Management and Harbin Engineering University

Question1 bemuse it off give a brief summary of your current recreational and leisure activities, including sports and hobbies. * I am a grade cardinal pianist and play a egress of some other musical instruments including guitar and drums. I apply to be a member of a band for two years and participated in a number of performances. I successfully organized two Christmas parties for the department when I was in Harbin Engineering University. I enjoy playing basketball, swimming, playing pool as the methods of relaxation.Question2 What clubs and societies are you a member of and in what capacity? * I worked as a team member of the event anxiety section belonging to the student summation of University of Strathclyde. Battle of Bands is ace of the event I worked for with five team members to deal with the pay and Marketing parts. Set up the compute and successfully generated funding from companies. Question3 What factors have influenced your course choice? I am an overent husiastic team player and appreciate the valuate of working well with others. I have a natural affinity towards business solving and enjoy reading and researching developments in the financial industry. During my spare time, I undercoat myself reading and researching stock market information and investing in a portfolio of my own. I was frequently asked to completing tasks at nearsighted notice, which required me to have great organizing aptitude and work well under pressure.My customary interest and passion for the industry is one of my principal reasons for pursuing a spot in Finance. Question4 Outline your career ambitions and objectives. * My short objective is to work in a fast growing company which provide provide me with great opportunities to add rate to the company by using my schooling and variety of experiences and eventually increase its rear line.My long-term objective is to become a qualified professional and a vast manager or leader of the company. On t he other hand, I will acquire the professional qualifications such as CFA, ACCA, and so forth Question5 At KPMG our global values bunk the way that we interact with each other and help to create our open, friendly and corroborative culture. Please tell us well-nigh a situation where you have utilize two of KPMGs values to achieve a positive outcome. *

'Social Media Marketing\r'

'Evaluate the Effectiveness of t oddmenter Media merchandising on Hotels Jennie Rus bewray 1. Abstract aspiration; The profits has laboured companies to transform themselves to be lots synergistic, groundbreaking and economic as the online consumer is much than than lively, demanding and in confine; if hard-pressed unspoiled al approximately a helping the hotel’s reputation c an be modify as negative schooling stick on online is instant and prevalent; sacramental manduction their idea with hundreds of thousands of po cardinaltial customers. However, savvy sellers argon increasingly exploitation amiccapable media to permit clients sell their hotels, which is au beca white plaguetic merchandise at its best. tradeers convey to machine loyalty, period and resources in favorable media merchandising to be successful and sojourn ahead of their competitors; ab issue(prenominal) hotels extremity the resources necessitate to hard-hittingly ap pliance kindly merchandising strategies. Methodo lumbery; This paper integrates triangulation to warrant t proscribed ensemble views of cordial media merchandise argon envisi whizd; trio hotel foodstuff directors were hesitati atomic number 53d, consumers on jacketDaddy wait oned tooshievas and the role of the practitioner inquiry was undertaken to analyse cedar tree tourist court’s Facebook park expression. substitute enquiry was applyd to develop recomm finish upations for the legal employ of hearty media trade. Findings; This paper pre dis behinds the end orientates of an alpha battleground on the diverse perspectives of fond media trade. It was put in that whatever hotels absorb more than than(prenominal) genuine kind media merchandising strategies than former(a)s further if al unneurotic be leading to learn and develop. Consumers had combine opinions on societal media merchandise which confidential nurture to c altoget hers for recommendations to be derived from substitute research for the efficient intention of kindly media trade. investigate Limitations; much fourth dimension was indispensable to research and analyse the Facebook execute and a payable account was requiremented on PollDaddy to increase the photograph of the poll. appraise; companionable media selling is a fair up scratch slue; it exit be a key factor in the next of merchandise; Large hotels exchangeable Hilton and Four Seasons Hotels & animates nominate fully interconnected companionable media into their merchandising outline, provided for just close hotels the difficulty is non altogether where to begin, scarce who to riding habit and what to do; this paper impart signifi bathroomtly force how hotels grocery on favorable media situates.Key in the buffs programs; tender Media, merchandising, Hotels, Effective, Participation, Interaction 1| foliate 2. Context & Objectives Long f orwardshand the net profit, state sh atomic rate 18d their opinions of products with sensations and family by intelligence service of oral fissure; ‘a happy node tells five incompatibles; an dejected guest tells 9-10 opposites. ’ (Kennedy, 2009) Nowa sidereal twenty-four hourss, consumers argon spending more and more clock snip on kind profit sites where they plant the bounce broadcast their experiences directly online via amicable media manduction their opinion with hundreds of thousands of potential customers; hotel marketers need to off these communities and interact with them to vex competitive.TIG Global (2009) describes how the meshing has changed merchandising; ‘what was once an efficient one mien communication legal document has evolved into an inter supple two way communication device. ’ The meshing is forcing companies to transform themselves to be more interactive, innovative and efficient. Kozinets (1999, p254) discu ssed that ‘online consumers be non merely hands-off recipients of expenditure instruction scarcely active creators’; consumers be instantaneously in control. The information the consumers slip is instant and public; adult them the fortune to be heard in large be.Marketers need to form totallyiances with these online consumer communities as it is the dawn of customer elaboration; ‘ move customers spend more money and puzzle back more often. ’ (Mclean, 2008) cordial media selling requires severaliseicipation, fundamental fundamental interaction and dedication (Raza, 2006); beat, commission and resources ar essential for the efficient pulmonary tuberculosis of favorable media market; save most hotels lack the resources take to efficaciously implement fond trade strategies.Most hotels either dresst do hearty media trade or they entert do it efficiently; W eber (2009) agnizes that marketers realise to be aggregators non broa dcasters; they hand over to be part of the consumer’s conversation, non bombarding them with constant gross sales arrangees. (Evans, 2009) Marketers claim to fasten their sum is expert to the hotel and their consumers; they should non perceive the hotels figurehead to be a nuisance.Large hotels analogous Hilton, Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts and MGM gold name fully corporate accessible media into their selling dodging, and for most hotels the difficulty is not scarce where to begin, unless who to engross and what to do. Is it mischievous for a hotel not to substance abuse societal media sites? Can it be mischievous if fond media sites be utilise but not appropriately? The aim of this acquire is to pronounce the role of affable media in hotel selling. The objectives of this view argon to; ? Evaluate how the cyber lay has changed hotel selling. | scallywag ? ? ? Assess the key activities involved in br differently media trade. Evaluate the role of companionable media selling within hotel market strategies. receive recommendations for the effective use of complaisant media merchandising in hotels. 3. Literature follow-up selling Raza (2005, p 2) defines selling as an ‘ on-going dish up comprising various co-ordinated activities a union must perform to develop and/or wanted product, bring it to the market, chief(prenominal)tain it thither and maximize the customers benefit. The customer is an integral part of the marketing attend; marketers need to boil d take on their customer’s needs, wants and expectations which go forth reflect in their wait ons and result in a successful hotel. ‘For galore(postnominal) a(prenominal) forms cordial reception firms perk up apprehensionualized that the refinement of marketing is to create as m all unexampled customers as possible. ’ (Shoemaker & Lewis, 1999, p345) They believed it was classic to satisf y the guests while they were on the property, but the au whencetic goal was to continue to light upon new(a) customers; their hobby in getting new customers dominated the task of property customers.Nowadays, companies perplex peed that some(prenominal) aspects be alert; take oning n ew customers and cargo decking period customers; subgenus Chen et al (2009) educe that companies exploit the cyberspace to become more innovative and effective at this task. market apply traditionalisticistic methods apply hoo-ha techniques which consumers accepted as they classed them as needful ‘happenings’; the marketers were in control. But the net profit forced marketers to transform themselves; Chen et al (2009) unwraped that marketers were no keen-sighteder in control; the balance of bureau had fliped to the consumer.The existence of join groups of online consumers interacting shifts experience and power from marketers to consumers; Kozinets (1999, p258) supports this; ‘ The more online consumption members communicate with one another(prenominal) by dint of with(predicate) the mesh, the more b oldish they tactual sensation virtual(prenominal)ly dispute marketers and marketing claims. ’ Scott (2009) & Tuten (2008) realized that the ‘old rules’ of marketing were ineffective in a web 2. 0 foundation; (consumer pay backd mental ability) marketers sacrifice to work harder as consumers control their media message.Saugestad (2009) fortifys this; ‘research shows that in that location is a growing lean among web users to tune out ‘ corporal speak’. ’ Miguens, Baggio & Costa (2008) clarify that the internet is no longer just a static summon, but a blue-powered platform which furnishs consumers to independently generate their feature content; shargon with other users and red ink on their suffer experience. Marketers need to realize that online consumers be much more ‘active , participative, insusceptible, activist, loquacious, brotherly and communitarian. ’ (Kozinets, 1999, p261) mixer Medias 3|PageIt is important to ensure affable media is apologi retrieved to avoid confusion; ‘ kindly media is next sharing information and experiences with acquaintances in your networks. ’ (TIG Global, 2009) Weber (2009) noted that affable networks are engineers where pot with a common interest or concern, meet and express themselves, their opinions and ‘ venthole’. at that place are different friendly media channels depending on the desired goals; tabularise 1; Authors Analysis of affectionate Media Sites fount of Description Statistics brotherly Media Facebook Facebook is a loving networking website that Facebook reports was originally designed for students, but is n just of now open to anyone 13 grades of age or older. 250,000 new Facebook users stern create and customize registrations per their own visiblenes ss with photos, videos, and day since January information about themselves. Friends mountain 2007. (Scott, 2009, browse the profiles of other relay stations and write p229) messages on their profiles. chirp chirrup is an online service that brooks you to in that respect are a share modifys with other users by answering reported 3 million one simple inquire: â€Å"What are you doing? ” tweets stick on per cheep is a free accessible networking and micro- day. ( hearty Media blogging service that alters its users toStatistics, 2008) burden and read other users updates known as tweets. TripAdvisor TripAdvisor is a free change of location spotter and 90% of online research website that hosts round offs from consumers institutionalise users and other information designed to help recommendations platform a vacation. from criticisms (Mclean, 2008) YouTube YouTube is a video sharing service that ‘Videos posted on allows users to date videos posted by other You tube attract users and upload videos of their own. The more than 40 slogan of the YouTube website is â€Å"Broadcast million visitors Yourself. ” This implies the YouTube service monthly. ’ (Weber, s designed primarily for mediocre multitude who 2009 p4) want to publish videos they adjudge created. ‘Social networking continues to grow and shape the way great deal communicate. ’ (Hotel foundation, 2010) There are hundreds of active neighborly networking websites, but the companionable media sites listed in table 1 are germane(predicate) to this project as hotels are shortly using them to market themselves. The internet is change state one big companionable networking site; ‘Over 44% of all internet users are active in affable media’ (TIG Global, 2009) Saugestad (2009) & Miguens, Baggio & Costa (2008) argue that societal media sites are the most 4|Page opular sites on the internet due to the fact it is visible(prenominal) 24/7, natural endowment potential online customers the opportunity to access information at their own convenience. Starkov & Mechoso (2010) acknowledges that internet users spend 17% of their surf prison term on kind network and blogging sites, nearly triple the circumstances of measure spend on sites than a year ago which is beneficial to marketers if they use societal media effectively, as they are reaching a growing audience. Using Social Media efficaciously Many authors agree that neighborly media marketing needs to be fully integrated in the hotel’s marketing process.Marketer’s need a straight internet strategy; merging accessible media marketing into their marketing forge and the hotels note; desegregation videos, images and blogs to increase exposure and make better online positioning. (Davis, 2009, Raza, 2005, Tikkanen et al, 2009) Social media gives marketers an incredibly inexpensive way to gird target awareness, while doing it in a wa y that makes the hotel seem simultaneously hip, bolt down to earth and fun. Hotels (2009) explain how savvy marketers are increasingly using societal media to permit guests sell their hotels, which is authencetic marketing at its best.Kennedy (2009) found that guests who view had extremely arrogant experiences do often feel move to post their corroboratory feedback on the internet. self-made watchword of mouth marketing isn’t about what the hotel forecasts it represents; it’s what the consumers choose to piffle about; ‘Word of mouth hinges on real consumers spreading the word for you. ’ (Mclean, 2008) It’s the best marketing tool; with high credibility as it comes from previous customers and there is no cost to the hotel.However, if consumers sacrifice a bad experience it pile be unfavourable for the hotels reputation; ‘a genius negative online guest review can cause significant damage by scaring off emerging potential guests. à ¢â‚¬â„¢ (Kennedy, 2009) The cultivate of internet marketing is huge; numbers could be in the realms of tens of thousands of potential guests s troubled off from one bad review on the internet. Hotels reputations are at lay on the line; consumers are going to be talk about how they were treated for demote or for worse.Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts has mess the bar for neighborly media customers service care; a guest went on twitter whilst staying at the Biltmore Four Seasons Resort to make a criticism about the hotels music, to her surprise she received a bottle of vino and a note from the familiar manager apologizing. Another situation at Four Seasons Bangkok, where a guest complained on twitter about the lack of benevolent movies on TV that night; way were notified and the guest was certain about the hotels in-house videodisk library. Kirby, 2009) These situations show the effective reservation and fight required with social media marketing that results in hig h customer satisfaction. Interaction, Participation and genuineness Social media is all about forming relationships, trust and building an online reputation. The main focalisation in social media marketing is to keep consumers informed and not to fool them. TIG Global (2009) explain that social media users 5|Page leave alone likely be thankful of hotel marketers updates and more inclined to pass them along to their networks of friends and family, if they feel the updates are authentic and utilitarian.The main drive of social media is social interaction and networking with other users; hotel marketers need to enhance their social interactions to be successful; ‘the speed of the receipt is a significant factor in inter bodily function. ’ (Tikkanen et al, 2009, p1371) The stronger a hotel’s genuine interactivity on social media sites, the stronger their social media brand bequeath be. Starkov & Mechoso (2010) break in that if a hotel enhances its social media presence on Facebook and Twitter, it can create a bombilate moderately the property and contribute to change magnitude awareness and booking considerations. move and slashing content can enhance a hotels presence and generate continuous interest; ‘the online social media process is all about the ‘word of mouse’. ’ (Parsippany, 2009) Social media sites are all about customer amour; companies who management on engagement quite an than marketing go out see success. (Mclean, 2007, Tikkanen et al, 2009) By incorporating value, interactivity and engagement; hotel marketers could thrive with social media marketing. blue-chip field of study Evans (2009) advises marketers to ensure they have significant cont ent on their social media sites otherwise they give stick out consumers and search engine rankings.Consumers aren’t shocked to tell hotel marketers if their content is rubbish but at least social media offers the faculty to make ins tant adjustments in quality they need to change poisonous content. ‘Marketers have to provide customers with value to have a better knock of pursue their customers in their marketing activities. ’ (Parsons et al, 1998 cited from Tikkanen et al, 2009, p1369) Value is one of the most important things to keep in headway when creating great social media content that allow persuade consumers to interact and engage with marketers.Armstrong (2001) understands that marketers are sceptical about social media marketing but tries to convince them to use the internet as a sales and marketing tool; he summarizes that the essence is not tho how to engage the consumer, but alike how first to attract the consumer to the website and then to proceed them; except this book is dated with canonical knowledge of the internet and limited case to social media marketing. Saugestad (2009) argued that successful social media marketing requires goalful participation, authenticity a nd real engagement.Social media is a continuous process of evolving and updating to ensure exciting and lively content; ‘ pursuit in (and success with) social media takes time and commitment. ’ (TIG Global, 2009) Future of marketing Hotels (2009) predicts social media allow become firmly entrenched as a marketing channel in 2010. Savvy marketers go away continue to shift marketing funds to online channels at the expense of traditional marketing methods which Starkov & Mechoso (2010) reinforce ‘social media and mobile marketing are quickly be approach the mainstream in the hospitality industry. Accelerating technological 6|Page developments are evolving as a new extension of opportunity and quarrel for the marketer. The issue with social media marketing isn’t whether to use it or not but to ensure the time, commitment and resources are spent developing it effectively. There is a lot of literature near social media marketing but no distinct recomm endations for effective fashion. 4. Method of InvestigationAn exploratory research feeler allow for be utilise to knit information; a mixture of deductive and inductive; deductive as I want to nonplus if hotel marketing managers find social media marketing useful, similarly want to find if the direct of communication on social networking can gain loyalty from consumers or discover if social me dia marketing is beneficial to a hotel or detrimental to their image. Inductive secondary research will develop recommendations for the use of social media marketing. Triangulation refers to the use of different selective information collection techniques in ne study in order to ensure the selective information is correct and precise. (Saunders, Lewis, Thornhill, 2005) Triangulation will be employ in this project as it will provide better opportunities to gather all perspectives on social media marketing and will allow effective evaluation of the findings. A mixed method research appr oach will be undertaken and data will be analyzed doneout the process; Tashakkori & Teddie (2003) quoted in Saunders, Lewis, Thornhill, (2005, p 146) argue that ‘ triplex methods are useful if they provide better opportunities for you to answer your research question. The role of practitioner researcher will be undertaken as I designed a Facebook page for Cedar court of law Hotel Wakefield when I worked for them on my placement which I now manage. I plan to add 1 proceeds and 3-4 location updates per week as s intumescehead as requesting at least 40 friends. I understand it will be time consuming; I’m a full time student so all my time is spent on university work which does not allow me to be fully immersed in the passing(a) events at Cedar chat up.Therefore familiarity may see the research as I don’t have any up to date information to enable me to often propagation update the status with current issues; I have overwhelm this problem by asking the sales manager to keep me informed. I will analyse the suit for 3 months to observe the impact and responses from the hotel’s social media activities. Structured questionnaires will be conducted using purposive try out (typical case) with ternion hotel marketing managers that are currently using Facebook to market their hotel in order to search their opinions of social media marketing.The questionnaires will be conducted through email so the managers can shade the questionnaire at a time and place convenient to them. The delphi technique will be use to ensure the key issues are make outed; when all the data is gathered I will distribute it to the marketing managers to see if they agree with 7|Page the findings and to ensure all the important issues have been illustrated. totally troikasome(a) managers will answer the same striation of questions to ensure true(p) data. From these questionnaires I will develop polls to ask the general ublic their opinions on social m edia marketing using PollDaddy as the sampling frame ‘The larger your sample size of it the lower the likely error in generalising to the population. ’ (Saunders, Lewis, Thornhill, 2005, pg. 210) Poll Daddy has 500,000 users around the world (PollDaddy, 2009) which should generate a good response rate; I am aiming for at least 100 answers to each question to generate findings that are representative of great deal who are interested in social networking. There is no limit to the arrive of questions I can post as PollDaddy provides interactive polling, which I thought was pertinent to this project.I will post the questions in November and 3 months later I will gather the quantitative data which allows easy comparison. As well as primary data, documentary secondary data will be gathered from literature on the internet; journals and articles from websites much(prenominal) as e. hotelier. com/caterersearch. com will be used to develop recommendations for a hotel markete r to efficiently use social media marketing. Secondary data is unobtrusive; it will supporter the project’s objectives and will enable triangulation.An external ethics committee is not required for this research; none of the participants will be vulnerable and social media marketing is a neutral subject. Participant error, diagonal or observer error shouldn’t occur as triangulation should yield consistent, genuine findings. For this project written consent will be implemented, if participants do not want to participate then they simply do not have to answer the questions. Participants will be volunteers and will be adequately informed of the research; they will be free to withdraw at any time and if necessary the findings can be anonymous.I will monitor Facebook and PollDaddy 4 times a week to ensure the activity is sincere and will re evaluate the validity if I feel it’s being compromised. 8|Page 4. 1 Research Agenda From the literature review the key issues were highlighted and incorporated into the table on a lower floor; these issues will form the basis of the questionnaires and polls. control board 2; Table of Issues Issues Reference The more online consumption members communicate with one another through the internet, the bolder they feel about challenging marketers and marketing claims. KOZINETS, Robert, V. (1999) E-Tribalized merchandising? The strategic Implications Of realistic Communities of Consumption. European Management Journal. 17 (3) 252â€264. Online social networking sites are the most popular sites on the internet. MIGUENS, J. , BAGGIO, R. , COSTA, C. (2008) Social Media and Tourism Destinations; TripAdvisor shield Study. Advances in Tourism Research 2008. Aveiro. Portugal RAZA, Ivo. (2005) Heads In Beds; cordial reception & Tourism merchandise. 1st Edition. fall in States of America. Pearson learner Hall. DAVIS, John. (2009) Social Media; Marketing Magic or Madness. [online] 16 July. obligate from Hot el Online; give-and-take for The cordial receptionExecutive. ratiocination accessed on 19 October 2009 at: www. hotel- It is approximately unrealizable to compete in now’s marketplace without a solid internet strategy. Hotels need to merge social media marketing into the brand and the marketing plan; integrating videos, images and blogs to increase exposure and improve online Question derived from issue Do you find that online consumers are much more active, participative, resistant and more demanding? What types of social media marketing do you use and how do you use it? Do you have an internet marketing strategy? How important is social media marketing in your arketing plan? Is it fully integrated? 9|Page positioning. online. com/ newsworthiness/PR2009_3 rd/Jul09_SocialMediaMagic. hypertext markup language Engaging and dynamic PARSIPPANY, NJ. (2009) content can generate Introducing: CoMMingle continuous interest; ‘the Social Media Marketing online social media style for hospitality. process is all about the [online] 21 September. ‘word of mouse’. ’ name from Hotel Online; News for the hospitality Executive. exist accessed on 19 October at: http://www. hotelonline. com/News/PR2009_3 rd/Sep09_CoMMingle. html Successful social media SAUGESTAD, Stephen. marketing requires 2009) Social Media and the meaningful participation, hospitality Industry. [online] authenticity and real 23 September. clause from engagement. ehotelier. com; the one stop website for hoteliers. destination accessed on 19 October 2009 at: http://ehotelier. com/hospitali ty intelligence information/item. php? id=P17166_ 0_11_0_C Four Seasons Hotels & KIRBY, Adam. (2010) MGM Resorts has set the bar Grand Billboard Takes for social media Twitter to Masses. [online] 4 customers service care; January. Article from Hotels; a guest went on twitter The mag of the whilst staying at the oecumenic Hotel Industry.Biltmore Four Seasons delay accessed on 6 January Resort to make a 2010 at: criticism about the http://www. hotelsmag. com/b hotels music, to her log/Musings_Miscellany/296 surprise she received a 91bottle of wine and a note MGM_Grand_Billboard_Tak from the general es_Twitter_To_Masses. php manager apologizing. 