Front Office Operation

/in /by

(1).The front desk is generally the first contact your guest will have with your hotel.  A good arrival experience can turn an average stay into an exceptional stay. As a front desk manager, you have the responsibility of making the arrival experience memorable and personal.  For this assignment, consider the following scenario:

You are the front desk manager of a mid-size hotel.  Upon reviewing the arriving groups over the next three days, you discover you have three distinct groups arriving at your hotel:

  1. A soccer team comprised of 6 year-old players
  2. 15 executives from Apple who are attending a meeting
  3. A wedding party (12 rooms)  

As the front desk manager, compose a memo to your General Manager with an action plan to create an impeccable arrival experience for each of these three groups.  Give details of what you will have your team do to make the arrival experience memorable and personal.  Be creative and think outside of the box.

(2). Write a 250 minimum word essay regarding the importance of communication between front desk and housekeeping.  Give at least three examples of when communication is critical.

Develop a persuasive closing summary that describes why the factors you identified are important.

/in /by

 

As an HR Manager, imagine you are presenting a new global recruiting strategy to the Chief Human Resource Officer of your company. Choose only one of the following countries:

Germany, Greece, Portugal, South Africa, Morocco, Ghana, Canada, Mexico, Jamaica, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Australia

Research business strategies for recruiting in your chosen region. Identify the top three to five (3-5) factors that would need to be considered when recruiting in the country you chose. Close with a persuasive summary on why you believe these factors are important. Close with a persuasive summary that explains why these factors are important. Demonstrate your findings to the Chief Human Resource Officer of your company in the form of a PowerPoint presentation.

Create a four to eight (4-8) slide PowerPoint in which you:

1. Summarize your findings about recruiting in your selected countries listed above.You have the option to record a narration in the presentation for Assignment 3.

2. Identify the top three to five (3-5) factors that would need to be considered when recruiting in your chosen region.

3. Develop a persuasive closing summary that describes why the factors you identified are important.

4. Include links or references to one to three (1-3) quality resources based on your research. Note: Wikipedia and similar websites do not qualify as quality resources.

5. Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:

a. Format the PowerPoint presentation with headings on each slide and one (1) relevant graphic (photograph, graph, clip art, etc.). Ensuring that the presentation is visually appealing and readable from up to 18 feet away. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.

b. Include a title slide containing the title of the assignment, your name, your professor’s name, the course title, and the date.

c. Use the APA format to reference your work, including in-text references when necessary.  See the APA Guide located in the Student Center tab.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Analyze international business strategy to identify human resource requirements and formulate supporting HRM plans that can improve productivity and contribute to the firm’s competitiveness.

• Propose staffing alternatives for foreign operations and address the considerations for the use of expatriates versus localization or third-country nationals.

• Assess recruiting and selection strategies that can be used to effectively meet organizational requirements for operating in multiple countries.

• Use technology and information resources to research issues in global HRM.

• Write clearly and concisely about global HRM using proper writing mechanics.

Provide the club a presence in the community? Why or why not?

/in /by

Purpose of Assignment

The case study focuses on break-even, margin of safety, and incremental analysis and allows students to experience working through a business scenario to apply these tools in managerial decision making.  Students are required to make decisions and provide solutions based on their evaluation of financial data.

Assignment Steps

Resources:  Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), U.S. Securities and Exchange Committee (SEC)

Tutorial help on Excel® and Word functions can be found on the Microsoft® Office website. There are also additional tutorials via the web offering support for Office products.

Scenario: Shelley Jones has just been elected as president of the Circular Club of Auburn, Kansas, and she has been asked to suggest a new fundraising activity for the club. After a considerable amount of research, Shelley proposed the Circular Club sponsor a professional rodeo. In her presentation to the club, Shelley recommends the fundraiser become an annual activity with the following goals:

  • Continue to grow each year
  • Give back to the community
  • Provide the club a presence in the community

Shelley’s goal in the first year is to have an activity that would become an “annual community event” and would break even the first year and raise $5,000 the following year. In addition, based on the experience of other communities, Shelley believed a rodeo could grow in popularity so the club would eventually earn an average of $20,000 annually.

