Television Fundementals Essays - Television Technology,

Television Fundementals In this report on television I will discuss television signals, the components the make up a television, and how a television produces the picture and sound for the final output. The sound carrier is at the upper end of the spectrum. Frequency modulation is used to impress the sound on the carrier. The maximum frequency deviation is twenty-five kilohertz, considerably less than the deviation permitted by confessional FM stereo. As a result, a TV sound signal occupies less bandwidth in the spectrum than a standard FM broadcast station. Stereo sound is available in TV, and the multiplexing method used to transmit two channels of sound information is virtually identical to that used in stereo transmission for FM broadcasting. The picture information is transmitted on a separate carrier located 4.5 MHz lower in frequency than the sound carrier. The video signal derived from a camera is used to amplitude modulate the picture carrier. Different methods of modulation are used for both sound and picture information so that there is less interference between the picture and sound signals. The full upper sidebands of the picture information are transmitted, but only a portion of the lower sidebands is suppressed to conserve spectrum space. The color information in a picture is transmitted by way of frequency division multiplexing techniques. Two color signals derived from the camera are used to modulate a subcarrier that, in turn, modulates the picture carrier along with the main voice information. The color subcarriers use double-sideband-suppressed carrier AM. The video signal can contain frequency components up to 4.2 MHz. Therefore, if both sidebands were transmitted simultaneously, the picture signal would occupy 8.4 MHz. The vestigal sideband transmission reduces this excessive bandwidth. Because a TV signal occupies so much bandwidth, it must be transmitted in a very high frequency portion of the spectrum. TV signals are assigned to frequencies in the VHF and UHF range. United States TV stations use the frequencies between 54 and 806 MHz. This portion of the spectrum is divided into sixty-eight 6MHz channels that are assigned frequencies. Channels 2 through 7 occupy the frequency range from 54 to 88 MHz. Additional TV channels occupy the space between 470 and 806 MHz. The video signal is most often generated by a TV camera, a very sophisticated electronic device that incorporates lenses and light-sensitive tranducers to convert the scene or object to be viewed into an electrical signal that can be used to modulate a carrier. To do this, the scene to be transmitted is collected and focused by a lens upon a light-sensitive imaging device. Both vacume tube and semiconductor devices are used for converting the light information in the scene into an electrical signal. The scene is divided into smaller segments that can be transmitted serially over a period of time. It is the job of the camera to subdivide the scene in an orderly manner so that an acceptable signal is developed. This process is called scanning. Scanning is a technique that divides a rectangular scene up into individual lines. The standard TV scene dimensions have an aspect ratio of 4:3; that is, the scene width is four units for every 3 units of height. To create a picture, the scene is subdivided into many fine horizontal lines called scan lines. Each line represents a very narrow portion of light variations in the scene. The greater the number of scan lines, the higher the resolution and the greater the detail that can be observed. United States TV standards call for the scene to be divided into a maximum of 525 horizontal lines. The task of the TV camera is to convert the scene into an electrical signal. The camera accomplishes this by transmitting a voltage of 1 volt for black and 0 volts for white. The scene is divided into 15 scan lines numbered 0 through 14. The scene is focused on the light-sensitive area of a vidicon tube or CCD imaging device that scans the scene one line at time, transmitting the light variations along the lines as voltage levels. Where the white background is being scanned a 0 volt signal occurs. When a black picture element is encountered a 1 volt level is transmitted. The electrical signals derived from each scan line are refereed to as the video signal. They are transmitted serially one after the other until the entire scene has been sent. Since the scene contains colors, there are different levels of light along each scan line. This information is transmitted as different shades of gray between black and white.

