Adam Smith Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Adam Smith - Essay Example While many elements of Adam Smith’s theory of capitalism persist today, his view of pure capitalism has proved impossible in modern markets. There are a variety of reasons why Smith’s theory of the invisible hand does not go far enough. One of the major reasons Smith’s theory fails is because of the possibility of monopoly structures. In these situations, organizations are able to gain significant power that allows them to shape market elements in their favor, effectively eliminating the process of supply and demand, and making the emergence of competitors an impossibility. In these situations, it became the responsibility of the government to institute regulatory mechanisms, as not doing so would result in potential recessions or economic complications. Other elements are the nature of ethical considerations. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution organizations increasingly presented longer workweeks and poor working conditions. While it’s possible the invisible hand would ultimately regulate these situations, there remain significant human rights concerns in permitting such a pure capitalistic structure. In conclusion, this essay has examined Adam Smith’s theory of capitalism and demonstrated why it is impossible in the modern world. In this context of understanding, the essay demonstrates that Smith proposed an invisible hand that regulates the market. Still, it’s clear this is impossible in the modern world because of the potential of corporate monopolies and widespread human rights concerns.

Womens Status in Colonial Society Essay Example for Free

Womens Status in Colonial Society Essay For many of the settlers coming to America they, obviously, had formed their own views and beliefs on the world, including the thought on the way of life and what it was intended to be. For most colonists in America they already shared a common opinion about women being inferior. However, the value of women has a slight increase due to scarceness. The status of women in the colonies, the roles women had taken with the religion aspect, and the required daily chores known as â€Å"women’s work† would eventually require a second look into the their contributions. Once many colonists became established and figured out the ways to live and survive in this New World also came forth many formed opinions on what the purpose of women would be in the colonies. John Winthrop insisted that a woman’s role was solely to adhere to her husband, obey his authority and find contentment within this. One Minister even stressed, â€Å"the woman is a weak creature not endowed with like strength and constancy of mind.† (Tindall and Shi 2010, 113) Due to social custom and legal codes women had little to no rights. The few exceptions for women to have any type of right or gain respect were if and only, it seemed, family circumstances required a woman to continue on the family reputation, business, or social standing. An example would be Elizabeth Lucas Pinckney (Tindall and Shi 2010, 114) who was highly educated and left to take care of her family while her father was absent. This led her to be known as Americas most enterprising horticulturist. Religion in the colonial era still had similar views about women within the Puritan denomination. As for Puritans they considered women to be â€Å"weak vessels† and also cited biblical passages that god required â€Å"virtuous† women to submit to male authority and remain silent in congregational matters. (Tindall and Shi 2010, 115) Unlike Quakers, who during this time considered women to be equal to men and allowed women to have a voice within the community. Women were even allowed to preach within the Quaker religion, but with that, no denomination allowed women to be ordained as ministers. It became apparent by the ministers that woman were the mass of the congregation, which worried them and led them to believe that a feminized church was a church in decline. This was argued by a Boston Minister, Cotton Mather (Tindall and Shi 2010, 115) who proclaimed that women were not the weaker of the sex, and that childbirth pain woman endured was not as punishment that woman paid for Eve’s sinfulness, was in part the reason and motivator for women to commit their lives to Christ. Thus showing how he came to this conclusion which was after his observation that there â€Å"are far more Godly women in the world rather than Godly men†. Women’s work in the eighteenth century, as for the same in the world today, never seemed to end. During the colonial time â€Å"women’s work† † included the duties, as some might say, would be to maintain the house, garden and farm. (Tindall and Shi 2010, 117) Other than taking care of the children and men, tending to the garden, cleaning the house and providing three meals for the day, some women went above and beyond their womanly duties. Women also found a way to accumulate the required necessities for living. They would make their own clothing, knit linen and cotton, make quilts, hem sheets, make candles and soap, haul water and they even chopped wood to ensure that they would have their firewood needed to provide a source of warmth when the time came. In the southern colonies, female indentured servants worked as field hands, weeding, hoeing and harvesting. (Tindall and Shi 2010, 117) The lack of men and being able to provide the labor needed in the colonies provided an opportunity for many women, despite the laws and traditional beliefs about woman being inferior or incapable. Due to the scarcity of women and the effects it made on creating instability on high orders in the past, led to laws protecting women. Such laws were created for protection from physical abuse, and permission for divorce. Other laws help maintain control over property they had tended to, property they had earned. While in this era woman played many roles. Showing their strength by doing what was expected and surpassing the â€Å"superior sex† by picking up the slack they always seemed to leave behind. Not only within the colonies, the religious conformity they maintained, or the daily tasks they endured for sake of the house hold, they opened a door, made a statement, by executing what needed to be done. Bibliography Tindall, George, and David Shi. America: A Narrative History. Volume I, 8th Edition. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010.