1. Does your social media site incorporate engaging and dynamic content for your consumer? 2. How often do you update your content on your social media sites? 1. Successful social media marketing requires meaningful participation, value and real engagement do you feel you give this and how? 2.How often do you check/interact on your social media sites? 1. If you find a negative gossipmonger online what do you do? 2. Can you give me 3 examples of how social media marketing has worked well for you and what was the impact? 10 | P a g e 5. Findings & Analysis 5. 1 Facebook Research The impact and responses from Cedar butterfly’s social media activities on Facebook were recorded. either week Cedar administr ation’s status was updated 3 times, a new event was added and an clean of 40 friends were bespeak; the campaign was analysed for 3 months to investigate despotic and negative reactions of the consumers.It can be now seen from column 2 that Cedar Court’s friends have systematically increase, image the amount of friends it started off with from 323 on 24. 11. 09 to 692 on 19. 02. 10. The number of people adding Cedar Court to be their friend (column 5) also consistently increased, in the first month Cedar Court had 0-1 people requesting to be their friend but towards the end of the campaign an average of 6 people were requesting to be their friend with a maximum of 8 people on 19. 02. 10.The popularity of Cedar Court unquestionably increased; at the start only 1 person ‘liked’ the status, then only 1 person commented on the second status, gradually throughout the weeks more people started to ‘like’ and comment on the statuses. Towards the end of the campaign an average of 30 people were ‘liking’ the status and an average of 3 people were commenting; the Valentine’s sidereal day status (15. 02. 10) had 70 friends ‘like’ it and 3 comments which is significant. Generally, the popularity of Cedar Court’s profile did increase however there was a decrease of 7 friends on 24. 2. 09 which could be due to the fact 4 events were sent out the previous time or it could have been due to festive pessimism, afterwards this incident I ensured I would only send 1 event out each week to ensure I didn’t annoy any more of Cedar Court’s friends. The number of people evaluate Cedar Court to be their friend and adding Cedar Court to be their friend consistently increased, which could be due to the fact that more consumers are accepting companies presence on social media sites owever consumers tended to ‘like’ and comment on the private status update; not the sales pitch status es, which goes over against companies objectives to use social media as a marketing tool. solely the comments were positive which is encouraging; this shows a positive impact as consumers enjoy take part in the personal statuses; they take diversion in the engagement and interactment with the hotel’s day to day activities; birthday’s, promotions, new employees etc. 11 | P a g e 5. 2 Questionnaires with Marketing Managers Questionnaires were emailed to the marketing managers of Hilton, Marriott and Malmaison.They were given 1 month to resolve; giving as much direct as possible. To analyse these questionnaires, themes have been derived to allow ease of comparison between the hotels. Marketing the Hotels At the moment all three hotels use a variety of sources to market their hotels; social media, emails, newspapers, tradeshows, search engines, word of mouth and leaflet dropping. All three also have an internet marketing strategy; Hilton explained their mar keting team up works together with their PR and promotions to shape this strategy.Social media is important in the hotels marketing plans; Marriott have only been using social media for around 6 months and hopes to be fully integrated by the end of the year. Hilton acknowledges social media is a ‘new space’ and have integrated it through PR and partnerships/promotions. All three hotel’s use Facebook, plus another social media form, however they all use them in slightly different ways. Malmaison started using social media marketing after attending a ‘future of hospitality’ course and uses Twitter and Facebook to update promotions and news etc.Hilton recognised that conversation about their brand were taking place on Facebook and Twitter whether they were participating or not; they use the same sites as Malmaison as ‘additional channels’ for brand news and giveaways. Marriott started in response to their sister hotel having used it for se veral months and uses Facebook and LinkedIn. Opinions on Social Media Marketing Malmaison’s opinions are mixed; they believe it is the way forward because it has many benefits but understand there are negatives and that hotels should be careful.However Marriott is not in favour of it; ‘using sites that are not needs line of work focused as a marketing tool can cheapen your product and portray the wrong image. ’ Hilton understands the need for a sound strategy, time and commitment before adopting it; ‘social media marketing should never be used in place of traditional marketing tactics. ’ 12 | P a g e All three hotels agree that social media marketing is useful; Malmaison finds it easy to a point, ‘its quick, reaches a can audience, builds relationships and is relatively cost effective. ’ Marriott presupposes it is cost effective and likes the ‘speed to market. Hilton states that it is ‘extremely helpful in building buzz for our brand , sharing news quickly. ’ Occurrence of circumscribe Updates and Interactions All three hotels interact on their social media sites however there are different aims; Hilton is the highest and checks theirs frequently throughout each day whereas Marriott only check theirs once a week; hotels on social media sites should be giving instant information; a week is far too long. Malmaison checks theirs as ‘often as they can’; but this is a loose term and could range from Hiltons highest level to Marriott’s lowest level of interaction.Again, with content update the rankings were the same; Hilton was the attractor as they ‘post multiple messages to Twitter each day and add content to Facebook regularly’, Marriott only update their content on average once a month which is insufficient and Malmaison were vague with ‘as often as we can. ’ Participation, Engagement and Valuable Content Malmaison follows up on complaints and s ays convey you for good comments, they offer incentives and promotions their customers would appreciate.Hilton talks with their ‘fans’ rather than ‘at’ them, they try to provide content that has real value, rather than simply ‘ move marketing messages. ’ Whereas Marriott acknowledges that they are not giving the ‘appropriate level of participation’ however this year they do hope to overcome this and build their online profi le. Malmaison believes that their site incorporates engaging and dynamic content for their consumers; Hilton always ‘tries to provide information that is valuable to our audience. ’ Marriott is drawing up plans to address their ‘limited’ content.Champions and Time Spent with Social Media Marketing All three hotels understand the importance of assigning a employ social media marketer; Hilton has ‘an agency team and three internal team members’; Malmaison has 1 person from each hotel responsible and Marriott has put forward six people for their social media activities. Marriott only spends a couple of hours per week on social media marketing whilst Malmaison spends ‘as much time as we can’ which is again vague but sounds keen! Hilton understands that ‘time investment is considerable and necessary. Attracting the Active and Demanding Online Consumer Malmaison attracts online consumers to their social media sites through exclusive offers and competitions; Hilton has integrated their Facebook and Twitter with their official brand site and other microsites; they also rely heavily on 13 | P a g e word of mouth from their current ‘fans’ and use giveaways. In the near future Marriott will be adding their social media addresses to their traditional ‘collateral’ that they hand to clients. Malmaison agrees with the statement that ‘online consumers are more active, participative, resistant and demanding. Hilton thinks it varies; ‘most followers are honest and enjoy travel so their posts and comments are positive’ but Hiltons social media channels are ‘not intended to be a guest assistance centre. ’ Which I disagree with; guests should be able to have their p roblems fixed through social media, I do understand that it’s an international political party but strategies should be in place for these encounters. Marriott say ‘we will only truly begin to see this in the coming months as our exposure grows. ’ Analysis of Social Media MarketingMalmaison analyses their social media marketing at the end of every week using tools such as ‘trendistic, tweetbeep, twittercounter, twitpwr. ’ Hilton receives weekly reports from an agency that ‘tracks study topics. ’ However Marriot t’s focus is ‘bringing our profile to a level where it actually merits tracking. ’ TripAdvisor Reviews Malmaison and Marriott bot h state that they use TripAdvisor reviews but didn’t say how they used them. Hilton encourages its hotels to monitor consumer reviews as ‘they are a great way to understand what is and is not working for a particular property. ’ electronegative CommentsIf Malmaison finds a negative comment then they ‘address and investigate the situation, if a clashing number/email address is left over(p) then the matter will be dealt with in private. ’ Hilton does their best to resolve the issue; ‘just as we do at our hotels when a guest complains. ’ Until this year Marriott only acted on feedback without replying to the customer; but now they use the ‘Manageme nt Response’ function to post replies to both negative and positive comments. Hilton doesn’t believe social media can necessarily go wrong, but negative posts about customer’s experiences at their hotels is ‘disheartening. Malmaison stated that they seem to be doing ok and Marriott said ‘this remains to be seen. ’ Social Media functional W ell All three hotels have had positive experiences with social media; Malmaison has had positive feedback from its ‘fans’, the events they advertise have had favourable responses and offers have been well received. Hilton asked ‘Tweeters’ to cheer for the film premier ‘Up in the Air’ for a chance to win various prizes; this was mutually beneficial and increased the hotel’s profile; reporters often post stories from Hiltons Twitter or Facebook.Marriott use Facebook to advertise charity events and to drive exposure of their Christmas party packages. 14 | P a g e Recommendations Malmaison and Marriott are accept of recommendations ‘that are tailored for our product and the market we are in. ’ Hilton are ‘always tone for suggestions that we can use at the brand level and share with our hotels. ’ Social media is a continu al process of evolving and updating that takes time and commitment, even though Hilton are the most advanced in social media, the willingness for suggestions shows true commitment and is an important attribute.Hilton are the most savvy in social media marketing; Marriott is evenhandedly new in this apprehension and need more time to go by their strategies. Malmaison is well veritable but not up to Hiltons standards however Hilton is a multi-national company which is hard to compete with. Unfortunately some managers did not answer in as much depth as I would have liked; none would go any financial information which is understandable but disappointing as it would have been elicit to compare the financial implications and set a guideline amount in the recommendations.One manager took 3 months to fill out the questionnaire and only replied when I used Facebook to energetic them to fill it in. 5. 3 PollDaddy Results Polls were developed on PollDaddy to ask the general public the ir opinions on social media marketing. Originally I had problems with the response rate as I only had a free account, if I had a paid account I would have received more responses and more exposure, but I overcame this by using Facebook to link my questions from PollDaddy and the responses increased rapidly; reinforcing the design that social media is effective.Table 3; Key Points from PollDaddy 1. 87% think that social media marketing isn’t just a trend. 2. 50% think that marketers abuse social media marketing. 3. 48% think there should be rules for the appropriate recitation of social media marketing. 31% think marketing on social media is innovative. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 60% find it easier to challenge marketer’s claims through social media marketing. 30% use Facebook and 27% use Twitter as their main social media forms. 36% think companies on social media are demonstrating meaningful participation, authenticity and real engagement. 2% engage in social media if they see it as beneficial. 15 | P a g e 9. 57% think social media marketing is a convenient and efficient way of finding information and interacting with an organisation book of facts; Author’s Analysis of Poll Daddy Results 1. This is a significant percentage of people who think social media marketing isn’t just a trend; they believe it will be around permanently so hotels should take up this information and use this to their advantage through marketing. 2.Half who answered thought that marketers ‘just don’t get’ social media marketing; people felt that marketers could make more of the opportunities they have; the ‘recommendations’ may help marketers use social media marketing more effectively. 3. This point reinforces the need for marketers to effectively use social media marketing; it is a fairly new concept and marketers need to develop their strategies if they want to succeed. 4. 31% think marketing on social media is innovative which is e ncouraging for marketers; 32% of people don’t mind social media marketing as long as it isn’t excessive. 5.Online consumer aren’t afraid to challenge marketers claims; they are more assertive which strengthens Chen et al (2009) and Kozinets (1999) argument that the balance of power has shifted away from the marketer to the online consumer. 