Hotels Resource Management

Hotels Resource Management Summary Proper management of resources of an organization both physical and human resources is one of the crucial initiatives imperative for the purpose of its survival. The success and performance of an organization is dependent upon the management of its available resources. However, the management of these resources differs from organization to organization depending on the industry a business entity is operating. The above provided case study provides an insight of a unique and peculiar industry, hotel industry where the management of resources is slightly different from other industries. It is unique in the sense that most of the assets in the industry have a very short lifespan and the high chances of theft and fraudulent activities involved in the industry (Branson Lennox, 1989).Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Hotel’s Resource Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More There is nothing hard like managing the resources of a hotel and cont rolling the costing elements bearing in mind that most of the products in a hotel may not have standard costs and therefore some dishonest employees or managers may manipulate some prices for their own personal gains. The manager of a hotel must be very keen in ensuring high standards are maintained to achieve the most important goals, which are customer satisfaction and maximization of owners’ equity hence increasing the profitability in the hotel (Jones, 2002). The assets of the hotel must be used in a way that will guarantee desirable returns to its owners. The manager should be proactively involved in close monitoring of all the physical assets and prevent unexpected losses. For instance, there are fragile assets involved in the hotel industry that can bring about huge losses if not properly monitored (Jones Jawell, 1998). On the bar wing of the hotel there are always drinks that are contained in very fragile bottles that can e asily break not to mention the other side of the hotel where the foods might be handled using glass materials that are also highly fragile. If considerable care is not taken in these medium-term assets, they can impact negatively on the performance of a hotel (Kreek, 1978). There are always challenges involved in the management of hotel’s property to maximize the profitability.Advertising Looking for assessment on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This is because the industry itself is regulated by certain rules and regulations that have to be fully complied with. In some countries, there are laws that stipulate specific hours for alcohol consumption and any one found violating this law could face serious prosecution. Therefore, some assets in the hotel remain unproductive for quite some time and the.manager should implement a strategy that will ensure this time is compensated. The hotel man ager must also ensure there are set standards that will enable in determination of whether the intended goals are being adequately met (Lawson, 1995). The actual/achieved standards must be measured against the set standards and the resultant deviation that may be favorable or unfavorable will allow appropriate corrective measures to be taken. Another important section of the hotel that need constant check up is the purchasing/procurement department. There are two reasons for this. First, the purchasing of hotel consumables constitute huge amount of the hotel’s budget and secondly the hotel items are more vulnerable to theft. From an economic point of view, it is important that the input prices of various hotel items being thoroughly studied and the ones with the lowest possible prices be purchased when comparing more than one input items that will yield the same quality. This will reduce the ghost costs incurred in the hotel. However, all the goods must meet the expectations of the guests and other customers, in other words the customers must be fully satisfied. Cost-effective and customer satisfaction are the overriding goals (Loether, 2005).Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Hotel’s Resource Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More All the items purchased need to be properly recorded and accurate records concerning the same fully maintained. There must always be proper protocol of handling various assets and other things purchased and this can easily be achieved through specialization in asset handling. For example, goods ordering, reception and accountability should be handled by separate individuals and this will reduce chances of fraud (Powers, 1995). Health and safety are other aspects that provide uniqueness in the management of hotel resources. In the recent past, there have always been instances of terrorism attacks with hotels and restaurant facilities being the k ey targets (Rushmore, 1992). This has made the managers to be extra cautious to ensure there is adequate security in the hotel facility and its environs since