The Roles of Queens, Drones and Worker Honey Bees

The Roles of Queens, Drones and Worker Honey Bees Honey bees are social creatures that enlist a caste system to accomplish the tasks that ensure the survival of the colony. Thousands of worker bees, all sterile females, assume responsibility for feeding, cleaning, nursing, and defending the group. Male drones live to mate with the queen, who is the only fertile female in the colony.   The Queen The queen bee is the dominant,  adult female bee that is the mother of most, if not all the bees in the hive. A future queen bees larva is selected by worker bees to be nourished with a protein-rich secretion known as royal  jelly so that it can sexually mature.   A newly hatched queen begins her life in a duel to the death with any other queens present in the colony and must destroy potential rivals that have not yet hatched. Once she accomplishes this, she takes her virgin mating flight. Throughout her life, she lays eggs and secretes a pheromone that keeps all other females in the colony sterile. Drones A drone is a male bee that is the product of an unfertilized egg. Drones have bigger eyes and lack stingers. They cannot help defend the hive and they  do not have the body parts to collect pollen or nectar, so they cannot contribute to feeding the community. The drones only job is to mate with the queen. Mating occurs in flight, which accounts for the need of the drones for better vision, which is provided by their large eyes. Should a drone succeed in mating, he soon dies because the penis and associated abdominal tissues are ripped from the drones body after sexual intercourse. In the fall in areas with colder winters, worker bees mind the food stores and prevent drones from entering the hive since they are no longer needed, effectively starving them to death. Workers Worker bees are female. They accomplish every chore unrelated to reproduction, which is left up to the queen bee. In their first days, workers tend to the queen. For the remainder of their short lives (just a single month), workers keep busy. Newly hatched worker bees are larvae, unable to feed themselves. Worker bees feed their larvae a liquid called worker jelly, and they eat as many as 800 times a day to build up fat stores. After eight or nine days, larval worker bees spin cocoons and enter the pupal stage. Three weeks later, fully-formed worker bees chew through their cocoons; just a few hours later theyre ready to go to work. There are many jobs for workers to do, such as preserving  honey, feeding drones, building the honeycomb, storing pollen, removing the dead, foraging for food and nectar, carrying in water, fanning the hive to maintain the proper temperature, and guarding the hive against invaders such as wasps. Worker bees also make the decision, when necessary, to relocate the colony in a swarm  and then rebuild the new nest. Maintaining proper temperature for the hive is crucial for the survival of the eggs and larvae. The brood chamber for the bees young must remain at a steady temperature to incubate the eggs. If it is too hot, the workers collect water and deposit it around the hive, then fan the air with their wings causing cooling by evaporation. If it is too cold, the worker bees cluster to generate body heat.

Definition and Examples of Derivation in English

Definition and Examples of Derivation in English In morphology, derivation is the process of creating a new word out of an old word, usually by adding a prefix or a suffix. Adjective: derivational. Linguist Geert Booij notes that one criterion for distinguishing derivation and ​inflection is that derivation may feed inflection, but not vice versa. Derivation applies to the stem-forms of words, without their inflectional endings, and creates new, more complex stems to which inflectional rules can be applied (The Grammar of Words, 2005).   Derivational change that takes place without the addition of a bound morpheme (such as the use of the noun impact as a verb) is called zero derivation or conversion. From the Latin, to draw off. Examples and Observations Derivational morphology studies the principles governing the construction of new words, without reference to the specific grammatical role a word might play in a sentence. In the formation of drinkable from drink, or disinfect from infect, for example, we see the formation of new words, each with its own grammatical properties.(David Crystal, How Language Works. Overlook Press, 2005 Derivation versus Inflection Morphology may be divided into derivationrules that form a new word out of old words, like duckfeathers and unkissableand inflectionrules that modify a word to fit its role in a sentence, what language teachers call conjugation and declension. (Steven Pinker, Words and Rules: The Ingredients of Language. Basic Books, 1999)The distinction between inflectional morphology and derivational morphology is an ancient one. Fundamentally, it is a matter of the means used to create new lexemes (derivational affixes among other processes) and those used to mark the role of the lexeme in a particular sentence (accidence, inflectional morphology). . . .It seems that although we probably can maintain a distinction between inflectional and derivational morphology relatively well in Englishalbeit with certain problematical cases which do not invalidate the fundamental notionthe distinction is not helpful to us in understanding any other aspects of the morphology of English. The classification might be useful in terms of typology, but does not throw much light on the behavior of English morphological processes.(Laurie Bauer, Rochelle Lieber, and Ingo Plag, The Oxford Reference Guide to English Morphology. Oxford University Press, 2013 Derivation, Compounding, and Productivity Word-formation is traditionally divided into two kinds: derivation and compounding. Whereas in compounding the constituents of a word are themselves lexemes, this is not the case in derivation. For instance, -ity is not a lexeme, and hence taxability is a case of derivation. The word income tax, on the other hand, is a compound since both income and tax are lexemes. Changing the word class of a word, as happened in the creation of the verb to tax from the noun tax, is called conversion, and may be subsumed under derivation. . . .Morphological patterns that can be systematically extended are called productive. The derivation of nouns ending in -er from verbs is productive in English, but the derivation of nouns in -th from adjectives is not: it is hard to expand the set of words of this type such as depth, health, length, strength, and wealth. Marchand (1969: 349) has observed some occasional coinings like coolth (after warmth)  but notes that such word coinings are often jocular, a nd hence do not represent a productive pattern. If we want to coin a new English noun on the basis of an adjective, we have to use -ness or -ity instead. (Geert Booij, The Grammar of Words: An Introduction to Linguistic Morphology. Oxford University Press, 2005 Changes to Meaning and Word Class: Prefixes and Suffixes Derivational prefixes do not normally alter the word class of the base word; that is, a prefix is added to a noun to form a new noun with a different meaning:Derivational suffixes, on the other hand, usually change both the meaning and the word class; that is, a suffix is often added to a verb or adjective to form a new noun with a different meaning: patient: outpatientgroup: subgrouptrial: retrialadjectivedark: darknessverbagree: agreementnounfriend: friendship (Douglas Biber, Susan Conrad, and Geoffrey Leech,  Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English. Longman, 2002)

