the Disability Discrimination Act to an extent has drawn the attention of the hospitality sector towards People with disabilities and have gradually begun to identify them as profitable potential tourist (Shaw and Coles, 2004).The act enforces that service providers do not discriminate people with disabilities whilst providing service (Office of Public Sector Information, 2009b). Business or organisation that provides service, offer facilities or supply goods to public are liable to duties of the Disability Discrimination Act under Part III and this does include hotels (Department of Health, 1996). The duties of this act for the service providers were rolled from 1996 to 2004 in three stages. The main essence of the duties that were introduced in three stages were that service providers discriminating or treating people with disabilities less favourably than non disabled customers was unlawful. In addition, service providers had to make ‘reasonable adjustments for disabled customers such as providing extra help or making changes to the way service is provided and reasonable adjustment to make the premises barrier free (Disability Rights Commission, 2002). Reasonable changes as stated by the legislation could be one reason as to why service providers just tend to be compliant with law by providing minute alteration such as ramps and tend to do nothing more extensive. Prideaux and Roulstone (2009) express that despite of broad explanation expressing the vitality of accessibility to disabled, the representation of term ‘reasonable adjustment as stated in the UK Disability Discrimination Act legislation is still unclear and service providers tend to relive themselves from the responsibility of having extensive accessible service and facility. Customer satisfaction and its importance: Hospitality service providers use customer satisfaction as primary tool, as it helps retain customers, help reduce promotion cost intended to attract new customer since satisfied customers tend to return and aid in promotion of the property (Yuksel, 2001). This can also hold true for disabled tourist, as they tend to get loyal to providers that meet the needs, expectation and have facilities that are accessible, and would aid in promotion. Daniels, Rodgers and Wiggins (2005) establish that people with disabilities when loyal to accessible providers that cater to them, promote and learn about new properties mainly through word of mouth, followed by internet sites and at times also through travel guides. Horner (2004) acclaims that industries benefit with retained customers as these customers who are loyal are likely to return and promote the goodwill of the industry to others which may bring in future business. Thus, customer satisfaction has benefits as it helps minimize extra costs, enables industry know their repeat customer better, which could help in improving future service. Defining customer satisfaction : Customer satisfaction is based on the involvement of various processes and at times on the customer experience and expectation and this makes it highly complex (Johnston and Clark, 2001). Moreover, customer satisfaction based on components like controllability, emotion, inference, motivation, performance by management or employee or any happening during the service delivery; all of which could work independently or in combination influencing the complex process of satisfaction (Oh and Parks 1997, Bowen 2001, Bowen 2002 and Bowen and Clarke 2002). Being a complex process, it is difficult to pinpoint one single definition and as result, customer satisfaction can be defined in various interpretations (Yuksel and Yuksel, 2001). However, Oh and Parks (1997, p.37) based on critical analysis of customer satisfaction suggested a convincing definition that ‘customer satisfaction may result from a very simple or complex process involving extensive cognitive, affective and other undiscove red psychological and physiological dynamics. People with Disability as Potential Market: People with Disabilities are potential customers for the hospitality sector and catering to this customer base would tend to generate billions in the sector (Arellano 2003). Moreover, senior citizens are likely to experience disability in some form as they age, and tend to coincide with that life stage when they enjoy a retired life having time to travel with surplus disposable income (Fleischer and Pizam, 2002). United Nations, (2007) claims by 2050 universally the number of old age population would double. Thus, disability in some form would also be increasing (Mann, 2005). Groschl (2004) express that as people with disabilities is increasing so is desire to travel, and this awareness has given rise to the need for making travelling and facilities barrier free as hospitality industries in the future would have to depend on this market segment (Glover and Prideaux, 2009). Based on the research conducted by Oztruk, Yayli and Yesiltas (2008), in the hospitality sector in Turkey made i t evident that hotels and travel agents encounter tourist with disabilities and have a positive opinion in the growth of this market segment. Another