Buying a House Is Better Than Renting

Buying a house is a better option than renting an apartment. † In this essay I will discuss about the major benefits of buying a house rather than renting an apartments. While it can be costly it is a safer place to live that has long term-investment and tax advantage. Buying a house may be difficult and it can be a confusing process, even for veteran buyers. Here are some tasks that housing experts say before getting into the buying a house. Get financials in order. Buyers should check their credit score, taxes, 401(k) s and other aspects of their financial situation to determine the maximum amount they are comfortable affording for their monthly mortgage, utilities, maintenance, taxes and insurance. If one’s credit score is low, he or she may need to get it higher before applying for a mortgage. A bad credit score may not just affect the buyers’ rates, but may prevent them from getting a mortgage. Buyers should also get pre-approved by a broker or lender — that means they get an agreement by a bank to lend the buyer up to a specific amount for a home, and the bank tells sellers that financing is already lined up. When a buyer finds the right house, he or she make an offer and apply for a mortgage. While every local market is different, most economists say buyers are generally in the driver's seat today this mean, buyers can ask to lower the price of prospected home. Fifty-three percent of homeowners believe a seller's market is still two or more years away, according to a survey of 2,003 adults between March 30 and April 2 by American Express. This market is very local. Homes in Chicago are getting multiple offers and going for more than 10% over the asking price, for example, while those in Fort Lauderdale are selling for 20% less than list price, according to Zip Realty. When a buyer his ready to purchase a house, they should have enough cash for a down payment, which can be a minimum of 10%, and extra funds for closing costs, including appraisal costs and move-in deposit. Buyers need to make sure that if they are buying a used house, they need to check any additions or construction to an existing home have been properly filed with the city and approved for better appraisal or buyer can purchase a new house if they would want to. When he or she owns and lives in a house, there are many benefits that come with owning and living in the house. The following are the benefits of living in a house. One major benefit of living in a house is safety and privacy. In apartments there are limited. Living in a house, He or she does not have too many neighbors around him or her compares to living in apartments where neighbors is literally next door and with in your arms reach. When he or she lives in a house, they are always on the ground floor, where in apartments tenants can have no choice but to climb those stairs and maybe all the way to the last floor. When he or she lives in a house, they definitely have no problem where to park their vehicle; they can have their own garage and a driveway, which is more comfortable and much safer than apartment’s parking lot. Apartments have a higher crime rate compare to any types of housing, According to the National Crime Prevention Council, the organization best known for McGruff the Crime Dog, apartments are eighty-five percent more likely to be victimized by burglaries compare to Even though one may feel safe living in a house or apartment, they still need to practice vigilance and prevention to avoid becoming a victim of property theft or other crimes. Buying a house can be great long term investment. As old and basic as it is, the number one rule in real estate still hasn't changed: location is everything. The area in which the house is located– its surroundings and distance from an urban center – has a profound impact on the long-term value of one’s home. Real estate experts have long cautioned against owning the most lavish house in the neighborhood or making extravagant home improvements that far outdo everything else around. The fact is that, generally speaking, pricey homes don not appreciate as much as more modest structures do. It is typically better to buy the least expensive house in an upscale neighborhood and make improvements. In such a case, your home will appreciate more in value. Although the average change in house prices are related to changes in fundamentals or perhaps market-wide bubbles, not all houses in a market appreciate at the same rate. Apartments only increase in rent as the years go by. Renters will never own a piece of the apartment or cash out any money they put in, unlike in paying the â€Å"mortgage. † If the owner continues paying the mortgage, in 15, 20 or 30 years (depending on the length of the loan) the house is theirs. Homeowner can deduct on their federal and state income taxes the amount of mortgage interest and real estate taxes they pay each year. For example, by itemizing deductions on the tax return, a married couple filing jointly can deduct $21,000 from his taxable income. A renting married couple may not have a lot of deductions, so they might choose the standard deduction, which is $10,300. Home receives an additional $10,700 in tax deduction than the renting couple. Assuming both couples each earn $100,000 per year. The renting couple would have to pay income tax on $89,700. The owning couple would pay tax on $79,000 difference of $10,000 owners can put in their pocket. Everyone wants to cut back on what they pay in taxes and home ownership not only decreases taxes, but builds equity. Equity is the difference between the market value of a property and the claims held against it. Having equity, homeowner may borrow money using equity as collateral. This is another benefit of buying a house instead of renting an apartment. While it can be costly it is a safer place to live that has long term-investment and tax advantage.

Literature research paper Ancient India the Vedic Period Essay

The study of the literature provides a peek into the timeframe during the period 1500BC to 500 BC. This period in the Ancient Indian history has been regarded as Vedic period which is the time when Vedic Sanskrit texts were composed in India. The society and civilization which evolved during that time has been known as Vedic civilization which flourished on the Indo-Gangetic plains of the Indian subcontinent. Vedic literature is of paramount importance in the understanding of the social, economic and religious flavors of India. Among all modern Indian philosophic systems the Vedic tradition is the foremost. It has been recognized as the sound platform on which the pillars of Hinduism has evolved. Vedic literature has an infallible reputation for the evolution of Hindu orthodoxy, and is composed of three classes: the collection of hymns, incantations and sacrificial formulas. These are the first tentative Indian philosophy. (Navone, 1956). The Vedic Literature can be classified as the basis for the Hindu Vedic civilization. They are classified into several chronological branches. Rig Veda is considered the oldest of the text and consists of many elements which have common thread with the Indo-Iranian texts both in language and content. Such similarity does not exist in reference to any other text. (Vedic Age)This is followed by the â€Å"Brahamanas† or theological prose testimonials; the â€Å"Aranyakas,† containing the meditations of the woodland hermits and the â€Å"Upanishads† the secret doctrines. (Navone, 1956). These are the first tentative Indian philosophy which has been the foundation for later development of the values and the beliefs of Hinduism through ages. The depth of context and content provided by the Vedic literature has attracted great explorers and later missionaries to rediscover the essence of India during the Vedic period. The true scientific knowledge of India became available when the study of Sanskrit and other ancient languages was first undertaken. Rigveda forms the backbone of the Hinduism and the compositions of this time has great impact on the society and the culture of the time. The political units were divided into three segments and the heads were appointed for each segment. The three segments were ruled by Rashtra and the head of the state was considered Rajan or the King. It was a democratic system where the King ruled with the consent and the approval. The King was in charge of the protection and justice of the citizens. The society and economy evolved where agriculture flourished and the cows and bulls held important sacrificial significance. The caste system evolved and marriage rules became strict and families evolved as patriarchal where the birth of the son was considered significant. Religion evolved with great emphasis on worship. Rishi’s , composers of hymns were considered divine. Yoga and Vedanta became the basic elements of religion. People worshiped the elements of nature Sun, Moon , Wind, Rain, Dawn and Earth. The greatest exponent of Vedanta was Shankracharya, he referred to a definite system and defined doctrines differentiating from the other similar systems. The most radical divergence of Vedanta was its teaching that the world originated from a single principle. (Navone, 1956). Bibliography Navone, J. J. , S. J.. Sankara and the Vedic Tradition . 1956.Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 248-255 Published by: International Phenomenological Society. Jstor. http://www. jstor. org/stable/2104222? &Search=yes&term=Period&term=Ancient&term=Vedic&term=India&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DAncient%2BIndia%2BVedic%2BPeriod%26wc%3Don%26dc%3DAll%2BDisciplines&item=19&ttl=3025&returnArticleService=showArticle. Accessed on 24-2-2009. Vedic Age, Cultural India, Cultural India . net; Accessed on 24-2-2009, http://www. culturalindia. net/indian-history/ancient-india/vedic-civilization. html

