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THE CERTIFICATE OF ADMINISTRATION TRAVEL, TOURISM & HOSPITALITY (CATTH) CERTIFICATE OF ADMINISTRATION IN TRAVEL, TOURISM & HOSPITALITY (CATTH) 1. Philosophy The Certificate in administration in Travel Tourism and Hospitality is designed to develop young Namibians to effectively manage the countries tourism resources to ensure sustained growth of the industry. The course appeals to staff already working in the field and those aspiring to join the industry as employees or operators to its relevance and practical approach.The course prepares students for a role that will ensure adequate human resource to manage the growing tourism industry in Namibia and abroad. The course will give the student the necessary skills to work or operate in a very demanding environment. It will enable graduates to advance to the Higher Certificate in Travel Tourism and Hospitality or gain meaningful employment, start own operation or act as a tourism consultant. 2. Programme Outcomes By the time the graduat e finishes the Certificate of Administration, he/she will be equipped with knowledge, skills and requisite attitude to effectively operate to work in the tourism industry. . Objectives (Purpose) ? By the end of the course, the student will be expected to appreciate tourism industry and the context in which it operates. ? To get the student to understand concepts in Travel Tourism and Hospitality. ? Understand the role of marketing and communication in travel tourism and hospitality. ? To give students the theory and practice of administration and accounting systems in travel tourism and hospitality. ? Appreciation of the role of government in managing tourism resources. 4. Enrolment Standards (Admission Requirements):To be registered for any of the courses, candidates must: Hold HIGCSE senior certificate in four subjects with 1- 4 symbols OR Hold a Grade 12 senior certificate (IGCSE) with a minimum of C symbol in English Language, a pass in Mathematics and a C symbol in three other subjects totaling twenty five points or more OR Enter through flexible learning path – mature age/prior learning with five years relevant experience in various fields of world of work. Apart from a valid IGCSE 22 certificate, applicants must also have attained a minimum of 25 points on the IUM evaluation scale.Please note that achievement of these requirements will not automatically guarantee a place on the degree course, it will be subject to a successful interview/aptitude test (as required) and availability of places. OR The equivalent of any of the above as determined by Senate. 5. Teaching Methods The students will be expected to be responsible for their own learning, nobody can learn for somebody else. Emphasis will be placed upon the need for a student to read extensively in each of the subjects. The role of the lecturer is to stimulate learning and to support and guide that process.Programmed reading will support these endeavours. A wide range of teaching methods will be employed by lecturers from traditional lectures through to small decision-making groups, as well as the use of training films and videos, and advanced business simulations. 6. Learning Standards Class contributions by the students will be encouraged and the extent to which these contributions conform to the teachings of the Certificate of Administration in Travel, Tourism and Hospitality will be an important facet in the success of the student.Individual assignments will be set by the lecturer every two weeks and should usually exceed the standard of the exam. Like the group assignments these will normally take the form of a duplicated handout, that should be returned with the finished assignment. The student will be expected to carry these out without help. It is in the student’s interest to carry out these tests with integrity. They will be marked anonymously by their fellow students against a given marking plan.The tutors will use these results to monitor student progr ess and to make decisions as to whether the student is ready to sit exams when the time comes. (Students may not sit exams unless the lecturer feels he or she has a good chance of succeeding). 7. Credits System As per international acceptable formula, one (1) credit equates ten (10) notion hours (learning). These hours do not include the hours spent by a student in a class. A first year degree IUM student will, therefore, attract one hundred (100) credits. 8. Course Outline Certificate of Administration (100 Credits) ?Mathematics for Business 33 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Spoken and Business English Computer Literacy Professional Presentations Report Writing Namibian and Regional Economics Introduction to Business Accounting I Business Communications I Introduction to Travel, Tourism and Hospitality 9. Assessment & Evaluation The assessment system comprises two components: ? Continuous Assessment (CA) attracts 40% of the final grade ? Formal Exams (FE) attracts 60% of the final grade. The ev aluation system comprises two components: ? Students will be asked to complete evaluation sheets for each subject studied ?An external evaluator will evaluate the course in terms of course content, teaching methods, course resources and assessments. 10. Articulation IUM subjects articulate from Certificate/Diploma to Certificate/Diploma as per the statement in course contents Faculty will decide if and how course work from qualifications from other institutions will articulate with IUM courses. Appeals may be submitted to Senate 11. Credit Transfer Internal students that apply for advanced standing or credit accumulation or credit transfer will have their cases considered by the relevant faculty.Students from outside IUM will have their cases considered by the relevant faculty. Credit from outside institutions may be awarded up to fifty percent of total credits for any qualification conducted by IUM. Appeals may be submitted to Senate 44 ENG – 111- Professional Presentation N QF Level 5 Module Outcomes: ? ? ? Credits 10 Demonstrate good communication skills: Speech, Listening, written. Apply appropriate visuals in business communication. Employ investigative and interview skills in business situations. Course Content ? Analysing the importance of good speech and associated characteristics in business. Appreciating the values of listening and acquiring useful techniques to make a better listener. ? Learning how professional speeches and presentations are planned and delivered. ? Understanding how to use the telephone effectively and efficiently. ? Learning about the reasons for meetings and interviews taking place in business organisations. ? Appreciating the steps that need to take place for planning successful meetings and interviews. ? Studying different documents required for formal meetings. ? Analysing the types of interviews that take place and the types of questions asked. Learning how to prepare advertisements, job descriptions and press releases . ? Creating advertisements, job descriptions and press releases. ? Appreciating the different types of visual aid equipment that can be used in business communication. ? Studying the use of visuals in business communication. ? Considering how written communication can be enhanced through the use of colour and lettering styles. ENG – 112 – Spoken Business English NQF Level 5 Credits 10 Module Outcomes: ? Explain linguistics concepts and principles. ? Describe communication. ? Explain the purpose and role of seminars.Course Content Linguistics: ? Applied Linguistics ? Pronunciation ? Enunciation ? Grammar 55 Tutorials ? Selection and formulation of tapes ? Effective deliberation tapes ? SWOT Analysis Perception and Application ? ? ? Seminars ? ? ? Purpose of seminars Acceptable conduct in a seminar Seminar presentation How to illustrate communication Barriers to effective communication How to achieve success in communicated speech MTH – 132 – Mathematics f or Business NQF Level 5 Module Outcomes: ? ? ? Credits 10 Calculate basic mathematical models and algebraic computations.Apply BODMAS acronym and its full application. Calculate basic business and financial transactions. Course Content ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Applying the four rules of whole numbers, fractions and decimals Multiplying and dividing negative numbers Comparing numbers using ratios, proportions and percentages. Obtaining values for simple financial transactions involving purchases, wages, taxation, discounts. Converting foreign currencies Making calculations involving roots and powers Evaluating terms involving a sequence of operations and use of brackets.Approximating data using rounding and significant figures. Solving linear and simple simultaneous equations Determine the equations of a straight line through two points. Determining the gradient and intercept of a straight line Drawing charts and diagrams from tabular data Applying general rule and principles of graphical constructions including axes, choice of scale and zero. Identifying points of importance e. g. maximum, minimum and break-even. Calculating and interpreting summary statistics, namely measures of location 66 mean, mode, median) and measures of dispersion (range, interquartile range and standard deviation) ? Applying the laws of probability to mutually exclusive, independent and dependent events. ENG – 113 – Report Writing NQF Level 5 Module Outcomes: ? ? ? Distinguish and employ various reports. Demonstrate and use clear and concise language. Practice proper report writing skills. Credits 10 Course Content Nature and Purpose of Reports ? ? ? Necessity of reports Formats for writing reports Use of clear and concise language Informative Reports ? ? ?Purpose Situations where used Case studies Analytical reports ? ? ? Purpose Situations where used Case studies Practical Report Writing ? ? ? ? Formulation of Assignment Report presentation Assessment Correspondenc e ? ? ? ? Letters Memos Faxes Orderly in expression of requested opinion 77 Field Activity ? ? Practical like report writing Assessment and evaluation CSE – 135 – Computer Literacy NQF Level 5 Module Outcomes: ? ? Credits 10 Demonstrate computer literacy skills. Illustrate Information Technology appreciation in problem solving. Course Content Introduction to Microcomputers ?Overview of the development of computers ? Multi-user computers – mainframes and minicomputers, personal computers and their configuration. ? Essential PC Hardware, peripherals and software. ? Introduction to the main types of Software. ? Binary codes and the microprocessor ? Types of PCs – their uses and strength ? Introduction to Operating Systems (DOS & Windows) ? Information processing – online, offline processing, real-time, batch processing, single tasking and multitasking ? Current IT issues – open & proprietary systems and compatibility, information systems securi ty. Data communications – Introduction to Networks, central and distributed computing, wide area and global networks. Microsoft Windows ? Navigating the desktop, customising the desktop, file and folder management, installing and de-installing a program ? Logging onto an internet Service Provider or Online service provider, managing the mailbox, email security, using a browser and search engine effectively and downloading pages, refining searches Microsoft Word ? Open a blank document and type text, recognise the toolbars, Ruler Bar, Scroll Bar, Status Bar ? Spell checking, search and replace, thesaurus ?Page set-up, styles and general Formatting 88 ? Creating a tab set, Columns, Tables and Borders/Shading/Page ? Use word Processor Wizard to create a document such as a fax, an invitation or a CV ? Print preview and printing Microsoft Excel ? Start a blank spreadsheet and navigate between workbooks and sheets ? Enter data, change column widths and row heights, Formatting value s, Calculating, creating and understanding formulae, using Math and statistical functions ? Creating and editing charts ? Auto Form Introduction to Presentations ? Create and present a simple show. Keyboarding ?Introduction to the keyboard and basic typing skills ? Introduction to touch typing to be able to acquire at least 35wpm. FIN – 111 – Namibian and Regional Economics NQF Level 5 Credits 10 Module Outcomes: ? ? ? Demonstrate basic economics concepts and principles. Describe economic problems and corresponding economic systems. Explain Namibia’s economic competitive edge over SADC countries. Course Content ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Analysing the Namibian economic structure (namely, Mining, Agriculture, Fishing, Tourism) infrastructure (Transport and Telecommunication), Banking, Insurance.Analysing the Namibian government structure namely Legislation, Judiciary and Executive. Understanding government development plans of government (NDP 1 & NDP 2) Describing the economi es of Southern Africa (Angola, Botswana, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Lesotho, Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania and Democratic Republic of Congo) Examining Namibia’s competitiveness in the region and beyond A case study of Namibia’s industrial policy and the export processing zone initiative in particular.Explaining Namibia’s stake in SACU, SADC, COMESA, WTO, and AGOA. 99 SBM – 115 – Introduction to Business I NQF Level 5 Credits 10 Module Outcomes: ? ? ? Distinguish between different types of business in public and private sectors. Compare the processes and strategies used by businesses. Analyse business financials. Course Content ? ? ? ? ? ? ? To investigate the purpose and nature of business, looking at the different types of organisations within the Public and Private Sector. Including the activity, size, advantages and disadvantages of a business.To describe the hierarchy and the external influences of both Private and Public Sector companies including conducting a PEST analysis. Researching the services available to organisations including financial services, consultancy services and local government funding. Demonstrate an understanding of how to market a business taking into account the location, marketing mix, product lifecycle, customer needs and relating this to the overall business objective. Demonstrate knowledge of the production processes, quality, stock control and the factors internal and external that affect production within an organisation.Human resource management within a business, to include recruiting, payroll, training and development of employees and health and safety issues. Business finance; being able to demonstrate an understanding of balance sheets and profit and loss accounts within a Public and Private sector organisation. FIN – 1129 – Accounting I NQF Level 5 Credits 10 Module Outcomes: ? ? ? ? Demonstrate basic appreciation of accounting theory and practice. Calculate and use appropriate costing methods to specific business transactions.Practice and illustrate preparation of books of accounts. Interpret financial statements. Course Content ? ? Prepare a trading, profit and loss account, balance sheet and cash flow report for sole trader, partnerships and limited liability companies, after taking into account a normal range of adjustment to the trial balance necessary for such preparation. Recognise and apply appropriate accounting conventions to a range of transactions within the context of the accounting regulatory requirements. 10 10 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Explain and describe the appropriate of account for different types of accounting transactions and be able to prepare a trial balance from these books of account. To prepare and maintain a range of control accounts appropriate to the books of account. To prepare journal entries and deal with the treatment of suspense account items. Operate, calculate and interpret a range of basic fina ncial ratios appropriate to a set of financial statements, particularly in the key areas of profitability, solvency liquidity, asset utilization and investment ratios.Employ the basic principles of cost behaviour cost ascertainment and to be able to: Classify direct overhead allocation summary Prepare an indirect overhead allocation summary Calculate overhead recovery rates by a variety of techniques and to apply these for the purpose of cost compilation. Explain the difference between fixed and variable costs. Calculate the difference between fixed and variable costs. Calculate break-even points of activity and prepare break-even charts. Appreciate and explain the limitations of break-even analysis.Understanding the basic principles of different costing techniques and to be able to: Define the different costing techniques Explain and understand the differences between each technique, and Calculate cost using any of the techniques. Understand the basic principles of capital investme nt appraisal and be able to calculate and interpret figures using the pay back, accounting rate of return or discounted cash flow methods of investment appraisal. BAN – 1117 – Business Communication I NQF Level 5 Credits 10Module Outcomes: ? Illustrate the purpose of Business Communication. ? Explain the communication process using the Communication Theory. ? Demonstrate the communication process in Business Communication. ? Describe the various tools used in Business Communication. Course Content ? ? ? How to write business correspondence including letters, memos and advertisements. The use of business English in written form looking at spelling, paragraphs, presentation of information and appropriate business language used.To learn and understand the basic principals of communication, including learning how to overcome barriers of communication, appropriate channels of communication, the purpose of communication and presentation of self when communicating. 11 11 ? ? To be able to communicate information in the form of graphs, this also includes identifying trends from the data. To learn and understand the different types of technology used within communication and the effects of it on business and the organisation.TTH – 1217 – Intro to Travel, Tourism and Hospitality NQF Level 5 Credits 10 Module Outcomes: ? ? ? Recognize the importance of Travel, Tourism and Hospitality in relation to National Economic Development. Describe and explain the contribution of Travel, Tourism and Hospitality to the National Gross Domestic Product. Comprehend the economic, social/cultural and environmental impacts of Travel, Tourism and Hospitality. Course Content ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? The interrelationship and interdependence between leisure, recreation, travel and tourism.The significance of economic, social, cultural, political and environment trends of patterns of leisure and tourism. The characteristics of different types of tourists and their m otivational behaviour. The supply and demand of tourist travel. The dimensions of the travel system in relation to tourism The main motivational factors that influence the tourist’s choice of travel. Evolution of international travel and transport developments that have affected tourism. The relationship between the development of the inclusive package tour and mass tourism.The basic requirement to development of a tourism destination. The roles of, and the relationships between, the main intermediaries within a simple tour distribution system. Government’s interest and involvement with main public tourism organization at both national and international levels. Future trends within the travel and tourism sectors. Upon successful completion of this course, the student is awarded a Certificate of Administration in Travel, Tourism and Hospitality. 12 12

