Hospitality

They will also learn food and beverage service theory which is about theoretical components that relate to food and beverage department of hospitality business (“Banshee college,”). Effective leadership and management courses will train students how to behave and act as a leader in the hospitality environment. Hospitality and tourism careers will introduce students to their careers, show them how hospitality and tourism affects us, and students will also recognize numerous career opportunities available to hem.

In the third semester, students will select two of five electives to focus on specific area of their careers: Entrepreneurship, wine appreciation and food pairing, risk management and hospitality law, fundamentals of beer. For the last semester, students will have a chance to practice what they learned in a 14 weeks internship in a real hospitality environment. Hospitality industry is believed to have a bright future. Graduated students will have all the qualifications to seek a Job in different areas, such as front office, housekeeping, food and beverage operation, human sources, marketing and sales, hotel and restaurant management.

As the hospitality business environment becomes more and more complex 0. West and Tonsorial-Frey, 2008), it will provide many opportunities for students. Due to traveling demand, the number of hotels and resorts has increased in the last few years, which make the hospitality industry full of opportunities (Parisian). The average monthly income for a hotel and restaurant manager in Canada is about 5500 CAD, and for other Jobs in hospitality industry like bartender, cook, receptionist, chef, and supervisor of food revive is around 1000 CAD to ACADIA ( “salary explorer” ,2012).

Although the hospitality industry has many opportunities, graduated students from the program still need other skills, such as communication, foreign language ability, leadership, strong analytical ability, creativity and a strong work ethic. As foreign language ability is the key element in the hospitality industry, the more languages students can speak, the more advantages they have. For hotel and restaurant manager, students are required to know at least three languages.

Hospitality environment is also one of the most complicated works environments as it involves many cultures, many ethnic groups from many countries. Furthermore, it needs very high security control. Hotel managers/staffs need to be extremely careful not only in communication with their guests, but also in making any type of decision, because their hotels may end up as breeding grounds for illegal activities such as narcotics or prostitution. To sum up, the hospitality industry is a developing industry, which offers many opportunities for students. It is also a well-paid Job.

In order to be successful in this complex Hotel and Hospitality Industry By insinuatingly and most important of all, have passion for their Job. The reason I choose to study and work in this environment is because I’m a hard worker, I always want to keep myself busy, and I love to communicate and meet new people. I know that the hospitality environment is very complex, and the risk that employees may have to face, but I believe in my ability to resolve any problem. Every industry has its own good side and bad side, the most important reason that keeps us not to give up is the suasion for our career.

The Ritz-Carlton, Millennia Singapore” Summary Walter Junker is the executive assistant manager in food and beverage department of the Ritz-Carlton Millennia Singapore hotel. He came up with the event “first annual New World of Food and Wine Festival” The management believed his suggestion would be beneficial and backed the concept with budget, personnel and managerial support. Event also had another purposes like creating publicity for the hotel and developing scholarship fund for students. Starting from opening cocktail reception, the festival was held for four days.

The festival was divided into three sections of nine tasting and dining, with prices ranging from $50 to $180. Almost all the events during the festival were sold out, and some even had waiting lists. In addition, auction of rare wine was conducted to raise funds during the gala dinner. The auction was well supported by guests raising over $ 18,000. What about now? Millennia Singapore made “New World of Food and Wine Festival” in 1996. After success in that year, they continued their festivals. This is the picture taken from one internet site.

The site gives us information about entrance fee, the chef who will attend the event and pictures from the event This is the picture about strawberry-flavored white chocolate This is the picture about attendees(chefs) The pictures on the left are invitation form from the hotel in 2004. It was held for 8 days and lots of programs were planned to attract customers and make them feel the Joy of taste. This article was published in 2012. The content is about the Millennial food and wine festival. Thus, it means they are still holding the festival each year. More than that, they’ve been doing many things inside of the hotel.

In 2011, they opened outdoor function space – Millennia Pavilion, completed innovation of 608 rooms and suites Also, their bathroom was chosen as the world’s sexiest bathroom. In 2012, they ranked top on Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore 2011 (they Case Study – Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism By Autographed Also, Article showed that Millennia Singapore ranked 73rd out of top 100 hotels in Travel + Leisure’s 2012 World’s Best Awards list In 2013, they celebrated Singapore 48th national holiday with fireworks and buffet breakfast Discussion questions 1 .

