Pursuit of Happiness and Belonging free essay sample

An individual’s sense of belonging is significantly determined by external influences. These external forces can have dramatic impacts on an individual’s ability to associate and conform to differing groups in society. Jane Harrison’s ‘Rainbow’s End’ epitomizes this concept through the struggle of three indigenous women to belong to place or family. Gabriele Muccino’s film ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ also embodies the same ideas about how external influences distinguish between belonging and isolation. Individuals in these texts are affected by a multitude of external influences that determine the sense of belonging and association with others. Traumatic experiences from the past may inhibit an individuals attempt to connect with differing groups of society. Jane Harrison illustrates this through Nan Dear’s painful past involving the stolen generations. She was removed from her family and unable to receive an education, which ultimately hindered her ability to connect and associate with others through her lack of intelligence. We will write a custom essay sample on Pursuit of Happiness and Belonging or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The ignorance and narcissistic attitude from white society inevitably enabled Nan Dear to develop a protective and negative outlook towards the white authorities. This is evident when Nan Dear’s opinion of health services becomes obvious, â€Å"Hospitals is where they take our babies away. † Similarly, this is represented in ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’, whereby Chris was without a father for his whole life. The lack of a father figure and someone to idol encumbered his ability to associate with others and left him disjointed from society as a young man. The past experiences that these individuals endure were purely externally influenced and were uncontrollable; this inevitably alienated and isolated them from possibly connecting and belonging to differing groups of society. An individual’s desire to belong to differing groups in society may go unfulfilled as a result of the ignorance or selfishness of other people’s actions. This is obliviously represented in ‘Rainbow’s End’ whereby the white authorities evict Nan Dear, Gladys and Dolly from their natural home and are placed in a low economic estate called the ‘Rumbalara Housing’. The displacement of the three women diminished their sense of belonging to land, which is essential to Aboriginal lifestyle. This concept is also exemplified in ‘The Pursuit of Happyness† as Chris is yet set back again when his bank  account is garnished for unpaid taxes. This is just as Chris’ situation is looking to brighten, and on his way to associating and belonging to a higher class of society, what is stock brokerage. This significantly illustrates the isolation and segregation of Chris from his hopes of becoming a member of society around him, rather he is isolated with the ‘bums’ of San Francisco and forced to stay at a homeless shelter. This concept is also exemplified when Eroll, Dolly’s love interest, enlightens Dolly to his plan to take her away to a materialistic future, of a ‘Sweet little flat in the city with a balcony and a sitting room and a kitchen with a real stove and a new-fangled Kelvinator.. ’ Dolly then reluctantly admits that Eroll’s idea of â€Å"our future† would involve her leaving her association with her family and her home. This typically represents Eroll’s naivety and lack of respect towards Dolly’s culture and lifestyle, and ultimately leads to

5 TEDx Videos Can Inspire You to Write Your Successful Philosophy Personal Statement

5 TEDx Videos Can Inspire You to Write Your Successful Philosophy Personal Statement 5 TEDx Videos Can Inspire You to Write Your Successful Philosophy Personal Statement Most of us like to indulge in philosophizing with regard to different issues principles of human behavior, social interaction, cultural influences and so on. Someone can decide to take it a step further to get a degree in Philosophy. Want to connect your life with one of the oldest academic discipline in the world? Great! For example, the students from the Lehigh University don’t regret studying Philosophy. There are many benefits from this subject critical thinking skills, opinion expressing skills, effective writing skills. According to the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2018: Philosophy, top universities in America is the University of Pittsburgh and in the UK the University of Oxford. Want to be admitted to them? As a student applying to study Philosophy at university, you should write a clear and accurate personal statement. It can be a representation of your love, interest, and commitment to the subject. Regardless of how well you do during high school years, a poorly constructed personal statement can ruin your chances of being accepted into your the Philosophy course. So, it is important to make time to write a personal statement that would captivate the admissions officers, and make a positive impression about you as a potential student at their school. How to set yourself up for writing a philosophy personal statement? Draw Much of Inspiration from the TEDx Speakers A collection of TED Talks on the topic of philosophy offers you a vast variety of ideas you can use in your personal statement. These talks are given by professional philosophers who have previous experience with writing their own personal statements and who gained years of experience working in the field. Each talk offers a unique insight into various crucial global topics that can be inspirational for you. ‘Your Elusive Creative Genius’ by Elizabeth Gilbert. The author of the bestseller â€Å"Eat, Pray, Love† presents the relationship between humans and the creative mystery a genius. So, the idea is as follows: all of us have a genius inside. Use this video to highlight in your personal statement that you have that inner potential that makes you worthy of joining the faculty of Philosophy . ‘The Surprising Habits of Original Thinkers’ by Adam Grant. An organizational psychologist dedicates the video topic to the exploration of the fundamentals of success that are applied by people who are considered to think originally. Do you know that many great originals in history were procrastinators? However, it is a virtue for creativity, not productivity. Start writing your personal statement after you watch this video, not later. Use Adam’s guidelines to write an original and unique piece that will grab admissions staff’s attention. â€Å"The Puzzle of Personality† by Brian Little. The Cambridge professor explore the different types of contemporary personality. You may be open to experience