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Confucius vs Taoism Essay Example for Free

Confucius vs Taoism Essay Good governance and political system has always been a cry for many nations especially developing countries Zambia inclusive. It is believed that good governance yield more economic and social development. Numerous scholars have written a number of books concerning good governance. Confucius believed to have been born in 551 BCE in Zou, Shandong Province and Lao Tzu said to have lived in the sixth century BCE are such examples of people who attempted to contribute to how people should be governed. Thus, this essay analyses the kinds of governments proposed by Confucius and Leo Tzu. Thereafter, it shall select one which is appropriate for the Zambian government and explains why it is ideal for the Zambian government. Although Confucius had a great education and became a teacher, teaching earned him little money and he was forced to take on other jobs. Before he died, there is evidence that he had many students who traveled around with him. However, Matt Rank (2007) argues that Confucius himself never achieved a very high office in government. He spent many years of his life trying to achieve a change in society through the right leadership, but he was never able to find a leader who would listen to him. Dubs H.Homer (1946; 275), on the other hand asserts that Confucius came to be appointed to the minor position of governor of a town. Eventually, he rose to the position of Minister of Crime in 501 BC. However, Confucius proposed through what might be called the bible of Confucianism the Analects, how the government and people generally should live in society. The Analects contains the wisdom of Confucius as written down by his students while he was alive and after he was alive. Its clear that Confucius prioritized certain principles over others. He was not concerned with the ingenuity of humanity, with whats been invented or thought up. He was not concerned with who is more intelligent than whom. He would have been unimpressed by Einstein. For Confucius, human society begins with (and is sustained by) society, government, custom, and personal virtue. Confucius was probably the most obvious humanistic philosopher. He emphasized the idea that humans could change and better their present circumstances through their own intelligence and effort. Confucius was, in modern terminology, a down-to-earth philosopher. He reasoned that we should not think about things outside of the realm of immediate human existence. Confucius stressed the social over the individual. Confucius political thought is based upon his ethical thought. He argues that the best government is one that rules through rites and peoples natural morality, rather than by using bribery and coercion. He explained that this is one of the most important analects: If the people be led by laws, and uniformity sought to be given them by punishments, they will try to avoid the punishment, but have no sense of shame. If they be led by virtue, and uniformity sought to be given them by the rules of propriety, they will have the sense of the shame, and moreover will become good. (James Legge 1880; 345). This sense of shame is an internalisation of duty, where the punishment precedes the evil action, instead of following it in the form of laws as in Legalism. â€Å"Lead the people with administrative injunctions and put them in their place with penal law, and they will avoid punishments but will be without a sense of shame. Lead them with excellence and put them in their place through roles and ritual practices, and in addition to developing a sense of shame, they will order themselves harmoniously. † (Analects II, 3) Confucius asserts that an emperor would rule, and his rule would be established through benevolence and virtue. Even though laws could be instituted and punishments for breaking each said law would be enforced, the only true way for people to follow what was good was to see that their leader was good. In other words, Confucius taught that rulers should lead by example, and this was the only way a truly great empire could be created at last. Confucius taught his students about the old ways. He thought that the social hierarchies of the ancients were what kept society intact. To us, this might seem a conservative positionkeep the old, reject the newbut during his time it was a more radical position. This is partly because Confucius advocated moving away from worshipping spirits and ghosts, and embracing that part of Chinese wisdom that focused on ceremony and personal virtue. While he supported the idea of government by an all-powerful sage, ruling as an Emperor, his ideas contained a number of elements to limit the power of rulers. He argued for according language with truth, and honesty was of paramount importance. Even in facial expression, truth must always be represented. Confucius believed that if a ruler were to lead correctly, by action, that orders would be deemed unnecessary in that others will follow the proper actions of their ruler. In discussing the relationship between a king and his subject (or a father and his son), he underlined the need to give due respect to superiors. This demanded that the inferior must give advice to his superior if the superior was considered to be taking the course of action that was wrong. Confucius believed in ruling by example, if you lead correctly, orders are unnecessary and useless. Confucius proposed another new idea that of meritocracy, led to the introduction of the Imperial examination system in China. This system allowed anyone who passed an examination to become a government officer, a position which would bring wealth and honor to the whole family. Having looked at Confucius’ way of governance on the other hand, Lao – Tzu’s philosophical teachings were more religious than political. However, potential officials throughout Chinese history drew on the authority of non-Confucian sages, especially Lao Tzu to deny serving any ruler at any time. Lao Tzus most famous follower in traditional accounts had a great deal of influence on Chinese literati and culture. Politically Lao Tzu advocated humility in leadership and a restrained approach to statecraft, either for ethical and pacifist reasons, or for tactical ends. In a different context, various anti-authoritarian movements have embraced the Lao Tzu teachings on the power of the weak. James A. Dorn(2008;45) states that Lao Tzu proposed that minimizing the role of government and letting individuals develop spontaneously would best achieve social and economic harmony. He also asserts that wisdom and understanding of the opposition between political power and the cultural activities of the people and community. In his 1910 article for the Encyclopedia Britannica, Peter Kropotkin also noted that Lao Tzu was among the earliest exponents of essentially anarchist concepts. More recently, anarchists such as John P. Clark and Ursula K. Le Guin have written about the conjunction between anarchism and Taoism in various ways, highlighting the teachings of Lao Tzu in particular. In her translation of the Tao Te Ching, Le Guin writes that Lao Tzu does not see political power as magic. He sees rightful power as earned and wrongful power as usurped He sees sacrifice of self or others as a corruption of power, and power as available to anyone who follows the Way. No wonder anarchists and Taoists make good friends. Le Guin, Ursula K. (2009; 20) Having looked at both Confucius and Lao Tzu’s kinds of government proposals, it is clear that the government proposed by Confucius is ideal for the Zambian government. Confucius sought to become an advisor to a ruler and directly to change society for the better, using heroes of the past as models (Moore Bruder, 2005; 503). According to the text; Tzus vision to change society was very different than Confucius. Moore Bruder (2005) state that, Tzus ideas are used to gain power and stay in power. This kind of government will not promote democracy as preached by Zambia to the rest of the world through its democratic free and fair election. Confucius embraced education and according to the text, was committed to the study of wise men at a young age. This is very ideal for Zambia because leadership skills will be learnt at a tender age and people will know what is required of them when they ascend to government offices. Moore Bruder (2005) state that, Confucius supposed that a person can always improve themselves through education and study. According to the text, he believed that once a person had knowledge of the Tao they had a purpose and would not leave this world in vain. Confucius believed also in a philosophy of helping others and treating others in the way that one would want to be treated themselves (Moore Bruder, 2005). For example, if a person wants kindness shown to them they should show kindness to other people. Likewise, according to Confucius, A virtuous man wishing to establish himself seeks also to establish others, and wishing to enlighten himself, seeks also to enlighten others' (Moore Bruder, 2005; 512 ). In conclusion, it is clear that Confucianism is more persuasive because he believed in education and that everyone can better themselves. The philosophy of Taoism concluded that not everyone can attain wisdom and Tzu did not feel that his philosophy needed to be improved upon. I was also more persuaded by Confucius because he believed in the kindness of others; treat others as you would like to be treated. Lao Tzu (Taoism) these were ways to change the world; he instead believed you must obtain power. A good philosopher has respect for anothers views and Confucius showed appreciation for Lao Tzus philosophies while it seemed Tzu was more bent on convincing Confucius he was wrong in his beliefs. For these reasons I was more persuaded by Confucianism than Taoism. Reference Dubs Homer (1946). The political career of Confucius. Journal of the American Oriental Society 66 (4). James Legge (1880). The religions of China: Confucianism and Taoism described and compared with Christianity. London: Hodder and Stoughton. Le Guin, Ursula K. (2009), Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching: A Book about the Way and the Power of the Way, Washington, D. C: Shambhala Publications Inc. Moore, B. N. Bruder, K. (2005). Philosophy: The power of ideas (6th ed. ). Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Roberts, Moss (2004), Dao De Jing: The Book of the Way, Berkeley: University of California Press.