Was the New World of Food and Wine Festival a good public relations event? Explain and support your answer Definitions for public relations differ widely. In the book, there is definition of public relations from Hilton International. The process by which we create a positive image and customer preference through third-party endorsement. New World of Food and Wine Festival was good public relations event for two reasons. First, it matched customer preference. Rich people like fine wine and Millennia hotel matched the preference by serving still wines from the House of Meet et Chanson, Australia .

Second, it gave positive image about company. Auction of rare wine was conducted to raise funds during the gala dinner. The auction was well supported by guests raising over $ 18,000. The aim of this fund was to develop scholarship fund for students to pursue a food and beverage career. It made image that company cares for people and society. Nowadays, we call this “Corporate Social Responsibility’ (CARS). If they failed to make positive image from this event in Singapore, they would be out of business in few years. Built in 1996, they are still in business.

Like the article mentioned above, Millennia is keep holding the food and beverage festival annually. If they wouldn’t had had many people in 1996, they oldest make the profit, continue the event till now and create positive image about their company. I think that’s why this festival is good example of public relations event. 2. If you were the public relations director for the Ritz Millennia, in what types of media would you try to get publicity? Explain how your message would vary across the various types of media There are lots of public relation means including radio, newspaper and SINS.

If I were the public relations director of Ritz Millennia, I would choose SINS There are some reasons for that. First of all, from financial view, SINS is better means than radio. After searching radio ad fee, cost was near $ 1,500. This cost was in New York. Considering that company wants to reach many people, this would be standard. Furthermore, one article says you should budget $ 1,750 at least to have advertisement on the radio. However, when it comes to SINS, it costs only the fee of reach more people. If you use radio, you can Just reach the listeners who are staying tuned to one certain station.

However, you can have reach far more people using SINS. From one youth video, it says backbone has more than 500 million users. This means that you can each lots of users from people all over the world. Therefore, it has more power than other tools. These are the reason why I would choose SINS for public relations. But there is one thing marketer should take care of. Marketer should create good word of mouth and be careful not to make bad word of mouth at the same time. By satisfying customers with service, they can say good words on their post and also eager to share the postings of your company’s SINS group to their own walls.

This would have good influence for your company. However, guests can make bad word of mouth as well. . How did this event create goodwill with the target market of Ritz-Carlton? Ritz Carlton targets the upper class. From one article, Ritz-Carlton serves breakfast for $700. It’s hard for normal people to spend that much money for Just one meal. Ritz Carlton created goodwill of the upper class by New World of Food and Wine event. First, Ritz Carlton satisfied guests’ preferences. Upper class people like wine. In one blob posting, it says rich people like fine wine.

In addition to drinking it, they like to have knowledge about superior vineyards or rare and exclusive wines. Following article also shows that they like wine. James Joiner speculated that as people attain more education and income, they tend to switch from cheep booze to better and more expensive booze. Millennia Singapore satisfied the taste of rich people by serving still wines from the House of Meet et Chanson, Australia and giving special opportunities to guests to meet winery representatives like Wayne Donaldson from Green Point Winery. Second, Ritz Carlton made positive image by raising funds.

From the article, it says the aim of raising funds is developing a scholarship fund for dents to pursue a food and beverage career.

