National Response Framework (NRF) contains guidelines for Essay

National Response Framework (NRF) contains guidelines for Non-Governmental Organizations - Essay Example mergency Response Plan is dependent on the ability of the plan to solve issues surrounding the involvement of local volunteer bodies and non-governmental organizations. The priorities of responding to a disaster are to protect property, save lives, protect the environment, stabilizing the incident and providing basic human needs. The National Response Framework for Non-governmental Organizations and volunteer bodies is guided by principles that establish the fundamental doctrines for a response mission (Department Of Homeland Security, 2013). These guidelines are engaged partnership, scalable, adaptable and flexible operational capabilities, tiered response, readiness to act and unity of efforts through unified commands. The guidelines are based on the Constitutional and Federal systems of dividing responsibilities. The guidelines for the American Red Cross state that the organization acts as a support body to national response capabilities. According to Annex 6, the two functions of the American Red Cross that can be related to an effective Emergency Response Plan are the provision of relief and basic human needs to the survivors of the disaster and the establishment of a special relationship between the victims and Federal Government (Hansch, 2011, p. 348). These functions are important to an effective Emergency Response Plan because the main aim of responding to an emergency is to provide humanitarian aid. The provision of relief and basic human needs will ensure that victims can survive the disaster. It is vital to create a relationship between the victims and Federal Government in order to ensure that the victims are protected. This also ensures that the human rights of the victims are not violated. The NGOs and volunteers or volunteer groups that will be included in the emergency response plan have the capability to support core response capabilities (Smith, 2011). The first NGO that will be included is the American Red Cross. This NGO has the legal status

Obama Vs. Clinton Essay Example for Free

Obama Vs. Clinton Essay The Affordable Health Care Act is a very in-depth process. The changes to the health care system were attempted to be passed in prior years by Bill Clinton. However, it failed at this time and was implemented in the United States by the current president Barack Obama. The Congress diversity of Democrats vs. Republican’s was very similar in both Clintons and Obamas time in office. There were many steps that were taken in creating this policy, and some of those steps succeeded, and some of those steps failed. Any new process would be expected to have some issues to work through as it was created. The Affordable Health Care Act still has some issues to work on, but many steps succeeded and that is why it has been implemented during Obamas term. Health Care Reform was in some ways similar in both Obama and Clinton’s proposals, but greatly different as well. Clinton’s main focus in the policy was to make health care mandatory for all Americans and have universal coverage. Employers would pay 80 percent of the cost of health insurance premiums, with the employee covering the remaining costs (Khan, 2014). However, both policies have the same goal of providing health insurance to all people. Each policy creates the ways of completing this task differently. Clinton’s health care reform plan was very complex. It involved high levels of government involvement in the health care industry. A federal national health board would have overseen the health system, and would be tasked with regulating premiums and overseeing benefits (Khan, 2014). Health care alliances at the state level would conduct a similar task, and states would have had the authority to regulate plans and have the option to create a single-payer system (Khan, 2014). The policy would be more of a government takeover, than assisting Americans with health  insurance. This was something that was not found to be favorable by many stakeholders. Obama’s reform allows for people with private insurance to keep their insurance. He is creating a government insurance company to compete with the private insurance companies. However, Obama still faces struggles with Republicans being opposed to this idea as well. The concern of finances was also purposed similar in both policy creations. Both presidents plan on the bill not adding to the deficit of the country. Another similarity between the two plans was that insurances companies could no longer deny a client because of their previous medical conditions. This has been another successful step in the process. Health Care Reform was created very similar but still with great differences between each president. The Affordable Health Care Act was successful for Obama mostly because of the way he pushed the bill through congress. Obama used Clinton’s health care reform failures as lessons and a blueprint of what not to do. This made him about to learn from past failure and make changes along the way. Different steps were taken in creating both of the policies. As Clinton moved slowly on this policy, Obama pushed his through quickly (Oberlander, 2014). Moving quickly was a decision that helped the policy succeeding, whereas, moving slowly caused it to fail. However, both presidents did pitch their speech about the Affordable Health Care Act before a joint session of Congress. This was not a successful step for either president. Both Obama and Clinton did not have great support for the policy, and this