Interview with Teenagers Essay Example for Free

Interview with Teenagers Essay Interviewing teenagers turned out to be rather interesting. Its very relevant the difference in my time of growing up a teen, to now. Teens these days have way more issues to worry about being that drugs, sex, and pregnancy are more tangible then the past. With media using tv, radio, magazines and music to tell teens how they need to be, its not hard to believe all the increase in teen violence, depression, and suicide. During the course of this paper I will be discussing the interview that I gave too four teen girls. Each of them came from different backgrounds and had very different, but yet the same answers to being a teen in today’s society. Jasmine Small, Ashley Leivas, Shavon McCorvey, and Emily Morales were the four teens that I chose to interview. Each of these girls comes from different backgrounds. Jasmine grew up without a father, Ashley grew up in foster care, Shavon had both parents present in her household, and Emily was taken from her mother as a child and was raised by her aunt. Just off of me knowing their background it was prevalent that the answers were going to be different and interesting in the same. In the beginning I made sure to discuss the purpose of this interview and notified them that they could stop me at any time for questions, or if the interview becomes too personal. After having done that all of the girls seemed to be relieved, and at that moment my interview began. What do you like about being a teenager was the first question asked all the girls. All of the girls agreed that having friends and having fun, and hanging out were the highlights of their youth. They all had their group of friends and all liked to go to the mall, movies, and â€Å"kick-backs† (parties). When I asked if school was significant to them they all laughed and said that they like school but it wasn’t too important to them. When asked about their dislikes they all had different answers. Jasmine answered that her dislike was going to school. She felt as if she didn’t learn anything, as if school was useless. Ashley disliked the fact that there is a lot of drama as far as people gossiping inside of school. She explained how many people perceived her as a person that likes to fight, and is promiscuous, when she is the exact opposite. She has issues that she’s dealing with and doesn’t seem to get along with other girl which is why she finds herself in a lot of altercations. Shavon’s dislike was growing up in Lancaster, she was born and raised in Los Angeles and was recently brought out here two years ago. She just wished that she had control over where she lived. Emily didn’t have an answer to this question she was having a difficult time with trying to determine what was a huge dislike. She couldn’t think of any so we moved on. Who is the most important thing in your life right now was an interesting question that I couldn’t wait to ask. Each answer was unique and heartwarming. Jasmines was her mother, she was very happy about having such a good mother who did all she could for children. She had not one bad thing to say about her mother. Ashley’s was her brother; her brother was the only biological family member that she had. She had seven other family members but all were split up in foster care in different states. Shavon’s was her sister; she was very close to her sister and shared everything with her. Emily’s was her cousin, whom she considered as a sister, she was close with her, and like Shavon, shared everything with her. They all had their individual stories on how close they were with their important person, and how they couldn’t imagine life without them. Of all the questions I believe that the question, if you could change one thing about your life what would it be and why, was the most important question. It showed that the girls all seemed to have some issues with growing up whether it be peer pressure or living without certain family members. Jasmine said that she would have her father in her life. She felt as if she had her father she would be a different person. She really wanted to have a relationship with her father. Ashley main thing she would change is to have a mother that cared and wasn’t on drugs. She said that she is very appreciative of her foster mother, but she would love to have known her real mother. Shavon’s change would be for her to move back to Los Angeles. She said that since she has moved to Lancaster everything has changed and that she is being mistreated at school. She began to explain that she left behind a lot of friends and didn’t seem to fit in. Emily, like Ashley, wanted her biological mother back. Unlike Ashley, Emily lived with her mother god enough to remember her before she was taken out her home. She remembered her mother for the good things that she did and not the drugs, like everyone else portrayed her mother as. During this interview it was very evident the issues that teens these days face. Later on in the interview we talked about peer pressure and if it affected them. They all stressed that peer pressure is hard not to fall into and that do have plenty of friends who are weak minded and whom have become pregnant or is having unprotected sex. They all are very smart and know how to say no when peer pressure arises. Being that I’m not that far in age many other the issues that they face, I did to growing up. There aren’t many differences except that everything is more prevalent as far as sex and pregnancy.

Explain and describe what a limiting factor is

Explain and describe what a limiting factor is Limiting factor is any factor that restricts a company or an organisations activities. In simple words, a limiting factor is the factor which is limited or not freely available to the company. Limiting factors in an organisation can be labour time, raw material, machine hours or space. For example, when sales demand excess the productivity capacity, the company do not have enough resources to produce the product, the scarce resource will be the factor that restricts the companys activities. The production constraints can be removing and additional resources can be acquired when the scarce resources are existed. Hence, the scarce resources should be identified to make sure the company has enough resources to produce their products as many as their wish. By using limiting factor, we can maximize the profit when obtained the greatest possible contribution to profit each time. Example1: A B C Contribution per unit of output RM 24 RM 20 RM 12 Machine hours required per unit of output 6 hours 2 hours 1 hours Estimated sales demand 3,000 units 3,000 units 3,000 units Required machine hours 18,000 hours 6,000 hours 3,000 hours The machine hour is limited to 18,000 hours for the period because of the breakdown of one machine. Consider Example 1. From the example 1, we know that the company required total 27,000 machine hours to produce the total sales demand of the product A, B and C that they estimated. However, the company only has 18,000 machine hours for the period because of the breakdown of one machine. In this situation, companys activities are limited in the available of machine hours. When we looking at the available information, we will think that the company should produce the product A first since the contribution per profit for product A is the highest but this assumption can be wrong. This is because produce a product A required 6 machine hours, whereas product B required 2 machine hours and product C required 1 machine hours only. The company can concentrates on producing 3,000 units of product B and C respectively and still have machine hours left to produce product A. In other words, if the company only concentrates on produce the product A, there will no machine hours left to the company to produce B and C. In order to maximize the companys profit, we should use limiting factor to calculate the greatest possible contribution per profit for each product and rank profitability of the product to obtain the optimum production plan. (b) Explain the techniques that have been developed to assist in business decision- making when single or multiple limiting factors are encountered (16 marks) Single limiting factor- Limiting factor analysis When single limiting factor are encountered, we have to use limiting factor analysis to help companies to identify the scarce resources and maximize profit by using the best combination of available resource. In limiting factor analysis, we should identify the bottleneck resources first. Secondly, we should calculate the contribution per unit for each product. Next, we should calculate the contribution per unit of the bottleneck resource for each product. After we get the contribution per unit of bottleneck resource, we can rank the products of the contribution per unit of bottleneck resource. Finally, we can allocate the resources from the highest contribution per profit to the lowest contribution per profit by the ranking. By doing so, we can obtained the greatest possible profit when resources are limited by single limiting factor. Example 2: X Y Machine hours per units 3 hours 4 hours Sales demand 2,000 units 3000 units RM RM Selling price 32 50 Less : Direct Material 10 20 Direct Labour 5 8 Variable Overhead 5 8 20 36 Contribution 12 14 The supply of materials for the period is unlimited, but the machine hours are limited to 15,000 hours. In order to maximize the profit, we should using limiting factor analysis to solve the problem when there is only one limiting factor. Step 1: Identify the bottleneck resource. At sales demand level: Sales demand Machine hours per unit Total machine hours X 2,000 units 3 hours 6,000 hours Y 3,000 units 4 hours 12,000 hours 18,000 hours Thus, machine hours are the limiting factor. Step 2: Calculate the contribution per unit for each product. The contribution has been given at the above. X Y Contribution per unit RM 12 RM 14 Step 3: Calculate the contribution per unit of the bottleneck resource for each product. To calculate the contribution per unit of the bottleneck resource for each product, the formulae is: Contribution per units of the machine hours = Contribution Machine hours Product X = RM 12 3 hours = RM 4.00 Product Y = RM 14 4 hours = RM 3.50 Step 4: Rank the products from the highest contribution per machine hour to lowest contribution per machine hour. Production should be concentrated on product X first, up to maximum sales available, then product Y. Step 5: Finally, allocate the available resources using that ranking that we decided at step 4 and calculate the maximum contribution. Production plan Units produced Machine hours per unit Total machine hours Balance of machine hours 15,000 hours Product X 2,000 units 3 hours 6,000 hours 9,000 hours Product Y 2,250 units 4 hours 9,000 hours So, the maximum contribution is as follow: RM Product X ( 2,000 units x RM 12) 24,000 Product Y (2,250 units x RM 14) 31,500 55,500 Multiple limiting factors- Linear programming We can use limiting factor analysis when there is one limiting factor. However, when there is more than one of scare resources which restricts organisations activities, we can use linear programming to solve the problem. Firstly, we must defined the variances when we using linear programming. After this, we can define and formulate the objective. Thirdly, we can formulate the constraints to formulating the problem. Next, we must draw a graph to identify the feasible region and we can get the optimum production plan from the graph. Finally, we can solve the problem and get the maximum contribution by doing so. Example 3: A B Contribution per unit RM 20 RM 10 Machine hours per unit 6 hours 3 hours Kilos per unit 4 kilos 8 kilos Maximum available : Machine hours = 18,000 hours Kilos = 24,000 kilos What should be the production plan? To answer the example 3, we should use linear programming to get the optimum production plan because there is two or more of scarce resources. Step 1: Define the variances Let x = the number of units of the product A. y = the number of units of the product B. Step 2: Define and formulate the objective function. The objective is to maximize the contribution C, given by: Maximum contribution = 20 x + 10 y Step 3: formulate the constraints. The limitations here are machine hours and kilos. For the machine hours, product A required 6 hours and product B required 3 hours machine hours. So, total machine hours required = 6 x + 3 y For the kilos, product A required 4 kilos and product B required 8 kilos. So, total kilos required = 4 x + 8 y Constraints Utilised Available Machine hours 6 x + 3 y Ë‚ 18,000 Kilos 4 x + 8 y Ë‚ 24,000 Step 4: Draw a graph and identify a feasible region. For the equation 6 x + 3 y = 18,000 machine hours When x = 0, y = 18,000/ 3 = 6,000 When y = 0, x = 18,000/ 6 = 3,000 Draw a straight line between the point (0, 6000) and (3000, 0) on the graph to represent the line for machine hours constraint. For the equation 4 x + 8 y = 24,000 kilos When x = 0, y = 24,000/ 8 = 3,000 When y = 0, x = 24,000/ 4 = 6,000 Draw a straight line between the point (0, 3000) and (6000, 0) on the graph to represent the line for kilos constraint. The constraints can be show as below: The original constraints were Step 5: Determine the optimal solution Calculate the contribution earned at each point P, Q and R Point P = RM 20 (0) + RM 10 (3,000) = RM 30,000 Point Q = RM 20 (2,000) + RM10 (2,000) = RM 60,000 Point R = RM 20 (1,500) + RM10 (0) = RM 30,000 Point Q gives the maximum contribution. Step 6: Answer the question The optimal point is at x = 2,000 and y = 2,000. This gives a maximum contribution of C = (20 x 2,000) + (10 x 2,000) = RM60, 000 (c) Explain the management idea known as throughput accounting. State and justify your opinion on whether or not throughput accounting and limiting factors are the same thing. (18 marks) To reduce companys cost and improves the profitability, every companys managers are using cost accounting to help them on decision-making. Theory of constraints (TOC) or Throughput accounting (TA) is another method for decision making others than Standard Based Costing, Activity Based Costing and Marginal Costing. TOC/TA is new management accounting approach based on factors identification when constraints are restricts companies to achieving their goals and hence reduces companys profits. Throughput accounting is used when there are only few constraints, normally just one. The constraint can be a resource, company policy or management mindset. According to Goldratts ideas, TOC is forecasting on a limit capacity at certain critical points in any production plan. TOC can maximise organisations profit by increases the speed of producing through an organisation to eliminating bottlenecks. Additionally, throughput accounting is not costing because it does not allocate all expenses (variable and fixed expenses, including overheads) to the products and services. Thus, throughput accounting helps managers to get better management decision in order to improve organisations profits by three measurements. They are: Throughput (T) is the rate that company produces goal units. When the goal units are money, throughput is net sales (S) less total variable costs (TVC), usually is cost of raw materials ( T = S TVC ). However, T exists when there is only one product or service sold. Besides, finished goods of inventory in a warehouse are not count because it has not yet sold. Operating expenses (OE) is all others expenses except the total variables cost that used to calculate the throughput. Basically, OE is total cost to operating the production system. Fixed or partially fixed costs no difference in throughput accounting. On the contrary, there only have either total variable cost or operating expenses in throughput accounting. Examples for OE include maintenance, utilities, rental, etc. Investment (I) is total amount of money that invest in a new system to enhance its ability to improve the capacity, for examples machinery, inventory, building, and other assets and liabilities. Therefore, throughput accounting use difference formulas to make difference types of accounting decisions by combined the throughput, total variable costs and operating expenses: Net profit  (NP) = Throughput Operating Expense = T-OE Return on investment  (ROI) = Net profit / Investment = NP/I Productivity  (P) = Throughput / Operating expense = T/OE Investment turns  (IT) = Throughput / Investment = T/I We can use the above formulas when making a decision that related to changes in revenue, expenses or investments to get the right decision, which must generate a positive answer from one out of three questions below: Does it increase throughput? Does it reduce operating expense? Does it improve the return on investment? Finally, there are five steps in the TOC to help managers maximize the throughput which causes them to achieve organisations goals. The five steps are as follows: Identify the system constraints. There is an internal constraint? For example, in production, engineering or planning. There is an external constraint? For example, in the market. The constraints a resource or a policy? Decide how to maximise the output from the constraint. Prepare all other activities subject to this decision. While Non-constraints need to be subject to constraints. Consider the appropriate level of resources once the resource constraint has been identified. Therefore, the capacity constraints can be improved. Enhance the systems constraints. Once the constraint has been corrected, return to Step 1 to determine the next most serious constraints and duplication. In my opinion, throughput accounting and limiting factor is not the same thing but there are similarities and differences in between throughput accounting and limiting factor. For example, throughput accounting and limiting factor are using to assist companies to identify bottleneck resources instead to maximize companies profits. However, throughput accounting is used when there are very few constraints; often just one but limiting factor is used when there are one or more than one constraints. Besides, limiting factor is focus on working to obtain greatest contributions while throughput accounting is focus on the premise that the limited capacity in some critical point of any production plan. In addition, limiting factor maximise the organisations profit by using the best combination of available resources but throughput accounting is maximise the profit by increase the producing speed through organisation to eliminate bottlenecks. Throughput accounting calculates the products throughput as the selling price minus all variable costs. Variable costs or in another words cost of materials in throughout accounting included direct material costs only, labour and overhead costs are fixed and categories to total factory costs. In contrast, limiting factor calculated by sales price minus variable costs to get the contribution but variable costs in limiting factor are including the labour and overhead costs, this is difference from throughput accounting.