Marketing/Communications Aflac Duck Campaign

State of the Industry Paper Aflac Duck Campaign Introduction One company which has had success over the last decade is American Family Life Assurance Company or more commonly known as Aflac (duck voice). Historically, Aflac was a pretty successful company but they were still missing that one piece to make them recognizable. That one thing the company needed was a face and they found it when they launched their Aflac Duck Campaign. In this paper, the Duck campaign strategy will be discussed along with the history of Aflac, target audience and competition of Aflac, and the successful outcome of the campaign.History The American Family Life Assurance Company was founded in Columbus, Georgia by three brothers, John, Paul, and Bill Amos in 1955. Three years later, the company had their first big plan which was developing a cancer expense policy. Several years afterward, Aflac expanded by adding numerous diverse policies to cover accidents, dental, disability, hospital care, and other heal th events. In the 1960s, Aflac thrived on making presentations to companies with large groups of employees. Today, the overwhelming majority (96%) of Aflac’s policies are bought at work through a payroll-deduction basis.Later in the 1970s, Aflac continued its success by expanding into the Japan market. Aflac was only the third American company to sell insurance in Japan. This has proved to very successful since today, Japan is about three-quarters (75%) of the company’s revenue. Aflac continued to do well through the 1980s and into the 1990s and named a new CEO, Daniel Amos, in 1990. Under the newly appointed CEO, Aflac become a Fortune 100 best company to work in the United States in 2000. Overall the company had taken shape beautifully in its history.It was the largest provider of renewable insurance in the US and it was also the largest provider in Japan (History 2012). So what is the problem? Daniel Amos wanted to change one thing about his company and that was bra nd awareness. Despite the success, after initiating name awareness ad campaign in the United States Aflac the name recognition for Aflac came back at 2%. After various attempts to get the company recognized â€Å"The Duck† debuted on New Year’s Day in 2000 (Amos 2010). â€Å"The Duck† â€Å"We had to do something dramatic,† stated Aflac CEO Daniel Amos in a Harvard Business Review (Amos 2010).In the late 1990s, Aflac began listening to agencies pitch ideas for new television advertisements. One agency, Kaplan Thaler Group, was in a meeting tossing around ideas and they themselves were having a tough time remembering the name of the company. Amos explains, â€Å"One day, one of them asked, ‘What’s the name of the account we’re pitching? ’ A colleague replied, ‘It’s Aflac-Aflac-Aflac—Aflac. ’ Someone said that he sounded like a duck, and the idea was born† (Amos 2010). During testing of the differ ent advertisements, Kaplan Thaler ad scored 50% than what Aflac was previously doing.Amos liked that the commercial pointed fun at the company’s name (Amos 2010). When Daniel Amos tried explaining the ad to others they simply did not understand the reasoning behind it. The first Aflac Duck debuted on CNN on New Year’s Day in 2000 (Amos 2010). The bit ran four times an hour. From this point on the rest was history. The first day the commercial aired, Aflac had more visits to their website than the entire year before. Weeks later, the company was getting requests for stuffed animal versions of the duck (Amos 2010).Months later, Amos describes an event at Disney Studios that Aflac was sponsoring. â€Å"We didn’t know whether it would be a good idea to put ducks on all the tables†¦.. I was just watching to see if ducks were left on the tables,† said Amos. This next encounter confirmed Amos had found what he had been looking for. â€Å"I spotted the head of Disney Studios with a bulge under his jacket. When I jokingly asked him what was going on, he said, ‘I want you to understand that Donald is always king around here. But I want to take one home to my kids† (Amos 2010).Daniel Amos had found a dark horse. A duck quacking out the name of his company with various celebrities repeatedly asking for the company name was his winner. â€Å"The Duck† had been born. Target Audience Aflac believed it needed the duck to attract more of their target audience. With the company’s cancer expense services there was not much more room for growth from that audience. That audience is the 35 to 54 year old age group because most of the company’s policies came from business groups. Since Aflac was trying to make a push in selling more policies regarding accident nd liability insurances, they wanted to reach out more to families and attract new customers. Since many other insurance companies offer pretty much the same i nsurance policies Aflac needed a way to stick out (Sunset 2008). This is where the duck comes in. Competition Insurance is always a buyer’s market because everybody wants to have coverage and be protected from accidents, liabilities, health, and other events. Aflac offered similar services to its competing insurance companies such as Citizens Financial Corporation, Conseco Incorporated, and Amerisafe Incorporated.In a tough industry, Aflac had a hard time selling policies outside of their corporate base that they had already built years prior (Sunset 2008). They needed a way to leapfrog the competition. This where the duck comes in. Marketing Strategy behind â€Å"The Duck† As mentioned previously, the Kaplan Thaler Group (KTG) was responsible for creating the pitch idea for â€Å"The Duck. † KTG had developed their own advertising model called â€Å"Big Bang. † KTG’s website describes a â€Å"Bang† as, â€Å"†¦creates brand experience s and connections resulting in deep relationships† (Thaler).Aflac was looking for that deep relationship with consumers so they could be recognized. All the initial spots for Aflac comprised of one central theme. It turned the company’s weakness, a difficult name, into its strength by making that most of the campaign’s humor (Sunset 2008). In all the early advertisements, it started with a small group of discussing a recent accident or trying to decide what insurance company they should buy policies from. In both spots, the people cannot recall the name of an insurance company, the duck pops up and quacks, â€Å"Aflac! This happens continuously throughout the commercial typically with the duck doing something humorous in the background. When people watched more and more of these commercials they already knew what they were getting and that was Aflac. The name became instantly memorized because of the repetition the commercial provided. Looking at the ads, there are several examples of tactics discussed from class. As discussed in Day 12 of lecture, just the foundation of distraction played a role in the commercials. Using the humor of the duck repeating the company name distracted you from what the company s trying to sell but you remembered the name and it made you interested in what the company was. Also from Day 12, the commercial displays the elaboration likelihood model. The level of elaboration is low thus leads the viewers to view the message peripherally. Now since the viewers understand this peripherally they are not taking logic, information, or rational thinking into account. They are viewing it as humorous, which in the Aflac advertisements sparked a change in attitude because immediately the company was more recognized.People accepted the position of the message, the name recognition, probably due to how it was spoken to them and who was saying it. A duck quacking the company name to you repeatedly is easy to remember. Also, p eople had the ability to process the message of name recognition because now that it had a symbol/face it was so easy to remember. Now that the marketing strategies behind â€Å"The Duck† have been revealed, it is easy to understand why there were immediate results. Outcomes/Results As previously mentioned, the day Aflac aired their first â€Å"Duck† commercial; they had more visits to their website that day than the previous year.In the first two weeks of the first year (2000), the company had more sales leads than in 1998 and 1999 combined. In the second quarter of the first year, the company had a record quarter of $168 million in sales (Sunset 2008). In the first year of â€Å"The Duck† in the United States, sales went up 29%. In three years, sales were doubled (Amos 2010). For the first time ever accident/disability insurance swapped with cancer-expense insurance for the company’s number one product (Sunset 2008). Also in the third year, Daniel Amosà ¢â‚¬â„¢s goal was met. Aflac achieved 94% brand awareness.The new account growth increased 10% and the mid-sized business accounts increased 20% (Kaplan Case Study). In 2008, Aflac’s two main markets, USA and Japan, had combined revenue of $16. 6 billion, which is almost double the revenue from the last year (1999) without â€Å"The Duck† (Amos 2010). Aflac has also been named a Fortune 100 Best Company to Work For over the last fourteen years. Aflac was also named on Fortune 500’s list for Best Company overall (Corporate Report 2012). In 2010, Aflac was the number one preferred voluntary insurance carrier (Kaplan Case Study).These results speak for themselves and Aflac is not slowing down. â€Å"The Duck† is everywhere. Looking at Aflac’s website, there are numerous ducks on each page. Aflac is one of the main sponsor’s for NASCAR driver Carl Edwards, who has a giant ducks all around his car. â€Å"The Duck† makes an appearance yearl y in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Aflac has become a mainstay in the world of college football by sponsoring The Heisman Trophy and â€Å"The Duck† often makes appearances with â€Å"The Aflac Trivia Question. † Aflac also makes appearances with the National Football League and Major League Baseball (Aflac Homepage). The Duck† has met some stars over the years as well such as Chevy Chase, Yogi Berra, Yao Ming, the 2004 United States Olympic Swim Team, and even cartoon characters Bugs Bunny and fellow duck, Daffy. Over time, â€Å"The Duck† has also appeared on â€Å"The Tonight Show† and â€Å"Saturday Night Live† (Sunset 2008). â€Å"The Duck† has garnered several awards itself. In 2004, â€Å"The Duck† was named one of the country’s favorite advertising figures (Press Release 2004) and was an original member of the Advertising Walk of Fame (Sunset 2008). Also, a two time Gold Effe Winner (2002 & 2004), Web by Award for Best Web. Com (2010), and People’s Voice Award Winner. The Duck† also had a higher Q Score, which measures familiarity, than Ronald McDonald and the Energizer Bunny (Kaplan Case Study). Aflac does not plan on slowing down this phenomenon either with their newest Duck campaign, â€Å"Get the Alfacts. † Conclusion In conclusion, it should be obvious that the Aflac Duck was one of the most successful campaigns in the past few decades. The company had a great start with their good long history but it just needed that final push. The marketing strategy put in place by Kaplan Thaler Group and Aflac was well put together and they created the company symbol they wanted. The Duck† was able to target the audience, beat out the competition, and get the results Aflac was looking for. When Ms. Kaplan Thaler was asked if the duck will begin saying more than â€Å"Aflac,† she replied, â€Å"That’s going to be up to him. Right now, the Aflacts s peak for themselves† (Elliott 2009). References Sunset, B. (2008, January 28). The Aflac Duck Campaign. Retrieved from http://marketing-case-studies. blogspot. com/2008/01/aflac-duck-2000-campaign. html Amos, D. (2010). How I Did It: Aflac's CEO Explains How He Fell For The Duck. Retrieved from http://www. nternationalistmagazine. com/AflacsCEO. pdf Case Studies Kaplan Thaler. Retrieved from http://kaplanthaler. com/clients/case_studies Thaler, L. , Thaler, R. BANG! Getting Your Message Heard in a Noisy World. Retrieved from http://www. thepowerofsmallbook. com/index. php/other Abbey, R. (2010). Encouraging Animal Advertisers to Pay for the Use of Animal Images: A Voluntary Certification Approach. Retrieved from http://sjalp. stanford. edu/pdfs/Abbey. pdf Elliott, S. (2009, April 21). Not Daffy or Donald, but Still Aflac’s Rising Star. Retrieved from http://www. ytimes. com/2009/04/22/business/media/22adco. html? _r=1;scp=2;sq=Aflac;st=cse (2012). Aflac 2012 Corporate C itizenship Report. Retrieved from http://www. aflac. com/us/en/docs/investors/CSRReport. pdf (2012). Aflac History. Retrieved from http://www. aflac. com/aboutaflac/corporateoverview/history. aspx (2004, September 20). Aflac Press Release. Retrieved from http://www. aflac. com/aboutaflac/pressroom/pressreleasestory. aspx? rid=616598 (2012). Aflac Homepage. Retrieved from http://www. aflac. com/aboutaflac/corporateoverview/missionandvalues. aspx

Pasific Blue and House of Fraser Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Pasific Blue and House of Fraser - Essay Example Internal forces are called Strengths if they add to the prowess and ability of a firm, and Weaknesses if they dilute its power and capacity. In this paper, we will be analyzing the cases of Pacific Blue in New Zealand’s airline industry and the House of Fraser in the context of the UK’s department store industry, looking at their problems and recommending solutions. Porter’s Five Forces Model Michael Porter in his book ‘Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Competitors (1980) points out that there are five forces acting upon all firms in an industry that determine its chances of entry, exit and survival. Industrialists and producers set up barriers to entry or exit that can prevent or delay the entry of competition- so that they in the meantime reap the profits and revenues available from the interested consumers. These forces are the (1) likelihood of new entrants; (2) power of buyers; (3) power of suppliers; (4) degree of rivalry and (5) threat o f substitutes. Thus any one and all of these forces can impact a firm’s chances of success or failure in a particular industry at any given time. Porter maintains that an industry is a group of firms that market products which are close substitutes for each other. Thus we have the airline industry, the retail industry, the automobile industry etc. which deal in products and services that are close substitutes for each other. Porter also uses the concept of industrial groups according to whether the degree of segmentation of products or services is wide or narrow i.e. they are loosely or tightly segmented (Porter, 1980). The Pacific Blue Case Study Coming to the case of Pacific Blue, it seems that it is stuck between a rock and a hard place. At the one end it has Air New Zealand, the dominant competitor and national airline of New Zealand, for which locals have affinities mainly due to the reason that most industries are foreign operated and dominated. However since the entry of Qantas and Pacific Blue, the degree of competition has intensified. Both Qantas and Pacific Blue are foreign owned, one being Australia’s national carrier and the other a joint ownership between UK’s Virgin Group and Toll Holdings of Australia. With Air New Zealand having the major market share and most of the routes, the newer entrants are struggling to compete. Air New Zealand’s response to Qantas’s entry was to cut down on its costs and offer no frills basic flights that enabled passengers to travel very easily and inexpensively. Qantas has been constrained to operate with just four airplanes on New Zealand routes. It had also to build its own terminals since Air New Zealand got the best preferences here as well. Pacific Blue entered the arena in 2007 and chose to operate on a small scale only, choosing two or three main routes on which it can serve the most passengers i.e. Wellington, Christchurch and Auckland. It focuses on low cost but high servi ce. Meanwhile the entry of Pacific Blue has also forced Air New Zealand and Qantas to reconsider their strategies. While there has been an increase in the number of flights on the most travelled routes- a price war has also been triggered, with seats priced as low as $1 and $9 if booked well in advance. Air New Zealand has planned to attack at both ends, looking at the low price segment on no frills flights