Relationship between top management and human resource management

Relationship between top management and human resource management Human Resource is used to describe individuals in the workforce of an organization, even if it is also applied in labor economics, for instance, industries and even entire nations. Human resources is also the name of the function in a body with overall responsibility for implementing strategies and policies on people management Human resource management involves the development of a perfect blend between tradition and administrative functions well-being of all employees in an organization. Retention of employees is directly proportional to how employees are treated, in exchange for their know-how and experience. The reason top manager care little about human resource department Top managers care little about human resource compared to production, marketing, finance, and engineering. There are some reasons. Marketing department is the process by which companies create customer interest in goods or services. It generates the strategy behind the sales techniques, business communication and business developments. It is an integrated process by which organizations build strong customer relationships and create value for their customers and themselves. Marketing is used to identify the customer, to satisfy the customer, and to keep the customer. With the customer at the center of its activities, it can be concluded that marketing management is a key component of business management. The adoption of marketing strategies requires companies to shift their focus from production to the perceived needs and desires of their customers how to stay profitable. However human resource is not relative customer. It is relation between manager and workforce or worker, which clearly shows that human resource, has got to care much of the companys employees as well as its employees attitude towards the customers, which means that the employees have to be well trained. The finance department of a business takes responsibility for organizing the financial and accounting affairs including the preparation and presentation of appropriate accounts, and the provision of financial information for managers. The main areas covered by the financial department include book keeping procedure, creating a balance sheet and profit and loss account, providing management information, management of wages and raising of finance. The foundation of every production department is to create goods or services. Basically, production included the physical assembly of goods, however, production can also include data-based goods such as websites, analysis services and order processing services. The main function of the production department is to produce a product or service that creates profit and revenue for the company. Every production and operations department must function as self-evaluating entity that monitors the quality, quantity, and cost of goods produced. Forecasting, scheduling, purchasing, design, maintenance, people management, flow analysis, reporting, assembly and testing are the common task functions in a production and operation department. Production and operations departments typically function as a fulfillment entity that ensures the timely delivery of the output from production to customers. Critical path analysis, stock control analysis, utilization analysis, capacity analysis, just-in-time a nalysis of inputs, quality metrics analysis and break-even analysis are included in standard analysis functions in a production department. Most probably it is because human resource is harder to manage since it involves managing people in the company. Other departments like marketing, finance, production and engineering are aimed to increase the profit whereas for human resource, it is to manage the employees, to hire, to train or even to fire. Main difficulties would be things like turnover or quitting without informing and etc, since when such things occur, it is not something that manager can solve in a day. For example, when the employees just quit without informing earlier, it is not that simple to get another employees to replace. Even if employees are found to replace, it takes time to train them. Therefore, human resource is more troublesome to manage compared other department, thats why top managers care little about human resource. And also, human resource department, in order to achieve the organizational objectives of the organization for talent acquisition, development cooperation, while maintaining their a bility to establish a system to unleash it as a process can be, which means that it is less productive compared to other departments. Solution to change top manager perception in human resource department There are some ways to change top managers perception in the human resource department Human resource department can help the production department recruitment the labors Human resource department is not a significant revenue generating department but it can help the production department with the recruitment of labors, especially the technicians. When it comes to hiring workers, they should consider about workers abilities and skills that they are capable of. Human resource department can help company save cost Human resource department does not control and manage the cash flow of the firm, but human resource department can help company to save cost. Human resource department helps the company to reduce the cost. For example, through lay off unnecessary people in the company or reduce the number of employees, providing multi-tasks for the employees, reducing reward such as annual leave and bonus of year, save cost in stationary by sharing with colleagues, save training cost of employees by providing job training. If the costs are saved in such a way in Human resource department, the company will have more money liquid to run the business. Payroll can manage by technology Payroll can be managed by technology however; the experience cannot be substituted by technology. Normally human resource is a challenging department in the company, with the facts that the department carries the responsibilities for interview, promotion to employee, labor law knowledge, and psychological knowledge to take care the employees problem such as what employees need and want, which has to be coached by the human resource department. If one of the employees in the company is not satisfy with the company, employee will eventually resign and this will affect the turnover, especially the marketing employees. The employees working under marketing are more likely to be pressured compared to employees working under other departments. It is because if there is a decrease in the company sales, they might face layoff from the company, and this is why technology cannot substitute in the human resource line. Human resource department is not a payroll department only The top human resource department is not a payroll department; many special jobs which can only be handled by human resource department cannot be substituted by other departments. Training, interviewing, recruiting the right person and so on and so forth is very important. It is because if human resource department recruit the wrong person and place him or her in the wrong position can make be an issue in the company. And if human resource department cannot train the employees well, they wouldnt be able to feel or really not able to improve any longer in the company. Planning a mentoring program One of the best ways to overcome human resources issues is to launch a mentoring program for diversity. This could entail involving different departmental managers in a mentoring program to coach and provide feedback to employees who are different from themselves. For the program to run successfully, it is wise to provide practical training for these managers or seek help from consultants and experts in this field. Usually, such a program will encourage members of the organization to make their views known and to learn to resolve conflicts because of their diversity. More importantly, the purpose of a Diversity Mentoring Program seeks to encourage members to go beyond their own cultural frame of reference to recognize and fully exploit the productivity potential inherent in a diverse population. Human resources managers can conveniently employee relations between ministries and the scope has for the lower-rung of communication with employees at different levels. The field is a derivative of system theory and organizational psychology. Human resources have won a number of interpretations related in time, she continues to defend the need to ensure the well-being of employees. Every organization now has an exclusive human resources department to interact with representatives of all factors of production. The department is responsible for the development and application of current research on advanced strategic while engaging end and staff training. Question 2 1.0 Introduction In this assignment we went to get the application form from other company, and we have using the Focus Point Holding Berhad to explain about their job discretion and some of the information which they have in their application form. Furthermore we have used the application form to analyze all the application form data and their company job description. After we analyzed all the reliable data obtained from Focus Point Holding Berhads application form and we have think of better way to improve the job description for their company, at the same time we have used other competitor companys job description for comparison. We used it to compare with Focus Point Holding Berhad and adopt the strength of other companies to overcome the problem of insufficient information in the job description of Focus Point. Besides we also used internet sources to gain more ideas on how to improve the job description of Focus Point Holding Berhad. Moreover, from the application form that we get, it enable us to know what are the basic elements that application form should have and easily detect the defects and the weaknesses of the form. We have improved and overcome all these weaknesses for the application form obtain from Focus Point Holding Berhad. At the end after we analyzed the application form we knew that there are reasons for the company to list down the element such as previous job references, salary needs, family background and etc. 2.0 Body of Contents 2.1 Types of Information The job application form of Focus Point Holding Berhad contained position applied for, personal particulars, family particulars, education background, employment history, reference and others. 