this can drive away many customers hence bringing substantial losses to the business. Improved technology has enabled the installation of complex and sophisticated surveillance cameras in hotel rooms such that the guests can view all the relevant happenings while still in their own rooms. This can increase the number of guests since they are assured of their safety. There is also another important issue in the management of resources of a hotel. The hotel lifecycle has to be taken into account monitoring the nature of income and occupancy fluctuations over the years. Hotels seem to have high income and occupancy during their first years of operations and in most cases during their initial ten years (Schneider Tucker, 1989).Advertising Looking for assessment on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More After that the bed occupancy and income declines and there is subsequent increase in maintenance and repair costs. Therefore, the manager needs to be keen in managing these crucial resources and come up with a strategy that will ensure there is constant income flow in the hotel. Maintenance planning and house keeping need to be given a priority while managing hotel resources. Though there is always a maintenance department responsible for that role, it should be a shared responsibility and every person must actively participate. A well-maintained property will attract large number of guests and hence improve the profitability of the business. House keeping department is one of the most important sections in the hotel. This is because it has to continuously communicate with all the other sections for it to operate effectively. This section maintains the required cleanliness and handling of guests’ belongings rests on their hands (Alexander, 1996). The manner in which some item s are handled including beds, tables will determine how such items will last since handling them carelessly can lead to their spoilage (Alexander, 1994). Identify and discuss five or six standards that could be established; include how variance from such standards could be measured Measurement standards can be used in hotel business to provide an analysis of the deviations realized from the achieved rather than anticipated results. Always the set standards are measured against the actual standards (Anderson McAdam, 2004). This is so obvious since in most cases the achieved results may not precisely match what was expected by the management. Some standards can be applied using variance analysis. Standard measurements cannot be established without incorporating variance analysis. Variance is the difference between a budgeted, anticipated outcome and the actual outcome realized from a process. Variance analysis is a budgetary tool control used to analyze the difference between the sta ndard and actual costs. Every manager sets what he wants to achieve and strictly put some structures in place to ensure the set goals are achieved through the joint efforts of other employees. The following are some of the standards that can be applied. Labor Efficiency Variance (LEV): It is the difference between how many hours were worked for a given number of units actually produced and how many hours should have been worked valued at the standard rate per hour (Hronec, 1993). This can be applied with regard to how many guests have been attended over a particular period in time and compared to planned time in hours. In addition, the number of hours utilized in the kitchen to produce a given number of can be compared with actual planned hours. In the event that lesser time is taken than the anticipated one, then the variance is said to be favorable and the reverse is unfavorable. Material Price Variance (MPV): It occurs when there is a disparity between the actual cost of the mat erial and the budgeted cost. The hotel purchasing department may incur more costs than anticipated or lesser costs due to factors like quantity discounts or abrupt price cut of raw materials used in the hotel due to unforeseen factors. In the event that the actual costs are more than the budgeted costs, there is unfavorable variance and this calls for appropriate measures to be taken. Labor Rate Variance (LRV): This is the difference between what the actual number of hours worked did cost and what it should have cost. This in most cases is attributable to casual employees in the hotel. Sometimes a situation may arise where the costs incurred in production for a particular time period is less than what had been initially planned. This may be due to high efficiency machines in the hotel or costs may be high than expected due unexpected overtime hours worked. The variance will be unfavorable if the actual hours cost more than the planned. Material Quantity Variance (MQV): It occurs whe n there is disparity between the actual material that was used and the budgeted material quantity at standard cost. Sometimes the material used and in this context may refer to ingredients used by the