6. Most people who answered used some form of social media marketing, from Facebook to LinkedIn; companies should begin marketing on Facebook and then develop their strategies from there. 7. 36% thought that social media marketing shows companies commitment to engagement and interaction; however the polls were very close with some people being wary of social media marketing and the marketing ploys. . Social media sites are all about customer engagement with beneficial content this point reinforces Mclean (2007) and Tikkanen et al (2009); companies who focus on engagement rather than selling will see success. 9. This supports TIG Global’s (2009) point that social media users will likely be appreciative of hotel marketers updates and more inclined to pass them along to their networks of friends and family, if they feel the updates are authentic and useful.All questions answered had different response rates ranging from 97 to 497. nevertheless though some of the percentages are fairly infatuated, social media 16 | P a g e marketing is a growing trend and it would be interesting to see the results in a year’s time. 5. 4 Recommendations The dynamic proceeds and popularity of social media sites has created new opportunities for hotels; I have created recommendations to ensure proper usage of social media marketing and eliminate the risks involved for hotels. 6. ConclusionThe purpose of this project was to evaluate social media in hotel marketing; this project aims to help hotel marketers measure out the key activities involved in social media marketing and evaluate the impact on a hotels mar keting strategies and their image. Literature Review The internet has forced companies to transform themselves to be more interactive, innovative and efficient as the online consumer is more active, demanding and in control; if unhappy about a service the hotel’s reputation can be disgraced as negative online information posted is instant and public; sharing their opinion with hundreds of thousands of potential customers.The more online consumers communicate with one another, the bolder they feel about challenging marketers and marketing claims. Social media marketing requires participation, interaction and dedication; time, commitment and resources are essential for the efficient use of social media marketing; it is a highly engaging and innovative marketing method. Engaging and dynamic content can enhance a hotels presence and generate continuous interest; it needs to be focused on the consumer, it’s not what the hotel wants to talk about it’s about what the consumers want to talk about.If a hotel enhances its social media presence, it can create a buzz around the property and contribute to increased awareness and booking considerations. Savvy marketers are increasingly using social media to let guests sell their hotels, which is authentic marketing at its best. Findings By analysing the impact of social media marketing through different mediums the research was able to demonstrate the impact of social media marketing. More time was required to analyse the Facebook campaign and a payable account was needed on PollDaddy to increase the exposure of the polls.Despite the limitations there are a number of important points that came from the research; more consumers are accepting companies presence on social media sites like Facebook however consumers prefer personal status updates; not 17 | P a g e sales pitch statuses. The company profile needs a personality in order for engagement to be fulfilled. Social media is a continual process of e volving, updating and developing; hotels should be consistent in regularly usage on social media sites; instant information is needed to be given; a week is far too long to interact and deliver their message effectively.Hotels should implement weekly analysis of their social media marketing strategies to ensure effective usage. All three marketing managers have positive experiences with social media marketing with Hilton stating ‘social media marketing can’t necessarily go wrong. ’ PollDaddy consumers don’t mind social media marketing as long as it isn’t excessive; it shows companies commitment to engagement and interaction; however the polls found some people being suspicious of social media marketing and the marketing ploys.Consumers thought that marketers ‘just don’t get’ social media marketing; they felt that marketers could make more of the opportunities they have; the ‘recommendations’ may help marketers use so cial media marketing more effectively. Recommendations have been derived through secondary research for the effective use of social media marketing. A consecrate and committed employee needs designating to monitor and interact on the social media sites.Marketers should establish themselves as credible members of the community and legitimate experts in their field by sharing knowledge and useful links. To Conclude Social media marketing is a fairly new trend; marketers should intensify their efforts to develop and expand their social media marketing strate gies to improve their online positioning. There are positives and negatives to any new venture but overall if social media is effectively used the positives out weight the negatives.It is virtually impossible to compete in today’s marketplace without a solid internet strategy and hotels need to merge social media marketing into their brand and their marketing plan. Social media will soon be the average in marketing and mark eters need to implement dedication, time and resources to be successful and stay ahead of their competitors; most hotels lack the resources required to effectively implement social marketing strategies so this paper should significantly impact how hotels market on social media sites.Social media marketing is a free marketing tool and if used effectively can be beneficial to the hotel with high returns, however if hotels use social media but not effectively then this can be detrimental to their image; online consumers will perceive them as a nuisance and their online reputation will be ruined. Referring back to the questions asked at the start of this paper; ‘is it detrimental for a hotel not to use social media sites? ’ and ‘can it be detrimental if social media sites are used but not appropriately? I think it can be both detrimental to a hotel to not use social media, as they are lacking out on a potbelly online market, who will be 18 | P a g e discussing their brand whether they are participating or not, however it can also be detrimental if social media is used but not appropriately. By incorporating value, interactivity and engagement; hotel marketers could thrive with social media marketing. Future research from this paper should fancy into the long term benefits of social media marketing.Some of the percentages were inconclusive from PolDaddy, it would be interesting to see the results in a year’s time to discover how opinions had changed. 8. Bibliography ARMSTRONG, Steven. (2001) Advertising On The Internet; How to Get Your Message Across On The World Wide Web. 2nd Edition. Wales. Kogan Page. CHEN, Wei, et al (2009) strategic Management: Undergraduate course of instruction in Service Sector Management. Essex. Pearson Education. DAVIS, John. (2009) Social Media; Marketing Magic or Madness. [online] 16 July.Article from Hotel Online; News for The hospitality Executive. farthermost accessed on 19 October 2009 at: www. hotelon line. com/News/PR2009_3rd/Jul09_SocialMediaMagic. html DELUZAIN BARRY, Susan. (2009) decade Reasons to habit Social Media for entree a Hotel. [online] June 2009. Article from Hotel Online; News for the cordial reception Executive. Last accessed on 19 October at: http://www. hotelonline. com/News/PR2009_2nd/Jun09_TenReasons. html EVANS, Liana. (2009) Your Social Media Content Must Be Valuable. [online. ] 9 November. Article from search engine watch. com.Last accessed on 10 November 2009 at: http://searchenginewatch. com/3635597 HOTELS. (2009) ‘Twend’: Social Media Evolving Into Social Marketing. [online] 30 November. Article from Hotels; The clipping of the Worldwide Hotel Industry. Last accessed on 5 December 2009 at: http://www. hotelsmag. com/article/409358_Twend_Social_Media_Evolving_Into_Social_Marketing. php? q=twend%3B+soci al+media+evolving+into+social+marketing HOTELWORLD (2010) Fairmont Launches Social Networking Website for Guests. [online] Last accessed o n 20 February 2010 at: http://www. hotelworldnetwork. om/social-networking/fairmont-launches-socialnetworking-website-guests-7305 19 | P a g e IBM (2009) IBM Social computer science Guidelines. [online] Last accessed on 8 January 2010 at: http://www. ibm. com/blogs/zz/en/guidelines. html KENNEDY, Doug. (2009) Hotel cordial reception tuition Tips For The Era Of Social Networking. [online] Hotel Online; News for the Hospitality Executive. 16 October. Last accessed 19 October 2009 at: http://www. hotelonline. com/News/PR2009_4th/Oct09_SocialTips. html KIRBY, Adam. (2009) The Greatest Twitter Hotel Service Story Yet. [online] 17 December.Article from Hotels; The powder store of the Worldwide Hotel Industry. Last accessed on 20 December 2009 at: http://www. hotelsmag. com/blog/Musings_Miscellany/29418The_Greatest_Twitter_Hotel_Service_Story_Yet. php KIRBY, Adam. (2010) MGM Grand Billboard Takes Twitter to Masses. [online] 4 January. Article from Hotels; The Magazine of the Worldwide Hotel Industry. Last accessed on 6 January 2010 at: http://www. hotelsmag. com/blog/Musings_Miscellany/29691MGM_Grand_Billboard_Takes_Twitter_To_Masses. php KOTLER, Philip, et al (2005) Principles of Marketing. th European Edition. Spain. Pearson Education. KOZINETS, Robert, V. (1999) E-Tribalized Marketing? ; The Strategic Implications Of Virtual Communities of Consumption. European Management Journal. 17 (3) 252â€264. MCLEAN, VA (2007) Report Predicts Dramatic Changes in Hotel Marketing Discipline as Result of Consumers apply of Social Media; The Cost to Use these Tools is down(p) and the Impact is High. [online] 4 September. Hotel Online; News for the Hospitality Executive. Last accessed on 19 October 2009 at: www. hotelonline. com/News/PR2007_3rd/Sept07_SocialMedia. tml MCLEAN, VA (2008) Changes in Communication, the Social Media Revolution, and Evolving look Engine Optimization Forcing Marketers to Rethink How They Market Destinations and Hotels; Recap HSMAI-CHA Conferenc e. [online] In Caribbean Sales & Marketing Strategy Conference, San Juan. 13-14 December. Hotel Online; News for the Hospitality Executive. Last accessed on 19 October 2009 at: www. hotelonline. com/News/PR2008_1st/Jan08_RecapCHA. html MIGUENS, J. , BAGGIO, R. , COSTA, C. (2008) Social Media and Tourism Destinations; TripAdvisor Case Study. Advances in Tourism Research 2008. Aveiro.Portugal 20 | P a g e PARSIPPANY, NJ. (2009) Introducing: CoMMingle Social Media Marketing Agency for Hospitality. [online] 21 September. Article from Hotel Online; News for the Hospitality Executive. Last accessed on 19 October at: http://www. hotelonline. com/News/PR2009_3rd/Sep09_CoMMingle. html POLLDADDY. (2009) The PollDaddy Platform. [online] Last accessed on 15th January at: http://polldaddy. com/about/ RAZA, Ivo. (2005) Heads In Beds; Hospitality & Tourism Marketing. 1st Edition. United States of America. Pearson Prentice Hall. SALERNO, Neil. (2009) What is Your Hotel’s Online Mar ket parcel? online] October 2009. Article from Hotel Online; News for the Hospitality Executive. Last accessed on 19 October 2009 at: http://www. hotelonline. com/News/PR2009_4th/Oct09_MarketShareOnline. html SAUGESTAD, Stephen. (2009) Social Media and the Hospitality Industry. [online] 23 September. Article from ehotelier. com; the one stop website for hoteliers. Last accessed on 19 October 2009 at: http://ehotelier. com/hospitalitynews/item. php? id=P17166_0_11_0_C SAUNDERS, Mark, LEWIS, Philip, THORNHILL, Adrian. (2007) Research Methods for Business Students. 4th Edition. Spain.Pearson Education. SCOTT, David M. (2009) The New Rules of Marketing & PR; How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, viral Marketing & Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly. Canada. John Wiley & Sons. SHOEMAKER, Stowe, LEWIS, Robert, C. (1999) client Loyalty; The Future Of Hospitality Marketing. Hospitality Management. 18. 345-370. Social Media Statistics. (2008) Twitter. [online] Last a ccessed on 20 January 2010 at: http://socialmediastatistics. wikidot. com/twitter STARKOV, Max, MECHOSO, Marina. (2010) 2010 Top Ten Internet Marketing Resolutions. [online] 4 January.Article from Hotels; The Magazine of the Worldwide Hotel Industry. Last accessed on 6 January 2010 at: http://www. hotelsmag. com/article/4424032010_Top_Ten_Internet_Marketing_Resolutions. php? rssid=20620=2010+top +ten+internet+marketing+resolutions TIKKANEN, Henrikki, et al (2009) Exploring virtual worlds: success factors in virtual world marketing. Management Decision. 47 (8) 1357-1381. TIG GLOBAL (2009) why All Travel Pros Must Use Social Media. [online] 17 November. Article from Hotels; The Magazine of the Worldwide Hotel Industry. 21 | P a g e Last accessed 18 November 2009 at:\r\n'

'John Updike’s a ; P Man vs. Society Conflict\r'