Intellectual Property Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Intellectual Property - Essay Example It is able to prevent and treat diabetic complications. It contains fagomine and 1-deoxynojirimycin whereby the ratio of their weights is 0.5, which is approximately 5:1. The preferred weight ratio is 2 which implies about 5:1 ratio of the weight of 1-deoxynojirimycin to that of fagomine. Firstly, this invention focuses its research on the role of ensuring reduction in blood glucose of the composition of fagomine and 1-deoxynojirimycin through the mixing of different ratios. The expected result is that the two compounds would have very good synergistic hypoglycemic effect within a set proportion range. The mixing ratio selected is that with a better synergistic hypoglycemic effect. In addition, it also researches the effect of the composition when combined with other hypoglycemic compounds. In the event of reducing hypoglycemic rats’ blood glucose after intragastric sucrose administration, joint application of other hypoglycemic substances and fagomine and 1-deoxynojirimycin a re able to more effectively reduce blood glucose than any other hypoglycemic compounds or any single or combined applications. This composition can be made in to various formulations such as capsules, tablets, granules, dripping pills, powder, and oral liquid. Conventional methods and conventional excipients can be adopted as the preparation methods. From the research results, it is clear that the present applications has well spelt-out mechanism and significance usefulness which can be employed in preventing and treating diabetes and any complications accompanied with it. This issued patent operates in the Biomedical and technology field and address the concerns of the diabetes menace which over the years has claimed more lives just as much as cancer and HIV/AIDS. The novel thing about this invention is how it utilizes the capability of compositions to synergistically help not only prevent and treat diabetes but also deal with any other complications associated with it. Currently, this invention is both locally and internationally patented. This patent protection can be said to be broad, and it bars existing technologies or pharmaceutical companies from using the stated formula and essentially the composition of 1-deoxynojirimycin and fagomine in the manufacture or improvement of existing blood glucose reduction remedies. This invention can take the form of a pharmaceutical company, product line or just a product in the form of capsules, tablets, granules, dripping pills, powder, and oral liquid. Artificial red blood cells (Patent Number 7348399) This invention patent application number 11/433,259 was applied for in the U.S by Haynie Donald T. in May 2006 and is yet to be issued. It has been classified under current U.S class 530/300; 530/385 and current international class A61K 38/03 (20060101); A61K 38/16 (20060101). Invention Summary It provides a new method for the identification of sequence motifs of a given net charge and length at a neutral pH in seque nce information of amino acid for use in recording a required number of motifs and in ELBL. This is a seven step method consisting of (a) obtaining a peptide amino acid sequence from a given organism; (b) locating a starter amino acid; (c) examining the starter amino acid t determine the number of charged amino acids which have an opposite polarity; (d)

Main Problems in Rocky Road School District Essay

Main Problems in Rocky Road School District - Essay Example Arriving into a new school district that is disastrous and full of problems and be stressful and overwhelming for a Superintendent but things can always be turned around. The first initial step is to take control of the situation immediately and figure out which issues need to be addressed first. When reviewing the Rocky Road School District, a few of the issues include but are not limited to; lawsuits from past parents and teachers, teacher contract negotiations, low test scores and a disconnect between parents and school because of bad communication. Each of these issues will need a plan of action to ensure that issues are handled in a timely fashion. When these issues are handled the Superintendent can work on rebuilding the school district. After determining how to go about the lawsuits and any important information that might help, we will then focus on increasing our test scores, student achievement and teacher and principal readiness. Staff in each school need to understand th e importance of teamwork and how we can all work together to increase and better student achievement because the change starts with staff first. Included in this staff are teachers, principals, students, specialists and more. Everyone in the building brings something special to the team and we can all learn something from each other.

Evaluating potential international relations challenges Essay

Evaluating potential international relations challenges - Essay Example From time to time, different countries have similar state interests. For instance, two countries might all want to nurture peace and commercial processes. Similarly, countries with different interests will often try to solve the conflicts (Hay, 2002). This paper will assess the potential international relations challenges and apply them to foreign policy. One of the major concerns of international relations is to examine how country behaviors and this can be examined in different levels of analysis (Hay, 2002). The system level of analysis examines states behavior in relation to other countries by looking at the international system. At this point of analysis, the intercontinental system is the source of a state’s behavior is the consequence (Dornelles, 2010). Features of the system make countries act in a given way. Transformation in the system will instigate transformation in government behavior. The main variable in the intercontinental system is the influence of a country within the organization. Some countries are influential, and others are extremely feeble (Hay, 2002). For instance, during the cold war, some countries were powerful and influential. The main cause of cold was that the USSR and U.S. were two influential countries in the region. Currently, other states define the performance of all countries in the region (Dornelles, 2010). Therefore, this level of analysis may rationalize the US involvement in Iraq as a powerful government and only influential government, activating its strength to law enforcement agency of the domain against countries that intimidate them. The states preserve its dominance by destroying all its challenges (Hay, 2002). The state level of analysis looks at a countries’ behavior in relation to its foreign policy. For example, all democratic states have a certain manner of behaving towards other democratic states (Hay, 2002). Other researchers argue that the different conducts of strong or weak countries influence

The scientific method Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

The scientific method - Lab Report Example Then I would sow each type of grass seed in an equal number of sunny and shady grid cells. I would ensure the entire yard was watered and fertilized equally. The causal variable in the experiment would be the amount of sunlight the seed received. I would isolate this variable by controlling other potential causal variables such as fertilizer and water application. After four weeks, I would begin collecting data on the experiment. I would collect observable data on the percentage of each grid space that was sprouting grass. The response variable would be the germination of grass seed. The percentage of each grid would be combined to give me an overall germination percentage. This is how I would interpret my data and this is what I would use to make my decision on which seed I would buy. Developing this experiment has taught me several things about the scientific method. The first thing I realized is that in the implementation of the procedure, you need to account for variables if you are going to have valid results. In my experiment, I needed to make sure water and fertilizer was spread all over the year equally. If part of the yard was watered and the other was not, then the data could be misleading. Another thing I realized is that in science, you need to have a good way to collect the data. I thought of dividing the yard into a grid so I could get more specific information. Without the grid, I would have needed to look at just shady spots or sunny spots. The problem with that is as the sun travelled across the side, the shady and sunny areas would move. I could even go so far as to label or record the percentage of the day each grid was in full sun or

Oil and Gas Extraction Accident Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Oil and Gas Extraction Accident - Essay Example Moreover, numerous permits have been granted for assessment of mineral resources in the territorial waters allowing energy companies and international fisheries to move their activities into increasingly deeper waters. However, such activities increase the possibilities of accidents and disasters that can cause far-reaching impacts on sea ecosystems (Hsing,  Fu,  Larcom,  Berlet,  Shank,  2013). Thus, on April 2010 in the northern Gulf of Mexico, there emerged an accident that released four million barrels of oil from Deepwater Horizon drilling rig to the Gulf of Mexico through the next month of the same year. While oil on the surface was removed by different cleanup operations, over thirty percent of the hydrocarbons were drowned in deep-sea plumes. As a result, the Deepwater Horizon blowout actually caused two incidents. First, the oil spill on surface influenced the deepwater plume with chronic subsurface effects and second, mid-water plankton and a variety of mid-water species, as well as the shores to which the oil spill came, were seriously damaged (Montagna PA, Baguley JG, Cooksey C, Hartwell I, Hyde LJ, et al. (2013). On April 20, 2010, the crew of the Deepwater Horizon was preparing to temporary abandon BP’s â€Å"Macondo† discovery. The well had reached a depth. The final string of production had been put in the hole and cemented in place. Mud had been lost to the reservoir while drilling the bottom portion of the well. It is difficult to create a good cement seal between the casing and the formation and it is impossible to provide the efficiency of the cement seal without running a cement- bond log. The cement contained a nitrogen additive to make it lighter.   Gas from the reservoir may have further diluted the viscosity of the cement. The workers waited  for the cement to dry  he crew began displacing the drilling mud in the wellbore and riser with sea water.

Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 34

Management - Essay Example The availability of Nike to other marketers would mean that customers can just buy them there. This presents a major problem as a myriad of literature indicate that sports shoe customer preferences is highly skewed towards those products which are visually appealing and having performance-enhancing features (Locke 2003, 52). That is to say, customers are not likely to choose an alternative over Nike just because of supplier issues but would instead seek out the product in other stores especially when the features of the shoes are very appealing (Lim and Philips 2007, 146). This would result to shifting customer loyalty resulting to losses in sales consequently harming business operations and employee compensation (Jordaan 2011, 622; Tengblad and Ohlsson 2007, 657). On the other hand, several high-profile companies such as Starbucks and Apple have also found to their dismay and cost that reputations can be profoundly affected by the environmental and social impacts of their supply networks (Gereffi et al 2005, 101). The negative effect becomes more profound considering the power of social networking to influence customer perception (Carroll and Shabana 2010, 88). Hence, discontinuing sale of Nike products would prevent any negative PR and the accompanying losses especially considering that the company has just adopted the Fair Trade principle. This chosen path can also benefit society in general as it promotes a culture of responsible business practices thru caring for how products are being sourced (Schwartz et al 2007, 506; Wells 2009, 570). However, given the possibility of customers to just seek Nike products on other stores and the strength of the brand, it would be prudent to not totally abandon the brand. Combining business with ethical practices requires a reconciliation between profitability and ethical principles the company

Contemporary & Future Challenges in HRM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Contemporary & Future Challenges in HRM - Essay Example They help an organization to form a competitive edge in which may be difficult for competitors to have. Therefore the function of the human resource department then becomes central to the operation of any organization. The department is given the role of hiring, supervising and organizing training and development of the workforce. Therefore it is important to the management and development of the workforce. In order to function properly, human resource department comes with particular policies and strategic plans that act as guidelines on how the organization is going to function. These policies and guidelines helps the organization to function properly in light of various workforce need for the organization. In order to ensure that these polices meets the needs for the organization and of the workforce, strategic human resource management (SHRM) has become the cornerstone for planning any human resource activities in an organization. Therefore SHRM has become the central focus to the operation of the human resource. SHRM implies the organized way in which the human resource department and in this case the whole organization comes up with strategies to manage the workforce. It involves taking into consideration a number of perspectives which are important of the operation of the department as a whole. ... It is a broader perspective of the HR department and its functions. One of the key components that have enabled the concept of SHRM to take root has been the changing wave of technology in the market. The use of modern technology has been one of the most important factors that have enabled the human resource department to implement various strategies that have been aimed at making its work easier. This paper will look into how technology has been used in the department and the future operations of the department in light of the changing technology in the market. Use of technology in the HRM department Human resource technology has been emerging in the market as the new discipline which has tried to integrate the use of technology in the function of the HRM department. In this case it has been working to ensure that there is application of appropriate technology in HRM in order to enhance the functioning the department. Technology has affected positively and negative to all the spheres of life. While it may have led to loss of jobs, it has been able to increase efficiency, accuracy and time completion of function. The modern technology especially the evolution in the use of computers can be held responsible for having created an effective work place. There has been reduction of errors as a result of manual computation and at the same time there has been increase effective and timely delivery of the needed data. Technology has found a place to be used in the while organizations. It has dictated the standards of an acceptable modern office whose efficiency is riveted on the amount of advanced technology equipment that have been installed. (Bates 2002, p. 82) The revolution of modern technology has affected all

Hewlett Packard Essay Example for Free

Hewlett Packard Essay HP Introduction Hewlett-Packard Company officially called HP is an American multinational company initially created for electronic and instrumentation which has evolved towards computer software and multimedia. It is one of the 40 biggest companies of the world. Its main products are printers and peripheral devices, computers of any sizes (pocket computers, laptops, home computers as well as servers and services to other companies. The company has its headquarter at Palo Alto in the Silicon Valley in California. In 2008, the annual turnover was about 118 billion dollars and HP was the first computer maker of the world, before IBM and Dell. HP produces approximately half of the printers in the world, which represents a quarter of its turnover. Creation January the first of 1939, the company Hewlett-Packard was founded in Palo Alto by two friends, engineers in electronics from Stanford University, William Hewlett and David Packard. The company was created in a garage, a few kilometers from San Francisco, in California. They first began with 585 dollars. For the story, the two entrepreneurs flipped a coin to choose if the company will be named Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett, Bill wan. The beginning At first, Hewlett-Packard devised, make and commercialize trial and measure instruments with their new product which is an audio precision oscillator with prices lower than the concurrence. Their first client was Walt Disney Pictures which served to synchronize the sound effects in the film Fantasia. 1940 to 1970: from instrumentation to computer devices Little by little HP finds out that the acquisition of data is essential when we possess numerous machines of measurement. From that point, HP develops its first microcomputers and home computers dedicated to data treatment. This will be done in two parts: In 1966 HP produces its first microcomputer. In 1968, HP produces programmable calculators. Informatique, pà ©riphà ©riques et services des annà ©es 1970 In the 1970’s, HP develops different ranges of computers, technical just as well as management and personal. Computers Since 1972, HP develops a range of  « micro-computers  » dedicated to management in  « real time  »,  « multi task  »,  « multi-user  » whereas most of the other constructors where doing information technology in â€Å"differed time†. The company will also commercialize graph plotter (ancestor of the printer). HP will continue to increase its competitiveness with innovation concerning calculators, micro-computers, mini-computers, printers etc. Micro-computing and peripheries from 1980 to 2000. To complete the range, HP expanded the range of peripheries, micro-computing, and workstation. In 1984, Hewlett-Packard commercializes: Its first personal computer Its first ink printer (Thinkjet) Its first laser printer (LaserJet) In March 1986, Hewlett-Packard recorded the domain  « hp.com  »; at that time it is the ninth company in the world to own internet domain. In 1989, HP buys the company Apollo. In 1993, HP threw itself into general public of PC. In 1994, it is the launch of printers Officejet, personal printer-fax-photocopier. Acquisition and restructuration in 2000’s 1999 – 2005 From 1999 to 2005, CEO Carly Fiorina buy and merge with Compaq Hewlett-Packard and reorganize the company reducing the number of 15,000 employees. 2005-2010 In May 2008, HP bought EDS which is the largest buyout of a services company in computer engineering ever made so far with a total of $ 13.9 billion. November 11, 2009, Hewlett-Packard announced the acquisition of 3Com for $  2.7 billion U.S. dollars, operation materialized 12 April 2010. June 1, 2010, HP announced a dismissal will take place over several years to lead to the elimination of 9,000 employees. On 6 August 2010, Mark Hurd was forced to resign. Cathie Lesjak, the chief financial officer, has been acting as CEO. 2010-2011 On 2 September 2010, HP announced the acquisition of U.S. manufacturer 3PAR after a battle with Dell for $ 2.4 billion. The new CEO, Leo Apotheker, took office on 30 September 2010. Since 2011 September 22, 2011, HP announced the replacement of Leo Apotheker with Meg Whitman, former eBay boss. May 23, 2012, HP announced a social affecting 27,000 employees. September 27, 2012, this social plan is reviewed on the rise and affects 29,000 people. November 20, 2012, HP announced a loss of $ 12.6 billion for the year 2012 including $ 8.8 billion related to the acquisition of Autonomy Corporation in 2011 In August 2011, HP announced the end of production for the PC end of the year, after the failure of its tablet but October 28, 2011, HP announced that it keeps its PC division because of the value it represents. In the third quarter of 2012, HP has lost its position as the worlds number one PC for the benefit of Lenovo, HP, however, disputes this Research and development, manufacture and distribution Computer server Networks, storage solutions, electronic document management Professional microcomputers and large public Scanners and digital cameras and printers Printing CD and DVD recorders, DVD TFT LCD, video projectors HP Calculators. Digital music player