The Role of Managers in Motivating Employees Essay

The Role of Managers in Motivating Employees - Essay Example Reward schemes are recurring themes in research literature, with Milne (2007) identifying that reward and recognition programs impact motivation and performance positively. Rewards, however, do not necessarily have to come in the form of cash payouts. One organization, Snowfly, a consulting organization in Wyoming, has utilized company technologies to create a reward scheme set-up like a Las Vegas game in which employees, when they reach high performance targets, have opportunities to win small cash bonuses or other benefits such as time off from work (Stern, 2007). Setting up such a system would require manager intervention and persuasion, as part of negotiation tactics, as a further advocate for employee reward. Other companies, such as Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Portland, Oregon, believes that these reward structures have improved overall organizational performance and reduced turnover rates in the process (Stern). Â  Even though the administration of the reward schemes would be a responsibility of human resources or information technology, a modern manager recognizes different business models available for motivating employees and works to ensure that these systems are incorporated into the modern business environment. A middle manager would likely report to senior members of staff, therefore they have the ability to create organizational change by persuading senior managers, who might be concerned about costs associated with low performance, to implement a new motivational reward system. Suggestions for the Manager

Determine the distribution of shear force, bending moment and stress Essay

Determine the distribution of shear force, bending moment and stress due to bending in simply supported beams - Essay Example to Identify the measurements to be taken, they should be variables and they both should be able to be measured at the same time (the measurements should be as specific as possible to reduce variation and increase the chance of higher correlation). The third part is to make 50 to 100 pairs of the measurement, ensure that the measurements are as steady as possible so as they do not interfere with the final figures. The next step will be to plot the measured pairs on a scatter Diagram, plot them to give maximum visual spread points; this may involve using different scales and making the axes cross at non-zero value. The last step is that the diagram will be seen and it should be interpreted and action taken accordingly Sketch graphs of shear force and bending moment distribution and validation of calculations by alternative checking methods, plus analysis of safety factor for a chosen material, incorporating referenced additional data, are required for M/D criteria. The strength of a correlation is determined in various statistical angles. It is in this aspect that this Correlation, which is represented by the value that fall between, values of -1.00 to +1.00. If the value is 1 positive or negative it means it is a perfect correlation, this rarely occurs as it means that when the variables both change with the same magnitude, while a correlation of 0 means that there is no relationship between the two variables. A correlation of .8, .9 or even .7 is a strong correlation and it means that there is a great relationship between the scores of one variables and the other, while a correlation of .2 or .3 is a weak correlation meaning that there are some relationships between two variables a but it is a weak one. Q1: Select a standard rolled steel I-section for the simply supported beam shown in figure below. Select an appropriate factor of safety and material strength. Include references for all source information employed. The self-weight of the beam itself may be