kitchen department that may be less than what had already been budgeted. This again may bring about favorable or unfavorable variances depending on how much material was used. Variable production overhead total variances: This is the disparity between the actual cost of a given output and the budgeted cost in terms of variable costs /overheads. This variance or standard measure costs ignores the fixed aspect of the hotel and takes into consideration only the variable costs (Amaratunga Baldry, 2003). This may include wages and costs incurred in purchasing consumables to be used in the hotel. From the perspective of a hotel’s general Manager, evaluate techniques that can be used to control the cost of purchasing The profit maximization of any business entity is dependent upon th e cost control in an entity. It is the role of the manager to minimize costs as much as possible while at the same time maximizing the total revenue. This will ensure the difference between the overall costs and the total revenue is as wide as possible. The managers need to identify the need for the purchase as well as the person who is handling those services and goods (Massheder Finch, 1998). The manager must ensure that goods are purchased when they are required. This is aimed at reducing huge storage costs that may be attached to holding of goods. This is one strategy towards ensuring that minimal costs are incurred. Such a strategy not only reduces the costs in terms of storage costs but also in terms of avoidance of spoilage of some perishable materials used in the business. The manager must be able to compare the goods or rather materials that are likely to yield the same utility and ensure only those goods with the lowest cost are purchased. This is because there is no need of going for materials with high costs and there are other materials with relatively lower costs and at the same time, they are of the same quality. As noted earlier, the items purchased in a hotel are small and so numerous making them more vulnerable to theft and misappropriation. The only way a manager can minimize this is ensuring every single item that has been bought is accounted for and proper records are kept with utmost accuracy (Tidd, Bessant Pavitt, 2001). Several operations need to be specialized such that the employees in the hotel do not handle the entire or full system of a particular item. Regular transfers of some workers or inter-departmental transfers may also help reduce costs. This is because many unnecessary costs incurred in the hotel are as a result of theft cases amongst the employees. If employees are left in one department for along time, they become used to that department and the chances of perpetrating frauds are very high. Continuous stocktaking and s urprise checks of physical stock are other ways of minimizing purchasing costs. This will make those responsible for stock maintenance careful and aware such that the records are up to date and accurate at all times (Amaratunga, Baldry Sarshar, 2000). Finally, there should be optimal utilization of materials, very minimal wastes should be witnessed in the hotel, and this is the one area where kitchen department misuse the essential materials. In general, the manager should keep an eye on all the departments that are directly linked to handling of hotel goods and materials and in particular purchasing and kitchen departments. References Alexander, K. (1996). Facilities management theory practice. London: E FN Spon. Alexander, K. (1994). Facilities management. A journal of Facilities, 12(11), 33-40. Amaratunga, D. Baldry, D. (2003). A conceptual framework to measure facilities management performance. Journal of Property Management, 21(2), 171-189. Amaratunga, D., Baldry, D., Sars har, M. (2000). Assessment of facilities management performance- what next? A journal of Facilities, 18(1/2), 66-75. Anderson, K., McAdam, R. (2004). A critique of benchmarking and performance measurement lead or lag? Benchmarking an International Journal, 11(5), 465-483. Branson, J. C., Lennox, M. (1989). Hotel, hostel and hospital housekeeping. 5 Edn. London: Hodder Sloughton. Feldinan, D. S. (1995). Asset management: here to stay. Cornell hotel and restaurant administration quarterly, 36(5), 36-52. Hemmington, N., King, C. (2000). Key dimensions of outsourcing hotel food and beverage services. International journal of contemporary hospitality management,12(4), 256. Horner, S.M. (1993). Vital signs- Using quality, time and cost performance measurements to chart your company’s future, New York, NY: Amocon. Jagels, M. G., Coltman, M. M. (2004). Hospitality, management accounting. 