ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Executive Summary The paper analyzes the extant academic literature on revenue and hospitality management in order to develop five tactics that can be used by a revenue manager of Swissotel Sydney for improving the company’s bottom line. The first section of the paper overviews the subject of revenue management in hospitality. It is followed by a discussion of a distribution channel-based strategy. The third section presents an innovative pricing strategy. The next section discusses the implementation of a strategy based on the use of big data. The fifth section elaborates on a solution for optimizing OTA commission fees. A section that follows presents market basket analysis as a strategy for effective price promotion. The final section underscores the importance of revenue management and recounts proposed strategies. Introduction Revenue management (RM) in the hospitality sector is a recent trend, which is associated with forward-thinking organizations that are willing to generate greater returns on investment, thereby gaining a competitive edge in a business environment that is characterized by a high level of rivalry. RM refers to a wide range of practices aimed at the prediction of consumer behavior and maximizing revenue growth (Hayes & Miller, 2011). A large body of research, generated over the past ten years, shows that RM in the hotel and lodging sector is at a more advanced stage when compared with the airline and spa industries (Guillet & Mohammed, 2015). The majority of the hospitality RM studies is focused on pricing and customers’ reaction to RM activities, which indicates that customer-centric RM is essential for the creation of long-term value for companies. The aim of this paper is to present a business proposal for improving RM in Swissotel Sydney, which is “a luxury five-star hotel” that offers its visitors “369 well-appointed rooms and suites” (Swissotel, n.d.b, para. 1). The hotel’s revenue centers include room
US intelligence Community The end of the Cold War has reopened the debate on the relative importance of intelligence and operations. This discussion has been carried on intermittently over the past decades and has produced several proposals to reform US intelligence by reducing covert operations and increasing intelligence research and analysis. The end of the Cold War has made it possible to consider even more fundamental reforms of the US intelligence community, not least because it has allowed the deeply rooted US mistrust of government secrecy to re-emerge. This traditional resentment joined forces with a new awareness that there is a need to re-examine how intelligence should be defined in the ‘information age.’ In view of the proliferation of information processing throughout the government and society as a whole, it seems questionable whether it makes sense still to understand intelligence as it commonly is conceived, namely, as all the information necessary for the decision-maker. There were commendable efforts launched during the decade of the 1990s to come to terms with the changes that had beset the world of intelligence since the collapse of the Soviet Union. These included the 1996 report of the Aspin-Brown Commission, established by Congress to review the entire mandate of the US intelligence community. Aspin-Brown was the largest and most significant public investigation of its kind since the end of the Cold War. A mechanism for accountability to a body outside the executive branch was evolved, the long-term impact of the committees has been marginal at best. From the beginning, their impact on the intelligence community was severely limited by restrictions on their power, and by the 1980s, both committees were best known as “partners of the executive branch, ” advocating for the interests of the intelligence community. Controlling Authority and Responsibilities of FBI The Bureau’s counterintelligence efforts against a limited set of targets (in FBI parlance, “White Hate Groups” and the “New Left”) between 1964 and 1971. This limited scope is strategic and somewhat artificial; in no way the 1960s were the only period in which the FBI engaged in counterintelligence activities against “subversive” threats, nor that its COINTEL program was the sole source of state repression during this period, nor that right-wing white supremacist groups and student antiwar protestors were the only victims of repressive activity. Instead, the FBI is largely independent of the efforts of other federal and local policing agencies has engaged in a continuous intelligence mission augmented by sporadic sustained counterintelligence activities throughout its century-long history. COINTELPRO provides an exceptionally clear window on the Bureau’s overall repressive efforts, allowing us to examine how state ag