Critically Contrasting Personnel Management and Human Resource Management

Critically Contrasting Personnel Management and Human Resource Management 1. INTRODUCTION Over the last few decades with the onset of the industrial revolution, the work place has seen a change in stance with respect to its people working in organizations. The key theme resonates around the ever increasing importance being given to the employees or the human resource. It started with what theorists referred to as personnel management. Some theorists believe that personnel management evolved in to what is now called human resource management while others draw significant strategic and operational differences between them (Torrington et al. 2005). The basic difference that the researchers find between these two is their area of focus within the organisation. Personnel management looks primarily into administrative aspects of the organisation while, Human resource management, on the other hand, looks after developing, retaining and growing the human aspect the organisation. In most organisations today we see a growing importance given to this function at strategic levels. In this essay, the theory that exists for personnel management and human resource management will be critically contrasted and analysed to come to a conclusion in the debate mentioned in the previous paragraph. A number of theorists look at each of these as independent elements as well as relational elements and this essay explains the establishment of the context of each of the elements i.e. personnel management and human resource management, the change or the perceived transformation of personnel management to human resource management and drawing differences and similarities found in the existing literature to conclusively define whether there is a difference between the two or is Human Resource Management a term which is purely an evolution of personnel management. 2. THEORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT AND HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT There has been a significant amount of literature that has been critical of personnel management of being low on organisational status in the recent years. The perception is widely held that the function of personnel management is limited in a reactive and administrative position and fails to hold relevance to the aims of the organisation. To elucidate this perception it should function at a strategic level (Lundy, 1994). Authors such as Drucker (1968), Watson (1977), Legge (1978) and Rowland and Summers (1981) relate personnel management to an administrative role. This could include payroll, maintaining practices with respect to regulation and other such activities. Torrington and Hall (1987) noted that personnel management looks towards the line manager for the as a key driver for the integration to the overall organizational goals. However the lack of strategic direction sometimes causes a conflict with the overall role of the manager which is more strategic in nature. Lundy (1994 ) noted that the establishment of the trade unions in UK along with the subsequent welfare movement that began with the onset of the industrial revolution in the early 19th century became the underlying cause of this conflict. Trade unions meant the workers were represented, were informed and could now demand and fight for their rights while line managers and governments considered labour as commodity. This lack of strategic composition in personnel management began to see the emergence of Human Resource Management as a replacement term. The pitfalls that were once faced with the administrative outlook of the personnel management were being eliminated by extended the boundaries to generate a more strategic role within the organization. Hence, human resource planning became aligned and was getting integrated with the overall organizational strategy. HRM, according to Bratton and Gold (2003), is a strategic approach to managing employment relations which emphasizes that leveraging peoples capabilities is critical in achieving competitive advantage. Torrington et al (2005) describe human resource management as a philosophy that deals with the carrying out of organisational activities that are people oriented and that extends to those who are not employed in the organisation. Human resource management is now, in the English speaking world, the most extensively used term that describes the activities of the management in terms of employment relationship (Boxall and Purcell 2003). A significant number of changes took place around 1994 with relation to trade unions, organisational restructuring. There was also a rise in the atypical forms of employment. With respect to these changes Beardwell and Holden (1994) suggest that: Any assessment of the emergence of Human Resource Management has, at least, to take account of this changing context of employment and provide some explanations as to the relationships that exist between the contribution HRM has made to some of these changes on one hand and, on the other hand, the impact that such changes have had on the theory and practice of HRM itself (p. 5). The human resource management can be looked at in the light of five aspects. First, the senior management considers the people problems at a more serious level. The overall delegation of responsibility lies with the line manager. Second, team work, communicating, and empowerment within employees is given a high level of importance. Third, employee development through the facilitation of training allows the employee to contribute more substantially to the organization. Fourth, every employee is considered as an individual. His or her needs are carefully assessed and emphasis is given to them. Lastly, the overall fit is considered to be around the greater strategic fit of the organization. 3. PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT VERSUS HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Personnel management is conventionally believed as having little focus over the business links that are broader in nature and it is believed that it concentrates more on the activities of the personnel professionals and also on the operational techniques within the organisation. Thus the function of it is seen as low administrative record keeping and maintenance of people. In contrast to this function, human resource management is considered to concentrate more on the business linkages and also in comparison to personnel management it is usually labelled as an established and good people management practice (Redman and Wilkinson 2006). Legge 1995 (in Beardwell and Claydon 2007: 9), lists out three significant points that show that human resource management differs from personnel management. First, HRM is concerned with the responsibility of the top managers for the management of the culture. Secondly, she states that personnel management appears to be something performed on subordin ates by managers rather than something that the latter experience themselves. Finally, she says that human resource management defines the role of the line- managers rather than personnel managers. She further argues that the three differences stated above emphasize on human resource management, in theory, of being more of a central strategic management task as compared to personnel management. Armstrong (2006) states that human resource management lays more emphasis on the strategic fit and integration and its philosophy is management and business oriented. He contrasts Human resource management from personnel management on the basis that achievement of commitment and the management of the organisation culture are given more emphasis by HRM than personnel management. Storey (1992) and Guest (1987) each carefully differentiate personnel management and human resource management. The approaches considered by both also vary. Storey (1992) looks at the differences in light of the practical aspect; Guest (1987) draws more on the psychological aspects between the two. Points of difference between Personnel management and HRM as noted by Storey (1992) Dimension Personal Management HRM 1. Beliefs and assumptions Contract Behaviour Referent Conflict Careful delineation of written contracts Norms/ customs and practice. Institutionalized. Aim to go beyond contract. Values or mission. De emphasized. 2. Strategic aspects Key relations Initiatives Corporate plan Speed of action Labour management. Piecemeal. Marginal to. Slow. Customer. Integrated. Central to. Fast. 3. Line Management Management role Key managers Communication Standardization Transactional leadership. Personnel specialists. Indirect communication. High (e.g. parity an issue). Transformational leadership. General/business/line managers. Direct communication. Low (e.g. parity not seen as relevant). 4. Key levers Selection Pay Job design Training and development Foci of attention for interventions Separate, marginal task. Job evaluation (fixed grades). Division of labour. Controlled access to courses. Personnel procedures. Integrated, key task. Performance related. Teamwork. Learning companies. Wide ranging cultural, structural and personnel strategies. TABLE: Difference between Personnel Management and Human Resource Management. Source: Storey, 1992: 35 In the table above, Storey (1992) lists possible differences that are present between personnel management and human resource management. These differences describe the strategic aspect of personnel management as labour management and of Human resource management as customer management. Conventional personnel management focuses more on rules and norms, customs of the organisation and the practices which have already been established, whereas the human resource management tends to be more inclined towards giving importance to the values and mission that are set for the organisation. The personnel management approach is particular about the establishment of policies and procedures within the organisation and it enforces conformity of employees to these rules through careful delineation of written contracts. In contrast to this aspect of personnel management, Human Resource Management tends to go by the spirit of the contract. The structure of job design followed by personnel management is division of labour i.e. different people are assigned to different areas of expertise, where as Human resource management involves teamwork in which a group of people are assigned to accomplish a goal. Points of difference between personnel management (PM) and human resource management (HRM) as noted by Guest (1987) Personnel Management Human Resource Management Psychological Contract Fair days work for a fair days pay Reciprocal commitment Locus of control External control Internal control Employee relations Pluralist approach Collective Low Trust Unitarist approach Individual High trust Organizing principles Mechanic Forma/defined roles Top down strategy Centralized Organic Flexible roles Bottom up strategy De-centralized Policy Goals Administrative efficiency Standard performance Cost minimization Adaptive work force Performance improvement Maximum utilization Table: Difference between personnel management and human resource management. Source: Guest, 1987 In the above table, Guest (1987) examines the main differences between personnel management and human resource management. Like Storey, Guest also analysis a number of segments of the organisation to draw the main differences between the two debated terms. The psychological contract, which is the mutual agreement reached between the employee and employer, was the first element of difference. While personnel management considered it as obligatory from both parties to remunerate according to work and vice-a-verse. The control in case of personnel management was an external entity while the human resource management stemmed from within. Another key factor was trust. Guest believes that the personnel management failed to generate employee trust which in the case of human resource management was the key. The mechanistic