Hospitality Industry Knowledge 1. List six sources of current industry information: – Media: Such as newspapers, television, magazines and radio. The media publicises current information, trends developing and any government initiatives. – Customers: By doing customer questionnaires this can inform enterprises as to what they need to improve, as well as which staff are working well. – Information services: For example the Australian Bureau of Statistics and Tourism NSW (all these services are provided by the government) and provide a whole range of issues within the industry. Internet: Sites such as The World Tourism Organisation (WTO) provide information on environmental issues and trends frequently. Anyone can publish anything on the internet, so it is important to check that the information sourced is credible and correct. – Industry Journals: (Also known as trade magazines) are not available from local industries and usually require a subscription, as they are extremely valuable sources of current information. Within the either national / international journals hospitality positions are advertised, trends are addressed and practices of various enterprises are shown. Training courses: May either be on-site or off-site, and provide the opportunity for staff to experience specific training in a chosen area. 2. Differentiate between primary and secondary sources of information: A primary source is when information is gathered first hand, whereas secondary source is when the information is gathered from a source that has already conducted the research. 3. Indentify the basic research skills that are required when researching: It is important to recognise that the source is credible and that it is of relevance. . List three channels that may be used to disseminate information once collected: Media, Internet and customers. 5. Explain the importance of updating hospitality industry knowledge: Updating hospitality industry knowledge ensures quality service is maintained and the customer’s needs are constantly being met. 6. Analyse recent government initiatives affecting the hospitality industry: Government initiatives are acts by the government that result in a number of impacts on the industry. Promoting Australia’s image overseas: In campaigns such as “where the bloody hell are you? ” and ‘Australia week’ in the USA; and enhances Australians quality of life as well as boosting tourism in regional areas. – Australian tourism industry: Over $600 million was allocated to the Australian tourism industry in the 2004/05 federal budget. The government set up a new body in 2004, ‘Tourism Australia’, having $120 million allocated to the body in 2004 in order to market Australia internationally as a holiday destination over the following years.

To market tourism within regional areas of Australia, an extra $45 million was allocated. – The federal government is now taking on apprentices (New Apprenticeship’s Scheme). This will help with the costs accompanying training new apprentices and offers and encourages employers to take on new enterprises. By introducing these further funds for enterprises, it has also allowed students to take on a part-time apprenticeship whilst attending school, as well as enabling more flexibility for those wishing to pursue a career in commercial cooking. Obesity: This issue has been constantly reported via the media, statistics stating that now over 50% of the Australian population are overweight. This is a result of certain lifestyle changes: individuals are now less active, have increased their consumption of fatty/high energy foods, and often resort to fast food because they believe they do not have enough time to cook themselves. The health problems connected to being overweight have placed a lot of pressure on the health system. This has resulted in the government introducing healthy eating campaigns and new school canteen food requirements. Farmer kits: Was launched by the Federal Minister for Tourism in 2003: ‘Farm and Country Tourism on your Property: Assessment Tool’ These kits were for families looking to enter the agricultural tourism industry and enables them to see whether or not their farm is suitable. 7. Explain recent trends in emerging markets and the importance of internet presence for business: The Internet has enabled the hospitality industry to access a wider market, allowing budding customers to view the available products and services of different enterprises, and to make a booking online.

Internet booking have increased dramatically over the past few years (due to the ‘technically savvy’ Y-Generation) and has resulted in an increase in competitiveness between hospitality enterprises. 8. Analyse the impact of social issues on the hospitality industry: Some enterprises choose to become involved with the community by doing things such as participating in community fundraising (e. g. providing a complimentary meal) or by contributing left-over food to charities. The obesity epidemic has also caused the hospitality industry to provide healthier menus, so that consumers now have the option of having either fatty or healthier food.

Doing so has caused the face of the hospitality industry to change, as they are no longer regarded as selling only fatty foods. Racial tensions were a result of the Cronulla Riots in Sydney. A number of businesses were closed down, and when re-opened were not able to operate due to a lack of customers. Due to an increase in intoxication and binge drinking licensed premises must ensure they do not serve intoxicated people, as intoxicated people are more likely to commit crimes. The government has responded to this by introducing curfews and lockouts within problem areas.

They have also raised the price on Alco-pops to discourage young people from drinking excessively. 9. Outline factors that have caused expansion within the industry: Factors that have caused expansion within the industry include: – International sporting events: attracts a large number of short-term visitors – Cultural events: attract people to specific regions – Seasonal influences: increased travel during holidays, in particular the Christmas and summer holiday period – New liquor licensing laws: may encourage more small bars to open – Medical tourism: hospitality provides forming partnership with hospitals 10.