market that Huh and Singh (2007) express are families with a disabled members too travel on holidays and choose hotels having facilities that are accessible too all members and this market fails to be realized by service providers. Disabled holiday makers may at times travel with their partner or children who could be normal and would prefer to stay in hotel room of their choice not in a predetermined segregated accessible room, however disabled tourist have very little option in rooms selection due to limited available rooms (Clark, 2008). This point out hospitality industry such as hotels rarely gives thought to the motives and expectation of disabled tourist whilst designing. Thus, Gladwell and Bedini (2004) acknowledges that hotel employees failing to deliver appropriate service to disabled tourist are not only the ones affected, but also the service affects the family members or individuals accompanying them. With the introduction of Disability Discrimination Act, work places have accepted employees with disabilities, in addition, media has assisted in the gradual change in ideology, attitude of the society and this has vastly given rise to attempts made in order to understand People with Disabilities as a potential market segments thus becoming a new phenomenon (Burnett and Baker, 2001). People with disabilities being a niche market segment in the hospitality sector, a prime .concern that this market segment faces is accessibility to facilities offered, which plays an important role in destination or accommodation decision making; moreover accessibility is measured differently compared to non disabled tourist (Isareli, 2002). Disability in the U.K. In the U.K. about 10 million disabled people dwell (Office for Disability, 2008). Possessing an estimate annual spending power of 80 billion (Breakthrough-UK, 2009). This might suggest that having realized the economic value of this market, hotels would cater and try to delight disabled customers. However an assessment carried by tourism for all estimates that 2% of hotels are found to be wheelchair accessible, moreover the British Hospitality Association assess that out of the new 10,000 hotel rooms built from 2004 only 1% were wheelchair accessible (Department for culture, media and sport, 2007b). This would make one ponder if very few hotel rooms are accessible only to wheel chair users let alone other disabilities, then it might be possible that the customer service offered to disabled tourist too may not be optimal, satisfying or delightful. According to Employers forum on disability (2009), survey conducted in 100 UK companies revealed 44% offer accessible products, only one- third front line departmental employees take into account the preference and needs of people with disability and only 44% companies accept the fact that their websites are accessible to people with disabilities. Hence with so little done suggest that hotel consider disabled tourist marginal and customer satisfaction might not be of importance. The reason behind this could also be due hospitality industries fear that an increase in disabled tourist could displace the normal core business (Phillips, 2002) Attitude towards people with disability: Darcy (1998) reflects how important is recreation for disabled and senior tourist and their attitude towards tourism, but the outlook towards people with disabilities at hospitality destinations (hotels) are a matter of concern. The attitude of the individuals in society and marketers in industries towards People with Disabilities is likely to be prejudiced and hospitality providers such as hotels aim to just be compliant with the discrimination act, but little attention is given on how the act can help satisfy the lucrative People with Disabilities tourist market (Burnett,1996). Attitude against people with disability as in Asia can also be experienced where disabled members are seen as disgrace and believe that people with disability suffer as a result of the doings in previous life (Parker, 2001). Daruwalla and Darcy (2005) based on study conducted suggests that, the attitude of hotel staff can be changed by organising role play , visual information about various impairments and empowering customer service employees to communicate freely with People with Disabilities would change the mindset, moreover such training could be initiated at hospitality institutions. Kaufman-Scarborough (2001) argues that though the ability and necessities of disabled individuals is addressed, very less attention by hotels is given towards understand their needs and capabilities as consumer. Williams, Rattray and Grimes (2006) suggests organisation must view accessibility as a service beneficial to all members of the society and not just confined to People with Disabilities,, moreover such a service which satisfies all members of society would indeed prove to deliver a competitive edge in the market. According to Israeli (2002) hospitality sectors whilst catering and serving People with Disabilitie s find it difficult to meet their needs since the service hospitable attitudes does not flow genuinely and hence not able to serve them