Introduction Law enforcement agencies should not be given unhindered access to citizens’ personal information. The right to privacy and confidentiality of correspondence is a constitutional right, and violation of this jeopardizes the law. In addition, law enforcement agencies get access to the personal information of citizens in manual mode. This means that the materials are viewed by specialists working in the authorities. Thus, there is a risk of human error, personal data of individuals can be inadvertently leaked to the public or deliberately sold for personal gain (Huda, 2019). Even though people working in the authorities are checked, this does not guarantee complete safety. Thus, access to confidential information should be provided to law enforcement agencies only in case of documented confirmation of the need to do so. Otherwise, there is a risk of unnecessary surveillance of people, which is a violation of the law. Worst-Case Scenario in Regard to Unrestricted Access Unrestricted access to personal information might lead to negative consequences. The worst scenario in which digital communication becomes unrestricted in access is citizens’ insufficient attention to the security of their data. With the advent of new technologies, many people had communication tools that they began to use under the same principles as ordinary phones and other gadgets. However, in the modern world, much attention is paid to digital security, as personal data can be in intruders’ hands. The worst scenario would be third-party access to people’s private correspondence. This will lead to a significant increase in online fraud crimes. Even though many companies providing communications services develop their systems of protection, ordinary users should also pay attention to how they use the means of communication. Mass hacking, loss of money, gaining access to private information from intruders are among the worst scenarios. In addition, such events already occur in the modern world and are only gradually gaining momentum. Storing Digital Data as Physical Letters To avoid negative outcomes of digital presence, personal information of each user of Internet resources should be similar to the protection of physical information. In the modern world, more and more services are found in the online segment. People purchase goods and services over the Internet, use online banks, email, and many other things that have appeared in everyday life relatively recently. To more easily understand the security level that must be achieved, it is necessary to project cases from digital to real. An individual will not provide private information from their records to law enforcement officials without an appropriate order or warrant. Therefore, the authorities should not have unrestricted access t
Introduction Leaders are often forced to find a procedure to search for and understand true administrative techniques such as implementation of models for enhanced management. The personnel are made of diverse age groups, and therefore there is need to find different and unique styles of developing the way people interact through building rapport and communicating. There have been evident increases on the number of interests in leadership styles and theories since the twentieth century. Leadership theories of the early styles mainly focus on the qualities that are distinguished between the subordinates and their leaders. The subsequent theories changed focus to identification of variables required to cater for various situational demands and the diverse levels of skills. Diverse leadership theories emerged but there are common classifications of various groupings. Theories of Leadership Great Man Theory Acts on assumption that leaders exist intrinsically means the leadership is thus an aspect of birth and not formation. According to this theory, leaders exist as heroic figures, and mythically they are bale to meet demand due to ability to respond in accordance with the human needs/demands. The term is a clear indication that the theory emerged when leadership qualities were primarily based on single gender; “male” and was particularly based on military form of leadership (Daft and Marcic, 2008, 182). Trait Theories The theories are also based on inheritance of various leadership traits/qualities. The theories are often base on specific leadership qualities and behaviors attributable to certain people. According to Dodds (2008, 1), the trait theories were conflicting since there was lack of explanation to cases of people who possessed these leadership traits but were not leaders. Situational and Contingency theories These theories forms an analysis of environmental variables that assist to determine leadership style that is best suited for a given situation. The theories therefore indicate that there is no particular leadership style that best suites all situations (Miller, 2008, 1). Success depends on numerous situational variables, for instance style of leadership, qualities of followers and other aspects of the circumstance. Situational variables may therefore determine the leaders’ decisions. Behavioural Theories According to Mathis et al, these theories emphasize that leaders are made and not born (2008, 29). The ability to lead therefore depends on the leader’s actions as opposed to the environmental influences of other personal traits. Any one has the ability to gain skills of becoming an effective leader through guidance, active teaching, surveillance or presentation. Participative Theories The leader in this case considers the input or efforts of other involved persons. The leaders support involvement and pa