Outline factors that have caused retraction within the industry: – An oversupply of facilities after the 2000 Sydney Olympics – Incidents (such as war on Iraq, tsunami, SARS) resulted in less abroad people travelling to Australia, although inbound tourism did increase – Competition among enterprises caused them to slash their prices (reduced profit) – World oil prices increased which resulted in airline tickets increasing and households to restrict their extra spending money (due to increased cost in petrol) – Rising food prices caused higher menu prices, which may deter customers from dining out – Credit crisis 1. Describe current labour issues and their impacts on enterprises: – Labour turnover: Employee’s left with few hours during the quieter months may choose to leave and find alternative employment. The cost of losing / replacing staff members is quite substantial and costs thousands per employee. – Shortage of qualified chefs: result of more students staying to year 12 rather than leaving in year 10 – Hiring staff with illegal visa statuses – Paid unjustly: a number of employee’s in the industry are unaware of their rights and may be paid lower wages 2. Explain technological issues affecting the hospitality industry: – Has improved the delivery of customer service and impacted on the delivery of training – Systems and procedures are now more efficient and has reduced many errors and has enabled service to be provided more timely. – Addressed skills shortages by allowing individuals to complete training courses in a more flexible environment through registered training organisations on-line.

The 9/11 terror attacks resulted to a crisis. In order to manage such as crisis, there is need for an individual to have techniques and skills that will ensure that he or she can assess, properly understand, and cope with the crisis (Barton, 2007). Different opinions have been given about managing a crisis. Crisis management should involve eliminating technological failure and developing a formal communication system that helps avoid or manage a crisis when it comes up.

Crisis management according to another opinion is that in most cases, it comprises of different methods of responding to the perception and reality of a crisis. For instance, developing and implementing a crisis management plan is one way through which people can manage a crisis. It is also important that crisis management involves the establishment of metrics that focus on defining the kind of scenarios that may constitute a crisis. This becomes very vital in triggering the necessary mechanisms of responding to a crisis.

Activities that are undertaken in pro-active crisis management include planning on how one should deal with the crisis if it were to arise. In addition, forecasting the potential crisis helps one to be well prepared if the crisis occurred in future. It is important that the real nature of the crisis is identified so that intervention methods are developed to minimize the damage caused by the crisis. The methods will also assist people to recover from the crisis.

Most importantly, crisis management in the hospitality industry should focus on public relations so that the public image or damage is recovered. Crisis management needs to reassure the stakeholders that the recovery of the hospitality industry is underway. In the hospitality industry, certain factors are very important. One of the most important factors in the hospitality industry is the security of the visitors or customers because insecurity puts away potential customers from seeking services from a hospitality institution or organization.

Since customers only pay for services they are convinced will guarantee their security and that of their families and friends, security becomes an important factor to them. Another important factor in the industry is the quality of services that are offered to the customers. The hospitality industry has an obligation to provide customers with high quality services. Hotels, restaurants and travel agencies can only enjoy great benefits if the customers appreciate the quality of services offered to them.

This promotes customer loyalty, which is very important for the growth of the industry because it leads to increased revenue. The diversity of services offered by major players in the industry is another important factor. The greater the diversity of services that the hospitality industry or institutions (hotels, lodging, restaurants, travel agencies) offer, the greater the probability of getting a large number of customers. This is because; the diverse services offered are able to cater for the different needs of the customers.

Introducing many and different range of services assists the industry’s major players to address the changing needs of the consumers. The cost of services that are offered in the industry is important to the customers. Because different customers have varying economic abilities, individuals tend to seek services that meet the value of their money and only those they can afford. Services that do not meet the value of the customers’ money or are too expensive may fail to attract a high number of customers seeking hospitality services in hotels, restaurants, and travel agencies.

Meriton Suites North Sydney has faced the issue of poor employee performance due to ineffective leadership. The SWOT framework has identified the challenges of the firm regarding leadership, and VRIO model has analysed those challenges effectively to make a recommendation based on contingency theory of leadership.

The organisation has to transform the transaction leadership style to transformational leadership style to gain expected performance from their employees.

Introduction

According to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) has defined the hospitality industry as the business that offers the facility of accommodation, restaurants, takeaway food services, taverns, bars, motels, and hotels. The tourism and hospitality industry is making a vital contribution in GDP of the country that is 3.2 % of total GDP of the country (Australia.gov.au, 2019).

The hospitality organisations like hotels in Australia are trying to enhance their business efficiency to operate their business effectively in growing market. In this report the strategic management issues that are related to leadership of the Meriton Suites North Sydney will analyse.