approach of personnel management meant a formal, top down and centralized approach to managing employees. Human resource management on the other hand is considered to be m ore flexible originating from employees and de-centralized. The overall aim of personnel management, according to Guest, looked at drawing the most bang from the buck while minimizing the cost. However the goals for human resource management have taken on a role of improving performance by adapting the workforce to maximize the output. Painting the overall scenario, the differences cited by Guest (1987) and Storey (1992) reflect the fact that there lie differences between personnel management and human resource management on both practical as well as psychological fronts. The overall difference in its application has been considered to draw a clearer understanding of the differences cited above. However, literature also considers a number of key similarities which underlie both aspects of employee management. 4. SIMILARITIES Strategies of both Personnel Management and Human resource management flow from the business strategy. Both have the view that managing people is the responsibility of the line managers. Soft HRM and Personnel management have identical values with regard to the respect of the individual, develop people to achieve and facilitate their own satisfaction and the organisational objectives to the maximum level (Armstrong, 2006). Poole (1999) notes that despite the differences stated there are a number of factors that provide for a number of clear similarities between human resource management and personnel management. Emphasis on integration: Poole (1999) notes that both these models emphasize on their integration with the overall organizational goals. Line management as the driver: He notes that once again human resource management and personnel management look to the line management to deploy the human resource practices and policies. Individual development: Poole (1999) considers the model of Personnel Management and contrasts it with the models of Human resource management and concludes that both state the significance of developing the individual employee to the level of his highest abilities within the organization. Also while considering work in this field he found similarities in context laid down regarding the dependent nature of the employees. Importance of selection and job allocation: Poole finds that the correct allocation of jobs to the appropriate people is an important factor in the integration with the organization. It is worth noting that the integration with the organization was the basic similarity between human resource management and personnel management. 5. RHETORIC OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Keenoy and Anthony (1992: 235) consider the relation between the employment relationship and human resource management as rhetoric and metaphors. HRM its self is shown in a positive light when words such as nurturing and organic are brought into the picture. However, other terms which described personnel management were reactive, monitoring and bureaucratic provided a negative connotation. In relation to the dominant emergence of HRM, Legge (1995) argued: The importance of HRM, and its apparent overshadowing of personnel management, lies just as much (and possibly more so) in its function as a rhetoric about how employees should be managed to achieve competitive advantage than a coherent new practice (p. xiv) Legge (in Storey 1995) further notes that there has been hype due to the existence, assumptions and epistemology of soft and hard models of HRM. This according to Bach and Sisson (2000) can be done to achieve a state of control over the workforce. The hard model of HRM deals with the employees in a less humanistic approach by referring to the more quantitative nature of reducing costs, managing head count and the overall need of the hour. While the soft model of HRM deals with the development of the employees and an overall well being of the employee. Bach and Sisson (2000) noted that the soft HRM camouflages the negative aspects of the hard HRM to paint a positive picture. In practice, both the elements of hard and soft HRM exist together and impacts the employee directly. Critiques of HRM such as Keenoy find that ambiguity in the term Human Resource Management is a remarkable feature in itself. (Beardwell and Claydon 2007) 6. CONCLUSION Human Resource Management has become the most widely used term which refer to the activities of the management of the organization towards its employees. There are a number of debates surrounding the meaning, definition and scope of HRM and personnel management. Some critics find a number of similarities between the two while others find significant contrasts between the two. Legge (1995) sets forward the view that there is no major difference between the principles and values of the two but Storey (1992) found a number of aspects that differentiate the two. To summarise, personnel management is widely observed as having an operational schematic to people management with the aim at achieving efficiency within the norms of providing justice to the employees work. From the literature, conclusions can be drawn that the difficulty faced by personnel management in obtaining credibility in the eyes of the employees paved the way for the rise of Human Resource Management. The concern about the difference between personnel management and the extent to which HRM represented a positive or negative phase in peoples management gave rise to the debate relating to the differences and similarities of HRM and conventional Personnel Management. In summary, it can be noted from the literature that the inevitable evolution of personnel management was fuelled by the lack of trust with employees and gave rise to the emergence of Human Resource Management. The hard and soft models of Human Resource Management lay evidence to this evolution by displaying characteristics of the more mechanistic aspects of personnel management.

