Lord Alfred Tennyson’s Crossing the Bar Essay

Lord Alfred Tennyson’s Crossing the Bar is an allegory of death, imagined as a journey on an infinite sea. The speaker in the poem, who is the author himself, muses on the call that urges him to â€Å"cross the bar†. The whole work is therefore constructed on this principal metaphor, the crossing of the sand barrier and the plunge into the infinite journey on the sea. What is significant in the poem is the way in which Tennyson perceives death. While death is usually perceived as closure, in Crossing the Bar it is understood as a religious encounter. Death is not only the resolution of earthly life but also the beginning of the afterlife. The imagery of the poem is extremely suggestive for the death theme. Notably, the poet does not focus on the end of life and the pain of separation, but only on the experience that expects him after death. The fact that death is pictured as a threshold and afterlife as a vast sea indicates that the author embarks on this journey without regret. The journey is meant to begin at twilight, which again alludes to the end of life and the beginning of a new experience: â€Å"Twilight and evening bell, / And after that the dark! † (Tennyson 203). The poet also emphasizes that there should be no mourning to accompany him, as he crosses the bar. This idea enhances the poet’s optimistic view of death. The only sound to be heard, that of the dormant tide, is also symbolic. First of all, the drowsiness of the sea emphasizes the idea of death. Also, the retractile movement of the waves expresses the idea that the idea that the traveler will not return from his voyage this time. Death will only be the beginning of eternity and the poet will find the divinity on the other side: For tho from out our borne of Time and Place The flood may bare me far, I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have crost the bar. (Tennyson 203) The place after death cannot be mapped by earthly coordinates, such as time and place. Interestingly however, there remains one valid landmark which ensures that the poet will never get lost or suffer in solitude: the pilot. The pilot is obviously a symbol for the spiritual guidance offered by the divinity in both earthly existence and in the afterlife. Thus, Tennyson’s Crossing the Bar is a metaphorical representation of death, as a voyage into the infinite unknown. The sand bar represents death, while the unlimited sea is the symbol of everlasting life. The most striking figure of the poem is the pilot, an image of the divinity, who awaits the poet on the other side. The boundless sea lacks any earthly coordinates, while it retains only that of spiritual guidance. Through this poem, Tennyson represents death as a passage into a purely spiritual life, guided by God. ? Works Cited: Tennyson, Lord Alfred. Selected Poems (New Oxford English Series). New York: Oxford University Press, 1963.

Waiting Fo Death – Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot

Waiting for Death By: Stephanie Melo Pabon Analysis on Samuel Beckett’s â€Å"Waiting for Godot†. Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett is a play starred by Vladimir and Estragon, two men who seem to spend their days in a country road talking, wandering and blathering while waiting for a person they call Godot. This Godot never appears in the story but they both talk about him -her, it, it is difficult to define- at the same time that they look for things to do while waiting.During the two days they spend in that place just in the company of a dead tree, they have two encounters with two other men: Pozzo, an aggressive that seems to be the master of the other; the other man is Lucky, a terribly sick and tired man that looks like a mistreated donkey. The last character that appears is a boy who brings messages to Vladimir and Estragon saying that he -because the boy calls him ‘he’- is not coming today but tomorrow, for sure.The setting, as I said before, is a country road with just one mound and a dead tree -a willow like they think it is called-, everything leading to a hopeless atmosphere that accompanies their endless waiting. I think reading Beckett is a very difficult as he takes modernism to the highest level. He really expresses stories with plot and characters through his own way of thinking. I liked reading the play in spite of my dislike for reading plays; I do not like to read the setting and the characters actions and movements in such an explicit way.This time I was totally delighted by the characters’ dialogues. It was interesting to see how many thoughts about their conversations, the objects they use in the story, the setting, and their physical and personal description, actually arose. I read the play two times and watched one staging; since the first time I had many different thoughts and ideas to interpret the characters and situations they are in, these interpretations are the ones I will be telling. The main c haracters Estragon and Vladimir are, to me, the absurd depiction of the body and mind.They both are the same person: a poor man -Mr. Albert could be his name like the boy called Vladimir at the end of both Act I and II. Estragon is the body as he is the one with the need of sleeping and eating. He always wants to sleep but Vladimir does not let him do it and he always wants to eat, for instance when he asks for the chicken bones Pozzo leaves after eating in Act I, and in Act II when Pozzo falls and asks for help but Estragon only thinks about asking him for food to eat.Vladimir is the mind as he is the most lucid one; he remembers everything while Estragon never does, and he says Estragon he would be a heap of bones without him to show the dependence on each other. Also, at the beginning of the two Acts, Vladimir asks Estragon if he was beaten again and next he assures him that if he had been with him he would not have been beaten as he is the one that can make him stop of doing thi ngs he should not do.Although they say the idea of them together is to contradict and abuse each other, they both get along well: they communicate and seem to be friends. Estragon says they â€Å"always find something to give them the impression they exist†; they reason about many topics but Vladimir, the mind, is very healthy whereas Estragon is very tired all the time. The other two characters, Pozzo and Lucky, are the opposite; Pozzo, the very healthy but cruel man who is the slaver of Lucky. He is ambitious to the extreme of being greedy; he says he has professional worries, and about beauty and grace.Lucky is the tired and sick mind of a rich person that was never satisfied with material things; and I say he is rich because of the scene when Estragon asks for the chicken bones Pozzo is leaving but Pozzo says he has to ask Lucky because he is the owner. Estragon does that and Lucky does not answer, so Pozzo says it is ok if he takes the bones but at the same time he think s something is wrong as he had not seen him refuse a bone before. This episode means to me Lucky’s tiredness of always wanting everything for him, even the wastes, and Pozzo’s surprise for his change.The relationship between Pozzo and Estragon is the main topic when Vladimir and Estragon ask why Lucky does not do anything and never put down the bags he carries, and Pozzo’s answer is that â€Å"he used to be very kind, helpful and entertaining but now he is killing me†, he also says Lucky wants to impress him by doing a job is not for him. Here the mind is sick; Pozzo is healthy but he is dying because of his mind while Lucky cannot bare any longer all that burden and pressure Pozzo has put on him to control him and not to let him think and decide his life is better without external pleasures and material worries.These all four characters are making an absurd portrayal of what life is. Estragon and his struggle for the boots to fit and how in the second ac t when he tries a pair of boots that were not of his, he says they fit and then he complains saying they are too big; it is the way they refers to our constant complains of the life we live and the circumstances, bad or good, we do not want to be in, as Vladimir says â€Å"There is a man all over for you, blaming on his boots the faults of his feet†.This is another way to say the metaphor about the life each one has to carry about with a cross: â€Å"†¦ to every man his little cross till he dies and is forgotten†. They both also talk about the searching of meaning when they say people speak always to themselves trying to determine where are â€Å"these corpses and skeletons† come from. They wonder if it is necessary to think or if they could have lived without it, as it was not enough just to live.Pozzo and Lucky are depicting the way society is always more concerned about material things, sometimes having as priority money and the mundane and superficial a spects rather than let the minds fly using the imagination and thinking beyond the banalities of the world. Also, with this two characters the performance of good deeds is visible when in Act II Pozzo falls and ask for help but Estragon prefers not to help him if he does not give anything to him in return.Vladimir compares what a tiger does to help his congeners without hesitating. Finally, as they spend their days in the same place and just looking for things to do to pass the time, it is just an ironic criticism to the routine the life becomes at some point; to the repetitive start, attempts, give up, and start again. This is just a cycle people live while for the end of the night to come, for the end of the daily routine to finish, for the death to come. When it comes they will be saved.

Management Theories Essay

Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations discusses the optimal organization of a pin factory; this becomes the most famous and influential statement of the economic rationale of the factory system and the division of labor. Major works of Adam Smith The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776) Essays on Philosophical Subjects (published posthumously 1795) Lectures on Jurisprudence (published posthumously 1776) Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres Frederick W. Taylor sometimes called â€Å"the father of scientific management.† He was one of the intellectual leaders of the Efficiency Movement and his ideas, broadly conceived, were highly influential in the Progressive Era. The Principles of Scientific Management, published in 1911. His approach is also often referred to, as Taylor’s Principles, or frequently disparagingly, as Taylorism. Taylor’s scientific management consisted of four principles: 1.Replace rule-of-thumb work methods with methods based on a scientific study of the tasks. 2.Scientifically select, train, and develop each employee rather than passively leaving them to train themselves. 3.Provide â€Å"Detailed instruction and supervision of each worker in the performance of that worker’s discrete task† (Montgomery 1997: 250). 4.Divide work nearly equally between managers and workers, so that the managers apply scientific management principles to planning the work and the workers actually perform the tasks Taylor’s contribution to organizational theory This required an organization theory similar for all practical purposes to that advocated by those organizational theorists who followed. These theorists developed principles of management, which included much of Taylor’s philosophy His framework for organization was: †¢clear delineation of authority †¢responsibility †¢separation of planning from operations †¢incentive schemes for workers †¢management by exception †¢task specialization Max Weber Bureaucratic Management Max Weber is best known as one of the leading scholars and founders of modern sociology, but Weber also accomplished much economic work in the style of the â€Å"youngest† German Historical School. Eliminate the human intervention during the business process. Weber’s bureaucratic management consisted of 6 principles: 1-Roles and regulation should be written. 2-Impersonality treatment. 3-Division of labor. 4-Hierarchical structure. 5- Authority structure. 6-Rationality. Henri Fayol Henri Fayol was one of the most influential contributors to modern concepts of management, having proposed that there are five primary functions of management: (1) Planning, (2) Organizing, (3) Commanding, (4) Coordinating, and (5) Controlling