caused great suffering. Obama allowed for alternative methods in this policy whereas Clinton did not. Although both presidents had a wonderful idea, the steps that they took in implementing the policy are what changed the success of it. Both policies have similar stakeholders. When discussing health care insurance the stakeholders do not often change because the policies were slightly different. Stakeholders consist of business, insurance companies, and the American Medical Association. Other stakeholders consist of the people of the United States of America. There was much skepticism about the policy plans that both presidents were rolling out by the people of America. It is important that the presidents did not only look at stakeholders of large companies, but the everyday people of the community and employees of the health care industry as stakeholders as well. There were also government stakeholders in both  policies. However, the government level of stakeholders was greater in Clinton’s policy because his consist of government takeover. Stakeholders are crucial to the success of any policy. The Affordable Health Care Act has so far been successfully implemented by Obama. However, like any other new policy there are some issues still to be worked on. Obama was a success on passing this policy because he used the mistakes of the past to make his policy succeed. Even though there were struggles and steps that failed in Obama’s plan as well, there were more that succeed. Clinton’s policy was more government based and had many failures. The stakeholders for both presidents’ policies were similar. The Affordable Health Care Act has been in progress by many presidents for many years. However, it has been Obama’s plan that has been the most successful. Reference Oberlander, J. (2014). Long Time Coming: Why Health Reform Finally Passed. Retrieved from http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/29/6/1112.full Khan, H. (2014). Throwback to 1993? Whats New About Democrats Health Care Plans. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/HealthCare/health-care-reform-president-obama-path-bill-clinton/story?id=8675596

The Hospitality Industry Of Malaysia

The Hospitality Industry Of Malaysia Around the world, the hospitality industry has been marked by growing at an unprecedented rate . There has increased focus on the hospitality industry as an industry of global dimensions. Today, the hospitality industry is considered as a successful sector especially there are more and more consumers look at the quality not merely quantity. Consumers will not be attracted by merely a large quantity of products offered, but they will pay attention to the quality of the products and service provided. Hence, the hospitality firms put more emphasize in customers needs and requirements so that the customer will feel satisfy. Dupre and Lane (1997) have mentioned that the historic ability of hospitality industry to anticipate customer needs has contributed to its successful in global economy. When asking about the components of hospitality industry, most people will give answer of hotels and restaurants. In fact, hospitality is just like a big umbrella. It is a people-oriented industry and involves employers, employees, and customers. The business of hospitality is created when the needs for certain services emerge for people away from home. People may travel from one country to another one, or travel from one state to another state. They may also travel to a place nearby their house. Those people need a place to eat or sleep. That is hospitality industry which provides these two distinct services that satisfy people needs that are sleep and eat. Thus, under the big umbrella of hospitality, there are two main sectors which included lodging and foodservice (Jones, 2002). Hospitality industry has provided the shelter for people staying away from home and provides food and beverages for people eating away from home or not prepares their own meals. Lodging sector involves the provision of facilities for overnight or longer time services to guests. In the view of most people, lodging is simply a place for people to sleep. For others, lodging is not just a place to sleep but it also provide entertainment and recreation facilities. In other words, lodging sector not just refer to hotels but it is also include lodging with entertainment facility such as cruise ships and spa resort, lodging affiliated with recreation like camping, and also lodging with health care such as assisted living centers. Each customer has different needs and requests towards their place to stay. Therefore, hospitality industry offer many types of lodging to satisfy varying customer preferences range from budget or economy motel to luxury hotels to extensive resorts. On the other hand, foodservice sector involves provision of food and beverages for consumption of patrons. Traditionally, the two main categories in foodservice sectors are commercial and noncommercial foodservice establishments. In commercial foodservice establishments, the preparation and service of food is the primary activity. Meanwhile, the preparation and service of food is secondary activity for noncommercial foodservice establishments. According to Dupre and Lane (1997), the commercial foodservice operations can be further categorized as stand-alone restaurants, foodservice within a lodging property, clubs, and catering. Meanwhile, the noncommercial foodservice operations are broken down further to restaurants within other establishment, eatertainment (combine the concept of eating and entertainment), and institutional establishment. The hospitality