'A ;type A; P Conflict Sammy vs. the Sheep There ar many a(prenominal) different opinions and views as to what is right or wrong. Society has developed a bill as to how an individual should act or portray themselves. In reality the volume of public comply with this policy. They prefer to be average and mundane. A literary summary of John Updike’s A ;type A; P will show how the principal(prenominal) character chooses to rebel against this social regularise An ordinary solar day at convey can change the rest of your life. The degree is told in the third person spot of view. The setting is a petite and demode townspeople that sits just North of Boston.In this popular town is a typical marketplace store labeled A ;amp; P. The store sits in the middle of town on Central Street, looking for place of the doors two banks, three real-estate offices, a theme store and the Congregational church are all in view. Bright light lighting, organized aisles, and effected set ting see the atmosphere. The main character is Sammy who is an employee at A ;amp; P and dislikes his job. He is an adolescent, who resides with his parents and enjoys do them proud. Sammy does not enjoy the customers and their boring personas.He states, â€Å"I bet you could set off dynamite in an A ;amp; P and the people would by and large honour reaching and checking oatmeal off their lists and muttering, permit me see, there was a third thing, began with an A asparagus, no applesauce” (Updike para. 5). The customers Sammy deals with are insensible and arrogant. Except three good looking girls who come into the store less dressed to the nines(p) then others, Sammy relates to them and chooses to defend them. Sammy is faced with the appointment of man vs. indian lodge. Throughout the story Sammy struggles with the customers at his job.This battle first presents itself, while he is ringing up a patronizing, private lady who is al manners pointing out his mistakes. He then notices a lady overbearing at the girls because of them being dressed in beach attire. McMahon, a meat return employee, began patting his mouth and sizing up the girls’ joints by and by they asked for his assistance with something. Sammy begins to sympathize with the girls. â€Å"Poor kids, I began to feel sorry for them, they couldn’t servicing it,” he says (Updike para. 10). Ultimately, Lengal, his manager, approaches the girls and informs them of how inappropriate their garments are.Sammy is furious with the stylus Lengal humiliates the girls. Sammy defends the girls, and stands up to Lengal. As an end core he quits his job as a direct effect of the way Lengal treated the girls. Sammy is hopeful that the girls will allow his chivalry and wait for him after he resigns, but they do not. Nevertheless, as he steps outside a persuasion of accomplishment is present, although he knows how much more(prenominal) difficult his life is going to be. The tr anslation of â€Å"sheep” in this sense is a conventional person, a traditionalist. During the story, Sammy refers to the customers as sheep several times.Referencing society to sheep symbolizes the fashion in which they flock together. instead of having their own beliefs and judgment of the girls, they follow the policy that society has already created for them. Like sheep who do not journey out on their own. They abide by the structure already formed, never breaking the cycle. While Lengal scolds the girls, Sammy describes â€Å" every last(predicate) this while, the customers had been showing up with their carts but, you know, sheep, seeing a scene, they had all bunch up on Stokesie, who shook open a publisher bag as gently as peeling a peach, not wanting to miss a word” (Updike para. 1). In closing, Sammy stood up for what he believed was the right. He disagreed with the preconceive attitude others in the story had toward the girls. He knew that quitting his job would upset his parents terribly, but to him it was deserving it. He took a stand that day that changed his life forever. Even though the girls were bygone after he quit, he tranquil has the satisfaction that he did what was honorable. Sammy can real say that he is not a follower, he is not a sheep. kit and caboodle Cited Updike, John. â€Å"A ;amp; P. ” Blair Reader. September 14, 2011.\r\n'

'Quain Lawn and Garden, Inc. Case Analysis Essay\r'

'After a false retirement Bill and Jeanne Quain established their destined action in the ground and shrub business. The need for a high-quality mer laughingstocktile fertiliser prompted the innovation of a mix fertilizer c exclusivelyed â€Å"Quain-Grow”. Working with chemists at Rutgers University, a mixture was constructed from four compounds, C-30, C-92, D-21 and E-11.\r\nSpecifications (i.e modestys) for the mixture demanded that chemic E-11 essential construct for at least 15% of the intermix, C-92 and C-30 mustiness together constitute at least 45% of the blend, and D-21 and C-92 female genital organ together constitute no more than 30% of the blend. Lastly, Quain-Grow is packaged and sold in 50-pound bags.\r\nThe aim of this psychoanalysis is to determine what blend of the four chemicals will allow Quain to minify the cost of a 50-lb bag of the fertilizer. To do this we have apply Linear computer programing (LP) †a technique specifically knowing t o help managers make decisions relative to the apportionment of resources. In this case, C-30 = , C-92 = , D-21 = , and E-11 = . The constraints for this case were translated into linear equations (i.e. inequalities) to mathematically express their meaning. The first constraint that C-11 must constitute for at least 15% of the blend jakes be evince as: . The spot constraint that C-92 and C-30 must together constitute at least 45% of the blend can be expressed as: . The third constraint that D-21 and C-92 can together constitute no more than 30% of the blend can be expressed as: . Lastly, the quarter constraint is that Quain-Grow is packaged and sold in 50-lb bags can be expressed as: . These equations were obtained and entered into a POM LP as a minimizing function. The objective function of this case was compute and expressed as .\r\nThese results show that we can recommend the following ratios of C-30, C-92, D-21 and E-11 respectively so that the cost of a 50-lb bag of ferti lizer is minimized: 7.5 lbs, 15 lbs, 0 lbs and 27.5 lbs. In checking to see if these align with the given restraints we frame the following to be true; ; ; and . The very cost result of this minimization analysis was calculated to be $3.35 per 50 lb bag of fertilizer. The equation for this result is as follows: . Additionally, we performed a sensitivity analysis to abide how much our recommendation may transmute if there ar flip-flops in the variables or stimulus data. This type of analysis is similarly called post bestity analysis. There are two approaches to ascertain just how sensitive an optimal radical is to changes: (1) a trial-and-error approach and (2) the uninflected postoptimality method. In this case analysis we use the analytic postoptimality method.\r\nAfter we had solved the LP problem, we used the POM software to determine a flap of changes in problem parameters that would not affect the optimal solution or change the variables in the solution. While util ize the schooling in the sensitivity report, it is tending(p) to assume the consideration of a change to only a single input data repute at a time. This is because the sensitivity information does not generally apply to simultaneous changes in some(prenominal) input data values. Our main objective when performing this analysis was to obtain a shadow determine (or ternary value) †the value of one additional unit of a scarce resource in LP. In any scenario, the shadow price is effectual as long as the right side of the constraint stays in a flap within which all current corner points continue to exist.\r\nThe information to compute the f number and lower limits of this honk is given by the entries labeled deductible Increase and Allowable Decrease in the sensitivity report. Our results from the sensitivity analysis were produced in two parts. The first shows the impact of changing the objective function coefficients on the optimal solution and gives the range of va lues (lower and upper bound) for which the optimal solution remains unchanged. The second part of the report shows the impact of changing the R.H.S of the constraints of the objective function value, with the help of multiple Value (Shadow Price), with the lower and upper leap for which the shadow price is valid.\r\nLastly, these results explain that the price of C-30 can vary within the range of .09 to Infinity without affecting the optimal solution. overly the range for C-92 is among â€Infinity and .12, the range for D-21 is among 15 and 42.5, and the range for E-11 is amongst 30 and Infinity. The second part of this sensitivity analysis show the ranges for which the shadow prices are valid. Constraint 1 has a dual value of 0 and is valid amidst â€Infinity and 27.5. Constraint 2 has a dual value of -.08 and is valid amongst 15 and 42.5. Constraint 3 has a dual value of .03 and is valid between 0 and 22.5. Finally, Constraint 4 has a dual value of -.04 and is valid be tween 30 and Infinity.\r\n'

'Inventory Management Essay\r'

'Inventory is the quantity or total amount of goods and materials in a store or factory for few immediate or some hereafter use up. The reasons for holding more than sufficient stocks of catalogue would be\r\n1. to keep business operations running and to bear on current orders\r\n2. to act unforeseen lead and to in effect meet customer orders\r\n3. to take care of the fill time , ie , the time rift between ordering the stores and receiving them and place orders therefore\r\n4. to use as a hem in against price increases and inflation and determine losings\r\n5. to even out erratic demand requirements.\r\nInventory understand or stock management is an attempt to maintain an adequate supply of goods duration minimizing blood be resulting from obtaining and holding history with the purpose of providing training to â€Å"efficiently manage the flow of materials, effectively utilize people and equipment, coordinate natural activities and comm unicate with the customers.” .\r\n Some of the terminologies related to inventory management are\r\nEOQ-Economic Order beat †or how much to order\r\n natural rubber STOCKS- how much inventory to hold on hand\r\nREORDER LEVEL †the borderline levels of stocks at which new order for stocks is to be placed.\r\nVisual control â€enables the theater director to testify the inventory visually and determine if more inventory is required.\r\nTickler control -enables the manager to physically count a weeny portion of the inventory each daytime so as to c everyplace the whole range of inventory regularly over several days.\r\nClick sheet control is a method whereby the manager records the concomitant as it is used on a sheet of paper. This entropy is used while determining the reorder levels.\r\n Stub control (used by retailers) enables the manager to retain a portion of the price ticket when the gunpoint is sold. The manager can then use the stub to record the p ointedness.\r\nPoint-of-sale terminals communicate instruction on each item used or sold. The manager receives information printouts at regular intervals for review and action. off-line point-of-sale terminals relay information direct to the supplier’s computer who uses the information to ship additional items automatically to the purchaser/inventory manager.\r\nThe final method for inventory control is done by an outside agency. A producer’s translator visits the large retailer on a scheduled basis, takes the stock count and writes the reorder. undesirable merchandise is removed from stock and returned to the manufacturer through a predetermined, authorized procedure.\r\n'

'What does Eliza consider to be her real education\r'

'The look is an adaptation of the Greek myth of Pygmalion who venomous in love with a statue as it was much real in the intellect of its own composition than the actual women he had observed and grown despondent to. It is a work that closely follows the tattleship surrounded by confederation and linguistics, wherein the women is real, but has yet to founder her manners sculptured. In particular, it highlights the role of practice and articulation in relation to identities, depict this through the subject of Eliza.In this paper the pen will be addressing the subject of the piddle away and its central character, whilst examining the effects that information the quarrel of, what was considered, correct English had on her. important Body When stolon completing the text, it is wrap up that there is an irony in the function that brings forth the now famed kind and political points to the surface. How constantly, iodine may be forgiven for considering these points releva nt in today’s society, though in a more fractured sense. This is beca usance they relate to speech and phrase use in relation to genial standing.// Although cordial standing in today’s liberal society is becoming an ever more redundant concept, using some bingle’s speech as an feature of some 1‘s identity operator is so far in evidence. This nonion is app arent in the main plot line in which Eliza be becomes entrapped to the perspective of a rising speech system. When adopting the role of the discourseer, Eliza adopts a slowly differing identity that emerges with child like astonishment in the first place she flips into what is essenti bothy a different somebody. It does not continue to be a liberating and learning experience.Rather, the liberation of a woman concealing behind the veil of civility in a bid to expose it, perhaps showing the power of the human animation over socio-economic class in the process, is lost. That is to say, that on utterance the language through the principles of class Eliza loses sight of the populace through her originator eyes and comes to view it through her new language that cannot be passing waterd. Essentially, it is through this change in persona that the symbolise delivers its honorable warning and cutting implication in that the core of the human cosmos cannot escape from the language that it uses to identify itself with.The language and convention used by those of high society is responsible for each of their perspectives and it is not the person or people‘s speaking the language. Essentially, if you are to change the person’s language, language use and perspective whence they themselves will come to define themselves and their be according to the structural intending constitutive(a) to the language that is used by that society. This is indicated passim Eliza’s discussions and becomes the main rationale for all that she does.For example, in one pa rt of the play she states that ‘’you know I cant go stomach to the gutter, as you call it, and that I switch no real friends in the world but you and the Colonel’’ (Shaw, 1998). This short extract shows the majuscule division based upon the language being used and the fact that it is represented by a social reality, in this exercise being social standing. What is interesting about(predicate) the use of language in relation to others is the way in which Eliza is accepted and jilted at different times during the play.For example, it first appears that Eliza is rejected from society as her language does not denote the correct social grouping, stock and/ or class. This is first reassert as being because of her use of language, show and the incorrect convention. However, it appears on later yarn that the convention is of little consequence as she uses the selfsame(prenominal) convention, but put to a different context. Rather, it is the response from others alone that profess it something of note.At one point during the play she makes the boldness that speaking properly ( centre without a cockney accent) is plain learning to terpsichore in a mouldable way, which accentuates this point level off further. Essentially, the assertion that she puts forward here relates to the fruition of the superficiality of language in its conventional format as both languages mean exactly the same thing from a pragmatic perspective.At this stage she is learning the meaning of language and the convention of getting from one thing to another via language use. She realises that the and difference is a superficial one as the functional meaning (cause and effect) is the same whichever language is spoken. Essentially, the only different in the language is the significance of the reference book of referents, which dictate a different context to convention.Therefore, her cobblers last is that it is merely a state of fashion in which the dancer d ances the same, but where one dancer adopts the fashionable style, the other is overlooked as being able to dance (Baudrillard, 1968). This conclusion relates to the elements of high society that come with the speakers of proper English and that are not afforded to those of a poorer language, such as cockney. Those that do not speak the language are simply those that do not speak of anything meaningful, when in reality there is simply a clash over the source of referential meaning.\r\n'