2.2 The Mistakes and the Ways of Improve 2.2.1 Personal Particulars In this section, there are two elements that needed to improve. There is no emergency call available in the form. Focus Point has left out this important section. Every company should demands the extra call which able to directly contact with their family members or relatives. This is to prevent when the company encounter the employee accident occurrence or emergency situation and then doesnt know do a contact with who. As for the health status showed at the form is difficult to measure, because they might not understand about the meaning of poor, average and good of the health status. Therefore, Focus Point should put in specific choices or just put a column over there to let them fill up what disease that they have. 2.2.2 Education Background For this section, there is containing one of the columns like Name of School/ College/ University, but never mentioned that the applicant should write down the result of the applicant as well because it can save the time for Focus Point to check out the result of the applicant and also they have to add one more subtitle, which is Other Education, because some of the applicants might have some training on the other place. Other than that, in the column of Specialization, Focus Point did not indicate what it is because there is already has a column called Course Taking and it able to show what the applicants specialized on. Furthermore, the column of the Years, the applicant might not know that is the first year that they began their study life or the year of graduation. 2.2.3 Employment History In the column of Total Salary, those applicants might do not know whether the salary is based on day, week or month because different job has different way to pays salary. Thus they have to indicate clearly. In additional, the space Reason of Leaving is too small, there is not enough for those applicants. Therefore, they should expand it. 2.2.4 Reference For this section, Focus Point provided only two columns and state that the applicant has to provide at least two references. If the applicant wants to provide three references, then there is no space for them. Hence, Focus Point should state the sentence provide two references instead of at least two, or else they should give one more blank. 2.2.5 Others In the question of asking applicant does he or her needs hostel? Focus Point should put the location of the hostel as well. 2.2.6 Extra Requirements Just because of Focus Point has provided part time job, then they be supposed to add the info of Days and Hours Available, in order to arrange well for the employees. Furthermore, they should ask a question, which is Why you want to apply this job? in order to further understand what the applicants think, thus this is one of the ways able to get closer with employee. 2.3 Job Description of Focus Point Holding Berhad This is the job description of the Focus Point Holding Berhad and the position is Branch Manager. Branch Manager Responsibilities: To lead the team to achieve the sales target To be responsible and run the outlet business operations To do daily and monthly planning and management work To monitor and liaise with the supplier or HQ(headquarters) in ordering stocks To handle and solve complaints from the customer Requirement: Minimum SPM/STPM qualification and above Excellent selling skills, customer oriented, dynamic and proactive Good Communication Skills in English and Bahasa Malaysia. Chinese dialects is an added advantage Minimum 5 years of experience in retail management, preferably in optical business or optical retail chain stores Computer literate Applicants should be Malaysian citizens 2.4 The Insufficient of the Focus Point Holding Berhads Job Description The explanation of the particular which provided by Focus Point Holding Berhad actually is not sufficient, therefore they should have a further advance. 2.4.1 Responsibilities For the section of responsibilities, Focus Point has lacking of some points. As a branch manager, he or she is supposed to have need of do the interview, selection and then recruitment. Other than that, branch manager also must provide the training and development for their employees in order to maintain the reputation of Focus Point and also able to respond the market quickly. Besides that, branch manager must concern about the safety of their employees because no safety guaranty, the loyalty of employees will reduced. Not only the employees, the shop security also required to paid close attention in order to avoid external factors such as robbery, disturbance created by people and so forth, these would cause properties loss. In addition, branch manager needs has capability on allocating resources as well. This is because to assign the right employee to the right position and controlling the capital flowing are important in order to ensure the business operations run smoothly. Furth ermore, branch manager must possess great communicate skill with employees and customers because these able to prevent high turnover rate and low loyalty of customers and also can for the long term achievement. 2.4.2 Requirements For the requirements section, Focus Point stated that they need minimum SPM/STPM qualification, but as a branch manager, he or she should has minimum requirement of Bachelors Degree because though the experiences able to cover it but they might lack of some extra knowledge. Experience can be gained but knowledge is difficult to build if without learning. Other than that, Focus Point only stated that the branch manager have to good in communication skills with three languages, but actually good in writing skill is important as well, this is because they would required to writing out the accurately report to the headquarters (HQ) in order to let HQ to do further decisions or changes. Besides that, they didnt mention about own transport that the branch manager supposes to has it, because it would cause inconvenience for the meeting with HQ, sudden case occurred in supplier and need to go over there by own to check it out, if without own transport. 3.0 Conclusion In the Focus Point Holding Berhad, the job description and job application form of the company have some weaknesses; therefore we were looking for some new ways to improving it. We have come out with some solutions to improve some of the weaknesses in the job application form and job description as well. At first we analyzed the job description before we think about the solution to overcome the weaknesses. Other than that, we also used internet resources to search for other companies job description for comparison and we have generated some data to improve for the Focus Point Holding Berhad.

Holocaust :: essays research papers

Tarek El Zein Holocaust Jesus or Hitler? Anti-Semitism was widespread in Europe at the time Hitler came to power. Much of this anti-Semitism was rooted, first, in religious beliefs that arose more than 1500 years before Hitler came to power, and second, on political beliefs, often cynically exploited for political gain. Though it was not accepted by everyone, this existing anti-Semitism was common and provided a receptive audience for Hitler's anti-Semitic claims. Hitler did not just exploit the existing anti-Semitism in Germany; he changed it and built on it until it became an all-consuming obsession both for himself and for the rest of the National Socialist leadership. The most significant difference between traditional anti-Semitism and the philosophy of the Nazis was that the basis for the anti-Semitism was distorted and changed. Previous anti-Semitism had been based upon religious convictions - primarily on the questionable fact that Jews were responsible for the execution of Jesus - and political attacks to exclude Jews from the rest of society. Although he exploited this religious anti-Semitism, Hitler and the other Nazi leaders, who were opposed to traditional religions, found another basis for their hatred of the Jews. They relied on the theories of "eugenics" and "social Darwinism" which were then common in Europe and transformed them into "race science." They also used the political expression of anti-Semitism coupled with the myth of the Aryans. This myth had developed in Europe the last part of the 19th century. According to Hitler's philosophy the Germanic peoples called "Aryans," were superior to all other races and had the right to rule over them. Hitler and the other Nazis claimed that other races, such as the Slavs and the Poles, were inferior species fit only to serve Aryan man. The Jews were even lower than the Slavs. Hitler believed that "Aryans" were the builders of civilization while Jews were parasites fit only for extermination. This racism had a polit ical agenda as well. Hitler blamed the Jews for the loss of World War I, which he called "the stab in the back" and made the focus of his political campaigns. The combination of religious anti-Semitism and political anti-Semitism with patriotism led many German people to accept Hitler's message. One of the stumbling blocks to even wider acceptance of the Nazis' racism was the assimilation of Jews into German life. Unlike the Jews of Eastern Europe, German Jews considered themselves no different from other Germans, but in religion.