well. This indicates that tourist with disabilities when on holidays at hotels will certainly evaluate every facility differently from the point of accessibility and if the service towards them does not flow naturally this could leave them dissatisfied. Thus if hotels take initiative to make- facilities accessible, training employees adequately in order to service and communicate with disabled tourist appropriately will indeed achieve customer satisfaction and be able to capture a growing profitable loyal market. Barriers and its impact on service: Although this disability market segment, requiring special needs is gradually becoming of importance to the hospitality sector, majority of the hospitality industry do very little and tend to do adjustments just to be compliant with the law (Burnett and Baker, 2001). Besides that hotel managers do nothing more to cater or meet the needs of this niche market and tend to project indifference whilst meeting expectations and wants (Rice, 2006). According to Sen and Mayfield (2004) lodging facilities have numerous limitations when catering to People with Disabilities such as transportation, misplaced wheelchairs, the issue of accessibility to various public facilities, and the incapability of dealing appropriately towards people with different disabilities. People with Disabilities find it difficult to move around freely and perform activities and gestures within normal time as compared to non-disabled people (Daniels, Rodgers and Wiggins, 2005). Hence A prerequisite at hospitality sites to serve this special market segment so that their desires to enjoy leisure, experience facilities and rejuvenate at hospitality sites which are same as non disabled people is requirement of qualified human resource (Oztruk, Yayli and Yesiltas, 2008). Non disabled tourist have better experience than disabled tourist and hence if hotels wish to cater and serve people with disabilities then the barriers faced by people with disabilities such as mobility impaired, visually impaired, mentally impaired must be considered (Thapar et al., 2004). This segment comprises of various challenges that industry may face due to need for special equipments, change in structure, incapability of staff to handle customers (Ray and Ryder, 2003). It is vital that tourist sites that intend to cater to such a lucrative segment must address to special needs and consider barrier removals in order to make facilities accessible and enjoyable (Oztruk, Yayli and Yesiltas, 2008). Which would service not only people with disabilities but others too such as guests carrying heavy luggage or having baby pushchair (Westcott, 2004). Oztruk, Yayli and Yesiltas (2008) do opine that much more needs to be done for this market segment in order to increase the number of tr ips taken by disabled tourist, increasing activities in hotels and vitally hospitality sectors need to be educated on interaction and maintaining positive relationship with disabled tourist. Besides the structural barriers, disabled tourist due to their personality and difference in communication whilst socializing transpire as constraints to have an effective relationship with the society (Daniels, Rodgers and Wiggins, 2005). However, McKercher, Packer, Yau and Lam (2003) underpins that People with Disabilities as tourist are very well capable of establishing relation with people around them. In the tourism industry, service providers, which also include hotels, do little in regards to educating and training their employees in areas of understanding and serving People with Disabilities appropriately (Grady and Ohlin, 2009; McKercher, Packer, Yau and Lam, 2003 and Miller and Kirk, 2002). Lack of communication, knowledge about various impairments and negative prejudice leads to individuals maintaining distant and tend to have a wrong mindset about People with Disabilities. Thus, at times hospitality service providers having a stereotype view of People with Disabilities as sume that a disabled person is incapable of any activities one such example is the assumption that ‘wheelchair chair user is unable to communicate (Daruwalla and Darcy, 2005, p. 552). This suggests that negative attitude and lack of knowledge will indeed put employees in a position not knowing how to react or serve and communicate with disabled tourist. Smith, Austin, and Kennedy (2001) assert that tourist with disabilities when confronted with barriers that mar their movement greatly lowers their leisure satisfaction and tend to avoid such destinations. Through the survey conducted by Grady and Ohlin (2009) it was evident that hospitality managers find it difficult to cater to the needs of People with Disabilities as tourist since hoteliers lack the knowledge of dealing effectively thus meeting needs and expectation. Daniels, Rodgers and Wiggins (2005) state that hotel employees are prone to be underprepared in effectively dealing with People with Disabilities as tourist as they lack information and training in dealing with them. This points out that with such service delivered would certainly not satisfy or delight the tourist. Accessibility and impact on