The following report will identify strategic management issues of Meriton Suites North Sydney with the help of the contingency theory of leadership. Meriton Suites North Sydney is one of the largest owner-operator hotel business that operates its business in 19th locations through 4945 rooms (Meriton Suites., 2019). The organisation has focused more on furnishing and design of its rooms to ensure good experience and comfort of their guests.

Findings:

Meriton Suites North Sydney is the organisation that is facing the issue of the poor performance of employees in this recent time. The leadership process becomes the strategic management issue within the hotel as it has led to the issue of poor performance of employees. Meriton Suites North Sydney is using the leadership style that is not effective to motivate their employees towards good performance.

The SWOT framework will use to identify issues, VIRO theory will use to analyse challenges, and Fiedler’s Contingency Model will use to provide recommendation about identified challenges.

SWOT analysis to identify issues

SWOT framework will help to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the business (Sarsby, 2016).
Based on the SWOT analysis the organisation has a vital weakness that is more focus on family values, as the Meriton is a family business and they have more focus on their family values, and they are not willing to change values according to the need of the market.

Poor employee performance and ineffective leadership in promoting creativity are also one of the weaknesses of the organisation. The organisation has strengths about operation in different locations with more than 4000 rooms so that effective presence across the country is one of the strength of the firm.

The hotel has strong financial health, as the sale of the organisation has increased by 8% consistently in past three years (Meriton Suites., 2019). The organisation has also expanded its business in global market that has increased revenue of the organisation effectively. However, the weakness of less effective leadership has made their strengths less effective to create competitive advantage.

The organisation also become less able to eliminate the threat of high level competition due to less innovative products and poor employee performance. Changing regulations about sustainability in tourism and hospitality business is also one of the threat for the business, as they do not want to make changes in their business practices based on their present leadership style. The organisation is also facing the strategic issue related to leadership style as the leadership style has reduced creativity within the firm.

VRIO Model to analyse the challenge

VRIO is the model that helps to evaluate resources of the organisation and competitive advantage based on resources. This model is the part of the resource based view that helps to identify the link between internal characteristics of the firm and their performance.

Valuable: Resources can be valuable for the organisation is the resources are effective to improve the efficiency of the firm and exploit opportunities and eliminate threats of the business (Hitt & Duane Ireland, 2017). The present resource of the organisation valuable as they have created effective marketing activities to increase awareness of people about the brand.

Strong brand image of the firm also valuable resource as it has maintained impressive market presence of the firm. However, the product range of the firm is not valuable resources to be competitive as they have less innovative food products than competitors like Hilton and Novotel. Employee performance is also not valuable resource as the organisation faced the issue of poor employee performance in this recent time.

Rear:

Rear resources are those resources that can be acquired by only a few amounts of companies within an industry (Meyer, Neck, & Meeks, 2017). The brand image of the organisation is not rear as other competitors like Hilton and Novatel also has strong brand image within the market.

The product range of the organisation is also not rear, as most of the 5star hotels provide innovative food products to their customers. Skilled human resource also a valuable resource but not the rear one.

Imitability:

Imitability is the factors that identify those resources that are hard to imitate by other organisations. The product range of the organisation is easily imitable by the other organisations, as Meriton Suites North Sydney has less focus on innovative food products due to their present leadership style. The organisation also has less focus on creativity to innovate new services like ticket and travel booking service.

Organisation:

The product range of the organisation is not a valuable resource for the organisation, and this resource is not effective to gain competitive advantage for the business. The leadership style of the organisation is also one of the resource that has impacted negatively on competitive advantage, as the management has less focus on creativity due to transactional leadership style.

They have skilled human resource, but they have not focused on enhancing their expertise according to business environment, it has also brought challenge of poor performance that is related to the leadership of the firm.

Conclusion

At the end of the analysis, it can be said that Meriton Suites North Sydney has a weakness about poor employee performance due to rigid organisational culture and inflexible leadership. The organisation is also facing the issue in their resource, as they have lack of innovative food products to attract more customers towards the brand.