Hilton Customer Service Case Study

Customer Service in Travel and Tourism Hilton Hotels Case Study [pic] The ‘Understanding Travel and Tourism’ case study provides useful background information about Hilton Hotels. The first three sections of this case study are based on two presentations on the theme of ‘Reach Beyond’ given to employees of Hilton Hotels UK and Ireland as part of a major staff training programme. Benefits of Good Customer Service Guests tend to leave or defect from Hilton because: †¢ they become dissatisfied or †¢ a competitor is thought to be better or because a guest simply doesn’t care (in every market there are people who just don’t care about brand choice) or †¢ the guest has no choice e. g. the location is not right for the traveller or, for business travellers, because company policy is to use another hotel chain. What satisfies guests? Every guest is different, however research by Hilton Hotels has identified some ‘drivers’ th at influence whether a guest is satisfied with the stay or not. Drivers of Guest Satisfaction – UK Relative Impact on Overall Satisfaction [pic] The Importance of LoyaltyGuest survey research by Hilton suggests that in a typical year only 5% of existing customers remain loyal, however loyal customers tend to spend more and they account for 10% of revenue. Loyalty is important because satisfied and loyal guests: †¢ will make an effort to do business with Hilton †¢ give 80% or more of their business to Hilton †¢ ignore competitive offers, advertising and discounts †¢ tend to be willing to accept higher pricing structures †¢ remain with Hilton 8-10 times longer than unloyal guests †¢ are worth 100 times more than unloyal guests, in the long termIt is worth noting that the importance of loyal guests is recognised by most travel and tourism organisations, and many often carry out promotions aimed directly at repeat customers. One way Hilton Hotels rew ards loyalty and encourages repeat bookings is through the Hilton HHonors membership scheme, through which customers can receive points and other benefits. The more a customer uses Hilton Hotels, the bigger the rewards. Handling Complaints If no action is taken following a complaint, 52% of guests making a complaint are likely NOT to return.Once a complaint has been handled satisfactorily, 94% of customers making a complaint will return. This is almost the same percentage of customers likely to return when there is no problem and no complaint. This slide gives more detail about Hilton Hotels’ findings from research into the handling of problems and complaints. How may I help you? [pic]Source: VisualMedia Online ICT and Customer Service Hilton Hotels uses ICT in many ways. Just a few examples are: Hilton Hotels’ e-learning training programme that can be accessed by all staff members †¢ the use of powerful software programmes for analysing the results of research in to customer satisfaction levels †¢ providing excellent ICT amenities for business travellers †¢ making it easier to book the Hilton brand by improvements to websites and computerised reservations systems, and ‘fair deal’ agreements with external booking agencies. In 2002/3 Hilton developed a local language website for Hilton International in the UK – www. hilton. co. uk.The re-designed site featured lots more information. It was localised to make sure the offers were relevant and attractive for UK customers. The details on each hotel are updated at the hotel, rather than centrally, as is common practice. This ensures that the customer is getting all the most up-to-date and relevant details about the hotel and its offers as soon as possible. As part of the successful launch, the website www. hiltongroup. com promoted the new-look website www. hilton. co. uk. This included some examples of different types of potential customer and how they would use the n ew website.Below is the example of a customer travelling for leisure. Quality Here is a summary of the message to staff taking part in the Hilton ‘Reach Beyond’ training scheme: ———————– Importance of complaint handling No complaintComplaint (64%) (36%) Not reported Reported (8%) (28%) No actionAction Taken (8%) Not satisfied Satisfied (9%) (11%) Why is satisfaction important? Guest stays at HiltonNot satisfiedDefects to the competition Guest stays at HiltonSatisfiedVisits againBecomes loyal For further information about Hilton Hotels see: www. iltongroup. com or www. hilton. co. uk The Leisure Traveller â€Å"Whenever I go away I always stay in a Hilton,† says Rachel Martin â€Å"I love the fact that I always get the same high service standards no matter where I go in the world. † Rachel, a public relations consultant and a keen traveller, has been visiting Hilton hotels for over 10 years, and has be en to hotels all over the world, from the Middle East to Japan. â€Å"I've always wanted to book on the web, but I never felt comfortable with the old hilton. com site – it always felt too American, and a little impersonal. The new www. hilton. co. uk site, however, suits Rachel down to the ground. â€Å"All the special offers on the front page are priced in UK pounds, so I can directly see that I'm getting the best value I can from Hilton. I've also become aware of holiday packages I didn't know about before. † Rachel has just booked her 2003 summer holiday using the website â€Å"I'm looking forward to my next holiday – in the Hilton in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt – where I'm going to learn to dive, something I've always wanted to try, but didn't even know Hilton offered until I used www. ilton. co. uk. † 95%77%52%62% 94% Likelihood to return How can YOU influence satisfaction? Top 5 factors that influence guest satisfaction: 1. Have a positive †˜can do’ attitude 2. Overall quality of room 3. Staff efficiency 4. Staff friendliness 5. Comfort of room Hilton Reach Beyond Consistent, Quality Customer Service delivers the Brand Promise and recruits and keeps LOYAL Guests