Adoption Of ICT In The Tourism And Hospitality Industry Essay

Abstract Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) have revolutionised the travel industry in the last decade. eTourism reflects the digitalisation of all processes and value chains in the tourism, travel, hospitality and catering industries. It emerges as a term describing the entire range of applications of ICTs on tourism and the implications for the tourism value chain. Major opportunities and challenges have emerged and need to be addressed by all industry players. However, the level of eTourism developments varies between regions, countries and continents. The tourism sector is experiencing an acceptance of ecommerce to the extend that the whole industry structure is changing .The web is used not only for information gathering but also for ordering services .A new type of user is emerging one who acts as his or her own travel agent and build a personalised travel package .This research focuses on evaluating the current status of Meikles Hotel Zimbabwe in order to study the adoption of ecommerce applications on the hospitality sector. 1. Introduction Mathieson and Wall (1982) created a good working definition of tourism as â€Å"the temporary movement of people to destinations outside their normal places of work and residence, the activities undertaken during their stay in those destinations, and the facilities created to cater to their needs.† The tourism industry requires a diverse range of information and lends itself well to the support offered by developing multimedia, communication technologies and information systems .The internet provides an extra ordinary connectivity and the ability to communicate efficiently and effectively directly with customers at a reasonable cost .Its potential to generate more revenue is not questionable but is acknowledged as something the tourism industry in developing countries needs. According to the World Tourism Organization 2002, Tourism in many developing and least developed countries is the most viable and sustainable economic development option, and in some countries, the main so urce of foreign exchange earnings. Implications of the Internet and other growing interactive multimedia platforms for tourism promotion are far reaching and alter the structure of the industry. This research aimed to explore the impact of ICTs and the  Internet in particular for the future competitiveness of the tourism and hospitality industry. This paper explores the current state of eTourism development and examines the use of the Internet in the sector. The rapid development and commercialization of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for the travel and tourism industry has prompted hotels and other enterprises in this sector to increasingly adopt these technologies. This is based on the expectation that the new ICT based technologies and processes would lead to an improvement in their operating efficiencies and customer service levels. Buhalis, D. (2003: 77). The ICT based products and processes help the hotels to enhance the operating efficiency, improve the service experience as well as provide a means to access markets on a global basis. Brussels, 2005. Says ‘The use of ICTs is a relevant opportunity for growing and strengthening a local tourism industry, and for the development of destinations economies overall. Specifically ICTs have the potential to increase destination incomes for financing economic and social development’. While ICTs were used in the hotel industry from the late seventies in the f orm of Computerized Reservation systems and Global distribution systems, it was only in the 90s that the ICTs began to make a difference in the hospitality sector. Nowadays the internet has turned into an informative channel providing both individuals and organisations with different types of information making them aware of new tourism and old travel opportunities and offers enabling them to compare the offers, have online purchases and provide feedback. It has also turned into a source for travel agencies and organisations to promote their services and products to their potential customers. As the internet is being used worldwide it was important for Meikles hotel to implement hence the creation of its web site www.meikles.com Meikles Hotel Meikles Hotel is situated in the heart of Harare and overlooks the historic landmark and colourful flower gardens of Africa Unity Square. According to Experience Zimbabwe, Meikles is consistently voted as one of the best hotels in Zimbabwe, Meikles Hotel is a proud member of The Leading Hotels of the World, a prestigious hospitality organisation which represents some of the world’s most acclaimed hotels, spas and resorts. Established in 1928, the organisation exists to meet the needs of discerning travellers and for a  hotel to be recognised by this body, it needs to exceed every expectation and achieve exacting standards of excellence. Executive chairman Mr Onias Makamba says ‘Meikles Hotel has won the prestigious Association of Zimbabwean Travel Agents (AZTA) award for Best City Hotel in Zimbabwe for an astonishing 15 consecutive years’. This award is voted on by AZTA members and is based on feedback given to travel agents by their many clients across the worl d. Problem Definition There have been a lot of changes in the rapid growing world of technology. Changes in the technological world have made organizations to change the way they conduct their day to day business in order to provide satisfactory services delivery. Effective delivery of service is defined by Martin (2004) as providing products and services that bring utility to users and customers. E-tourism is offering significant benefits for organizations that integrate the technology into their organizational information systems. This versatile technology improves information quality and accessibility, increases operational efficiency (service delivery) and enhances effective management (Maamar, 2006). Despite these highly perceived benefits of e-tourism its adoption has been relatively slow in Zimbabwe. Currently, there are no studies which have been carried out in Zimbabwe to identify the benefits and challenges of adopting ICT in the tourism and hospitality industry. Hence it is the ideal time to ca rry out an investigation on the adoption of ICT in the tourism and hospitality industry. Objectives The key objective of this research has been to examine the Adoption of ICT in the tourism industry mainly looking at Meikles Hotel in Zimbabwe .In particular the research examines the level of ICT diffusion in tourism enterprises. Another objective is to Identify the factors affecting E-tourism in Zimbabwe The paper also assesses how eTourism concepts and techniques can contribute towards the improvement of the Zimbabwe tourism competitiveness. RESEARCH QUESTIONS I. At what rate is ICT being adopted in the tourism and hospitality industry in Zimbabwe? II. What factors are encouraging or discouraging the adoption of ICT in the tourism and hospitality industry of Zimbabwe. 2. Literature  review Literature review is a â€Å"systematic, explicit and reproducible method for identifying, evaluating and interpreting the existing body of recorded work produced by other scholars† (Khan, 2008, p.41). The literature review focuses on the impacts of ICTs on tourism and the eCommerce developments in Zimbabwe. It also includes a brief section on Tourism in Zimbabwe which provides the contextual environment that determines the requirements for eTourism in the country. 