Human Resource Management in UK Hotel Industry

Human Resource Management in UK Hotel Industry 1 Introduction Human Resource Management is a consistent and productive approach towards the management of employees who are ‘valued assets to the organization. And managing resourceful humans requires a constant balancing between meeting the human aspirations of the people and meeting the strategic and financial needs of the business. Hence linking the HRM more explicitly to the strategic goals to improve the business and foster innovation and flexibility, thus serves the overall purpose. Through best possible use and application of HR policies in the organization, commitment can be encouraged thus leading to better performance, improve staff attitude and lower labour turnover, this is the ideal aim of the human resource practices which has been argued to neglect the fact that HR specialists and line managers have a major impact on how these HR policies are implemented at the hotels and whether all the HR practices are universally applicable. Human resource management is the techniques businesses incorporate to maintain an effective workforce to meet operational requirements. It is the organizational function that deals with issues related to people such as compensation, hiring, administration, organization development, employee motivation, wellness, benefits, safety, communication, performance management, and training. Human resource practices implemented in an organisation are used for recruitment, selection; training and development, reward management, performance appraisal etc. Human Resource Management strategically manages people and work place environment and culture. Effective HRM practices enable employees to contribute effectively and productively towards the attainment of the organizations goals and objectives facilitates overall company mission. HRM practices are one of the channels of communication for an organization with its employees it consists of the actual programs, processes and techniques. It conveys as to what the organization desires as valuable and appropriate behaviors. The workers on reception of such a message build up their own distinct perceptions and through a self-assessment (evaluation) process subsequently shape their attitude and behavior. For instance, if an organization implemented a training program for their workers, it will develop workers knowledge, skills and capability, and thus cultivate better employee commitment due to contented experience with the organization; however, such correlation may at times be misleading or unpredictable i.e. even though some employees may think this training as useful and recognize the implementation of organizational HRM practices, but on the contrary, other workers may see the program as non-effective and view it as a trouble that hamper their regular work timeta ble, hence this may work in an unintended way by bringing down their satisfaction with the organization and negatively effect their commitment. This is the very reason why employees individual view plays as a vital intermediary in the association between organizational HRM practices and the real disclosure of employees outlook and behaviors. Therefore, from this point of view, one can argue that HRM practices in its dominating effect alter an employees affective commitment, by first impinging upon their perception of organizational HRM practices and consequently further alter or transform their emotional commitment towards the organization. Thats why, by the means of implementation of high-commitment HRM practices, i.e. intensive training and development, high level of compensation, promotion from within, socialization, etc. convince the employees that the organizations purpose is in conformity with their insight, and it impinges upon them to reciprocate with advanced commitment and stronger deference to devote and put in for the organization. Therefore this research will try to establish a correlation between HR practices and their effects on employee commitment. The HR practices that will be examined in the research will be Selection and Recruitment Process, Training and Development programs, Performance management, Reward management and industrial labour relations. These are some of the main HR practices followed by the hotels aiming for the more committed team. But the researcher is interested in knowing whether these HR practices really result in more committed employees. And if these HR practices really result in committed employees then is it universally applicable in all countries of the world or all types of industries. These are some of the questions that have encouraged the researcher in conducting this research. 1.1 Research Aim The aim of this dissertation is to examine the HR practices implemented in UK hotels and their impact on employee commitment. 1.2 Objective The objectives of this research were to:- Examine the current HR practices prevalent in UK hotels. Evaluating these current HR practices against the existing literature to find out whether they match or not. Evaluating the factors leading to employee commitment and how many factors come by conducting HR practices in the company. 2 Literature review 2.1 Philosophy of Human Resource Management Human Resource Management is shifting its traditional stance from personnel, administration, and transactional roles, which are being increasingly outsourced. HRM is now focusing more and more towards adding quality and value to the strategic exploitation of employees and that employee development programs impact the business in tangible terms. This new approach towards revolution in HRM involves strategic direction and HRM metrics and measurements in tangible terms to gauge the effect of these practices. Some of the HRM practices studied in this project are selection, benefits, training, performance feedback, communication systems, standard operating procedures (SOPs) and employee participation. David E. Guest (1987) says that human resource management is the tool for attainment of the managerial objectives in the organizations that have accepted the need for the optimum utilization of human resource to achieve competitive advantage and stay viable in their businesses. The primary objective of HRM is amalgamation of companys mission and goal with the HR practices. David E. Guest argues that formulation of a comprehensive corporate strategy is a major factor that decides the continuing business success of any organization.For matured managers human resource planning is not just a fundamental component of strategic planning, but somewhat flows from it. This holds especially true in todays context where the accomplishment of the process of adjusting to change warrants an escalating level of individual and group participation, for the seamless integration of human resources into the strategic plans. HRM also focuses to attain employee commitment, this involves classification of the type of commitment required e.g. attitudinal, behavioral. Commitment of an employee can be at different levels it could be towards the organization, to his job, for individual career advancement and numerous such like things. Commitment in an employees context can be defined as approval of enterprise mission and goals, and could be reflected in behaviour adopted by him/her that furthers these goals. David further proposes that theoretically the combination of organizational commitment and job related behavioral commitment constitutes a high degree of employee satisfaction, motivates them for high performance, longer tenure with their organisations and prepares them to willingly accept changes. The third goal of strategic HRM is to exercise flexibility and adaptability, which basically translates into the ability to manage change and innovation and to react swiftly to transforming market demands and changes. Thus arises a need for a HRM policy which is favorable to change at all levels of the organization, an arrangement which is practical not bureaucratic, functional and adaptable, with an absence of rigid job divisions and with capable of functional flexibility i.e. flexible skills and motivation to move from one assignment to another. Promoting these is possible only according to David if the employees at all levels exhibit a high degree of organizational commitment, their trust towards the organizational policies and have high levels of intrinsic motivation. Attaining and maintaining total quality is the fourth goal of HRM. This highlights the importance of policies and practices to recruit, development and retention of skilled and flexible employees, and the formulation of established performance standards and performance procedures. This can be further subdivide into two broader goals i.e. building a integrated organizational culture and achieving and maintaining competitive advantage through the dynamic use of human resources. Guest (2002) has argued that the effect of human resource management practices on overall performance of a firm will depend upon response of the employees to the implemented HRM practices; therefore the impact will be more or less a translation of the perception of HRM practices by the employee. Wood (1999) and Guest (2002) have stressed upon the need to build a competent, committed and highly involved work force is the one required for best implementation of business strategy. Huselid (1995) discovered that the effectiveness of employees is directly related to the impact of HRM practices on behavior of the workforce. Patterson et al (1997) while arguing about the effect of human resource management practices on business performance have said that HR practices in selection and training influence performance by providing appropriate skills. HR practices have a potent impact on performance even if it just measured in terms of overall productivity. Huselid (1995) stressed that the adoption of best practices in selection will lead to inflow of best quality of skill set ultimately will result in adding to the value towards the skills inventory of the organization. He also highlighted the role of personnel training as an accompaniment of selection practices through which the organizational culture and employee behavior can be integrated with the organization goals to produce positive results. Cooke (2000) has included competence and effectiveness as the vital ingredients of performance apart from competitiveness and productivity. She further amplifies training as the tool to grow knowledge and skills and as way of improving individuals performance (efficiency and effectiveness). Singh (2004), whose interpretations are more pertinent in our cultural context, says that compensation is a mechanism that aligns the behavior of employees with the firms business strategy. William et al, have argued that Career planning is a tool that wo rks in sync with the strategy and future HR needs of the organisation and encourages employee to attain their individual goals for personal development. By encouraging employee involvement, the firm will profit from increase in efficiency of theemployee due to improved commitment of the employee. Financial participation schemes are more beneficial for the organizations than the associated cost (Summers Hyman, 2005). In high growth industry use of best HR practices result in a stronger association with firms productivity (Datta et al, 2003). Wright et al (2003) have said that if proper performance management system is in place and is complemented by a just compensation system that is linked with the performance management system an employee will exert unrestricted effort to improve his performance. Similarly to improve performance the need is to clearly define the jobs. â€Å"Job definition is combination of job description and job specification. It clearly outlines duties, responsibilities, working conditions and expected skills of an individual performing that job† (Qureshi, 2006). Ichniowski (1995) while studying productivity of steel workers have argued that harmonizing HR practice System positively effects employees performance.Sels,2006 Collins (2005) in a study of similar character targeting small business have also argued that efficient HR practices affect employee productivity to a great extent. Meyer and Allen (1997) indicated that HRM practices have been considered to be valuable and effective tools for elevating organizational commitment, especially affective commitment. However, there are some other perspectives also on this subject; De Coninsk and Stilwell (1996) argued that what directly influences employees affective commitment is not the actual practices itself, but the employee perceptions of fairness of practices that affects organizational commitment. Ogilvie (1986) found that, even with personal and work characteristics controlled, employees perceptions of two characteristics of HRM practices, namely, the accuracy of the merit rating system and the fairness of promotions, contributed to the prediction of commitment. Gaertner and Nollen (1989) also found that employees commitment was related to the perceived HRM practices, including internal promotion, training opportunities, and employment security. Ostroff and Bowen (2000) made use of â€Å"meso† theory t o explain that the implementation of HRM practices helped to amplify workers identification with their organization through employees psychological contracts. Therefore, just as what the above mentioned scholars stated, the HRM practices itself cannot have impact on employees commitment, it is after the implementation of the HRM practices that triggered employees own perceptions and then assess whether the practice is considered fair or favorable to them and consequently influence their attitudes and behaviors. Therefore, if the HRM practices that an organization implements permit the employees to acknowledge it as highly committed, consequently, this will lead to reinforced trust and concurrently generate higher emotional attachment with his/her serviced organization. Despite several experiential studies that have established a relationship between HRM practices and organizational commitment, however, such a connection seems to be a little too straightforward (Paul Anantharaman, 2004; Ulrich, 1997; Wimalasiri, 1995). Ostroff and Bowen (2000) projected that it was the psychological bond of an individual that unified how an organizational HRM practice influenced employees mind-set and behavior. This also entails that HRM practices may conjointly manipulate employees organizational commitment obliquely, and must go through by means of individuals psychological alteration system. Guzzo and Noonan (1994) said that â€Å"An organizations HRM practices influenced employee commitment since they are communications from the employer to the employee. How employees interpreted and made sense of their organizational HRM practices affected their psychological contract with their employer and, ultimately, their commitment to that employer.† Zucker (1983) also suppose that the organization members attitudes and behaviors are subjective and are governed by organizations official communication of ‘common understandings. Term common understandings denoting what were considered the appropriate, essential and meaningful behaviors within an organization. Basically, the official organization communication of common understandings will direct its members to alter their own personal attitudes and behaviors so that they can match organizational expectations and requirements. 