A rodeo committee was formed. Shelley contacted the world’s oldest and largest rodeo-sanctioning agency to apply to sponsor a professional rodeo. The sanctioning agency requires a rodeo to consist of the following five events: Bareback Riding, Bronco Riding, Steer Wrestling, Bull Riding, and Calf Roping, Team Roping and Women’s Barrels. Prize money in the amount of $3,000 would be paid to winners in each of the seven events. Members of the rodeo committee contracted with RJ Cattle Company, a livestock contractor on the rodeo circuit, to provide bucking stock, fencing, and chutes. Realizing costs associated with the rodeo were tremendous and ticket sales would probably not be sufficient to cover the costs, the rodeo committee sent letters to local businesses soliciting contributions in exchange for various sponsorships. Exhibiting Sponsorships are $1,000 to exhibit products or services, while Major Sponsorships are $600, and Chute Sponsorships are $500 to have the name of the sponsor’s business on one of the six bucking chutes. For a contribution of $100, individual sponsors will be included in a Friends of Rodeo list found in the rodeo programs.

A local youth group will be contacted to provide concessions to the public and divide the profits with the Circular Club. The Auburn Circular Club Pro Rodeo Roundup will be held on June 1, 2, and 3. The cost of an adult ticket is set at $8 in advance or $10 at the gate; the cost of a ticket for a child 12 or younger is set at $6 in advance or $8 at the gate. Tickets are not date-specific. Rather, one ticket will admit an individual to one performance of his or her choice– Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. The rodeo committee is able to secure a location through the county supervisors’ board at a nominal cost to the Circular Club. The arrangement allows for the use of the county fair grounds and arena for a one-week period. Several months prior to the rodeo, members of the rodeo committee were notified the bleachers at the arena would hold 2,500 patrons. On Saturday night, paid attendance was 1,663, but all seats were filled due to poor gate controls.  Attendance was 898 Friday and 769 on Sunday.

The following revenue and expense figures relate to the first year of the rodeo.

Receipts

Contributions from sponsors      $22,000

Receipts from ticket sales         $28,971

Share of concession profits         $1,513

Sale of programs                           $600

Total receipts                            $53,084

Expenses

Livestock contractor                  $26,000

Prize money                              $21,000

Contestant hospitality                  $3,341*

Sponsor signs for arena               $1,900

Insurance                                    $1,800

Ticket printing                              $1,050

Sanctioning fees                             $925

Entertainment                                 $859

Judging fees                                   $750

Port-a-potties                                  $716

Rent                                               $600

Hay for horses                                 $538

Programs                                         $500

Western hats to first 500 children       $450

Hotel rooms for stock contractor        $325

Utilities                                            $300

Sand for arena                                  $251

Miscellaneous fixed costs                  $105

Total expenses                                            $61,410

Net loss                                                      $ (8,326)

*The club contracted with a local caterer to provide a tent and food for the contestants. The cost of the food was contingent on the number of contestants each evening. Information concerning the number of contestants and the costs incurred are as follows:

Contestants Total Cost

Friday                                  68                            $998

Saturday                              96                          $1,243

Sunday                                83                          $1,100

$3,341

On Wednesday after the rodeo, members of the rodeo committee met to discuss and critique the rodeo. Jonathan Edmunds, CPA and President of the Circular Club, commented that the club did not lose money. Rather, Jonathan said, “The club made an investment in the rodeo.”  The rodeo committee has requested an analysis of the rodeos performance and evaluation of the CPA’s review.

Create a minimum 10-slide presentation, including detailed speaker notes, as the committee’s consultation team and respond to the following:

  • What did Jonathan Edmunds mean when he said the club had made an investment in the rodeo? Is his comment consistent with Shelley’s idea that the club should have a fundraiser that would:
    • Continue to get better each year.
    • Give back to the community.
    • Provide the club a presence in the community? Why or why not?
  • Shelley, Jonathan, and Adrian Stein, the Fundraising Chairperson, are beginning to make plans for next year’s rodeo. Shelley believes by negotiating with local feed stores, inn- keepers, and other business owners, costs can be cut dramatically. Jonathan agrees. After carefully analyzing costs, Jonathan has estimated the fixed expenses can be pared to approximately $51,000. In addition, Jonathan estimates variable costs are 4% of total gross receipts. After talking with business owners who attended the rodeo, Adrian is confident the funds solicited from sponsors will increase. Adrian is comfortable in budgeting revenue from sponsors at $25,600. The local youth group is unwilling to provide concessions to the audience unless they receive all of the profits. Not having the personnel to staff the concession booth, members of the Circular Club reluctantly agree to let the youth group have 100% of the profits from the concessions. In addition, members of the rodeo committee, recognizing the net income from programs was only $100, decide not to sell rodeo programs next year.
    • Compute the break-even point in dollars of ticket sales assuming Adrian and Jonathan are correct in their assumptions.
  • Shelley has just learned you are calculating the break-even point in dollars of ticket sales. She is still convinced the Club can make a profit using the assumptions above (second bullet point above).
    • Calculate the dollars of ticket sales needed to earn a target profit of $6,000.
    • Calculate the dollars of ticket sales needed to earn a target profit of $12,000.
  • Are the facilities at the fairgrounds adequate to handle crowds needed to generate ticket revenues calculated above (third bullet point above) to earn a $6,000 profit? Show calculations to support your answers.
  • A few members in the Circular Club do not want to continue with the annual rodeo. However, Shelley is insistent the Club must continue to conduct the rodeo as an annual fundraiser. Shelley argues she has spent hundreds of dollars on western boots, hats, and other items of clothing to wear to the rodeo. Are the expenses related to Shelley’s purchases of rodeo clothing relevant costs? Why or why not?
  • Rather than hire the local catering company to cater the Contestant Hospitality Tent, members of the Circular Club are considering asking Shady’s Bar-B-Q to cater the event in exchange for a $600 Major Sponsor spot. In addition, The Fun Shop, a local party supply business, will be asked to donate a tent to use for the event. The Fun Shop will also be given a $600 Major Sponsor spot. Several members of the Club are opposed to this consideration, arguing that the two Major Sponsor spots will take away from the money to be earned through other sponsors. Adrian Stein has explained to the members the Major Sponsor signs for the arena cost only $48 each. In addition, there is more than enough room to display two additional sponsor signs. What would you encourage the Club to do concerning the Contestant Hospitality Tent? Would your answer be different if the arena were limited in the number of additional signs that could be displayed? What kind of cost would you consider in this situation that would not be found on a financial statement?
  • Assume you are elected chair of the rodeo committee for next year. What steps would you suggest the committee take to make the rodeo profitable?

Show your work in Microsoft® Word or Excel®.

Complete calculations/computations using Microsoft® Word or Excel®.

Format the assignment consistent with APA guidelines.

What are various ways the gospel message is perceived in our culture?

/in /by

RLGN 104

The Gospel Message

 

The Apostle Paul said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek” (Romans 1:16). Paul should know, since his life was radically transformed when Jesus confronted him on the road to Damascus (Acts 9, 26:4–18). Once he knew Jesus and His power, nothing held him back from telling others about the risen Christ. He shared this gospel, the “good news,” with anyone who would listen to him, regardless of their religion or moral background. Paul once wrote to a group of Christians telling them about this gospel. He said:

 

Moreover, brothers, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:1–4).

 

Be assured, this same gospel that changed and motivated Paul is for you and me today. In understanding the gospel message we find out that:

 

· Jesus paid the price for our sins (I Peter 3:18).

· Our sins can be forgiven (Ephesians 1:7).

· We can have eternal life by trusting in Him (John 3:15).

 

The word “gospel” is mentioned over 100 times in the Bible by Jesus and His disciples. Jesus was the source and subject of this good news. Jesus began his ministry by sharing this central truth, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). Jesus personally shared the gospel with those who listened to Him and today He is sharing it through the Bible and those who know and follow Him. He wants everyone to believe this gospel. But why is the gospel needed and how do people come to

understand clearly what it means to become a follower of Christ and believe this gospel

message?

The Problem

 

The problem is that all people are born sinners and sin separates them from God. “Your [sins] have separated you from your God” (Isaiah 59:2). The problem started in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were given clear instructions by God. They were free to eat of any tree in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God told them, “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17). Being deceived by Satan (the serpent), Eve ate the fruit of the tree and gave the fruit to Adam, who willingly (rebelliously) ate it (Genesis 3:1–6).