or stands for conscientiousness. Allow your personality to shine through in your personal statement by following Little’s explanations. â€Å"Success, Failure and the Drive to Keep Creating† by Elizabeth Gilbert. According to the speaker, the way we experience great failure differ from the way we experience great success. So, it’s essential to tune in to the right wave-length. Watch this video and determine what it is your best place you can return each time to keep creating what you love. â€Å"How to See Past Your Own Perspective and Find Truth† by Michael Patrick Lynch. The philosopher suggests the idea that the more information a person absorbs, the more difficult it can be to tell the difference between whats true and whats fake. The understanding of the facts as they are involves more than just downloading the information from the Internet. See this video and realize what you need to do for writing a personal statement. As a high school student, these videos act as introductory mediums for the subject and offer real-life experiences and examples that you can use in your statement. Granted, you are required to write unique and honest personal experiences, motivations and abilities but you can use key lessons taught in TED videos as guiding tools. The following is a list of ideas for your philosophy personal statement based on TED videos: Analyze where your ideas as a future philosopher come from and how they can influence your research in university. Use the talk on ‘how we make choices’ as a guideline to describe how you made the choice to pursue Philosophy. Explore who you are and explain how you as an individual will contribute to the program and Philosophy in general. When writing your personal statement, it is important to show your passion for the subject as opposed to simply mentioning it. What does admissions committee look for? It is a statement that is honest, unique and one that shows a commitment to Philosophy as more than just a university major. Get the best Philosophy personal statements written by our professionals. Supply yourself with a good example of writing that contributes surely to your success.

Stagnation in India (1965 To 1980) Was Due To Sharp Reductions in Essay

Stagnation in India (1965 To 1980) Was Due To Sharp Reductions in Public Investments in the Mid-1960s - Essay Example The period of mid-1960s as well as early 1970s has been found to be facing numerous economic problems. The reasons behind such problems stemmed from the fact that since India faced wars with its neighboring countries, huge amount of resources were spend towards defense which reduced the amount of public investment, thus significantly affecting the growth of India. The other reason behind the stagnation was the issues related to foreign exchange situation that forced the country to devalue its currency in the year 1966. The production of the food was insufficient because of the rising demand and therefore it became necessary for India to import the food items from other countries (FAO, â€Å"India†). It was observed that there was decline in the growth rate of public investment which can be identified as one of the significant factors in the decline of the industrial growth rate after the mid-1960s. The paper tries to identify the state of economy of India during the period of 1965-1980. It will review the impacts of low public investment in the mid-1960s on India and the steps taken by the political leaders to combat the problems (Sridharan, E., â€Å"The Political Economy Of Industrial Promotion: Indian, Brazilian, And Korean Electronics In Comparative Perspective 1969-1994†). Indian Economy since Independence and During the Period of Stagnation The main question that arises is related to the performance of India since 1947, the year of its independence. It has been believed that the economy of India was stuck from the times of independence; during that period ‘Hindu rate of growth’ was nearly 3.5% per annum. The period of seventies was commonly referred to as ‘Hindu rate of growth period’. It was revealed that the reason behind the decline in the gross domestic product (GDP) growth during the period of sixties have been due to sharp decline in the growth of agriculture from the middle of sixties. After Green Revolution was introduced, there were important changes in the growth possibility of agriculture. During the period of 1965-1980, the policies were generated as a result of immediate crisis in the economy of India as well as political suitability rather than by economic logic. It has been observed that this period saw disconnectedness in the policies and the procedures of the government. It was found that various strategies adopted by the country for the purpose of the development of the nation failed miserably before the reforms of the nineties. The three components such as too much controls and inward-looking policies as well as substantial and inefficient public sector suppressed the growth during the seventies and to a certain extent in the eighties as well (Virmani, â€Å"India’s Economic Growth: From Socialist Rate of Growth to Bharatiya Rate of Growth†). The decline in the growth rate of industries in the economy of India during the sixties has been characterized as provis ional downward deviation in relation to trend. However, in the present times, the scenarios are being reflected as long-run tendencies leading to stagnation

Case analysis Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Case analysis - Coursework Example This indicated the desire to serve customer in the best quality service (Mennen 2006). As of 2001, the company had started to realize some profits when its sales exceeded 3.12bn. In 2002, the company made a modest profit of 64 million dollars. In 2003, the company made profits of 814million dollars. This thus indicates that eventually the harvest did come. In 2003, the business vision of the company changed to a place where people could buy anything (Stockport 2004). According to Bezos, e-commerce was the way of the future. This was an accurate estimation as the internet has dominated everyday life. It is a cheaper and efficient means of communicating as well as a trading hub. According to the numbers, the concept of being all things to all people is quite an impressive and profitable business vision. This is because it allows the company to diversify, thus having some forma of safety nets. Some products may not make profits, thus are kept afloat by those that are popular. The concept also means that the company is flexible and a one-stop-shop. According to the vision of the founder, the driving factors of the business are technology, technology, technology (Stockport 2004). This means that the company will focus on technology as its real estate. The company has a lot of potential terms of its capabilities of achieving. At the moment, Amazon.com has only but a while to become the dominant player in the online market. The company has ensured that this will be a reality through some of the features that it has put in place. These features will see to it that the payments are secure, a simple method of ordering as well as a fast delivery system. With this, this company is in the right path to being the Wal-Mart of the