customer satisfaction: People with Disabilities and their quality of life is greatly impacted by recreation and it is vital for such recreational sites to be accessible, since through empirical research it was evident that accessible recreation sites have positive enriching effect on People with Disabilities (Darcy and Daruwalla, 1999 and Ray and Ryder, 2003). Before embarking on a travel journey, in order to be safe and have an enjoyable experience, people with disabilities must judge and decide on various concerns, determine risks by gathering required information and the criterias that influence decision process is more complex than for a non disabled tourist (Yau, McKercher and Packer, 2004). If People with Disabilities as tourist are not provided with necessary accessible information by the hotel or through hotel website, the satisfaction of choosing the hotel may not be experienced and this would restrain the motivation and desire to travel (OConnor and Frew, 2002). This suggests that if initially it self the motivation and desire to travel is not that high, due to lack of information the customer satisfaction could also be at jeopardy. Moreover, despite of risk evaluation People with Disabilities encounter many hurdles whilst they travel and sites that are inaccessible could have an impact on them, spoil their holiday and could even diminish their travel as well as stay experience (Oztruk, Yayli and Yesiltas, 2008). Hotels in particular though claim to be accessible, are in-fact not completely and easily accessible to disable tourist, and hence disabled tourist lack trust on hotels and rely on personal inspection of accessibility (Ray and Ryder 2003). This indicates that people with disabilities would be apprehensive whilst selecting places. Hence Ray and Ryder (2003) suggests that marketers can reach out to People with Disabilities and can be attracted to destinations is by highlighting them in advertisements, which could encourage the selection of destination. Therefore, according to McKercher, Packer, Yau and Lam (2003) people with disabilities unlike non-disabled tourist face barriers that are inherent, economi c, and environmental that hinder participation, interactive barrier- that is due to the attitude of hospitality service providers and non-availability of accessible information. The above-mentioned barriers are ascertained by Clark (2007) based on his life experience he expresses that, holiday for people with disabilities could be miserable. Since often, hotels have few accessible rooms and tend to be occupied by non-disabled people; moreover online hotel reservation websites lack the option for selecting an accessible room and in addition, travel agents charge more for service offered. Thus, Westcott (2004) articulates that people with disabilities tend to be more loyal and would return to those locations, which are accessible, where their needs are catered and make holiday experience memorable. Hence, it is suggested that to better serve People with Disabilities, which would satisfy and delight them it is important that hoteliers understand what within the establishment would prevent disabled tourist to participate in activities (Goodall, Pottinger, Dixon and Russell, 2004). Web site barrier: The advocates of People with Disabilities believe that hotel web sites that fall under the disability discrimination act and must be made accessible, however courts are yet to ensure that (Kreismann and Palmer, 2001 and Sherwyn, Eigen and Klausner, 2000). People with Disabilities such as visually impaired find it difficult to navigate through website (Mills, Han and Clay, 2008). In addition, face way-finding barrier, which can be over come with the help of facilitator (Thapar et al., 2004). This suggests that the satisfaction of visually disabled tourist may not be optimal since hotel websites if not accessible would influence the decision and service experience. Williams, Rattray and Grimes (2007) ascertains that hospitality industry when developing websites rarely take impaired users into consideration and hence few websites can be found that are friendly to visually impaired users. Mills, Han and Clay (2008)says that websites with accessibility barriers pose as a problem and decreases the opportunity of using websites, however websites when made accessible make People with Disabilities independent and can get-into websites for information despite the impairments. Some facilitators that can be used in websites are screen-read softwares that convert text on websites into speech or can also convert text into Braille (OBrien 2005). Web content accessibility must be capable to serve individual in society, which also includes People with Disabilities, however hotel website information accessibility is low and fails to meet the needs of disabled tourist for whom information provided plays an important role in travel decision-making (William, Rattray and Grimes, 2007). Despite this, various hotels fail to make provision for people with disabilities and on inspection by William and Rattray (2005), they discovered that many hotels have their web pages that are not access ible and