How Does a Person Live a Meaningful Life Assignment

How Does a Person Live a Meaningful Life - Assignment Example A meaningful life is a life lived in kindness both on the inside and on the outside, and more than anything, should be a person not only of contemplation but also of action. The one quality that makes someone live a meaningful life is the life of kindness. Unless someone is kind, he will never be able to fully understand another person. When one is kind, he will be able to help other people not only through his acts of kindness but just by being a kind person to them. There are three advantages to being kind. First, through his example, he can inspire others to be also kind to their neighbors. Whenever there is a natural disaster that strikes a particular place, we cannot help but be inspired by people who lend a helping hand to the victims and we are then filled with their inspiring kindness, and then we then help these people. Had it not been for the kindness of some people, not many other people would decide to make donations to a particular charitable organization. A second advan tage of kindness is that it is its own reward, which means that the moment one shows kindness, he must already be happy with what he is doing. Moreover, in a supernatural point of view, those people who do acts of kindness sincerely are actually even rewarded more by God. Although a truly kind person does not expect any reward for what he has done, somehow God rewards him in secret. A third reason for why kindness defines meaning in life is that when one is kind, he will be able to get to know so many people whose lives he will touch and who can help fill his happiness. Also, in the realm of the supernatural, perhaps this is where one can find someone who he can love for the rest of his life, or he may be able to help. Indeed, with kindness nothing can go wrong. The saint is an example of someone who acts with kindness. He exemplifies kindness through his work and through his actions. The saint touches people’s lives only through her kindness. It is actually not his or her fa ith that moves the congregation but her kindness, and this kindness cannot be without action. The reason is that kindness cannot be the kindness that we know if it does not involve sincere giving of oneself and of one’s time and resources. In short, the action aspect of kindness is already embedded in its name and in its definition. You cannot therefore define, explain or talk about kindness without demonstrating it. This is also the reason why it is just natural for the saint to be kind and to exemplify kindness. The saint is actually the living example of kindness. Aside from kindness, another factor that makes life a meaningful one is that of sincerity, for without sincerity, there is no desire to be kind. Sincerity therefore is the one thing that determines the degree of kindness that one wants to express to someone who needs it. How then can sincerity be attained? As Plato taught us, we need to constantly contemplate our lives and we need to continue asking questions. As long as we contemplate our lives, we then try to understand how different or how similar our actions are to our true intentions. Thus, through contemplation we will at least have an idea whether what we are doing is sincere or not. The philosopher Plato has once asked the Greeks to contemplate on their lives and to keep asking questions in order to find out whether what they were doing were still moral or not anymore. From this, one would like to think that Plato was asking the Greeks also the question of finding out whether what they were doing on the outside were still in synch with what they had been wanting to do on the inside. For if these two things are similar, then that is a powerful combination that yields fruitful action and that if

Theatre Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Theatre - Essay Example Her dialogues were very spot on, and if there is any blame to be made on her part, it should be directed towards the original play instead of her performance. Others were not so great. Kate Herrell in her role as Virginia had trouble delivering the frustrated sarcasm of an actress whose career seemed to be fading away. The reaction to her first criticism regarding her performance in The Golden Egg was not as violent as that of someone who dopes and pops pills should have been. She had all the dialogues and swear words a funny crude character requires, but somehow, she returned not as many laughs as she could have. Other characters generally fulfilled their roles well, from Ira (played by Craig Ewing) the theatre-critic, to Emma (Fina Romero) the witty know-it-all oldie. Most of the one-liners presented by Ira were especially funny, as he explains why he ridicules the play when he does: Hey, I didn’t write this shit. 3. Where the play was particularly lacking was with the perfo rmance of J. Nick Dickert, who played James. He was in the lead role, but displayed little characteristics of a leading actor. James’ nature was displayed too humbly in my opinion. ... ike â€Å"He has all of my mannerisms and none of my walk†, in reference to the actor who played the role James turned down, should have been wonderfully sarcastic, but they were not. The supporting roles of Gus, the coat boy and Peter came in handy in those times, played by Noah Mittman and Christopher Lynch respectively. Mittman did a great Southern accent as Gus. 5. Directing The cast helped each other in terms of acting because of the great direction. Eileen Kearney did a wonderful job portraying the inner workings of a theatre production which the regular audience is very quick to judge. Her choice of comic cast shed some light on Mcnally’s mind-frame as it must have been when coming up with this play, which had more to show than simply portraying the backstage workings of a recently held play. The director brought to light the lack of loyalty that actors often share. They pretend to like each other only up until the point when the play is cast in a bad light, such as when a bad review comes in, which quickly turns everything into a blame game. I especially liked the way Eileen brought in the bad news, whether it would be via Emma reading the Times newspaper or through the television, and all the focus of the audience would turn towards the controversial characters of Virginia, James (who pretended to like the play) and the kleptomaniac director who hates praise Frank. This was supported by the beautiful set design which put Julia’s, the producer’s wealth on display seems as everyone was confined to her room as the reviews piled in. The lighting focused on the actors and never on objects of concern, so that the focus was always on their expressions as opposed to the television or the newspaper. The ambient light was kept to a minimum for this reason. The

Personal Ethic Statement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Personal Ethic Statement - Essay Example I affirm Leopold correctly states â€Å"land should be both respected and loved† (Nelson 1). Respecting land means avoiding the use of pesticides because pesticides produce poisoned food. I feel that loving the land means understanding which plants will grow on the land. Respecting and loving the land will bring health benefits. Furthermore, I feel Leopold correctly states the â€Å"land ethics concept affects the people’s health† (Nelson 1). Pesticide-induced food products are unhealthy. Pesticide food is poisoned. Land ethics requires using non-pesticide inputs. Health-based management of the land will increase economic benefits. Moreover, I confirm Leopold’s land ethics ensures higher economic benefits. Leopold correct insisted that â€Å"people must take care of the land’s health† (Nelson 1). Most health-conscious persons will not buy the pesticide-induced food products. The same individuals will patronize pesticide-absent grown food. Consequently, selling pesticide-absent food generates high food sales. Concluding, I personally affirm Leopold’s land ethics concept of compulsory ethics-based healthy land management. I propose the right future land management requires planting foods that will thrive best on the land. Likewise, I insist that right future land management requires avoidance of poison-based pesticides inputs. I adhere to Leopold’s espousing the healthy management of the land will result to a healthy environment. Evidently, I affirm land-inclusive ethics rightfully governs the actions of human

Explain and critically discuss the pros and cons for a firm in Essay

Explain and critically discuss the pros and cons for a firm in adoption an emergent rather that a deliberate, planning approach to strategy development - Essay Example Unexpected marketing benefits may result from an emergent strategy. A company can design emergent strategy to corporate a business opportunity or something else that competitors have not identified. For example, a firm may set deliberate strategies to become the best supplier of a particular primary product or service in the next five years in a particular city. However, along the way, it may discover that a minor product or service is selling more than the targeted one. The business may decide to set up an emergent strategy to increase the sale of the minor product in order to realize more profits. In essence, emergent strategy helps a business to offer what the market demands rather than what the company believes or thinks the customers want. An emergent business strategy also enhances the advancement of technology and thus development of the product being provided in the market. Emergent strategies mostly spark from individuals in a business reacting directly to shifts in the mark etplace factors and forces. Their decisions thus reflect order sizes, consumer tastes, and practices of competitors. When two or more organizations provide the same products that have almost similar features and technologies, clients will be unable to distinguish one from another. Hence, the firm will begin to refine and develop its product to add new features to survive in the marketplace and stand out. The business will attempt to engage emergent strategy to include the new product developments that could propel it to emerge as a technological leader in the marketplace. However, an emergent strategy plan can go off course and result in completely new and unexpected problems if an organization continually uses it to attempt to capture an attractive idea. Organizations constantly put out fires by dealing with unexpected issues that can cause it problems. Although keeping an eye on emergent strategies is helpful in doing so, the businesses

Saving the Manatees case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Saving the Manatees - Case Study Example Moreover, Tom had to look for sponsors to fund the advertising and campaigning costs. The national environmental protection agency donated 300,000 United States dollars to assist in creating public awareness about the bill and urge more people to vote for it (Ragsdale 137-138). A linear programming (LP) spreadsheet model would play a significant role in designing how to allocate the provided funds to different advertising agents. The spreadsheet model assists in determining the total impact of using various advertising agents, the total constraints, and the optimal solution. Description of the data The data from the spreadsheet consists of 3 columns. The first column C shows the cost per unit of the advertising medium used in U.S. dollars. The following data represents the objective variables. The objective variables work in maximizing or minimizing numerical values. The value presented on the objective cell is the expected net budget value of the project. The product of C and decisi on units I give the total cost of advertisement. The second set of data is represented by E showing per unit impact rate. This column represents the constraints. Constraints define any possible variable that a linear programming problem takes. In the data E provided, constraints represent percentage impact of using a certain medium for advertising. The next data is represented by G showing the minimum value of decisions made with the smallest advertising medium. On the other hand, column K presents data of the maximum decision a product of using large advertising mediums. Discuss the results After constructing the spreadsheet and doing calculations, the following results were arrived at. What is the optimal solution? The total impact rate was $23,515. The values for impact rate were arrived at by multiplying E with I. The total impact rate was used to calculate the optimal solution in order to decide which advertising medium would be more effective. From the model, the optimal solut ion was arrived at by the following calculation. X = 300,000/A (1+2+3+4+†¦.n) + B (1+2+3+4†¦n) =300,000/ (299,800 + 23,515) = 0.927 The following results indicate that 92.7% of the total budget would be well utilized by the advertising mediums proposed by Tom. The following turn out is very pleasing and Tom was likely to receive many votes towards the policy. Of the constraints tom placed on this problem, which are preventing the objective function from being improved further? On the other hand, Tom placed some constraints that prevented further improvement the objective function. The objective function on full-page Sunday paper and 30-second radio spot are in significant because they cost a lot and serve the same purposes as the half-page Sunday magazine and 15-second radio spot respectively. In addition, long magazine advertisements are sometimes boring and time consuming and most people by pass them. The absence of such constraints would give Tom an opportunity to incor porate other advertising mediums like online ads. The marketing consultant provided short TV ads during the evening prime-time hours as the most effective medium of advertising. Suppose Tom was willing to increase the allowable number of evening TV ads. How much would this improve the solution? Improving the number of evening TV ads would cause a positive effect on the advertisement and increase the value of $23,515 into a higher level. Increased evening TV ads increases the impact rate since a high number of