GentleHands by M.E. Kerr :: essays research papers

What would you do if your Grandfather were accused of being a sadist in WWII? That’s exactly what happened to Buddy Boyle. Gentlehands by M.E. Kerr is about Buddy Boyle, a lower class man who lives year-round in Seaville, and Skye Pennington, a rich girl who only spends her summer there. Skye and Buddy fall in love. On one of their dates, Buddy decides that they should go to his grandfather’s house. Near the end of the summer, Buddy’s grandfather is accused of torturing people during WWII. Buddy and Skye’s love leads into many events in this book. One of the events that Buddy and Skye’s love causes, is Buddy getting in trouble with his parents. At dinner one night, Buddy keeps tell his family about how wonderful Skye’s house is. His father gets annoyed and asks him to step outside for a talk. Once outside, Buddy’s dad starts to beat him. â€Å"What is was a punch to my neck, so hard I fell down from the weight of it.† Although he knows what will happen when he goes out with Skye, he still goes out. Another event that their love leads to is Buddy getting to know his grandfather. On one of their first dates he wants to go somewhere special, so he chose to go to his grandfather’s house. After that day, he becomes close to his grandfather. He starts to live with his grandfather. If Buddy never met Skye, he probably wouldn’t have became close to his grandfather. Despite the relationship between Buddy and his Skye, Buddy’s little brother was suffering. Buddy promised Streaker, his brother that he would go to the bay with him. Instead, he told him that he would turn the sprinkler on for him. â€Å"Then I stuck two dimes in his piggy bank because I felt like a real rat.

The English Patient :: essays research papers

The English Patient Auteur Michael Ondaatje (12 september 1943, Colombo ~ Sri Lanka) is een Canadese schrijver, hoewel er ook Engels, Nederlands, Tamil en Sinhalees bloed door zijn aderen stroomt. Toen hij negen was, verhuisde hij met zijn moeder, zuster en broer naar Londen. In 1962 emigreerde hij naar Canada, waar hij Engels en geschiedenis ging studeren. In zijn studietijd begon hij gedichten te schrijven en in 1967 verscheen zijn eerste dichtbundel ‘The Dainty Monsters’. De eerste tien jaar van zijn schrijverscarrià ¨re schreef Ondaatje alleen gedichten. Deze waren veelal surrealistisch, waarvan zijn debuut ‘The Collected Works of Billy the Kid: Left Handed Poems’ (1970) voor toneel werd bewerkt en tevens ontving hij hiervoor een prestigieuze Canadese literatuurprijs. Het is in feite een collage, waarin Ondaatje door middel van foto’s, gedichten, prozastukken, liederen en tekeningen een beeld schetst van Billy the Kid, de legendarische held van het Wilde Westen. Ondaatje b ewonderde de Canadese zanger en schrijver Leonard Cohen, zodoende schreef hij een monografie over hem in 1970. Zijn eerste roman ‘Coming to slaughter’ presenteerde hij in 1979, dat cinematografisch evenals poà «tisch mag worden genoemd. In deze levensschets van Buddy Holden, de trompettist waarmee de jazz begon, hanteerde Ondaatje dezelfde werkwijze als bij ‘The Collected Works of Billy the Kid: Left Handed Poems’. Zijn jeugd op Sri Lanka (destijds heette het nog Ceylon) in een geprivilegieerd milieu schilderde hij in een kleurrijke mengeling van autobiografische feiten en fictie in zijn boek ‘Running in the family’ (1982). Zijn rokkenjagende en dranklustige vader speelt hierin een belangrijke rol. De pijn van zijn scheiding en het ontdekken van nieuwe liefde worden uitvoerig beschreven in ‘Secular love’ (1984), dat bestaat uit een verzameling van liedachtige teksten. Het werk van Ondaatje is vrij lastig in te delen, aangezien hij voor een postmodernistische combinatie van stijlen heeft gekozen. Zijn immigrantenroman ‘In the skin of a lion’ (1987) gaat over klassenverschillen in de jaren twintig en dertig. Zoals in zijn eerdere werk, hanteerde hij hier opnieuw de collagetechniek, waarbij stukje bij beetje alle onderdelen toch op hun plaats in het grote geheel vallen. Gedurende een nachtelijke autorit wordt aan het dochtertje van zijn pas overleden vriendin het levensverhaal verteld van de Canadees Patrick Lewis. ‘In the skin of a lion’ was zijn meest populaire boek tot de verfilming van ‘The English Patient’ in 1997 voor een groot publiek. Zo ontstond er grote belangstelling voor deze roman uit 1992, over vier personen in een halfverwoeste Italiaanse villa aan het eind van de Tweede Wereldoorlog.

Prize Based Challenges

A Challenge is a proven approach to solving important problems by leveraging large communities of people who can bring new expertise and diverse perspectives to bear. Challenges are an effective tool for our clients to help foster innovation and solve problems as a pay-for-performance resource coupled with world class technical experts. Executing a Prize Based Challenge Our team often employs a two phase approach to executing Prize Based Challenge efforts for our clients.This phased approach allows our clients to launch their open innovation efforts rapidly though two initial ideation challenges and use the results to help tailor the more complex Theoretical challenges in subsequent phases. The structure and timeshare of the three phases of execution for this approach are detailed below. PHASE 1: Ideation Challenges (Day 1 – Day 90) Phase 1 consists of training and planning for the overall effort as well as the execution of two ideation challenges.Ideation challenges are the m ost basic form of prize based challenges which pose a broad question formulated to obtain access to new ideas. Ideation challenges have been used successfully by NASA, AFAR and other DoD clients. There are few constraints on solver submission format (non-technical and non-exclusive licensing given to Seekers for guarantee of one winner per challenge), prize values are generally small (?$5,000 – $10,000).Ideation challenges provide a good opportunity for our clients to at once gather new ideas about an existing problem, familiarize themselves with the challenge process, and create publicity for subsequent follow on challenges. IA – Challenge Development Workshop: Phase 1 will begin with a challenge placement workshop. This day long workshop includes familiarization with the Open Innovation approach, an understanding of the challenge development process and establishing goals/expectations for the challenge outcomes.It also provides an opportunity for BBC/XX Subject Matte r Experts to work together with our clients to brainstorm and formulate the first two Ideation and/or Theoretical (see Phase 2 description of Theoretical) challenges to be launched. Following the workshop the BBC/ICC team will continue to work with the client to finalize the challenge question Roding, make solver channel/publicity decisions, and specify intellectual property treatment for the first challenges.If during the workshop more important technical (non-alteration) challenges are identified as a priority for DES, the BBC/XX team will prioritize those and make recommendations for advancing these challenges in Phase B – Initial Challenges Launch: Once the decisions noted above are complete, the BBC/ICC team posts, publicizes and hosts the initial challenges for a period of 30-60 days (30 days for Ideation and 60 days for Theoretical/technical challenges) on the XX littoral. During this period, the BBC/ICC team provides constant monitoring of the challenge site for activ ity and submissions.The initial ideation challenges generally launch on or about Day 10 after formulation begins. ICC – Evaluation of Submissions: After the 30-60 day posting period, the BBC/ICC team work to categorize, prioritize and rank the solutions submitted by the solver community. BBC/ICC Subject Matter Experts specifically selected for their experience and knowledge of the challenge technical area will evaluate each of the submissions and use criteria established during the Challenge Development Workshop to present a rank ordered set of potential solutions.Ranked solution sets are provided to our clients on or about Day 45 for Ideation and day 75 for theoretical challenges. ID- Award and Close: Following receipt of the solution sets, our clients generally have a period of 7 days to review and select winning solutions for both challenges and determine prize awards. Ideation challenges carry a guaranteed award starting at $5,000, Theoretical challenges are awarded only if specific success criteria is met. The BBC/ICC team engages the distribution of awarded prizes to selected solvers.A close out report on each of the challenges is also completed by the BBC/ICC team and provided to the client. This report includes recommendations for subsequent prize competitions that are executed in Phase 2. Award Distribution and final report are completed 30 days following the closeout of the challenge awards, approximately days 75-105 depending on challenge type. PHASE 2: Follow-on Challenges (Day 91 – Day -210) Phase 2 consists of planning and executing multiple challenges including Theoretical Challenges.Theoretical challenges are a more complex and detailed type of prize based challenge which seeks solutions to more specific technical problems. Theoretical challenges have detailed solution requirements that need to be met for an award and the client evaluates submissions on a theoretical basis. Theoretical challenge awards are traditionally posted at higher dollar value than Ideation challenges and generally start at around $10,000.Awards for Theoretical challenges are not guaranteed, they are paid based on Solvers meeting specific success criteria posted in the challenge statement. The BBC/ICC team works closely with our clients during the challenge formulation process to determine the appropriate dollar value of the prize for each challenge based on the nature of the challenge itself. AAA – Challenge Formulation: Phase 2 begins with a half day planning meeting between BBC/ICC team and our clients to determine the preferred approach to launching the next set of challenges.The team will use the knowledge and insight gained from the initial challenges to further customize the second round of challenges to the goals of their overall open innovation effort. Final decisions on the number, timing, challenge type and other organizational requirements will determine the time frame of completion but should be challenge formulatio n should be complete by Day 100, or 10 days from the beginning of formulation of challenges identified in this Phase. B – Challenges Launch: Following these decisions, the BBC/ICC team posts, publicizes and hosts challenges for a specified period on the XX platform. Because Theoretical challenges are more complex and require more effort from the solver in their submissions, they be hosted for a minimum of 60 days. During this period, the BBC/ICC team will monitor the site activity. Depending on the determinations made during challenge formulation, the challenges can run consecutively or concurrently but Phase 2 challenges should begin launching on or about Day 110. C – Evaluation of Submissions: During and after the posting period, the BBC/ICC team works to categorize, prioritize and rank the solutions submitted by the solver community. BBC/ICC Subject Matter Experts specifically selected for their experience and knowledge of the challenge technical area evaluate each of the bionomist and use criteria established during challenge formulation to present a rank ordered set of potential solutions. Ranked solution sets are provided to the client within 15 days of each challenge close.The ordering and sequence of the challenges in this phase will determine the final date of completion. AD – Award and Close: Following receipt of the solution sets, our clients generally have a period of 30 days to review and select winning solutions for each Theoretical challenge and determine prize awards. Once the client has determined winners and prize allotments, the BBC/ICC team manages the distribution of awarded prizes to selected solvers.