2.1 ICT Developments and eCommerce in Zimbabwe There are various factors that have affected the adoption of ecommerce in Zimbabwe, these include : Software development tools are still evolving .It is difficult to integrate Internet and e-commerce software with some existing (especially legacy) applications and databases .Special web servers are needed in addition to the network servers, which add to the cost of ecommerce. The Standard June 5, 2011 says the adoption of the multiple currency system in 2009 presented a strong opportunity for the growth of e-commerce in Zimbabwe. It said Zimbabwe now had a chance to catch up with the rest of the world if the financial and retail sectors took the lead. Internet accessibility is still expensive and or inconvenient .Powertel Communications, a government owned internet provider, is one of the 12 POTRAZ licensed Internet Access Providers in Zimbabwe. In June 2014 Powertel mobile broadband price were $50/month .The price of the modem $45.Every Zimbabwean cannot afford these prices. The Fin ancial Gazette 3 Oct 2013 states Despite the growth of the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector in the country, which has seen internet penetration rising from five to 47 percent in the past five years, the cost of accessing the internet still remains high. The improved internet penetration is largely credited to the ICT Strategic Plan crafted by the then ministry of ICT under Nelson Chamisa. Customers’ attitudes towards online shopping remain skeptical, mainly because of worries about product quality, product delivery, and security and privacy issues (Ghazali et al., 2006; Scott & Scott, 2008). People do not yet  sufficiently trust paperless, faceless transactions .Payment security and privacy concerns are one of the major non technological barriers that prevent consumers from completing transactions online Lack of trust in e-commerce and in unknown sellers hinders buying. Online fraud is also increasing. Some customers like to feel and touch products. They are afraid that if they purchase without actually touching the products they might not get exactly what they ordered. Also, customers are resistant to the change from shopping at a brick-and-mortar store to a virtual store. The lack of stand ­ards in technology and its applications eventually increases the cost of system integration for effective and efficient management in distribution, operation and communication worldwide. Large hospitality corporations have invested to transform their systems into a total netware system; however, small and medium-sized tourism enterprises (SMEs) struggle to integrate the systems due to a shortage of financial sources Factors Determining the Adoption of ICTs In Zimbabwean Hotels There are a number of factors that affect the adoption of ICT in hotels these will be discussed below. In the hotel industry, the geographic location of a hotel has a major impact on its operations and profitability. The geographical location of a hotel would greatly determine the profile of its visitors, the size of its market and the level of competition that it has to face. A hotel will therefore be more inclined to adopt ICTs if it expects the ICT based facilities to either provide greater competitive advantage or to blunt the advantage enjoyed by its competitors considering the characteristics of its customer profile, its market size and the intensity of competition that it has to face. Thus based on the profile of a hotel’s visitors, the size of the market, or the intensity of competition, hotels may differ in their levels of ICT adoption propensity. The market size, in terms of the number of tourists who visit the location, will also be a significant factor that affects ICT adoption , since hotels  in smaller underdeveloped destinations may need to use the internet and other ICT based technologies to a greater degree to reach out to the global population than hotels located in developed destinations. According to Bajaj and Nag (2005) a range of advanced ICT systems such as Decision Support System (DSS) can be applied to gain substantial benefits on practical levels not only by large organisations, but also by small and medium-sized business organisations as well. Bajaj and Nag (2005) argue that DSS integration by small and medium-sized organisations can assist management by generating a set of alternative solution options to management problems of various levels complexities The competition level among the hotels in a location, can also influence the adoption of ICTs. The general occupancy rate in the location is an indicator of the competitive intensity among the hotels in a location. High levels of occupancy rate at a location imply that the competition is low, and the hotels can expect to get their rooms filled with relative ease while low levels of occupancy point towards higher levels of competition to attract customers between the hotels in the location. High levels of competition may prompt the hotels to aggressively use ICT based technologies both for attracting customers as well as to increase the efficiency of its operations. The size of the hotel has an important effect on ICT adoption. Effective adoption of several ICT technologies requires a substantial investment of resources. Lack of resources may affect the inclination of small hotels to adopt costly ICTs and therefore large hotels can be expected to be more inclined to ICTs. Further the risky nature of investing in new technologies may prompt small hotels to wait till the technology has stabilized before investing in it. Another aspect of the hotel size that can influence adoption of ICTs is the inclination to change within the organization. Large hotels have been found to be more resistant to change than small firms. This fact tends to suggest that large hotels are less inclined to adopt ICTs than small hotels as long as the investment required is not a consideration. The scope of activities that the hotel is engaged in can also influence adoption of ICTs. Since ICTs enable an effective integration of activities of an organization, hotels with varied lines of activities would find more use in the adoption of ICTs than hotels with a relatively lesser span of activities. 2.2 Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the Tourism sector The internet has become a key application in the tourism industry. Tourism providers have been using the internet to communicate, distribute and market their products to potential customers worldwide in a cost- and time-efficient way. In fact, the individual company website had become the most important platform for e-commerce, followed by electronic markets. The main focus of e-business processes in the tourism industry has been on customer facing activities and services, i.e. primarily e-marketing and e-sales. Online booking and reservation services were widely accepted among consumers and business travell ers already in 2005. Similarly, online purchasing had become a relatively well-used application in the tourism sector. Parsons and Oja (2013) mention online reservations systems as one of the greatest impacts of ICT on tourism and hospitality sector. Tourism has closely been connected to progress of ICTs for over 30 years. The establishments of the Computer Reservation Systems (CRSs) in the 1970s, Global Distribution Systems (GDSs) in the late 1980s and the Internet in the late 1990s have transformed operational and strate ­gic practices dramatically in tourism .The tourism indus ­try at first focused on utilizing computerized systems (e.g., CRS, GDS) to increase efficiency in processing of internal information and managing distribution. Nowadays, the Internet and ICTs are relevant on all operative, structural, strategic and marketing levels to facilitate global interaction among suppliers, intermediaries and consumers around the world. In this section, we will provide the concepts and definitions of the