David Hume and Immanuel Kant on our ideas of right and wrong Essay

David Hume and Immanuel Kant on our ideas of right and wrong - Essay Example The human soul is always on the look out for the answers that haunt their reasoning. Philosophy provides one with the answers to all the questions concerned with the universe, human existence, understanding, morality, ethics and the like. One of the major questions that have been asked all through the history is about the meaning and ideology of right and wrong. What is right and what is wrong? How can you identify something as right or wrong? These are some of the questions that involve the awareness of the philosophy concerning right and wrong. Philosophical ethics, as termed by David Hume, deal with such questions and this branch of philosophy methodizes and, sometimes, corrects the practice in which human beings engage in everyday life. Accordingly, we try to understand the right things of life in difficult situations trying to do the good in respect of what we are and how we act in order to strive to do the right things as human beings and to avoid the things that are bad. Somet imes called meta-ethics, the specific part of the philosophical ethics discusses what right and good mean and how to act out for a life of good avoiding the bad in daily life. David Hume and Immanuel Kant are two of the most prominent philosophers to deal with the ides of right and wrong. David Hume (1711-1776), philosopher, historian, political theorist, social scientist, and essayist in his An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1758) and A Treatise of Human Nature (1739) provide a good knowledge about the understanding of right and wrong. ... The ideas of Hume had their impact on Metaphysics, Epistemology, and Psychology. "Hume is remarkable in that he does not shy away from conclusions that might seem unlikely or unreasonable. Ultimately, he concludes that we have no good reason to believe almost everything we believe about the world, but that this is not such a bad thing. Nature helps us to get by where reason lets us down." (Hume. 2006). The empiricist philosopher tries to make clear the rigidity of scientific methodology rely on philosophical reasoning. According to him, we can understand the world only as a matter of fact and so only experience can prove this. Relations of ideas cannot speak exactly for the existence of human beings, the universe or God. Thus, right and wrong are concepts that need to be experienced rather than described. This empirical understanding of the ideas of right and wrong is needed to have the clear picture of things. In the work An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding Hume discusses the origin and association of ideas. He distinguishes between impressions and ideas which will give us his notion of idea in general. Idea, for him, is livelier than impressions. Also, Hume talks about the train of thoughts, associating different ideas and explains the three kinds of relations between ideas. They are resemblance, contiguity in space-time, and cause-and-effect. Hume discusses the concepts of right and wrong and other related ideas of ethics, prolifically, in his A Treatise of Human Nature (1739). This is an expanded form of the discussions in the short essay An Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals. In an empirical way, Hume argues that the moral

Public administration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Public administration - Essay Example If the public administration regimes are amicably resolved, then there would be more value for one and all and less issues for all concerned. As public administrators, it is merely a facilitation process which is being undertaken by these individuals who aim to give their best come what may. However, this is a Herculean task to begin with since not everybody can be satisfied at the same time. Hence the norms and routines of public administration are made smoother so that success can be envisaged in a proper and easy way (Schultz & Kennedy, 2010). This will guarantee that the public receives attention and is given significance as far as performance of tasks for its betterment is concerned. The public administrators therefore must look at resolving conflicts, making the pathways easier and resolving the issues as and when these arise. All of these tasks are meant to be for the public and there must not be any two opinions about the same. How public interest achieves significance is measured by the extent of empathy the public administrators have for the public. If they believe that the public can be let off easily, they are in the wrong because the public is comprised of many individuals and not just a handful of like-minded souls. The public interest therefore needs to be given adequate attention to receive the maximum benefits. This will mean a great deal of harmony within the ranks of the public and they will also think of the government in a sound way. Public interest comes about from the top because it is much needed and has a direct link with the masses (Henry, 2009). A truly democratic process cannot begin if the public interest is not seen as a pivotal point. If this interest is ensured, then there would be immense benefits for the people and the public administrators would also see merry days ahead. Sadly, this does not always seem to be the

Alcoholism and its Effects on Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Alcoholism and its Effects on Society - Essay Example The extrapolation derived from the data on drinking practices from the surveys of household probability suggest that there are nearly 29 million children of alcoholic patents and an anticipated 22 million of them are either 18 years of age or older and nearly 6.6 million are below the age of 18 years. Regrettably, even though it is a known fact that this magnitude of population and the possibility of these individuals of suffering from a variety of problems, a well controlled research is not yet done. Along with descriptive epidemiological investigation a range of other forms of studies are needed. A systematically sound research can offer groundwork for the enhancement of early intervention and effective preventive programs to eradicate the potential adverse effects of alcoholism. Even though the children of alcoholic parents are at a higher risk for alcoholism, it should be observed that a huge percentage of these children do not necessarily develop this disorder. Different patterns of alcoholism are suggested by research both with a high environmental risk and genetic vulnerability. It is likely that some individual with high risk do not develop alcoholism they may employ coping mechanisms. Multiple coping mechanisms are clinically observed in these children and many of them grow up to be free from psychopathology or alcoholism. These studies of coping mechanism are employed by the resistant individuals that may have special value for prevention and treatment programs. Concerning the children of alcoholics the clinical reports have described a range of psychological impairments that have been experienced by them in addition to drug abuse or alcohol. The psychological problems that have been observed have included the presence of both minor and major types of impaired self-esteem, reality testing, vocational and impaired academic performance and susceptibility to a number of acting out behaviors including running away and delinquency. The majority of these studies were limited to assessing the children who were getting treatment of the problems or those whose parents were being cured for alcoholism. To examine the children of alcoholics a broader spectrum of research is needed. The study that compares non COA's and the COA's suggest that even though both the groups differ in a wide range of psychosocial aspect, the differences in the cognitive performance are observed frequently. The cognitive function in the children of alcoholics have been examined by researchers as it is significant factor require for adaptation at all the stages of development. This can be evaluated uniformly across the stages of development and is associated with symptoms of alcoholism. In the book Alcoholic fathering and its relation to child's intellectual development: A pilot investigation, the author Ervin and Et al have analyzed that the full IQ performance and the verbal score are lower among the sample of children those are raised by alcoholic parents than those raised

Porter Essay Example for Free

Porter Essay Porters Five Forces Analysis Threat of New Entry There are many companies manufacturing and selling office products at an International level. New entrants can find it easy to enter and establish their position In the market by basing their strategy on low cost. The market offers growth opportunities to new entrants as well Indicating low entry barriers for the firms wanting to enter into the area of office products. Therefore It can be stated that Staples Inc Is operating In an Industry where the threat of new entry Is high. Buyer power The bargaining power of buyers Is determined In an Industry on the basis of the Influence that they can have on the price structure of the products of a firm. In case of organizations manufacturing office related products the issue they are facing is that few of the products that they are manufacturing are easily available in the market, such as stationery items. Staples Inc is dealing with medium organizations and fortune 1000 companies as customers of their products. They need to provide these organizations with a competitive price structure or the customers can shift to another company for the supply of office items. But the company also has an dvantage that it provides them with products that have unique designs and packaging. Therefore it can be stated that Staples Inc is operating in an industry where the customers have moderate bargaining power. Supplier Power There are many suppliers operating in the industry of office supplies and office related products. The large number of suppliers has resulted in low level of bargaining power of suppliers. The companies that are manufacturing the office related products can select the suppliers that offer them the most suitable package. In case of Staples Inc they have strong ties with their suppliers and are taking dvantage from a network of supply parties that maintain the effective flow of raw materials being supplied to the company. Threat of Substitutes There are many companies manufacturing office related products and offering them at a lower cost than the price charged by Staples Inc for their products. This situation has resulted in moderate level of threat of substitutes. In case If an organizations is not satisfied with the price structure offered by Staples Inc for their products, It can opt for other companies which are manufacturing slmllar products and charging less for them. Threat of Competitors The Industry In which Staples Inc Is operating In, It has many small and large scale companies. Therefore the Industry has a high level of threat of competitors. Staples Inc Is dealing with competitors such as Office Depot Inc ; OfficeMax Inc (Staples Inc TOP competitors, 2011). PESTEL Analysis Political Factors The political disturbance in US or in other countries of the world disrupts the supply and manufacturing process of Staples Inc. Other political factors such as changes in tne rules ana pollcles developed Dy OITTerent governments 0T tne world In wnlcn Staples Inc has its stores also have an impact on the profitability of the organization. Economic Factors Financial condition of a country has an influence on the price and purchase of the raw material, manufacturing of the number of products and buying behaviour of the people. Staples Inc also faced problems due to global financial crisis. Abelson (2008) has reported that due to the economic crisis, Staples Inc had to take steps such as decreasing the rate of capital investment for manufacturing of certain products which were facing low demand due to recession. One of the products that were ompromised on during economic downturn was office furniture, as the sales of these products had declined and customers were avoiding the purchase of these items. Social Factors Many organizations around the world have been trying to bring in changes in their set up and to participate in activities that are a reflection of corporate social responsibility. Staples Inc has also been focusing on participating in community building activities to create a positive image in the mind of the consumers. Staples Inc has been trying to share in the process of community development by providing unds for social causes and benefit of the people (What is Staples Soul, 2010). Technological Factors Staples Inc is a supplier of computer related products and also offers after sales services related to these products to the organizations that are their customers. Technological changes and advancements enable the company to bring in necessary modifications and provide its customers with the latest version of the computer and its related accessories. Technological factors have a significant impact on the production of Staples Inc as they can not only develop new product designs but also evelop low cost manufacturing means. Environmental Factors Many organizations around the world have been required to alter their business processes top meet the policies developed by the governments and environmental protection agencies. As stated by the annual report of the company, the Race to the Top strategy applied by the management of the company is a reflection of the efforts they have been putting in to obtain a competitive position in the market through effective business practices and environment friendly products (Staples, Inc Annual Report, 2010). Legal Factors Staples Inc is currently dealing with legal issues related to the lawsuits filed by its employees with the claim that the organization has been indulging in unjust business practices. For instance the company had to manage the case in which claim was made that it was not paying the workers with over time charges (Lawsuits: Staples Inc, 2007). Along with that the company has also been dealing with the patent issues. These issues not only portray a negative image of the company in front of the public but also require capital investment by the company.