Hr as Competency Developer Essay

It is the art and science of acquiring, motivating, maintaining and developing people in their jobs in light of their personal, professional and technical knowledge, skills, potentialities, needs and values in synchronization with the achievement of individual, organization, and society’s goals. Functions of a Human Resource Manager * In charge of the management of an organization’s workforce, or human resources * Responsible for the attraction, selection, training, assessment and rewarding of employees * Oversees organizational leadership and culture * Develops new approaches * Generates innovative ideas that are strategically aligned with department goals * Serves as a change agent and leads change efforts HR Manager as Competency Developer Human Resources is an asset that need to be managed conscientiously and in tune with the organizations needs. Todays most competitive organization are working to ensure that – now and a decade from now – they have employees who are eager and be able to address competitive challenges, this means recruiting and retaining superior talent and stimulating employees to perform at peak levels. For organization to succeed in today’s competitive and complex environment, employee at all levels need to develop and demonstrate â€Å"the personal capabilities, underlying characteristics and behaviours that drive superior performance at work†. Keeping the organization and its human resources competitive is one of the most important role of a Human Resource Manager. Competency * It is the ability of an individual to do a job properly * It is a combination of knowledge, skills and behaviour used to improve performance * It is linked with personal development as a management concept * Competency is not â€Å"fixed† – they can usually be developed with effort and support * Competency should be made visible/accessible Competencies are coachable, observable, measurable and critical to successful individual or corporation performance Why the need to develop competency: * Highlight the value of the organization * Provide clear guidelines of success * Enable greater flexibility to move people laterally and encourages development * Provide practical tools for performance management * Help to identify gaps between current capabilities and future requirements * Help in focusing training and development efforts on areas with greatest need and/or impact * Facilitate organizational change and building desired culture * Provides employees with a roadmap for building strengths and closing development gaps Competencies, when correctly identified and used, have proved to be one of the most powerful tools for an organization to meet its business results, through its people. Competencies help in establishing common criteria for hiring, training, measuring, and rewarding people with the right capabilities to help the organization gain competitive advantage Competency models are often used within human resource departments of organizations to define success of both individuals and groups. Competency models can be used in a variety of ways, such as assessing of candidates’ qualifications for jobs to developing training programs and in executive recruitment and coaching. Effectiveness of Competency Model Must: * Be aligned with business and organization goals and needs * Support the business strategy * Be future focused * Translate abstract concepts into observable behaviours and activities * Be suitable for multiple application (if necessary) * Be selective, focused on a few competencies that are actually key for company or individuals performance * Do make so specific that it cannot be used elsewhere in the organization Types of Competencies When we speak about competencies, they can generally be divided into two main categories: 1. Core Competencies Core Competencies are based on the organization’s mandate, key values, and goals. They describe those behaviors that are necessary for successful performance in all jobs throughout the agency. In other words, these core competencies are necessary for the agency to meet its strategic goals and priorities. They are found in every job, but to varying degrees. The core competencies for all roles are: * Building Relationships Builds rapport, develops relationships and identifies opportunities for Partner/Community involvement, collaborates with stakeholders on an on-going basis and establishes new partnerships/strategic relationships * Developing Others The ability to foster the learning and development of others (individuals, staff, and peers) through coaching, mentoring and empowering so that people have a deep sense of commitment and ownership. It includes promoting an environment of continuous learning and self-development that contributes to on-going success. Developing others is applied to all roles and is not limited to formal positions of authority * Integrity Acts consistently, in the workplace, according to Basic Values of openness and honesty Acts on Values despite emotional risk to self * Listening, Understanding and Responding Listen actively and responsively Accurately assesses Human Behaviour * Advocacy It is a focus on and commitment to involving the individual in the community and influencing the community to assist in meeting the needs and goals of the individual. It involves the use of persuasive techniques or negotiation skills to achieve desired results, advocates for the rights of the individual and proactively encourage the integration of the individual into the community. At higher levels, advocacy involves thinking about what the other party cares about, thinking win-win, and framing arguments in light of their issues * Quality of Service Maintains clear communication Takes personal responsibility for correcting problems Acts to improve quality of service for the individual of stakeholder Addresses underlying needs of individual or stakeholder Uses a long-term perspective/acts as a trusted advisor It is important here to understand that these competencies will help agency staff to more effectively meet the needs of the individuals that are served by the agencies. For example, by engaging in advocacy and building community relations, accessibility and community education will be strengthened. As leaders help staff to grow and develop, staff members can better assist individuals to grow and develop. A strong service orientation helps everyone stay focused on who we serve and allows us to adapt to changing expectations and needs. A strong ability to listen and understand underlies all that we are trying to accomplish in being person-centered and respectful. Over time, a path for superior performance is laid. 2. Job-Specific Competencies Job Competencies refer to the key interpersonal and personal skills and abilities that are necessary to specific types of jobs within the agencies. The job specific behavioural competencies are: * Professional Excellence Wants to do job well Creates own measures of excellence Improves performance Sets and works to meet challenging goals * Flexibility The ability to adapt to and work effectively within a variety of situations, and with various individuals or groups. Flexibility entails understanding and appreciating different and opposing perspectives on an issue, adapting one’s approach as the requirements of a situation change, and changing or easily accepting changes in one’s own agency or job requirements. * Information Gathering and Analysis Ask questions Investigates and sees patterns Researches and applies complex concepts Clarifies complex concepts and scans the environment * Opportunity Seeking The ability to identify a problem, obstacle or opportunity and take action and/or proactively create opportunities to resolve or prevent problems. It is an orientation towards actively seeking out opportunities for the individual that will assist in enhancing involvement within his or her community. * Self-Control The ability to keep one’s emotions under control and restrain negative actions when provoked, when faced with opposition or hostility from others, or when working under conditions of stress. It also includes the ability to maintain stamina under continuing stress * Strategic Thinking Aligns current actions with strategic goals of the organization Integrates goals with plans and approaches Integrates goals with operations Understands external impact on internal strategy * Team Leadership Keeps people informed Promotes team effectiveness Obtains resources/takes care of the team Positions self as the leader Communicates a compelling vision * Teamwork Involves working co-operatively with others, being part of a team, working together, as opposed to working separately or competitively. These behaviours apply when one is a member of a group of people functioning as a team It is important to note that these competencies are defined at different levels for different jobs. At the same time, it is important to keep in mind that we need to think through issues and concerns, solve problems and stay aware of our environment. We need to work as a team and support each other. As issues change, we must remain flexible, but never lose sight of what the agency is trying to accomplish. We must focus on achieving results and taking initiative to help support the individuals we serve, and to allow them to participate fully in the community. Human Resource Development Human Resource Development is the framework for helping employees develop their personal and organizational skills, knowledge and abilities. Human Resource Development includes such opportunities as employee training, employee career development, performance management and development, coaching, mentoring, succession planning, key employee identification and organization development. The Human Resource Manager should identify, administer, develop and evaluate the training and development needs of personnel. Through this training and development, personnel acquire not only skills and competency in their present jobs but also capacities for future managerial positions. The efficiency of an organization depends greatly on the training and development of personnel. Training * Improving employee competencies needed today or very soon * Typical objective is to improve employee performance in a specific job Development * Improving employee competencies over a longer period of time * Typical objective is to prepare employees for future roles Importance of Training and Development * Develop competencies that match strategy * It helps personnel to utilize and develop his potential * Foster cohesiveness and commitment * Improve commitment and retention * There will be competent replacement for more responsible positions * Career advancement opportunities * Improve competitiveness * Increase productivity * Improve service * Implement new technology * Trained personnel increase their market value and earning power HR Managers need to provide opportunities for employees to improve their knowledge, skills and expertise, but at the same time they have to find ways to retain employees and their knowledge. HRM practices and HR strategies have to be designed and delivered to keep employees and their knowledge in the organization. It is not always possible to retain employees in organizations and, sometimes, it is even good idea to let go of some of the existing staff and introduce a new wave of employees to the organization to improve innovation and creativity. However, this does not mean that organizations should also let go of the knowledge they have invested to be created and developed over the years. Although employees come and go, knowledge should be kept and developed for the future competitiveness of the organization. HR Manager as a Change Leader Change Leadership is the ability to energize and alert groups to the need for specific changes in the way things are done. People with this competency willingly embrace and champion change. They take advantage of every opportunity to explain their vision of the future to others and gain their buy-in. HR Managers should play an active role in developing and maintaining an organizational environment supportive of change and diversity * Encourages others to value change * Effectively communicates the reasons for change HR Managers should be anticipatory and proactive rather than reactive. Because of rapid change in both technological and demographic, HR Manager is in a pivotal position for helping to create an organizational environment supportive of such change HR Managers should also develop innovative approaches to streamline complex situations. Best practice The planning processes of most best practice organizations not only define what will be accomplished within a given time-frame, but also the numbers and types of human resources that will be needed to achieve the defined business goals (e.g., number of human resources; the required competencies; when the resources will be needed; etc.). Organizations must also have a talent management HR system that stores and reports information on employee competencies, and enables some or all parts of the Career Development and Succession Management process, for example: * employee / multi-source competency assessment; * catalogued learning resources; * on-line registration for courses / programs; * job / role matching that compares employee competencies against targeted role / job requirements; * various reporting capabilities that support both Succession Management (e.g., lists of employees ready for targeted positions / role) and broader HR Planning. References * Michael Armstrong. A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. 2007 * Zorlu Senyucel. Managing the Human Resource in the 21st Century. 2009 * ITAP International. Global Competency Development. 2013 * Jackson, Schuller & Werner. Managing Human Resources. * HRMBusiness.com.Competency Development: The HRM Professional’s Key Role.2008 * Success through HR Professionals.novascotia.ca.2012 In rapidly changing business environments, organizations are recognizing the value of a workforce that is not only highly skilled and technically adept, but more importantly, a workforce that can learn quickly, adapt to change, communicate effectively, and foster interpersonal relationships. These characteristics, or competencies, are critical to organizational survival, productivity, and continual improvement. By focusing on the full range of competencies or whole-person assessment, the emphasis is on potential, or what the person can bring to the organization, rather than on a set of narrowly defined tasks based on job requirements. Organizations that select for competencies such as creative thinking begin to build a high-performance culture. Using competencies as the basis for staffing provides the flexibility needed to select and place individuals where they can best serve the organization One of the strengths of competency models is that they are often linked to the business goa ls and strategies of the organization. Additionally, competency models provide insight into core competencies that are common to multiple jobs within an organization Competencies provide a common language across HR functions; therefore, they provide a natural foundation for integrating these functions. Competencies support these new roles since they can be linked to and promote the strategic mission and values of an organization. The linkage of occupation-related competencies and activities to the organizational mission and goals provides a clear line of sight between individual and team performance and organizational success. The organization can reward the accomplishments directly related to the agency’s mission and reward those competencies that drive organizational success. By aligning the strategic plan with competencies, an organization can effectively derive recruitment, selection, and training strategies that will support projected future needs, resulting in high-perf orming employees and a high performance organization