Hotel project management

Hotel project management SUMMARY Kerrison Park Hotel in London, is a Part of Kerrison Travel group. GGTA, a French business conglomerate has recently purchased. The hotel is operating at a loss unlike other Kerrison Park hotels across the European mainland. The author will explain here how a project management approach will help the hotel to make changes to turn the loss making situation around. The Author has explained to the management of Kerrison Park Hotel the meaning of Project Management, the process involved in it, the tools and techniques used in it and the benefits of using a Project management approach in developing of the improvement opportunities. The Author has identified all the improvement opportunities of Kerrison Park Hotel, London, and done a detailed SWOT analysis which has given an insight to the problem and improvement areas along with the companys strengths and weaknesses. According to Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), Project is defined as a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product or a service. The act of managing, controlling, coordinating, directing, etc is called management. Project Management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities in order to meet stakeholders needs and expectations from a project. Projects need to be performed and delivered under certain constraints. Traditionally these constraints have been listed as ‘scope, ‘time and ‘cost (Burke, 2003). PROCESS OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT: Agree precise specification for the project. Plan the project time, team, activities, resources, and financials. Communicate the project plan to your project team. Agree and delegate project actions. Manage, motivate, inform, encourage, enable the project team. Check, measure, review project progress; adjust project plans, and inform the project team and others. Complete project; review and report on project performance; give praise and thanks to the project team. SWOT Analysis is a strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in a business venture. After explaining all this the author has given recommendations as to how to develop those improvement opportunities identified in SWOT. INTRODUCTION Case Study Background: This case study refers to Kerrison Park Hotel in London, a Part of Kerrison Travel group. GGTA, a French business conglomerate has recently purchased this hotel as a part of a financial package that also involved the takeover of three aircrafts and routes serving Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Paris, Oslo. The hotel is situated 25km from Heathrow Airport and is well connected by public bus and Underground. The hotel is operating at a loss unlike other Kerrison Park hotels across the European mainland. The author has been given the role of a project manager to use his project management skills and investigate the hotels SWOT analysis and make a proper project plan to retain business and turn this loss making situation around. Aims and Objectives: Define the benefits of the Kerrison Park Hotel, London of adopting a Project Management approach towards the development of the improvement opportunities. Identifying these improvement opportunities within the hotel, recommend a project plan that should be tackled within the next 18 months. Research Methodology: The author has used a lot of secondary resources to research and collect data related to case material like books, websites, etc.. Initially all about Project Management is explained along with some techniques and their importance. Then a detailed SWOT analysis is done for the Kerrison Park Hotel, London. On the basis of this SWOT analysis a Project Plan is prepares and recommendations are given. There is no primary research undertaken for this report. MAIN BODY Kerrison Park Hotel in London, is a Part of Kerrison Travel group. GGTA, a French business conglomerate has recently purchased this hotel as a part of a financial package that also involved the takeover of three aircrafts and routes serving Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Paris and Oslo. The hotel is operating at a loss unlike other Kerrison Park hotels across the European mainland. The author will explain here how a project management approach will help the hotel to make changes to turn the loss making situation around. According to Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), Project is defined as a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product or a service. The act of managing, controlling, coordinating, directing, etc is called management. Project Management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities in order to meet stakeholders needs and expectations from a project (Burke, 2001). Projects are executed and achieved under scope, time and cost constraints. These constraints when combined together form the Project Management Triangle. As these constraints are linked together therefore, the triangle would be affected if either of the constraints is changed. The advanced enhancement of scope, time and cost produces a fourth constraint called Quality. ‘Scope describes what must be done to produce the end result of the project, ‘Time constraint specifies the available time to meet the project and ‘Cost refers to the total amount available for the project completion. The main purpose of Project Management is to offer the appropriate tools and techniques that initiate the team to work towards the achievement of these constraints. Time The time required can be estimated through Work Breakdown Structure where each task is separately broken down into the time required to complete each task contributing to the completion of each component. Cost The cost constraint is estimated on variables like resource costs, labour rates, material rates, risk management, Earned value management, plant, equipment, cost escalation, indirect costs, and profit. Scope Scope describes the actual project to be accomplished and the end result. Quality of the actual output product is one of the major components of scope. The quality of the project is determined on the actual amount inputted towards the individual tasks. (URL: http://www.businesspme.com/uk/articles/rh/62/The-traditional-triple-constraints.html) PROJECT