'Manage Resistance to Change Proactively Essay\r'

'Register for this journal is acquir fit at http://www. emeraldinsight. com/researchregister The current issue and sound text archive of this journal is accessible at http://www. emeraldinsight. com/0262-1711. htm Managing mixture using a strategicalal plan metamorphose set about Earnest Friday Management in the College of byplay Administration, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USA, and Managing form 863 Received October 2002 rewrite February 2003 Accepted February 2003 Shawnta S. Friday\r\nSchool of Business and patience at Florida A&M University, T from each oneahassee, Florida, USA Keywords revolution trouble, Strategic caution, h octeten counselling Abstract Many arrangements break implemented discordant types of initiatives at bottom the ratiocination few decades in an effort to recognize with motley. A possible missing vinculum (link) mingled with how an scheme preserves with innovation and its impact on the bottomline is a in mergedd variation schema that is execute using a mean seevert court to systemic in altogethery be boast re innateal.\r\n piece legion(predicate) organisations nonplus implemented a incarnate revolution scheme, most dedicate non utilise a â€Å"plotted switch over- corporate variety repoint system”. The lack of a â€Å" be after flip-corporate assortment dodge” is kind of a app atomic number 18nt to inhibit managing regeneration from suit equal systemic to an giving medication’s ending and its carriage of doing vexation, thus tending to interdict the emf bene? ts of form to be maximised.\r\nHence, this rude(a)sprint offers a mannikin for using a â€Å" aforethought(ip) dislodge-corporate renewal schema” to: uphold on the â€Å" mutation toytinuum” starting with acknowledging to valuing, and eventually to managing salmagundi; and systemically managing regeneration using a eight- spirit â€Å"managi ng smorgasbord dish”. Introduction all over the past few decades, academicians, practiti whiz and totally(a)rs and giving medicational researchers beat recognized that smorgasbord is a phenomenon that has a wide array of affects at heart the workplace, and hostel in general (Ko at once, 2001; Stark, 2001; Williams and O’Reilly, 1997).\r\nIn this report, miscellany refers to any attri fur in that location that happens to be salient to an item-by-item that get ats him/her perceive that he/she is contrastive from an new(prenominal) separate (Williams and O’Reilly, 1997). almost widely hireed distinguish openiating at subsidys overwhelm racioethnicity (which encompasses race and ethnicity), sex activity, nationality, religion, service open expertise, and age. Even though racioethnic and gender variety show tend to bugger off the majority of the oversight in the system of rulesal variety literature (Stark, 2001; Williams and O’Reil ly, 1997), this de? ition allows for the exemplars offered to be applied to any type of governing bodyal mixture salient to members. Diversity programs look been implemented in many international giving medications, primarily, in an effort to improve works relationships Journal of Management Development Vol. 22 No. 10, 2003 pp. 863-880 q MCB UP Limited 0262-1711 inside 10. 1108/02621710310505467 JMD 22,10 864 surrounded by white males, whose sex act numbers racket insure to decrease, and demographically dis akin soulfulnesss, whose numbers continue to increase in the workplace (Friedman and DiTomaso, 1996).\r\n turn many multinational establishments save a corporate variation dodge, most take non implemented it using the suggested be after changed court posited in this paper. disposed(p) the increase â€Å"war for talent” in directly’s competitive, global telephone line environment, it is dictatorial that the motion and evaluation of a corpora te conversion dodging use a be after changed woo to non neertheless ac association and regain transition, but to to a fault systemically eliminate and inculcate miscellany into an governing’s corporate furyivation.\r\nThis type of arise jackpot contribute immensely to an institution’s energy to use all of its gentle capital as a strategic means to brighten and hold on a competitive wages in today’s high-powered, global market (Richard, 2000). It has been purported that if variety show go off be in effect managed in an placement, approximately electromotive force bene? ts to the validation include great creativity and innovation, and improve decision-making (Cox, 1991).\r\nConversely, if variety show is non managed efficaciously, some potential major costs to the establishment include, at a minimum, breakdowns in communication, interpersonal con? ict, and higher turnover (Cox, 1991). darn in that view may not be more(prenom inal) than empirical narrate to substantiate claims that in effect managed renewal directly leads to bottomline increases (Chatman et al. , 1998; Richard, 2000; Stark, 2001), in that location is real-world evidence (e. g.\r\nCoca-Cola, Denny’s, Publix, and Texaco settlements) to suggest that not efficaciously managing gender and racioethnic variation has been, and can be, detrimental to government activitys and their bottomlines. Thus, it is a logical extrapolation that an institution’s world power or inability to create a goal in which motley is systemically acknowledged, valued, and stiffly managed is more likely to determine the affects renewal forget name on it’s bottomline.\r\nMany compositions puddle implemented various variety initiatives as a divorce of their corporate motley scheme (Koonce, 2001), but most have not apply a think change approach to strategically align their initiatives with their long-term objectives and strategic p ositioning. It is exceedingly probable that this lack of plan strategic alignment contributes immensely to the purported ineffectualness of many mixture initiatives (Stark, 2001). Consequently, an makeup that seeks to maximize the potential bene? s of change should prink a â€Å" intend change-corporate renewal strategy” prior to implementing variety show initiatives. The purpose of the planned change-corporate innovation strategy is to align the transcription’s variation initiatives (designed to manage novelty) with the brass section’s strategic goals, and ultimately shop managing renewing an integral part of the make-up’s refinement. An aligned planned change-corporate form strategy give contribute immensely to the long-term effectiveness of variation initiatives aimed at better managing all of he system’s human resources. This is especially signi? bank building for constitutions with a highly diversi? ed workforce. With a planned change-corporate assortment strategy, sort initiatives atomic number 18 aligned with organisational policies, procedures, and systems. Such alignment is want to systemically reinforce an organisational furorure that encourages the effective caution of all employees in severalise to garner diversity’s purported bene? ts, including the end goal of increasing the bottomline.\r\nThus, frameworks argon presented for using a planned change-corporate diversity strategy to: advance from the initial peaceable tells of acknowledging and valuing diversity to the ? nal wide awake accede of managing diversity on the â€Å"diversity continuum”; and systemically manage diversity using the speci? c eight- pure tone â€Å"managing diversity change”. The diversity continuum and the planned change approach Valuing diversity and managing diversity as trenchant phenomena Over the dying few decades, a myriad of articles have been written on the subjects of va luing diversity and managing diversity (Wanguri, 1996).\r\nIn some cases, valuing diversity and managing diversity have been considered, and sometimes used, interchangeable when, in fact, they be twain distinguishable phenomena (Jenner, 1994). By the very record of their de? nitions, valuing and managing diversity argon distinctly different. Valuing refers to the relation back worth, immenseness, or signi? cance of something, w presentas managing refers to taking charge or coordinating and supervising situations. effrontery these de? nitions, valuing diversity should be considered a more motionless phenomenon, where importance or signi? ance is granted to man-to-mans’ differences, which does not automatically lead to visible actions or reactions on the part of the individuals valuing the diversity or differences. Managing diversity, on the new(prenominal) hand, should be considered an active agent phenomenon, which involves supervising or coordinating and perple xityal the diversity or differences individuals bring to the governance to go with the cheek’s strategic goals argon macrocosm experty and effectively met. In other words, it refers to roaringly organizing the organisational inputs of individuals with divers(a) backgrounds.\r\nThis de? nition is consistent with the managing diversity de? nition given by Thomas’ (1991): â€Å"a ‘ federal agency of thinking’ toward the objective of creating an environment that provide enable all employees to take their full potential in pursuit of organisational objectives”. The diversity continuum As a payoff of the confusion in the literature between the two phenomena, valuing diversity and managing diversity, it is not dif? cult to understand why consensus does not d easy on the claims of bottomline bene? s as a result of the attempts agreements have made to value and/or manage diversity. In assenting to the confusion, lack of consensus could alike b e a juncture of the Managing diversity 865 JMD 22,10 866 complexity of the diversity concept in the organisational context. devoted the complexity of diversity inside an organisational ambit, it is possible that perceiving it in terms of a set of three elements that follows what to do with diversity may serve to simplify or clarify the confusion in the diversity literature.\r\nTherefore, a diversity continuum is offered to guide researchers and practiti acers in moving from the more passive distinguishs of acknowledging diversity and valuing diversity, on done to the more active state of managing diversity. As individuals ? nd themselves in situations with several(prenominal)(a) individuals, they atomic number 18 likely to direct nonp aril of two courses of action: evacuate dealing with the diversity, or recognize that the diversity represents. In the case where individuals avoid diversity, they do not face the fact that diversity is an issue.\r\nIt is likely that thes e individuals do not accept the idea that they are likely to be biased in their interactions with others that they perceive to be different from themselves. Although avoiding diversity is viewed as a possible response to diversity, it is not include in the diversity continuum. The diversity continuum is ground on the assumption that individuals take the split second course of action and recognize diversity. formerly diversity is recognized, as previously verbalize, the diversity continuum serves as a framework to delineate the three potential states of dealing with diversity: acknowledging, valuing, and managing diversity.\r\nThe three nonparallel circumstancess of the diversity continuum are: acknowledging diversity; valuing diversity; and managing diversity (see meet 1). Acknowledging diversity, the ? rst component, refers to recognizing the existence of diversity or the individual differences individuals bring with them to a particular fit. In order for individuals to tr uly acknowledge diversity, they moldiness(prenominal) be exposed to it, determine it, larn knowledge about it, and they must(prenominal) create an intellect of diversity. The second component of the diversity continuum is valuing diversity. Valuing diversity, as de? ed above, refers to the signi? cance or importance existence given to the diversity or differences individuals bring with them to a particular setting. Having an cargo deck for, as sound as value for, the differences that diverse individuals bring with them to the work setting can lead to the last component. The last component of the diversity continuum is managing diversity. As stated above, managing diversity refers to the planning, organizing, leading of individuals with differences or diversity in a particular setting, much(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal) that their inputs are used to fulfil the institution’s strategic goals.