The resources of the organisation are not also inimitable by others so that the resources of the organisation has not provided competitive advantage to the business. The organisation is using transactional leadership style to operate the business based on their family values and does not want to change those values as per market needs, which is created the issue of less creativity within the firm.

Present Leadership Style:

The factor of present leadership has discussed which leadership style has been used within the organisation. The management thinks that it is more effective to hire skilled employees rather investing time and money to those employees who have poor performance. This concept of the organisation leads to the issue of skill shortage within the organisation. Therefore the company uses transactional leadership style.

Situational Variables:

The factor of leadership member relations will help to understand whether employees trust their leaders or not in Meriton Suites North Sydney. There is less trust among employees of the firm on their leaders as the leaders of the organisation has not to trust on skill of their employees. Less amount of training program and less communication with leaders have increased the issue of poor employee performance, as employees have less knowledge about how to achieve their individual goals, it is the evidence of unstructured task into the organisation.

The leaders also can reward and punish their subordinates as per their performance without seeking any approval from higher authority. Therefore, the factor of power and position is high under present leadership style of the firm.

Relationship between Leadership Style and Situation:

According to the above analysis about situational variables and the leadership style of Meriton Suites North Sydney, it can be said that the transactional leadership style has been adopted by the management to manage their employees. As the organisation has less focus on employee motivation and creativity of employees rather they like to work with rigid organisational culture.

The situational variables have revealed that the trust of employee among leaders is low, as the leaders do not support creativity of their employees, task structure also has identified as a structured task, and there is high power of leaders on their subordinates.

Therefore, the organisation needs to implement relationship-oriented leadership style that is transformational leadership style to eliminate their weakness about poor employee performance.

References

1. Australia.gov.au. (2019, October 12). Australian Bureau of Statistics |. Retrieved 2019, from australia.gov.au.: https://www.australia.gov.au/directories/australia/abs
2. Hitt, M., & Duane Ireland, R. (2017). The intersection of entrepreneurship and strategic management research. The Blackwell handbook of entrepreneurship, 45-63, doi.org/10.1002/9781405164214.ch3.
3. Meriton Suites. (2019, October 12). Meriton Suites North Sydney – Reserve Direct For Best Rates. . Retrieved from Meriton Suites North Sydney – Reserve Direct For Best Rates. : https://www.meritonsuites.com.au/our-hotels/nsw/northern-sydney/north-sydney/
4. Meyer, G. D., Neck, H. M., & Meeks, M. D. (2017). The entrepreneurship?strategic management interface. Strategic entrepreneurship: Creating a new mindset, 17-44. doi.org/10.1002/9781405164085.ch2.
5. Min, B. S., Min, J. H., Jang, W., Han, S. H., & Kang, S. Y. (2016). VRIO Model Based Enterprise Capability Assessment Framework for Plant Project. Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 61-70 , doi.org/10.6106/KJCEM.2016.17.3.061.
6. Sarsby, A. (2016). SWOT analysis. . London : Lulu. com., ISBN: 9780993250422.
7. Yang, F., Liu, J., Wang, Z., & Zhang, Y. (2019). Feeling energized: a multilevel model of spiritual leadership, leader integrity, relational energy, and job performance. Journal of Business Ethics, 983-997, doi.org/10.1007/s10551-017-3713-1.

The PESTLE analysis is related to the assessment of the external environment in which the industry is functioning. This analysis will assess the impact of the political, economic, social, technological, and legal factors on the industry. The analysis is presented below:

Political Environment

The influence of the political factors in the way of change in the regulatory measures and the attitudes of the current government will largely determine the growth and success of any industry and the players within that industry (Keim, 2001).

If the government is stable and a staunch supporter of the industry then there will be ample chances for the industry to grow. In the case of Hospitality industry because of the revenue to the government from the tourism sector, there is the complete support for the industry and the political environment is conducive for the development of the industry. Read about political factors affecting Ryanair

Economic Environment

Under economic environment factor the elements like current taxation levels, prevailing inflation rate, the position of the balance of trade and exchange rates, the level of unemployment, the changes in interest rates and availability of finances affect the functioning of the industry. The economic environment refers to the nature and direction of the economy in which a firm competes or may compete (Fahey & Narayanan, 1986). Based on the application of these factors in the global context the economic environment cannot be assessed as more favorable for the development and growth of the industry.