key terms related to the Internet and ICTs. 2.2.1 Electronic tourism (e-tourism) It is the application of ICTs on the tourism industry (Buhalis, 2003). Buhalis (2003) suggests that e-tourism reflects the digitisation of all processes and value chains in the tourism, travel, hospitality and catering industries. At the tactical level, it includes e-com ­merce and applies ICTs for maximising the efficiency and effectiveness of the tourism  organi ­sation. At the strategic level, e-tourism revolutionises all business processes, the entire value chain as well as the strategic relationships of tourism organisations with all their stakeholders. E-tourism determines the competitiveness of the organisation by taking advantage of intranets for reorganising internal processes, extranets for developing transactions with trusted partners and the Internet for interacting with all its stakeholders and customers. The e-tourism concept includes all business functions (i.e., e-commerce, e-marketing, e-finance and e-accounting, eHRM, e-procurement, e-production) as well as e-strategy, e-planning and e-management for all sectors of the tourism industry, including tourism, travel, transport, leisure, hospitality, principals, intermediaries and public sector organisations. Hence, e-tourism bundles together three distinctive disciplines: business management, information systems and management, and tourism. II.2.2 Computer reservation system (CRS) The 1989 CRS Regulation51 defined a ‘computerized reservation system’ as a system for reserving and booking seats on commercial flights electronically, as well as storage and retrieval of itineraries. Several airlines own and market such systems, which are used by travel agents. A few include: Sabre (produced by American Airlines), Amadeus, and Worldspan. It is a database which enables a tourism organisation to manage its inventory and make it accessible to its partners. Principals utilise CRSs to manage their inventory and distribute their capacity as well as to manage the drastic expansion of global tourism. CRSs often charge competitive commission rates while enabling flexible pricing and capacity alterations, to adjust supply to demand fluctuations. Airlines pioneered this technology, although hotel chains and tour operators followed by developing centralised reservation systems. CRSs can be characterised as the â€Å"circulation system† of the tourism product . II.2.3 Global distribution systems (GDSs) The business dictionary defines a global distribution system as a worldwide computerized reservation network used as a single point of access for reserving airline seats, hotel rooms, rental cars, and other travel related  items by travel agents, online reservation sites, and large corporations. The premier global distribution systems are Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre, and Worldspan. They are owned and operated as joint ventures by major airlines, car rental companies, and hotel groups. Also called automated reservation system (ARS) or computerized reservation system (CRS).Since the mid 1980s, airline CRSs developed into GDSs by gradually expanding their geographical coverage as well as by integrating both horizontally, with other airline systems, and vertically by incorporating the entire range of principals, such as accommodation, car rentals, train and ferry ticketing, entertainment and other provisions. In the early 1990s, GDSs emerged as the major driver of ICTs, as well as the back bone of the tourism industry and the single most important facilitator of ICTs globalisation (Sheldon, 1993). In essence, GDSs matured from their original development as airline CRSs to travel supermar ­kets. Since the late 1990s GDSs have emerged as business in their own right, specialising in travel distribution. 2.2.4 Intermediaries Intermediaries (brokers) play an important role in commerce by providing value-added activities and services to buyers and sellers. The most well-known intermediaries in the physical world are wholesalers and retailers. Traditionally, intermediaries of the travel industry have been outbound and inbound travel agencies and tour operators. However, the Internet restructured the entire touristic value chain, forcing the existing intermediaries to take up the new medium and to develop corresponding business models. 2.2.5 e-Travel agencies ICTs are irreplaceable tools for travel agencies as they provide information and reservation facilities and support the intermediation between consumers and principals. Andreas Papatheodorou – (2006) Travel agencies operate various reservation systems, which mainly enable them to check availability and make reservations for tourism products. Until recently GDSs have been critical for business travel agencies to access information and make reservations on scheduled airlines, hotel chains, car rentals and a variety of ancillary services. GDSs help construct complicated itineraries, while  they provide up-to-date schedules, prices and availability information, as well as an effective reservation method. In addition, they offered internal management modules integrating the â€Å"back office† (accounting, commission monitor, personnel) and â€Å"front office† (customers’ history, itinerary construction, ticketing and communication with suppliers). Multiple tr avel agencies in particular experience more benefits by achieving better coordination and control between their remote branches and headquarters. Transactions can provide invaluable data for financial and operational control as well as for marketing research, which can analyze the market fluc ­tuations and improve tactical decisions Hotels use ICTs in order to improve their operations, manage their inventory and maximise their profitability. Their systems facilitate both in-house management and distribution through electronic media. ‘Property management systems (PMSs)’ coordinate front office, sales, planning and operational functions by administrating reservations and managing the hotel inventory. Moreover, PMSs integrate the â€Å"back† and â€Å"front† of the house management and improve general administration functions such as accounting and finance; marketing research and planning; forecasting and yield management; payroll and personnel; and purchasing. Understandably, hotel chains gain more benefits from PMSs, as they can introduce a unified system for planning, budgeting and controlling and coordinating their properties centrally. Hotels also utilise ICTs and the Internet extensively for their distribution and marketing func ­tions. Global presence is essential in order to enable both individual customers and the travel trade to access accurate information on availability and to provide easy, efficient, inexpensive and reliable ways of making and confirming reservations. Although Central Reservation Offices (CROs) introduced central reservations in the 1970s, it was not until the expansion of airline CRSs and the recent ICT developments that forced hotels to develop hotel CRSs in order to expand their distribution, improve efficiency, facilitate control, empower yield management, reduce labour costs and enable rapid response time to both customers and management re ­quests. Following the development of hotel CRSs by most chains, the issue of interconnectivity with other CRSs and the Internet emerged.This reduces both set-up and reservation costs, whilst facilitates res ­ervations through several distribution channels 2.3 Tourism in Zimbabwe In the past, tourism contributed significantly to the GDP of Zimbabwe, and created many employment and business opportunities for locals in the 1990s. But it has faced a great decline since 2000. A number of Zimbabwean tourist attractions are marketed online by South