LIFE CYCLE: Project Management Life Cycle comprises four phases Initiation involves starting up the project, by documenting a business case, feasibility study, terms of reference, appointing the team and setting up a Project Office. Planning involves setting out the roadmap for the project by creating the following plans: project plan, resource plan, financial plan, quality plan, acceptance plan and communications plan. Execution involves building the deliverables and controlling the project delivery, scope, costs, quality, risks and issues. Closure involves winding-down the project by releasing staff, handing over deliverables to the customer and completing a post implementation review (URL: http://www.mpmm.com/project-management-methodology.php). PROCESS OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT: Agree precise specification for the project: Often called the project terms of reference, the project specification should be an accurate description of what the project aims to achieve, and the criteria and flexibilities involved, its parameters, scope, range, outputs, sources, participants, budgets and timescales Plan the project time, team, activities, resources, financials: Plan the various stages and activities of the project. A useful tip is to work backwards from the end aim, identifying all the things that need to be put in place and done, in reverse order. Communicate the project plan to your project team: This serves two purposes: it informs people whats happening, and it obtains essential support, agreement and commitment. If your project is complex and involves a team, then you should involve the team in the planning process to maximise buy-in, ownership, and thereby accountability. Agree and delegate project actions: Activities need to be very clearly described, including all relevant parameters, timescales, costs, and deliverables in a plan. This plan will then be published to all team members and the tasks will be issued to all on the basis of their capability of their own forward planning Manage, motivate, inform, encourage, and enable the project team: Manage the team and activities by meeting, communicating, supporting, and helping with decisions. Your role here is to enable and translate. Face to face meetings, when you can bring team members together, are generally the best way to avoid issues and relationships becoming personalised and emotional. Communicate progress and successes regularly to everyone. Give the people in your team the plaudits. Conversely you must take the blame for anything that goes wrong never dump on anyone in your team Check, measure, review project progress; adjust project plans, and inform the project team and others: Check the progress of activities against the plan. Review performance regularly and at the stipulated review points, and confirm the validity and relevance of the remainder of the plan. Adjust the plan if necessary in light of performance, changing circumstances, and new information, but remain on track and within the original terms of reference. Complete project; review and report on project performance; give praise and thanks to the project team: At the end of your successful project hold a review with the team. Ensure you understand what happened and why. Reflect on any failures and mistakes positively, objectively, and without allocating personal blame. Reflect on successes gratefully and realistically. TOOLS OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT: PERT: The Program Evaluation and Review Technique is a model for project management designed to analyze and represent the tasks involved in completing a given project. A Gantt chart is a type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule. Gantt charts illustrate the start and finish dates of the terminal elements and summary elements of a project. Terminal elements and summary elements comprise the work breakdown structure of the project. Some Gantt charts also show the dependency (i.e, precedence network) relationships between activities. A work breakdown structure or WBS is a tree structure, that permits summing of subordinate costs for tasks, materials, etc., into their successively higher level â€Å"parent† tasks, materials, etc. It is a fundamental tool commonly used in project management The Critical Path Method, abbreviated CPM, or critical path analysis, is a mathematically based algorithm for scheduling a set of project activities. It is an important tool for effective project management. A Run chart, also known as a run-sequence plot is a graph that displays observed data in a time sequence. Often, the data displayed represent some aspect of the output or performance of a manufacturing or other business process. IMPORTANCE AND BENEFIT OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT APPROACH TO KERRISON PARK HOTEL, LONDON: Develops Exponential Effectiveness: In most organizations, people work on cross-functional teams to complete projects. When people from different departments know and understand a common Project Management process to get their work done, they can start to work together without having to design how they are going to do it. Empowers Individuals and Team Leaders: When there is a common, simple approach for Project Management and the correct tools are available throughout the enterprise, people are empowered to reach their goals, together and individually. Creates Institutional Memory: Industry standard Project Management practices require a critical project closeout phase that collects lessons learned and gives your organization powerful historical knowledge from across the enterprise. Realizes Return on Innovation: An easy-to-use Project Management methodology gives organizations a framework that makes it achievable for people to move from vision to action with a comprehensive project plan that supports their objectives. Turns Information into Insight: You capture best practices and know what is and isnt working in your organization, giving you a competitive advantage by turning information into insight. SWOT Analysis is a strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in a business venture. It involves specifying the objective of the business venture or project and identifying the internal and external factors that are favourable and unfavourable to achieving that objective. Here we need to do the SWOT analysis of the Kerrison Park Hotel, London which will help us further to make a Project Plan to make recommendations as to what changes are required by this Hotel to run successfully. Strengths: The Hotel has a very good location as it is just 25 Km from Heathrow and is well connected by Bus and Underground. Hotel owns a large reception area out of