even if they are, it was found to be compliant only with first level of accessibility addressed by world wide web consortium (W3C). Hence, it is evident that without proper web accessibility and inaccurate information for such a large market of people with disabilities who wish to travel may experience dissatisfaction through the service offered by hotels. Nusair and Kandampully (2008) put forth that service offered through websites that are accessible, helpful and providing desired information greatly affects customer satisfaction positively. To facilitate accessibility to all including disabled tourist the world wide web consortium have developed web content accessibility guidelines, following which, enables access to all(World Wide Web Consortium, 1999.) Apart from facilitators that convert text to speech or Braille which is very convenient for people with disabilities such as blindness, deafness but it is also important to address web accessibility for those have reading difficulty. WebPages commonly use option for changing the text size for accessibility but pay little attention to colour, it is important to note that some users cannot differentiate between colours and options must also be available to view text without colour and colour scheme used must be contrasting enough (World Wide Web Consortium, 1999). These simple guidelines in hotel websites could influence satisfaction, help in decision-making and the people with disabilities as tourist may patronize such hotels. Practically most of the industries universally lose some of their customers to competitors (Devlin, Gwynne and Ennew, 2002). This may be because the competing service provider is likely to meet the customers satisfaction level and expectation. Forsyth (1999) put forth that suppliers tend to cater to specific wants; however, customers commonly wish to do be associated with suppliers and their employees who are creative, honest, responsive, knowledgeable, approachable and cater to all wants and this makes customers see them as professional and tend to switch and maintain relation with such suppliers. Influence of hotel service on customer satisfaction. Customer oriented industries such as hotels place customer at the core whilst evaluating customer satisfaction, however in order to do so is it important to understand the customers needs and expectations which would help maximize satisfaction and maintain competitiveness and profitability ( McMullan, 2005). The study conducted by Danaher and Mattsson (1994) reveals that customer satisfaction in hotels is based on evaluation of various services offered which customers are likely to evaluate them separately and not collectively hence strongly impacting customer satisfaction. According to Forsyth (1999) in hospitality industry such as hotels, customer service is of prime importance to maintain good customer relation and maintain customer satisfaction. Cartwright (2000) argues that delighting a customer is also of importance and can be achieved when product and facilities serve more than expected. Service providers are now realising that delighting customers is more vital since by just satisfying customers and gaining their loyalty though are primary factors whilst satisfying customers cannot be entirely relied on. Disabled customers too travel and wish to enjoy facilities, services and are delighted when all is accessible, hotels need to keep them in mind whilst assessing their services. Shoemaker and Bowen (2003) revealed that in order to delight, maintain loyalty and connection, and gain trust from customers for the organisation it is important that all services and facilities are designed keeping customers into consideration. Based on survey conducted by Wei, Ruys and Muller (1999) concluded that people with disabilities and including senior travellers gave more importance to facilities and service that the hotel offered than other attributes such as dà ©cor, price, food and beverage, when judging the satisfaction they experienced during their stay. Zeitmal and Bitner (2003) explains that in order to achieve customer satisfaction, it is important to maintain quality and standard in every customer service encounter, in-order to do so it is important that employees understand specific requirements and priorities of customers during each service encounter. Findings and Suggestions:. From the literature it is evident that people with disabilities experience a lot of constraints, and have to consider various risks when planning to travel, also they face with limited options during travel selection process (United Nations, 2007). The lodging facilities such as hotels too are few that are able to cater to their needs and treat them as expected (Vignuda, 2001). Thus, often-disabled travellers are forced to select only those hotels that they are aware of, which will cater to their needs, since other hotels fail to treat them as expected and would fail to provide a satisfying experience. It is apparent that gradually in the future hospitality industries such as hotel would have to cater to this growing market and customer satisfaction would be of importance to ensure repeat business and draw such a niche market into hotels. Most of the service providers are reactive and implement installation of ramps or automatic door