African companies and they have created an impression to some international tourists that they are located in South Africa. E-tourism has always seemed like a no-brainer for Zimbabwe, as money can be paid direct to hotels and suppliers. But obstacles like the lack of access to communication in remote areas, uncertain electricity availability, high cost of bandwidth, the lack of integrated, real-time reservation systems and local online payment gateways have thus far stymied progress. However, with the arrival of voice and data-oriented telecommunications in some remote tourist areas, there is more access to information via websites by foreign tourists looking for a good holiday resort. In other parts of Africa, arrival o f cheaper bandwidth has lessened the barriers to communication and the world’s Online Travel Agencies like Expedia are showing a real interest in the continent. Ten years ago no-one was talking about online tourism. The tourism trade tended to focus on going to big trade events like World Tourism Markets, with brochures and doing support advertising in key markets. The travel agents tended to suggest where people went and to some extent picked the destinations. As a result, a great deal of the revenues went to large, international hotel chains and not much of the money was retained locally. According to The Zimbabwean (22 June 2011) 56% of travel globally is booked online and the rise of the Online Travel Agents has been unstoppable. These OTAs, as they are known in the trade, include Expedia, Travelocity, Lastminute.com and Bookings.com – who have significant market share in Africa. Expedia has actually opened an office to focus on Africa. It goes on to say In 2005, less than 2% of tourism revenues in Africa came from online booking. In 2010, buoyed by the World Cup, that percentage rose to 5% and looks set to go to somewhere between 15-20% by 2016. The World Cup may have been a one-off boost but it accelerated the growth of online tourism in South Africa. 50% of Americans read an online review before booking internationally and that’s usually  either Trip Advisor or Facebook. (Trip Advisor is now owned by Expedia). Most in ternational travellers have credit cards and increasingly expect to be able to book online for anything from the smallest travel lodge to the largest hotel chain. So what are the barriers? The missing piece was e-commerce. There used to be no route for doing online transactions in other countries in Africa including Zimbabwe. Online distribution by the OTAs requires a reservation system that offers real-time availability. OTAs won’t do business with you unless you have that. In Zimbabwe there are few tourist resorts offering e-commerce reservation and booking services. Shearwater Adventures in Victoria Falls offer online booking and payment services, which have attracted a large number of tourists over the years. The second missing piece was the ability and tools to do online marketing. The companies needed marketing skills, especially with social media. Today’s tourist wants to hear from other travellers (through Facebook and Trip Advisor) and are not that interested in what the hotel has to say. For example, hotel chains Africa Sun and Cresta Hotels have invested in websites and Facebook groups where reviews are easily accessible to prospective tourists. Now that the data oriented communication and cheaper bandwidth is slowly becoming available throughout the country, telcos and ISPs need to focus specifically on those industry sectors that are most likely to make the online transition fastest. It must be possible in the near future for a herita ge site in Binga to be marketed online to the world and attract visitors. 3. Research Methodology To fulfil the objectives of this research a number of methods were used. Both primary and secondary data were therefore essential. Given the dynamic nature of the subject area, multiple primary research approaches were adopted, including both qualitative and quantitative methods (Phillip, 1998). Bryman (1998) explains that the two methods are complementary rather than competing, especially for exploratory research. The researcher made use of the internet and some library books to carry out the research and establish the solutions to the research objectives .First a qualitative approach was adopted in order to enable the appreciation of all aspects of the subject and to develop a set of the most critical variables  to be included afterwards into a questionnaire. The main objective was to objectively establish the level of eCommerce and the on-line representation of Zimbabwean tourism. The second stage involved semi-structured interviews aimed to elicit critical issues and to explore the key factors that determine the development of eTourism in Zimbabwe. In-depth interviews are considered as the most appropriate method to obtain information about perceptions, attitudes and beliefs. Judgmental sampling was employed and interviewees were selected as pioneers in eTourism in Zimbabwe, as determined by their online presence assessed in the previous phase of the research. Owners and marketing managers of organisations that run innovative web sites, as demonstrated by the methods used to interact with their clientele, were targeted and an interview was requested. The sample was chosen to include interviewees who would be informed, reflecting their particular experience and outlook on the research area. Twenty five telephone contacts were made and 28 interviews were finally conducted, which resulted in a 51% response rate .The reasearcher also made use of the questionnaires. The questionnaires designed by the researcher had both open ended questions thus allowing a respondent to fully express the answer and closed questions which only provided simple choice of answer such as yes or no. Questionnaires were used by the researcher because they saved time and they were an inexpensive way of surveying a cross section of people. Questionnaires allowed the researcher to guide the respondent along the lines regarding the topic under study and responses obtained from closed ended questions are easy to analyze. Questionnaires allowed the respondents to give freely the confidential information since the respondents were not required to disclose their identity. The researcher favoured the use of questionnaires because the analysis of data from close-ended question was easy. However data collection through the use of questionnaires required a significant commitment, expertise, time and material resources. The researcher also noted that questionnaires were highly inflexible as they gave no room to rephrase questions, furthermore, some questions remained unanswered and it affected the research findings. The researcher used simple wording in the questionnaires so that the respondents would not fail to understand the questions, that is, the researcher used simple wording to elaborate the meanings of what was being asked and required. The researcher also used face to face interviews. The researcher employed structured interviews to obtain detailed and specific information from the Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Mr Mzembi. The questions presented to the Minister sought to determine the factors affecting adoption of ICTs in Zimbabwean hotel and also how far Zimbabwean hotels are in terms of adoption of ICTs. The interview also sought to discover challenges to implementing ICTs and compliance at different hotels. The interview process proved time consuming and required persistence since the honourable Minister was a busy person and he was not easily available. The actual interview session had a length of 15 minutes due to the Minister’s busy schedule. To avoid inconveniences, an appointment