8 Edn. Heboken. New Jersey: John Wiley Sons. Jones, C. (2002). Facilities management in med ium-sized UK hotels. International journal of contemporary management, 14(2), 78-80. Jones, C., Jawell, V. (1998). Managing facilities. Oxford: Butterworth Heineman. Kreek, I. A. (1978). Operational problem solving for the hotel and restaurant industry. Boston, MA: CBI Publishing Company. Lawson, F. (1995). Hotels and resorts. London: Architectural Press. Loether, J. (2005). Meeting technology in on the move: plan for future. Hotel and motel management, 220(4), 14-21. Massheder, K., Finch, E. (1998). Benchmarking methodologies applied to UK facilities Management. Facilities journal,16(3/4), 99-106. Powers, T. (1995). Introduction to management in the hospitality industry. New York, NY: John Wiley Sons. Rushmore, S. (1992). Hotel life expectancy. Lodging Hospitality journal. 48 (5), 16-19. Schneider, M., Tucker, G. (1989). The professional housekeeper. New York, NY: Van Nustrand Reinhold. Tidd, J., Bessant, J., Pavitt, K. (2001). Managing Innovation: Integrating technological, M arket and Organizational change, UK: Wiley, Chichester,

Abba Kovner and Resistance in the Vilna Ghetto

Abba Kovner and Resistance in the Vilna Ghetto In the Vilna Ghetto and in the Rudninkai Forest (both in Lithuania), Abba Kovner, only 25 years old, led resistance fighters against the murderous Nazi enemy during the  Holocaust. Who Was Abba Kovner? Abba Kovner was born in 1918 in Sevastopol, Russia, but later moved to Vilna (now in Lithuania), where he attended a Hebrew secondary school. During these early years, Kovner became an active member in the Zionist youth movement, Ha-Shomer ha-Tsair. In September 1939, World War II began. Only two weeks later, on September 19, the Red Army entered Vilna and soon incorporated it into the Soviet Union. Kovner became active during this time, 1940 to 1941, with the underground. But life changed drastically for Kovner once the Germans invaded. The Germans Invade Vilna On June 24, 1941, two days after Germany launched its surprise attack against the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa), the Germans occupied Vilna. As the Germans were sweeping east toward Moscow, they instigated their ruthless oppression and murderous Aktionen in the communities they occupied. Vilna, with a Jewish population of approximately 55,000, was known as the Jerusalem of Lithuania for its flourishing Jewish culture and history. The Nazis soon changed that. As Kovner and 16 other members of the Ha-Shomer ha-Tsair hid in a convent of Dominican nuns a few miles outside of Vilna, the Nazis began to rid Vilna of its Jewish problem. The Killing Begins at Ponary Less than a month after the Germans occupied Vilna, they conducted their first Aktionen. Einsatzkommando 9 rounded up 5,000 Jewish men of Vilna and took them to Ponary (a location approximately six miles from Vilna that had pre-dug large pits, which the Nazis used as a mass extermination area for Jews from the Vilna area). The Nazis made the pretense that the men were to be sent to labor camps when they were really sent to Ponary and shot. The next major Aktion took place from August 31 to September 3. This Aktion was in pretense a retaliation for an attack against the Germans. Kovner, watching through a window, saw a woman dragged by the hair by two soldiers, a woman who was holding something in her arms. One of them directed a beam of light into her face, the other one dragged her by her hair and threw her on the pavement. Then the infant fell out of her arms. One of the two, the one with the flashlight, I believe, took the infant, raised him into the air, grabbed him by the leg. The woman crawled on the earth, took hold of his boot and pleaded for mercy. But the soldier took the boy and hit him with his head against the wall, once, twice, smashed him against the wall.1 Such scenes occurred frequently during this four-day Aktion - ending with 8,000 men and women taken to Ponary and shot. Life did not get better for the Jews of Vilna. From September 3 to 5, immediately following the last Aktion, the remaining Jews were forced into a small area of the city and fenced in. Kovner remembers, And when the troops herded the whole suffering, tortured, weeping mass of people into the narrow streets of the ghetto, into those seven narrow stinking streets, and locked the walls that had been built, behind them, everyone suddenly sighed with relief. They left behind them days of fear and horror; and ahead of them were deprivation, hunger and suffering - but now they felt more secure, less afraid. Almost no one believed that it would be possible to kill off all of them, all those thousands and tens of thousands, the Jews of Vilna, Kovno, Bialystok, and Warsaw - the millions, with their women and children.2 Though they had experienced terror and destruction, the Jews of Vilna were still not ready to believe the truth about Ponary. Even when a survivor of Ponary, a woman named Sonia, came back to Vilna and told of her experiences, no one wanted to believe. Well, a few did. And these few decided to resist. The Call to Resist In December 1941, there were several meetings between the activists in the ghetto. Once the activists had decided to resist, they needed to decide, and agree, on the best way to resist. One of the most urgent problems