2.2 Human resources practices HRM propose that there is a universal ‘one best way to administer people. By assuming a best practice method it is argued that organizations will attain improved commitment from people leading to better organizational performance, top levels of service quality and eventually boost in efficiency and profitability, Usually couched in terms of ‘bundles, the HRM practices that are offered in support of a high commitment and performance model are generally fairly consistent. A range of HR practices which are suggested as being important to organizational strategies aimed at securing high-quality service are:- 2.3 Recruitment and Selection One of the main and most basic HRM practice is of Recruiting and selecting staff with the correct attitudinal and behavioral characteristics. The process of selection is AIMED at picking out the most probable candidate from a bunch of applicants who best suites the needs of the organisation. According to Vlachos the person who is most suitable is chosen based on his educational and/or professional qualifications and the focus of the whole process is to decrease the cost for the organisation and employ such employees who have merit and talent and can maximize the profits. A variety of considerations in the selection process should be employed to assess the work values, interpersonal skills, personality and problem-solving capabilities of likely employees to evaluate their ‘service orientation. To maintain the high degree of competitive advantage an organisation requires capable and skillful personnel (Liao Chu 2006). Huselid (1995) has established that organisational productivi ty and high degree of performance is dependant upon the selection of the appropriate person, which is also a way to reduce employee turnover. Michie and Sheehan-Quinn (2001) recognized a positive link between hiring employees, and the creation of the appropriate culture for organisational growth. Cho, et al. (2006) established a positive and considerable connection between HRM practices adopted by a firm and the various recruitment selection techniques implemented like the recruitment resource, screening test, behavioural tests interviews i.e. structured and unstructured to improve the fiscal performance. Therefore, it made compulsory for the organisations to attract qualified candidates and recruit them for survival and growth. 2.4 Performance Appraisal Performance appraisal has attracted an immense degree of interest. Levin (1986) identified uses of performance appraisal, like potential analysis which assesses the performance of the employee in past, need for training, remuneration expectations- salary, employee merit appraisal, suggestion for and by the employee, employee career development etc. Thang (2004) in his study has shown as to effect of suitable HRM related decision on how well employees are performing their jobs. Performance appraisal is a constant procedure rather than a once a year fatigue. It is an official arrangement where periodical assessment of an individuals or teams performance for a particular task is carried out and a feedback is given on the same. Stone (2002) said that in order to survive in a highly competitive environment a firm must focus on improving its performance. In addition, in the fast changing surroundings, tighter finances, downsizing and demands for enhanced responsibility and accountability on the part of the employees and thus result in more emphasis on performance appraisal in order to enable the management to attain the organisational objectives. To achieve optimum performance requirements performance related rewards target those who meet the expectations of the organisation (Stone 2002, Cho, et al. 2006, Chand Katou 2007). Information in regard to employee salary, training needs, compensation, promotion as well as employee development, transfer and employee fe edback is provided by performance appraisal (Huber 1983). Appraisal systems have also moved away from conventional top down approaches to appraisal in more modern and pertinent terms such as customer evaluation, team-based performance, the appraisal of managers by subordinates and peer review. Generally, all of these performance appraisal methods should focus on the quality objectives of the organization and the behaviors of employees required for maintaining these. Performance appraisal has both administrative and individual development focus and organizations sincerity towards performance appraisal goes a long way in developing commitment and trust among people. Overall attitude towards HRM department is a significant predictor of organizational commitment. This aspect of HRM practice refers to how people see their HRM department, with respect, with disdain, with indifference and so on. It refers to the fact that the acceptance of various HRM practices depend largely on the overall image of the HR department. Hospitality industry needs to rely on the commitment of a well-trained, multi-skilled workforce in order to achieve a competitive position, especially in terms of providing high quality customer service. This suggests that hotels need to adopt HRM organisational practices that enhance the motivation of employees and improve organisational effectiveness. 2.5 Reward Management Huselid (1995) asserts that compensation and employee merit are directly related and finally contribute towards the firm outcomes. Compensation by its definition means all payments in terms of money and all commodities provided in kind i.e. instead of financial to recompense employees. The reward system was organized to attract and motivate so as to keep employees. More so, employee influence was tailored on controlled authority and decision making. The expectancy theory (Vroom 1964) suggests that rewards, that can be comprehended as a form of direct and indirect recompense packages, have the ability to manipulate employee work enthusiasm. Thang (2004) suggests that to achieve concerted efforts from the employees to fulfill the organisational goals compensation and reward can be used as powerful tools. On the same lines, Wan (2008) argued that compensation should be measured depending on employees performance not on the basis of position or seniority in the organization.Pay practic e is one of the tools of human resources management practices which manage wage, salary, pay and benefits etc. for the employees. Reward management has got an important role in HRM. A high level of pay and remuneration in comparison to that of rivals ensures the attraction and retention of high-quality employee, however this may impact negatively on the companys overall labor expenditures. Also by connecting pay with performance, the company can educe desired standards of performance as well as specific task orientation from employee (Noe et al., 2006). Generally, pay practice is very significant for the organizations and firms which can attract employees to apply for the job as recruitment. Attractive pay practices play a major role in attracting talent and are very helpful during the recruitment process. Similarly for the employees this means that they are required to show a continuously high level of commitment and performance in order to keep their jobs. Pay packages also have a degree of connection with the job satisfaction of an employee. Ting (1997) asserts that the job satisfaction can be gauged by the pay structure. He further explains two different type of effect of pay practices on job satisfaction; first is the satisfaction with pay itself and second is the satisfaction with financial prospects in the future. There is a venerable interest of these two things which are correlated with job satisfaction. Thus, it is pertinent to understand the relationship between job satisfaction and pay practices which eventually materializes in terms of higher productivity. Efficiency wage theories also suggest that paying higher wages can often result in increased efficiency. There are three main channels that are addressed in these theories that improve productivity, as described by Katz, 1987. Firstly it means that the harder the employees of an organization work higher will be the punishment for someone who is caught shirking and higher w ill be the probability of losing job of the employee getting caught. Thus higher wages means an increased effort on part of the employee due to the enhanced probability of losing job in a high performance environment. In other words, wage and pay practice are directly responsible for employees productivity and turnover. Secondly, a higher wage translates directly into workers loyalty towards organization thus improving employees efforts. Also it is a pertinent deduction that higher wage structure plays considerable amount of restraint on the employees to turnover their jobs. Thirdly, in more tangible terms higher wages are responsible for reducing firm employee turnover and recruitment costs. 2.6 Training and Development ‘Training and development (TD) is a very important tool of HRM (Vlachos 2008). According to Li, et al. 2008 Training is the set of activities which prepare the employees to attain needed skill sets and to deliver more efficiently in their current jobs. In the environment of todays business an employee is needed to cope with various pressures and are required to keep their skills and knowledge current to stay competitive. Tai (2006) asserts that more adaptability, ability, flexibility, motivation, maintenance of skills and efficiency are greatly enhanced by proper training and development of employees. According to Vlachos training and firms performance are indirectly related. In most of the manufacturing industry, the prevailing training programs are mostly unstructured on the job is the most preferred mode. Bartel (1994) in her study found a positive and significant relation between training and labour productivity. Guidetti and Mazzanti (2007) found that high performance and training activities are positively associated. It is also affected by labour flexibility in various directions. Apospori, et al. (2008) in their study of southern European countries have discovered the impact of training on firms performance. Equipping of service level staff enables them towards ‘service orientation. Training is the planned effort that facilitates the acquisition of job related knowledge, updating of skill sets, and impacts the behavior of an employee. In the implementation of HRM tools training is an important factor responsible for productivity. Higher productivity observed in firms is a direct outcome of training programs. â€Å"High-Involvementpractices such as autonomy, team collaboration, and training are helpful in reducing employee turnover and enhance productivity. Untrained workers tend to change job more often. An increase in high-performance work practices converts into decrease in turnover† (Bradley, Petrescu Simmons, 2004). Training programs are particularly helpful when an employer is experiencing a high degree of employee turnover more so during the times of economic uncertainty. Even during the times when the business is flourishing an organization should proactively earmark their investment for on the job training and other training programs balancing the cost of training with the perceived benefits of productivity. On the other hand, a trained worker has got the required skills and knowledge and can be a candidate for job turnover. Therefore, job satisfaction is crucial factor to retain the employee from shifting his jobs. Bradley, Petrescu and Simmons (2004) explained that job satisfaction can be effectively imoproved by creating on-going learning as well as training in workplace; moreover their study indicates that training increases satisfaction levels of an employee which in turn enhances employee motivation and commitment. Therefore it is argued that acquisition or knowledge or training has a positive impact on job satisfaction. 2.7 Traditional and Recent HR Practices in Hospitality Industry Keep and Mayhew (1999) in their study regarding the personnel problems in the tourism and hospitality industry some of them areas follow: low pay, no fixed hours and shift. Poor career growth, seasonal employment; informal recruitment methods; lack of good HR practice; high attrition rate and retaining employees. Riley et al. (2000) to recognize the reality of traditional and poor HR practices, he said that determining factor for HR policies and practices in tourism and hospitality industry is the key economics. Riley et al. says that it carries a very important meaning in tourism and hospitality industry, as in this service sector there is every thing which is intangible. According to (ILO, 2001: 6).Employers and the organizational representatives consider employee turnover in the industry as not the major issue according to them it is the part of working they have not realized that what are its causes and reasons, retaining staff is costlier than hiring new for them. When the organizations will realize that poor HR practices like low pay benefits, lack career opportunities, work life imbalance are the main reason employee turnover. That day the organizations will be successful in real terms. The inability of the businesses and the industry to recognize the most glaring issues can be attributed to the hostility and opposition from employers associations in the industry such as British Hospitality Association (BHA), to governmental initiative such as the minimum wage and working time directive. BHA is still apprehensive of these initiatives despite support from other quarters who favor these initiatives (Lucas, 2004). It is to a great extend clear from the above researches which supports the fact that tourism and hospitality industry is a poor employing sector. Kelliher and Perrett (2001), Kelliher and Johnson (1997) have clearly said that â€Å"the dominant paradigm has tended to stress the negative aspects of working in the hospitality sector†. It is not surprising to see a long history that supports the fact that hospitality remains a poorly employing sector. Kelliher and Perrett (2001) did an analysis of a designer restaurant. These types of ventures were supposed to be implementing sophisticated HRM approaches as they aimed at building competitive advantage. Although the restaurant had adopted a more modern and sophisticated approach towards, training and development and focused on an innovative strategy ‘there was little real evidence that human resources were seen as a source of competitive advantage (p. 434). Instead, the HRM approaches adopted by the restaurant were much more reflective of immediate environmental constraints, such as the difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff. In short, any number of reasons for poor HR practices in the tourism and hospitality industry. Economic determinism, the predominance of SMEs, a low-skills base, employer antipathy to a more progressive approach to HRM, labour market characteristics, organizations ensuring best fit HRM practices to support a high volume, low-cost strategy; all are plausible reasons for a view of HRM which is not necessarily premised on high-skills, high-wages and a high-quality route to competitive advantage. That said, it would be equally wrong to paint a wholly pessimistic picture. Hoque (2000). On his work of good practice in the hotel sector, says that the hotels have started taking the issues seriously and have come up with good HR practices for the employee commitment. He further says that argues that arguments which give a picture of the industry as backward and un strategic is now outdated, hotels have started taking it seriously as there main aim is customer satisfaction which is possible only through strong employee commitment. In fact, he says that the management has become very serious regarding the practices and polices of HR .The hotels have started experimenting with innovation approaches, quality enhancement of HRM polices and practices. The hotels industry has started paying well, have revised appraisal system, proper training programs for employees skills development, schemes for proper balance between work and life, special advantages to women, job rotation, employee empowerment, performance based pay, teamwork etc. the implementation of all th ese polices and practices helps in gaining employee commitment and customer satisfaction. The focus of hospitality