Tourism and Social Exclusion in the Dominican Republic

Latin American Perspectives http://lap. sagepub. com/ Tropical Blues : Tourism and Social Exclusion in the Dominican Republic Amalia L. Cabezas Latin American Perspectives 2008 35: 21 DOI: 10. 1177/0094582X08315765 The online version of this article can be found at: http://lap. sagepub. com/content/35/3/21 Published by: http://www. sagepublications. com On behalf of: Latin American Perspectives, Inc. Additional services and information for Latin American Perspectives can be found at: Email Alerts: http://lap. sagepub. com/cgi/alerts Subscriptions: http://lap. sagepub. om/subscriptions Reprints: http://www. sagepub. com/journalsReprints. nav Permissions: http://www. sagepub. com/journalsPermissions. nav Citations: http://lap. sagepub. com/content/35/3/21. refs. html Downloaded from lap. sagepub. com at University of Sheffield on September 8, 2011 Tropical Blues Tourism and Social Exclusion in the Dominican Republic by Amalia L. Cabezas Tourism development is the backbone of many Carib bean economies, and its advocates argue that it contributes to sustainable development, the alleviation of poverty, and integration into the globalized economy.Scholars and activists, in contrast, point to tourism-related ecological deterioration, profit leakage, distorted cultural patterns, rising land values, and prostitution. They suggest that tourism perpetuates existing disparities, fiscal problems, and social tensions. Examination of tourism development in the Dominican Republic indicates that it deskills and devalues Dominican workers, marginalizing them from tourist development and sexualizing their labor.The majority of people are relegated, at best, to positions of servitude in low-paid jobs in the formal sector, unemployment, or unstable activities in the informal sector that include the commoditization of sexuality and affective relations. Keywords: Tourism, Caribbean, Dominican Republic, Capitalism, Social exclusion In A Small Place, the Caribbean writer Jamaica Kincaid elaborates on the inequities of tourism (1988: 18–19): â€Å"Every native of every place is a potential tourist, and every tourist is a native of somewhere. But some natives—most natives in the world—cannot go anywhere. They are too poor. They are too poor to go anywhere. In international tourism, only some people are able to travel and experience a respite from the crushing banality of their lives; others, too poor to go anywhere, are relegated to servicing the needs of foreign travelers. Travel and tourism are among the most important economic activities of the global economy not just for the transnational monopolies that control them but also for those who dream of traveling and perhaps being able to turn someone else’s commonplace reality into the source of their own pleasure. This is the reality of the tropical blues. Tourism development is the backbone of many Caribbean economies.For the small island nations, tourism today represents what sugar wa s a century ago: a monocrop controlled by foreigners and a few elites that services the structures of accumulation for global capitalism. 1 Can tourism change the economic context of small nation-states in the Caribbean by creating possibilities for the population to improve its standard of living? Tourism promoters, policy makers, experts, and development officials certainly think so. They Amalia L. Cabezas teaches at the University of California, Riverside, and is a coordinating editor of Latin American Perspectives.She thanks the Centro de Promocion y Solidaridad Humana (a nongovernmental organization working in Sosua, Puerto Plata, and the surrounding communities) and the Movimiento de Mujeres Unidas for research assistance. LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, Issue 160, Vol. 35 No. 3, May 2008 21-36 DOI: 10. 1177/0094582X08315765  © 2008 Latin American Perspectives 21 Downloaded from lap. sagepub. com at University of Sheffield on September 8, 2011 22 LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES hav e historically made enthusiastic claims about the positive impact of tourism on host societies.From fostering world peace to preserving biodiversity and indigenous cultures, tourism has been considered a panacea for societies’ ills (Castellanos de Selig, 1981). More recently, tourism has been seen not only as generating foreign exchange and employment but also as contributing to sustainable development, the alleviation of poverty, and integration into the globalized economy. Governments and multilateral organizations such as the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and United Nations development agencies promote tourism as a viable mechanism for economic and social development.It is easy to understand why so much hope is riding on tourism. Tourism is a vital component of the spread of global capitalism. It accounts for one-third of the global trade in services and is expanding at twice the growth rate of world output (El Beltagui, 2001). Tourist arrivals, which stood at 25 million in 1950, are projected to reach 1. 6 billion by 2020 (WTO, 1999). According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC, 2005), the travel and tourism industry accounts for US$4. 4 trillion of economic activity worldwide. In the Caribbean region, tourism development is of paramount importance as an indispensable source of foreign exchange (ILO, 2001). Judged by the International Labor Organization as the most tourism-oriented region in the world, the Caribbean is a region where a fifth of the gross domestic product is produced for tourists, directly or indirectly, by one out of every seven workers (ILO, 2001: 119). Scholars and activists working in the field of tourism are much more critical of tourism than policy makers and politicians.In the past three decades, assessments of tourism’s socioeconomic impact have included discussions of ecological deterioration, profit leakage, social displacement, distorted cultural patter ns, rising land values, drugs, and prostitution (Harrison, 1992; Crick, 1996; Pattullo, 1996). Tourism has also been linked to the creation of demand for foreign-made goods, consumerism, the commodification of culture, trafficking in women and children, internal migration, and the disruption and corruption of traditional values and behaviors (see, e. g. McElroy, 2004; Mowforth and Munt, 1998; Pattullo, 1996). Furthermore, scholars postulate that tourism perpetuates existing disparities, fiscal problems, and social tensions (Britton, 1996; Greenwood, 1989). Given such incongruities in opinions and assessments, I seek to examine the framework within which tourism development takes place and to explore why tourism has failed to raise the standard of living and create better life chances for people in the Caribbean region. The concern here is with the political economy of tourism development in the Dominican Republic.In this article I argue that the history of economic, political, and s ocial subjugation within the global capitalist system determines the institutional framework for the current tourism trade. I offer the interpretation that the international division of labor in tourism deskills and devalues Dominican workers, marginalizing them from the process of tourism development and sexualizing their labor. I am concerned with the impact of these processes on the most vulnerable elements of the population. This case study is based on fieldwork undertaken in the Dominican Republic.Beginning in 1997, participant observation was conducted on the Downloaded from lap. sagepub. com at University of Sheffield on September 8, 2011 Cabezas / EXCLUSION IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 23 northeast coast of the country in Puerto Plata and the neighboring beach resort developments of Playa Dorada and Sosua. Puerto Plata, a historic city with a population of over 60,000, was targeted for development during the boom in tourism growth in the 1970s. It is the oldest and one of the m ost developed tourism areas of the country, and it continues to grow (ASONAHORES, 2004).Its port attracts cruise lines, and it has an abundance of luxury resorts located east of the city in an area known as Playa Dorada. Sosua, a few kilometers up the coast, is a small beachside community settled by European Jews brought into the country by the former dictator Rafael L. Trujillo to â€Å"whiten the nation† (Symanski and Burley, 1973). It has many businesses owned by expatriates and continues to attract European travelers, many from Germany. The north coast area has a large transient population of internal migrants who come to work in the tourism industry, its informal trade, and the free-trade zone.My research was assisted by two nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Puerto Plata and Sosua that are concerned with community health. Taperecorded interviews were conducted in 1997 at a community clinic with women who identified themselves as sex workers, many of whom were affil iated with the Movimento de Mujeres Unidas (Movement of United Women—MODEMU), an NGO that advocates for the labor and human rights of women in the sex industry. Further research for this project was carried out in 2004, 2005, and 2007, including work in the capital city of Santo Domingo and in the nearby tourist beach resort of Boca Chica.Data collection involved interviews with hotel workers, sex workers, community activists, members of MODEMU, people involved in the informal economy, local businessmen, and tourists. STRUCTURAL INEQUALITIES AND THE CAPITALIST GLOBAL SYSTEM Tourism exists within a political-economic framework characterized by monopoly capital—a system of global capital that has evolved over the past 500 years and is in a new stage of accumulation characterized by the transnationalization of state formation, production, and consumption (Robinson, 2004; 2007).It is important to keep the colonial patterns of capitalist accumulation in mind when examining tourism development, since global inequities lie at the heart of the tourism project. The capitalist world system has continually expanded through access to cheap labor, land, resources, and markets. These processes are clearly evident in the commercial and organizational systems of the hospitality and travel industries. Transnational tourism reflects the asymmetrical distribution of power and economic resources between former colonies and their colonizers (Fanon, 1963).As Britton (1982: 355) declares, â€Å"The more a Third World country has been dominated by foreign capital in the past, the greater likelihood there is of the prerequisites for establishing a local tourist industry being present. It is metropolitan tourism capital that is the single most important element in determining the organization and characteristics of tourism in underdeveloped countries. † Time and resources have been important in the development of tourism, but so has economic power. While tourism is a global industry, the Downloaded from lap. sagepub. om at University of Sheffield on September 8, 2011 24 LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES majority of the receipts accrue to Europe and the United States (ILO, 2001; WTO, 2002). Indeed, the new forms of global capitalist domination, as manifested in the tourism and travel market, demonstrate that Dominicans face an â€Å"empire of global capital† (Robinson, 2007: 19). The Caribbean is thus relegated to a â€Å"pleasure periphery† within the international division of labor, a â€Å"host† region that accommodates leisure travelers and the demands of transnational corporations (Turner and Ash, 1975).The tourism industry in the global North emerged with subsidized state-led development. Growth in infrastructure and technology benefited from statesponsored research and development. In the 1950s the U. S. Senate authorized more than US$12 million to support the development of improved transport aircraft, and U. S. policy e ncouraged the development of civil aeronautics and air commerce both within and outside of the United States (Truong, 1990). The use of U. S. aviation equipment, U. S. eronautical procedures, and the English language as the world standard in aviation guaranteed the United States dominance in civil aeronautics globally. In Western Europe, the concept of â€Å"participatory enterprise,† by which airlines are owned in part or wholly by governments, helped to cover the losses incurred by the operation of unprofitable but strategically important routes (Truong, 1990). Both the United States and Western Europe subsidized and cultivated the global travel infrastructure and established the regulations and norms of the travel industry, facilitating their control and domination.Travel and tourism enterprises experienced rapid growth and expansion as they sought to capture the disposable earnings of wage workers in the booming economies of Western Europe and the United States during the late 1950s and 1960s. Their growth was enhanced by new patterns of production and consumption in the global North and the creation of social legislation ensuring holiday time off. It was advantageous for the United States to further its political and commercial interests in the Caribbean by promoting the growth of tourism as a form of economic development.As Truong (1990: 104) explains, The advocated tactical and strategic flexibility in the execution of civil aviation policy has been translated into the use of multilateral aid channels to cover U. S. interests and overt intervention in international aviation and tourism. The promotion of tourism itself mirrored the awareness of the relation between air transport and economic development. This intervention has two main advantages for the United States. From a commercial perspective, such intervention contributes to the strengthening of the U.S. position as a manufacturer and exporter of aircraft and navigation equipment. From a pol itical perspective, it helps to consolidate the direction of social and economic development in the third world, which benefits U. S. interests under a screen of peaceful understanding. In due course, the growth of the tourism industry became a â€Å"peaceful† method of attaining long-lasting political power and financial control in the markets and politics of the South (Lanfant, Allcock, and Bruner, 1995).The framework for the development of the travel and tourist industry impedes poor countries from generating foreign exchange, increasing employment, or promoting the participation of the most marginal segments of the community (Britton, 1996). It enables transnational corporations to use their superior technology, resources, and commercial power to control Third World Downloaded from lap. sagepub. com at University of Sheffield on September 8, 2011 Cabezas / EXCLUSION IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 25 tourist destinations.Tourism’s tendency to perpetuate patterns of econo mic dependency and vulnerability for developing countries is evident in the island nations of the Caribbean, where small local suppliers have limited access to tourist-generating markets monopolized by powerful wholesalers and retailers (Ashley et al. , 2006). Tour operators—a transnational industry based in Western Europe and the United States—can project an image of a country through worldwide marketing campaigns that ensure a steady flow of visitors. Because of economies of scale, they can control tourist packages and demote or promote particular destinations (Britton, 1996).They unite suppliers and consumers in the pursuit of profits and pleasure; with direct contact with travel consumers through vertically integrated travel agencies, they can control particular destinations and dominate the flow of visitors. They can pressure hotels to operate in certain ways and negotiate low prices, especially in beach resorts. They favor a standardized product, such as the all- inclusive deal, a comprehensively controlled tourist experience in which the familiarity of the brand and the security of the travel experience are more important than local differentiation. The all-inclusive tourist package allows tour operators and travel agencies to combine all of the components of a destination’s attractions—recreation, meals, food, lodging, and transportation—into a single product paid for at the point of origin. This limits the participation of local producers and confines the profits to the global North. As the Dominican Republic has adopted the all-inclusive model, the earnings per tourist have decreased: per-room spending has declined from a high of US$318 in 1982 to the current low of US$154 (UNDP, 2005: 73).The all-inclusive package is only one component of the revolution in information technology that has integrated travel and tourism into a circuit that combines air transport, sea cruises, tours, and car rentals into a worldwide mon opoly. Further vertical integration of airlines, car rental, and tour operators has been facilitated by the Internet. 