was whether they should stay in the ghetto, go to Bialystok or Warsaw (some thought there would be a better chance at successful resistance in these ghettos), or move to the forests. Coming to an agreement on this issue was not easy. Kovner, known by his nom de guerre of Uri, offered some of the main arguments for staying in Vilna and fighting. In the end, most decided to stay, but a few decided to leave. These activists wanted to instil a passion for fighting within the ghetto. To do this, the activists wanted to have a mass meeting with many different youth groups in attendance. But the Nazis were always watching, especially noticeable would be a large group. So, in order to disguise their mass meeting, they arranged it on December 31, New Years Eve, a day of many, many social gatherings. Kovner was responsible for writing a call to revolt. In front of the 150 attendees gathered together at 2 Straszuna Street in a public soup kitchen, Kovner read aloud: Jewish youth!Do not trust those who are trying to deceive you. Out of the eighty thousand Jews in the Jerusalem of Lithuania only twenty thousand are left. . . . Ponar [Ponary] is not a concentration camp. They have all been shot there. Hitler plans to destroy all the Jews of Europe, and the Jews of Lithuania have been chosen as the first in line.We will not be led like sheep to the slaughter!True, we are weak and defenseless, but the only reply to the murderer is revolt!Brothers! Better to fall as free fighters than to live by the mercy of the murderers.Arise! Arise with your last breath!3 At first, there was silence. Then the group broke out in spirited song.4 The Creation of the F.P.O. Now that the youth in the ghetto were enthused, the next problem was how to organize the resistance. A meeting was scheduled for three weeks later, January 21, 1942. At the home of Joseph Glazman, representatives from the major youth groups met together: Abba Kovner of Ha-Shomer ha-ZairJoseph Glazman of BetarYitzhak Wittenberg of the CommunistsChyena Borowska of the CommunistsNissan Reznik of Ha-Noar ha-Ziyyoni At this meeting something important happened - these groups agreed to work together. In other ghettos, this was a major stumbling block for many would-be resisters. Yitzhak Arad, in Ghetto in Flames, attributes the parleys by Kovner to the ability to hold a meeting with representatives of the four youth movements.5 It was at this meeting that these representatives decided to form a united fighting group called the Fareinikte Partisaner Organizatzie - F.P.O. (United Partisans Organization). The organization was formed to unite all the groups in the ghetto, prepare for mass armed resistance, perform acts of sabotage, fight with partisans, and try to get other ghettos to also fight. It was agreed at this meeting that the F.P.O. would be lead by a staff command made up of Kovner, Glazman, and Wittenberg with the chief commander being Wittenberg. Later, two more members were added to staff command - Abraham Chwojnik of the Bund and Nissan Reznik of the Ha-Noar ha-Ziyyoni - expanding the leadership to five. Now that they were organized it was time to prepare for the fight. The Preparation Having the idea to fight is one thing, but being prepared to fight is quite another. Shovels and hammers are no match to machine guns. Weapons needed to be found. Weapons were an extremely hard item to attain in the ghetto. Even harder to acquire was ammunition. There were two main sources from which the ghetto inhabitants could obtain guns and ammunition - partisans and the Germans. Neither wanted the Jews to be armed. Slowly collecting by buying or stealing, risking their lives every day for carrying or hiding, the members of the F.P.O. were able to collect a small stash of weapons. They were hidden all over the ghetto - in walls, underground, even under a false bottom of a water bucket. The resistance fighters were preparing to fight during the final liquidation of the Vilna Ghetto. No one knew when that was going to happen - it could be days, weeks, perhaps even months. So every day, the members of the F.P.O. practiced. One knock on a door - then two - then another single knock. That was the F.P.O.s secret password.6  They would take out the hidden weapons and learn how to hold it, how to shoot it, and how not to waste the precious ammunition. Everyone was to fight - no one was to head for the forest until all was lost. Preparation was ongoing. The ghetto had been peaceful - no Aktionen  since December 1941. But then, in July 1943, disaster struck the F.P.O. Resistance! At a meeting with the head of Vilnas Jewish council, Jacob Gens, on the night of July 15, 1943, Wittenberg was arrested. As he was taken out of the meeting, other F.P.O. members were alerted, attacked the policemen, and freed Wittenberg. Wittenberg then went into hiding. By the next morning, it was announced that if Wittenberg were not apprehended, the Germans would liquidate the entire ghetto - consisting of approximately 20,000 