The given report is created by Child Trends Data Bank, an organization that fulfills the examination and monitoring of the factors that influence the development of children. The task of the report was to give information on parental involvement in the educational activity of their children. The report presents a vast amount of data. Among its advantages are the coverage of various aspects of the problem and a proposed solution to the problem. However, the report makes an unjustified conclusion. It does not include non-black and non-Hispanic immigrant families, as well as the families where a mother is separated from her child. The report presents a result of serious research and provides a wide range of data on the issue. The main advantage of the work is that the authors have studied various aspects of the problem. Not only have they calculated how many parents are involved in their children’s schooling but, more importantly, they have also pointed out the diversity of parents by race and origin, by education, by the spoken language, and by income (being below/above the poverty line) (Child Trends 4-6). Additionally, the authors do not automatically assume that parental involvement in a certain family is stable for all the years of a child’s education; they make a distinction between the years of primary school and the rest of the time (Child Trends 4). Comparing the data related to different periods, they managed to find the trends in parental involvement over a particular period (Child Trends 3). Moreover, the authors do not merely point out the problem; they offer a solution to the problem of low parental involvement (Child Trends 7). Nevertheless, the report has some essential disadvantages. Having studied the figures and information, the authors conclude that the children, whose parents are more involved in their schooling, have fewer problems with behavior, lower risk of school dropouts, and have better academic performance (Child Trends 2). This is a serious conviction, and to support it, a significant amount of data and professional psychological analysis are needed, as well as the work has to be up-to-date. Instead, the authors cite a 1994 research with a narrow range of study groups. The authors of the research, Anne T. Henderson and Nancy Berla are educators, not child psychologists. Therefore, the conclusion of the report is weak and unsupported by proper evidence. Apart from that, the report covers the problem of fathers not living with their family (Child Trends 2) but it does not suppose (and, hence, provides no information) that it can be mothers that are separated from the family. The other flaw is that, even though the authors recognize the problem of disadvantaged families, they only study black and Hispanic families (Child Trends 4). However, the families of non-black and non-Hispanic immigrants, such a
Introduction This paper seeks to give an intrinsic evaluation of my experience with regards to the concepts of leadership, change management, and organizational development, with a special connection being established between these issues and a real case change situation experienced personally. In doing so, relevant examples, ideas, opinions, notions, theories, and facts from various scholarly quarters will be used to advance the arguments here. Notably, the central focus will be on “the M3C model of cooperative contextual change” advanced by Biscaccianti et al. This model of change emphatically posits that change management is a highly intricate and dynamic process that calls for the introduction of a dynamic stability system if full efficacy is to be facilitated in an organization (Biscaccianti et al. 19) In the M3C model, Biscaccianti et al. (22-23) asserts that the following four elements are normally considered vital in the introductions, implementation and sustainability of dynamic stability:  1. Provision of a fitting direction and explicitly revealing the issue at stake to everybody or, rather, all the concerned parties in the organization  2. Promotion of co-opting and co-building of rules and regulations in a way that the introduction, implementation, and sustenance of these ground rules are done in a consistent manner.  3. Adoption of a systematic work-based relationship that will facilitate the initiation and regulation of activities and actions at all levels of the company.  4. We are fostering a solution-oriented mindset throughout the company. Despite the existence of several scholarly and research-based proofs that the M3C model is efficient, a joint study by Allen and Meyer (10-18) indicate that this model cannot survive on its own unless it is blended with other relevant change management ideologies and theories. It is based on this reason that other necessary scholarly arguments will be applied in this writing. For example, the “reading and carrying” framework, advanced by James and Arroba (299-316), which emphasizes the value of emotions in leadership, will be duly applied and relevantly considered in this paper. In addition, this paper will blend Johns’ model of structured reflection and Gibb’s reflective cycle in detailing my experiences and reflecting on how they influence change management. In brief, John’s model of structured reflection recommends that, when we need to appropriately reflect on an issue, we should begin by identifying the incident/experience while putting it into the right context of analysis. Once done, John’s model recommends moving into the second stage, which entails real reflection. This is then followed by the detailing of alternative action (what you would have done differently), basing your arguments on established studies. Finally, there is the learning stage, where we show what has been learned from the change management experience. On the other hand, Gibbs reflective cycle talks of more-or-less the same facets as John’s model, except for the fact that in Gibbs model, the key stages of the entire reflecti