The Cathay Pacific Airways Information Technology Essay

The Cathay Pacific Airways Information Technology Essay This report comprises all the relevant information regarding the Cathay Pacific Airways, specially its security governance framework. It sums up four parts: background of the organization, potential areas of IT security failures, recommended IT security governance framework and lastly issues and challenges faced by that security governance framework. In the very first part, we have described about basic fundamentals like its headquarter, its fleet of airbuses, worldwide destinations and its achievement. In the 2nd section of the report are the specific areas where security failures may occur. These areas include managing core business system. Because the airways adopted the legacy systems, which is easily susceptible to security threats. Secondly it can not cope with current competent requirements. Furthermore, it being a wide infrastructure desktop PCs, the airways data flow over internet, which can be captured by any intruders or hackers. This may cause disruptions to routinely business. Its business to business (B2B) interchange of data again creates vulnerabilities in its IT infrastructure. The pervasiveness of network creates a more open set of information systems for the mobile and diverse need of the orgnaisation. This mobile arrangement may be easily attacked by internal and external sources. In the third part this report discourses on IT governance framework. This framework is the recommended one to be implemented in the organization. The structure of governance is fully r esponsible to provide control and effective management of the IT infrastructure security. In the structure each one is accountable at his own rank for the security, safety of IT assets and data protection. Lastly this report raises various issues and challenges confronting the security governance structure while managing and controlling the security of the IT infrastructure of Cathay Pacific. INTRODUCTION Today, every organization adopted or is thinking to adopt IT infrastructure. Once it is implemented, it needs security. IT assets, database and information trafficking on ubiquitous network need to be fully protected. That is why; a necessity relating to this IT infrastructure in an organization has cropped up. For safety and security, security governance has been thought of. It may comprise shareholder, board of directors, CIO, financial manager and so on. These persons are fully responsible for controlling and streamlining all the information system of the organization like Cathay pacific. This governance framework follows various new laws and regulations designed to improve the security governance. Threats to information systems disruptions from hackers, worms, viruses and terrorists have resulted in need for this governance. This report explains clearly security failures, governance framework for ICT and IT related issues and challenges. BACKGROUND OF ORGANISATION Cathay Pacific Airways is an international airline registered and based in Hong Kong, offering scheduled cargo and passenger services to over 90 destinations around the world. The main vision of this company is to make Cathay Pacific the most admired airline in the world. To Achieve this goal Cathay started its journey from 1946 and now it is known as best Airlines in Asia. It is one of the five airlines to carry a five star rating from Skytrax (Cathay Pacific 2007). The official website of Cathay Pacific is http://www.cathaypacific.com/cpa/en_INTL/homepage Cathay Pacific was established in 1946 in Hong Kong with a mere two DC-3 aircrafts servicing passenger routes for Bangkok, Shanghai, Manila and Singapore. From its humble beginnings, it has to date grown into a world class airline employing over 15,000 employees and reaching out to 62 global destinations. It owns over a hundred widebodied aircrafts that transports over a million passengers a month to almost each continent in the world (McFarland Young, 2003) and transports freight worldwide which constitutes to nearly 30% of its revenue. Profits stood at $511 million during 2002 and Cathay expanded into the state of the art $628 million global headquarters in Cathay City. Cathay continuously faced numerous challenges on its way to success. Nevertheless, its management acknowledges the fact that in order to remain competitive given the current market situation; it is of utmost importance to improve on its strategic and non strategic perspective of its entire ICT resource. Cathay Paci fic continues to invest in new ICT infrastructure to streamline its business processes and make information easier to access for all employees. As part of this process, Cathay Pacific implemented technology solutions designed to automate and simplify customer and financial information management. POTENTIAL AREAS OF IT SECURITY FAILURES Currently, many airlines are looking at e-business to protect their assets and to secure customers loyalty, and to be successful in todays competitive environment. Many e-commerce principles have been pioneered by the airline industry. These include the first business-to-business electronic information exchange and industry-wide electronic marketplace. There are many benefits to be gained for airlines and airline passengers, E-ticketing, e-Check in many internet base services provide to customer with quick and low cost services but there is still hesitation among many peoples even many companies about committing any major effort to electronic commerce. The main concern about security of sensitive data, such as credit card numbers, personal data and business confidential data (Jiang 2003). Managing Core Business System Cathay Pacific has been developing in house systems since the 70s. Some of its core business systems are accounting systems, engineering system, personnel and flight systems and other internal applications. Legacy systems are systems that have evolved over many years and are considered irreplaceable, either because re-implementing their function is considered to be too expensive or because they are trusted by users (Dietrich 1989). Business change constantly in order to meet the demands of the marketplace and this necessitates the need for information systems to evolve accordingly (McKeen Smith 1996). Over 20 years later, Cathay realized that the coordination and support of these systems was a cumbersome task that could potentially stunt the strategic growth of the company. Given its phenomenal growth rate, Cathay realized that the IM department will not be able to cope with the ever changing business requirements. Legacy passenger service systems may not be flexible and scalable en ough to support the new marketing strategies of airlines today (Cavaliere 2006). Cathay needed a technology that keeps costs down and is flexible whilst at the same time delivers on both todays needs and those of the future. Customizing current legacy systems to match these current competitive requirements just consumed too much time and resources. Mckeen and Smith (1996) further argues that since change is a constant in business and in technology, demand for maintenance is un-easing and since existing systems are the ones operating the business, maintenance work can easily overwhelm new development. Managing network infrastructure desktop PCs. Infrastructure plays an important role in ensuring vital support is supplied to systems development teams and that effective coordination and direction is available to IS as a whole (McKeen Smith 1996). Cathays rapid expansion to new destinations and tremendous surge in route expansion, passenger and cargo volume in the 80s caused Cathays network infrastructures to continue to expand. Without infrastructure, productivity will soon decline as individuals and groups each attempted to replicate the work of others. Cathays data center which coordinated fundamental airline operations was placed in two locations in Kowloon and on Hong Kong Island. These data centers provided uninterrupted information to Cathays airline operations. The fire in 1991 on Cathays data center interrupted flight operations for 12 hours. Cathays management realized the importance of ensuring uninterrupted information flow to critical business functions is top priority for the organization. IT infrastructure and f acilities need grow in tandem with the organizations growth pace. Almost full at its operational capacity at its current data center, Cathay probably needed a few more data centers to manage the organizations information at current growth rate. Mid 90s saw an uneven PC distribution at Cathay Pacific. PC distribution to staff members depended on each staff members level of security access. This caused some of the staff to have a PC while other did not. This uneven distribution was finally rectified by Cathays outsourcing its PC management to IBM in 2001. The costs involved in outsourcing these services means that more scrupulous attention will be paid to their value on an ongoing basis. Nevertheless, the outsourcing exercise posed its own complexity involving hardware and software licensing issue. Managing dynamic changes in desktop environment and the suppliers was the main challenge in the desktop PC management for Cathay. The PC outsourcing trend was still new in this region thus raised skepticism among managers in the initial stage. Managing B2B system integration In a broad sense, Business to business (B2B) integration refers to all business activities of an enterprise that have to do with electronic messages exchange between it and one or more of its trading partners (Bussler 2003). Bussler further narrows down this definition in a software technologys scope that B2B integration refers to software technology that is the infrastructure to connect any back end applications system within enterprises to all trading partners over formal message exchange protocols like the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). Cathay is naturally in a highly competitive and challenging airline business. Fundamental flight operational information can be very dynamic and customers must be kept updated with the latest information. Information, fares and schedules have to be accurate; sales promotions and marketing activities are constantly changing. Flight operations are vulnerable to any changes in weather which may cause last minute schedule changes or cancellations. With the wide array of multiple destinations, languages, time zones and alerting travelers, an airline business is constantly a logistical operations challenge to any Cathay. These information need to be translated into online web content in order to fulfill its B2B requirement. Information has to be accurate, the selling channel has to be reliable and secure, changes have to be updated quickly and last minute flight disruptions have to be communicated to passengers immediately and consistently through a number of different channels. Such an e-business vision has required a sophisticated architecture of specialist platforms designed to integrate and deliver a number of different information and application components in a seamless manner. Content management is one of the core components in Cathay Pacifics e-business architecture. It was vital for the airline to ensure that it invested in the right product that could deliver its promise within budget and on time. Managing Standards As the pervasiveness of network create a more open set of information systems for the mobile and diverse need of the organization, increased attention must be paid to the corresponding increase in exposure to attacks from internal and external sources (Dhillon, 2001). Cathay uses Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol as an industry standard for encryption over the Internet, to protect the Data. Cathays main challenge to date is not being able to convince its partners and customers with confidence that despite with the most recent security standards, any internet transaction could be leaked out by individuals through internet hacking. This is acknowledged in its website claim which says that complete confidentiality and security is not yet possible over the Internet, and privacy cannot be assured over all its internet communication between the business and its customers (Cathay Pacific 2007). Cathay pacific in ensuring reliable B2B applications has to ensure that the latest standards su ch as XML and open source technology are used extensively in all its software applications critical to business. Digital certification for all online transactions especially the ones that involve monetary exchange is imperative in ensuring customer confidence and to avert security breach. RECOMMENDED IT SECURITY GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK There are many definitions that describe the ICT Corporate Governance. Here I choose a few interesting definitions to be discussed in this report. Corporate Governance of ICT is Specifying the decision rights and accountability framework to encourage desirable behavior in the use of IT. (Weil Ross, 2004) In contrast, the IT Governance Institute, 2003 expands the definition to include underpinning mechanisms: the leadership and