\r\nEven in racioethnically homogeneous organizationa l settings, organizations make oversized investments to retard an captivate organizational culture is fostered. An appropriate organizational culture is desirous, such that individuals are systemically managed to perform and chance on its goals, not proficient hoping that their performance forget someways lead to the deed of the organizations’ desire goals. Thus, convertible systemic efforts are incumbent in order to manage Managing diversity 867 go in 1. The strategic management process emographically diverse individuals such that the organization can gain the maximum synergistic bene? ts from their contributions as well. The planned change approach Rather than universe reactive and waiting for a â€Å"diversity crisis” to take place in the beginning a change is made (i. e. Coca-Cola, Denny’s, Publix, and Texaco settlements), an organization should be proactive in systemically Managing Diversity. Hence, an organization and its members should make t he inevitable changes to proactively cause from moreover cave in for the ? rst act of acknowledging diversity to the ? al stage of managing diversity. The Lewin-Schein change exemplar is offered as the abstractive framework to proactively and systemically facilitate the management of diversity in organizations. This planned change fabric is found on the premise that the organizational forces propelling change must subordinate the forces resisting change for highly effective change to occur. Therefore, it is posited in this paper that the Lewin-Schein change model is a framework that can tending organizations and individuals in moving through the sequential elements of the diversity continuum.\r\nIt is also posited that this model can be applicable at JMD 22,10 868 both(prenominal) the organizational and individual train for managing diversity. While all(prenominal)en and Montgomery (2001) offered the Lewin-Schein change model as a framework for creating diversity, the model is offered in this paper as a framework for Managing Diversity. The Lewin-Schein change model involves three stages: unfreezing, change (moving), and refreezing (Lewin, 1951; Schein, 1992). For the organization or individual to finger successful change, the three stages need to be addressed in succession.\r\nUnfreezing using a planned change-corporate diversity strategy In the unfreezing stage, the organization’s or individual’s present culture (which includes perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors) toward diversity, unavoidably to be unfrozen. This means at that place necessarily to be enough motivation within the organization or individual to compulsion to change from its present state to the new want state. Thus, in moving from one end of the diversity continuum to the other end, with managing diversity being the coveted outcome, management must desire that its members move from beneficial acknowledging and valuing diversity to managing diversity.\r\nAs presented previously, managing diversity refers to systemically organizing and directing the inputs of all organizational members (including diverse individuals) to watch the organization’s strategic goals are met. Likewise, the individual must want to move from just acknowledging and/or valuing diversity to the ? nal phase of managing diversity. At the individual direct, this movement involves governing one’s actions toward diverse individuals in a way that allows for goodly, productive interaction with those diverse others.\r\nTherefore, to unfreeze the organization’s culture and its members’ current state of mind toward diversity, a planned change-corporate diversity strategy should be devised and aligned with the organization’s strategic positioning to reduce the forces that are s develop to maintain the status quo (Dobbs, 1998). A ? rm’s strategic positioning The strategic management process is employed by many organizations in or der to distinguish themselves from their competitors in the marketplace (David, 2001; Porter, 1985; Steiner, 1997). Although there are several schools of thought in the strategic management ? ld, the generally accepted components of the strategic management process are: strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and strategy evaluation as explained in grade 2 (David, 2001; hummock and Jones, 1998). dodge formulation is comprised of under break-danceed or reviewing the organization’s mission, vision, and long-term goals; conducting internal and outside(a) judgings to identify the organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT); setting tell apartion criteria and selecting the strategies that pass on afford the organization the best strategic positioning relative to its competitors (David, 2001; Steiner, 1997).\r\nStrategy implementation entails allocating the appropriate resources to ensure the Managing diversity 869 Figure 2. The thre e levels of organizational strategy selected strategies are the right way executed (David, 2001; Steiner, 1997). Strategy evaluation involves setting direct processes to straightly review, evaluate, and provide feedback concerning the implemented strategies to determine if the desired results are being accomplished, such that corrective measures may be interpreted if warranted ( pile and Jones, 1998; Steiner, 1997). As illustrated in Figure 3, there are usually three levels of strategy associated with large-scale organizations.\r\nThe corporate level strategy de? nes the organization’s purpose and the lines of businesses in which it plans to operate, thereby providing the overarching direction for the organization. If an organization only operates in one line of business, its corporate level strategy and business level strategy are effectively one in the same (David, 2001; Hill and Jones, 1998). A business level strategy is the draft that should enable an organization to leverage its resources in order to differentiate itself from the competition within a particular line of business (David, 2001; Hill and Jones, 1998).\r\nThe functional-level strategies serve to reassert the organization’s business-level strategy by providing direction for the appropriate short-term activities required by each functional area to meet the goals established in the business-level strategy (David, 2001; Hill and Jones, 1998). Consequently, having properly aligned corporate, business, and functional level strategies countenance an organization in its efforts to accomplish its goals, thereby strategically positioning itself to successfully struggle within the marketplace (David, 2001; Hill and Jones, 1998; Porter, 1985).\r\nCombining highly differentiated and ef? cient human capital with clearly delineated corporate, business, and functional level strategies can prove to be a competitive advantage for an organization (Barney, 1991, 1997; Wright et al. , 1995). A n organization must view strategies for developing and managing its employees JMD 22,10 870 Figure 3. Alignment between corporate strategy and planned change-corporate diversity strategy as a part of its overarching corporate level strategy if it desires to have highly differentiated and ef? ient human capital in today’s competitive, global environment. Therefore, one argument of this paper is that any organization seeking to realize the maximum bene? t from having a diversi? ed workforce should have a planned change-corporate diversity strategy that is aligned with the organization’s general strategic positioning. Developing a planned change-corporate diversity strategy The organization â€Å" wish to create an environment that enables all employees to reach their full potential go forth have to . . . change organizational practices as necessity” (Thomas, 1991).\r\nHowever, prior to changing any organizational practice, a blanket(prenominal) strategy for ho w to accomplish that change should be devised based on an in-depth understanding of relevant organizational dynamics (i. e. culture, structure, ? nancial position, strategic initiatives, etc). Theoretically, a strategy should bring in the structure of an organization. Consequently, a planned change-corporate diversity strategy should be devised to align with the organization’s corporate strategy before structuring diversity initiatives (as illustrated in Figure 4), and strengthen using a planned change approach.\r\nOrganizations that have elevated their diversity strategian to executive-level management are likely to have an overarching corporate diversity strategy in place. But, it is not as likely that the diversity strategist is using a corporate-wide planned change approach to systemically reinforce the proposed changes in the corporate diversity strategy end-to-end all of the Managing diversity 871 Figure 4. The diversity continuum organization’s policies, pro cedures, and systems.\r\nRegardless of whether an organization has a corporate diversity strategy or not, it may be inevitable to superimpose a planned change-corporate diversity strategy over alive fragmented diversity strategies and initiatives. At the onset of such an endeavor or superimposition, corporate diversity mission statement, vision, and goals must be formulate to phrase the purpose diversity initiatives will serve within the organization and the desired outcomes to be achieved from such initiatives. The delineated desired outcome should be designed to systemically manage diversity.\r\nConducting internal and out-of-door assessments are requirement stairs in devising a planned change-corporate diversity strategy. An internal assessment will allow the diversity strategist to decide how to position diversity strategies and initiatives within the organization’s structure, and to align them with all of the organization’s policies, procedures, and systems . To assess the external environment, the diversity strategist should use environmental scanning tools to extract best practices based on benchmarked diversity strategies and initiatives at other leading organizations.\r\nThrough the internal assessment, the diversity strategist should require intimately beaten(prenominal) with the organization’s values, vision, mission, strategies, goals, and initiatives, all of which effect a sound basis for understanding the organization’s culture, policies, procedures, systems, and boilers suit strategic positioning. The diversity strategist must suffer equally well-known(prenominal) with the bene? ts and shortfalls of various diversity initiatives.\r\nThe strategist must conduct an compend to determine the most appropriate linkages between the organization’s overall strategic positioning, policies, procedures, systems, and its diversity initiatives. Before proceeding, the diversity strategist must recognize and effec tively articulate a clear strategic ? t and alignment amongst the organization’s overall strategic positioning, policies, procedures, systems, JMD 22,10 872 and diversity. Both strategic ? t and strategic alignment are necessary to strengthen the business case for allocating resources to support the planned change-corporate diversity strategy.\r\nIn order to realize the maximum bene? ts from diversity, the planned change-corporate diversity strategy postulate to be properly executed, evaluated and refrozen to ensure that the stated goals are being met, and that the organization’s culture and members are moving toward and sustaining the desired state of systemically managing diversity. wretched to systemically managing diversity Once the present state is unfrozen, the move that will allow the organization’s culture and members to advance to the desired state should be put in place.\r\nIn this case, the move is to culturally reengineer the organization and its members to the trustworthy state of managing diversity by implementing the managing diversity process. The hearty acquire possibleness (Bandura, 1977) is offered as the theoretical framework for the managing diversity process. It has also been offered as the theoretical framework for developing training programs in the cross-cultural and expatriate literature (Black and Mendenhall, 1989; Harrison, 1994). There are four major tenets of social reading theory: motivation, attention, retention, and reproduction (Bandura, 1977).\r\nThese tenets are re? ected in the eight go of the managing diversity process. In an effort to truly manage diversity, a change in the attitudes and behaviors of individuals, and in organizations’ systemic and institutional ways of doing business is required. Therefore, it is posited that utilizing the tenets of social discipline theory can assistant in the acquisition of the learning that is necessary for organizations to maximize the inputs of all of its diverse members. The planned change-corporate diversity strategy serves as the motivation for the learning of new behaviors and attitudes.\r\nHence, once the planned change-corporate diversity strategy is articulated, the move through the eight steps of the managing diversity process should be instituted to assist individuals and organizations in culturally reengineering and moving to the desired state of managing diversity. The eight sequential steps of the managing diversity process include: (1) exposure; (2) experience; (3) knowledge; (4) understanding; (5) appreciate; (6) respect; (7) modify attitudes and behavior; and (8) healthy interaction.\r\nAll of these are undergirded by tolerance (see Figure 5). The acknowledging diversity component of the diversity continuum is imperturbable of steps (1)-(4), and they re? ect the â€Å"attention tenet” of social learning theory. The valuing diversity component of the diversity continuum is comprised of steps (5) and (6), and is re? ective of the â€Å"retention tenet” of social learning theory. Steps (7) and (8) constitute the managing diversity component of the diversity continuum and the â€Å"reproduction tenet” of social learning theory.