industry has its roots lie in social life. It is shaped by society and continues changes based on it. The societies often changes in what they need and what they want. Therefore, hospitality will continue changes with the changes in societies. Nowadays, leaders in hospitality firms go beyond the traditional skills in operation. They need to have the ability to understand and give quick respond to the changing world. They should also able to predict the changes in advance. For instance, people now are become increasingly concerned about the environmental issue. Because of this, more and more hospitality firms are aware about this and have increasingly encouraging environmental-friendly practices. They have adopted some changes in order that they can align themselves as environmentally conscious player. In Malaysia, the hospitality industry has experienced a positive increase consistent with the growth of global hospitality industry in recent years. In our country, the hospitality industry has become the major pillars of national economy. Zain (as cited in Lean and Chor, 2010) has highlighted that Malaysia which has visited by 16.4 million visitors in year 2005 has been awarded as the second most visited destination in Asia in that year. Tourism arrivals to Malaysia have achieved 23.6 million in year 2009 and have contributed to RM 53.4 billion. The arrivals of tourists have increased 7.2% compared to 2008 (Ministry of Tourism Malaysia, 2009). Despite the slower growth of Malaysia economy due to global economic crisis and concerns regarding H1N1 flu, the tourism industry has rebounded quickly. In 2009, there are approximately 2,373 hotels that contribute to a total room supply of 168,844. Besides, Malaysia hotel occupancy rate in 2009 was at 60.9% (Ministry of Tourism Malaysia, 2009 ). In addition, hotels in this country have been awarded accolades in world award shows. Pan Pacific Kuala Lumpur International Airport Hotel has voted as the Worlds Leading Airport Hotel for second year running in 2009 (World Travel Awards, 2009). Such awards show Malaysia hospitality industry has world-class standard. This study is conducted to provide information for public to have more understanding and increase awareness of Malaysia hospitality. Moreover, the hospitality firms in our country can obtain information regarding this industry. They can know about the Malaysia hospitality more thoroughly and use the information for planning and management at national and international levels. This is also can be used as referential framework by schools and institutes to educate and train their students. 1.2 Problem Statement Hospitality industry is the worlds largest and fastest growing industry. It is one of the major contributors to global economic growth. The hospitality related service has become more and more significance in recent years (Tsaur and Lin, 2004; Barros, 2005). Concurrent with the growth of hospitality industry, it has triggered a complementary need for growth in hospitality information. Thus, research has become an important tool for private and public sectors in this industry to gather information on the hospitality. In addition, the hospitality industry is considered as a competitive global industry (Claver and Pereira, 2006). This industry is unique since it involves people serve people. The performance of this unique operational system can have strong influence on the firms, the employee, and the customers. Therefore, the hospitality firms have to in touch with the markets in terms of recent trends and changes. They need to have thorough understanding of hospitality industry. Through a better understanding of hospitality and understand its uniqueness in our country, the hospitality firms are able to know better about the hospitality and can build competitive strategy. Although there are many research in hospitality, there is little research has been conducted on Malaysian hospitality. People always heard about French service, English service, American service, Thai Service and other services. Each service has its own characteristic. They have their own way to provide the service. Nevertheless, public is not clear about Malaysia hospitality and its characteristics. Malaysia hospitality does not have a clear edge. This study aims to explore the way that hospitality firms in this country to provide the service in Malaysia way. 1.3 Objectives To define what Malaysia hospitality concept is and investigates how service is provided in Malaysian way. To identify the difference of Malaysia hospitality from other service and thus understand about strengths and uniqueness of Malaysia hospitality. To propose Malaysia hospitality. 1.4 Research Questions How Malaysia hospitality firms provide service in its own way? What are the characteristics of Malaysian hospitality? What is the attractiveness of Malaysia hospitality? CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definition of hospitality The word hospitality is derived from the Latin hospitis that is origin for hospital and hospice (Barnhart, 1988). The past literatures have shown many meanings of hospitality. Grove (1965) has defined hospitality as a hospitable act or practice with sincere and generous welcome and entertainment of strangers and guests either socially or commercially. Collins Concise English Dictionary Plus has been sum up the definition of hospitality as kindness in welcoming strangers or guests (Hanks, 1989, p. 604) which is considered as the main theme of hospitality from the dictionary definitions from the 1930s to 1999s. Some definition of hospitality is too general to explain it. For instance, hospitality