organizational structures and processes that ensure that the organisations IT sustains and extends the organisations strategies and objectives. While AS8015, the Australian Standard for Corporate Governance of IT, defines Corporate Governance of IT as The system by which the current and future use of IT is directed and controlled. It involves evaluating and directing the plans for the use of IT to support the organization and monitoring this use to achieve plans. It includes the strategy and policies for using IT within an organization. Figure 1 AS 8015 2005 model of Corporate Governance of ICT (Source: Skinner, 2006) Every definition has its own way of describing the term Corporate Governance of IT but I think the definition of the AS8015, the Australian Standard for Corporate Governance of IT is the most understandable and clearly defined (see figure 1). AS8015 clarified whats really important the organisations goal (Toomey, 2006). However we can notice that every definition focuses on the same issues which is directing and controlling the implementation of IT according to the organisations strategy and policies. This involves the contribution in decision making of every stakeholder of the organization. As we can see that the IT Governance Institute has also stated the word Leadership, which stands for the principal of the organization, the board of directors and the management team, who must manage the efficient use of IT to achieve the strategies and objectives. Unlike old time which the IT system is managed alone by the IT department. Talking about the IT Management people may usually mix it up with the IT Governance. They are not the same thing. Governance is the process by which management is monitored and measured. It is not a substitute for management it is a way of ensuring that sound management occurs (Philipson, 2005). There are many key drivers for Corporate Governance of IT. Here in this report I will focus on the legal and regulatory compliances which will be discussed in the next part of the report. IT Governance Framework of Cathay Pacific Information security governance is the responsibility of the board of directors and senior executives. It must be an integral and transparent part of enterprise governance and be aligned with the IT governance framework. Whilst senior executives have the responsibility to consider and respond to the concerns and sensitivities raised by information security, boards of directors will increasingly be expected to make information security an intrinsic part of governance, integrated with processes they already have in place to govern other critical organisational resources. To exercise effective enterprise and information security governance, boards and senior executives must have a clear understanding of what to expect from their enterprises information security program. They need to know how to direct the implementation of information security program, how to evaluate their own status with regard to an existing security program and how to decide the strategy and objectives of an effecti ve security program. Whilst there are many aspects to information security governance, there are several matters that can assist in focusing on the question, What is information security governance? These are the: Desired outcomes of information security governance Knowledge and protection of information assets Benefits of information security governance Process integration (IT Governance Institute 2006) Figure 2: IT Security Governance Framework of Cathay Pacific (Source: Poore 2005) Information security governance consists of the leadership, organisational structures and processes that safeguard information. Critical to the success of these structures and processes is effective communication amongst all parties based on constructive relationships, a common language and shared commitment to addressing the issues. The five basic outcomes of information security governance should include: 1. Strategic alignment of information security with business strategy to support organisational objectives 2. Risk management by executing appropriate measures to manage and mitigate risks and reduce potential impacts on information resources to an acceptable level 3. Resource management by utilising information security knowledge and infrastructure efficiently and effectively 4. Performance measurement by measuring, monitoring and reporting information security governance metrics to ensure that organisational objectives are achieved 5. Value delivery by optimising information security investments in support of organisational objectives The National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), the leading membership organisation for boards and directors in the US, recognises the importance of information security. It recommends four essential practices for boards of directors, as well as several specific practices for each point. The four practices, which are based on the practicalities of how boards operate, are: Place information security on the boards agenda. Identify information security leaders, hold them accountable and ensure support for them. Ensure the effectiveness of the corporations information security policy through review and approval. Assign information security to a key committee and ensure adequate support for that committee (IT Governance Institute 2006). Benefits of Information Security Governance Information security governance generates significant benefits, including: An increase in share value for organisations that practice good governance Increased predictability and reduced uncertainty of business operations by lowering information security-related risks to definable and acceptable levels Protection from the increasing potential for civil or legal liability as a result of information inaccuracy or the absence of due care The structure and framework to optimise allocation of limited security resources Assurance of effective information security policy and policy compliance A firm foundation for efficient and effective risk management, process improvement, and rapid incident response related to securing information A level of assurance that critical decisions are not based on faulty information Accountability for safeguarding information during critical business activities, such as mergers and acquisitions, business process recovery, and regulatory response The benefits add significant value to the organisation by: Improving trust in customer relationships Protecting the organisations reputation Decreasing likelihood of violations of privacy Providing greater confidence when interacting with trading partners Enabling new and better ways to process electronic transactions Reducing operational costs by providing predictable outcomes-mitigating risk factors that may interrupt the process (IT Governance Institute 2006). ISSUES AND CHALLENGES In the ICT world today, not every organisation will be able to achieve success or reap its benefits. Too many ICT initiatives have failed to deliver the bottom-line results companies had hoped for. One very common reason of failure is that the organizations fail to have a good management and controlled of their IT system. The Data Governance Council, with a focus on the review and approval aspects of board responsibilities, recently recommended that boards provide strategic oversight regarding information security, including: 1. Understanding the criticality of information and information security to the organisation 2. Reviewing investment in information security for alignment with the organisation strategy and risk profile 3. Endorsing the development and implementation of a comprehensive information security program. Lets discuss about major issues and challenges that faced by Cathay pacific, implementing an IT Security Governance framework. Boards and management have several fundamental responsibilities to ensure that information security governance is in force. Amongst the issues they should focus on are: Understand Why Information Security Needs to Be Governed Risks and threats are real and could have significant impact on the enterprise. Reputation damage can be considerable. Effective information security requires co-ordinate and integrated action from the top down. IT investments can be substantial and easily misdirected. Cultural and organisational factors are equally important. Rules and priorities need to be established and enforced. Trust needs to be demonstrated toward trading partners whilst exchanging electronic transactions. Trust in reliability of system security needs to be demonstrated to all stakeholders. Security incidents are likely to be exposed to the public. Take Board-level Action Become informed about information security. Set direction, i.e., drive policy and strategy and define a global risk profile. Provide resources to information security efforts. Assign responsibilities to management. Set priorities. Support change. Define cultural values related to risk awareness. Obtain assurance from internal or external auditors. Insist that management makes security investments and security improvements measurable, and monitors and reports on program effectiveness (IT Governance Institute 2006). Take Senior Management-level Action Provide oversight for the development of a security and control framework that consists of standards, measures, practices and procedures, after a policy has been approved by the governing body of the organisation and related roles and responsibilities assigned. (Design) Set direction for the creation of a security policy, with business input. (Policy Development) Ensure that individual roles, responsibilities and authority are clearly communicated and understood by all. (Roles and Responsibilities) Require that threats and vulnerabilities be identified, analysed and monitored, and industry practices used for due care. Require the set-up of a security infrastructure. Set direction to ensure that resources are available to allow for prioritization of possible controls and countermeasures implement accordingly on a timely basis, and maintained effectively. (Implementation) Establish monitoring measures to detect and ensure correction of security breaches, so all actual and suspected breaches are promptly identified, investigated and acted upon, and to ensure ongoing compliance with policy, standards and minimum acceptable security practices. (Monitoring) Require that periodic reviews and tests be conducted. Institute processes that will help implement intrusion detection and incident response. Require monitoring and metrics to ensure that information is protected, correct skills are on hand to operate information systems securely and security incidents are responded to on a timely basis. Education in security measures and practices is of critical importance for the success of an organisations security program. (Awareness, Training and Education) Ensure that security is considered an integral part of the systems development life cycle process and is explicitly addressed during each phase of the process. (IT Governance Institute 2006) Questions to Uncover Information Security Issues Does the head of security/CISO routinely meet or brief business management? When was the last time top management got involved in security-related decisions? How often does top management get involved in progressing security solutions? Does management know who is responsible for security? Does the responsible individual know? Does everyone else know? Would people recognise a security incident when they saw one? Would they ignore it? Would they know what to do about it? Does anyone know how many computers the company owns? Would management know if some went missing? Are damage assessment and disaster recovery plans in place? Has management identified all information (customer data, strategic plans, financial data, research results, etc.) that would violate policy, legal or regulatory requirements or cause embarrassment or competitive disadvantage if it were leaked? Did the company suffer from the latest virus or malware attack? How many attacks were successful during the past 12-month period? Have there been intrusions? How often and with what impact? Does anyone know how many people are using the organisations systems? Does anyone care whether or not they are allowed access, or what they are doing? Is security considered an afterthought or a prerequisite? (IT Governance Institute 2006) CONCLUSIONS Information security is not only a technical issue, but a business and governance challenge that involves adequate risk management, reporting and accountability. Effective security requires the active involvement of executives to assess emerging threats and the organisations response to them. As organisations like Cathay pacific, strive to remain competitive in the global economy, they respond to constant pressures to cut costs through automation, which often requires deploying more information systems. The combination is forcing management to face difficult decisions about how to effectively address information security. This is in addition to scores of new and existing laws and regulations that demand compliance and higher levels of accountability.