Melvilles Moby Dick: Defining Violence in Literature :: Moby Dick Essays

Melville's Moby Dick: Defining Violence in Literature Two stories were recently told to me, independently of one another, and although I was struck by each, it was a third story that emerged from the collision of the first two that most challenged me. The first story is about the violence of literature: "That's my current definition of literature: a cataclysmic event, one that disrupts what we think we so-settle-edly-know..." (Dalke). The second story is a definition of violence that I heard used in the context of a conversation about racism. "Violence is the denial of humanity." Although the implication seemed to be that humanity is denied to the victim of violence, I also suggest that violence diminishes the humanity of the perpetrator. Looming at the point where these two stories encounter each other is a pair of screaming questions. 1) What does it mean to deny humanity? And 2) How can this definition of violence be reconciled with the assertion that literature/storytelling is violent when storytelling is a fabulously human phenomenon? Initially, I was compelled by Dalke's definition of literature as cataclysmic and violent, partly because my immediate reaction was to disagree. Is not literature a tool that we use to cling together and to ever more profound meaning? Must literature deconstruct in order to recreate and expand? In concert with this skepticism is another story about literature which maintains that the actual number of stories is very few. All stories can be reduced to, at most, a dozen types or formulas within which storytellers maneuver creatively in order to extract new things from the old patterns. Violence suggests that something is being destroyed or detracted (I will turn to the specific target of humanity in a moment), so if literature is violent, must we conceive of these variations on a formula as somehow depleting the underlying structure? Alternatively, violence suggests that literature is a process of cannibalizing old formulas in the creation of new. This version creates the space for an infinite number of story types. So, is literature violence or clinging? Or are these two things ultimately the same? The story of violence as the denial of humanity is where I begin to search for an answer. The elemental gesture of humanity is the desire to transcend itself, to know the universe, to grasp the absolute truth. But, this clinging to meaning, to greater meaning, is destructive because it implies something incomplete about humans and sets us up for failure.

Polititical scandals :: checking politicians backgrounds

When it comes to the importance of checking state and local politicians, I think it is extremely important to a certain extent. Any job should require some background check when the job is publicly related. Police officers for instance have an extensive background check if they have suspicion of a current or upcoming officer. Officers can contact a number of friends, relatives, bosses, etc. of the officer to ask questions, in hopes of catching the individual of guard. I feel that this is somewhat necessary for someone that we are supposed to trust to protect and serve our communities. It seems that even though United States soldiers have probably the most patriotic job in the country, although they do not need such a background check because of the demand for soldiers. Besides the demand, I think that it doesn’t matter all that much for some jobs. A politician, is someone the state, or communities needs to trust for much larger issues than protecting and serving. Not only do they have the power to move mountains, locally and nationally, but they hold somewhat of a role model position. These politicians are expected to be the best, most honorable, trust worthy citizens, eligible for such a job. The public sees this, sometimes too much through rhetorical situations, but sees it none the less. A politician is comparable to the president of the United States, professional athletes, and anyone that holds the title of a role model. I feel they should have a very extensive background check, but there is a place to draw the line. Neil Goldschmidt for example seemed to be the definition of a stereotypical politician, by that I mean holding all the positive qualities I previously stated. He did a tremendous amount of work for Portland and surrounding areas, and brought about much needed and appreciated commitment. When someone is to pry back into his life to determine if he was a good person, so to speak, back twenty years, I would say that there was no need for that. On the other hand if any suspicions happened to surface in the years of his employment, I would definitely feel they should be investigated. Not saying that any human being capable of committing any crime like that, shouldn’t be convicted to the fullest extent. Just that spending so much time and money on somebody, could be spent so much better somewhere else.