 

So what is the big deal? This is a very serious matter. The God of the Bible clearly states that He cannot tolerate the least amount of sin in His presence. Psalm 5:4 says, “You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with You.”

 

Also, Adam’s choice affected the entire human race. Because of Adam’s rebellion, all people are born sinners (Psalm 51:5) and since then everyone willingly chooses to sin. The Apostle Paul explained, “Just as through one man (Adam) sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12), and “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Everyone is a sinner and this sin separates each person from a holy God (Isaiah 6:3). So, what is the solution; how can sinful humans ever hope to inhabit a holy heaven with a holy God?

 

The Solution

 

Throughout human history people have attempted to solve this problem on their own. Religions have been developed which require people to do good works in order to earn eternal happiness and rewards. This “solution” is really an issue of pride. Salvation is all about God and His grace. Salvation is “the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Ephesians 2:9)

 

Salvation cannot be earned through good works. So what is the real solution? The solution comes from God Himself. God knew that humans could not achieve heaven by good works. That is why Jesus Christ, the Son of God came to die for our sins (John 3:16; II Peter 3:9). The Apostle Peter explained, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (I Peter 3:18). Even though this sin had separated people from God, Jesus willingly “bore our sin in His own body on the cross that He might bring us to God” (2 Peter 2:24). God loved us and “demonstrated His love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice so that mankind could receive forgiveness of sins and have eternal life in heaven. What a deal! Jesus paid the sin debt that we could not pay so that we could receive His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21).

 

The Choice

 

God does not force anyone to accept His Son, Jesus Christ. It is a free choice, a gift that He offers to everyone. “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). So what is the choice we need to make to receive forgiveness of sins and life eternal in heaven? Again, the Bible is clear. A person must repent of his or her sins and must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).

 

The word “repent” means to change one’s mind. A person first needs to change his or her mind about God. Many concepts exist about God in our world today, but to make an informed choice we must have a biblical understanding of God and Christ. Jesus did not say He was a way to God; He said He was the only way to God. Jesus excludes all other “ways” when He says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). The disciples said the same exact thing, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Jesus is the only way to God.

 

A person also needs to change his or her mind about sin. It is not about trying to be good person and living life the way she or he wants to live it. Rather, it is making a conscious choice to become a follower of Christ and His Word. Jesus said “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24).

 

The word “believe” means “to trust or have faith in.” It also has the idea of being persuaded. Biblical faith is not a “blind leap”. It is based upon the Bible, reason, and evidence. “Faith is the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Thomas, one of Jesus’ disciples, did not believe that Jesus had risen from the dead unless he was able to put his fingers into Jesus’ nail-pierced hands and side. Jesus did not rebuke him for a lack of faith. He let him feel the nail prints. And, what was Thomas’ response? “Thomas answered and said to Him, My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28).

 

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is an essential fact of history and the gospel message. If Jesus did not rise from the dead then Christianity is just another man-made religion. The apostle Paul understood this when he said, “If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!” (I Corinthians 15:17).

 

What must a person believe in order to become a follower of Christ? First, that Jesus is who He said He was. “If you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24). Here, Jesus placed our eternal well-being entirely on the issue of getting what we believe about Him correct. One must also believe that He died on the cross for his or her sins; that He was buried; and that He was raised from the dead (I Corinthians 15:1–4). The Apostle Paul spelled it out when he said that “if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). It is a personal choice. Hopefully, it is your choice.

 

The Invitation

 

If after reading this gospel message you understand what it means to be a follower of Christ and you would like to receive Him as your Savior you can do that today. “Whoever will call on the name of the LORD shall be saved” (Romans 10:13). Your personal relationship with God can begin right now through praying a prayer from the heart. You could pray a simple prayer like this:

 

Heavenly Father, I know that You are holy and hate sin. I know that I am a sinner and I can’t get to heaven by my own works. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins, was buried, and that He rose again. I repent of my sins and believe that Jesus alone can save me. I want to be a follower of Jesus and His Word. Come into my life and save my soul. Thank you for saving me! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

 

Although this article was designed for Discussion Board Forum 2, if after reading this you prayed to receive Christ as your Savior, please contact your RLGN 104 course instructor so they can celebrate your decision with you.

Page 3 of 3