Complaint Handling in the Hospitality Industry

Complaint Handling in the Hospitality Industry The issue of grievance handling has not been new in organizations and it has been one of the most persistent problems of all times. In the course of running an organization, there are many complaints that are handled daily by the management which constitute the process of grievance handling. Grievances are common not only in organization but also in our social life. However it has been shown that the nature of the grievances is not that important than the process that is used to handle the grievances. Before we look at the process of handling a grievance in an organization, let us look use first understand the nature of a grievance. What is a grievance? (Dentron and Boyd 2005, p. 61) A grievance can be defined as any complaint that is raised by an individual worker of a group of workers in an organization. A grievance is usually raised in allegation of violation of the terms of agreement in the workplace. Therefore it can be said to a complaint that is raised and which is aimed at expressing the dissatisfaction of the employees by what is happening in the organization. A grievance however differs from a complaint in that while a complaint can be verbally expressed, a grievance is usually stated in writing. A grievance can be caused by many things. It has been shown that some of the most controversial issues which usually ends up in a grievance include the discharge of employees from their workplace, lack of a process of collective bargaining for the employees which can be used to express their dissatisfaction, unfair labor practices, and others which are likely to happening in the work places. (Rahul 2005, p. 31) Therefore we can expound on this point by looking closely at the process which is usually used to handle these complaints. For the effective functioning of an organization, there is usually a need to look at the welfare of the employee. Any management will recognize that the employees are the most important asset that an organization holds and therefore the most important thing in the management of the resources of an organization will be first to look at the welfare of the workforces. It has been shown that most of the grievances which hare not well looked at often precipitate to a form of dissident by the workforce which in most case comes as strike. A strike in an organization will not only have economic effect on the organization but it will also have effects on the image of the management of the organization. Therefore many organizations have come up with an effective procedure that can be used to handle complaints of het employees. In order to ensure that there is less participant of the workforce in mass movement of labor unions, many organization came up with human resource departments which are well positioned to handle the complains of the employees. Therefore it is the duty of the human resource department to come up with a well structured way that can be used to look at the welfare of the workforce. The human resource department is the one which is entrusted with the duty of handling all the complaints regarding the employees. Human resource department must come up with a grievance handling procedure. (Finegan 2004, p. 71) A grievance handling produced clearly defines a process which is used by the organization to look at the complaints that has been given by the employees. It presents a process of initial resolving of the complaints through arbitration. It is a process that is used to indentify and resolve the companies in a timely manner in order to promoted the prevail a constructive discussion between the management and the representatives of the employees. therefore the aim of the grievance procedure is to ensure that there is a proper mechanism in place that is used by the management to look at the issues that pertains to employees in order to ensure that there is constructive resolving of the complains at they arises. (Dana 2001, p. 231) The hospitality industry has been one of the rapidly growing industries in the world. In a short period of time, the industry has grown short of its former self. In the last few decades there has been increased travelling by people all over the world. This has been enabled by the increasing wave of globalization which has opened the world and increased the interaction between people. As a result individuals have been able to travel from one corners of the world to the other with no political or legal limitation. The improve modes of transport has been the main factor that has contributed to the rapid growth of the industry. The industry has been one of the most important industries in the world that have been supporting the increased globalization and polarization of world culture. Therefore there has been unprecedented growth of the industry in a very short period of time. The industry has been offering supportive services in the tourism sector. Apparently tourism has emerged to be one of the most important industries in the world. It has been fueled by increased spending culture in the world and increased openness. Tourism has taken many dimensions in its growth in areas of cultural tourism, business tourism, leisure tourism, education tourism, medical tourism, and other areas. In all these segments, individual usually travels away from their homes to go to foreign countries. Therefore they need to be accommodated and given other services. In this regard the hospitality industry comes in hand as it offers them support in accommodation and other necessary services. The hospitality industry has therefore hinged its growth on the tourism sector. (Leornard 2001, p. 52) One of the emerging natures of the hospitality industry has been diversity that has been experienced in the customers that the industry target and also in the workforce. There has been an increasing trend in the industry towards culture convergence in which one hospitality facility in the world is serving people of diverse culture. Therefore there has been an aspect of standardization of culture in the industry. Cultural homogeneity is considered to be one of the competitive factors that need to achieve in order to survive in the competitive market. With the market become more diverse due to divers needs of the customers, the hotel industry have therefore tended to have a divers nature of employees in order to help their customers to feel at home every time they are being served. Therefore there has been an increasing trend of multicultural workforce in the industry. This of course has come with its own challenges to human resource management. One of the most challenges that faces any human resource management is a multicultural workforce is the way to handle complains by the employees. Many a times, employees feel that their welfare is not looked at as needed in the organization and there are usually incidences of unfair treatment of the employees. But due to the diverse nature of the employees, the human resource department may not be in a position to come up with standardized way of dealing with all the demands that employees have. Therefore there are incidence of complaints that are based on the favors in the workforce and discontent in the allocation of duties. Many of het case studies that have been presented about complain in the hospitality industry have all been based on issue of favors in the workforce which arise due to the diversity in the workforce. Therefore in the contemporary human resource management issues, diversity in the workforce in the hospitality industry have been one of the causes of complains in the workforce. The hospitality industry is one of the most hectic industries as visitors check in and checks out. As a result there is a lot of work that needs to be done by the workforce. The nature of services in the industry is based on the fact that the visitors have to feel as comfortable as they want and find value for the amount of money that they are charged. Therefore there has to be a lot of work that is done by the employees in order to meet the demands of the visitors. Some of the visitors can be a little nagging and may require excessive attention than others. Going by the nature of definition of the duties the employee have to perform some employee will always find themselves doing extra work that they have not bee assigned at the time they were hired. Therefore there is usually a conflict with their supervisors who have to make sure that the guest gets all what they want and therefore will have to assign extra duty to the employees. At the end to the day employees will feel that they have done more that they are supposed to do in their duties. This has been shown to be another source of complains from the employees who feels that they are unfair treated and their initial duty assignment is not respected. (Andrew Kurth LLP, 2008) In most cases supervisors are faced with a hard task of ensuring that employee perform all the duties that they have been assigned to and also perform the extra duties that the guests wants to be attendee to. Therefore there is a situation between the supervisors and the employees. The hospitality industry peaks with seasons. This means that there are periods when there will be an inflow of guest while there are other seasons when there will be less guest checking in. In there regard there is a fluctuating need of employees in the industry. When the season peaks, the industry will need to hire more employees and when the season is low the industry will need to lay off some of the employees. In this regard the tourism industry is most affected by the seasonality. Most of the hotels which operation in leisure industries will find the there are periods when there will be more guest especially during holidays and weekend while there are other when there will be less guest. The industry is also prone to political stability and other factors and therefore the times when there is a serene atmosphere will see an inflow of guest while the times when there is political turmoil there will be less guests who will be checking in. As a result the industry is force to keep on hiring and lying off some of the workers. It has continuously become difficult for the industry to hire more employees on permanent bases due to the fact that there are period when the industry will need more workers while the off seasons will need less workers. Therefore there is a factor of the way in which employees are hired and retained in the industry. This has been one of the most contentious issues especially when it come to the labor unions which have been arguing that there is need for the industry to hire employee on permanent bases. There are a times when the industry is forced to lay off the employee unexpected due to the prevailing circumstance. For example in Kenya which is one of the famed tourism destinations in Africa, the last year skirmishes had a negative effect in the industry. It is recorded that though it was the high season when the tourism and hospitality industry expected a great inflow of guest, more than 10,000 employees were laid off. This was due to massive cancellation of bookings that had been done. The industry has apparently hired more workers in anticipation for the high season that had just started to pick up. There has been a conflicting situation in the industry as the employee who had been hired on contracted bases want to be paid all the money as their contract had defend while the industry is trying to recover from a massive losses incurred due to the massive cancellation. The hospitality industry has also been shown as one of the industry which pays the workers low salaries. This has been caused by the fact that the industry sometime will need to hire more employees and other times it will have to lay off some the employees. Due to the fact that the industry goes on of very lean seasons when it has to maintain its operation, there have been incidence of some players in the industry paying their employee very low salaries in a bid to cover the expense in the low season. Therefore there have been conflicts between the workforce and the management on the issue of salaries. This is one of the most conflicting issues that have led to formation of labor unions in the industry. Most of the operators in the industry agree with the fact that the industry pays less money to its employees especially during the low seasons but they try to equate that with the operation of het industry during that period. It has been shown that although the industry has been growing at a high rate, there have been fewer incidences of increased salaries for the workforce even at times when the industry is performing well. There has also been incidence of customer complain in the industry. It has been shown that in most cases customer have been complains about the quality of service that they receive from particular employees in the industry and also from the facility in general. This has been a difficult situation for the human resource department especially since it has to ascertain the nature of the conflict between the employee and the guest. In most case the guest may have rubbed the employee on the wrong side and therefore there must be a way of asserting the truth before punishing the employee. Though the issue of customer complains has been shown to be a responsibility attached to the customer service department, at the end of the day it ends up as a management issue that has to be resolved. Both hotel and hospitality industries fall under any industry in the country. Therefore they