has interpreted by Tideman (1983) as the way that makes the guests feel satisfy and provision of desired quantity and quality of goods and services with acceptable price for the guests. This definition is too general to explain the definition of hospitality since it is actually can used to define almost any economic activity. Other academic paper has explained definition of hospitality in more holistic ways. For instance, Cassee (1983) interpreted hospitality as a harmonious mixture of tangible and intangible components food, beverages, beds, ambience and environment, and behaviour of staff (p. xiv). This definition has modified by Cassee and Reuland (1983) to a harmonious mixture of food, beverage, and/or shelter, a physical environment, and the behavior and attitude of people (p. 144). These definitions avoid the problem of conflating definitions of hospitality with the hospitality industry but continue to exhibit the underlying assumption that hospitality is something that is, principally, commercially created for consumption. In the past, hospitality has known as social value in western country. When the time passes, hospitality has been explained in a more detail way. When the time passes, hospitality has been explained in a more detail way. According to Gilje (2004), hospitality is a moral imperati ve, kindliness, civility, and even a legislated duty. 2.2 Characteristic of hospitality industry Hospitality is a special operational system which is considered as people industry. It is a service business that the hosts provide service to guests who are apart from home (Brotherton, 1999). One of the characteristics of hospitality industry that is stated by Walker (2008) is the operation time of 24 hours a day and 365 days a year for hospitality businesses. Walker (2008) also pointed out that the personnel in hospitality industry have to work longer time when compared to the other industries due to its long hours operation time. The personnel in this industry even need to work during the holiday, while others are enjoy their free time. In operation of hospitality business, many peaks and valleys happen. In a hotel, there are seasonal fluctuations which are months that have high, low, or moderate volume of business. In addition, weekly fluctuations also can be seen in hotel. There are differences of business volume between weekdays and weekend. Even in a day, there is actually has peak and valley time. Lots of the customers will patronize the restaurant during the meal period (Lane and Dupre, 1997). The hoteliers as the hospitality providers act as hospitable host and also security officer. It is very hard to play these two roles due to the unlimited time and public access of a hotel. However, these roles are essential to make the uninvited guests feel welcome and those uninvited guests do not create any security problems. In fact, the hospitality firms make great efforts to bring outstanding customers satisfaction. This not only can lead to loyalty of customers but also profit for the firms (Walker, 2008). In addition, Hepple, Kipps, and Thomson (1990) have mentioned that hospitality consists of both tangible and intangible components. The tangible components are the physical products while intangible components refer to services. Services cannot be touched, seen, tasted, smelled or heard before being purchased (Lockyer, 2007). Christopher, McDonald, and Wills (1980) have mentioned that products in service industry can produce a series of benefits. However, these benefits cannot be stored for future use. When a hotel does not sell out rooms for certain night, the revenue for those unoccupied rooms is lost permanently. Those unoccupied room cannot be stored like other inventory and hence the products provided is considered as perishable (Mullins, 1993). Walker (2008) has explained another characteristic for hospitality industry which is inseparability. Both the host and guests are indispensable in the transaction in hospitality industry (Brotherton, 1999). There is interaction exist between the hospitality provider and receiver. Lockyer (2007) has recognized that customer-employee contact as part of the product. Customers may dissatisfy with the poor service delivery despite the high quality of food. Customers are also considered as part of product. The behaviour of one group of customers such as make loud noise can influence other group. 2.3 Components of Hospitality Industry According to Jafari (2003), hospitality comprised of two components which are lodging component and foodservice component. 2.3.1 Lodging Component Lodging sector involves accommodation service which is the provision of facilities for people who stay away from their home (Jones, 2002). According to Chon and Sparrowe (2000), lodging sector is actually can more represent hospitality industry since it offer overnight and even long-term service to customers. In the past, lodging sector just provide the simplest and basic form of accommodation, which has known as bed and breakfast. Over the time, lodging is continually to change to appeal the customers. Nowadays, it is not just a place to sleep, but is augmented with washing facilities, comfort facilities, and entertainment facilities (Jones, 2002). 2.3.2 Foodservice Component Jones (2002) has indicated that foodservice sector is the provision of sustenance for those have their meal away from home. Chon and Sparrowe (2000) has highlighted that on-site and commercial foodservices are two elements of foodservice operations. On-site foodservice operations serve people from specific kind of institution which included schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and military. Meanwhile, commercial foodservice operations are different from on-site foodservice since they are open to all customers and compete in free market (Lane and Denise, 1997). 