which a part can be used for other purposes. A large full functioning kitchen builds up the backbone of the hotel Hotel has 150 rooms. All rooms have ensuite facilities, tea and coffee facilities, satellite TV, Air-conditioner and mini-bar which shows it provides all the facilities which a normal 4star hotel should have. The double rooms have adjoining lounges. The hotel provides an elaborate English and Continental Breakfast which is considered to be the main meal of the day. Hotel owns a Big Conference and a banqueting suite with a separate bar and four syndicate rooms. The Hotel gets a regular business from the parent companys aircrew and passengers. The Hotel also possesses a successful In-house Laundry which also has a contract for companys airline uniforms which ensures fixed revenue. Weaknesses: The hotel is suffering from a low occupancy rate of 45% as compared to other hotels in the city with 65% on a typical day. It has an inappropriate and a weak marketing strategy as the hotel principally relied on tour operators who use the hotel seasonally and local corporate business, gained through minimal advertising. The computer systems on the front of the house have become obsolete and needs to be upgraded to be in sync with the parent companys airline reservation system. Many of the Hotels facilities were not marketed successfully because of poor coordination and irregularity within sales and marketing departments. Lack of security of cleaning stores and linen on floors and their distribution. Lack of regular preventive maintenance of rooms and corridors. Internal painting, re-grouting of tiles, etc. needs attention. Restaurant is not big enough with 90 covers to handle major rush hours during peak season. Lunch time business is poor. Garden side of the restaurant which can be used a n additional room in quite weekends was not publicised properly. The staff seems to be lacking the sales and service orientation. The department heads are given the responsibility for recruiting and training of staff members rather than a proper Human Resource Management system which leads to inconsistencies in approach and quality. Gymnasium is not well equipped and there is no swimming pool facility provided by the hotel. There is no health bar either where a guest could refresh himself after a workout. Opportunities: Since the Hotel has a good location, it can easily pull up the chartered tourism. Students and Backpackers use London as a base for visiting other parts of the country who can be wooed by attractive discounts and offers. Large reception area gives the opportunity to use a part of it for some other purposes for eg. Extending Coffee Shop. Laundry Business can be improved by recruiting more skilled staff and sign up more contracts on revised prices with airlines. Hiring more experienced staff and training the existing one will help in upselling in all FB areas. Coffee Shop is more popular than the restaurant and the bar and is also doing well, so the covers can be increased and it can be livened up for young clientele. There is a good opportunity to start a new buffet style menu in the restaurant after convincing the Head Chef of its advantages. Hiring more efficient and professional Sales and Marketing Team will help the Hotel to boost up its sales volume. The Human Resource Department have a lot of knowledge and experience of working in different cultures which makes it easy for the hotel to understand its staff better and provide them efficient training through proper communication and practice. Threats: The airlines are in doubt as to continue with the laundry contract with the hotel due to the high prices offered as compared to other competitor laundries. The FB staffs have a low skill level; and therefore it leaves the guest into a bad impression of staff lacking service orientation and hotels poor standards. Inappropriate Security systems might lead to loss by theft. Storage of food is disorganized and sometimes no stock rotation is done which can be very dangerous and also lead to wastage. Competition in terms of prices and facility given by other hotels is leading to lower occupancy rate which is not good at all for the hotel. There is no Job satisfaction due to which motivation is lacking in staff. RECOMMENDATIONS After completing this detailed SWOT analysis the author is clear about Hotels situation inside out. Now the author would like to give recommendations for how to overcome the problems and weak areas of the hotel in a Project Management approach. Following are the areas and the changes that need to be done in them: Reception: Since the front of the house systems are obsolete and 12 years old, they require an upgrading to cope up with the expected increase in the business and interface with the parent companys airline reservation system which will create ease of work and efficiency for the reception staff. Changing the system will also require hardcore training to the staff who are habitual of using the old system. This whole process will take about 3 months to come into existence. Accommodation Operations: Author would suggest to turn 20 twin rooms into double rooms which will help the reception to give out more options to the customers. Secondly 10 suites should replace either of the rooms for fulfilling special needs of the guests like honeymoon couples. This operation will take around 4-6 months. In House Laundry: The Laundry has shown a return on investment recently and is running successfully. It is suggested to add up more storage space and recruit more efficient staff. The hotel also needs to take into consideration the prices of the laundry as they are too high compared to competitors due to which it might lose its present contracts. Prices needs to be lowered down. This will take about 2 months. Housekeeping and maintenance: To Control the security of the cleaning stores and linen, the author suggests to put up security alarms and CCTV Cameras in all important areas where undesignated staff isnt allowed. The storage areas should be moved away from back door entry to avoid loss. The rooms need to undergo minor maintenance like internal painting, re-grouting of tiling, replacing shower curtains, etc. Carpeting on first and second floor corridor will be replaced and reinstated as soon as possible. This will take approximately 6-8 months to complete. Food and Beverage: The covers in the restaurant should be increased to at least 120 to cope up with busy hours. The idea of introducing buffet style of menu is very appropriate. The FB manager must convince the head chef about the advantages of buffet style menu for eg, it will save labour force and the guest would get a choice of wider variety of food. Various schemes like ‘Sunday English Roast Lunch or ‘Happy Hours should be introduced which will attract local clientele and families. This operation will take around 1 month to come into existence as there are no major physical changes taking place here. Since the Coffee Shop is very popular and generally remains busy it is suggested to liven and pep it up in sync with the young and modern customers with some exciting decor, video games, darts, etc.. which will attract more people. We have the advantage of having coffee shop next to the large reception area. So it can be extended using a part of the reception area and covers will be increased from 50 to 70. Professional English speaking and permanent staff must be hired for the coffee shop as it will lead to good service and better guest satisfaction. The Coffee Shop menu should be renewed. This will take around 3 months to complete. Bar staff needs to be trained to be multi-skilled so that they can help in other areas when busy. A fool-proof method of controlling and counting sales should be introduced. A versatile drink list should be developed. Night porter facility should be provided to fulfil the needs of late night residents. This will again take around 1 month to come into existence. Gymnasium: It is suggested to install modern and state of the art machinery in the gym. At least 2 trainers should be employed. A proper changing room with modular fittings should be constructed with sauna, spa and a small swimming pool should be built up. Swimming pool will be a great attraction for the in house guests and local residents. The gym kitchen should be refurbished and spruced up and used as a sports bar offering health food and beverages.the Gymnasium and swimming pool will take a long time say around 12 months so should be started well in advance. Goods Delivery and Storage: Food storage in the main cold room must be organised using the FIFO (first in first out) system and keeping HACCP (hazard and critical control points) into consideration. Delegation of responsibility to the heads of the departments and supervisors is of utmost importance for all the storage areas as to keep a control on food storage, rotation, inventory keeping, etc.. The responsibility of the keys should also be delegated to either Head chef or FB manager. A proper inventory management system must be installed to analyse the sales level appropriately. This process will take 2 months. Management and staffing: a lot of emphasis needs to be put on the training and development of the staff as most of the staff is unskilled and unprofessional. A detailed training and development programme needs to be developed. The recruitment responsibility needs to be taken solely by the HR department in coordination with the Heads of the Departments to select only eligible staff. All the lousy and unskilled staff must be replaced by the professional ones. Work incentives and motivational schemes needs to be introduced to ensure job satisfaction and improved performance. Training and Development is an ongoing process so time cannot be calculated here. Replacing staff will not take more than 1 month. Sales and Marketing: First of all a strong, experienced and highly skilled marketing team needs to be hired as the previous one could not prove itself. Then coordination between Sales and Marketing needs to be built up by proper communication and regular meetings. All the facilities of the hotel must be advertised on websites, buses, trains, etc., showing attractive pictures of the hotel rooms, coffee shop, and gymnasium and highlighting the new facilities added. Promotion should be done at trade fares. Hotel must tie up with major tour operators. To increase the sales volume the hotel needs to revise its rack rate in accordance to competitors and give more discounts and attractive offers. Students and Backpackers can be wooed by good discounted rates and offers if they make the bookings in advance which will help hotel to increase its occupancy rate. The marketing team should also promote the in house laundry and get more orders from airlines to make additional revenue. Time Management: There are a lot of tasks to be done here. If we calculate the total time it will be more than 18 months, whereas we only have 18 months to get things done. So we need to manage our tasks in a timely order where two or more tasks can be done in a particular time side by side. The next important thing which we need to consider is that in what sequence the tasks will be accomplished. The activities should be put in such an order that they do not become a hindrance for one another and the hotels routine operations. The time that will be saved will indirectly save our costs as well. CONCLUSION The purpose of the report was to define to the hotel the benefits of adopting a project management approach towards development of improvement opportunities. Then these improvement opportunities were to be identified within the hotel and recommendations were to be given that prioritise and justify the projects that should be tackled within 18 months. The author would like to conclude that these purposes were solved by explaining in detail about the Project management, its process, tools and techniques. A detailed SWOT analysis is done to justify all the changes and improvement to be done in the hotel. Then the author has given recommendations for all that is to be done to retain the business and make profits. This will help the Kerrison Park Hotel to become a successful running Hotel in the city. BIBLIOGRAPHY A quick and comprehensive introduction to Project Management and its advantages Building the Buzz on Project Management (Available from URL: http://www.pmhut.com/a-quick-and-comprehensive-introduction-to-project-management-and-its-advantages-building-the-buzz-on-project-management) (Accessed on 11th March 2010) Burke, R. (2003) Project management planning control techniques (4th edition), England, Wiley Lock, D. (2000) Project Management (7th edition), England, Gower House Project Management Process, Techniques, tools, tips and training (Available from URL: http://www.businessballs.com/project.htm) (Accessed on 10th March 2010) Project Management Methodology: Project Life Cycle (Available from URL: http://www.mpmm.com/project-management-methodology.php) (Accessed on 10th March 2010) The Traditional triple constraints (Available from URL: http://www.businesspme.com/uk/articles/rh/62/The-traditional-triple-constraints.html) (Accessed on 11th March 2010) Wiest, J.D. and Levy, F.K. (1994), Management Guide To PERT/CPM (2nd edition), New Delhi, Prentice hall of India http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_management, accessed on 19th October 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWOT_analysis, accessed on 19th October, 2008.