DNA Report :: Biology

Many people have heard about this mysterious DNA molecule but don’t know much about it (what it is, where it’s located, what it does, etc.) In this report it will state the basics and investigate this mysterious molecule: deoxyribonucleic acid. DNA is a thin chainlike molecule found in almost every cell (Rubenstein, 2006), and is used in developing and functioning all known living organisms (â€Å"Wikipedia†, 2009). DNA is a Hereditary Material in a human body, (â€Å"U.S. National†, 2009), genomes determine hereditary (Rubenstein, 2006). The main goal for DNA is long-term storing of information (â€Å"Wikipedia†, 2009). Basically DNA is biological information exchanged from adult to child through reproduction (â€Å"National Human†, 2008). DNA is formed in the nucleus of a cell (â€Å"National Human†, 2008). Most DNA is found in the nucleus and a small amount is found in the Mitochondria. When DNA is found in the nucleus it is considered to be Nuclear DNA and when DNA is found in the Mitochondria it is considered Mitochondrial DNA (â€Å"U.S. National†, 2009). Humans always get 50% of DNA from your mom and 50% of DNA from your dad through reproduction; although only Mitochondrial DNA is from your mom because during fertilization egg cells only keep Mitochondria (â€Å"National Human† 2008). Sometimes DNA can be found in bacterial cells and in viruses (Rubenstein, 2006). DNA is made of many different resources found in a human body; chemicals, bases, and more. Deoxyribonucleic acid is made of three basic chemical building blocks; a Phosphate group, a Sugar group, and 1 of 4 nitrogen bases. DNA is made of 3 billon bases (National Human, 2008), 99% of these bases are the same in all humans (â€Å"U.S. National†, 2009), and the order and amount of the bases determines that humans unique self (Rubenstein, 2006). Bases are connected by hydrogen bonds, base pairing is very specific; Adenine only with Thymine and Cytosine only with Guanine (â€Å"Comptons†, 2008). Each DNA that contains instructions, that makes protein, is considered a gene; gene size varies from 1 thousand bases to 1 million bases (â€Å"National Human†, 2008). A gene carries genetic information during reproduction (â€Å"Wikipedia†,2009). DNA consists of thousands of chemical units called nucleotides (Rubenstein, 2006). Nucleotides are linked together by covalent bonds; linking phosphate of one to sugar of the next (â€Å"Comptons†, 2008). Like genes the exact amount and order of Nucleotides varies, making the person only themselves (Rubenstein, 2006).

My Childhood Memories in Ramadhan Essay

Everyone have a childhood memories in their life and are special for everyone. I was born and brought up in a happy family and Alhamdulillah about that. I want to share to all my readers about my childhood memories in Ramadhan. Every time when Ramadhan came the first thing that will come to my mind is Hari Raya. I feel very excited to celebrate Hari Raya. There are a lot of memories in Ramadhan still fresh in my mind among these is walk around the village while holding the lantern after breaking fast, lit the candles around the gate of house with sister, helping my mom making cookies for Hari Raya. The first memories that I was remember, when finish breaking fast I and my sister playing with friend. Then, we are together with friend walk around the village while holding the lantern. During that time, I walk while holding the lantern, suddenly candle in the lantern accidentally erased. I was so afraid and then run to my sister because the road was dark. After arrived at home, my mother advise to me and sister not follow our friend walking around the village after breaking fast because road to dark and hazard. Second memories that I still remember is light wax around gate. I black out in house balcony and start light wax around house fence . Apart from that, I play fireworks with my sister. That delightful because my house like in the middle of circle light. I and my sister do not like light up kerosene lamp because of that complicate for a girl. Memories of childhood during Ramadhan last that I want share with all of you is we help my mother making biscuits for food Hari Raya. Each year, my mother do not miss to make our family favourite cookies. Name of biscuit that my mother do is Mazola groundnut cookies and also cornflakes honey. I help my mother baked a biscuits and cleaning kitchen when we have been completed. Yet today, my mother have died and I do not will forget the memory because it a memory that is most beautiful with my mother. I am so dear my mother and also miss to her In summary, everyone have memories of childhood days in their life. Past memories make us have much experience to are surviving on that full challenge. When remembering matter that after, I smile. Many my lesson can from incident which occurred. Remember we must be hearing parents’ instruction because they know what best for us. I hope me always remember memories of childhood days in Ramadhan because of that is memory that is lovely and delightful.