2.4 Hospitality as a service business Business in the food service industry is one of the biggest economic contributions towards a country in term of its hospitality system. Service in hospitality could be tangible and intangible where tangible could be the products sell in the market that can be touch, see, and taste, while intangible could be the unseen service such as food service (Barrows Powers, 2008). It is only can be evaluated by its quality characteristics. In term of business, service may provide and increase the organizations profit (Friedman, 1970). The goal of business in hospitality industries specially, is to satisfy clients. Barrows and Powers (2008) proposed that business in food service industry must satisfy customer needs for example, they wants least expensive food with enough variety and high quality so that they will loyal towards the organization. Therefore, the hospitality firms must implemented lots of business skills and techniques to maintain old customers and increase new customers (Kozak and Rimmington, 1998). Service in hospitality industry needs to meet customers satisfaction besides making profit and create customer loyalty (Lane and Dupre, 1997). In addition, good image of the hospitality industry would at least depends on the service business provide by the organizations under the hospitality system (Kozak and Rimmington, 1998). Thus, service must be treat as a function process where it will help the organization to generate profit, insure high quality, and make every moment count (Lane and Dupre, 1997). 2.5 Importance of Service Generally, service play as a significant role in the customer-oriented industry such as hospitality industry. It was argued that the service quality for the hospitality industry was highly competitive in meeting customer satisfaction (Jeong and Oh, 1998). The importance of customer service in hospitality is highlighted since that customer decision has a significant implication toward the continuous survival of the business in the market based on the degree of customer satisfaction. Tsang (2011) proposed several factors such as integration, moderation, relationship status, and discipline which impacted on the service performed. It is the responsibilities of the server in performing a quality service and creating a memorable experience for the customer while dining in the food service industry. However, the service quality context might respectively divergent for managerial and employee (Ross, 1995). Customer service is the fundamental key factor to success in the hospitality industry despite of keeping the competitive edges. Prompt service is important in meeting the demand of the customer thus creating customers satisfaction. Whereby, it dedicate for building customer loyalty indirectly and good reputation among the customers. This will then develop good reputation and thus allows spreading of positive word-of-mouth which enables attraction of new patronages. For ensuring the continuous survival in this highly competitive industry, the return of the customers is essential. Instead of that, attentiveness and passionate of the staff and server are also the essence of a good quality service in meeting the customer needs and demands. Mavondo and Nasution (2008) reported that the delivery of customer value should be emphasized in assuring customer expectation and need are met. Undeniably, customer satisfaction tends to be higher whenever the service provided beyond the customers exp ectation. A good service usually associated with better customer relationship. Establishing good customer relationship is vital particularly to the hospitality industry. Satisfaction toward quality of service received significantly brings in effect on the business performance in which a good service quality will in turns leads to customers repetitive patronage (Su, 2004). Designing quality service has gradually evolved becoming an important issue in particular in the hospitality industry. The service quality should be continuous and consistence. The first time visit of customer in experiencing the service will definitely affect the decision for their patronage in the future. Nice service experience will lead to retain regular customer as well as developing more business. On the other hand, bad service experience cause towards complaints, negative word-of-mouth, lower satisfaction, and reputation loss. CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research Design This study aims to explore Malaysia hospitality, in which the service provided in Malaysia own way. It is considered as an exploratory study since there is little research previously done on the Malaysia hospitality (Jennings, 2001). The method used in this research is qualitative method. Jennings (2001) has suggested that qualitative method is applied in exploratory study because of the flexibility of data collection approaches. Furthermore, this type of study is not based on random sampling and representation of a studys population. Moreover, qualitative method is used to explore the perspectives, experiences, attitudes, and belief of the respondents (Holloway, 1997). 3.2 Subject The target population in this study is the industry experts in hospitality industry. They included the managers of hotels and restaurants. 15 managers of four or five star hotels and restaurants are selected. As they have rich knowledge and experience in field of hospitality, they can give their perceptions and opinion towards Malaysia hospitality. 