Gwen Harwood Essay

Poetry creatively captures human experience, emotion and nature. Gwen Harwood employs a range of literary and poetic techniques such as imagery, religious allusions and personification to demonstrate the universality of concepts such as loss, death, memory and childhood. Through this, Harwood’s poetry to creates clear and strong perceptions of the continuity of experience and provide permanence to these transient elements of humanity. In ‘Triste, Triste’, Harwood explores the core themes of post coital sadness and the contradictory nature of the physical and spiritual realms that are created by the human body. These aspects all pertain to the human experience and growth of oneself. That is, the physicality of the skeleton, or frame, and the intellectual and creative importance of the brain as a muscle. The meaning of the word â€Å"Triste† is sad and mournful hence the repetition of this word in the title is indicative of Harwood’s reflection on the loss of inspiration. In the first stanza, a yearning and apparent need for ongoing physical passion in the continuous â€Å"space between love and sleep† presents the notion of sleep and its ironically nurturing qualities for the mind and the body despite the idleness of the body during this time of restoration. The phrase furthermore provokes the reader to reflect on such moments in their own life, and to reflect on â€Å"space† with renewed significance and how important it is for the brain and the self. Harwood describes this process as a â€Å"prison†, â€Å"eyes against shoulder keep their blood black curtains tight†¦ body rolls back like a stone.† Parallels are drawn between the ideal that the imagination is a separate entity and the separation between the physical skull and its place for the brain to reside, the brain resembles the imagination or factory of creativity. The poem makes specific and clear biblical references to the Resurrection through imagery furthermore providing to the creative self, as it is aligned with the Christ, walking â€Å"to Easter light†. The necessity of the escapism and discovery of spiritual intensity is strongly reinforced. In addition to the biblical references, divine imagery is implied through the ‘Angelic lightà ¢â‚¬â„¢. The continuing use of personification and imagery encourages the reader to value the indistinct moments of passionate afterglow as opportunity to liberate the imagination. Harwood creates distinctiveness between the divine light present in the second stanza along with the â€Å"darkness† of tangible â€Å"sleep and love† through her use of enjambment and repetition which draws attention to the ending of imaginative inspiration. In the last stanza, Harwood recombines the spirit with the corporal self which ultimately conveys the necessity of intimacy physically and the evanescence of imaginative passion. Additionally, the physical self along with the emotional self, are brought together as one entity which cannot exist without the other thus they possess equal importance and value, despite having separate functions. Throughout the poem Gwen Harwood reinforces the paradox that implies that extreme pleasure must coincide with extreme pain. In addition to her references to loss and sadness, Gwen Harwood amalgamates various elements of human experience through the reflection of memory as a primary theme. The importance of memory is expressed through harmonizing various layers of an individual’s life and their shared experiences to create a wholeness that reconciles one with the finality of death. This concept is expressed through common themes of childhood, friendship and loss allowing her ideas to rest strongly with the reader. ‘At Mornington’ is a reflection on mortality, and the value of memory in terms of appreciating life. The thematic concerns of loss and grief unravel through the first stanza. The persona describes her relationship with her father and establishes him as a protective figure through her pondering of childhood memories. This motif of water is representative of serenity, peace and reflection which is furthermore established through the personification of the â€Å"wave† which was â€Å"caught† and â€Å"rolled†. Harwood distinguishes the finality and formality of death, which is conveyed in the poem through the dull imagery, the durability of â€Å"marble and granite† gravestones with the fragility of memory, â€Å"fugitive as light† to convey the gravitational stance of human life as opposed to the perceptions of experience that we choose to retain in our memory. A connection is made between memory and loss as they are both products of the past and Harwood uses this to reflect on the significance of valuing the present. This is furthered through the â€Å"the wholeness of this day† shared between two friends. The poem is established through Harwood’s memory of her early childhood when she â€Å"leapt† from her father’s arms into the sea. She views her childish persistence, evidently through the repetition of â€Å"the next wave†. This concept is again reinforced through the blue brain referencing water and the sea with an underlying commentary on the qualities of water and childhood alike. This concept of childhood memory is later referenced in Harwood’s image of pumpkins â€Å"rising†¦in airy defiance of nature†, a metaphor for her constant trials against the inevitability of death and emergence in â€Å"the fastness of light†. The tone of the poem becomes reflective as the persona and her friend ‘stand in silence amongst the avenues of the dead’, which creates a need for solace and comfort. The silence of a dead human being is furthermore referenced through the image of the skull as it resembles the result of death. Reflection is regarded highly throughout ‘At Mornington’ hence the ongoing reference to silence is important as relfection requires silence and tranquillity. The innocent belief that defying gravity ‘was only a matter of balance’ is reflected in the persona’s present longing to transcend the gravity of death ‘in airy defiance of nature’. The idea of memory is furthered through the use of a dream whereby the persona begins to reconcile transient life with death. The raw and accentuated emotion of the poem turns sober reflection where the persona ‘thinks of death no more’ but is able to confront death through the experience of ‘dreams, pain, memories, love and grief’. From dwelling on mortality emerges a serenity and acceptance inspired by unifying the inescapability of death with an acceptance of human nature and an appreciation of memory and friendship. Likewise, in her poem â€Å"The Violets†, Harwood blends the emotion of grief with a reflection on memory in order to achieve a state of reconciliation. The first stanza depicts a â€Å"melancholy† setting where â€Å"frail† violets excite the persona’s recollection of a poignant childhood experience. Harwood’s adult grief is mirrored by her juvenile outrage at the time which had been â€Å"stolen† from her, and like death, the loss of time is irreplaceable. However the child is ultimately â€Å"reconciled† by the â€Å"sweetness† of the persona’s parents, depicted through Harwood’s use of domestic, homely imagery of the â€Å"long hair† and â€Å"wood stove†. There is a conviction in â€Å"years cannot move† that conveys a sudden awareness that memory’s â€Å"lamplit presences† can in times of despair, be as real to individuals as the present, and so a source of solace. The idea of there being consolation in loss is one that will resonate with readers searching for relief, and the lingering â€Å"scent of violets† shows the longevity of memory and conveys it as eternal, continuing the presence of those physically lost. Gwen Harwood explores and delves into the themes of time, death, childhood and loss which are all intrinsic to human experience. She effectively employs a range of poetic and literary techniques to explore transience, finality and the imperative role of memory.