are exposed to the same labor laws like any other industry. However the nature of employee relation in the industry has been changing due to some of the factors that have been shown. Although there has been increasing labor unionization of the industry there has also some legal aspects that have been protecting the employees in the industry. One of the laws that protect employee in the industry has been the National Labor Relation Act which are aimed at redressing complain of any employees that has been unlawfully discharged from their duties. Through the law the employee is able to seek redress in the law court. However there has been conflicting situation when it comes to address this issue and when it comes to the application of the law. This is because every time an employee is dismissed from their duties for a genuine reason, they run to the court to place complains and what follows is an argument about the rights of het employees. Although the employer has the responsibility of recognize the rightist of the employee, there has been the question of the responsibility of the employee especially when it comes to the nature of the operation of the industry. Being in an industry that calls for meticulous performance of duties in order to ensure the satisfaction of the employee, there has been incidence where the employee have been dismissed on the ground of misbehaving with the guest or failing to perform their duties and what follows is a lawsuits for the company. (Mitchell, 2007) There has been increasing misinterpretation of the National Labor Relation Act when it comes to the employees working in the hospitality industry. There has been a need to becoming familiar with the law and its interpretations. There has been misinterpretation of the act when it comes to the employers also. It has been shown that there are many incidences when the employers back off from their earlier salary agreement and fire off employee who complains. But the law has shown the act is inclusive even of the employee who works in the hospitality industry who are likely to work for part time bases. Holiday Inn has been one of the most prosperous hotels that have become major player in the hospitality and tourism industry. It has been able to spread its wings all over the world and has grown to be a multinational in a very short period. It has positioned itself in all the corners of the world which have tourism potential and therefore it has a world wide presence. Like any other play in the industry, the hotel has been receiving a number of complains from the customers as well as from the workers themselves. Since the hotel has been relying on tourism activities in its overseas operation, the hotel has been experience same problems as we have mentioned above which are all hinged on the satisfaction of the employee and on other factors. But is has successfully put in place a mechanism that is used to handle all these complains. It has been dealing with a range of complains about its employees and at the same time there have been complains from the employees on the way they are beign treated. (Dilts 2006, p. 34) In order to handle all these complains, the hotel first steps which were aimed at streamlining it relationship with the employees was the formation of the human resource department which was supposed to look at the welfare of the employees. The human resource department was apparently responsible for looking at the welfare of the employee and also it was to handle complains from the employee. Therefore it was given the authority to deal with issue of hiring and firing of the employees. In areas where the hotel has been hiring seasonal workforce, it has been putting the employee on a contractual agreement where they are supposed to be paid according to there performance and not on the bases that eh were hired. This has been made in order to avoid many complains that come from the workforce once they are dismissed from their employee when the low seasons comes. The hotel has also made sure that it has put in place a board that is supposed to scrutinize all the complains that are received from the employees so that it can look into the way of making sure that they are well addressed. The board or the arbitration body is supposed to work in close conjunction with the human resource department to make sure that there is a well defined procedure that is followed while dealing with the complains. Therefore there have been systematic efforts by the hotel that has been aimed at reducing the level of complains with the workforce. These efforts have also been aimed at ensuring that all the employees are handled as equal and that complains are dealt with as a matter of urgency. From time to time there will be complains from the workforce. These complains are most of the time genuine and they indicates that there is a problem that need to be fixed somewhere in the work process. The human resource department that has been given the mandate of dealing with the issue of these conflicts understands that employees are the most important treasure that ht organization holds. It has to deal with the employee well, so that it will gain a competitive edge in the market. Therefore it is good for the management to come up with proper way of dealing with these complains in order to avert further action from the employee. Most of the time if these complain is not dealt with they are likely to precipitate to strikes which will have a negative effect on the productivity of the industry and also on the image of he industry. The tourism and hospitality industry has been one of the industries that have been suffering major grievances from employee due to issues of off and on season employment and low payment. There have been major labor action in the industry which has been caused by these complain that has been expressed by the workforce. Therefore there is need for the players in the industry to handle some of these complains well and take the example of Holiday Inn which has come with effective mechanisms that are meat to deal with the problem firmly. Andrew Kurth LLP, 2008, Hospitality and Hotels: Employment and Labor, Retrieved from http://www.andrewskurth.com/industries-22.html on 10th May 2008 Dana, D 2001, Conflict Resolution, McGraw Hill Dentron, K. Boyd, C 2005, Employee Complaint Handling, Greenwood Publishing Group Dilts, D 2006, Cases in Collective Bargaining industry relations, McGraw Hill, New York Finegan, J 2004, The rigorous customer-complain, Harvard Business Review12 Leornard, A 2001, The service Driven Company, Harvard Business Review 69 Mitchell, M 2007, Union organization Trend in the Hospitality Industry, Retrieved from http://www.4hoteliers.com/4hots_fshw.php?mwi=2363 on 10th May 2008 Rahul, J 2005, Corporate Reputation, John Willey, New York Complaint Handling in the Hospitality Industry Complaint Handling in the Hospitality Industry The issue of grievance handling has not been new in organizations and it has been one of the most persistent problems of all times. In the course of running an organization, there are many complaints that are handled daily by the management which constitute the process of grievance handling. Grievances are common not only in organization but also in our social life. However it has been shown that the nature of the grievances is not that important than the process that is used to handle the grievances. Before we look at the process of handling a grievance in an organization, let us look use first understand the nature of a grievance. What is a grievance? (Dentron and Boyd 2005, p. 61) A grievance can be defined as any complaint that is raised by an individual worker of a group of workers in an organization. A grievance is usually raised in allegation of violation of the terms of agreement in the workplace. Therefore it can be said to a complaint that is raised and which is aimed at expressing the dissatisfaction of the employees by what is happening in the organization. A grievance however differs from a complaint in that while a complaint can be verbally expressed, a grievance is usually stated in writing. A grievance can be caused by many things. It has been shown that some of the most controversial issues which usually ends up in a grievance include the discharge of employees from their workplace, lack of a process of collective bargaining for the employees which can be used to express their dissatisfaction, unfair labor practices, and others which are likely to happening in the work places. (Rahul 2005, p. 31) Therefore we can expound on this point by looking closely at the process which is usually used to handle these complaints. For the effective functioning of an organization, there is usually a need to look at the welfare of the employee. Any management will recognize that the employees are the most important asset that an organization holds and therefore the most important thing in the management of the resources of an organization will be first to look at the welfare of the workforces. It has been shown that most of the grievances which hare not well looked at often precipitate to a form of dissident by the workforce which in most case comes as strike. A strike in an organization will not only have economic effect on the organization but it will also have effects on the image of the management of the organization. Therefore many organizations have come up with an effective procedure that can be used to handle complaints of het employees. In order to ensure that there is less participant of the workforce in mass movement of labor unions, many organization came up with human resource departments which are well positioned to handle the complains of the employees. Therefore it is the duty of the human resource department to come up with a well structured way that can be used to look at the welfare of the workforce. The human resource department is the one which is entrusted with the duty of handling all the complaints regarding the employees. Human resource department must come up with a grievance handling procedure. (Finegan 2004, p. 71) A grievance handling produced clearly defines a process which is used by the organization to look at the complaints that has been given by the employees. It presents a process of initial resolving of the complaints through arbitration. It is a process that is used to indentify and resolve the companies in a timely manner in order to promoted the prevail a constructive discussion between the management and the representatives of the employees. therefore the aim of the grievance procedure is to ensure that there is a proper mechanism in place that is used by the management to look at the issues that pertains to employees in order to ensure that there is constructive resolving of the complains at they arises. (Dana 2001, p. 231) The hospitality industry has been one of the rapidly growing industries in the world. In a short period of time, the industry has grown short of its former self. In the last few decades there has been increased travelling by people all over the world. This has been enabled by the increasing wave of globalization which has opened the world and increased the interaction between people. As a result individuals have been able to travel from one corners of the world to the other with no political or legal limitation. The improve modes of transport has been the main factor that has contributed to the rapid growth of the industry. The industry has been one of the most important industries in the world that have been supporting the increased globalization and polarization of world culture. Therefore there has been unprecedented growth of the industry in a very short period of time. The industry has been offering supportive services in the tourism sector. Apparently tourism has emerged to be one of the most important industries in the world. It has been fueled by increased spending culture in the world and increased openness. Tourism has taken many dimensions in its growth in areas of cultural tourism, business tourism, leisure tourism, education tourism, medical tourism, and other areas. In all these segments, individual usually travels away from their homes to go to foreign countries. Therefore they need to be accommodated and given other services. In this regard the hospitality industry comes in hand as it offers them support in accommodation and other necessary services. The hospitality industry has therefore hinged its growth on the tourism sector. (Leornard 2001, p. 52) One of the emerging natures of the hospitality industry has been diversity that has been experienced in the customers that the industry target and also in the workforce. There has been an increasing trend in the industry towards culture convergence in which one hospitality facility in the world is serving people of diverse culture. Therefore there has been an aspect of standardization of culture in the industry. Cultural homogeneity is considered to be one of the competitive factors that need to achieve in order to survive in the competitive market. With the market become more diverse due to divers needs of the customers, the hotel industry have therefore tended to have a divers nature of employees in order to help their customers to feel at home every time they are being served. Therefore there has been an increasing trend of multicultural workforce in the industry. This of course has come with its own challenges to human resource management. One of the most challenges that faces any human resource management is a multicultural workforce is the way to handle complains by the employees. Many a