3.3 Sampling Site This study will be carried out around Klang Valley. It is comprised of Kuala Lumpur and towns in Selangor. Hence, Klang Valley can be considered as the main city in Malaysia. It is the place that most of the tourists from other countries and even local residents will visit. Moreover, the hospitality industry in Klang Valley has grown extensively. Thus, Klang Valley is chosen as the sampling site. 3.4 Sampling procedure The sampling method used in qualitative research must provide information-rich data and serve the purpose of in-depth understanding (Altinay and Paraskevas, 2008). Thus, judgment sampling is used in this study. Judgment sampling is often used in qualitative investigation. The samples are chosen based on their expertise in the research topic who can provide information required (Sekaran and Bougie, 2009). 3.5 Data Collection Method Interview method is conducted since exploratory research can be studied by interviewing individuals (Sekaran and Bougie, 2009). Interview method provides access to experience and knowledge, and gives an opportunity to explore the issue investigated (Altinay and Paraskevas, 2008). The interview involves data collection through face-to-face interaction. By face-to-face interview, the nonverbal cues from the respondents can be noticed. The respondents facial expression and body language are observed for better interpretation of the views (Sekaran and Bougie, 2009). In addition, the interview technique of unstructured interviews is chosen. In this technique, the interviewer has some broad questions related to the issue studied in the interview guide (Jennings). By unstructured interviews also, rich data and thick descriptions of the world being studied can be collected. Open-ended questions are used in this research. Crowther and Lancaster (2008) have noted that open-ended questions are suitable for interview method as they can provide deeper insights responses and richer information. 3.6 Instrument Development A list of interview questions needs to be developed. According to Creswell (2003), the data collection of qualitative research should be conducted in the natural setting which always refers to the home or office of the respondents. Hence, interview will be conducted in the office of manager in the hotel or restaurant. Due to this, there is a need for the permission of interview. Information from the respondents is recorded by handwritten notes and audio taping during the interview (Creswell, 2003). According to Crowther and Lancaster (2008), the electronic device is used to record the interview in order to record the whole interview for future reference. 3.7 Data Analysis Walsh (2003) has noted that qualitative data analysis involves summarize the data and then identify related themes and patterns. Data reduction is the first step in qualitative data analysis since qualitative data collection collects large number of data. It can be done through coding and categorization (Sekaran and Bougie, 2009). The data collected is categorized and transcript. Moreover, a coding scheme is created to organize concepts (Walsh, 2003). According to Sekaran and Bougie (2009), the second step is data display. In this step, the reduced data is presented in an organized mode. Maps, charts, matrices, graphs, or diagrams can be used to find out the existence pattern. Conclusion drawing is the last step in data analysis. Qualitative theory is generalized by explaining the observed pattern and relationships, or comparing data against other data. CHAPTER 4 CONCLUSION As a conclusion, we hope that rich information can be obtained by interview the manager in hospitality firms during data collection time. By interpreting that information, we can have a clear concept about Malaysia hospitality. Hence, Malaysia hospitality can be defined clearly through this study. This study is useful for public and hospitality firms in knowing the details and understands about the service provided in Malaysia. When the hospitality firms understand about the Malaysia hospitality, they can provide service in Malaysia way.

A Separate Peace Essays -- essays papers

A Separate Peace3 A Separate Peace is a coming-of-age novel about two boys at boarding school and their friendship during World War II. There are three significant scenes of violence that occur in the novel; however, the core of the plot is based upon one. The first and most poignant is the incident where Gene, the narrator, jiggles the tree branch while he and Phineas, his best friend, are preparing to jump, causing Phineas to fall and break his leg. The next scene of violence is when Quackenbush calls Gene a lame and Gene pushes him into the water. Lastly, Gene pushes Leper out of his chair while visiting him after he is accused of causing Phineas’ injury. All of these occurrences contribute to the overall meaning of the work. One of the climaxes of A Separate Peace happens at the first scene of violence. Until this scene, the reader is unaware of Gene’s â€Å"evil side†. He is so overtaken by his jealousy and rage toward Phineas that he succumbs to his emotions and causes Finny to fall off of the tree branch. This shows the immature, childish side of the characters. Not only are they climbing trees, which is a behavior commonly practiced among children, but children also do not know how to handle feelings and emotions, and commonly react with violence. Gene then proceeds to dive off of the branch like nothing happened, apparently satisfied with his â€Å"achievement†; showing the reader that, like a child, there is little or no remorse for one’s actions. The...