\r\nThe movement through each of the eight steps requires individuals to progressively develop appropriate skills to enable them to manage how they deal with individuals whom they consider different from themselves. Therefore, executing the eight steps in the managing diversity process serve as the necessary movement required to progress from acknowledging and valuing diversity to managing diversity. The true movement through the eight steps from acknowledging diversity to managing diversity is a prototype diversify, in that it entails a change in the treatment of diverse individuals (Fitzpatrick, 1997).\r\nManaging diversity 873 Diversity training In order for an organization to realize the potential bene? ts that can be afforded by employi ng diverse individuals, there demand to be a paradigm shift in which the inputs of diverse individuals are systemically managed within an organization to enable the successful accomplishment of its strategic goals. Training of individuals is viewed as a necessary tool to facilitate the organization in achieving its goals. Diversity training should be viewed no differently than any other type of training in which an organization invests.\r\nTherefore, it should also be viewed as a necessary tool to manage members’ behaviors and their ability to work productively with diverse individuals. aft(prenominal) canvassing the literature, it has been noted that most diversity training programs merely raise individuals’ sentiency of or sensitivity to diversity (Grubb, 1995; Jenner, 1994). Some few diversity training programs go as far as attempting to change individuals’ perceptions of diversity and how they communicate with people different from themselves (Grubb, 199 5).\r\nHowever, these programs tend to be offered to only select employees, and they tend to be short in duration, ranging from a one-hour session to a serial publication of one-day sessions several times a form (Koonce, 2001). The major drawbacks to most existing diversity training programs are that: . they do not build skills to facilitate individuals’ ability to very manage their interactions with individuals different from themselves; . they are not rigorous nor time-intensive enough to create a paradigm shift in individuals’ treatment toward individuals different from themselves; and\r\nJMD 22,10 874 Figure 5. The continuous managing diversity process . there are no enduring livelihood mechanisms embedded in the organization’s culture to ensure all individuals’ inputs are successfully managed to met the organization’s strategic goals. Managing diversity As a result, most (if not all) existing diversity programs have not been successful in c reating enduring change in the way individuals interact with individuals different from themselves, nor have they been successful in changing their organization’s culture to one that systemically manages diversity.\r\nIn order to create enduring change in individuals and the organization’s culture, members of the organization at all levels need to get in in diversity training that encapsulates the comprehensive managing diversity process. The outcomes that should be expected from participation include, but are not limit to, skill building in the future tense(a) areas: the ability to clearly articulate their ideas and feelings; con? ict management skills; effective giving and receiving of feedback; effective listening; sort out observation skills; and group decision-making skills, all of which will facilitate modi? d attitudes and behaviors, and healthy interaction with diverse individuals. Individuals have to come to grips with their feelings, thoughts, attitudes , and behaviors toward diversity and others with whom they are different. In the ? rst step of Exposure, individuals provide public receipt of where they are at that point. They do this by: laying open who they are; divulging where they are; unmasking themselves; and receiving others’ culture. Step (2), experience, involves gathering information through personal involvement, encountering, seeing ? rst-hand, and life through events.\r\nIn the third step of cognition, individuals become well informed, thus able to be conversant because they become familiar or acquainted with the culture of others. Knowledge serves as the basis for step (4), understanding. Because of their scope of cultural realities, individuals are able to encompass (understanding) relevant cultural dynamics, which leads them to be sensitive, and enables them to parcel unique insights and perceptions. In step (5), appreciate, individuals’ bankers acceptance of the worth of a person’s cultur e and values makes it easier for them to welcome and â€Å" right” estimate diverse individuals.\r\nResultantly, individuals are able to respect (step (6)) diverse individuals; thus, they are able to pay attention, pay deference, and pay tribute to the values, worth, and culture of diverse others, as well as give personal reflexion to the diverse individuals. Successful movement through the ? rst six steps, along with tolerance underpinning each step, should lead to modi? cations in individuals’ attitudes and behaviors toward diverse individuals, which is step (7), modify attitudes and behaviors.\r\nThis change in attitudes and behaviors, again, along with tolerance should lead to healthy interaction (step (8)) with and amongst diverse individuals. Step (8) is a function of continuous acceptance and execution of steps (1)-(7). Therefore, this is a ? uid (not static) process that must be recognized for its ever-changing and 875 JMD 22,10 876 evolving character. The req uirements for successful execution of the managing diversity process are laborious and time intensive because it requires individuals to modify their attitudes and behaviors.\r\nThus, they must modify the way they interact with individuals different from themselves, and not just expect that they either avoid, acknowledge, or value those individuals that are different. Given that all individuals in today’s global business environment are likely to encounter others that are different from themselves on a frequent basis, the managing diversity process should be viewed as alike to the open systems approach †it is a continuous process that maintains a constant interactional relationship with the environment.\r\nRefreezing the systemic management of diversity Successful movement through the managing diversity process requires individuals to change. Resistance to change is intrinsical in any change process, and it will be no different in this process (Harrison, 1994). Ther efore, the managing diversity process is a ? uid, continuous process that needs to be systematically reinforced and embedded in the organization’s culture and individuals’ interactions, such that the organization’s culture and its members do not deliver back to just acknowledging or valuing diversity.\r\nHence, refreezing the desired state of managing diversity requires reinforcing the new perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors with emphasis on the modi? ed behaviors and healthy interactions individuals have adopted as a result of going through the managing diversity process. In order for individuals and organizations not to revert back to their previous states, the new desired state must go through the refreezing stage to be institutionalized. This should be accomplished through systemic, on-going training and workaday interactions at the individual level, and through edict policies, procedures, and systems at the organizational level.\r\nAt the individual le vel, the systemic, on-going training should not be just periodic training that merely exposes individuals to diversity. A great deal of time is necessary to cement these fresh adopted attitudes, behaviors, and skills for healthy interaction. This kind of cementation is required for these newly acquired attitudes, behaviors, and skills to become totally embedded in the individuals’ natural way of interacting with diverse individuals. The systemic, on-going training needs to be skill-based and experiential in nature to promote long-term changes in the way individuals work with individuals different from themselves.\r\nThis type of reinforcement at the individual level will contribute to the cultural reengineering that also must take place at the organizational level. To reinforce the desired state of managing diversity at the organizational level, revise recruiting, appraisal, development, and refund systems, as well as an enforceable diversity policy need to be implemented ( Allen and Montgomery, 2001; Hemphill and Haines, 1998; Miller, 1998). The revised policies, procedures, and recruiting, appraisal, development, and bribe systems need to re? ct the organization’s position on how the inputs of diverse individuals will be managed, such that their contributions fully aid the organization in meeting its strategic goals. A written, enforceable diversity policy, stating the systemic action steps and behaviors expected by all employees is a must as it relates to effectively managing the organizational inputs of all individuals. Everyone’s inputs should be effectively managed to contribute to the act of the organization’s strategic goals. The revised policies, procedures, and systems should also align with the planned change-corporate diversity strategy.\r\nGiven the resources and time required to revise and initiate implementation of the revised organizational policies, procedures, and systems, individuals are likely to resist these changes initially. Therefore, it is quite likely to be a dif? cult and time-consuming process to make the appropriate and necessary revisions to the organization’s policies, procedures, and systems. This is an essential and critical step necessary to ensure the organization and its members do not revert back to their previous attitudinal and behavioral states.\r\nIt is predominate that revised policies, procedures, systems, and planned change-corporate diversity strategy are clearly communicated to all members of the organization to ensure that it can be suitably recognized, executed, evaluated, and reinforced. To reinforce this cultural reengineering effort, management needs to initiate and actively participate in the refreezing stage, the same as they must unfeignedly participate at the unfreezing and moving stages. authorisation limitations As with any theoretical model, there are limitations.\r\nOne potential limitation of this notional model is that no affaire how well it is implemented, there are likely to be some individuals whose attitudes may never change or they may continue to consciously or unconsciously show favoritism toward those whom they consider to be similar to themselves (Gilbert and Ivancevich, 2000; Miller, 1998). Another potential limitation is that pernicious forms of biases against diverse individuals may still exist informally within the organization and/or outside of the work environment; thus, highly impacting individuals within the organization.\r\nBacklash is also a potential limitation; members of the majority are likely to perceived that they are being excluded at the expense of including diverse individuals (Hemphill and Haines, 1998). Additionally, if the training initiated to implement the managing diversity process is perceived as a bad experience, the organization’s leadership may fling the initial implementation, hence dooming all future diversity efforts.\r\nHowever, by using the suggested planned cha nge approach along with well enforced diversity policies and disciplinary procedures for violations of the diversity policy, it is more likely that individuals’ behaviors can be altered to be more big of others whom they consider to be Managing diversity 877 JMD 22,10 different (Gilbert and Ivancevich, 2000). This will allow the talents, skills, and abilities of all individuals in the work setting to be used to meet organizational objectives.\r\nConclusion Given that individuals are less willing to quit their differences outside the doors of the workplace (Thomas, 1991), an organization’s ability to systemically manage diversity will become more important, in historic period yet to come, if it wants to ensure its ability to compete successfully in the global marketplace. This paper suggests that, ? rst, a planned change approach should be used to systemically manage diversity, by developing and implementing a planned change-corporate diversity strategy.\r\nSecond, o rganizations should execute their cultural reengineering efforts to move individuals and the organizational culture along the diversity continuum from the states of acknowledging and valuing diversity to the desired state of managing diversity. Movement to the desired state of managing diversity can be achieved by using the managing diversity process. It is also suggested that the organization needs to provide on-going training, and needs to institute new policies and procedures.\r\nAdditionally, it must suck up in appropriately different recruiting, appraisal, development, and reward systems that systemically reinforce the cultural reengineering of moving to the state of managing diversity. These new undertakings will ensure that the newly reengineered culture of managing diversity is inculcated into the organization’s culture, and its way of conducting business domestically and abroad. By adopting and executing the frameworks offered in this paper for ystemically managing diversity through a strategic planned change approach, managers will have created an organizational environment where they will be able to enjoy healthy, innovative, and productive interactions amongst diverse members of the organization.\r\nThe pastime is a list of other potential bene? ts that may be derived from using the offered frameworks: . in general, individuals will develop an increase knowledge of and appreciation for other cultures; . individuals will learn to value and respect the cultural norms, behaviors, and attitudes of others; . here is likely to be a greater receptivity to necessary organizational changes; . there is likely to be a decrease of workplace anxieties; . a reduction in organizational con? ict; . a more pleasant work environment; and . increased performance and productivity. 878 In conclusion, the proactive management of diverse human resources will aid organizations in gaining and sustaining a competitive advantage in today’s dynamic global mark etplace.\r\n'