4 Electronic commerce in tourism services, which represents a new possibility for online holiday booking for tourism providers, works to the disadvantage of developing countries, which have only limited access to the Internet.Other practices include the mergers of transnational corporate giants in the areas of technology, travel, hospitality, and media. HOTELS, CRUISE LINES, AND DISASTERS In an increasingly globalized industry, the trend in the hospitality industry is from independently owned and owner-operated hotels to the multinational hotel chains that have become the industry standard. In the Dominican Republic, hotels with more than 400 rooms have the highest and least volatile occupancy rates (UNDP, 2005: 75; Secretaria de Estado de Turismo, 2007).In the accommodations industry, an impressive amount of consolidation took place in the 1980s, resulting in hotel brands under fewer and larger corporate umbrellas. Major multinational hotel chains have been involved in important acquisitions and mergers (ILO, 2001: 38). Cendant, the largest hotel chain in the world, operates 6,000 hotels with 500,000 rooms. Some major hotel Downloaded from lap. sagepub. com at University of Sheffield on September 8, 2011 26 LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES corporations, such as Best Western, operate in almost 100 countries (ILO, 2001: 120). Since the mid-1990s, multinational hotel companies entering foreign markets have used consolidation strategies to strengthen their position vis-a-vis local markets. Furthermore, brand-name hotels promote themselves by advertising their own products—facilities, amenities, services, and prices—more than any particular country. Because so many corporations strive for a standardized and homogeneous product, one facility is the same as any other, regardless of geographic destination. The disdain for difference and diver sity is part of what some scholars have identified as the â€Å"McDisneyization† of post-tourism (Ritzer and Liska, 1997).The promotion of industry control through monopolistic practices is also noticeable in the increasing number of strategic alliances aimed at supplying diversified products and services that strengthen the hotel corporations’ market position. 6 The ILO (2001) indicates that major multinational corporations such as Hyatt and Starwood are partnering with Microsoft’s Expedia in the acquisition of new information and communication technology. In the distribution of products and cross-marketing between food service providers and hotels, Marriott and Hilton are now linked with Pizza Hut.Strategic alliances between multinationals also include distribution and cross-promotion between financial services, credit cards, and hotels. In this area, American Express is now working with Accor Hotels and Visa and American Express are partnered with Bass Hotels and Resorts. The consolidation of hotels and transportation means that some hotels, such as Cendant, have now partnered with more than 20 airlines. Cendant’s holdings also include vehicle rental companies, online ticket sales enterprises such as Orbitz and CheapTickets, and major resort condominiums and real estate holdings.In media and entertainment, the copromotion of hotels and films has combined the resources of industry giants such as Marriott and Bass Hotels and Resorts with ESPN, Discovery, and E-Entertainment (ILO, 2001: 3). The Disney Corporation, with its Caribbean Disney Cruises that target all age-groups, has been able to create all-encompassing corporate control by combining cruises and airfare with its own private depopulated Caribbean islands. 6 Disney cruises feature Disney merchandise, entertainment, and films. Through these methods, cruises operate as the ultimate product-placement scheme.This represents a significant impact on the region on a number of lev els. Not only is the Caribbean the most important geographic market for the cruise industry (ILO, 2001) but that industry is one of the most egregious violators of labor and environmental standards (Wood, 2000). For example, the majority of its workers come from Southeast and South Asia and are paid wages as low as US$1. 55 an hour (Wood, 2000). As a deterritorialized industry, cruise lines are able to evade labor standards such as minimum wage and restrictions on overtime that are established by national laws.The interaction with actually populated islands is limited to a few hours of shopping for souvenirs. Consequently, the overall market for cruise tourism in the Caribbean translates into lower earnings for the region, since its participation in the profits is restricted to, at best, a few hours of shopping in a port community. The increasing horizontal integration of the travel and tourism industry is manifested in the computerized reservation systems, with high access charges, that have rapidly become the industry norm. Tourism services are increasingly Downloaded from lap. sagepub. om at University of Sheffield on September 8, 2011 Cabezas / EXCLUSION IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 27 being purchased on the Internet via three main mechanisms: a computer reservations system known as Global Distribution Systems (GDS), third-party web sites such as Orbitz and Travelocity, and hotel- and airline-owned-and-operated direct booking. GDS is used primarily by tour operators and travel agents in destination countries to book not only travel and accommodations but other tourism products as well. The cost of GDS fees and technology is prohibitive for small and medium-sized enterprises.Orbitz, one of the two biggest online travel agents, is owned by the five biggest U. S. airlines—American, Continental, Delta, Northwest, and United. Travelocity is owned by Sabre Holdings, the world’s largest travel agent reservations system, and GDS (PSTT, 2004). At an impr essive rate, consolidation and strategic alliances by multinational corporations have limited the opportunities for small and medium-sized suppliers in the tourism industry, thereby restricting access to profits to those aligned with transnational capital.With few alternatives, largely because of their lack of technological development and capital, small nation-states cannot eliminate these powerful intermediaries and deal with tourists directly. A number of other structural issues are associated with the vulnerability of Caribbean destinations and the impediments to their benefiting from tourism development. One alarming concern is the â€Å"leakage† of foreign exchange earnings in the amount of imported consumer goods required to sustain the tourism industry.As John Urry (1996: 215) explains, â€Å"Much tourist investment in the developing world has in fact been undertaken by large-scale companies based in North American or Western Europe, and the bulk of such tourist expe nditure is retained by the transnational companies involved; only 22–25 percent of the retail price remains in the host country. † A major problem is the high import content of construction material and equipment and the many consumable goods required to cater to the needs of tourists.It is difficult to bring local suppliers into the supply chain, since the goods required by tourists may not be produced locally, and, when they are, tourists tend to reject them (Ashley et al. , 2006). Another source of leakage is the repatriation of income and profits to metropolitan locations through generous tax incentives created to stimulate investment (Urry, 1996: 215). Finally, excessive reliance on one industry renders tourist destinations extremely vulnerable to external markets. Anything that weakens demand for a destination undermines the national economy.Circumstances such as the September 11 attacks and the weather can generate a considerable downturn in the tourism economy. With the acceleration of global climate change, the Dominican Republic, for example, is increasingly susceptible to more powerful and frequent hurricanes. Stronger tropical storms and the rise in sea levels could cause the disappearance and erosion of beaches? the main engine of the economy and a source of livelihood for the nation. Hurricane Noel in 2007 devastated parts of the islands, killing hundreds and generating an epidemic of leptospirosis. The minister of tourism, Felix Jimenez, reported that news of the epidemic had tainted the national image and that the images of Hurricane Noel’s destruction televised in Europe had led tour operators to cancel charter flights (Hoy, November 25, 2007). However, the majority of areas and people directly suffering from the catastrophic effects of the hurricane were those already living in extreme poverty, certainly not in tourist zones. Downloaded from lap. sagepub. com at University of Sheffield on September 8, 2011 28 LATIN AMERICA N PERSPECTIVESThe government appears more preoccupied with its image than with creating an infrastructure that reduces damage. One family of five, for example, has been living in a temporary shelter since Hurricane Jeanne destroyed their home in September 2004 (Listin Diario, November 20, 2007). INTERNATIONAL TOURISM IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC While Barbados, Cuba, and Jamaica developed their tourism infrastructure in the early twentieth century to accommodate North American travelers, the Dominican Republic did not become a tourist destination until close to 70 years later.The nation’s negative image during the era of dictator Rafael Trujillo reflected fear of a violent political system. 8 The political instability that followed the U. S. assassination of Trujillo in 1961 and the subsequent invasion and occupation by 23,000 North American troops did not support an alluring image of a tropical paradise. The physical security of guests, an essential component in the packaging o f tourist destinations, could not be ensured.In 1966 Joaquin Balaguer, an old crony of Trujillo and an anticommunist ally of the United States, came to power through corruption and force. Balaguer’s regime, in concert with multilateral agencies, sought to capture the U. S. tourist market that had been temporarily displaced since the Cuban Revolution. Through World Bank loans and development packages, the productive structure of the country was transformed and its economic strategy redirected toward absorbing foreign investment in tourism. Tax concessions that amounted to more than 10 years of tax exemptions for investment in tourism development were established by Law 153-71. 10 International tourism in the Dominican Republic grew slowly at the end of the 1960s as a way of generating development without making large investments in manufacturing and technology. Since tourism relies on the packaging of natural assets, it was considered to support economic growth by using existi ng resources, such as sandy beaches, a warm and sunny climate, â€Å"friendly people,† and local arts and music (Tavares, 1993).In 1968 the Plan Nacional de Desarrollo established the outline of a strategy for the tourism sector (Castellanos de Selig, 1981). In 1971 the Central Bank established a department for the promotion of tourism development to be financed by the World Bank. Through loans and with the technical expertise of the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank, in the 1970s the Dominican Republic began to move away from state-led industrialization and sugar toward tourism and free-trade zones (Atkins and Wilson, 1998).The acceleration of its incorporation into the global economy was facilitated by structural adjustment programs that, for example, devalued the Dominican peso in 1987 to help the country compete for foreign investment. Tourism rapidly displaced sugar as the main source of earnings, and by 1997 it was generating more than half of the countryâ €™s total foreign exchange (Jimenez, 1999). The government created generous tax concessions to stimulate foreign investment with the goals of producing employment, paying off the foreign debt, and generating revenue.In the long run, however, this approach failed to create sustainable development or to enhance the well-being of the Downloaded from lap. sagepub. com at University of Sheffield on September 8, 2011 Cabezas / EXCLUSION IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 29 majority of the population. National elites have benefited, as the increasing polarization of income indicates, but the majority of the population has been relegated to positions of servility in a competitive labor market that provides predominantly low-paid, seasonal, and unstable jobs.EXCLUSION AND MARGINALIZATION OF THE LABOR FORCE The exploitation of labor and natural resources in beachfront resorts is particularly acute on the north coast of the Dominican Republic, where the environment is showing signs of degradation due to the extensive development that has taken place in the area. Over 95 percent of the resorts operate under the all-inclusive enclave model (Departamento de Estadisticas, interview, ASONAHORES, October 2005), and over 60 percent also use time-share allocation (ASONAHORES, 2004). Enclave resorts have a reputation for being â€Å"gilded ghettoes†? egregated spaces that exclude Dominicans while providing luxury accommodations to foreigners. The resorts are small cities and, as such, are developed with all kinds of facilities (UNDP, 2005: 68). They represent foreign, exclusive spaces that keep tourists from seeing the local poverty that might make them uncomfortable and keep them from wanting to stay in the country. The latest development scheme, the 30,000-acre mega-resort Cap Cana, features four luxury hotels including the Ritz Carlton, apartments, villas, five golf courses, condominiums, boutiques, restaurants, a convention center, and a marina.This resort complex will tar get the high-end market instead of the mass tourism market that the country has sought for decades. These tourism compounds provide electricity, sewerage, paved roads, and running water for their pleasure- and leisure-oriented guests, but basic infrastructure development in the country remains chaotic, lacking planning, development, and environmental control. Shantytowns often lack plumbing, electricity, and paved roads. This neglect represents a hidden cost to the host society and a urther appropriation of social and environmental resources by foreign capital. 