times, employees feel that their welfare is not looked at as needed in the organization and there are usually incidences of unfair treatment of the employees. But due to the diverse nature of the employees, the human resource department may not be in a position to come up with standardized way of dealing with all the demands that employees have. Therefore there are incidence of complaints that are based on the favors in the workforce and discontent in the allocation of duties. Many of het case studies that have been presented about complain in the hospitality industry have all been based on issue of favors in the workforce which arise due to the diversity in the workforce. Therefore in the contemporary human resource management issues, diversity in the workforce in the hospitality industry have been one of the causes of complains in the workforce. The hospitality industry is one of the most hectic industries as visitors check in and checks out. As a result there is a lot of work that needs to be done by the workforce. The nature of services in the industry is based on the fact that the visitors have to feel as comfortable as they want and find value for the amount of money that they are charged. Therefore there has to be a lot of work that is done by the employees in order to meet the demands of the visitors. Some of the visitors can be a little nagging and may require excessive attention than others. Going by the nature of definition of the duties the employee have to perform some employee will always find themselves doing extra work that they have not bee assigned at the time they were hired. Therefore there is usually a conflict with their supervisors who have to make sure that the guest gets all what they want and therefore will have to assign extra duty to the employees. At the end to the day employees will feel that they have done more that they are supposed to do in their duties. This has been shown to be another source of complains from the employees who feels that they are unfair treated and their initial duty assignment is not respected. (Andrew Kurth LLP, 2008) In most cases supervisors are faced with a hard task of ensuring that employee perform all the duties that they have been assigned to and also perform the extra duties that the guests wants to be attendee to. Therefore there is a situation between the supervisors and the employees. The hospitality industry peaks with seasons. This means that there are periods when there will be an inflow of guest while there are other seasons when there will be less guest checking in. In there regard there is a fluctuating need of employees in the industry. When the season peaks, the industry will need to hire more employees and when the season is low the industry will need to lay off some of the employees. In this regard the tourism industry is most affected by the seasonality. Most of the hotels which operation in leisure industries will find the there are periods when there will be more guest especially during holidays and weekend while there are other when there will be less guest. The industry is also prone to political stability and other factors and therefore the times when there is a serene atmosphere will see an inflow of guest while the times when there is political turmoil there will be less guests who will be checking in. As a result the industry is force to keep on hiring and lying off some of the workers. It has continuously become difficult for the industry to hire more employees on permanent bases due to the fact that there are period when the industry will need more workers while the off seasons will need less workers. Therefore there is a factor of the way in which employees are hired and retained in the industry. This has been one of the most contentious issues especially when it come to the labor unions which have been arguing that there is need for the industry to hire employee on permanent bases. There are a times when the industry is forced to lay off the employee unexpected due to the prevailing circumstance. For example in Kenya which is one of the famed tourism destinations in Africa, the last year skirmishes had a negative effect in the industry. It is recorded that though it was the high season when the tourism and hospitality industry expected a great inflow of guest, more than 10,000 employees were laid off. This was due to massive cancellation of bookings that had been done. The industry has apparently hired more workers in anticipation for the high season that had just started to pick up. There has been a conflicting situation in the industry as the employee who had been hired on contracted bases want to be paid all the money as their contract had defend while the industry is trying to recover from a massive losses incurred due to the massive cancellation. The hospitality industry has also been shown as one of the industry which pays the workers low salaries. This has been caused by the fact that the industry sometime will need to hire more employees and other times it will have to lay off some the employees. Due to the fact that the industry goes on of very lean seasons when it has to maintain its operation, there have been incidence of some players in the industry paying their employee very low salaries in a bid to cover the expense in the low season. Therefore there have been conflicts between the workforce and the management on the issue of salaries. This is one of the most conflicting issues that have led to formation of labor unions in the industry. Most of the operators in the industry agree with the fact that the industry pays less money to its employees especially during the low seasons but they try to equate that with the operation of het industry during that period. It has been shown that although the industry has been growing at a high rate, there have been fewer incidences of increased salaries for the workforce even at times when the industry is performing well. There has also been incidence of customer complain in the industry. It has been shown that in most cases customer have been complains about the quality of service that they receive from particular employees in the industry and also from the facility in general. This has been a difficult situation for the human resource department especially since it has to ascertain the nature of the conflict between the employee and the guest. In most case the guest may have rubbed the employee on the wrong side and therefore there must be a way of asserting the truth before punishing the employee. Though the issue of customer complains has been shown to be a responsibility attached to the customer service department, at the end of the day it ends up as a management issue that has to be resolved. Both hotel and hospitality industries fall under any industry in the country. Therefore they are exposed to the same labor laws like any other industry. However the nature of employee relation in the industry has been changing due to some of the factors that have been shown. Although there has been increasing labor unionization of the industry there has also some legal aspects that have been protecting the employees in the industry. One of the laws that protect employee in the industry has been the National Labor Relation Act which are aimed at redressing complain of any employees that has been unlawfully discharged from their duties. Through the law the employee is able to seek redress in the law court. However there has been conflicting situation when it comes to address this issue and when it comes to the application of the law. This is because every time an employee is dismissed from their duties for a genuine reason, they run to the court to place complains and what follows is an argument about the rights of het employees. Although the employer has the responsibility of recognize the rightist of the employee, there has been the question of the responsibility of the employee especially when it comes to the nature of the operation of the industry. Being in an industry that calls for meticulous performance of duties in order to ensure the satisfaction of the employee, there has been incidence where the employee have been dismissed on the ground of misbehaving with the guest or failing to perform their duties and what follows is a lawsuits for the company. (Mitchell, 2007) There has been increasing misinterpretation of the National Labor Relation Act when it comes to the employees working in the hospitality industry. There has been a need to becoming familiar with the law and its interpretations. There has been misinterpretation of the act when it comes to the employers also. It has been shown that there are many incidences when the employers back off from their earlier salary agreement and fire off employee who complains. But the law has shown the act is inclusive even of the employee who works in the hospitality industry who are likely to work for part time bases. Holiday Inn has been one of the most prosperous hotels that have become major player in the hospitality and tourism industry. It has been able to spread its wings all over the world and has grown to be a multinational in a very short period. It has positioned itself in all the corners of the world which have tourism potential and therefore it has a world wide presence. Like any other play in the industry, the hotel has been receiving a number of complains from the customers as well as from the workers themselves. Since the hotel has been relying on tourism activities in its overseas operation, the hotel has been experience same problems as we have mentioned above which are all hinged on the satisfaction of the employee and on other factors. But is has successfully put in place a mechanism that is used to handle all these complains. It has been dealing with a range of complains about its employees and at the same time there have been complains from the employees on the way they are beign treated. (Dilts 2006, p. 34) In order to handle all these complains, the hotel first steps which were aimed at streamlining it relationship with the employees was the formation of the human resource department which was supposed to look at the welfare of the employees. The human resource department was apparently responsible for looking at the welfare of the employee and also it was to handle complains from the employee. Therefore it was given the authority to deal with issue of hiring and firing of the employees. In areas where the hotel has been hiring seasonal workforce, it has been putting the employee on a contractual agreement where they are supposed to be paid according to there performance and not on the bases that eh were hired. This has been made in order to avoid many complains that come from the workforce once they are dismissed from their employee when the low seasons comes. The hotel has also made sure that it has put in place a board that is supposed to scrutinize all the complains that are received from the employees so that it can look into the way of making sure that they are well addressed. The board or the arbitration body is supposed to work in close conjunction with the human resource department to make sure that there is a well defined procedure that is followed while dealing with the complains. Therefore there have been systematic efforts by the hotel that has been aimed at reducing the level of complains with the workforce. These efforts have also been aimed at ensuring that all the employees are handled as equal and that complains are dealt with as a matter of urgency. From time to time there will be complains from the workforce. These complains are most of the time genuine and they indicates that there is a problem that need to be fixed somewhere in the work process. The human resource department that has been given the mandate of dealing with the issue of these conflicts understands that employees are the most important treasure that ht organization holds. It has to deal with the employee well, so that it will gain a competitive edge in the market. Therefore it is good for the management to come up with proper way of dealing with these complains in order to avert further action from the employee. Most of the time if these complain is not dealt with they are likely to precipitate to strikes which will have a negative effect on the productivity of the industry and also on the image of he industry. The tourism and hospitality industry has been one of the industries that have been suffering major grievances from employee due to issues of off and on season employment and low payment. There have been major labor action in the industry which has been caused by these complain that has been expressed by the workforce. Therefore there is need for the players in the industry to handle some of these complains well and take the example of Holiday Inn which has come with effective mechanisms that are meat to deal with the problem firmly. Andrew Kurth LLP, 2008, Hospitality and Hotels: Employment and Labor, Retrieved from http://www.andrewskurth.com/industries-22.html on 10th May 2008 Dana, D 2001, Conflict Resolution, McGraw Hill Dentron, K. Boyd, C 2005, Employee Complaint Handling, Greenwood Publishing Group Dilts, D 2006, Cases in Collective Bargaining industry relations, McGraw Hill, New York Finegan, J 2004, The rigorous customer-complain, Harvard Business Review12 Leornard, A 2001, The service Driven Company, Harvard Business Review 69 Mitchell, M 2007, Union organization Trend in the Hospitality Industry, Retrieved from http://www.4hoteliers.com/4hots_fshw.php?mwi=2363 on 10th May 2008 Rahul, J 2005, Corporate Reputation, John Willey, New York