Economic downtrend has affected the spending capacity of the people in general and this has resulted in the poor performance by most of the firms in the hospitality industry. The tourism and hotel business have been severely hit by the recessionary tendency all over the world.

Social Environment

Changes in the values and life styles, changes in values and beliefs, changing patterns of work and leisure, demographic changes, changing mix in the ethnic and religious background of the population – all will have their influence on the sustenance of the industry.

The growing gender, ethnic, and cultural diversity in the workforce creates challenges and opportunities (Barlett & Goshal, 2002) invariably to every industry. In the global context, all these factors presently work to the disadvantage of the hospitality industry as the changes in life style and values of customers show a declining trend, which in turn has adversely affected the hospitality industry.

Influence of Technological Factors

The technological developments change the ways in which various services are provided and especially with the introduction of the broadband connectivity, the commercial world has undergone a wide change. All these technological developments have their impact in the functioning and growth of the hospitality industry globally. The advanced systems of Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP), Customer Relation Management (CRM), and Supply Chain Management (SCM) have contributed to the systematic enlargement of the industry. Read also about hotel reservation system

Psalms 23 I find in the historical background of the 23rd Psalm that David was the author. David was a shepherd in his youth, preparing him for the shepherding of God’s flock, the nation of Israel. The Lord chose David as his servant, and brought him to shepherd Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance. There is a possibility that David wrote this psalm as a boy while he was tending his flock, since he spent many lonely hours in the fields. It is hard to understand how a young boy could write of such imagery when young boys knew little of dangers and disappointments in life.

There are two imageries, the shepherd and the host. (Deffinbaugh) In ancient Near East time the Israelites were known as shepherds describing leadership of an individual or group, or a king referring to a leader. The shepherd imagery shows the Lord was the leader, the King of all humanity. Jacob spoke of God as “The God who has been my shepherd all my life”. (Deffinbaugh) David spoke of God as his shepherd, his provider, protector and king. It states “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want” meaning that he had the Lord and was not in need of anything.

The shepherd imagery is that David is describing God’s relationship with him in a loving relationship, in relation to how shepherds tended to their flocks. The author states “he guides me in the paths of righteousness” the Lord will always be there to guide us in the right direction, yet evil will always be lingering, it is our choice which way we go. In Psalms 23:4, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death” could possibly mean that he could have faced some kind of tragedy in his life, or he faced some kind of evil.

Therefore, David had possibly used these situations in his life, which could have inspired him to write this psalm. David also wanted to lead a righteous life and follow the way of the Lord. Then we read “fear no evil”. Evil is always present, yet the Lord will be there to protect us from evil. The author talks about dinning with his enemies. In ancient Near East hospitality to foreigners, strangers, and travelers was a sacred duty. By extending this hospitality the host would take on the responsibility of protecting the traveler as long as he was in his area.

As David’s enemies he still took care of them and feed them while they were his guests. He felt that the Lord would reward him for this and he would live in the “house of the Lord” (referring to the temple) forever. This doesn’t mean he will live in the temple; this attitude will help shape the rest of his life. (Bratcher) Psalms 23 deals with the faith in the Lord, and living a righteous life, which would lead you to a wonderful life on earth and here after. This psalm applies to my live by having faith in God always, even when bad things happen to the people I care about or me.

My faith in God is what gets me through the bad things in my life and the good things that he blesses me with. I know that God is there to protect me even when evil shows itself. If it wasn’t for my faith, I would not be where I am today. If we follow David’s example which is the psalm, in the 21st Century we should care for Jesus’ flock in the same way that David cared for his. We should love our enemies and help them find faith in God just like David. This psalm has honesty about life and even in the most faithful people they still know that darkness may come upon them.

In the 21st Century there is darkness everywhere, yet we still need to listen to the words of Psalm 23 and reflect on its possibilities of helping us out of the darkness with the help of the Lord, since we know that he walks with us always. Today we look for physical things from the Lord, where in David’s time it was more spiritual. God does provide us with physical needs, yet we can not always be sure when it will occur or what the circumstances might be, but when it happens we know and our faith lives on. Praying this psalm will keep your faith in God.