Anti-Corruption Drive in India

â€Å"Anna Hazare’s Leadership† and Anti –corruption campaign in India 16th august 2011, was a day of vanity in Indian history which has putted curiosity among most of Indians. Many of us coveted to be part of the activities happening all around in Delhi, a wish to join hands with Anna Hazare. It was really hard to believe that a tenacious soldier could turn into an anti-corruption crusader by brilliantly executing an amazing series of checks and counter checks, leading to eventual checkmate. It was great experience to see a charismatic leadership in role of Anna Hazare that’s effect was so much subliminal which has shaken the backbone of deep rooted corruption in this country. Two questions were striking. Why this campaign? & why we need Anna for this campaign? Do we desperately need a leader like M. C. Gandhi again, who can cave in a right direction? Why we forgot real Gandhi and His sacrifice? We only remember that â€Å"Note wala Gandhi† by Munna Bhai MBBS. When we go to any office, Office clerk ask us â€Å"bhaiya Gandhi ke darshan karaa do Kaam ho jayega†. This campaign under Anna’s leadership is purposeful in following dimensions. 1. Creating dominance against corruption The major force behind this campaign was creating environment against corruption, if we turn up with association of corruption, we formulate it asCorruption = Authority + Monopoly – Transparency Authority, we cannot ignore the fact that authority should be given to some peoples to govern. But intension to choose those peoples plays importance. When transparency enforces to choose authority outcome is better, if somebody an ets absolute authority to govern then, its’ clear that corruption would be there. ‘Absolut Authority, Absolute Corruption’. If only some people have the control over all the resources, resulting decisions become biased, certain group who hold the resources, drives monopoly. This campaign is about to include transparency in the society and system to prevent government, social and corporate corruption. 2. Promoting re ctitude among individuals As well said a civilized economy cannot ignore the social value of business and responsibilities towards society, and environment. This is what not happening in Indian Economy, to keep and realize â€Å"civilized economy† a strong need of moral rectitude is required. Inclusiveness of all sections of the society, participation of each class families in this campaign gives an indication to take forward that people should realize their responsibility towards others and make the system better by considering each spot transparent. 3. Optimism for clean Institutions Corruption has been deeply rooted in peoples’ day to day life. Even sometimes we take or give bribe and don’t realize it. It has been strongly associated with status in society, fast growth and richness. Such kind of environment leaves an honest person alone and hopeless. This campaign has created some hope of truth, honesty and evoked to clean social and corporate Institutions from corruption. 4. Uprising humanity A development can be sustainable and unsustainable. In India, development is taking place at cost of others that’s why the gap between rich and poor becoming wider. We feel proud when we look our GDP is growing around 8. 5 to 9. % per year, on other side we fall under that category where we have the world’s largest population below poverty line. Sustainability which comes with collective humanism, must be our intention in development process, only then we can be able to develop ourselves with providing space for others to develop. The development stature of Anna’s village depicts an example of sustainability and this campaign under his leadership is pointing towards susta inable development. Reference: 1. http://nvonews. com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/anna-ram-rajya. jpg

Building and Managing Systems Essay

JetBlue and WestJet: A Tale of Two IS Projects The time had come for both JetBlue and WestJet to upgrade their reservation systems. Each carrier had started out using a system designed for smaller start-up airlines, and both needed more processing power to deal with a far greater volume of customers. They also needed features like the ability to link prices and seat inventories to other airlines with whom they cooperated. Both JetBlue and WestJet contracted with Sabre Holdings, one of the most widely used airline IT providers, to upgrade their airline reservation systems, The difference between WestJet and JetBlue’s implementation of Sabre’s SabreSonic CSS reservation system illustrates the dangers inherent in any large-scale IT overhaul. It also serves as yet another reminder of how successfully planning for and implementing new technology is just as valuable as the technology itself. Sabre’s newest system, SabreSonic CSS, performs a broad array of services for any airline. It sells seats, collects payments, allows customers to shop for flights on the airline’s Web site, and provides an interface for communication with reservation agents. Customers can  use it to access airport kiosks, select specific seats, check their bags, board, rebook, and receive refunds for flight cancellations. All of the data generated by these transactions are stored centrally within the system. JetBlue selected SabreSonic CSS over its legacy system developed by Sabre rival Navitaire, and WestJet was upgrading from an older Sabre reservation sy stem of its own. The first of the two airlines to implement SabreSonic CSS was WestJet. When WestJet went live with the new system in October 2009, customers struggled to place reservations, and the WestJet Web site crashed repeatedly. WestJet’s call centers were also overwhelmed, and customers experienced slowdowns at airports. For a company that built its business on the strength of good customer service, this was a nightmare. How did WestJet allow this to happen? The critical issue was the transfer of WestJet’s 840,000 files containing data on transactions for past WestJet customers who had already purchased flights, from WestJet’s old reservation system servers in Calgary to Sabre servers in Oklahoma. The migration required WestJet agents to go through complex steps to process the data. WestJet had not anticipated the transfer time  required to move the files and failed to reduce its passenger loads on flights operating immediately after the changeover. Hundreds of thousands of bookings for future flights that were made before the changeover were Essentials of Management Information Systems, Tenth Edition, by Kenneth C. Laudon and Jane P. Laudon. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright  © 2013 by Pearson Education, Inc. ISBN 1-269-41688-X In recent years, the airline industry has seen several low-cost, high-efficiency carriers rise to prominence using a recipe of extremely competitive fares and outstanding customer service. Two examples of this business model in action are JetBlue and WestJet. Both companies were founded within the past two decades and have quickly grown into industry powerhouses. But when these companies need to make sweeping IT upgrades, their relationships with customers and their brands can be tarnished if things go awry. In 2009, both airlines upgraded their airline reservation systems, and one of the two learned this lesson the hard way. JetBlue was incorporated in 1998 and founded in 1999 by David Neeleman. The company is headquartered in Queens, New York and flies to 63 destinations in 21  states and eleven countries in the Caribbean, South America and Latin America. JetBlue’s goal has been to provide low-cost travel along with unique amenities like TV in every seat, and its heavy reliance on information technology throughout the business was a critical factor in achieving that goal. JetBlue met with early success and continued to grow at a rapid pace, consistently rank ing at the top of customer satisfaction surveys for U. S. airlines. Headquartered in Calgary, Canada, WestJet was founded by a group of airline industry veterans in 1996, including Neeleman, who left to start JetBlue shortly thereafter. The company began with approximately 40 employees and three aircraft. Today, the company has 7,800 employees and operates 420 flights per day to 71 destinations in Canada, the United States, the Caribbean, and Mexico. Earlier in this decade, WestJet underwent rapid expansion spurred by its early success and began adding more Canadian destinations and then U. S. cities for its flights. By 2010, WestJet held nearly 40 percent of the Canadian airline market, with Air Canada dropping to 55 percent. JetBlue is slightly bigger, with 167 aircraft in use compared to WestJet’s 88, but both have used the same  low-cost, good-service formula that brought profitability in the notoriously treacherous airline marketplace. The rapid growth of each airline rendered their existing information systems obsolete, including their airline reservation systems. Upgrading reservations systems carries special risks. From a customer perspective, only one of two things can happen: Either th e airline successfully completes its overhaul and the customer notices no difference in the ability to book flights, or the implementation is botched, angering customers and damaging the airline’s brand. Chapter 11: Building Information Systems and Managing Projects handle these problems. JetBlue ended up using its backup site several times. JetBlue had the advantage of seeing WestJet begin its implementation months before, so it was able to avoid many of the pitfalls that WestJet endured. But JetBlue had also experienced similar customer service debacles in the past. In February 2007, JetBlue tried to operate flights during a blizzard when all other major airlines had already canceled their flights. This turned out to be a poor decision, as the weather conditions prevented the  flights from taking off and passengers were stranded for as long as ten hours. JetBlue had to continue canceling flights for days afterwards, reaching a total of 1,100 flights canceled and a loss of $30 million. JetBlue management realized in the wake of the crisis that the airline’s IT infrastructure, although sufficient to deal with normal day-to-day conditions, was not robust enough to handle a cr isis of this magnitude. This experience, coupled with the observation of WestJet’s struggles when implementing its new system, motivated JetBlue’s cautious approach to its own IT implementation. Sabre had to adjust the flights using the new system. This delay provoked a deluge of customer dissatisfaction, a rarity for WestJet. In addition to the increase in customer complaint calls, customers also took to the Internet to express their displeasure. Angry flyers expressed outrage on Facebook and flooded WestJet’s site, causing the repeated crashes. WestJet quickly offered an apology to customers on its site once it came back up, explaining why the errors had occurred. WestJet employees had trained with the new system for acombined 150,000 hours prior to the upgrade, but WestJet spokesman Robert Palmer explained that the company â€Å"encounter(ed) some problems in the live environment that simply did not appear in the test environment,† foremost among them the issues surrounding the massive file transfer. WestJet’s latest earnings reports show that the company weathered the storm successfully, remained profitable, and ranks just below JetBlue and Southwest in airline customer satisfaction. Neverthless, the incident forced the airline to slow down its rollout of a frequent flyer program, as well as code-sharing planswith other airlines, such as American Airlines and Cathay Pacific. These plans allow one airline to sell flights under its own name on aircraft operated by other airlines. In contrast, JetBlue learned from WestJet’s mistakes, and built a backup Web site to prepare for the worst case scenario. The company also hired 500 temporary call center workers to manage potential spikes in customer service calls. WestJet also ended up hiring temporary offshore call center workers, but only after the problem had gotten out of hand. JetBlue made sure to switch its files over to Sabre’s servers on a Friday night, because Saturday flight traffic is typically very low. JetBlue also sold smaller numbers of seats on the flights that did take off that day. JetBlue experienced a few glitches—call wait times increased and not all airport kiosks and ticket printers came online right away. In addition, JetBlue needs to add some booking functions. But compared to what WestJet endured, the company was extremely well prepared to 403 Essentials of Management Information Systems, Tenth Edition, by Kenneth C. Laudon and Jane P. Laudon. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright  © 2013 by Pearson Education, Inc.