Society relates all its achievements to what was done and stored in the spheres of men’s activities. Art or technology implies the versatile nature of the themes which human beings can make come true. Humanities are the standpoint of the discussion in this paper. Its relations between other modes of human inquiry and expression pretend to work out the main differences of it when comparing the significance of humanities while giving examples of its expression in arts. The desire of people to be closer to the standards of humanity as an embodiment of something right, light, and helpful is not surprising, especially in the era of new inventions and decisions about the people’s environmental conditioning, which stays many aspects unanswered. People tend to do it first and then think over what has been done. Humanities, actually, reaches the points of people’s experience, passing over the facts of making some sense and taking good results from it. In fact, as it is considered, humanity is a combination of approaches toward what should be followed by people in real life; it is a sort of societal discipline which can serve as a tool of control in it. “The humanities do not exist in a vacuum. And meaningful education in the humanities takes for granted that men and women can be moved by ideas and by the expression of ideas.” (Kriegel 712) The notion of humanities, in major cases, takes place when speaking of things that make people’s life constantly move. Among them are science, technology, economics, and arts. Due to the personal ambitions of human beings, especially those being in power, the impact of humanities as an ethical factor loses significance from time to time. “But the humanities are about more than ethics, as indicated by the recent expansions of applied ethics to include other humanistic disciplines.” (Frodeman 29) The humanities have long distinguished between a capacity for reason and a capacity for creative thought and expression. That human beings experience a tension between the ordered, calculative, disciplined dimensions of knowledge on the one hand and expression and improvisational, spontaneous, intuitive dimensions on the other is a common assumption. (Riley 2008) The point is that in present times any sort of creative work is considered with some glimpses towards the implementation of scientific-technological progress and the main product in post-industrial society as informatio
Subcultures as social phenomena started to be known many decades ago. Subcultures represent groups or identities that exist within a bigger cultural group or society. Currently, the list of subcultures that are popular or used to be well-spread some time ago is rather long and diverse. In his article titled “Hipster: The dead end of Western civilization”, Ted Polhemus celebrated and admired the diversity of the subcultures that were popular in the 20th century. In this paper, the article and the perspective of Polhemus will be compared to that of Douglas Haddow, who provides criticism of hipster subculture – a contemporary mainstream counterculture. Ted Polhemus introduces the concept of style tribes – groups of people counteracting the mainstream culture through a distinctive style of clothes, adornment, appearance, and behavior. Style tribes emerge in order to satisfy the need for belonging (which is particularly urgent among adolescents) and can expand to an enormous scale (some of them become global). Thus, most of the members do not even know each other – they are connected only through the media that prescribes certain identifying features to them (typical clothes and music preferences). It is quite impossible to find the exact meaning of the appearance of this or that tribe and the idea that stands behind each of their rituals. However, they are easily recognizable – it is evident even for an outsider that different tribes support drastically different worldviews. Pholemus indicates that the dreams of every style tribe or subculture to be timeless and unchanging are futile. Historical analysis reveals that mainstream cultures usually dismiss style tribes: they quickly become outdated and give way to emerging ones (though their influence on the direction of changes is rather strong). Despite their rather short life, Polhemus expresses admiration of versatile features and trends within different subcultures and sees a deep meaning, symbolism, and purpose in them (par. 1). The key to Haddow’s article is different from that of the works of Polhemus. At the very beginning of his article, Haddow expresses his key argument; he refers to the hipster culture as a “self-obsessed aesthetic vacuum” (1). The main point of the author is that the subculture under discussion is pointless and practically represents a useless trend that exists only for the purpose of being a trend. The author accuses the hipster culture of being an empty trend, a collection of attributes of the other subcultures that he calls shallow (Haddow 1). Moreover, the writer compares this youth subculture with the previous ones and emphasizes th