Human Resource Management in UK Hotel Industry Human Resource Management in UK Hotel Industry 1 Introduction Human Resource Management is a consistent and productive approach towards the management of employees who are ‘valued assets to the organization. And managing resourceful humans requires a constant balancing between meeting the human aspirations of the people and meeting the strategic and financial needs of the business. Hence linking the HRM more explicitly to the strategic goals to improve the business and foster innovation and flexibility, thus serves the overall purpose. Through best possible use and application of HR policies in the organization, commitment can be encouraged thus leading to better performance, improve staff attitude and lower labour turnover, this is the ideal aim of the human resource practices which has been argued to neglect the fact that HR specialists and line managers have a major impact on how these HR policies are implemented at the hotels and whether all the HR practices are universally applicable. Human resource management is the techniques businesses incorporate to maintain an effective workforce to meet operational requirements. It is the organizational function that deals with issues related to people such as compensation, hiring, administration, organization development, employee motivation, wellness, benefits, safety, communication, performance management, and training. Human resource practices implemented in an organisation are used for recruitment, selection; training and development, reward management, performance appraisal etc. Human Resource Management strategically manages people and work place environment and culture. Effective HRM practices enable employees to contribute effectively and productively towards the attainment of the organizations goals and objectives facilitates overall company mission. HRM practices are one of the channels of communication for an organization with its employees it consists of the actual programs, processes and techniques. It conveys as to what the organization desires as valuable and appropriate behaviors. The workers on reception of such a message build up their own distinct perceptions and through a self-assessment (evaluation) process subsequently shape their attitude and behavior. For instance, if an organization implemented a training program for their workers, it will develop workers knowledge, skills and capability, and thus cultivate better employee commitment due to contented experience with the organization; however, such correlation may at times be misleading or unpredictable i.e. even though some employees may think this training as useful and recognize the implementation of organizational HRM practices, but on the contrary, other workers may see the program as non-effective and view it as a trouble that hamper their regular work timeta ble, hence this may work in an unintended way by bringing down their satisfaction with the organization and negatively effect their commitment. This is the very reason why employees individual view plays as a vital intermediary in the association between organizational HRM practices and the real disclosure of employees outlook and behaviors. Therefore, from this point of view, one can argue that HRM practices in its dominating effect alter an employees affective commitment, by first impinging upon their perception of organizational HRM practices and consequently further alter or transform their emotional commitment towards the organization. Thats why, by the means of implementation of high-commitment HRM practices, i.e. intensive training and development, high level of compensation, promotion from within, socialization, etc. convince the employees that the organizations purpose is in conformity with their insight, and it impinges upon them to reciprocate with advanced commitment and stronger deference to devote and put in for the organization. Therefore this research will try to establish a correlation between HR practices and their effects on employee commitment. The HR practices that will be examined in the research will be Selection and Recruitment Process, Training and Development programs, Performance management, Reward management and industrial labour relations. These are some of the main HR practices followed by the hotels aiming for the more committed team. But the researcher is interested in knowing whether these HR practices really result in more committed employees. And if these HR practices really result in committed employees then is it universally applicable in all countries of the world or all types of industries. These are some of the questions that have encouraged the researcher in conducting this research. 1.1 Research Aim The aim of this dissertation is to examine the HR practices implemented in UK hotels and their impact on employee commitment. 1.2 Objective The objectives of this research were to:- Examine the current HR practices prevalent in UK hotels. Evaluating these current HR practices against the existing literature to find out whether they match or not. Evaluating the factors leading to employee commitment and how many factors come by conducting HR practices in the company. 2 Literature review 2.1 Philosophy of Human Resource Management Human Resource Management is shifting its traditional stance from personnel, administration, and transactional roles, which are being increasingly outsourced. HRM is now focusing more and more towards adding quality and value to the strategic exploitation of employees and that employee development programs impact the business in tangible terms. This new approach towards revolution in HRM involves strategic direction and HRM metrics and measurements in tangible terms to gauge the effect of these practices. Some of the HRM practices studied in this project are selection, benefits, training, performance feedback, communication systems, standard operating procedures (SOPs) and employee participation. David E. Guest (1987) says that human resource management is the tool for attainment of the managerial objectives in the organizations that have accepted the need for the optimum utilization of human resource to achieve competitive advantage and stay viable in their businesses. The primary objective of HRM is amalgamation of companys mission and goal with the HR practices. David E. Guest argues that formulation of a comprehensive corporate strategy is a major factor that decides the continuing business success of any organization.For matured managers human resource planning is not just a fundamental component of strategic planning, but somewhat flows from it. This holds especially true in todays context where the accomplishment of the process of adjusting to change warrants an escalating level of individual and group participation, for the seamless integration of human resources into the strategic plans. HRM also focuses to attain employee commitment, this involves classification of the type of commitment required e.g. attitudinal, behavioral. Commitment of an employee can be at different levels it could be towards the organization, to his job, for individual career advancement and numerous such like things. Commitment in an employees context can be defined as approval of enterprise mission and goals, and could be reflected in behaviour adopted by him/her that furthers these goals. David further proposes that theoretically the combination of organizational commitment and job related behavioral commitment constitutes a high degree of employee satisfaction, motivates them for high performance, longer tenure with their organisations and prepares them to willingly accept changes. The third goal of strategic HRM is to exercise flexibility and adaptability, which basically translates into the ability to manage change and innovation and to react swiftly to transforming market demands and changes. Thus arises a need for a HRM policy which is favorable to change at all levels of the organization, an arrangement which is practical not bureaucratic, functional and adaptable, with an absence of rigid job divisions and with capable of functional flexibility i.e. flexible skills and motivation to move from one assignment to another. Promoting these is possible only according to David if the employees at all levels exhibit a high degree of organizational commitment, their trust towards the organizational policies and have high levels of intrinsic motivation. Attaining and maintaining total quality is the fourth goal of HRM. This highlights the importance of policies and practices to recruit, development and retention of skilled and flexible employees, and the formulation of established performance standards and performance procedures. This can be further subdivide into two broader goals i.e. building a integrated organizational culture and achieving and maintaining competitive advantage through the dynamic use of human resources. Guest (2002) has argued that the effect of human resource management practices on overall performance of a firm will depend upon response of the employees to the implemented HRM practices; therefore the impact will be more or less a translation of the perception of HRM practices by the employee. Wood (1999) and Guest (2002) have stressed upon the need to build a competent, committed and highly involved work force is the one required for best implementation of business strategy. Huselid (1995) discovered that the effectiveness of employees is directly related to the impact of HRM practices on behavior of the workforce. Patterson et al (1997) while arguing about the effect of human resource management practices on business performance have said that HR practices in selection and training influence performance by providing appropriate skills. HR practices have a potent impact on performance even if it just measured in terms of overall productivity. Huselid (1995) stressed that the adoption of best practices in selection will lead to inflow of best quality of skill set ultimately will result in adding to the value towards the skills inventory of the organization. He also highlighted the role of personnel training as an accompaniment of selection practices through which the organizational culture and employee behavior can be integrated with the organization goals to produce positive results. Cooke (2000) has included competence and effectiveness as the vital ingredients of performance apart from competitiveness and productivity. She further amplifies training as the tool to grow knowledge and skills and as way of improving individuals performance (efficiency and effectiveness). Singh (2004), whose interpretations are more pertinent in our cultural context, says that compensation is a mechanism that aligns the behavior of employees with the firms business strategy. William et al, have argued that Career planning is a tool that wo rks in sync with the strategy and future HR needs of the organisation and encourages employee to attain their individual goals for personal development. By encouraging employee involvement, the firm will profit from increase in efficiency of theemployee due to improved commitment of the employee. Financial participation schemes are more beneficial for the organizations than the associated cost (Summers Hyman, 2005). In high growth industry use of best HR practices result in a stronger association with firms productivity (Datta et al, 2003). Wright et al (2003) have said that if proper performance management system is in place and is complemented by a just compensation system that is linked with the performance management system an employee will exert unrestricted effort to improve his performance. Similarly to improve performance the need is to clearly define the jobs. â€Å"Job definition is combination of job description and job specification. It clearly outlines duties, responsibilities, working conditions and expected skills of an individual performing that job† (Qureshi, 2006). Ichniowski (1995) while studying productivity of steel workers have argued that harmonizing HR practice System positively effects employees performance.Sels,2006 Collins (2005) in a study of similar character targeting small business have also argued that efficient HR practices affect employee productivity to a great extent. Meyer and Allen (1997) indicated that HRM practices have been considered to be valuable and effective tools for elevating organizational commitment, especially affective commitment. However, there are some other perspectives also on this subject; De Coninsk and Stilwell (1996) argued that what directly influences employees affective commitment is not the actual practices itself, but the employee perceptions of fairness of practices that affects organizational commitment. Ogilvie (1986) found that, even with personal and work characteristics controlled, employees perceptions of two characteristics of HRM practices, namely, the accuracy of the merit rating system and the fairness of promotions, contributed to the prediction of commitment. Gaertner and Nollen (1989) also found that employees commitment was related to the perceived HRM practices, including internal promotion, training opportunities, and employment security. Ostroff and Bowen (2000) made use of â€Å"meso† theory t o explain that the implementation of HRM practices helped to amplify workers identification with their organization through employees psychological contracts. Therefore, just as what the above mentioned scholars stated, the HRM practices itself cannot have impact on employees commitment, it is after the implementation of the HRM practices that triggered employees own perceptions and then assess whether the practice is considered fair or favorable to them and consequently influence their attitudes and behaviors. Therefore, if the HRM practices that an organization implements permit the employees to acknowledge it as highly committed, consequently, this will lead to reinforced trust and concurrently generate higher emotional attachment with his/her serviced organization. Despite several experiential studies that have established a relationship between HRM practices and organizational commitment, however, such a connection seems to be a little too straightforward (Paul Anantharaman, 2004; Ulrich, 1997; Wimalasiri, 1995). Ostroff and Bowen (2000) projected that it was the psychological bond of an individual that unified how an organizational HRM practice influenced employees mind-set and behavior. This also entails that HRM practices may conjointly manipulate employees organizational commitment obliquely, and must go through by means of individuals psychological alteration system. Guzzo and Noonan (1994) said that â€Å"An organizations HRM practices influenced employee commitment since they are communications from the employer to the employee. How employees interpreted and made sense of their organizational HRM practices affected their psychological contract with their employer and, ultimately, their commitment to that employer.† Zucker (1983) also suppose that the organization members attitudes and behaviors are subjective and are governed by organizations official communication of ‘common understandings. Term common understandings denoting what were considered the appropriate, essential and meaningful behaviors within an organization. Basically, the official organization communication of common understandings will direct its members to alter their own personal attitudes and behaviors so that they can match organizational expectations and requirements. 