How does your chosen text attract its audience ? Essay

Soap operas attract its audiences in many different ways and use a lot of tactics to keep their viewing going up. Audiences are so important to media because without them, there would be no media. So this is why many different types of media use specialist ways to keep their audiences engaged to help media progress. One of the soaps that has being focused on is Eastenders. Eastenders Is a soap that is shown four times a week on bbc1. It is based in London’s east end. It included a wide range of characters and storylines. One of the soaps intentions is to deal with controversial social issues and Eastenders likes to see itself and as pursuing ‘documentary realism’. It does not have a naturalistic mode and can shift from melodramatic or to sitcom. Eastenders uses a lot of realism within its story lines so that the audience can relate back to the story lines. But it is misleading to see Eastenders as ‘representing real life’ as it does include unrealistic things i. e. characters coming back to life from death. This piece will look at the different way Eastenders attracts it audience on a regular basis. Eastenders doesn’t have just one target audience it has a mass audience which means any gender, race , age, religion and class can watch it as it has many diverse characters with in the soap and different types of target story lines. These story lines can be seen as some audiences maybe relate to the story line and others can be educated by them. Audiences can identify with Eastenders characters in a self image as they include many different image groups such as Goths, suited characters, casual etc†¦ It also includes different ages and storylines to go along with these ages groups like starting school, going to university, retiring so audience that match these storylines can relate to this. Different classes are also used as characters, from grade A (upper class) to grade E ( lowest class) as within the soap its has doctors, lawyers etc†¦ and among that it has unemployed people, students. So it isn’t specifically for one class grade. Families are used as well as usually in soap operas they have 3 or 4 families and in Eastenders most of the characters are part of a family and the family live on the square. Families are a good way to attract as they seem relatively real life as the storylines include arguments, death, wills, new born’s, divorce etc.. and can relate to these storylines and/or help them come to terms with there own family issues. Different classes are also used as characters, from grade A (upper classes) to grade E ( lowest class) as with in the soap its has doctors, lawyers etc†¦ And among that it has unemployed people, students. So it isn’t specifically for one class grade. Many cultures and nationalist are included within the characters so it isn’t just aimed at one certain group of people. The codes and conventions of Eastenders is very important and it keeps the audiences hocked. It is a serialised drama that is on four times a week and runs week-in, week-out, all year round. It features continuous narratives dealing with domestic themes and personal or family relationships and will have Three, four or even five storylines and they will progress during any one episode, with the action switching between them. As one narrative is resolved, another completely different one with different characters will already be underway.. Eastenders also has a well-known theme tune and intro sequence which rarely changes throughout the history of the soap which over the years audiences become more familiar with ( it has been rumoured that pets are even familiar with it! ). There is a limit to the number of characters available at any one time on screen but this allows the soap to focus on a smaller number of characters which then allows more time to be spent on each character, so that the audience knows them better and the storylines can be more detailed and involved, as well as being more numerous over time. The plots are open-ended and usually has a multiplicity of which interlinked in an episode ( metanarrative). The storylines in these cases run parallel. But episode will undoubtedly end with a ‘cliff-hanger’, which is a tense and suspenseful, un concluded piece of dialogue or action when But with the ending, it will come to some kind of conclusion as well as a cliff-hanger such as ‘ Billy’s dead’ which concludes that the character is dead but still raises up questions of’ why, when, where etc.. ’. The location of Eastenders is set around a small, central area ‘Trafalgar square’. And somehow the characters are all connected through either, relationships, arguments or history such as Phill Mitchell used to bully Ian Beal as school over 20 years ago and now you still see his subliminal control over Ian. Eastenders often have special episodes for events in the real world such as Christmas or the Millennium and even just an round up to a storyline such as ‘ who killed Archie (( an hour long special)). Such episodes are often referred to as ‘soap bubbles’. Eastenders and largely British soaps most often feature common, ordinary, working class characters, in contrast to American soaps, which tend to deal with richer, flashier, more fantasy-inspired characters, reflecting the preferences of their respective target audiences. As Eastenders has such a broad range of characters, it has a broad range of representations.