via e-mail and telephone call prior to interviewing visit was made. Goodman (2003) states that certain biases exist due to the tendency by the interviewer to ask wrong questions and be supplied with answers he expects to get. The researcher eliminated such errors by avoiding leading questions and taking a listener approach instead of providing suggestions. Probing was only applied as a means of seeking clarifications. This technique was used because interviews are highly flexible and the researcher was able to rephrase the questions to make the respondent understand better. Dennis (2003), states that an interview is whereby the researcher and the respondents discuss verbally with each other either face to face, over the phone or over the internet. Interviews allow probing on open ended questions, clarifications on ambiguous questions and sequencing of questions is easily changed. However, the researcher noted that interviews were costly to run in terms of money and they are time consuming because the interviewee was a busy person hence the need of an appointment and the need of a telephone call reminding the interviewee about the appointment before the  time. The researcher also noted that the interview failed to give anonymity to the respondent, hence, there was a greater chance of being given biased information. RESULTS Eight hotels participated in the survey Meikles hotel, Holiday inn (Bulawayo), Victoria falls, Regency Fairmile, Kadoma hotel, Midlands hotel. At the outset the author quotes from a number of previous reports, which indicate that ICT has not been implemented effectively in the hospitality industry Evidence from the literature review has shown that there are a number of factors, which affect technology adoption. These factors include organisational readiness, external pressure, internal expertise, support of owner or manager, user participation, efficient and effective use of any external expertise. The barriers which were uncovered by the research: IT management training, dependency on outside experts and size and scale of enterprise are all directly related to the ‘other’ factors which influence ICT adoption. The level of significance of these barriers varies between the tourism sub-sectors surveyed. This study has added new knowledge in terms of the significance of a n umber of further barriers to ICT adoption. They include peripheral or rural location, security concerns, cost issues, lack of capital, and personal background of the owner manager. A closer analysis of findings has revealed that although technology is available, some of it is obsolete or not necessarily functional. Hotels possessed various outdated versions of software packages which did not seem to serve them well. . The mode of Internet bookings is an important determinant of their success. A lot of Internet booking systems generates a booking in email format rather than integrating into the hotel’s reservation system online. This obviously limits the usefulness of these systems. DISCUSSION The adoption of ICTs at Meikles Hotel is proving to be growing fast; this was noted by the stakeholder preparedness to harness it. Meikles hotel being a  five star hotel recognised internationally, this pushes them to move along with technological changes. Meikles hotel is interested in improving in their service provision through the use of e-commerce, and the results of this study show that this is being done at a fast pace. The top management at Meikles hotel are quite literate hence the adoption of ICT is faster compared to other hotels .The C.E.O is a holder of an honours degree in Computer science .Although the use of ICTs has not yet revolutionalised Meikles Hotel’s service delivery; it has changed how some services such as bookings are being done. Meikles hotel has a website developed and maintained by an inhouse programmer .Their website is user friendly and they have all the information that one needs about the hotel. Meikles hotel started offering wireless network services to guest in 2006.They use Fidelio management system which integrates all the information from the reservations, banqueting, finance departments and the restaurants. They use point of sale systems. CONCLUSION It can be noted that the adoption of ICTs at Meikles Hotel is proving to be growing fast and it has been done to a very large extent. Although the use of ICTs has not yet revolutionalised Meikles Hotel’s service delivery; it has changed how some services such as bookings are being done. References Buhalis, D (1998), â€Å"Strategic Use of Information Technologies in the Tourism Industry†, Tourism Management, Vol.19, pp.409-421. Connolly D. J and Olsen M. D(2000) â€Å"An Environmental Assessment of How Technology is reshaping the Hospitality Sector†, Tourism and Hospitality Research, Vol.3 (1), pp.73 to93. Cooper, C., Fletcher, J., Gilbert, D and Wanhill, S (1998) Tourism Principles and Practice, Pearson, Essex. Hoontrakul and Sahadev (2005*) â€Å"Determinants of E-commerce Usage in the Hotel Buhalis, D. (1997) Information technologies as a strategic tool for economic, cultural and environmental benefits enhancement of tourism at destination regions. Progress in Tourism and Hospitality Research, 3 (1), 71-93. Buhalis, D. (2003). eTourism: Information Technology for Strategic Tourism Management. London, UK: Pearson (Financial Times/Prentice Hall). Morrison, A., Taylor, S., Morrison, A., and Morrison, A. (1999) Marketing small hotels on the world web 2 (2), 97–113. O’Connor, P. (2000) Using Computers in Hospitality, 2nd edition. London: Cassell. Peacock, M. (1995) Information Technology in Hospitality. London: Cassell. O’Connor, P. and Frew, A. (2000) Evaluating electronic channels of distribution in the hotel sector: a Delphi study. Information Technology and Tourism, 3 (3/4), 177–193. O’Connor, P. and Horan, P. (1999) An analysis of web reservations facilities in the top 50 international hotel chains. International Journal of Hospitality Information Technology, 1 (1), 77–87.

Should we support gun control essays

Should we support gun control essays Gun control, is it really necessary? A lot of the politicians in the house say that gun control is a vital part in making Canada safe for everyone to live in, yet 80% of the people supporting gun control live in cities. There is nothing wrong with the way things are right now in respect to the laws that are already in place to deal with people and their firearms. Already you have to have an FAC in order to purchase any firearms and any children that want to hunt have to take a course through Fish and Wildlife, what more could you ask for. The Federal government should not have to know where all the guns are and how many there are, it is just a waste of the tax payers dollars that could be better spent else where, like Medicare and education. When you live in the country a gun is not so much a weapon but a tool, say you have a pack full of coyotes in your field and it is calving season, you have to get rid of the coyotes a gun is a lot quicker and more humane than poisoning them or s ending dogs after them. I can understand how people in the city do not like having firearms around since there is no real purpose for them, but they have to look at it from all the hunters and ranchers point of view out there that use them on a regular basis. Even once all of the guns are registered you dont really think that the criminals of the world are going to register theirs, they will simply take someone elses that is registered, you can not tell me then that it will not come back on the person that it is registered to. In concluding it is not guns that kill people it is people that kill people, and in my opinion gun control is being able to hit your target. ...