11 The United Nations Human Development Report for the Dominican Republic (UNDP, 2005) indicates that the tourism labor force is made up primarily of young women, over half of them younger than 39 and with fewer than eight years of schooling (UNDP, 2005: 77). The salary for tourism workers is below the national average (UNDP, 2005: 78), with women earning approximately 68 percent of a man’s salary in the industry.Women are nearly absent from supervisory and management positions. This reflects an industry norm, for, as the ILO (2001: 86) points out, women globally have little access to the higher levels of corporate management in the hotel, catering, and tourism sector. Globally, women also experience income disparities vis-a-vis men at all levels of hotel, catering, and tourism employment. They generally occupy the lower echelons in the tourism labor market, with few career opportunities and low levels of remuneration.While Dominican women experience greater vulnerability and gender discrimination in the workforce, Dominican men are displaced and excluded from employment and meaningful participation. Camilo, an informal tourist guide in his late twenties, has been working for the past 10 years in activities Downloaded from lap. sagepub. com at University of Sheffield on September 8, 2011 30 LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES connected with tourism. He and other guides idle outside of the Playa Dorada re sort complex hoping to befriend the rare tourist or, better, tourist group that ventures outside the all-inclusive beachfront compound on foot.The modus operandi of these well-dressed young men is to approach foreigners with multiple offers—for example, to dine with them at a typical Dominican restaurant, to show them around town, and to teach them how to dance merengue. The day that I met Camilo, he was angry to hear that resort’s management had been making disparaging comments about Dominicans during orientation meetings for their guests. He explained: I want to fight against the lack of information or disinformation about Dominicans and the Dominican Republic.I would like to have a crew secretly filming in the hotel, and I want to send that to the national media. The agents of these corporations are talking bad about us, about assaults, assassinations, and such things. We are walking guides; we provide a service. My friends and I speak different languages. Why is it that all the hotels and the travel agencies and the stores in the resorts have to use foreigners to work there? Why, if I speak German, I can defend myself in Italian, I am excellent in English? I can sell anything in German.It is something that I do not understand. If I go to Germany, they will not let me work. I used to sell horseback riding tours; now all those are owned by Germans. They are displacing us in our own country. Camilo’s statements address the massive displacement of Dominican workers. With the majority of resorts managed by expatriates, many of whom do not appreciate the cultural, social, and economic realities of the countries in which they work, locals are frustrated by the lack of respect accorded them by foreigners and the severe competition for the tourist market.Camilo had started out with a small business that took tourists on horseback riding trips and had been forced out of the market when the resorts begun offering these excursions to their guests. Such displacement has led many citizens to feel like foreigners in their native land. Most resorts keep the local populations out with security personnel and by requiring guests to wear wrist-bands during their stay. Treated like outsiders, Dominicans are turned away at the front gate unless they come as workers.This exclusion positions Dominican labor as a marginalized and deterritorialized workforce, performing roles and functions similar to those they would carry out as foreign, undocumented workers in Europe or North America. The common practice of the resort enclaves in the Caribbean region of recruiting top management and skilled labor from Western Europe and the United States means that Dominicans seldom work in positions of management or as chefs in the resorts, and, as Camilo mentions, they are even excluded from retail operations.These exclusionary practices marginalize the local population—not just the working class but also nationally trained executives and mid-l evel managers. Dominican men are relegated to service labor such as work in accommodations, reception, security, and grounds-keeping or, as Camilo does, scrape out a living in unstable and contingent activities in the informal sector. Gender also creates labor hierarchies within hotels. Dominican men are excluded from management, but gender stereotypes also give them access to positions with more opportunities for gratuities, such as bartender and luggageDownloaded from lap. sagepub. com at University of Sheffield on September 8, 2011 Cabezas / EXCLUSION IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 31 handler. Dominican women, in contrast, are employed in gender-designated positions of domesticity such as housekeeping. There are few opportunities for Dominicans to participate directly in the tourism economy. To escape this predicament, many cultivate relationships of companionship, friendship, and romance with tourists and other foreigners as a way to access the global economy, travel to the global No rth, and improve their lives.Many relationships between Dominican women and foreign men mingle intimate, affective relations with economic activity, but others emphasize payment for sexual services. While some studies indicate that Caribbean formal tourism workers have sex with tourists in the resorts (Cabezas, 2004; CEPROSH, 1997; Crick, 2001), many more reports reveal that it is people hustling in the informal economy who provide tourists with sexual and affective exchanges (Herold et al. 2001; Padilla, 2007; Gregory, 2007).In the Dominican Republic the young men are popularly known as sanky panky, heterosexually identified men who provide romance, companionship, and sex to men and women. These new sexual formations have also appeared in other touristdependent islands such as Jamaica (rent-a-dreads), Barbados (beach boys) and Cuba (pingueros and jineteros) (Hodge, 2002). Although many men are able to exploit foreigners’ fantasies of racial eroticism to enhance their life ch ances and masculinity, women who use intimate relationships with foreigners to support their households bear a heavy burden of stigma and riminalization (Cabezas, 2004; 2005). It is primarily working-class women of color who bear the burden of state-inflicted violence, harassment, extortion, and rape (Cabezas, 1999; 2005). Miriam, a 23-year-old mother of two, had one child when she met the father of her youngest, a vacationing African-American police officer from New York in his late thirties. John visits Miriam often and sends approximately US$60 a month to support his eight-month-old daughter. However, Miriam must continue to seek out relationships with foreign and local men to supplement his support.Her oldest daughter has liver disease, and the doctor visits and medication are costly. She tells me fearlessly, â€Å"From luck and death no one can escape. † Johanna, a 20-year-old single mother of two, cannot find any type of work that would allow her to support her mother a nd two children. She was fired from her job as a waitress when she got pregnant and began selling sex to foreign men who live or vacation in Boca Chica. Her aim is to meet a tourist who will provide her with travel to a foreign country. Any place is better than here,† she tells me. When I asked her if she was frightened by reports of sex trafficking or other forms of exploitation that could potentially take place in a country where she knows no one, she looked down and replied intensely, â€Å"I have to assume that risk, because here I am going to either go crazy or die of hunger. † HIV/AIDS Discussions of travel associated with work or leisure have increasingly pointed to the risks involved in mobility and HIV/AIDS. 2 Paul Farmer (1992) has argued that the HIV virus was introduced to Haiti by gay North American men vacationing on the island, and the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre indicates Downloaded from lap. sagepub. com at University of Sheffield on September 8, 2011 32 LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES that this is true for the Caribbean as a whole (Camara, 2001) and that the countries that are the most economically dependent on tourism in the region have the highest prevalence of HIV cases (Camara, 2001; Padilla, 2007: 171).Padilla (2007) maintains that tourism in the Dominican Republic â€Å"continues to function as an important source of new infections, exerting an ongoing influence on the scope and impact of AIDS in specific locales. † This assertion is confirmed by the UNDP report (2005: 85), which indicates that the areas with the highest incidence of HIV in the country are also those with the highest rates of tourism. However, there has been little prevention education targeting tourism-sector workers.Padilla argues that this is because of the fear of fostering a negative image that could potentially â€Å"contradict the escapism, exoticism, and consequence-free environment that compose at least part of the tourism package offered to foreigners† (2007: 172). The women informants for my study, who worked primarily with tourists, were adamant in attesting to their use of condoms and resistance to offers of unsafe sex for higher compensation. Mari explained, â€Å"This is my body; it is the only thing I can count on to support my children.I’m not going to risk everything for a few extra dollars. They can’t pay me enough. † Another woman exclaimed, â€Å"If I get sick, are they going to take care of me? Are they going to take care of my children? † These statements are representative of what many women told me; however, a few caveats are in order. First, the women I interviewed were associated with MODEMU and CEPROSH, two organizations that provide peer-to-peer safer-sex education. Also, Puerto Plata has a governmentmandated policy of condom use in sex establishments (Haddock, 2007).These women were educated and aware of the dangers of unprotected sex. Secondly, most of the women id entified with the term â€Å"sex worker,† meaning that many of their relations with foreigners were direct sex-for-money exchanges. Women who engage in less rigidly structured and more ambiguous relationships, in which the conditions of the exchange deemphasize economic factors, may take more risks to prove that they are not â€Å"from the street. † Research from the Caribbean also confounds easy assumptions about sexual identity, sexual practice, and HIV/AIDS.Padilla’s (2007) research in the Dominican Republic and that of Fosado (2004) and Hodge (2002) from Cuba testify to the difficulty of categorizing the mode of HIV transmission in these countries as â€Å"heterosexual,† given the growth of same-sex male sex work with tourists. The political economy of tourism serves as the context for straightidentified men to engage in same-sex relations with foreign men to support wives, girlfriends, and families. The notion of sex workers as vectors of disease als o needs to be reexamined. My research with 30 women infected with HIV/AIDS, who worked in sex stablishments serving a predominantly Dominican clientele in Santo Domingo, indicates that all were infected by their husbands or regular boyfriends, with whom they did not use safer-sex techniques. Thus far, all the women that I have interviewed claim to use condoms for protection with their clients and to let their guard down with regular partners. Third, many of the young single workers are internal migrants to tourist areas and are more likely to engage in riskier practices and have a less stable lifestyle (UNDP, 2005). There are few educational and prevention programs to target this population.These are two areas in which more research is needed. Downloaded from lap. sagepub. com at University of Sheffield on September 8, 2011 Cabezas / EXCLUSION IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 33 CONCLUSION Few viable alternatives exist to the current structure of travel, leisure, and tourism, which consign s people in the South to poorly remunerated labor. The Dominican Republic, along with other Caribbean nations, attracts foreign investment by offering a low-cost labor force, tax exemptions, and other incentives, but tourism denies the majority of its working people â€Å"decent work. 13 The squeezing of labor power and natural resources has left the country with a massive tourism infrastructure, with more than 60,000 hotel rooms, and over 3 million pleasure visitors a year (Secretaria de Estado de Turismo, 2004–2007) in an ecology of disaster. These figures continue to grow every year without concern for the quality of life of Dominicans. The majority of people are relegated, at best, to positions of servitude in low-paid jobs in the formal sector, underemployment, or unstable activities in the informal sector that include the commoditization of sexuality and affective relations.Dominicans dream of being leisure travelers, holding decent jobs, and securing a better future f or their children, but the transnational tourism industry cannot provide them decent wages and higher standards of living. Various scholars have documented the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the Caribbean people in acting on the tourism infrastructure (Cabezas, 2004; Fosado, 2004; Padilla, 2007), but the opportunities and potential for significant democratization are modest or absent.Tourism may provide the opportunity for people from the global North to re-create themselves, but people from the South have access to this opportunity only through sexual exchanges that place their lives at risk. Reciprocal leisure travel is what every native needs to dispel the tropical blues. NOTES 1. Tourism and travel are considered export-oriented services. 2. Increasingly tourism is one of the world’s largest generators of jobs. The WTTC (2005) calculates that the sector accounted for 10 percent of total employment in 1997 worldwide and is expected to generate an estimated 328 million jo bs by 2010. . The UNDP (2005) is rather critical of the all-inclusive model of development in the Dominican Republic. It contends that this model offers a homogeneous product marked by the stereotypical image based on sun, sand, and sea, a tourism product with facilities that face away from local populations and one characterized by constant competition and lack of state regulation. While I support this spatially concentrated form of development and the general segregation of tourists from local populations, my point here is to express concern for the lack of human capital development of the population.Further, tourism development generally promotes a â€Å"slash, burn, and move on† approach to the environment. Leisure travel in the Dominican Republic follows the pattern of exploitation of natural resources and cheap labor prevalent in neocolonial regimes whereby transnational finance capital and local elites benefit from these structures and the local people are left to suff er the consequences. 4. According to one estimate, 33–50 percent of Internet use is based on tourism (ILO, 2001). 5. The trend in consolidation is evident in ILO’s data (2001). It maintains that in 1999 the 10 biggest companies controlled 2. 4 million rooms but by 2000 9 giants controlled 2. 98 million hotel rooms. 6. In the Caribbean, of the eight major cruise lines operating, â€Å"six own their own private islands which they include among their ports of call† (Wood, 2000: 361). 7. Leptospirosis is caused by a bacterium, Leptospira, that can be transmitted through exposure to water, food, or soil containing the urine of infected animals. The epidemic had killed 27 people by November 20, 2007. Downloaded from lap. sagepub. com at University of Sheffield on September 8, 2011 34 LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES 8. Trujillo was dictator from 1930 to 1961.His regime was characterized by extreme violence and repression, the massacre of 12,000 Haitians in 1938, and the ac cumulation of immense personal wealth. He created state structures and placed his cronies in offices within them to perpetuate his power (Betances and Spalding, 1995). 9. Various multilateral agencies created specialized units for the evaluation, approval, and funding of the projects of member countries. In the 1960s the Inter-American Development Bank, the U. S. Agency for International Development, and the World Bank, for example, directed their lending in Latin America toward tourism development (Monge, 1973).The Organization of American States also promoted financial resources for tourism development. All these efforts were enhanced in the Dominican Republic by Law 153, which granted tax concessions to tourism investors and corporations. Thus foreign entities took the lead in creating highly favorable conditions for foreign investment. 10. The legislation that governs these practices established an incentive system to stimulate development in the tourism sector by providing an i nitial 10-year 100 percent tax exemption on earnings, imports, and construction. 11.Environmental costs are borne entirely by the local population, since the enforcement of environmental regulations is nearly nonexistent (see UNDP, 2005: 86–87; Gregory, 2007). 12. The United Nations (2004) epidemiological report indicates that the Dominican Republic had an estimated adult rate of HIV infection of 1. 7 percent and Puerto Plata one of 8 percent. Recent reports suggest that the infection rate has been reduced to 0. 8 percent (Listin Diario, December 1, 2007), but the northeast coast continues to be one of the areas with the highest rates. 3. The term â€Å"decent work† is used by the ILO (1999: 4) to capture the notion of quality employment that can provide basic security to workers. REFERENCES Ashley, Caroline, Harold Goodwin, Douglas McNab, Mareba Scott, and Luis Chaves 2006 â€Å"Making tourism count for the local economy in the Caribbean: guidelines for good practice . † http://www. propoortourism. org. uk/caribbean/caribbean-whole. pdf. ASONAHORES (Asociacion Nacional de Hoteles y Restaurantes, Inc. ) 2004 Estadisticas seleccionadas del sector turismo ano 2004. Santo Domingo. 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