people. The ghetto residents were angry and began attacking F.P.O. members with stones. Wittenberg, knowing he was going to sure torture and death, turned himself in. Before he left, he appointed Kovner  as his successor. A month and a half later, the Germans decided to liquidate the ghetto. The F.P.O. tried to persuade the ghetto residents not to go for the deportation because they were being sent to their deaths. Jews! Defend yourselves with arms! The German and Lithuanian hangmen have arrived at the gates of the ghetto. They have come to murder us! . . . But we shall not go! We shall not stretch our necks like sheep for the slaughter! Jews! Defend yourself with arms!7 But the ghetto residents did not believe this, they believed they were being sent to work camps - and in this case, they were right. Most of these transports were being sent to labor camps in Estonia. On September 1, the first clash broke out between the F.P.O. and the Germans. As the F.P.O. fighters shot at the Germans, the Germans blew up their buildings. The Germans retreated at nightfall and let the Jewish police round up the remaining ghetto residents for the transports, at the insistence of Gens. The F.P.O. came to the realization that they would be alone in this fight. The ghetto population was not willing to rise up; instead, they were willing to try their chances at a labor camp rather than certain death in revolt. Thus, the F.P.O. decided to escape to the forests and become partisans. The Forest Since the Germans had the ghetto surrounded, the only way out was through the sewers. Once in the forests, the fighters created a partisan division and performed many acts of sabotage. They destroyed the power and water infrastructures, freed groups of prisoners from the Kalais labor camp, and even blew up some German military trains. I remember the first time I blew up a train. I went out with a small group, with Rachel Markevitch as our guest. It was New Years Eve; we were bringing the Germans a festival gift. The train appeared on the raised railway; a line of large, heavy-laden trucks rolled on toward Vilna. My heart suddenly stopped beating for joy and fear. I pulled the string with all my strength, and in that moment, before the thunder of the explosion echoed through the air, and twenty-one trucks full of troops hurtled down into the abyss, I heard Rachel cry: For Ponar! [Ponary]8 The End of the War Kovner survived to the end of the war. Though he had been instrumental in establishing a resistance group in Vilna and led a partisan group in the forests, Kovner did not stop his activities at the wars end. Kovner was one of the founders of the underground organization to smuggle Jews out of Europe called Beriha. Kovner was caught by the British near the end of 1945 and was jailed for a short time. Upon his release, he joined Kibbutz Ein ha-Horesh in Israel, with his wife, Vitka Kempner, who had also been a fighter in the F.P.O. Kovner kept his fighting spirit and was active in Israels War for Independence. After his fighting days, Kovner wrote two volumes of poetry for which he won the 1970 Israel Prize in Literature. Kovner died at age 69 in September 1987. Notes 1. Abba Kovner as quoted in Martin Gilbert, The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe During the Second World War (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1985) 192.2. Abba Kovner, The Mission of the Survivors, The Catastrophe of European Jewry, Ed. Yisrael Gutman (New York: Ktav Publishing House, Inc., 1977) 675.3. Proclamation of the F.P.O as quoted in Michael Berenbaum, Witness to the Holocaust (New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 1997) 154.4. Abba Kovner, A First Attempt to Tell, The Holocaust as Historical Experience: Essays and a Discussion, Ed. Yehuda Bauer (New York: Holmes Meier Publishers, Inc., 1981) 81-82.5. Yitzhak Arad, Ghetto in Flames: The Struggle and Destruction of the Jews in Vilna in the Holocaust (Jerusalem: Ahva Cooperative Printing Press, 1980) 236.6. Kovner, First Attempt 84.7. F.P.O. Manifesto as quoted in Arad, Ghetto 411-412.8. Kovner, First Attempt 90. Bibliography Arad, Yitzhak. Ghetto in Flames: The Struggle and Destruction of the Jews in Vilna in the Holocaust. Jerusalem: Ahva Cooperative Printing Press, 1980. Berenbaum, Michael, ed. Witness to the Holocaust. New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 1997. Gilbert, Martin. The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe During the Second World War. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1985. Gutman, Israel, ed. Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. New York: Macmillan Library Reference U.S.A., 1990. Kovner, Abba. A First Attempt to Tell. The Holocaust as Historical Experience: Essays and a Discussion. Ed. Yehuda Bauer. New York: Holmes Meier Publishers, Inc., 1981. Kovner, Abba. The Mission of the Survivors. The Catastrophe of European Jewry. Ed. Yisrael Gutman. New York: Ktav Publishing House, Inc., 1977.