2.2 Human resources practices HRM propose that there is a universal ‘one best way to administer people. By assuming a best practice method it is argued that organizations will attain improved commitment from people leading to better organizational performance, top levels of service quality and eventually boost in efficiency and profitability, Usually couched in terms of ‘bundles, the HRM practices that are offered in support of a high commitment and performance model are generally fairly consistent. A range of HR practices which are suggested as being important to organizational strategies aimed at securing high-quality service are:- 2.3 Recruitment and Selection One of the main and most basic HRM practice is of Recruiting and selecting staff with the correct attitudinal and behavioral characteristics. The process of selection is AIMED at picking out the most probable candidate from a bunch of applicants who best suites the needs of the organisation. According to Vlachos the person who is most suitable is chosen based on his educational and/or professional qualifications and the focus of the whole process is to decrease the cost for the organisation and employ such employees who have merit and talent and can maximize the profits. A variety of considerations in the selection process should be employed to assess the work values, interpersonal skills, personality and problem-solving capabilities of likely employees to evaluate their ‘service orientation. To maintain the high degree of competitive advantage an organisation requires capable and skillful personnel (Liao Chu 2006). Huselid (1995) has established that organisational productivi ty and high degree of performance is dependant upon the selection of the appropriate person, which is also a way to reduce employee turnover. Michie and Sheehan-Quinn (2001) recognized a positive link between hiring employees, and the creation of the appropriate culture for organisational growth. Cho, et al. (2006) established a positive and considerable connection between HRM practices adopted by a firm and the various recruitment selection techniques implemented like the recruitment resource, screening test, behavioural tests interviews i.e. structured and unstructured to improve the fiscal performance. Therefore, it made compulsory for the organisations to attract qualified candidates and recruit them for survival and growth. 2.4 Performance Appraisal Performance appraisal has attracted an immense degree of interest. Levin (1986) identified uses of performance appraisal, like potential analysis which assesses the performance of the employee in past, need for training, remuneration expectations- salary, employee merit appraisal, suggestion for and by the employee, employee career development etc. Thang (2004) in his study has shown as to effect of suitable HRM related decision on how well employees are performing their jobs. Performance appraisal is a constant procedure rather than a once a year fatigue. It is an official arrangement where periodical assessment of an individuals or teams performance for a particular task is carried out and a feedback is given on the same. Stone (2002) said that in order to survive in a highly competitive environment a firm must focus on improving its performance. In addition, in the fast changing surroundings, tighter finances, downsizing and demands for enhanced responsibility and accountability on the part of the employees and thus result in more emphasis on performance appraisal in order to enable the management to attain the organisational objectives. To achieve optimum performance requirements performance related rewards target those who meet the expectations of the organisation (Stone 2002, Cho, et al. 2006, Chand Katou 2007). Information in regard to employee salary, training needs, compensation, promotion as well as employee development, transfer and employee fe edback is provided by performance appraisal (Huber 1983). Appraisal systems have also moved away from conventional top down approaches to appraisal in more modern and pertinent terms such as customer evaluation, team-based performance, the appraisal of managers by subordinates and peer review. Generally, all of these performance appraisal methods should focus on the quality objectives of the organization and the behaviors of employees required for maintaining these. Performance appraisal has both administrative and individual development focus and organizations sincerity towards performance appraisal goes a long way in developing commitment and trust among people. Overall attitude towards HRM department is a significant predictor of organizational commitment. This aspect of HRM practice refers to how people see their HRM department, with respect, with disdain, with indifference and so on. It refers to the fact that the acceptance of various HRM practices depend largely on the overall image of the HR department. Hospitality industry needs to rely on the commitment of a well-trained, multi-skilled workforce in order to achieve a competitive position, especially in terms of providing high quality customer service. This suggests that hotels need to adopt HRM organisational practices that enhance the motivation of employees and improve organisational effectiveness. 2.5 Reward Management Huselid (1995) asserts that compensation and employee merit are directly related and finally contribute towards the firm outcomes. Compensation by its definition means all payments in terms of money and all commodities provided in kind i.e. instead of financial to recompense employees. The reward system was organized to attract and motivate so as to keep employees. More so, employee influence was tailored on controlled authority and decision making. The expectancy theory (Vroom 1964) suggests that rewards, that can be comprehended as a form of direct and indirect recompense packages, have the ability to manipulate employee work enthusiasm. Thang (2004) suggests that to achieve concerted efforts from the employees to fulfill the organisational goals compensation and reward can be used as powerful tools. On the same lines, Wan (2008) argued that compensation should be measured depending on employees performance not on the basis of position or seniority in the organization.Pay practic e is one of the tools of human resources management practices which manage wage, salary, pay and benefits etc. for the employees. Reward management has got an important role in HRM. A high level of pay and remuneration in comparison to that of rivals ensures the attraction and retention of high-quality employee, however this may impact negatively on the companys overall labor expenditures. Also by connecting pay with performance, the company can educe desired standards of performance as well as specific task orientation from employee (Noe et al., 2006). Generally, pay practice is very significant for the organizations and firms which can attract employees to apply for the job as recruitment. Attractive pay practices play a major role in attracting talent and are very helpful during the recruitment process. Similarly for the employees this means that they are required to show a continuously high level of commitment and performance in order to keep their jobs. Pay packages also have a degree of connection with the job satisfaction of an employee. Ting (1997) asserts that the job satisfaction can be gauged by the pay structure. He further explains two different type of effect of pay practices on job satisfaction; first is the satisfaction with pay itself and second is the satisfaction with financial prospects in the future. There is a venerable interest of these two things which are correlated with job satisfaction. Thus, it is pertinent to understand the relationship between job satisfaction and pay practices which eventually materializes in terms of higher productivity. Efficiency wage theories also suggest that paying higher wages can often result in increased efficiency. There are three main channels that are addressed in these theories that improve productivity, as described by Katz, 1987. Firstly it means that the harder the employees of an organization work higher will be the punishment for someone who is caught shirking and higher w ill be the probability of losing job of the employee getting caught. Thus higher wages means an increased effort on part of the employee due to the enhanced probability of losing job in a high performance environment. In other words, wage and pay practice are directly responsible for employees productivity and turnover. Secondly, a higher wage translates directly into workers loyalty towards organization thus improving employees efforts. Also it is a pertinent deduction that higher wage structure plays considerable amount of restraint on the employees to turnover their jobs. Thirdly, in more tangible terms higher wages are responsible for reducing firm employee turnover and recruitment costs. 2.6 Training and Development ‘Training and development (TD) is a very important tool of HRM (Vlachos 2008). According to Li, et al. 2008 Training is the set of activities which prepare the employees to attain needed skill sets and to deliver more efficiently in their current jobs. In the environment of todays business an employee is needed to cope with various pressures and are required to keep their skills and knowledge current to stay competitive. Tai (2006) asserts that more adaptability, ability, flexibility, motivation, maintenance of skills and efficiency are greatly enhanced by proper training and development of employees. According to Vlachos training and firms performance are indirectly related. In most of the manufacturing industry, the prevailing training programs are mostly unstructured on the job is the most preferred mode. Bartel (1994) in her study found a positive and significant relation between training and labour productivity. Guidetti and Mazzanti (2007) found that high performance and training activities are positively associated. It is also affected by labour flexibility in various directions. Apospori, et al. (2008) in their study of southern European countries have discovered the impact of training on firms performance. Equipping of service level staff enables them towards ‘service orientation. Training is the planned effort that facilitates the acquisition of job related knowledge, updating of skill sets, and impacts the behavior of an employee. In the implementation of HRM tools training is an important factor responsible for productivity. Higher productivity observed in firms is a direct outcome of training programs. â€Å"High-Involvementpractices such as autonomy, team collaboration, and training are helpful in reducing employee turnover and enhance productivity. Untrained workers tend to change job more often. An increase in high-performance work practices converts into decrease in turnover† (Bradley, Petrescu Simmons, 2004). Training programs are particularly helpful when an employer is experiencing a high degree of employee turnover more so during the times of economic uncertainty. Even during the times when the business is flourishing an organization should proactively earmark their investment for on the job training and other training programs balancing the cost of training with the perceived benefits of productivity. On the other hand, a trained worker has got the required skills and knowledge and can be a candidate for job turnover. Therefore, job satisfaction is crucial factor to retain the employee from shifting his jobs. Bradley, Petrescu and Simmons (2004) explained that job satisfaction can be effectively imoproved by creating on-going learning as well as training in workplace; moreover their study indicates that training increases satisfaction levels of an employee which in turn enhances employee motivation and commitment. Therefore it is argued that acquisition or knowledge or training has a positive impact on job satisfaction. 2.7 Traditional and Recent HR Practices in Hospitality Industry Keep and Mayhew (1999) in their study regarding the personnel problems in the tourism and hospitality industry some of them areas follow: low pay, no fixed hours and shift. Poor career growth, seasonal employment; informal recruitment methods; lack of good HR practice; high attrition rate and retaining employees. Riley et al. (2000) to recognize the reality of traditional and poor HR practices, he said that determining factor for HR policies and practices in tourism and hospitality industry is the key economics. Riley et al. says that it carries a very important meaning in tourism and hospitality industry, as in this service sector there is every thing which is intangible. According to (ILO, 2001: 6).Employers and the organizational representatives consider employee turnover in the industry as not the major issue according to them it is the part of working they have not realized that what are its causes and reasons, retaining staff is costlier than hiring new for them. When the organizations will realize that poor HR practices like low pay benefits, lack career opportunities, work life imbalance are the main reason employee turnover. That day the organizations will be successful in real terms. The inability of the businesses and the industry to recognize the most glaring issues can be attributed to the hostility and opposition from employers associations in the industry such as British Hospitality Association (BHA), to governmental initiative such as the minimum wage and working time directive. BHA is still apprehensive of these initiatives despite support from other quarters who favor these initiatives (Lucas, 2004). It is to a great extend clear from the above researches which supports the fact that tourism and hospitality industry is a poor employing sector. Kelliher and Perrett (2001), Kelliher and Johnson (1997) have clearly said that â€Å"the dominant paradigm has tended to stress the negative aspects of working in the hospitality sector†. It is not surprising to see a long history that supports the fact that hospitality remains a poorly employing sector. Kelliher and Perrett (2001) did an analysis of a designer restaurant. These types of ventures were supposed to be implementing sophisticated HRM approaches as they aimed at building competitive advantage. Although the restaurant had adopted a more modern and sophisticated approach towards, training and development and focused on an innovative strategy ‘there was little real evidence that human resources were seen as a source of competitive advantage (p. 434). Instead, the HRM approaches adopted by the restaurant were much more reflective of immediate environmental constraints, such as the difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff. In short, any number of reasons for poor HR practices in the tourism and hospitality industry. Economic determinism, the predominance of SMEs, a low-skills base, employer antipathy to a more progressive approach to HRM, labour market characteristics, organizations ensuring best fit HRM practices to support a high volume, low-cost strategy; all are plausible reasons for a view of HRM which is not necessarily premised on high-skills, high-wages and a high-quality route to competitive advantage. That said, it would be equally wrong to paint a wholly pessimistic picture. Hoque (2000). On his work of good practice in the hotel sector, says that the hotels have started taking the issues seriously and have come up with good HR practices for the employee commitment. He further says that argues that arguments which give a picture of the industry as backward and un strategic is now outdated, hotels have started taking it seriously as there main aim is customer satisfaction which is possible only through strong employee commitment. In fact, he says that the management has become very serious regarding the practices and polices of HR .The hotels have started experimenting with innovation approaches, quality enhancement of HRM polices and practices. The hotels industry has started paying well, have revised appraisal system, proper training programs for employees skills development, schemes for proper balance between work and life, special advantages to women, job rotation, employee empowerment, performance based pay, teamwork etc. the implementation of all th ese polices and practices helps in gaining employee commitment and customer satisfaction. The focus of hospitality